Sonya was another matter. She was hard as nails and a challenge if he ever saw one. He couldn’t suppress an arrogant smile with the thought that he intended to succeed where others had failed. He would get into Sonya’s bed on his terms and not hers.
He stepped out the shower to dry off…and to plan his next strategy.
* * *
Sonya had taken a long, leisurely soak in her Jacuzzi tub and slipped between the sheets when her phone rang. She reached over to pick it up. “Hello.”
“Glad you’re home.”
She lifted an arched brow. “And if I wasn’t?”
“Then I would have to get out of bed, throw on some clothes and go out and search the dance halls for you.”
She rolled her eyes. She couldn’t see him doing that for any woman. “I’m thirty-four Mike, and can take care of myself.”
“I’m thirty-six and I can take care of you better.”
She liked the sexy sound of his voice on the phone. “In what way. Marriage isn’t in my future. My parents ruined it for me.”
“Marriage isn’t in my future either. No one had to ruin it for me. I’m a loner. Jesse is the only person that I ever considered family. And now Carla and the kids. I don’t need anyone else.”
For some reason his words rattled her. “So, tell me. How can you take better care of me?”
“In bed. So if you own an ‘electro man’ you can get rid of him.”
She smiled slowly. “Why would I need once of those devices when I can have the real thing. Whenever I want.”
“But what about a night like tonight? When you’re in bed alone.”
“I have a little black book, remember. Men have no problem making booty calls. You should know that.”
“Umm, can I make one right now?”
“As long as it’s not to 5629 Parker Lane, go ahead.”
“You’re a tough woman, Sonya Morrison.”
“You haven’t seen tough yet, Mike Kelly.”
She heard his soft chuckle. “Good night, Sonya. Pleasant dreams.”
“Same back at you.”
Then she hung up the phone. Or rather she pressed the button before placing the receiver in the middle of her chest and thinking this would be the closest Mike ever made it to her bed.
Four
So what’s going on with you?”
Mike glanced up at the man whom he considered not only his best friend, but his brother. Like him, Jesse had been given up at birth for adoption. The two of them had been fifteen when placed in the same foster home and had immediately bonded. It hadn’t mattered one iota that he was white and Jesse was black. From that day on, they had remained the best of friends, considered themselves blood brothers and looked out for each other. They had gone through a lot together and there was nothing one wouldn’t do for the other.
“Why do you ask?” Mike questioned, taking a sip of his drink.
“You haven’t been around lately,” Jesse said. “The kids are asking about their godfather.”
Mike chuckled. “Hey, be honest. Don’t blame it on the kids. I know Carla is the one doing the asking.”
“She loves you and worries about you.”
“And?”
“She thinks you need a good woman in your life.”
Mike leaned back in his chair. “Go on, this is getting good.”
Jesse hesitated slightly and then said. “And she thinks something is going on between you and Sonya.”
Mike met the teasing glint in Jesse’s hazel eyes. “Something like what?”
“You tell me.”
Mike took another sip of his scotch. Today they had played golf and were sitting in the lounge of the clubhouse, relaxing and unwinding. He and Jesse had achieved their goals by making it in life. Something they’d promised themselves they would do when they were barely getting by while living on the streets for a year as runaways.
“What I can tell you in all honestly Jess, is that nothing is going on. But not from lack of trying on my part, trust me. Hell it’s been two years and Sonya Morrison still gets to me something fierce. I told you what she said that day we met when you left us alone in that hotel restaurant.”
Jesse lifted a brow. “About her not liking vanilla?”
“Yes.”
“And I distinctively remembered what you told me you said to her as well.”
“Well, yeah, that was before.”
“Before what?”
“I’d gotten a taste.”
A smile touched Jesse’s lips. “And?”
“I want more.”
Now it was Jesse who chuckled. “Sonya isn’t an easy woman. According to Carla, she has always been a little on the wild side, and what happened with her parents’ marriage pushed her even more out there. There was a time she did want the marriage, family and white picket fence, but seeing what her dad did to her mom literally killed that dream.”
“What exactly did her old man do?”
“He divorced her mom to marry a woman half his age. Suzette is even a few years younger than Sonya.”
“Damn, he didn’t mind robbing the cradle, did he?”
“Don’t pity Suzette. I’ve met her and she’s quite a character. She got just what she wanted; an old man for a meal ticket. She’s not cheap and is taking him all the way to the cleaners. He practically built a mansion for her last year.”
Mike didn’t say anything. “Sonya’s parents’ problems shouldn’t concern her. Those are their issues, not hers.”
Jesse shook his head. “You and I can think that way because we’ve been detached for so long. We’ve never had a real family Sonya did and her parents were married for over thirty years.”
Mike shrugged. As far as he was concerned that still shouldn’t make a difference. “Well, to go back to your question. Nothing is going on with me and Sonya. And I plan to spend time with Craig and Jessica this weekend.”
“You’re late. Sonya has already called asking for them this weekend.”
Mike rubbed his jaw and smiled. “Umm, then I guess I’m just going to have to make myself available to assist her with that.”
* * *
“So what you do you think about this dress, Sonya?”
“Umm?”
Carla waved her hand directly in Sonya’s face. “Hey, come back down to earth. You’ve been daydreaming all morning. You’re here to help me pick out a dress for that dinner party I have to attend with Jesse this weekend.”
Sonya let out a frustrated sigh. She’d never daydream in her life but Carla had just caught her red-handed and all because she couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss she and Mike had shared yesterday.
She studied the dress Carla had in her arms. “I need to see you in it before I can form an opinion.”
Carla lifted a brow. “You did. I modeled it for you and everything. I just took it off.”
“Oh. In that case I must have liked it.”
Carla gave her a strange look before lifting a hand to her forehead. “It doesn’t feel like you have a fever.”
“Of course not. I’m fine.”
Carla smiled. “Just a little absent-minded today perhaps?”
Sonya shrugged. “It can happen.”
“Yes, to anyone but you. You take pride on being sharp as a tack. So what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know what you mean?”
“Don’t you? And you might as well tell me now before we meet up with Brandy and Amber for lunch.”
Sonya knew Carla would badger her until she talked. “Okay, buy the dress and we’ll discuss things on the drive over to the restaurant.”
A half hour later with Carla at the wheel of the car, they made their way toward the restaurant where they would be meeting up with Brandy and Amber. “Okay, Sonya. Talk.”
Sonya glanced over at Carla and chuckled. “Boy, aren’t you bossy.”
Carla smiled. “Only when it concerns you. So what’s up?”
Sonya paused for a moment then said. “Mike Kelly.”
Carla took her eyes off the road briefly and rolled them. “I figured as much.”
“I have the hots for him.”
“If I recall, you’ve always had the hots for him but declared he was off limits.”
Sonya nodded. “Yeah, and you know why. I’ve never been into interracial dating.”
“I know, but the way I see it, there’s really no pure race. Everybody is mixed with something. So tell me. When you look at Jesse, what do you see?”
Sonya grinned. “Your good-looking husband.”
Carla chuckled. “Okay. Now when you look at Mike, what do you see?”
Sonya closed her eyes to visualize and the image of Mike that automatically came to mind was the one she’d seen a few days ago when he’d been wearing barely anything while working out on his exercise equipment. “I see one super fine man with nice abs and biceps, firm thighs, strong legs, a rear end that’s truly a work of art, a muscular chest and nice broad shoulders.”
“And what do you see when you look into his face?”
With her eyes still closed, she said. “A very handsome man.”
Carla didn’t say anything. She waited to see if Sonya would add anything else, when she didn’t she said. “I noticed you didn’t say anything about Mike’s skin color.”
Sonya opened her eyes and glanced over at her, realizing that she hadn’t. “I was concentrating on those other things and really didn’t think about it.”