The Law of Desire (14 page)

L
awrence couldn’t keep his eyes off Minerva. No one could have told him, when he first saw her on his beat three months ago, that he would fall for her the way he had.

The party was actually just what they both needed. After several days with only each other to talk to and be with, being around a crowd was probably a good thing. Too bad the only thing he really wanted to do was be with her. Alone.

“So who’s the girl?” Jason nodded across the room to where Minerva was chatting with the women in their family.

The women, led by his mother, Celia Hightower, had pretty much converged on Minerva the moment they walked in. It was the first time Lawrence had brought a woman to a family gathering, and he guessed that his mother was trying to figure out everything she could about Minerva.

“Yeah, since when did you start bringing a date to family functions? This is new. She must be special.” Joel leaned against the wall and offered his two cents.

“So who is she? You’d better get her from over there by Mom. She’ll have you walking down the aisle in no time. Look at what happened with these two clowns.” Patrick rolled his eyes in mock disgust at Joel and Jason.

Lawrence frowned. His brothers had seen Minerva before. “Don’t you guys remember her from a few months back, at the happy hour. She was hanging with the McKnights?”

“The criminal chick?” Joel scrunched up his eyebrows as he stared across the floor at Minerva.

“She’s not a criminal.” Lawrence shook his head.

“That’s her? Dang, she looks different. Didn’t she have wilder hair? And wasn’t she pissed off at you for arresting her? Why would she even come to the party with you?” Jason also stared as he took in all the changes.

“He arrested her? So what are you doing? You’re bringing criminals to the party? What the hell is wrong with you?” Patrick snapped.

“You dating criminals now?” Joel offered with a smirk. “Dang, bro, are times that hard? I would have thought with Jason and me off the market, old guys like you and Patrick would have more opportunities—not less.”

He groaned. At this rate, he wouldn’t make it through the night. “She’s not a criminal. And we’re not dating.”
Not exactly dating…
They were so much more and yet…“And for the record, you two being out of the game could never have an impact on a player like me. We weren’t even in the same league. I was light-years ahead of y’all.”

Did he just talk about his player skills in the past tense? He wasn’t even going to touch it.

“Okay, if you’re not dating her, then why is she here with you?” Patrick twisted up his lips in disbelief. “Am I going to be the only one who will be able to resist and remain single? You clowns are dropping like flies, one by one. I refuse to go out like that.”

Lawrence explained as much of the situation to his brothers as he could without kissing and telling. He decided it was best to leave those parts out. But he did fill them in on the threats to Minerva and how he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.

When he was done, his brothers were each nodding their heads.

“If you need anything, any help at all, bro, you got it.” Jason offered with a genuine expression on his face.

“Yeah, man, if I can do anything let me know. That poor girl has been through a lot. And if she’s cool with you, she’s cool with me.” Joel patted him on the back.

“I’m here if you need me, too. But be careful. Be sure you know exactly who she is this time. She came into town pretending to be someone she clearly wasn’t and who’s to say that this incarnation is the real her.” Patrick’s face had softened a little but he still had his underlying guard up.

Watching her talk and laugh with his mother and the other women, Lawrence knew in his heart he was looking at the real her. And he also knew he wanted her in his life. Forever.

“This is my girl! My girl…umm…umm…” Carla snapped her fingers trying to remember Minerva’s name.

“Minerva.” Minerva nervously glanced across the beautifully decorated hall in the Elks Lodge to where Lawrence was standing chatting with his brothers as she helped Carla remember her name.

She’d never been to a surprise birthday party like this before. The small hall was decked out with lots of flowers, balloons and streamers. Everyone was dressed to impress and having a great time.

“Minerva…Minnie! That’s right. My girl! What you doing coming up in here with Lawrence? The last time I saw y’all together you looked like you wanted to cut him. Oooo, y’all shoulda seen it. He came up in the Laundromat beasting after her like Jason used to be beasting after your Penny when you first came home, remember?” Carla’s neck moved as she spoke with barely contained excitement.

“Really, that’s interesting.” Celia Hightower smiled, as she looked Minerva over. “How long have you been seeing my son?”

“Oh, we’re not seeing each other, really, we…well…he’s just watching out for me until they catch the murderers.” She explained as much of her situation with Lawrence as she could to them without letting them know how much he had rocked her world.

“Oh, you poor girl. You’ve had a rough few months.” Celia hugged her.

“My girl is tough, she can hang. Y’all shoulda seen her in the Laundromat, she all but ran Lawrence out of there.” Carla’s voice seemed to fill the room.

“Really?” Penny’s eyebrow arched as she grinned.

Minerva thought that Penny looked very familiar and couldn’t help staring at the beautiful woman. It was only when she smiled that she realized where she knew Penny from. She was the former video girl, Penny Keys. Calvin used to have posters and calendars with Penny Keys’s scantly clad pictures all over the walls in his bedroom. He used to say he was going to marry Penny Keys one day. It was between Penny Keys and another hot video model at that time, Maritza Morales. Minerva used to wish she would grow up and fill out in the way that those women were built. She had developed a cute shape, but it was nothing to rival the tall, shapely video girls.

Penny Hightower still held her breathtaking beauty. The hair that used to be long and chemically processed now flowed down her back in curly sisterlocks. Her soft brown skin now radiated a vibrant expectant mother glow. And even with her very pregnant belly sticking out, she still had an amazing shape. Her copper eyes sparkled with warmth and friendship.

“I would have liked to have seen that one. Between Lawrence and Patrick, I don’t know which Hightower brother is more surly.” Samantha, Joel’s fiancée, shook her head as she laughed.

Samantha had the kind of earthy beauty that radiated from within and spread outward, touching everyone she came in contact with. Her silky chocolate skin was flawless and her jet-black natural hair was in neat twists and hung just past her shoulders. She also had one of those grown-woman figures that Minerva now knew she would never have.

If these were the kind of women that the Hightower men married, then her petite frame probably didn’t stand a chance. These women had boobies for days, hips and long legs. She was a member of the itty-bitty-titty committee. And while she had a nice round behind and hips, it was very much in proportion with her height and size. She didn’t have a booming booty, as she remembered her brother and his friends calling them back in the day. She thought back to Lawrence’s comments in the Laundromat about her not being his type.

“Well, until a certain physical therapist came into Joel’s life, your fiancé might have given Patrick and Lawrence a run for their money in that contest,” Penny said jokingly.

“Oh, the same could be said for Jason until you came along, Penny,” Celia offered with a smile.

“And look at Lawrence now. He can barely keep his eyes off Minerva.” Samantha’s eyes gleamed with mischief.

“That’s because he probably thinks I’m gonna run off.” Minerva laughed lightly.

“Oh, Lawrence is probably my most slow-to-trust child. But once a person earns his trust and love, they’ll have it for life. He’s the most like his father in that regard. So it seems fitting that he would fall for you.”

“He hasn’t fallen for me, Mrs. Hightower. I mean…well…I just think he wants to help to do the right thing that’s all…”

“And he had to take you all the way to the Poconos for that? Girl, they could have put you into any number of safe houses around the city or the county for that. And he brought you to a family gathering? Trust me. Even if my son is too dense to get it yet, he’s into you without a doubt.”

“I think I’d have to agree with you on that one, Mama Celia.” Penny nodded.

“Me, too. He can’t keep his eyes off her and he has that
look
on his face.” Samantha giggled.

“Yeah, the let-me-make-sure-she-doesn’t-flee look. The let-me-make-sure-she-doesn’t-make-one-false-moveso-I’d-have-to-arrest-her look.” Minerva laughed even though it was the last thing she felt like doing. “I’m sorry to burst your bubbles, but the only
look
Detective Lawrence Hightower is giving me is the look that a cop gives a suspect. The man thinks I’m the guiltiest woman to walk the planet.”

“When you’re dealing with a Hightower man, especially a Hightower cop, sometimes you
are
guilty. Guilty of stealing his heart…And he can’t keep his eyes off you because he’s too busy trying to figure out how you did it.” Celia laughed. “One day, I’m gonna have to tell you ladies the story about how I met my James. Let’s just say that Minerva and I may have a lot in common. But tonight is not about me. It’s about the birthday girl.”

Penny patted her pregnant belly. “Uh-uh, you can’t drop that tantalizing bit of information on us and expect us to just let it go. We want the goods.”

“Maybe another time.” Celia glanced around the room. “I sure hope Sophie doesn’t decide to crash the party. It’s been nice and quiet around lately since we banned her from family gatherings.”

“If she knows what I know, she’ll stay away. I still owe her a butt kicking from Penny’s wedding. She would not want to come up in my baby’s birthday party acting like she acts.” Carla’s face took on a scowl.

“Who is this Sophie?” Minerva asked, noticing the sour expressions that came over all the women’s faces as soon as Celia mentioned the woman’s name.

“She’s Celia’s sister-in-law. She’s pretty much a snob who thinks no woman is good enough for the Hightower name. And she will go out of her way to be insulting and try to sabotage your relationship if she thinks you and Lawrence are getting serious. She’ll do it just because she’s pretty much evil. She’s hated me since I was a kid. She tried to get Samantha fired from her job and she has given Mama Celia the blues for years. But you don’t have to worry. You won’t have to deal with her tonight. I think she’d rather die than attend a party thrown in my honor.” Penny rolled her eyes in disgust through most of her rant, but at the end she had a big grin on her face.

Minerva assumed that grin was because Sophie wasn’t coming to the party. She made a mental note to try to stay out of this Sophie woman’s way. It wasn’t as if she’d be around for long anyway, or as if she and Lawrence had a relationship for the woman to sabotage.

“Well, enough of talking about meddlesome killjoys. I’m going to find my husband for a nice dance.” Celia Hightower shimmied her shoulder and did a little spin before walking away.

“Me, too.” Carla took off in search of Gerald.

“I guess I can spare a dance for my fine husband since he pulled off this big surprise without me knowing it.” Penny didn’t seem like she needed a lot of convincing at all.

“Yeah, I have a few Beyoncé moves for my fiancé, with his fine self.” Samantha danced her way after the rest of the women.

Minerva watched the women make their way across the floor to the men and head off to the small dance floor. The room was packed with friends and family and the entire thing felt more than a little overwhelming. The fact that Lawrence had this much family to call his own added one more thing to the growing list of reasons why he was out of her league. She had no family left. And the one person she had thought was close was the person Lawrence believed to be her brother’s murderer.

“Would you like to dance?”

She looked up to find an extremely handsome guy standing beside her. He had a caramel complexion and the most vibrant hazel eyes she’d ever seen. She had a feeling she had better tell this wavy-haired brother no. But everyone else was on the dance floor having a great time. Lawrence probably wasn’t going to ask her to dance. And she liked dancing. So she followed him out onto the dance floor.

Playing was a fast R & B track by one of those teenybopper boy singers, who did more sliding around and grinding sans shirt than actually singing. It was fun to just sway with the rhythm and pretend she didn’t have a care in the world.

“So what’s your name? And how do you know my best friend, Penny?”

“My name is Minerva. And I actually just met Penny. I’m here with Lawrence, her brother-in-law. Do you know him?”

“Sure do. I pretty much grew up in that house. My other best friend is his brother, Penny’s husband, Jason. Penny, Jason and I have been friends ever since we were kids. They used to call us the Three Musketeers.” He smiled at the memory.

“Really? That’s cool you all managed to remain friends all this time. What’s your name, by the way?”

“My name is Terrell. So you’re here with Lawrence, huh? I’d better cut this dance short. I don’t want him to come over here and put me in my place or anything like that.”

“Please, it’s not like that.” She giggled even though her heart wanted it to be exactly like that.

“If you say so. But it looks like he’s found a dance partner. Hmm…Interesting choice.” There was a slight bristle in Terrell’s voice that hadn’t been there before.

She turned and saw that Lawrence was on the dance floor with a drop-dead-gorgeous woman. A tall, shapely woman with beautiful glossy black curls cascading down her back. She looked like she was either biracial or maybe Latina. She moved to the music like a woman who knew exactly what to do with her body.

Minerva plastered a smile on her face and turned back to Terrell. “See, I told you that you had nothing to worry about. Lawrence seems too busy to be concerned about what we’re doing.”
The jerk!