Maude was confused. Was he for real?
“Except,” he added, “with you.”
That gave her more relief. But was it the truth? “Why didn’t you put one on with me? You didn’t have any available?”
“I always have plenty available.”
“Then why didn’t you use one with me?”
“You are not the type to wing it,” he said. “You have never been with a man who didn’t use protection I am certain of it.”
“Except with you,” said Maude, realizing she, too, had behaved the same way toward him that he behaved toward her.
Edmund nodded. “Why didn’t you insist that I do as your previous encounters did?”
Maude stared at him. And she was amazed by that revelation. “I was certain you wouldn’t harm me,” she admitted to herself even as she was admitting it to him.
Edmund nodded. “Exactly,” he said, and they stared at each other for several more minutes.
Then he placed his arm around her waist and eased her closer to him. And he kissed her. Just a peck. And then she laid her head on his shoulder. And they rode the rest of the way in silence.
But when Wyatt drove onto a private airfield and Maude saw a plane idling on the runway, she immediately leaned up and looked at the name on that plane. Then she looked at Edmund. The name on the plane saidKeating II. Why she never once thought he would own his own plane baffled her. Don told her how rich the man was. But she never once even considered it!
But instead of showing her ignorance, she asked a different question. “Who’sKeating I?” she asked him.
“My father,” Edmund responded as Don got out of the Rolls and opened the back passenger door.
Edmund assisted Maude out of the car, and then they made their way across the tarmac to the airstairs. She wasn’t surprised to see Wyatt and Don grab luggage out of the trunk and follow them to the plane, but she was very surprised when they boarded the plane with them. As if wherever Edmundwent, those two went. Which meant they were his entourage. Which meant it was getting more surreal to Maude by the second.
Especially the way Edmund kept his hands on her lower back as they made their way up the airstairs. And he kept his hand in place even in front of his flight crew after they boarded the plane. As if he had no problem whatsoever claiming her as his own. Although they both knew that she had not beenclaimedin any way that truly mattered.
But as soon as they got onboard the luxurious plane with its white leather seats in gold trim, Edmund put on her seatbelt for her, leaned down to her, and then gave her a kiss on the lips so sensual that it trumped that kiss in the car. It was so sensual that it caused them both to almost reflexively close their eyes as they felt the touch of each other’s mouth.
And then they opened their eyes and looked at each other with a lingering look. From her periphery, she could see that the flight crew was as astonished as she was. Which made clear to Maude that this was not Edmund’s usual behavior by far.
“I’ve got to take care of some shipping business. I’ll be in my conference room,” he said.
It was obvious to anybody watching that they both wanted to retire to his bedroom onboard, but Maude was glad he didn’t sell her cheap like that. Because had he asked her to accompany him into his bedroom onboard that plane, she would have refused. Nobody was slapping any hoe or hooker labels on her, and especially not with some white man around all those white folks. “Don’t work too hard,” she said with a smile. He returned her smile and left.
But as he walked into that conference room, he was followed by two business-looking men that she didn’t even realize were on the plane too. But when they all went into thatroom, and with the flight crew up front, Maude was left alone in the back of the plane.
As they taxied the runway and then lifted up and flew away from Baltimore, Maude was glad to go. She had no qualms with the city of Baltimore, but that hospital! Even with that luxurious suite, she was glad to be out of there.
But she was also glad to be alone with her thoughts. Because Edmund Keating perplexed her unlike any man ever had. He kissed her in front of his flight crew? And so affectionately too. What was that about? Everybody claimed he was such a private and guarded person. Was he changing before their very eyes?
She had automatically assumed that their encounter in that suite was a one-night stand. At least that was how she felt he felt about it. Did that mean he didn’t view their encounter as a quick roll in the hay the way she thought he had? Was there more to it than that for him the way it was for her?
She didn’t know. But she was glad he wasn’t around while she tried her best to figure it out. She wished to God she was the kind of person who could roll with the punches and let the chips fall where they may. But she wasn’t. She always needed to know where she stood with people. But with Edmund? There was no telling where she stood or if she even stood at all. Which wasn’t a great place to be. Which made her more determined to stop that merry-go-round, get off, and get on with it.
She pulled out her phone and started reviewing her notes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
It looked like the typical small town to Don and Wyatt as they rode along the streets of Dillon, Georgia on their way to Maude’s apartment. They were in a waiting Chevy Tahoe that a local dealership that Don contacted agreed to loan to them for a handsome fee. Wyatt was the driver, while Don sat on the front passenger seat, and Edmund and Maude sat in back. But what Edmund saw wasn’t typical to his way of life. Dillon looked more like Hard Times USA to him with paint peeling from buildings or mole covering the paint job or general disrepair of nearly every shop they passed. Even Main Street, which was usually the hub of the town, looked rundown to Edmund too.
And when Wyatt pulled over and stopped the Tahoe in front of a five-story apartment building, it was par for the course as far as Edmund was concerned. It wasn’t as bad as many of the other businesses and houses they’d passed, but it wasn’t great either. And this was where Maude lived? He wondered, to his horror, if his sister lived in that building too?
Don opened the door of the Tahoe and they stepped out. Don buttoned his suit coat and then placed his hand, once again, on Maude’s back. Which looked like possessiveness to Don and Wyatt, but they weren’t about to comment on it. Don walked in front of them to the apartment’s entrance, opened the door for them, and then followed them in as Maude escorted them up the stairs.
