Claiming Carter (28 page)

I left the house feeling a bit apprehensive, but nonetheless excited about spending another night with Kelvin. It was seven o’clock when I arrived and used the elevator key that Kelvin had given me to make my way up to the penthouse. When the doors slid open, Kelvin was standing there in a black suit with dark gray pinstripes. He wasn’t wearing a tie, so his gray shirt had the top three buttons undone, exposing his tattoos and his muscular chest.

“Hey, beautiful,” he crooned as he unveiled his perfect smile.

“Hi, baby,” I replied as I leaned in to kiss him on his supple lips. Kelvin grabbed me by the hand and pulled my body close to his as he glided his tongue across my upper lip, teasing me into being turned on. I responded by placing my hand on the back of his neck and pushing my tongue deep into his mouth. One thing I loved about Kelvin was that no greeting was too affectionate to him. When we saw each other for the first time in a day, he greeted me as if he hadn’t seen me in a year. When he held and kissed me I felt like I could feel how much he missed me. It felt genuine, and I’d never felt more wanted.

After our passionate kiss, Kelvin led me into the kitchen where he’d been hard at work, attempting to create another flavorful dish to impress me with. Tonight he’d chosen baked salmon, with polenta and asparagus. The aroma filled the entire suite as I walked in, and Kelvin led me to one of the barstools.

“Smells great, babe,” I admired as I took my seat and watched Kelvin, who was already setting up the plates.

“Only the best for you,” Kelvin said with a quirky smile. “Okay, maybe that was a little corny, but it’s true. I just hope it’s as good as it smells.”

“Oh please, Kelvin. You know you can cook your ass off. I’ve eaten over here more times than I can count now and you have never disappointed with your cooking—or with anything else for that matter.”

Kelvin smiled to himself as he placed a fillet of salmon on each plate, next to steaming asparagus. As I watched him, the question of the night forced its way to the forefront of my mind. I vividly remembered Kelvin explaining that he had something he wanted to tell me, and now that I was in his penthouse, I was eager to find out what it was.

“So, what is this important thing that you’ve wanting to tell me?” I inquired. Kelvin’s face immediately lost its smile, and it took a moment for him to look up at me.

“Not yet,” he said drearily, glancing down at the floor to break eye contact with me. “Let’s get through dinner first.”

“Wow. Look at that serious face,” I quipped. “This must be something big.”

Kelvin didn’t respond. Instead, he took our plates over to the dining room table that featured a bottle of Chardonnay resting inside a silver ice bucket, behind two wine glasses. I followed him to the table as he set down our plates, then pulled out my chair, motioning for me to sit down. I smiled at him as I walked to the chair, and kissed him softly on the lips before sitting down. Kelvin poured us both a glass of wine before taking his own seat, and then performed his customary pause while I cut into my salmon and placed the first forkful into my mouth.

“Wow. This is amazing, baby,” I said as I chewed behind my hand.

“Thank you, babe. I’m glad you like it.” Kelvin took his first bite, followed by his first sip of wine. “So, what’s been up? How’s Lexy and Mike?”

“They’re doing well. She told me that we need to double date again. Her and Mike were thinking that maybe we could go to the movies or something. You know The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is about to come out. We have to go see that, babe.”

Kelvin nodded to himself. “Yeah, I know you are dying to see it. I’ll see if I can get a hook up and set up an exclusive screening for just the four of us.”

“Damn. You can do that?” I asked as I swallowed a piece of asparagus.

“I’m sure it can’t be that hard.”

“Why can’t we just go to a normal showing?”

Kelvin paused between chews, staring down at his plate briefly. “I mean, we could. I just think it’d be better if we avoided those crowds and long lines, but we can go to a regular showing if you want.”

“Babe, I know how you are when it comes to our privacy, and I totally understand that. But, you’ve been really insistent on making sure that we stay inside, or if we do go out, you make sure that nobody sees us. Is everything alright? Is there something going on that I don’t know about? Just be upfront with me.”

Kelvin stopped chewing and gave me a blank stare. It was like he was having some sort of internal fight within himself, and he seemed confused and frustrated.

“What is it, babe?” I asked again.

“Nothing,” Kelvin said softly. “I’m just still feeling a little overprotective after the whole Tim thing. I know it was a couple of months ago, but I just don’t want to have to live through a repeat of that night.”

“Tim is gone, baby. We don’t have to worry about him ever again. It’s okay if we just live our lives however we want to. There isn’t anybody out there who is trying to hurt us.”

Kelvin let out a loud sigh and leaned back in his chair. He had a look of defeat spread across his face and I suddenly felt uneasy. I could see it in his face that he wanted to tell me something very badly, but it was like there was a wall up that he couldn’t get over.

“What’s wrong, Kelvin?” I asked again, this time more forcefully. “I can tell that there is something wrong, and it’s bothering me that you’re not telling me.”

Kelvin sighed loudly again. “There is something that I have to tell you, but let’s just finish dinner first, okay?”

It was quite a struggle, but somehow I managed to finish my food without asking the question that was screaming loudly in my mind. Kelvin didn’t say much either, so when we finished our food and put our dishes away, I eagerly followed him into the living room and sat on the couch next to him. He tapped a button on a remote and the fireplace lit up. The bright lights of the Chicago night life were shining in through the gigantic window, and my nerves were on full alert. When we finally settled down, the look on my face told Kelvin that I was beyond tired of waiting, so he finally spoke up.

“Okay,” he said nervously. “I know I’ve kept you waiting all night for me to say something, and I apologize if I’ve had you stressed out. It’s just that I needed time to gather my thoughts and figure out the best way to tell you this, and I realized that there really is no best way. But, I think it’s important that you understand that things are going to change after this, and all I hope is that they change for the better.”

I scrunched my forehead in confusion. I had no idea where this was going and the uncertainty was making me increasingly apprehensive. “Okay, I don’t know where this is going, babe, but you are scaring me. Please just tell me what is going on.”

“I know it’s been strange lately, and I know I have acted very unlike myself, especially tonight, but I want you to know that there is a reason. A reason that I have been dying to tell you about, but I didn’t want to scare you away. It’s been killing me inside worrying about it. I just don’t want to lose you.”

“I’m not going anywhere, baby. Please just tell me.”

Kelvin put his head down and covered his face with his hands. He was so emotional about the whole thing, and I felt bad for him, but I was dying to know the truth.

“What, Kelvin!” I said louder than I intended to.

Kelvin slowly raised his head and stared at me. When our eyes locked, I noticed that he had tears in his eyes, and suddenly I felt my own tears fighting their way to the surface. He wiped his eyes forcefully and took a deep breath. Then, he finally spoke.

“I should have told you this a long time ago,” he said sheepishly. “I know this changes things, but you have to know that … I’m in love with you, Lilliana Hayes. I love you.”

My eyes bulged in my head as the tears finally broke through and rolled down my face. My heart was pounding and I couldn’t hold back the smile on my face as I covered my mouth with my hand.

“Oh my god!” I exclaimed. “That’s what you’ve wanted to tell me? You thought I would leave you because of that?”

Kelvin put his head down once again, as if embarrassed. “Yeah. I just … I don’t know.”

I reached out and put my hand under his chin, lifting his face until our eyes met.

“I would never leave you because of something like that. Do you want to know why?” I asked as my tears became steady streams running down my face and dripping off of my chin.

“Why?” Kelvin answered.

“Because I love you too,” I replied. “I love you, Kelvin Carter Jr.”

“Oh my gosh! I am so happy for you!”

The entire Applebee’s restaurant seemed to stop in their tracks to turn and stare at us. Lexy had been overcome by her excitement and couldn’t control her volume after I told her that Kelvin and I admitted our love for each other. It was a sudden addition to our already flourishing relationship, and I felt like this only solidified my belief that our relationship was meant to be. Three months after breaking it off with Tim, I’d moved on and was happily in love with a much better man who gave me everything I wanted, including the best sex I’d ever had. What more could a girl ask for?

“I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am of you, Lil,” Lexy continued. “For a moment there, I was worried about you.”

I took another sip of my second Cosmo, and frowned at Lexy. “Worried about me for what?”

“For a minute, I thought you were going to fall for Tim’s bullshit and go running back to him. I really did. I saw how he was trying to play you. But, you did good. You toughed it out, and waited for the right guy to come in and sweep you off of your feet just like I told you he would. You hung in there.”

“Well, I couldn’t have done it without you. If ever there was a moment that I did think about going back to Tim, you were right there to tell me better. You had my back when I needed it most, and gave me motivation. You were my partner in this whole thing, for the entire time. You are a great best friend, Lex.”

“Aww, don’t make me cry,” Lexy joked. “I just want to see you happy. A good relationship is hard to come by, you know. Finding a good man who is worth a damn is no walk in the park. You know that from all that time you spent fucking with booty-faced Tim.”

I let out a hearty laugh and slammed my empty cup on the bar. “You are a mess, Lexy.”

“I’m serious! Tim had a booty face and he wasn’t worth all of the trouble and heartache that he caused you. You deserve better, sweetie, and I’m glad that you found better in Kelvin.”

“Thanks, Lex. I love you.”

“I love you, too. But not as much as you love Kelvin Carter Jr.!” Lexy said loudly, drawing the attention of the table behind us. The alcohol was starting to show its effects on both of us. “Hey, remember when we thought that he was in the mob?” Lexy exploded into laughter once again.

I couldn’t help but laugh with her. At this point, the thought of Kelvin being a mob boss was plain ridiculous and wasn’t worth giving any attention to. I now knew that he was a business man, who frequently attended to business in the Red Chip casino, and reading too far into that just wasn’t worth it. I needed to focus on how we could make our relationship stronger, and not on how to kill myself with paranoia.

“How could I forget that craziness?” I replied with a chuckle. “Should have known better than to listen to Tim in the first place.”

“You got that right. That little shithead was about to ruin a good thing before it even had a chance to get started. Little bastard. Little nerdy bastard. Little ugly, nerdy bastard.”

Just as I was putting my hand to my mouth to hide my laughing at Lexy’s craziness, a tall, white man with a bald head came and sat down next to me at the bar, wearing black pants, and a black t-shirt. He had to have been about six-four, and he had tattoos covering his arms and neck, and little dots tattooed on his hands. My eyes immediately honed in on the dots. There were six of them—three on each hand—and I found myself wondering what they meant, because it was obvious that they were put there to be recognized by others.

As I stared down at the man’s abrasive knuckles, I felt his eyes digging into me. When I looked up, my suspicions were confirmed as we immediately locked eyes. The look on his face sent a very unfamiliar chill down my spine.

“Hello,” the man said, still staring me directly in the eyes. “How are you doing tonight?”

The man had a strong accent of some kind, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“I’m fine. How are you?” I replied, immediately regretting my response.

“Very well, thank you,” he said. “I don’t mean to interrupt you and your friend, but did you say …”

“Well, then don’t interrupt!” Lexy barked from behind me. I turned around to find her leaned over in her seat, staring at the man with bulging eyes. It was like she was trying to make herself look insane, and it was actually pretty convincing. “You might as well skip on out of here, Cojack. This woman right here is madly in love with a very handsome man by the name of Kelvin Carter Jr., so please don’t waste her precious time by trying your old, mack daddy pickup lines on her. She’s not interested, sir. Move along.”