Part Three

Onyx Night Club

Jem smiled at the man she was dancing with. The beat and the music were just what she needed. Plus, when the man you are dancing with was gay, it was just another reason to relax and let go. Ned was a wonderful dancer and as their hips swayed in time to one another, she let her eyes close.

“About time you start to relax, darling,” Ned said over the music, as the song ended and they moved to grab a drink.

“Is it that obvious?” Jem stared at her friend. Ned was about six feet tall and in wonderful shape. Tonight he wore a dark purple shirt and black slacks. The color worked well with the darkness of his skin.

“Please.” He shook his head at her. “I know the signs of man trouble.” Uncapping his water he took a drink while his eyes never left hers.

“I’m not here for psychoanalysis, Ned. I came to dance.” Jem crossed her arms and glared at him.

Draining the water, Ned set the empty bottle down and gathered her into his arms. “Well, then. Let’s get back to it, shall we?”

The night progressed and Jem danced her heart out. She lost herself over to just having a wonderful time. There was one point in the evening where a group of well dressed men moved through the crowd. All of them were gorgeous and many of the women, and men, took a second glance at them.

Jem felt a bit unnerved as one of the men seemed to observe her more closely then anyone else around her. He was tall; his hair was cropped short along the sides and left a little longer along the top. His face was covered by a sexy smattering of five o’clock shadow that only enhanced the angles of his face. Whatever he wore she couldn’t see because of his jacket.

“Does that man know you, Jaleza?” Ned asked as he moved them around the floor.

“I don’t think so. I don’t know anyone aside from you who dresses that nice.” Her grin was infectious as she fought to keep from watching the stranger disappear into another part of the club.

“Well,” Ned murmured in her ear. “That look he was laying down on you tells me something else. Or he is seriously wantin’ to see the fineness that is under this scrap of clothing you are flaunting. His cocoa eyes twinkled as he leaned back a bit and pretended to ogle Jem’s outfit.

“Like having you look at me like that is supposed to mean anything,” she smirked.

“Hey, I have good taste in clothes.” He pulled her in closer and planted his hands on the small of her back pressing their pelvises closer together. “And he’s still watching.”

****

Brittany never shut her mouth once they got in the car. Chad groaned as he watched out the window and dealt with her whines and complaints until the second the car stopped. Chad was out of the vehicle before the driver could come around and open the door.

Blue eyes looked up at him from the interior of the Mercedes and she pointed at the building behind him. “Get cleaned up, Edward.”

It galled him to do so on what seemed her order, but he had already made plans to do this before she showed up. Brittany was good; she had taken them directly to his old salon, Le Chic. His green eyes narrowed as she blinked coquettishly at him. “This changes nothing, Brittany. I’m still pissed and we are still through.”

One blonde eyebrow rose in blatant disbelief, or total disregard for his words. “I’ll be back in a while. Oh, and perhaps why you are here, you could um…fix your attire.”

When her eyes widened, Chad knew there was murder in his own gaze. He muttered something under his breath and slammed the door in her face. Turning he walked inside the large glass building.

Immediately, Chad was surrounded by people he knew only liked him because of his name. They cooed, clucked, and did their damnedest to make him feel at home. He had espresso, biscotti and anything else he could possibly want brought to him. All except the woman he had been dreaming about for the past few months. Jaleza Ellamae Maxwell.

**

“Look son, I know we don’t see eye to eye on…well, pretty much everything, but don’t you think we would have liked to know what happened to you? Where you were?” Chad’s father, Robert Chadwick, asked as the two men sat in his study drinking cognac.

Well, Chad wasn’t so much drinking it as he was just swirling it around in his tumbler, listening to the ice as it clanked against the crystal. “I’ve been gone for longer times than that.” the unspoken words and no one missed me then, hovered in the air between them.

Robert looked at his son. He couldn’t understand why his son wasn’t interested in the family business. In fact, Edward went way out of his way to make sure people didn’t know who his family was. Never attended the functions the family threw and avoided the press like they were diseased.

Taking a sip of his drink, Robert asked. “So, where were you, Edward?”

Chad leaned forward and set his drink down on the low glass table in front of him. “I was right here in the city. And call me Chad.”

Robert sighed. “Brittany has been calling daily for you. Said she wanted to apologize for you moving out.” He propped his feet up on the stool in front of him. “Imagine our surprise when we heard you had left.”

“Really? And did she tell you why we were no longer living together?” Resting his elbows on his thighs, Chad continued. “I came back from the doctor and found her burning all my items. My collectibles, my clothing, everything. Because she saw me talking to another woman.”

Robert shifted in his chair. He knew how much those things meant to his son. “Why didn’t you come to me with this? Why go rent an apartment?”

Chad shook his head. His father just didn’t get it. “I don’t want to run home just because something doesn’t work out. I have a great apartment and the best roommate in the world. I live in a brownstone and I am just me. That’s it. Not Edward, the “black sheep” son of Robert Chadwick of Chadwick Pharmaceuticals, just me, Chad.”

“Well, I’m glad you got a roommate you like. You get along well then?”

“My roommates a gem.” He smiled, “And I am just Chad where I am. You know what? I like that.”

An understanding gleam filled Robert’s eyes. “What’s her name?”

The flush over his face couldn’t be stopped. Chad swallowed. “Who’s name? Her who?”

His father laughed. A sound, Chad couldn’t recall hearing from him in many, many years. Wiping his eyes, Robert said, “Please son. We may not see eye to eye, but I still know what a man looks like in love.”

In love? “I’m not…not…” Chad couldn’t say it. Was he? Was what he felt for Jem, love?

“Can’t deny it, can you?” His old man shook his head. “Well, I haven’t seen you look this happy before so whoever she is, I’m happy for you.” Robert raised his glass in salute and downed the remaining bit of his drink. “It’s not Brittany, is it.”

That wasn’t a question.

Chad shook his head. “Nope. I don’t know what I had with her, but it wasn’t anything like I feel for…now.”

Watching his son try to keep her name a secret made the father in him bristle in immediate concern. “What’s her name? When do we get to meet her?”

Shaking his head, Chad refused, “Nope. I don’t want you all up in my business.”

“What are you hiding her for? What’s wrong with her?”

“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong with her. But I don’t want the Chadwick crew swooping in and freaking her out.” Chad met his father’s stare head-on. “Mother isn’t exactly subtle, you know.”

Robert nodded in agreement; his wife was a force to be reckoned with. “Tell me then. I won’t tell anyone, but tell me.” When suspicion filled Chad’s gaze, he added, “Regardless, you are my son and I want to know that it isn’t about the money with this woman. Who knows, maybe she’s a gold-digger.”

Chad blurted out before he could think it through, “She isn’t after my money. She doesn’t know I have any.”

A knowing smile crossed his face. “Sure you don’t want to take a moment to think about it? I mean with that look, you have to have some money.”

“Look, I have to go. I’m going out tonight with Allen, Dan and a few of the other guys.” Chad stood. “She hasn’t seen this look.”

“What aren’t you telling me about her?” Robert persisted.

“I’m not telling you anything about her. I don’t want interference and I mean it.” Chad’s arms were crossed as he stared down his father.

“At least give me a visual, so I know what she looks like.”

“Okay. Here we go. She is five-five, has an hourglass body that can fill out clothes like nobody’s business. The biggest, most pooling, deep mocha brown eyes you have ever seen. The kind you just want to jump into and drown. Sooty lashes that never seem to end.” Chad got this dreamy look on his face as he pictured Jem standing before him.

“Straight black hair. Her skin is smooth, and so soft, it’s like melted toffee.” One hand reached out like he was touching her face. “Her smile, though rare, lights up the world.” Bringing his hand back to his side, Chad chuckled self-consciously for he had never acted like that before.

A noncommittal grunt from his father made Chad look back in his direction. “She’s black.” Again, not a question but a statement.

“You aren’t tellin’ me anything I don’t already know.” Chad was used to his father issuing statements as opposed to actually asking. Before his father could say anything else, Chad reached for his wallet and pulled something out.

“Here, Dad. Look at this.” He tossed the picture of him and Jem on the table he was near and left the room. It was a picture that he had convinced her to take just to loosen up a bit one day when they had both been out and met each other for a quick lunch.

**

“This place is packed.” Allen, like usual, spoke the obvious.

Chad looked at the other guys with him and shrugged. He had missed hanging out with these guys. None gave him any hassle for being off the radar for the past six months, for that was his way. It was all their ways. “Onyx usually is,” he commented easily although his voice had risen to be heard over the music.

As they moved through the dancing area to head to a backroom, where they usually sat, Chad almost fell over. He did a double take just to make sure he saw what he thought he saw. Jem. He had been disappointed that she wasn’t at the house when he got back sporting his clean look. He had hoped she would be so he could tell her about Brittany and his family, but she was gone.

Now he found her. She was dancing with a good looking man, but Chad was having a hard time focusing on anything but the little thing she was wearing that he supposed was passing as a dress. It was teal and had a deep v-plunge neckline with a ruffled hem. There was a black belt that fastened right below her breasts, resting against that bared, and gorgeous toffee skin. He felt like he could almost see her bellybutton as deep as the neckline went. The material of the “dress” was stretched tight across her firm body, showing off every inch that God blessed her with.

Jealousy flared like a wildfire with nothing but dry grass before it and a strong wind behind it. Within seconds he was shaking with anger even as his friends tugged him along. Jesus, she wasn’t even wearing a bra, it wouldn’t be possible in that dress.

Even as he was shoved into a seat at the table they were sitting at, Chad could see the sultry eyes, pouty lips. Damn it! What the hell was she doing out with another man?

“Chad? You ok?” One of his friends asked.

“No. I don’t want to sit here. I want to be able to see the dancing.” He glared at Allen who quickly changed seats with him. They were offered drinks and had women around them, blatantly offering themselves. Chad, kept his eyes on Jem and the familiar way the man she danced with kept touching her.

The minute he couldn’t see her in the club anymore was the moment he decided to leave. Not giving his friends much of an explanation, Chad left the club and headed back to the brownstone, where he prayed Jem was…and alone. Because he had no idea what he would do if she weren’t.

Chad was quiet as he unlocked the front door and entered. Hanging up his leather jacket he stood there for a moment and listened. “Jem?” he hollered. “You home?”

“Kitchen,” she shouted back. “Making a snack, I’m starving.”

Numerous reasons as to why she would be hungry at three in the morning flashed before him, but he latched onto the one that angered him. Working up an appetite in another man’s arms. Visions of her in that dress, which if she wore for him would be fine, but…another man…hell no, filled his head as he moved to the door of the kitchen.

He opened the door and stopped. Chad blinked a few times before he realized that this was his Jem. The one before him. The beauty wearing the navy blue men’s lounge pants and a pale pink spaghetti-strap top.

“How was your evening?” His words were deceptively calm.

“Wonderful,” she said without turning around. “Just wonderful.”

Chad gritted his teeth and moved toward her. He placed his arms on either side of her, boxing her between him and the countertop. “Wonderful?” his question was a low growl.

Jem shivered as she saw his tanned arms settle on each side of her. The dusting of hair on them did nothing to hide the strength within. She noticed his sleeves were rolled up to the middle of his forearms, and the shirt he wore looked like silk. The thought of questioning him about who he truly was, slipped from her mind as the light scent of his cologne filled her senses.

“I asked you a question, Jem.” His breath was warm against the back of her neck.

What the hell was he doing? Her heart began beating erratically as his lips touched the sensitive skin of her shoulder. “What do you think you are doing?” She managed to demand even as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Getting an answer to my question. What the hell were you doing wearing a dress like you had on this evening?”

Her eyes flew open at that. “What? Why would my dress affect you? And how the hell do you know about my dress?”

“Why don’t you wear something like that around me?”

Jem spun around. And screamed. She swung out, striking at the person standing before her.

“Jem. Jem. Jem! Calm down. It’s me, Chad.” The man before her grabbed her hands and stopped her from hitting him any more.

Her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest. Jem took several deep breaths, tried not to be affected by the smell that she knew was Chad, and took a closer look at the man holding her hands against that…that...rock-solid chest.

“Chad?” she asked herself more than she did him. Jem took in the new look he was sporting and almost fell over. She recognized him from the club; he was the man who seemed to be staring at her as he moved through the crowd.

The mop of unruly hair had been tamed and Lord help her if she didn’t want to run her fingers through the new length. His strong chin handsomely covered by stubble that she wanted to feel against her skin. The green of his eyes seemed to burn hotter than she ever recalled. It was Chad, but it was a drop-dead gorgeous version of him. The man before her dripped sexual appeal.

It was just so much easier to see and lust about the firm lips he had. The plumper bottom lip and the thinner but no less desirable upper lip. All the angular lines of his face were right there and calling out for a touch. From her.

“Yes, Jem. It’s me.” Chad tugged her closer to his body. He put her hands palm down against the hard planes of his chest.

“But…but, you don’t look like you.” she blushed the second the words came out of her mouth.

He smiled at her. God he loved this woman. Yes, loved! “Actually, I didn’t look like me before.” His eyes traveled over her face, noting the fresh scrubbed look it had. “Tell me who you were with tonight.”

Jem looked up at him. The intensity of his eyes rocked through to the marrow of her bones. Keep it together, Jaleza. This man is your roommate, nothing more. Her tongue snuck out to wet her lips. “I went out with a friend.”

“In that…piece of material?” His eyes dropped from hers and followed the movement of her tongue as it slid across her full lips. He bit back a groan and his eyes darkened two shades.

She narrowed her eyes at the tone of his words. “Is that why you ignored me, because you didn’t like my outfit? Were you afraid I would embarrass you in front of your rich friends, Edward?”

“Don’t talk like that. You know I’m not like that.”

“Do I? I just learned about who you truly were tonight.” She shoved against him, wanting, needing him further away. “I don’t know anything about you.”

Anger flashed through his eyes. The space that she had put between them he closed in a flash. “You know me. I’m the same guy I was when I walked through the door of this brownstone six months ago. The same one that has cooked beside you, cleaned beside you, ate and slept under the same roof as you.” His gaze raked over her face before he lowered his own face right into hers. “I’m the man who is going to toss you over his shoulder and carry you upstairs if you don’t stop sucking on your lower lip.”

Jem whimpered. She knew she shouldn’t, but the image of him doing just that proved almost too much. “Whatever,” she said as her eyes focused on something across the kitchen.

“Look at me.” One finger tipped her face back to his. “The reason I stayed away from you is because I knew I would lose it. Damn it, Jem,” he muttered, his warm breath fanning her face. “I was so fucking jealous when I saw you in another man’s arms. And then your dress…I wanted to kick his ass eight ways to Sunday for daring to touch you.” Chad cupped her face in his hands. “I watched you all evening. Watched all those men stare at you, at your beauty. It killed me.”

“Why?” her eyes were locked onto his.

Chad knew he should answer her. And he would, but first he had something to do that had been in the foremost of his mind for a long, long time. He lowered his lips and covered her warm lush mouth with his; gently at first, he just allowed their mouths to meld together. When she whimpered a second time, he began tasting her mouth. Sampling it like a vintage wine, enjoying it bit by bit. Taking his time.

Jem grabbed onto his biceps and used them to hold her up. She had no idea that a kiss from Chad would be like this. Hell, she had no idea any kiss could be like this. Her fingers curled around the tight muscles covered in raw silk but her mind was honed in on his taste. Chad tasted better than he smelled. It was a culmination of flavors that was one hell of an experience.

He slipped his tongue between her full lips and allowed himself to explore the recesses of her mouth. His eyes drifted closed moments after he watched her lashes lightly rest upon her cheeks. Fingers slid around and wrapped among the silky strands of her hair.

The moment he felt her stiffen a bit he drew back from her tempting mouth, although his hands stayed on her face, and in her hair. Her eyes were melted chocolate as they watched him. “Trust me, baby.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Her soft eyes grew hard and unyielding as her grip on his arms turned to a shove.

“That is not an answer.” Jem slid past him and forgetting her snack, marched out of the kitchen. Trust me, baby. Those three words were what got her into the mess she had been in a long time ago. She may be thirty-one and her biological clock may have been screaming at her, but she wasn’t ready to be a mom yet.

Chad growled low in his throat; spinning on his heels he followed her into the living room. As he entered, he saw her silhouette; she was already going up the stairs. “Jem, wait!” 

Continue to  Part Four

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