Essence of Desire (21 page)

“What a pity.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

Felicia glared up at him. “What exactly did you have in mind for this person, Mr. Maxwell?”

“I really don’t know since she claims she doesn’t wear under things.” He motioned to the mannequin wearing a shiny blue bra and matching panties. “So this outfit won’t do. She would find something like this too confining.”

“Most type of lingerie are.”

“Well, I’m hoping you can show me a few things that will help me change her mind.”

Felicia frowned. “Some women’s minds aren’t easy to change, Mr. Maxwell.”

Trask’s chuckle was low and sexy. “Yes, I know, and believe me, my woman will be a hard nut to crack.”

He saw the quick flash of fire in her eyes. “Your woman?”

“Yes, my woman. I decided before coming her today that I would make her my woman.”

Felicia’s brows lifted at that bold declaration. “Really? This is all rather interesting. What exactly was she to you before you decided to make her your woman?”

Trask looked at Felicia and gave her a full-blown smile before answering. “A pain in my rear end.”

Before Felicia could come up with the blistering response Trask knew she was capable of making, he rushed on and said, “I’m ready to make a purchase now, Ms. Madaris, and we can start off with this sexy number here,” he said indicating the bra and panty set on the mannequin before them. “And by the way, this is a real nice place you have here.”

***

“It’s ten minutes before the start of the pre-game show, Mr. Maxwell.”

Trask nodded before pushing aside the papers on his desk. He had arrived in New York early today and had managed time to tape a few endorsements for Nike. Then he had gone Christmas shopping for his mother and brother. While in Macy’s he had visited the toy department and picked out several things for Austin as well. It had been a strange feeling selecting toys for a four-year-old, but he had enjoyed doing so. A number of the things he’d purchased for Austin were games the two of them could enjoy together.

He then turned his thoughts to Austin’s mother. He hoped that yesterday he had laid to rest any thoughts she might have had that he was interested in Cherie. In fact, he had made it clear that she was his woman. Now whether Felicia had agreed with his assessment of their relationship was another story. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she didn’t think they had a relationship at all. Oh, there was no doubt in his mind that, when the time came for her to become his holiday lover, she would. Felicia was not one to back down on any agreement that she’d made. But it didn’t mean she would have to like it. To be quite honest, he expected her to come kicking and screaming all the way to the bedroom. But he wouldn’t give her that opportunity. When they did make love, he intended for her to want him as much as he wanted her. And he intended to make their union special.

Trask smiled. Maybe he was losing his mind, or maybe he’d already lost it, but the thought of an affair with Felicia wasn’t such a bad idea. There was definitely some explosive chemistry between them. Just thinking about her turned him on big time. Rising from his seat, he took a deep breath to calm his overheated body. He needed to mentally prepare himself for tonight’s show. The two teams that were battling it out were archrivals, and the expected television audience was well over two million. But for once, his heart and soul weren’t in it. Right now, he would rather be back in Houston spending time with Austin or making out with Austin’s mother. He missed the two of them already.

Straightening his tie, Trask decided that tonight he would let them know that he was thinking of them.

***

“Mommy! Mommy! My daddy is on TV.”

Felicia smiled at Austin’s excitement before closing the magazine she’d been flipping through to give a cursory glance toward the television screen. She immediately wished she hadn’t.

Trask looked good, and she wished she didn’t always notice that fact. She also wished that she hadn’t promised Austin that he could watch the game tonight until the end of the first quarter. Since the game had started at seven, it hadn’t interfered with his bedtime. But still, she hadn’t like the idea of Trask invading her home on the big screen. She was still upset with his insinuation yesterday that she was his woman. Well, she had news for him. She had stopped being anyone’s woman after she divorced Charles. At least one good thing had come out of Trask’s visit to her shop. Today Felicia’s Boutique had been jam-packed with men doing some holiday shopping for the women in their lives.

“Mommy, Daddy is talking and I want to hear.”

Felicia picked up the remote and turned the volume up a little more. As far as she was concerned, it had been up enough, but as always Austin was ready to hang on Trask’s every word.

“Before we go into a commercial break,” Trask was saying, “there are two special people I want to say hello to. Hi, Austin. I miss you and I can’t wait to see you on Wednesday. And, Felicia, you take care.”

“Mommy, Daddy said he missed me.”

“Yes, sweetheart, I heard him.” A part of Felicia couldn’t help but soften. When it came to Austin, Trask was doing everything humanly possible to make him feel special for the holidays. She knew that being acknowledged on television meant a lot to her son because it showed how much Trask cared.

“He said hi to you, too, Mommy, didn’t he?”

Felicia smiled down at her son. “Yes, sweetheart, he did.”

“My daddy’s super, isn’t he?”

For once Felicia had to agree. “Yes, he sure is.”

If asked, Felicia would have admitted that she’d had a funny feeling all day that something bad was going to happen. She tried dismissing the thought since it was the week of Christmas and everything had been going great so far. But she knew that the period of holiday bliss was about to come to an end when she glanced up from arranging a few sale items on display and saw Steven’s father walk into her shop.

The first question that came to her mind was, what was he doing in Texas? Houston was a long way from Los Angeles. Not for one minute did she think he had finally come to visit his grandson since he had never acknowledged Austin since the boy had been born.

The one and only time the Gardners had seen Austin had been when they had paid a visit to the hospital the morning after she had delivered. Even then, they were trying to convince her to get out of their son’s life.

Felicia stopped what she was doing and watched the elegantly dressed older man’s approach. During the ten months that Felicia had been married to Steven, she discovered that, more than anything, Andrew Gardner loved power. Power to make people do whatever he wanted them to. That was one of the reasons Steven constantly defied him.

“Mr. Gardner, this is a pleasant surprise.” Felicia forced the words out to the man, who was glancing around her shop. And the look of disapproval on his face was evident and it spoke volumes.

“I should have known you’d be running some type of place like this, Felicia,” Andrew Gardner thundered, ignoring the fact that she had a few customers in her shop.

Knowing whatever he had to say to her was better done in private, Felicia said, “Evidently there’s a reason for your visit. We can talk in my office.” Without saying another word, she led the way.

No sooner had her office door closed behind them than Andrew Gardner decided to get straight to the point of his surprise visit. “I want my grandson.”

Felicia shook her head, certain she had misunderstood the man’s words. “You want to visit with him?”

Andrew Gardner’s gaze flickered over her as if she was daft. “No, I don’t want to visit him. I want custody of him. Elvia hasn’t been herself since Steven’s death. Having the boy around will do her some good.”

Complete outrage took over Felicia’s body. Did they think Austin was some kind of a toy for Elvia Gardner to play with? “How dare you come here and demand my son? Neither of you have acknowledged him since he was born. Not once have you come to visit him, nor have you done something as simple as pick up a phone to call him or write him a few lines.”

She went to stand before the man. “I’ve sent you pictures of him every year and you’ve never acknowledged them. Even Steven was a poor excuse for a father since he never visited or called Austin either. And now you have the nerve to come here and insinuate you want custody.”

Andrew Gardner’s gaze darkened, and he straightened his body to stand erect to his full six feet five inches. It was a gesture that was made to intimidate. “I’m doing more than insinuating. I’m telling you what Elvia and I plan on doing. The reason we never acknowledged your son is because we never believed he was really Steven’s although Steven claimed that he was. All the members in our family have very light complexions and your son did not favor any of us.”

“That’s because he favored me,” Felicia stormed, pointing to the cocoa coloring of her skin. She was livid at the thought that the reason they had never accepted Austin as their grandchild was because he hadn’t been born
light
enough.

“I suggest you leave now, Mr. Gardner, or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

“Fine. But hear this, young lady. You are not fit to be the mother of my grandchild and this place proves it. I’m going to make sure my attorneys expose you as the unfit mother that you are. We know you only married Steven for his money and that’s why I made damn sure you didn’t get one penny. And I know about your second husband and that you married him for money as well. You’re nothing but a gold digger. If you were any sort of a decent woman, you would be married now and providing my grandson with some sense of family stability. If you want to play hard, that’s fine with us. You will definitely be hearing from our lawyers.”

A speechless Felicia watched as the older man walked out of her office.

***

Trask knew that something was bothering Felicia when he arrived at her home to take Austin on their preplanned drive around the city to see the Christmas lights. Although she consented to go along with them for the ride, she had very little to say. That was definitely not like Felicia.

Even after they returned to her home, and she had fed them another wonderful home-cooked meal, she had been unusually quiet. It was only after Austin had been put to bed that he got the chance to question her about it.

He stood in the doorway of her kitchen, watching as she put the last of the dishes away. “Would you like to tell me what’s bothering you?”

“What makes you think something is bothering me?” she snapped at him. “You think you know me so well, but you don’t. You don’t know anything and--”

Felicia stopped talking and covered her face with her hands, unable to deal with all she had been through that day.

Trask came farther into the room. Something swept through him when he saw her composure crumbling. He walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. “Hey, what’s the matter? Talk to me, Felicia. What’s bothering you? You know you can tell me anything. You always have.”

Felicia was intensely aware of her small body being enveloped in Trask’s larger one as he held her to comfort her. And the warmth of his hand caressing her back as he tried to console her. His strength suddenly became the fortitude she desperately needed right then. His strength became hers as she tried to deal with what she was going through.

After Mr. Gardner left her shop she had refused to give in and call her family. Over the years they had always been there for her to run to and, in some cases, hide behind. But now, she was determined that this one time she would handle things on her own. She just hadn’t realized doing so would be so hard. And she hadn’t counted on being this scared. The Gardners were heartless, callous people who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. And right now, they wanted Austin. There was no way she would ever let them have her son.

“Talk to me, sweetheart.”

Trask’s tender request made Felicia lift her head from his chest. She raised her gaze and met his and paused, startled by something she saw in his eyes. Or was it something in her eyes that was reflecting in his? At that moment, she was too stunned at the way she suddenly felt to decipher which of the two it was. Evidently so was Trask. Instead of trying to figure anything out, they leaned into each other and did something the both of them had wanted to do again since the night she had shown up at his place.

They kissed. And they kept right on kissing.

Trask’s mouth relentlessly tasted Felicia’s, using his tongue to explore, enthrall, and entrance. A part of him hungered for her. It wanted her in a way he had never ever wanted another woman. And he needed her in a way that he didn’t think was possible for any human to need another. But he wanted more than just a form of sexual release. He wanted to discover things with this new Felicia that went beyond the bedroom. He wanted to be a constant and permanent part of her life. And he wanted to make her son his.

Trask suddenly broke off their kiss and took in a long, deep breath when it hit him hard and heavy that he was in love with Felicia and probably had been for some time. That realization got her hauled back up against him as his mouth covered hers once again. This time, unknown to her, there was a promise in his kiss. There was a solid determination there, too. Somehow, someway, Felicia would come to love him as much as he loved her. He would make sure of it. Their years of habitual squabbling were about to end. Now what he wanted to look forward to was a lifetime of loving.