Brenda Jackson Read online

  “I see my sister’s been talking.”

  Kim shrugged. “What makes you think it was Olivia?”

  “Because Terrence knows better. A brother’s creed. He won’t tell my secrets and I won’t tell his.”

  Kim leaned forward, her brow arched. “Terrence has secrets?”

  Amusement flitted in Duan’s eyes. “None that Sherri needs to be concerned about, if that’s why you’re asking. They’re all in the past. The Holy Terror is now a changed man.”

  “So tell me your secrets, Duan. The good, the bad and the ugly.”

  He smiled. “Um, the good is that I volunteer my time with the boys’ club whenever I can.” He paused a moment. “The bad is that I have a low tolerance for those who break the law and then, because of some damn loophole in the legal system, get away with it.”

  Kim heard the anger in his voice. “Is there a particular case that rubbed you the wrong way?”

  There was no amusement in his eyes now. “There have been several, but the one that sticks out in my mind is a case I worked involving a woman who was kidnapped, raped and left for dead. We had all the evidence we needed. It should have been open and shut.”

  “But it wasn’t?”

  “No. One of our officers obtained evidence without a search warrant.”

  Kim pulled back, afraid to ask. “They dropped the charges?”

  “No, but he was sentenced on a lesser charge.”

  Kim could understand his frustration. As a nurse she had no tolerance for red tape. She’d seen people who needed to receive treatment denied the care because of administrative issues. That was one of the reasons she transferred to the emergency room. Less red tape. “More coffee?”

  His question pulled her out of her thoughts and she smiled. “No, thanks, I’m good.” She stared at him for a moment. “You’ve told me the good and the bad, so what’s the ugly?”

  Duan studied his nearly empty cup. Now that was an area he didn’t want to cover with her or anyone else. The ugliness in his life was his inability to forgive the person who’d given birth to him. God knew, he’d tried. And he’d gone so far as to search for her as a grown man of thirty, to let her know he’d forgiven her for what she’d done and to find closure for himself.

  What he’d found instead was a woman who didn’t deserve his forgiveness. Or Terrence’s or Libby’s. And definitely not the forgiveness of the man who’d loved her.

  “That’s a discussion for another day,” he said, getting off the bed and reaching for the coffeepot. He refilled his cup and glanced over at Kim. “So what about you? What’s the good, the bad and the ugly?”

  She smiled. “That’s easy to answer and I prefer going from last to first.”

  He tipped his cup at her. “Go ahead.”

  “The ugly is my father, the wife beater and drunk. I always wanted to become a doctor and he knew it, especially since I was the one who had to heal the bruises Mom got at his hands. For years she worked extra hours to save money to make my dream come true, only for my father to take it out of their bank account when it was time for me to go to college.”

  She paused a minute. “The bad is that I’ll probably never marry because most men see me as too strong-willed. I intimidate the doctors at the hospital, and when it comes to guys outside the hospital, they claim I’m too outspoken. People, mostly men, don’t understand me.”

  Duan figured he must like strong-willed women because he definitely liked her. He would even say he liked outspoken women. And he certainly felt he understood her. She was a woman who didn’t mind going after what she wanted. Yesterday, last night and this morning, she had wanted him. He had no complaints.

  “What’s the good?” he asked.

  Her face brightened when she glanced over at the bottle of unopened champagne. “That,” she said, pointing to the ice bucket. “I have my own celebrating to do. That’s the good.”

  “What are you celebrating?”

  He could swear he saw her chest stick out with pride when she said, “My admission into med school. It took me long enough but I’m going to finally do it.”

  “Congratulations. What school?” he asked, truly interested.

  “University of California, San Francisco.” Excitement tinged her voice. “I applied to three others so there’s no telling where I might end up if I’m accepted by them, as well. But it doesn’t matter really. My dream’s finally coming true and I’ve waited a long time for it.”

  She was thoughtful a moment. “I’m going to miss being a nurse. I’ve enjoyed it tremendously, but I feel I have so much more to offer as a doctor.”

  A huge smile lit his face and he set his cup aside and went back to the bed. Reaching out, he took her hands in his. “I’m happy for you and this does call for a celebration,” he said, placing a kiss on her knuckles.

  He released her hand and headed for the bucket of champagne. “I usually don’t indulge in a drink this early, but it’s for a very special occasion.” A few moments later he popped the cork and poured some of the bubbly into two flutes.

  Kim realized he was genuinely happy for her and it wasn’t just a put-on. A conversation she’d once had with Olivia came back to her. His sister told her it had always been Duan’s dream to one day own his own P.I. company, but that after college he’d joined the Atlanta police force. However, he’d never lost sight of his dream and a few years ago had started his own P.I. firm.

  As Kim watched him cross the room with their champagne, she figured he knew all about following one’s dreams. “Thanks,” she said, taking the glass he offered.

  He smiled down at her and held up his own glass. “I propose a toast to the future Dr. Kimani Cannon.”

  Kim couldn’t help but beam with both pride and excitement as she touched her glass to his and took a sip, enjoying the sparkling taste as it flowed down her throat.

  Duan eased on the bed beside her and relieved her of her glass, setting it on the nightstand. “Now for some real celebrating,” he said, still holding his glass with one hand while untying the belt at her waist with the other. She wet her lips as she watched him open her robe, revealing her nakedness.

  And then with his fingertips he reached up and slowly traced a trail from the base of her throat to her breasts, downward to her navel and lower still to the curls between her thighs.

  “So what do you say about us really getting downright festive?” he suggested. And before she figured out what he was about to do, he tilted his glass until champagne splashed on her.

  She drew in a sharp breath as the cool liquid contacted her skin. A shiver went through her when it followed the same trail from her breasts downward.

  “Oops, sorry, I’m rather clumsy,” he said, placing his glass beside hers on the nightstand. “I guess I’m going to have to lick it off you.”

  And he proceeded to do just that.

  KIM’S CELL PHONE RANG the moment she was settled in the backseat of the taxi. She flipped open her phone and smiled after seeing the caller. “Yes, Mom, how are you? You missed a great wedding.”

  She glanced over at Duan. He was sitting beside her, leaning back against the seat. He had his hand on her thigh and was staring at her with a look that said it wouldn’t take much for him to push her down and have his way with her.

  She understood. From the moment they’d sneaked out of the wedding reception to make out in that room, something crazy had happened between them. It was like an addiction. One that would hit them with the urge to have sex whenever, wherever and however. The only reason they were controlling themselves now was because they didn’t want to scandalize the cab driver. And there was also the risk of getting arrested.

  Kim shook her head. This was crazy. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. It was as if their bodies were acting on impulse without any logical thought. That would explain why two adults had made out in an elevator on the way down to catch their cab.

  Sex between them was off the charts, the best she’d ever had. Every org
asm—and there had been plenty—had proven better than the one before. And she appreciated the fact that Duan was such a skillful lover. The past twenty-four hours had been the most pleasure-producing—and memorable—she’d ever had.

  “I’m fine, baby, and I hate I missed the wedding,” her mother was saying, pulling Kim’s attention back to the conversation but not fully away from Duan. She could feel sensations stirring in her belly at his nearness, at the way he was looking at her with all that heat.

  “I’ll give Sherri a call once she returns from her honeymoon,” her mother added. “But now I’m ready to tell you why I wasn’t able to join you in Chicago.”

  “All right.” Kim tried to focus completely on the conversation with her mother…at least as much as she could.

  Each time she glanced over at Duan she would get aroused. With him she’d gained a boldness that was new to her. To make out with a man in an empty room during her best friend’s wedding reception was certainly over the top.

  She forced her attention back to her mother. When she had called a few days ago she had been pretty secretive about the reason she could not make the wedding. After convincing Kim that she was fine, Wynona Cannon-Longleaf-Higgins-Gunter had assured her daughter she would tell her everything later.

  The last time her mother had behaved in such a manner there had been a man involved. Kim didn’t begrudge her mother meeting someone and being happy. At fifty-five Wynona was still attractive, although it had taken Kim a long time to make her mother believe that. Her abusive father had convinced his wife that if she left him, no other man would want her, and where would she be without a man taking care of her.

  Unfortunately, Wynona had remained with her husband, taking his abuse, both physically and mentally. Kim would never forget how in her senior year of high school her mother had landed in the emergency room from one of those beatings, and it was then that Wynona had made up her mind it would be the last whipping any man would give her. She had tearfully told Kim she didn’t want her daughter to assume that physical abuse was something any woman should tolerate.

  While Kim was grateful her mother had finally gotten the strength to leave her dad, the only other thing Wynona needed to rid herself of was the notion that a woman needed a man to survive. That belief was the reason Kim had eventually ended up with three stepfathers. Although none were abusive like her father, the four had lacked substance, and none of the marriages had lasted more than a year or two.

  When her mother didn’t say anything, Kim prompted, “So, why weren’t you able to make it to the wedding, Mom?”

  “I’ve met someone,” her mother said.

  Kim could hear the excitement in her mother’s voice and imagined the giddy smile that must be on her face. Oh, brother, she thought, as she leaned back against her seat. The movement brought her closer to Duan and he automatically placed his arm around her shoulder. Heat swept through her as if he’d pressed some button.

  “And who did you meet?” Kim heard herself asking her mother.

  “His name is Edward Villarosas and he’s nice.”

  They all are in the beginning, Kim thought, remembering the other men her mother had married. First there was Boris Longleaf, whom Wynona had met during her prison ministries. At least he hadn’t been a prisoner but one of the guards. He seemed nice enough until her mother had discovered a year into the marriage that Boris preferred men.

  Then there was Albert Higgins, a maintenance man in the apartment complex her mother had moved into after her divorce from Boris. There was something about Albert that Kim hadn’t trusted and her suspicions were confirmed when he’d been arrested for his part in a car-theft ring.

  And last but not least was Phillip Gunter, the one who’d tried coming on to her. During all her mother’s marriages Kim had been away at college and was only around the men whenever she came home for spring break or the holidays.

  She’d known from the first moment she’d seen Phillip that he would be trouble, and when he tried cornering her in the laundry room, she had used the knee-jab-in-the-groin move that she’d seen on television. When her mother had rushed downstairs after hearing the man howling in pain, he’d had the audacity to tell her that Kim had been the one trying to come on to him. Of course her mother hadn’t believed it and had sent him packing.

  So after four failed marriages, Kim hoped her mother would eventually find someone to make her happy. But with Wynona’s track record, she wasn’t so sure of that happening.

  “Tell me all about nice Edward,” Kim said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

  “Edward and I met at the grocery store and things between us began getting serious pretty fast.”

  Kim rolled her eyes. “I bet.”

  “You’re going to like him.”

  I doubt it. That’s what you said about the others. “When can I meet him?”

  “Um, when you come to the wedding in three weeks.”

  “What!” Kim nearly jumped out of her seat.

  “Are you all right, Kim?” Duan asked, leaning close to her in concern. His heated breath against her cheek had sensations stirring within her.

  She nodded quickly and whispered, “Yes, I’m fine.”

  “Kim, who are you with? The man you’re engaged to?”

  Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head. It had been nearly two months since she’d told that lie and now everyone was still waiting to meet her fiancé. “Kim?”

  Instead of addressing the issue of her fabricated fiancé, she said, “Mom, you can’t get married in three weeks. What do you know about this guy?”

  “I know enough to believe Edward is a good man. He’s a divorcé like me and we enjoy each other’s company. He asked me to marry him and I accepted. Be happy for me. I’m happy for you. You don’t know how happy I was when you told me and Aunt Gert about your guy. For so long I’ve blamed myself for you not wanting to get married because I stayed with your father when he was so abusive to me. I know that’s what turned you off marriage. I should have left him sooner.”

  Yes, you should have left him sooner, Kim thought. Not for my sake but for your own. Although she would be the first to admit she’d never wanted to marry because of the abuse she’d witnessed by her father, she didn’t want her mother to feel guilty about that.

  Kim pushed frustrated air out of her lungs. “Mom, please promise you won’t do anything until I get there.”

  “And when do you plan to come? The family wants me to have another wedding, but Edward and I are tickled with the idea of just taking off and flying to Vegas and—”

  “No, Mom, please not Vegas again. Haven’t you learned anything?”

  “Kimani Cannon, I won’t allow you to take that tone with me. I didn’t call to get your permission to marry Edward. I’m just letting you know about him. But if you really want to meet him, then I suggest you make time to do so.”

  “I think that I will, Mom.”

  “Fine. And don’t you dare come without bringing your young man with you,” Wynona said in a stern voice. “I can’t wait to meet him, and like I said, the fact that you’re in love has lifted a load off my heart that I’ve been carrying around for a long time.”

  “Mom, I—”

  “No, sweetie, please let me finish. I know you don’t understand why I keep going from man to man. Maybe I’m trying to find something I missed out on all those years I was with your daddy, letting him hit me around. I’m fine now. I like Edward. He’ll be good for me. But to know that you’ve gotten beyond the abuse you saw in our household has been my prayer. I’ve been praying for a good man to come into your life and now he has. I can’t wait to meet him, so don’t you dare think of coming home to Shreveport without him. Goodbye, sweetie.”

  Her mother hung up and Kim realized she hadn’t told her the good news about being accepted into med school. She sighed deeply, knowing she’d gotten herself into a sticky situation with the lie about a fiancé. Sherri had warned her it was bound to catch up with her eve
ntually.

  “Is everything all right, Kim?”

  Kim glanced over at Duan. For a moment she’d forgotten he was in the taxi with her as they cruised through the streets of Chicago on their way to the airport.

  She sighed deeply, and when he opened his arms she cuddled up closer to him. “Is your mother okay?” he asked, concern in his voice.h

  Kim chewed on her bottom lip and then said, “If you call planning wedding number five okay, then yes, she’s doing just fine.”

  3

  DUAN WASN’T SURE he’d heard her correctly. “Your mother has been married four times?”

  “Yes.”

  He found that simply incredible since his own mother had been married that many times, as well. He shifted in his seat and Kim’s body automatically moved with his. He’d done one-night stands before but none had stretched into breakfast the next morning or a cab ride to the airport the next day. When it was over, it was over. There hadn’t been any exchange of business cards or promises to follow up. But he knew that he and Kim would see each other again. This weekend hadn’t been enough.

  “I told you a little about my father being the ugly in my life this morning and how he abused my mother. What I didn’t tell you was that they split while I was in high school. I counted it as one of the happiest days of my life. He was a bully of the worse kind.”

  “And your mom stayed with him all those years?”

  “Yes. She was always convinced he would get better. He was smart enough to move us to New Orleans, away from her family during that time. She moved back to Shreveport a few years ago to be close to her family and to take care of my grandmother, who’s since died. Now Mom wants to get her life together and believes there is a good man out there destined to be hers. So far she’s had four misfits and I’m afraid this fifth might be the same.”

  He shook his head. It was ironic that her mother was looking for a good man when his mother had had one and hadn’t been satisfied. Go figure.

  “My mother’s been married four times, as well,” he heard himself saying.