What Donovan Wants (The Accidental Series, Book 4) (8 page)

“
You mean
glass.”

Kamila grinned. “No, I had it right.”

“
All right...but the last
thing you need is a hangover. You need to be on top of your game
when you get to that office tomorrow.”

“
Yeah, you’re right.
Okay,
glass
it
is.”

“
Okay, girl. Call me and
let me know how it goes.”

“
Will do. Bye.”

“
Bye.”

Kamila opened the door to get out of the
car. She left her briefcase in the back seat because tomorrow,
she’d be driving to Norfolk.

~
Chapter Eleven
~

Kamila was a
ball of nervousness as she pulled up in visitor
parking at Zenadel. She sucked in a long, steady breath, exhaled
deeply and said, “You can do this, Kamila. You can do this.” She
opened the door, got out of the car then took her briefcase from
the back seat.

After signing in with the receptionist and
receiving a temporary visitor’s badge, she nervously paced the
floor while waiting for the C.E.O. to meet her in the lobby.

“
Well hello there,” a
Caucasian, blue-eyed man wearing a black suit said, extending his
hand to shake hers. He resembled George Clooney and had silver hair
like Bill Clinton. He looked to be in his late forties. Early
fifties even. “I’m Dan Zenadel.”

Kamila gave him a firm shake. “I’m Kamila
Jenkins. Nice to meet you Mr. Zenadel.”

“
You as well.” He looked
at his watch, a shiny, gold one that looked as expensive as his
suit. “Let’s see...ah...we’re going to head up to the third floor.
I got a conference room reserved for the day.”

“
Okay. Sounds
good.”

“
How was your drive
in?”

“
It was okay...didn’t run
into too much traffic.”

“
What’s that...about an
hour drive from Richmond?”

“
Actually, it took me
about an hour and a half.”

“
That’s not too
bad.”

“
No, not at
all.”

Mr. Zenadel pressed the up button for the
elevator, then allowed her to pass by him. He stepped in behind her
and pressed the number three.

Once off the elevator, he showed her to a
conference room, where he told her to get comfortable and set up
while he went to get coffee for the both of them. After about ten
minutes, he came back handed her a cup of coffee and sat across
from her, crossing his legs.

“
So, lay it on me,” he
said, interlocking his fingers.

Kamila didn’t hesitate getting down to
business. The quicker she could move, the faster she could get out
of the building without running into Donovan. She showed Mr.
Zenadel a PowerPoint presentation of rate comparisons with the top
insurance companies in the area. She extended him a few perks
offered by LightSite that other companies didn’t offer.

He took her to lunch
around one, talking mostly about the history of his company and the
progress of the city in the last ten years – boring stuff to which
Kamila only smiled and nodded to. It came as no surprise, but she
also found out that Donovan
did
give her name to Mr. Zenadel, stating to him how
she was very dedicated to her job, and how good it would be to
partner with LightSite because he’d only heard good things about
them. Kamila figured as much.

Impressed with the company and Kamila’s
professionalism, Mr. Zenadel agreed to sign a contract with
LightSite on the spot but told Kamila that since it was late in the
day, he would need her to come back tomorrow to finish up some
paperwork and sign up employees who were interested.

Kamila agreed, having informed her boss of
the good news and that she would need to get a hotel for the night
since she didn’t want to drive back home, only to get up early
again and drive back out there in the morning. Johnny was elated
and told her to do whatever she thought was necessary to satisfy
this new client, even if that meant she had to stay longer.

* * *

At the end of the day, Kamila packed up her
briefcase, proud of herself for the presentation and that she was
able to effectively represent LightSite with this large
corporation. She shook Mr. Zenadel’s hand and as she headed out,
she caught a glimpse of Donovan, looking extremely breathtaking in
a charcoal suit. He was sitting in an office, the door open,
looking out into the hallway. She walked quickly for the elevator
when she heard her name roll smoothly off of his tongue as if he’d
just spoken to her yesterday. It had been nearly two months since
she’d seen or spoken to him.

“
Kamila.”

She didn’t want to, but she stopped and
turned around to speak. However, words didn’t come forth. She was
temporarily mute, in complete astonishment by his striking good
looks. Was it the suit that made him look so handsome, or was it
the fact that he was clean shaven? Had his hair edged up to
perfection? It could have been the look in his eyes as he stared
her down like he wanted to take her into his office and finish up
were they left off in her room on the ship that night. Kamila
swallowed hard, awakening from her trance then said, “Hi. How are
you?” keeping with the professionalism she displayed throughout the
day.

“
Hi,” he said, stopping a
few feet in front. “Good to see you again.”

She flashed a lackluster smile and said,
“Yeah...um, I gotta go.”

“
Wait...how long are you
in town?”

“
I’ll be back here
tomorrow, but somehow, I think you knew that already.”

Trying to conceal a smirk, he said, “Well if
you’re free tonight, I would like to buy you dinner.”

“
I’m not free.” Kamila
glanced at her watch. “I really gotta go.” She took a few steps
towards the elevator door.

“
Why are you running,
Kamila?”

“
I’m not running.
I’m
walking
to
the elevator. I have to go.”

“
Go where?” he
challenged.

“
That’s none of your
concern.” She pressed the down button near the elevator.

“
Wait,” Donovan said
again, joining her by the elevator doors. “While you’re here, I
would like for you to meet my son.”

“
Why?”

“
I spoke so much about him
on the cruise...just thought you would like to meet
him.”

“
Maybe some other time,”
she said stepping onto the elevator, glad for a moment that she was
finally able to get away from him, but when he stepped on after
her, she knew it was going to be a long ride down to the ground
floor.

When the elevator doors closed, Donovan
stood on the opposite wall of her with his hands in his pockets,
watching her for a moment. Admiring her. Remembering her. Then he
said, “I miss you.”

Kamila gave him a hard,
cold-eyed stare then looked down at her shoes to avoid looking at
him any longer.
Gosh, why does he have to
be so fine?
And why in this moment was she
recalling every detail of the last night they spent together on the
cruise?

Donovan would’ve liked to hear her say that
she missed him too, but since she said nothing he just stared at
her, admiring her professional look – her curly strands pulled up
in a ponytail and rolled in a bun, while she rocked a black
knee-length dress suit with a ruffled white blouse underneath and
red shoes that matched her shade of lipstick. He remembered kissing
those lips and dreaming about kissing them again every day for the
last two months, along with other things he’d liked to do to
her.

Breaking the awkward silence, he said, “I
want you to meet D.J.” He took a card out of his pocket and
scribbled something. “Here’s my address.” He handed her the card,
but when she didn’t reach to take it, he stuck it in a side pocket
of her purse. “Hope to see you later.”

The elevator doors opened and Kamila
couldn’t get out of there fast enough. A part of her wanted to go
to his house, but then she remembered Lori’s advice – that she
deserved better. After all, Donovan didn’t even have the decency to
say goodbye to her after they’d spent a vacation together. Now he
wanted her to meet his son? Weird.

~ Chapter Twelve ~

Donovan walked back
into his office and shut the door. He wanted
Kamila to come by his house more than anything. He liked her and
realized that since meeting her, he hadn’t thought about Shayla.
Actually, since coming home after the cruise, he hadn’t thought
about Shayla at all. Instead, he came to the realization that his
fixation on her was an intense longing for something he wanted
desperately, something he yearned for – love – and the way he
watched Shayla love Carter made him want a love like
that.

So deciding to be a man about it and fess up
to his error, he found Carter’s number in his cell and called it.
He didn’t know what to expect from Carter, being that the last time
they spoke, Carter threatened his life.

“
What do you want,
Donovan?” Carter answered.

“
What’s up, man? How’s it
going?”

“
Skip the small talk. What
do you want?”

“
I realized that I owe you
and Shayla an apology. So for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about what
went down. I know you love Shayla and she loves you and I remember
now how good it feels to be in love with a woman who completes you.
You have that with Shayla, and I wish you all the best.”

“
Appreciate
that.”

“
Ah’ight. Take care.”
Donovan hung up the phone and packed up his briefcase. He wanted to
be home and settled in case Kamila decided to come over.

* * *

Having an unexpected meeting late in the
afternoon had Donovan in a sour mood. He rushed home, dropped his
briefcase next to a coat rack and scanned the house for his mother.
She watched D.J. after school until he got off work, something she
enjoyed because it gave her ample bonding time with her
grandson.

He saw her sitting in the living room, her
feet propped up on the table.

“
Hey, has anyone been by
this evening?” he asked her.

“
Well hello to you too,
son.”

“
Hello,
Mother.”

“
And no one has been by.
Are you expecting someone?”

“
Ah...yeah. I was.”
Donovan took off his suit jacket and loosened his necktie. Then he
sat on the couch with his mother and said, “I never told you this,
but I met someone on the cruise.”

“
You did?” she said,
perking up, her eyes bright.

“
Yes. She’s a little
younger than me, but I really like her and...um...we got
married.”

“
You did what!”

“
We got married on the
cruise. It wasn’t supposed to mean anything. We were actually
supposed to get the marriage annulled, but she’s been growing on me
so I’ve been intentionally putting it off.”

“
Son, please tell me
you’re pulling some sort of prank on me.”

“
No, I’m not. Isn’t that
what you wanted? For me to meet someone, get married and find a
mother for D.J.?”

“
Yes, son, I wanted you to
remarry, but not just any ol’ body.”

“
She’s not
just
anybody. She’s
special, Mother. I saw her today for the first time after the
cruise and I invited her here.”

“
So let me get this
straight...you get married on the boat, part ways and you haven’t
seen her in two months.”

“
I saw her today
and—”

“
Now I know I raised you
better than that...”

“
Yes, ma’am you did.”
Donovan rubbed his hands across his head. “And yes, I do want to be
with her, but I’m not sure what she wants. She’s coming out of a
bad situation and I told her I wasn’t looking for anything serious
either.”

“
Marriage is as serious as
it gets, Donovan.”

“
You’re right. I know
that.”

“
And why are you expecting
her if she’s not interested in you?”

“
I told her I wanted her
to meet D.J.”

Just then, the doorbell rang. Donovan smiled
and turned to quickly sprint to the door. He opened it and saw
Kamila standing there.

“
Hi. Didn’t think you
would make it.”

“
I’m not staying
long...just wanted to meet D.J.”

Donovan gave her an annoyed squint. “Come
in, Kamila.”

Kamila stepped into the foyer of his castle,
looking around at the spacious, well-decorated house. His home
looked to be professionally done with lavish plants and expensive,
top-of-the-line furniture. She followed him to another room where
she saw a woman sitting on the couch.

“
Kamila this is my Mother,
Phyllis. Mother, this is my...” He looked at Kamila. What exactly
was she to him? Then he chose the safe route and said, “My friend,
Kamila.”

Kamila bit her tongue. She
felt like screaming.
Why are you
introducing me to your Mother?

“
Nice to meet you,
Kamila.”

“
Nice to meet you too,
Phyllis,” Kamila responded.