Page 18 of Love Me Carefully
Leah shivered at his touch. His body was pressed against hers and she could feel the hard contours of muscle. Her fingers itched to touch him. She stared at his face—the thin lines in his brow and the freshly trimmed goatee. His glasses sat atop an almost perfect nose and showcased those smoldering tree bark brown eyes.
She wasn’t doing this. She wasn’t feeling something for this man that she barely knew. He’d insulted her, mocked her job, and now she was standing here letting him touch her, praying he’d kiss her. “I think they make a wonderful couple,” she stammered, hoping her words would break this foolish spell. She had a boyfriend, or whatever it was that Leon was to her. And Terrell definitely wasn’t her type. Ms. Rosie said he was quiet, reserved, focused on his job. Well, right now he was quietly driving her mad with his gentle touch and sexy voice.
“That remains to be seen.” He’d heard her words, remembered feeling as though he’d seen Donald somewhere before, and vowed to investigate further. But now, right at this very moment, this woman intrigued the hell out of him. What he was feeling, what he was imagining doing to her, was totally new to him and he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Yet she purposely held herself away from him while her eyes all but seduced him into kissing her.
“I’m meeting with them again tomorrow to lay the groundwork.” She didn’t know why she told him that, or why she remained in that kitchen alone with him. “They’re celebrating tonight and don’t have time to sit down and go over details the way we need to. So I’m leaving.” So she said, but her feet remained planted where they stood. As unwelcome and foreign as she knew it was, she finally put a name to what she was feeling…lust, pure and simple.
Terrell’s finger found its way up to her lips. He lightly touched them and watched her tremble. Desire soared through him so powerfully, he had to take a step back or else he’d have to put her up on his mother’s counter and take what he so desperately wanted right now. Folding his long arms across his chest, he continued to watch her. “You don’t look like you’re leaving.”
If it were possible, his already deep voice went deeper, lowering to a husky growl. Her knees wobbled, actually knocked into each other at the exact moment he reached out again and touched her lips with his finger one last time. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She wasn’t affected by their close proximity, his sizzling gaze or his sexy voice—or at least she told herself she wasn’t. Lifting her hand, she brushed his away from her face and looked him squarely in the eyes. “That’s because you’re standing in my way again.”
Her brisk tone snapped him out of his trance. Abruptly, he took another step back and out of her way. She was distracting him. Making him think of something other than Tanya, other than his mother and her impending nuptials. “I’m not in your way now,” he replied.
She was out the door before his decision to keep his hands off her could be tempted again. And it was a good thing. He wasn’t here for this. He’d just been betrayed by a woman; he needed time to re-evaluate what it was he wanted, just like his mother had said. Ms. Leah Graham, Ms. Wedding Planner, was not a part of that re-evaluation.
It didn’t matter that with her casual good looks and cool demeanor she’d managed to stir him more than any other woman he’d ever met. She wasn’t on his agenda.
* * *
Leah had been up half the night, scribbling notes for her proposal to Ms. Rosie and her fiancé that afternoon. She’d finally decided on two suggestions that she thought would work really well for the couple.
Her first suggestion was an early ceremony to be held at the church around noon. The ceremony would be followed by a luncheon reception scheduled to begin at one-thirty. Depending or whether they wanted her to plan the reception as well, she had come up with a satisfying lunch menu and decorative ideas.
The second option was an afternoon ceremony to be followed by the more traditional dinner reception. For this, the food would be more costly, but should they choose this one, Leah had a menu ready.
Her proposals were neatly typed, complete with pictures and a photo album of past affairs. Sliding all of her materials into her black briefcase, Leah was ready to make her presentation.
Her day had gotten off to a rocky start when her mother made an appearance at morning worship. Marsha rarely ever came to church, so Leah was both stunned and dismayed to see her. Something must truly be wrong for her mother to turn to God for an answer.
Just as she’d assumed, something was truly wrong. Daryl, her mother’s husband, had suggested they go to marriage counseling. Marsha was absolutely furious.
“Can you believe him? Like I need counseling. I don’t need no counseling. He’s the one that’s got to go,” she screeched during the altar prayer.
“Shhh!” Leah tried to calm her mother down as the woman in front of them turned to stare at the commotion.
“I’m not going to no shrink for them to tell me what I already know. I ain’t stayin’ married to that man a minute longer,” she whispered. Wringing her hands together, Marsha shifted from foot to foot, anxious for the deacon to end the prayer.
“Amen,” the congregation murmured and returned to their seats.
“Mama, you have got to calm down. Maybe Daryl has a good idea with the counseling. It might help.” Sliding into the pew, Leah waited for what she knew would be Marsha’s negative response.
“How’s it gonna help? He’s not goin’ to change,” she whined.
“What is it that you want him to change? You never told me what the problem was,” Leah whispered, hoping that her mother would follow suit and lower her voice as well. But like a child, Marsha seemed oblivious to her subtlety.
“He’s so mean, he wants to put my children out.Mychildren, Leah. And you know I don’t have no man tellin’ me how to raise my children.”
Yeah, Leah thought to herself, Marsha didn’t like anyone telling her how to raise her children. Sammy and DJ were the youngest, and the only two still at home with her mother. Sammy was twenty-one and DJ was nineteen. Neither one of them worked, neither one of them had graduated from high school, and they both were in and out of trouble so often that Leah had stopped counting the number of times she’d been to the police station with her mother to bail them out.
Leah loved her brothers, but she had to admit her mother had no control over them. They always did exactly what they wanted, when they wanted, and that was usually the wrong thing.
“Mama, it is his house.” Trying to placate Marsha, Leah placed her hand on her shoulder.
“I don’t give a damn. I cook and clean for that man and I wash all his clothes and I live in that house too. If my children go, I go,” Marsha said adamantly.
Oh Lord, Leah thought, and where were they all going to stay? Marsha didn’t have anywhere to go and, while Leah would’ve considered taking her mother in, she definitely wasn’t letting her grown, wayward brothers live with her.
For the remainder of the service Marsha complained and threatened and cried and whined. Leah was so emotionally drained by the time she walked out of the church that she almost went home to crash instead of going to her appointment. Luckily, she had a strong work ethic, and the thought of conversing with normal people was a welcome relief.
