Page 6 of To Have and To Hold

She flinched because his voice sounded like he was shouting at her. But knew he was leaning close to her becauseshe could feel his breath on her ear, and she could smell the faint scent of mint candy that he still liked to suck on. She remembered tasting it on his tongue when he’d kissed in school. Others liked gum but his was always a mint.

“Top drawer in my desk.”

She heard him ruffling around her drawer before hearing the pop of her medication bottle top and the sound of pills being shaken out.

“Here.” She felt him gently take her hand from her temple and place the pills in her palm. Then the sound of him grabbing one of the glasses off her bar.

“Here’s some water to wash them down.”

She would have nodded but knew even that would send more shooting pain throughout her head.

She took the pills, then downed the water.

“Does this couch pull out?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, going to raise you up and pull it out, okay.”

“Yes” was all she could manage.

She stood there, listening to Colin move around, to the springs protest as he transformed the couch into a bed for her. He then helped lower her to the bed, and she felt his hands on her legs, tracing them all the way down until he took off her shoes. She stayed on top of the covers.

“Please turn off the lights and lower the blinds. Keys to lock my office and front doors are also in the drawer. I will get them from you tomorrow and thanks.” She whispered.

She didn’t see him leave but heard him moving around in her office, rolling the blinds closed and plunging the room indarkness. Though she opened her eyes to slits, she closed them again with a sigh before she heard her door lock. She pulled the covers up around her; even though she felt the weight of her clothes, she couldn’t move just yet and lay in the quiet until the medication began to work. How she was going to get Colin out of her life for good without having to give into his demands, Coco didn’t know, but she hoped tomorrow everything would be different and he would come to his senses.

She dropped into a restless sleep where her past relationship came back to haunt her again. She cursed as that day in the hallway appeared and morphed to the last night they spent together. He was between her legs but instead of a young Colin, it was now the man he’d become. She could feel the rough bristles of his reddish-brown beard, scraping the sensitive skin of her thighs. She shivered and moaned at the slow slide of his tongue between the wetness seeping from the slit in her pussy. Passing over the swollen flesh until she came with a low moan. He moved over her and she heard him say, “Having a wet dream of me, are you? Does that mean you will agree to my proposal?” Colin sounded amused.

“Huh?”

“Or we can make that dream that you are having a reality. It has been a long time since I have tasted the sweet nectar of your pussy.” She felt the press of his lips on her neck and the heavy weight of his chest on hers and woke up with a start, her eyes closing and then opening to slits against the weak sunlight seeping through her office window.

“Shit.” She pressed her hands against his solid chest and pushed hard. Colin grunted as he tumbled back and almost off the sofa bed.

Coco rose, sitting up from the bed, pushing the sheets off her, then wrapping them back around her quickly. That’s when she realized she was only in her bra and panties. Panties that were also wet.

She turned back to Colin when she heard him chuckle and say, “Good morning, Fiancée.” And then he stretched, his chest bare, except for the reddish-brown hair that lay across his upper chest and tapered down to his abs that rippled as he breathed in and out. She followed that path of hair down to his boxers, which showcased the early-morning erection he was now sporting, then noticed the defined muscles of his thighs, calves, and ending her gaze at his big feet and toes that wiggled in greeting to her.

Her eyes rose to see the merriment in his, but also there was a banked flame waiting to ignite and she swallowed before her eyebrows met in a frown.

“What are you doing here, Colin?”

He rolled to the side to face her. “Taking care of my duties as a fiancé.”

“Stop calling me that, you know fully well I said no, and I meant it. You can’t walk into my life after ten years and bully me into getting what you want. And why me? You have so many women from your past to choose from.” She said sarcastically.

“You kept up on my dating life.” He grinned.

She growled through her teeth, exasperated with his cavalier attitude. “I won’t agree to this.”

“I have shares in your company that you want back, and I need a wife for a short period of time to appease the whim of my dying grandfather.” Colin sat up in the sofa bed, discarding the façade of using his charm and good looks to coax her. Heshed that image like a second skin to reveal the cold, calculating businessman when needed. Coco wasn’t surprised; she’d seen this cold side to him the day she confronted him over their severed relationship.

It had all been about the sex with him. She wanted to wait and he didn’t, so he moved on to someone else that did. She was the new girl at the school and had only been a challenge for him. She stood there in the empty hallway of the school as he looked down at her with cold, blue eyes, then she’d turned and walked away.

Coco had been glad in that moment she’d not given her virginity, but hurt and rage filled her up as she put distance between them, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing how much he’d hurt her. Thoughts of revenge had filled her but when she’d gotten home, her parents revealed her grandmother had fallen ill and that they were going to fly home to take care of her. She’d finished the last of her studies for high school while staying in Barbados, returning for her graduation with her parents, sister, grandma, and new boyfriend cheering her on. When she walked off the stage to head back to her seat, her glance met Colin’s intense stare; she felt her face flush with heat, then went cold when a bored expression crossed his face. She’d wondered briefly what that intense look was about but soon forgot when everyone was done with their diplomas, and she went back to her parents’ place with Jackie and Zahara to celebrate.

Now she couldn’t believe she was faced with the man from her past that should have stayed there.

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