Scandalous (17 page)

Chapter 12

Sixteen days!

I had been married for sixteen sweet days, and that thought made me smile. I really was thoroughly happy being a wife, being Kenny's wife.
That man was gentle and kind, considerate and loving.

Yawning, I covered my mouth and then took another sip of coffee from the cup that rested on my desk.
But that didn't help: I yawned again.
I guess I was just sleepy.
I hadn't had too many restful nights since I'd become Mrs. Kenneth Larson.
Even though we'd been home for a week, Kenny and I were still having that great honeymoon kind of sex.
Well, great may have been an exaggeration, but it was honeymoon sex, and I was in love.
Wasn't that enough?

I stood up and strolled to the window.
Eight floors below, I watched the traffic crawl along Wilshire Boulevard, even though it was hours after the morning rush.

With a sigh, I allowed myself to wander back to my thoughts, trying to convince myself that loving Kenny and him loving me was enough.
That man really did have my heart.
But the thing was, he didn't ring my bell the way so many other men had.

The way Roman had.

Roman!
Since the last time I saw him, for the last twelve days, every time I had sex with Kenny, I thought about Roman.
Three people were in our marital bed; Kenny just didn't know it.

That was a really hard and horrible thing to admit, but I lied enough to know that it didn't make any sense to lie to yourself.
The truth was Kenny may have been between my legs, but Roman was all up in my head.

Kenny and Roman.
Two very different men.

Now I truly understood the difference between having sex and making love.

Making love to Kenny was a full body experience where my husband touched my heart and my soul.
In a strange way, I think it was because of Roman that I was more in tune to Kenny.
I was more aware, totally aware to all that Kenny made me feel.

But still, Kenny couldn't touch me the way Roman had.
It had only been two times, but Roman had heightened my sensitivities and lowered my sensibilities.
He could make me scream with just the brush of his lips.
He could make me cry with just a flick of his tongue.
And when he took me all the way
…
I'm telling you, there were moments with Roman when I came close to passing out.

But as intoxicating as that man had been, I had to get him out of my head.
'Cause crazy lovers and loving husbands didn't mix.

Pulling away from the window, I inhaled determination: I was going to stop thinking about Roman.
Cold turkey.
If I wanted to build a life with Kenny, no one else could be in the equation.
Not even an invisible no one.
So from this moment forward, no more thoughts about Roman.
For real, for real.

With my fortitude in place, I sank back into my chair, but before I could even lift my calculator from my desk, there were two knocks on the door.
I didn't say a word about coming in to the person on the other side, but the door opened anyway and my boss sauntered in like she owned the place.
So many days I wanted to tell Shelly to get over herself, that she was an employee just like the rest of us, that her last name was Brown and not Carnation.
But since I really couldn't stand her and hardly talked to her, I kept those thoughts to myself.

“
Is your report ready?
”
she asked me.

Jutting my chin toward the clock on the opposite wall, I said,
“
Uh
…
Shelly, the little
hand is on the eleven and the big hand is almost on the three
,
which means
…
.
”

“
I know what that means, Jasmine,
”
she snapped.
“
I know what time it is.
”

The fact that she would even answer me made that funny as all get
-
out.

I said,
“
Well, since you know how to tell time, you also know that my report is not due 'til noon.
”

She placed one hand on her hip and tossed her hair over her shoulder with the other.
“
I know what time the reports are due,
”
she said in a tone that reminded me she liked me about as much as I liked her.
“
But I have everyone else's and you know how I feel about being the best team in our department.
Right now, you're the weak link.
”

Inside, I rolled my eyes, but on the outside, I pasted a plastic smile on my face.
“
I'll have the report to you by noon.
”

“
Noon today?
”

Okay, now see?
This witch was just trying to work me.
Just trying to make me come out and disrespect her.
But I'd been through enough mean-girl moments in my life to just ignore her hate.
All I did was smile.
“
Noon today,
”
I said as sweetly as I could, though my words came out sounding more like a bark.

She waited another moment,
like
she was trying to think of something else to say, just to get on my nerves. Then she spun around.
I watched her sashay away as if she thought she was on some kind of runway.
Right when she got to the door, she turned back and said,
“
Noon, please.
”

That was it!
I was just about to curse her out when my gaze rose over her shoulder.
I gasped.
I had to hold onto my desk so that I wouldn't fall out of my chair.

“
What is wrong with you?
”
Shelly frowned and stared.

I know I had to be looking some kind of crazy, like I was having some kind of heart attack.
I could feel it: my eyes were opened wide, but not as wide as my mouth, I'm sure.
And my heart was pounding so hard I was sure Shelly could see it coming through my silk blouse.

But she didn't do a thing.
She didn't rush to call 911; she didn't offer me a glass of water.
Nothing.

Then she turned around.

“
Oh!
”
Even though her back was to me, I could hear her grin.
“
Well, hello,
”
she said to the object of my medical alert.

I sat there frozen as Shelly's eyes wandered up Roman and then back down again.

What in the world was this man doing here?

The scene played out in front of me.
I wanted to get up and stop it, stop her, stop them.
But it took me a moment to garner enough strength to even push myself up.
And another two moments for my legs to stop quivering enough for me to walk steady.

Shelly held out her hand to the man who had obviously come here to ruin my life.
“
I'm Shelly Brown. And you are
…
?
”

Before he could say a word, I wobbled over to the two of them.
“
He's a friend of mine,
”
I answered for him.

“
I know that,
”
Shelly said, not taking her eyes away from the man who'd turned my body and my mind inside-out.
“
But my mother raised me right.
I'd like to address your guest by his name.
”
She smiled as if she was auditioning for a toothpaste commercial.

He chuckled.
“
Just call me Roman,
”
he said, taking her hand.

“
What a beautiful name.
”
She tilted her head.
“
You know, you look familiar
…
.
”

“
Uh, Shelly, I'm gonna have to break this up.
I have a quick meeting with Roman and I have to get those numbers to you, remember?
”

She nodded, but her eyes were still on Roman.
“
I'm telling you, I know you from somewhere.
”

What was I going to have to do to get this woman out of my office?

Then she snapped her fingers.
“
I know.
You were sitting next to me at the wedding.
”
She turned to me.
“
Your
wedding.
”

“
Oh, yeah,
”
Roman said as if he now remembered her.

“
So you're a friend of Kenny's?
”

This was unbelievable.
Shelly and I were closer to enemies than we were to friends, so why was she all up in my Kool-Aid?

I motioned for Roman to step inside of my office and closed the door (at least I didn't slam it) right in Shelly's face.
I was pissed off at my boss, but nowhere near as pissed off as I was at Roman.

“
What in the world are you doing here?
”
I kept my voice low and controlled, but crossed my arms.

“
I've missed you,
”
he kinda whined.
“
Do you know how many days it's been?
”

Uh, yeah.
Twelve to be exact, but I ignored his question.
“
How did you even find out where I worked?
”

He shrugged.
“
You mentioned it once.
After I didn't hear from you, I looked it up.
But,
”
he took a step closer to me,
“
what does it matter?
”
Another step.
“
I'm here now.
”

He wrapped his arms around me as if I was his and he lowered his lips toward mine as if he planned on continuing the stupidity that we had started.
But before he could reach his target, I pushed him away and stepped back.

“
Roman!
”

“
What?
”
he asked, as if he couldn't figure out why I was upset.

“
For one, this is where I work.
How did you find out that I worked here?
”

“
You told me.
”

I didn't know if that was true or not. I couldn't remember. Hell, I could hardly think now that he was in front of me.

“
So I figured since we hadn't seen each other in so long, this would make for some great sex, right?
”

The memories of all that we'd done rushed to the forefront of my mind, but then, I shook those thoughts away.
What needed to be on my mind was getting him out of here and figuring out a way to make him stay away.

“
So,
”
Roman leaned back on the edge of my desk, stretched out his legs, and opened his arms giving me a full frontal view of what he had to offer,
“
I figured you and I could get in a nooner before we hooked up later.
”

Okay, it was truly time to call the police.
But what would I tell them?
That I'd had sex on the day before my wedding and the day after with a crazy man?
And that even though he was stalking me, I couldn't stop thinking about having him one more time?

I sighed
…
a bit from fear, a bit from desire.
“
Roman, the last time I saw you was supposed to be the last time.
”

“
I don't know why you keep denying yourself.
”

“
Because I'm married,
”
I said, much louder than I'd planned to.

“
So what?
”
He pushed himself up from the desk.
“
Jasmine, look, I know you've missed me as much as I missed you.
”

Was this man stalking my brain, too?

“
And we had a good thing going there,
”
he said as he strolled toward me.
“
There's no reason to give this up.
”