Chapter 5
“This is the best surprise ever, Kerry!” Aram jumped up and down in his tiny little Batman suit. “Father, look at my cape!”
Kerry smiled at his exuberance, happy to have found such a unique gift for such a unique little boy. A superhero portrait studio allowed kids of all ages to dress as their favorite characters. “I think I should be Catwoman for this photo, right?”
“Yes and Father can be Robin!”
When Malik found out about the gift, he’d insisted on enjoying the experience with them, and sadly, she was pleased about that. Her attachment to Malik was such a monumentally bad idea she refused to think about how it would end. Not when she spent her days helping a sweet little boy and her nights in the arms of the most amazing man she’d ever met.
They stood in front of an urban landscape posing in character while the photographer fiddled with the lights. Malik’s hand slid up her thigh and cupped her bottom. Her breath hitched but she made no other sounds or movements, letting his fingertips tantalize her. Drive her out of her mind. Two weeks in his bed and I’m a sex maniac, she thought as her mind recreated highlights from last night’s loving.
By the time they finished up two hours—and four costume changes—later, Aram was starving and dying to try out American food, so they stopped at a small restaurant where Malik sat too close and tempted her too much.
“What should we order?” he whispered in her ear, knowing she couldn’t hide her reaction from him.
“Depends on what you’re in the mood to eat.” Flirting like this with him felt outrageous, but it was so much fun. The kind of fun she'd never had with a man before.
“Something creamy and kind of sweet. Makes a bit of a mess.”
“I have a few ideas,” she tapped her chin, “but I’d recommend the meatloaf and mashed potatoes.” Her eyes held a promise for later.
“Mashed potatoes. Interesting,” was his only response.
Kerry thought about his words all through dinner, answering Aram’s questions while they all ate a slice of Americana. “Where’s your dad, Kerry?”
She gave a wry smile to Aram but their honesty was one of the reasons she loved working with kids. “I don’t know, actually. He had some problems when I was younger and I had to leave to take care of myself. I haven’t seen him in years.”
“Don’t you miss him?”
“I do, but I hope he’s happy and healthy wherever he is.”
“You don’t have any family, Kerry?” He looked like he was about to cry. “That’s okay. Now you have me and Father, right Father?”
“Of course,” Malik answered stiffly. And insincerely, she would have added. If she cared.
But she didn’t.
“Thank you, Aram, you’re such a sweetheart.”
He blushed but couldn’t hide the smile as he enjoyed his hamburger. “Thank you, Kerry. You’re a sweetheart too.”
She laughed at his tendency to mock grownup behaviors. “Thank you, Aram.”
She split a brownies a la mode with the little boy, who spent a lot of time groaning with pleasure. Malik sat quietly beside her, doing his best to make her lose her mind with wanting him. His hand slid up her thigh, his pinky grazed her swollen sex through her jeans. “Who’s ready for bed?”
“I am,” Malik said, his words but a gravelly whisper in her ear.
Dammit, she was too.
* * *
“Oh! You scared the hell out of me, Malik.” She smacked his shoulder with one arm and held her towel up with the other. Fresh from a shower, her hair was wet and her slick skin felt like it had been electrified.
“Sorry,” He grinned, not looking sorry at all. “I just wanted to say goodnight.”
Kerry raised her eyebrows questioningly. “Really?”
Malik nodded, that sexy smirk still curling his mouth.
“Okay then,” she dropped her towel, “goodnight.”
Malik swallowed a groan, honey-brown eyes hot as they traced over her teardrop breasts, down her waist and flared hips before they settled on the small waxed ‘W’ between her legs. “Goodnight,” he said, letting his gaze stay focused there until she squeezed her thighs together.
Walking around him to her nightstand, Kerry rubbed peach scented lotion into her skin, completely ignoring the way her body stayed on edge when he was around. Her breasts hung heavy and she turned to face him. “Goodnight, Malik.”
His face twisted in a scowl that slowly morphed into a sultry smile. “It will be,” he purred until she shuddered. “Now that I have you here naked, and wet, and wanting me.”
“Whatever will you do with me?”
He spent the rest of the night showing her instead.
* * *
Malik froze at the sound of Chantal’s voice interrupting his Friday night with Aram. “Chantal, what are you doing here?”
She huffed and smoothed her already slicked-back chestnut hair, head tilted with upper class annoyance. “I figured you’d forgotten about our date at the Red Ball, which is why I’m here. It shouldn’t take you too long to get dressed.” Chantal watched him expectantly, waiting for him to hop up and do her bidding.
Too bad Malik didn’t do anyone’s bidding but his own. “I have Aram this evening, Chantal.”
“Get your nanny to take care of him; it’s just a few hours. And you promised to be my date.”
“I promised to escort you to the Red Ball,” he sighed and rolled his eyes, “so I will, but don’t ever march into my home and presume to tell me how to handle my affairs.”
She nodded but her beautiful face was pinched into an unattractive scowl. “Of course, but you agreed to this evening. And maybe we’ll have a good time and you’ll want to continue it…at my place.” Her attempts at seduction weren’t working but it wasn’t personal, mostly. She was just the wrong woman.
Which brought his attention back to the right woman. Who was probably about to lose her mind when he asked her to babysit his son. So he could go on a date with another woman. It wasn’t a date, of course, but that was exactly how she would see it. Malik swallowed his nerve and knocked.
“Hey.” She smiled up at him, eyes sparkling happily to see him.
“Hi.” His smile was nervous. “Can I come in for a minute?”
Kerry’s smile dimmed but she took a step back and opened the door. “What’s up?”
“I’m sorry about this, but I forgot that I agreed to go to this black tie event with Chantal.” He heard the intake of breath and she nodded, motioning for him to continue. “She’s shown up now and I can’t turn her away at the last minute.”
“Of course not,” she replied, voice even and emotionless. “You want me to watch Aram,” she said rather than asked.
“Yes. If that would be alright. I shouldn’t be gone for more than a few hours.”
“Fine.” Arms crossed, she gave him a blank stare and waited for him to leave. But he couldn’t.
He needed to hold her, to let her know it would all be alright. Reaching out to her, he froze when she leaned away from his touch. “Kerry, please.”
“Enjoy your evening. I’m happy to take care of Aram.”
He groaned, wanting to say more to her, but knowing he couldn’t say anything that would help when he left with Chantal. “We’ll talk when I get back.”
* * *
“We’ll talk when I get back,” he'd said to her, like a promise. Or maybe it was a threat. Well she didn’t give two damns what he meant it to be, she had no interest in talking, especially not about this. Not with him.
Yes, it sucked a lot to think about him all dressed up and going out with another woman, particularly Chantal, who was everything she was not. Tall and slim to Kerry’s petite athleticism. Sophisticated and high-class to her own casual, laidback blue-collar roots. Chantal and Malik made sense, Kerry and Malik did not. She had to remember that when she got too upset about watching them walk away like the most stunning version of Ken and Barbie that had ever existed.
Malik wasn’t hers to be jealous over. He’d promised her nothing and she had no right to ask anything of him. Especially fidelity.
That also meant she owed him nothing beyond the job she was paid to do. So after getting Aram settled in bed, she locked her door in case Malik was tempted to make yet another late-night booty call. Since she hadn’t slept much, she’d heard him try her door—once—and walked away.
By the time the sun pinkened the sky, she’d called it quits on trying to sleep, donned a green swimsuit underneath a pair of denim shorts and beach-themed tank top, and took off for the beach. She needed some time to herself to regroup. When she was a girl in Oregon, there was a small lake she would visit when her dad got too drunk to remember she was just a child and needed things like food and running water. As much as I wished not to be that girl, it would seem I am.
It didn’t matter that she felt herself falling in love with Malik when the truth was she was just a convenient lay for him. She had no delusions—okay, maybe she had a few delusions—that the connection she felt was mutual. It wasn’t.
Finding a spot close to the water, she laid out her towel, lathered on sunscreen, and pulled her sketchpad from her bag. She let her hands skate over the book while her mind churned over how Malik had spent the evening with Chantal.
No, I don’t. It was important that she remember his actions were none of her concern. Just because she’d made the mistake of letting her feelings get involved didn’t mean there was a chance for more with him. No, and she couldn’t keep being his dirty little secret. The woman he slept with in the dead of night while women like Chantal, respectable women, were granted dates out in the real world.
Not this bubble of security and privacy.
She loved him but she couldn’t love him.
Because she couldn’t have him.
Which means I can’t stay, she finally concluded.
Only she couldn’t be yet another person to abandon Aram.
So I have to stay and I have to be strong.
Kerry could do that. She’d been doing it all her life.