To Love a Man (16 page)

However
Desiree was livid. The fact that he kept stopping her from entering his room made her think something was seriously wrong. And it was at the point that they both realized it didn’t matter if Ramón was famous or not her son was in the hospital and in her eyes Ramón was to blame.

Ramón tried to talk to her again surely she would want to calm down before seeing her son.
“Look I know you are upset but he ran into my daughter they are both fine they just want to keep them overnight for observation. So you don’t need to check on him right about now. Why don't we go down to your car get your change of clothes so you can stay with him?”

“No thank you now if you will excuse me.”

She pulled the door opened and walked into the room. It was dark except for the light flicker from the television on the wall. She heard his soft snore and her heart welled up with emotions as she watched Zack sleep in the bed. As she walked towards him she noticed another snore she looked over to Maddie and smiled at the little girl who was snuggled up in the bed. She walked over and kissed Zack on the cheek then walked over to Maddie and pulled her covers up to her shoulder.

Ramón watched as she checked on both the children and was touched at how she caressed Maddie
’s head. As she stepped back out of the room she let out a deep sigh.

“You put them both in here to protect them?” she said wiping the tears from her eyes.

Ramón placed his hands into the pocket of his Levi Jeans. “I wanted to be able to watch both at once. They didn’t seem to mind I think they like being around each other.”

He looked down to her.

“Look my place is about five minutes from here lets go to your car and get your things and you can change and take a shower there.”

She let out a laugh and for the first time that night Ramón saw her eyes soften.

“Oh yeah that would be great except don't have a car or a change of clothes.” He saw her blush and he shook his head.

“Why not?”
he asked leaning his right shoulder against the wall while folding his arms curious to hear the answer.

She sighed
resting her wet back against the same wall. “When I got the call he was in the hospital I drove right to the airport I am lucky I grabbed my purse.” She said holding up her bag.

Ramón looked her up and down and licked his lips
seductively something that she hadn’t miss him do. “I was wondering why you would be here in that little dress…you were on a date weren’t you?” he inquired.

“Excuse me?”
she asked narrowing her eyes at him.

Ramón moved closer
to her with a smile in his eyes.

“You were on a date I mean look at you all dolled up. Does your husband know about this? He should be a little upset I know I am; I thought we had something special.”

Desiree felt the heat rise within her as he looked at her with eyes of wanting. She looked away from him trying her hardest not to get caught up in his trap.

“My ex
-husband has no say in what I do and neither do you for that matter.” She said pushing herself off of the wall. Taking his lead from her he followed her and pushed himself off of the wall smiling.

“Oh and what makes you think that I don't have any say in what you do.”

She rolled her eyes and began to walk away from him in search of a bathroom. He followed her and reached out to her.

“
Wait ok. I am sorry I didn’t mean to bother you and well…”

H
e stopped for a second unbuttoning his light blue collared shirt leaving him with a fruit of a loom undershirt on and handed it over to her. She took it and placed it over her wet dress. He cleared his throat.

“
I really think we should get you out of those wet clothes. The kids are sleep we will only be gone a little while. My mom and dad are up here and they won’t mind on checking on them.”

“No.
Thank you but no.” She said walking away from him again but once again he stopped her.

“Come on you
’re starting to smell, you can use my shower then change and I promise I will try to keep my comments to myself.”

She thought over his suggestion but stopped when she saw the smile creep back onto his face. She shook her head.

“No I don't need your charity.” She said angrily.

He exhaled
deeply; she could tell he was getting frustrated. “Desiree I know you thought I was talking badly about you but I wasn’t. I like you I think you are a beautiful woman who I have the upmost respect for. I am so sorry for hurting your feelings last week so please let me take you to my house I won’t say or do anything stupid.” He said sincerely.

Desiree looked at him
seeing the sweetness in his eyes and then looked down at herself.

“Well I do hate the way I feel right now. If you’re sure your parents won’t mind.”
She said trying to convince herself that the shiver that just shot up her core from the thought of being alone with Ramón was nothing more than the wetness of the clothes messing with her. But looking at Ramón in that t-shirt allowed her to see his well-defined body and as she looked up to his strong neck and up towards his lips and wondered what they would taste like. She shook it off as someone walked up beside them.

“Won’t mind what?”

Desiree turned to see Rachael
and Joseph staring at them. She straightened out her hair as Ramón looked towards his mom.

“Mind me taking Desiree back to my house so she can change, she fell into a mop bucket
and has no change of clothes.”

Ramón didn’t miss the sarcastic glare
Desiree gave him as the words left his lips. Rachael looked at her.

“You poor thing
.” she glanced at her husband and he nodded. She smiled “of course we don't mind you go get cleaned up the kids will be fine.”

“Thank you for being here Mr
. and Mrs. Norris.” Desiree said biting her bottom lip.

Rachael waved her off
. “Call me Rachael and that is Joe. And trust me we don't mind. You go ahead the kids are sleep and if anything changes while you guys are gone I will call.”

Desiree gave her a weak smile.
“I would hug you but.”

“I know.”
Rachael said patting Desiree’s arm.

Desiree
waved to them as she followed Ramón to his car. She wondered why they were headed to the back parking deck until it hit her that she was with Ramón so of course there probably were reporters waiting for him. She stopped at his black and silver 2010 Lincoln.

“This isn’t the same car you drove before.”
She said glancing over the vehicle.

“I know.”
He said smiling down to her.

She looked at him tilting her head up.
“You have more than one car?”

“Don’t look so surprised
” he said hitting the door unlock button on his key chain. “People do that you know.”

She moved closer to the car.
“What does one person need with two cars?”

“
Four.” He corrected her.

She turned towards him shocked.
“You have four cars? Four? Why?” she shook her head.

“I like options.
And I have a lot of options.” He winked at her.

She not getting the joke kept looking at him not understanding how people could waste so much money on things like cars.
“Even if I had the money, which I don’t, but when you don't have a spouse or a kid who can drive one car is all you need.” She said.

“Are you gonna get in or not.”
He said feeling annoyed at her comment.

“
No need for the attitude.” She said feeling his anger.

“I don't have an attitude.”
He looked at her and she frowned. She looked at him and grabbed his right arm.

“
Did I hurt your feelings talking about your cars?”

“N
o.” he said flatly.

“I’m sorr
y I was just asking a question. I have to remember to watch what I say.”

“
It’s not a big deal are you gonna get in or not?” he asked wanting her to hurry up. Ramón frowned trying to let the annoyance go. She had absolutely no problem telling him off and he had to admit it was growing on him.

Desiree looked down to herself after looking at the leather interior of his car.
“So how are we going to do this because I smell and am wet?”

“I thought of that.”
He said going to the trunk and pulling out a duffle bag. In the bag, he pulled out one of his jerseys. She smiled and took it.

“Is this your playoff jersey?”
she said looking it over.

“How did you guess?”
he asked masking his surprise.

“Is it?”
she questioned.

“Yeah. The very one I made the game winning dunk in to get us to the playoffs but it wasn’t lucky enough to get us to the finals.”

She smiled widely and shook her head. “And you don't mind letting me use it?”

“Not at all. So you can put that over my shirt which is covering your dress and it should be ok.
” He said looking around the empty parking deck.

“O
k.” She said as placed the jersey over his shirt and felt a rush of emotions hit her. She felt proud wearing his shirt. It was long enough to be considered one on her. She stepped into the car and put her seatbelt on.

He followed suit and got into the driver’s seat.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“
As ok as I can be, I feel like I am letting this smell seep into my skin.”

He laughed as he began to drive to his house. As she glanced
out the side window he glanced over to her and really loved how in the moonlight she looked even more beautiful.

Desiree smiled to herself trying to
fight the urge to look at him. The worst part was when she did look at him. He chose that time to lick his lips and she blushed as her body started reacting to his tongue sliding against his lips. She looked back out the window enjoying the comfortable silence.

As Ramón pulled into the wrap around driveway she sat in awe at the pure beauty of his house. The tan and brown brick Veneer home was lit up by florescent lights that surrounded the premises. She loved the double stairs in front of the house. The white wooded staircase was accompanied by the same brown and tan bricks in
place of wooden stairs that led up to the brick covered porch.  The full porch was completed by two huge bay windows. The five bedrooms, four baths took Desiree’s breath away.

She felt the beauty leave her speechless.
“Wow. It’s beautiful.”

“Thanks. You know I am sorry about what happened?”
he said moving towards her.

She looked at him confused. He hadn’t done anything during the ride.
“When?” She questioned.

“To your son and what you heard.”
He said looking down to her.

She shook her head,
“What I heard is in the past and as for Zack well it was an accident so it's ok.” She smiled at him and his heart stopped. She had the most beautiful eyes even hidden behind her square rimmed glasses. She shut his door and turned towards the house, he stood behind her.

“I am really
sorry about last week.” He said.

“
It’s fine.” She said knowing he was sorry.

H
e turned towards her. “No it's not. I was wrong and I am sorry.”

She placed her hand in his and smiled. “
And I said I forgive you, you are making up for it now.”

They walked towards the house and she looked around. A roar
of thunder hit and she jumped at the sound of thunder and stopped in her tracks. Ramón laughed as she held him closer to her. She looked up to the sky.

“Is it supposed to rain tonight?”
she asked feeling a little scared.

“I don't know but I think we should get inside before it rains.”

She glanced around his yard and inhaled.

“I love the smell of rain but I hate the sound of thunder.
” She said closing her eyes and inhaling again. He watched her for a moment and smiled.

“I don't smell anything?”

“It's like a fresh clean flowery smell. It happens like right before the rain falls. It’s like the flowers way of saying rain down on me. It's so calming.”

Ramón smiled to her.
“Yeah well you know what else is calming.”

Before Ramón could respond rain poured down from the sky like a tidal wave had hit. Ramón grabbed her hand and they ran up the stairs on the left to the porch laughing. She smiled looking at the huge Oak door with a beautiful design made from fiberglass. While he fiddled with the keys, she removed her glasses unable to see a thing with them on. The rain felt like little pebbles being softly tossed at them. Once inside she laughed harder taking off her heels.