Accidental Lovers (The Accidental Series, Book 3) (9 page)

Shayla dropped her keys on the desk next to
the mail. “How do you know that?”

“Because I drive by here every night around
ten, Shayla,” he yelled. “And at ten, you were not here. Eleven,
twelve, one, two, three and who knows what time you left yesterday,
and you weren’t here Friday night either. Now where have you
been?”

Ignoring his question, Shayla brushed past
him and silently ascended the stairs, heading for the bedroom.
Carter wasn’t supposed to be there and all she wanted to do was
sleep from the long weekend and plane ride. In the bedroom, she
kicked off her shoes, slid the ponytail holder that held her
strands together down the length of her hair and placed it on the
night stand, letting her hair fall freely.

“You’re just going to ignore me, Shayla?” he
asked, stepping in the bedroom.

“I’m tired.”

And then something in him broke, snapped and
he couldn’t take it anymore. This nonsense had been going on for
far too long and he wasn’t going to stand for it any longer. He
walked up to her, got a good grip on her arm and twisted her body
in a way that forced her to look at him. “Where have you been?”

“Why are you worried about where I’ve been?”
she said, trying to yank away from him.

“Because whether you like it or not, you’re
still my wife, Shayla.
My
wife! And I have a right to know
where you’ve been all night and you’re going to tell me.”

“Let go of me,” she said, trying to wiggle
from his grasp but to no avail. “Let…go…of…me, Carter!” she
hollered, yanking away from him after he loosened the grip on her.
She walked to the dresser, finding a cami and pajamas and when she
pushed the drawer shut and turned around, Carter was standing
behind her, in her immediate, personal space, towering over
her.

“I’m going to ask you this one…more…time.
Where have you been?”

“I was in Virginia,” she said, barely
looking at him.

Carter frowned and turned a shade redder,
his mind completely gone blank in that moment. “You were in
Virginia? With Donovan?” he asked with a hard, direct frown in his
forehead, looking at her like he could strangle her lifeless. If
looks could kill, she’d certainly be dead.

He swallowed hard and said in an eerie
monotone, “What were you doing with Donovan, Shayla?”

“Why don’t you call and ask him? He’s your
old college friend, right?”

Carter had since broke into an angry sweat
and with nostrils flaring, he roared, “Now is not the time to play
games with me, girl.”

With her back pressed against the dresser
and his body pinning her there, he asked, “What were you doing with
him, Shayla?” It angered him more that she was alluding his
questioning and not looking at him.

Shayla couldn’t look at him. She’d never
seen him this angry before. The man had turned red before her eyes
and she could see every frown line in his face, every vein in his
neck and had he gained more muscle mass since she last saw him?
When she gripped his biceps in an attempt to push him away from
her, his muscles were firmer, harder and definitely bigger.

“Please don’t make me ask you again.” He
pressed her harder against the dresser.

“Carter, you need to calm down,” she told
him, because he looked like he was going to detonate and blow their
entire house off its foundation.

“You need to stop playing games with me and
answer my question, Shayla.”

Shayla turned away from his wrath. She knew
she was crying, but couldn’t feel the tears roll down her face
because she was numb. And she couldn’t look him in the eyes because
she’d seen wetness and fury in them, something she’d never seen
before. Usually, especially with her, he was mild-tempered and
understanding. But not today. He was incensed to the point of
having lost all self-control.

With trembling lips, he asked, “You sleeping
with him?” It pained him to ask such a question, but he didn’t know
what else to think.

Insulted, Shayla yelled, “No, I’m not
sleeping with him! How dare you ask me something like that, Carter!
I don’t want Donovan. I want you, Carter,” she said crying harder.
“Mad and all, I want you!”

“You want me?” Carter asked, oozing
testosterone and an equal amount of resentment towards her. He let
go of her hair and snatched her shirt over her head in one heated
second. And taking complete control of her, he angled her head so
her lips were aligned with his and took a kiss – a greedy one.

Shayla stared into his eyes and saw anger
and hurt into them. She’d hurt him, she knew. This was her fault. A
man should never feel like his woman was interested in anyone else
but him and that’s what she did – made him feel like there was
someone else – as if Donovan could be any competition. No man
could, but apparently, he didn’t know that.

Chapter 15

Carter left for work the next morning, still
fuming and angry. Even though he’d made love to Shayla last night
after nearly a month hiatus, he was still furious with her. She
hadn’t gone into detail about what had happened between her and
Donovan and it infuriated him. He wanted to know details – what
they discussed, what they did and if Donovan had tried to put the
moves on her.

He leaned back in his chair and clicked his
pen open and shut, deciding whether or not to call Donovan. If he
had the time, he would make a surprise visit to Virginia and deck
him, but since that wasn’t a possibility, he decided to call him.
That would be the only way to get this off his mind and his
chest.

He listened as the phone rung, wondering if
Donovan would be man enough to pick up. He got his answer when he
heard Donovan say, “What’s up?”

“Why were you with my wife?” Carter asked
pointedly. Evenly.

“What are you talking about, man?”

Oh, now you want to play dumb.
Carter
frowned. “Why were you with my wife!”

“She didn’t tell you?” Donovan responded,
knowing his answer would annoy Carter.

Carter lost it and in a rage, he swung right
arm and knocked folders from his desk. “Donovan, I will fly there
and personally put a bullet in your head if I find out you laid a
hand on my wife.”

“Chill, man. I introduced her to her
father.”

Carter threw his pen across the room.
“You’re telling me the only interest you have in Shayla was
introducing her to her father? Because if you think I’m that
stupid—”

“Look, man…I introduced her and that’s
that.”

Still livid, Carter yelled, “It doesn’t take
a weekend to introduce my wife to her father!” He stood up from his
desk, walked to the opposite side of it clenched his right hand
into a fist, pacing back and forth. And Donovan’s chuckle didn’t
help matters.

“Oh, you think something’s funny?”

“Dude I ain’t got time for this. You’re full
of it, Carter. It’s funny how you try to take someone else’s woman,
but the minute you think somebody’s banging Shayla, you’re ready to
fight.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t think I know you were trying to
get at my wife?”

“What? I never tried to holla at your wife,
Donovan.”

“Yeah, right…when we were living in
Charlotte, I saw you having dinner with her. Twice!” Donovan got up
to shut the door to his office. “Why do you think I moved away from
there in the first place? I knew once you had your hook in her, she
wouldn’t be able to resist almighty Carter Williams. No woman
could, right? And it’s not like you didn’t have enough women, but
still, you couldn’t leave mine alone.”

Carter shook his head. “You got it all
wrong, Donovan. You saw me with your wife because she asked me to
meet her for dinner. She was planning some party for you…wanted me
to dig up some old college pics and give her some insight on how
you were back then. I never tried to come on to her. The only
married woman I’ve ever been with is mine and that’s because she’s
married to me.” Carter took a breath. “Is that why you were with
Shayla? You thought I slept with your wife, so you were trying to
sleep with mine?”

“No. Not at all,” Donovan said, remembering
the fun times he had with Shayla. And then he felt cocky enough to
admit the truth. “I love Shayla, and—”

“What’d you say?” Carter frowned, felt his
blood pressure rise to the point that his head tightened from the
strain of trying to contain what he thought he just heard this man
say.

“I said, I love your wife, but she loves you
and there’s nothing I can do to make her see why you’re not the man
for her. But I do know one thing…she’s not happy with you, and
that’s something
you
have to deal with. Now do me a favor
and delete my number from your contact list. We don’t owe each
other anymore favors, so there’s no reason for you to contact me.
Peace.”

Carter listened to the phone go silent and
then placed his cell phone in the front right pocket of his suit
jacket. He sat down at his desk again, trying to mentally calm
down. Then he wondered if Shayla was awake. If she was, why hadn’t
she called? Sure, they’d made love but it would take more than sex
to fix the things that were wrong in their marriage. They still had
plenty to talk in depth about…things to iron out.

He glanced at the clock. It was 10:47 a.m.
He didn’t want to call her, just in case she was still sleeping,
but the suspense was killing him. So he picked up the phone and as
he was dialing, he heard her voice.

“Shayla?”

“Hey, Carter.”

“Are you just getting up?”

“I’m still in bed but about to get up.”

“Listen, I know we have a lot to talk about
so I thought we could maybe meet up somewhere and have dinner.”

“Um…I would prefer it if we talked at home.
I don’t want to be in a restaurant sobbing out of control and
causing a scene.”

“Okay. At home then.”

“I’ll make dinner.”

“You can make dinner if you want but I don’t
have an appetite.”

“Okay, well…um—”

“I’ll be home at six.”

“Okay. See ya then.”

Carter hung up the phone. Shayla’s time with
Donovan still frustrated him. The man had admitted that he loved
her. And
boldly
admitted it at that. Who does that? What
man, in his right mind, admits to another man that he’s in love
with that man’s wife? What happened in Virginia that made Donovan
fall for her?

* * *

Around five, Shayla went ahead and got
dinner ready, which ended up being a garden salad and crackers –
something simple. She didn’t want to do an elaborate meal,
especially since Carter was possibly not going to eat. He was
frustrated, she knew, and didn’t know what to expect of him when he
was home.

She walked to the refrigerator, took out a
bottle of Sun Drop and when she turned around, Carter was standing
there at the door, his arms crossed, and feet crossed at the ankles
just staring – nearly scared the life out of her.

“Gosh. You scared me,” she told him.

Carter didn’t say a word. He watched her,
saw the blotches of redness and scars on her neck, courtesy of him,
remembering how rough he was with her last night. How angry he was.
He walked on in the kitchen, pulled out a chair and sat down at the
table – a place setting in front of him. He hadn’t even changed
clothes – still wore the smoke gray Versace suit that he’d worn to
work.

Shayla sat down too and said, “Um…would you
like some—”

“I have to get this off of my chest,” he
interrupted. “And I know we have to talk about Jacob and what I’m
telling you is not a diversion to gloss over that. But I need to
know if anything happened between you and Donovan, Shayla.”

“No. I told you that.”

“You spent an entire weekend—”

“It wasn’t an entire weekend. I was back
Sunday afternoon and—”

“You spent the weekend with him!” Carter
yelled, pounding his fist against the table.

Shayla’s lips trembled. “He only took me to
meet my father.”

“Did he hug you?”

“Who? My father.”

“Do you really think I’m talking about your
father! I’m talking about Donovan, Shayla. Do-no-van! Did he hug
you?”

Shayla frowned. “Yes.”

“Did he kiss you? Did he put his mouth on
you, Shayla? And do not lie to me.”

“He kissed my temple, but it wasn’t a big
deal,” she said, because had she told Carter what really happened,
he probably would’ve lost it.

Carter looked at her with anger in his eyes.
Just staring. Then he broke his silence and asked, “If it wasn’t a
big deal, then why’s the man in love with you?”

Shayla’s mouth opened but no words came out.
Did Donovan actually tell Carter that he’s in love with
me?

“I’m waiting.”

“Um…I don’t know, Carter. I guess he likes
me. He did tell me that he loved me and—”

“Did you sleep with him?”

“No!”

“Did you
want
to sleep with him?”

“No, Carter!”

“So tell me what happened on your weekend
trip, Shayla,” he said with challenging eyes. “Where’d you
stay?”

“At a hotel.”

“With him?”

“No. Alone.”

“So when did he kiss your temple and hug
you? At the hotel?”

Shayla sighed.

“Yes, I’m interrogating you, Shayla, because
I have every
right
to know what happened. What if I spent
the weekend with some woman and kissed her on the temple. Would you
be cool with that? Would that be not a
big deal
?”

Tears fell from Shayla’s eyes.

Carter realized love was making him crazy,
and at the same time, he felt helpless. He could control several
aspects of his life – his career, his schedule, but the last few
weeks made him realize he couldn’t control another person’s
feelings or actions, especially Shayla’s. And had he told her about
Jacob outright, maybe it would not have started the chain reaction
of her getting upset, avoiding his calls, going to Virginia and
spending time with Donovan.