“You have been sulking around here over the last few days, but you still haven’t told me why,” Eden said. “Does this have anything to do with Quentin?”

Phoebe glanced at Eden. They were inside their three-bedroom Lincoln Park condo.

“How am I sulking? This,” Phoebe pointed to the papers strung all over her desk, “is called working from home. It has never been more difficult for me to find the dirt I need on a corporation. There are definitely some higher-ups covering for the defense.”

Phoebe took her eyes over the paper she’d been staring at for the last forty-five minutes. As a lead attorney at Rose and Garnett LLC, Phoebe didn’t get too many chances to take a load off and enjoy the fruits of her labor, which is another reason why Phoebe was completely annoyed. She’d managed to set aside time to take off, to enjoy the holiday season with her family. But the only thing she could manage to do currently was think about the way Quentin had dissed her at the gym.

She sighed and sat the pen down that she’d been tumbling through her fingers and stared over at her sister.

“Are you telling me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” Eden said.

Phoebe smirked. “Why don’t you just come right out and ask me whatever it is you’re thinking about?”

“Is Quentin partially to blame?”

“As much as you talk about how much of a dog Quentin is, you are always talking about him.”

“Because I know you have a crush on him, and you’re the happy triplet, so to see you sad makes me think he’s done something.”

Phoebe sighed. “You know, for someone who is so judgmental, you tend to forget that Derek James Clark is not a good boy either. You know what they say, birds of a feather flock together.”

Eden plopped down into the chair next to Phoebe. It was true, Derek James Clark and Quentin Davidson had been best friends since junior high school. Both men grew into their own successful entrepreneurs after receiving their bachelor degrees from Harvard University alongside Jonathon and Jacob Rose. As they received their degrees and accolades, they also received their playboy reputations. But for Phoebe, it was almost as if Eden had forgotten that she was in strong like with Quentin’s best friend.

“You’re right. Sometimes, I think I talk about Quentin to deflect from my own issues,” Eden said.

“Issues?” Phoebe inquired.

“Yeah. It’s a serious issue when you start to feel like a person who has a reputation of being a hound dog has become the fantasy of all of your dreams.”

Phoebe nodded. “Fantasy would be right.”

“Sorry, sis,” Eden said. “It is easier for me to tell you what you should or shouldn’t be doing with Quentin than it is for me to heed my own advice. You would think with us being super smart that we would have a clue.”

Phoebe cracked a smile. The girls had graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and went straight to college. They excelled in academia so much that they’d all three graduated college early as well, leading Phoebe to become a top attorney at her brother Jordan’s law firm. However, these days, she wasn’t feeling so smart with her latest decisions.

“Maybe we should date other people.” It spilled out of Phoebe’s mouth like it was a no-brainer. As if she could completely dispel the torrid attraction she and Quentin shared.

Eden raised a brown. She was also surprised that Phoebe had suggested it. Rolling her eyes side to side in thought, she wondered about their upcoming fundraiser for Jan’s Roses.

“We do need dates for the fundraiser.”

Phoebe nodded while wishing she hadn’t suggested dating other people at all. She was a grown woman, and playing games wasn’t her m.o. anymore anyways. On the other hand, maybe dating someone else was exactly what she needed. Phoebe had been lusting after Quentin so long she forgot what being on an actual date was like.

“You look like you’re about to renege already,” Eden said.

“Not necessarily,” Phoebe sang, then sighed. “I’ve got entirely too much work to do to be sitting here thinking about this.”

Eden rolled her eyes. “Girl, you’ll always have work to do. Your profession is a rotating door of exertion. You know,” Eden sat back and leveled Phoebe with a piercing look, “I’m surprised this doesn’t drive you mad. You weren’t the happiest camper when we came home from school with tons of homework.”

“And I try not to bring a lot of it home now,” Phoebe said. “I would be at the office, but I’m just not feeling it today. I don’t have to be in court, so here I am.”

Eden nodded. “About the dates we need for the fundraiser. Where will we get them?”

“Put in an ad online,” Phoebe said.

Eden glared at Phoebe. “Are you crazy? We can’t date men online with our family’s reputation. Do you know what that type of process would be like?” Eden smacked her lips. “You know we wouldn’t be able to decipher who was generally interested in dating and who just wanted to shoot their shot.”

“Well, we have that same problem with in-person dating. Everyone knows who we are.”

“Damn,” Eden said. “Do you think that’s why we stick with lusting over Derek and Quentin?”

Phoebe thought about Quentin. His handsome dark chocolate face, molded physique, and charming nature. A heated buzz split through her in an instant, and before she could answer the question, Eden already knew.

“Never mind,” Eden said. “That’s definitely not the reason.”

Phoebe was nodding in agreement. What was she going to do about this enormous craving she had for Quentin Davidson?

 

“Busy week?”

A warm smile grew across Christopher Lee Rose’s face at the sound of her voice. He pulled his eyes from the stock market reports to glance at Norma. At six-foot-six, three hundred pounds and stacked like his sons with an edgier build, the business mogul stood to his full height and a warm smile grew across his face as he took in her appearance.

Absent was the pretentious personality she carried when in front of others. Now the only thing that remained was her soft brown eyes, graceful smile, and the caring nurturer of a lover. It always amazed Christopher how she could turn it on and off for the sake of show and tell. And it worked most days, except those times Christopher neared her.

Norma would almost always find a way to escape his proximity. Most of the time, he allowed her to flee, but sometimes, he just couldn’t help himself, and he would wrap Norma up with a winsome twirl, and she would giggle like a school girl and shoo him away.

“It has been an interesting week dealing with Fred and Sampson.” Christopher crossed the room and paused right before her, taking the short glass of brandy on ice out of her grasp. “Thank you,” he said, taking a sip.

“You’re always welcome.” Norma smiled.

“I’ve missed you this week,” he said.

Norma’s heart raced. She’d missed him, too. Norma and Christopher had been intimately seeing each other for the better part of four years. Although she lived in the house with him, Norma took up space on the other side of the mansion. It was to keep things together and in perspective. So some days, like this lonely week, Norma would rise and move around after Christopher had already left for the day.

Norma was no selfish woman. If Christopher felt like being with Fred and Samson was important, then that’s where he should be.

“I’m tired of waiting,” he said, sighing. He grabbed her hand, linking their fingers together.

Norma’s heart raced faster. For a few years now, Christopher had wanted to tell his children that he and Norma were in love. But she would always tell him to wait, citing it wasn’t the right time. Norma only stared into his dark gray eyes.

When she didn’t respond, Christopher repeated himself. “I’m tired of waiting, sweetheart.”

He pulled her close and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her skin was soft and warm to the touch.

“I don’t know, Mr. Rose,” she said.

Christopher frowned. His hand trailed down her shoulders, waist, hips, and thighs before covering her bottom in an aching smack.

“Ah!” Norma yelped as the sting from his lash penetrated her bottom.

Without moving his hand, Christopher squeezed her derriere and pulled her close. Norma came willingly, officially captive in his powerful aura. Christopher loved everything about Norma, especially the extra thickness she held in her hips, butt, and thighs. Falling in love with her had happened by accident, but Christopher wouldn’t change the decision he’d made when asking her to move in with him. Leaning into her, Christopher captured her lips for a soft, slow, warm kiss. Their mouths tingled as heat fled over their tongues, causing them both to shiver.

“I’m tired of waiting,” he repeated, almost as a plea for her to end it and allow him to confess their love to the world.

But still Norma hesitated. Truly, she didn’t want his children to hate her. It was one thing for them to think she was only their adoring housekeeper but to find out that she’d been secretly seeing their father could cause a rift between them. It was a big risk. One she wasn’t ready to take.

“I know,” she said finally. “I understand.”

“Then we can tell them then.”

“We?” Norma’s face crumbled, and Christopher ran a smooth hand over her face to hold her chin.

“Yes, we. We are together in this, right?”

Norma’s nerves were heightened again. “Maybe we should wait until—”

“When? Give me a date and time that would be most appropriate for us to reveal our love for one another.”

Norma reached for his broad shoulders, laying a caressing hand up the back of his head into his thin slick hair.

“Paciencia…” she crooned. “Por favor.”

Christopher shut his eyes. “I have waited,” he said. “I’ve had all the patience a man in my situation could possibly have.”

Norma’s heart swelled at the pained look on his face.

“Soon,” she said. “You don’t want to disappoint your girlfriends. One of them stop by earlier this week looking for you.” Norma smiled at her attempt at a joke. She was trying to move past the subject.

Christopher frowned. “Don’t play with me, woman,” he said. “You know better than that.”

Norma giggled again.

“I guess it was Martha Jean?”

“How did you know?”

“Adeline wouldn’t come after me. Not in the way Martha Jean would.”

Norma nodded. “Adeline would wait for you to come to her. My kind of woman.”

“But not mine,” Christopher crooned.

Norma giggled again. “There’s meatloaf, greens, macaroni and cheese, and cornbread in the kitchen.”

  “Mmmm, sounds good,” he said. “It’s a shame I don’t have an appetite for food.” Christopher cupped her chin again and pulled her lips to his in another delicate saccharine kiss.

The giggles that rose from Norma were non-stop now as Christopher’s lips found the soft flesh of her chin, ears, and neck. A coat of heat covered Norma, and her eyes fell as she took in a deep breath.

“Marry me, mi amor,” Christopher hummed.

Norma’s heart slammed against her chest, and her eyes shot open. Christopher continued to nibble on her ear when she pulled away from him slowly. When their gazes connected, the soft request sat stirring in Christopher’s eyes.

“I cannot live the rest of my days in shadow with you. I want you to be my wife. Say you will.”

A mist of tears clouded Norma’s eyes. “Christopher…” she said.

His name coming from her mouth just made him that much more heated than he was standing before her. Christopher sat his glass of Brandy down and covered both of Norma’s palms with his big masculine hands.

“On Christmas,” he said.

Norma’s mouth dropped. “That’s days away! How would we pull that off?”

“First,” Christopher said, “you have to answer me. Then we can talk about the arrangements.”

Norma burst into tears, her hands covering her mouth. Christopher’s arms circled her and the warmth from their touch, mixed with the sentiment of their love, comforted them both as Norma cried.

“Yes,” she said, “I love you,” she sang as her tears continued to fall.

“And I love you. Let’s not postpone. I think we’ve waited long enough. We deserve our happiness just like everyone else.”

Norma continued to cry. She knew Christopher was right, and she wanted everything he’d proposed. But it didn’t mean that she wasn’t scared of what this could mean for the family dynamic of their household. With all that, she too, no longer wanted to wait.

Pulling back from him she responded, “When will we tell them?”

Christopher waited a beat before speaking again. “After the fundraiser at dinner.”

Norma shook her head vigorously. “That is absolutely not the right time to tell them. After Janet’s event?” She gave him a questionable stare.

“I know,” he said, “but it’s the only other time we’ll get to tell them before Christmas. “

“It’s too soon,” she said. “They won’t have time to get prepared even if they wanted to come.”

Christopher glanced down at her sharply. “What do you mean even if they want to come, of course they’ll come.”

“You don’t know that for sure. What if they think… what if…”

Christopher took a smoothing hand over her back and kissed her forehead again. “None of those what ifs are going to happen. You’re worried for nothing.”

In his heart, Christopher hoped that he was right.

“After the event, here at the house,” he said, making the set date final.