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“I always thought she loved you, but it was hard for her to be open and express that love because her parents didn’t feel the same.”
“Well, it was no secret that they didn’t like black people and weren’t satisfied when their only daughter brought a black man home, announcing she loved him and would marry him.Her obstinance led her to ignore her family’s demands that she end the relationship. In time, the toll of her parents’ absence in her life weighed heavily on our marriage, and she began to take it out on me. She wanted to be happy in the marriage but struggled without their support. They were a very close family.”
Daddy doesn’t say that eventually, after so much mistreatment and derogatory name-calling, he sought happiness elsewhere, ultimately leading to their divorce. She reunited with her parents, but by then, the damage to their marriage had been done, and there was no going back.
––––––––
“PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS,” a sultry voice says.
I jerk upright as my eyes fly open. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear the door to the sauna open.
“Just relaxing is all,” I lie when my eyes rest on Cade.
Like me, he’s wrapped in a thick white towel. Unlike me, only his lower half is covered. His biceps and pectoral muscles are on display even in a relaxed state. His trim, tapered waist shows off delicious abdominal muscles and forget a fucking six-pack; the man is sporting a twelve-pack that looks as if a boulder could bounce off them.
Naturally, my eyes drop down to his lap, and I can’t help but see the bulge protruding through the thick, white towel. When I lift my eyes again, his are dark with a mischievous glint and a smirk dancing on his lips.
“I didn’t realize anyone else had plans to use the space,” I say, avoiding eye contact and standing up.
He reaches out a hand and lays it on my wrist, causing my heart to constrict.
“Stay. Don’t run,” he says in a low tone as his eyes flash with something akin to desire.
“I...I wasn’t running,” I deny.
When I look into his eyes this time, there’s a question and a slight lift of his right eyebrow.
“I wasn’t,” I insist.
“You’ve only been in here about five minutes. No sooner than I come, you’re leaving. Sure, you aren’t running?”
“Yeah, I just didn’t want to inconvenience you.”
“There’s plenty of space in here for the both of us.”
I look around and nod. “Yes...there is,” I gulp.
“Besides, I enjoy your company.”
“You do?” My voice comes out a little shaky.
How have I been in his presence all this time, even in the close confines of a helicopter, and I never lost my cool? Now that we’re in here, I’m freaking out like a schoolgirl confronted by her crush.
“I told you that already,” he replies, licking his bottom lip like a predator who has just trapped his prey.
I shift nervously on the bench that I’m sitting on.
“Thanks again for letting me come on this trip.”
His eyes roam over me, and he doesn’t utter a word.
“Sorry about falling asleep on you last night, too.”
“You’re an enigma. A puzzle I intend to figure out.”
I swear my eyebrows jump high in the air.
“Why?”
