Page 3 of Love Me Carefully
“Aren’t you even going to ask me why?” She yelled from behind him.
“Is it going to matter?” he spoke quietly. In his book infidelity was a definite negative. At this very moment he was witnessing his dream begin to crumble, and, for once in his life, was powerless to stop it. He’d chosen her carefully, made sure she met every one of his criteria before asking her to move in with him. It was a sure thing with her, they were a sure thing; he’d already picked out the engagement ring.
Tanya jumped off the bed and yanked on his shirt until he turned around. “This is it, this is the problem right here! This is why I’ve resorted to someone else. But a lot of good it’s done me. You can’t even muster enough emotion to fight to understand why this happened.”
Terrell took a step back because her pulling his shoulder had brought him dangerously close to shaking the hell out of her. She seemed to want a different reaction from him, yet he knew if he unleashed his fury things would go too far, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. Distance was definitely needed. “Are you saying this is my fault?”
“You’re damn right it’s your fault. If you’d paid attention to something other than your computers and your money you would’ve seen this coming. You would’ve tried to do something to stop it.”
He couldn’t believe she had the audacity to try to blame her betrayal on him. “I’m not going to take the blame because you couldn’t keep your legs closed. That was your stupidity.” He did raise his voice then, because the pain of still seeing her on her knees for another naked man was all too real. “I gave you everything, anything you wanted and this is how you repay me. I’m working all night long to make things better for us while you’re screwing some dude in our bed. How exactly is that my fault, Tanya?”
“I didn’t ask for any and everything, Terrell. I only wanted to be with you. But you were so busy trying to own every damned dollar in the world that you couldn’t see that. We didn’t need anything else except each other.” A lone tear slipped down her face streaking her cheeks. “I needed you, not your money,” she whispered.
“Well, now you’ll have neither.” There was nothing else to be said. If he couldn’t depend on her loyalty, they had nothing. He wouldn’t listen to her excuses, wouldn’t give them a second thought. She was wrong, and now it was over.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing a headache was inevitable, and moved towards the bathroom. Pausing at his dresser, he opened the drawer and took out clean boxers and a t-shirt. “I’m going to take a shower. You need to be packed and gone by the time I finish.”
* * *
Leah Graham refused to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but she had agreed to go out with Leon on the night before Valentine’s, tonight. She was already seated at the restaurant when he called her cell phone to say he was running a little late.
She had gone out with Leon Reynolds, a cool guy she’d met at a wedding show, at least half a dozen times, and they seemed to get along pretty well. Leon was the marketing director for Onyx Apparel, a black-owned and operated business specializing in business casual attire for the urban marketplace. He owned half the company, partnering with his brother, Calvin, who actually did most of the designing.
They’d met in Cleveland. He was vending the company’s first evening wear line at the same convention. It just so happened that they both worked and resided in Baltimore.
Lately, Leon was hinting at taking their relationship to another level. Leah was hesitant. To her, sex meant commitment. And commitment led to moving in together. And moving in together led to marriage. And Leah was never, ever, getting married.
When she was eight she had envisioned what her wedding would be like. She’d wear a long flowing white gown, with a glittering tiara and a seven-foot veil. She’d walk down the aisle of the church and meet her husband-to-be, who would be clad in a white tuxedo with tails, and a smile meant only for her. She’d take his hand and they’d recite their vows to each other. They’d go on a fabulous honeymoon to Hawaii and come back to Baltimore to set up house. They’d both have full-time jobs but would be home together at night. She’d have two kids and they would live happily ever after.
Yeah, right.
On her ninth birthday Leah’s mother announced that she was divorcing her father. The worddevastateddid not describe how Leah felt. The thought of her father not being in the same house with her was a hard blow to take. Just days after her birthday all her father’s things were gone, and so was he. A few months later she received a letter from him telling her that he was moving to Alaska to open his own business. Leah had cried for days.
By Leah’s eleventh birthday her mother had married again. A year later she’d had another baby. By the time Leah graduated from high school, her mother had married two more times and had two more children, thus proving to Leah that marriage wasn’t the lifetime commitment she had first thought it to be.
As she grew up, however, she never lost her interest in weddings, their grandeur, the playing out of the ultimate fairy tale. She loved planning them, loved feeling like an artist unveiling a new painting, a director standing proud at his movie’s debut. She’d become a wedding planner even though the institution of marriage held little personal appeal to her.
Leah sat back in her chair, sipped from her glass of white wine, and thought about Leon. She wasn’t angry that he was late. Actually, she’d hoped he was calling to say he couldn’t make it. No such luck, though. She took another sip.
Leon wanted to have sex. She knew that, had known that the last two times she’d been with him. But she wasn’t there yet—didn’t even know if she’d ever get there. Hell, kissing him had become a chore.
Damn.What was she going to do? She took another sip. She couldn’t play coy—she’d never mastered the games some women played. She liked to be up front and brutally honest with the men she was dating, especially since she had no intention of being with any of them forever.
Looking up from her glass she saw Leon walking toward the table. All six feet, four inches of his ebony beauty approached in that cool swagger that let everybody know he was the shit!
Damn.
“Hey beautiful,” he whispered, bending so that his lips could brush hers.
Leah tried to calm her rampant thoughts. “Hello.”
“Did you order?” he asked while taking his seat.
She nodded. “Yes, the waiter came over right after I spoke to you.”
“Good. I want to get you home as soon as possible.”
Tell me something I don’t know.He licked his thick lips, not looking a bit like LL Cool J, she thought dismally. His eyes glistened with promises she didn’t want to acknowledge, and his large hands reached for hers. “We could ‘ve had dinner at my place,” she said, glad they hadn’t. At least this way she could give him a goodnight kiss and go into her apartment alone.
