Music bumping. Heads bobbing. Kellis Saunders couldn't help
but feel the rush of excitement as she stepped into the
hottest new nightclub in central
Philadelphia—Ja'net.
She showed the doorman her
driver's license and paid the cover charge, then hovered
near the double doors while she waited for her
sister-in-law.
"All right, let's go, Kelly," Essence
said, with excitement bubbling in her voice as she moved up
beside her.
Kelly took a look at the hundreds of
people inside, and said, "Wow! You were right, Essence. This
place is jumping."
The caramel beauty's sienna-brown
eyes danced knowingly. "I told you," she answered over the
thump of the music. "Mark brought me here last month and we
had a great time." Once inside, Essence looked around, then
signaled for Kelly to follow her up a small spiral staircase
that took them to a long balcony.
Kelly had to do a
double take when she spotted the lush, red velvet couches,
round mahogany tables and private bar at the far left of the
room. Essence flashed two VIP passes and they moved over to
an empty couch close to a banister. Kelly took a seat and
rubbed her hands across the fabric, loving the feel of
velvet against her skin.
"Dang, this place is nice!
Whoever owns it knows exactly what he's doing."
"I
told you so."
Looking around, Kelly nodded in
agreement. "Yes, you did, but you still haven't told me how
you got us VIP passes."
Essence lowered her eyes to
the crowded dance floor below and shrugged. "Your brother
knows the owner."
Before Kelly could ask another
question, a waitress came over and they each ordered a
cosmopolitan.
Crossing her bare legs, Kelly glanced
down at the white Deréon designer stilettos on her feet. She
had complemented the daring shoes with a short, white
spandex skirt and a fire-engine-red halter top that left her
flat midriff bare and exposed. But looking around at the
other women dressed in slamming outfits that had to have
cost way more than she could ever afford on a teacher's
salary, Kelly felt insecure about her choice.
"You
look fabulous," Essence said.
Kelly grinned. Her
sister-in-law always had a way of reading her mind. "Thanks.
Although I must say, for someone with three children, you're
the one that looks amazing."
"Thanks, girl." Essence
was wearing a daring pink strapless dress that plunged low
in the back and hugged every curve imaginable. One could
only hope to look that good after having
children.
"Speaking of kids…" Essence began as she
glanced down at the slender gold watch on her wrist. "I
think I need to call your mom and see how Summer is doing."
Before she could reach inside her small Coach purse for her
phone, Kelly touched her arm, halting her.
"Girl,
relax. They're fine. You know Mama has everything under
control."
Essence hesitated for a moment before she
finally relaxed her shoulders and nodded. "Yes, you're
right."
Smiling, Kelly looked down at the three-carat
diamond ring that glittered on her sister-in-law's finger,
and felt a twinge of envy. Essence and Mark, Kelly's big
brother, were the proud parents of three wonderful children.
Tyler was eight, Chelsea was four, and Summer had just
turned six months old. Kelly adored her nieces and nephew.
Other than teaching her second-grade class, she enjoyed
nothing as much as being an aunt.
While they waited
for their drinks, she took a deep breath and told herself to
relax. I deserve a night out. It had been a long
week, getting ready for the upcoming school year, and she
realized she needed some fun. Despite her initial opposition
to being a third wheel, now she thought that hanging out
with her brother and his wife could turn out to be
fun.
Snapping her fingers, she sang along with
Keyshia Cole and allowed her eyes to travel around the club.
Everybody from executives to gold diggers had come out to
party, and they were all dressed to impress. Below, to the
far right of the main level, Kelly spotted someone that made
her gasp. "Isn't that Donovan McNabb, of the Philadelphia
Eagles?"
Essence followed the direction of her gaze
and nodded. "Oh my goodness, it is! He is so
good-looking."
Nodding, Kelly watched the NFL player,
noting that he looked smaller in person. He was standing
near the main bar talking to someone who looked vaguely
familiar. Kelly furrowed her brow as she searched her mind,
trying to recall where she had seen him before. If only
I could see his eyes. To her disappointment, he never
turned her way. Still, even from watching his profile, she
felt a dizzying current race up her arms. The football star
had since moved across the room, but he was of no interest
to her. Instead, Kelly allowed her eyes to follow the
handsome stranger around the club. This is crazy,
she thought. The man had grabbed her attention and she
couldn't stop looking at him. Her heart began to pound
rapidly within her chest and Kelly started to wonder what in
the world was wrong with her. She couldn't blame it on
alcohol because she hadn't had a drink yet. And it wasn't
like it had been a while since she'd noticed a gorgeous
man—she'd seen two earlier while shopping in the mall. Both
had stopped to ask for her phone number, and been politely
turned down. After a terrible breakup, Kellis wasn't
interested in dating, and rarely gave a man a second
thought. Yet as she continued to stare at the floor below,
she couldn't recall the last time she had felt this drawn to
a man. There was something about him because, even from a
distance, his mere presence carried a strong sense of
masculine power.
Tilting her head, she studied the
chiseled lines of his profile, admiring his prominent nose
and high cheekbones. Maybe it was his deep coffee
complexion—she always had a thing for dark men. No, it was
something else. Maybe it was his massive chest or that he
was well over six feet tall. Kellis loved tilting her head
back to gaze up into a man's eyes.
The longer she
stared at the handsome stranger, the more puzzled she
became. She couldn't put her finger on it, but was certain
the two of them had crossed paths at some point in her life.
The big questions were when and where?
The waitress
returned with their drinks, and Kelly brushed her curiosity
aside. She accepted the cosmopolitan and insisted on paying
for the first round of drinks. Kelly reached into her purse
and gave the waitress enough to include a tip. She thanked
them, and as soon as she moved to the next table, Kelly
brought the drink to her lips and nodded. "Mmm, there's
nothing better than a nice club with good music and
wonderful drinks!"
"Mark's thoughts exactly," Essence
said, then glanced down at her watch again, frowning
slightly. "I wonder what's taking him so long?"
They
had left him standing out in the parking lot talking to a
guy he hadn't seen in years. "I'm sure he's around
somewhere. You know my brother. He always seems to know
everybody." Pausing with the martini glass halfway to her
lips, Kelly looked down at the floor again and felt a sting
of disappointment upon discovering her mystery man was no
longer there. It was probably for the best, because given
the way he had made her skin tingle, there was no telling
what she might be willing to do if he had asked for her
number. One thing was for sure, she definitely wouldn't have
turned him down.
The music changed to a funky new
Beyoncé tune. Kelly lowered her drink to the coffee table,
then hopped out of her seat. While holding on to the rail,
she moved to the beat. "Hey! That's my jam."
Essence
also jumped to her feet and the two of them rocked to the
thump of the music. Down below, the dance floor was packed,
and others were climbing out of their seats, trying to push
their way through the crowd. The two women waved their hands
in the air and then started doing the bump. Kelly was
dancing and laughing so hard she couldn't remember the last
time she'd had this much fun.
"Damn, girl! Where's
your man at?"
The two women swung around and Kelly
playfully rolled her eyes at her brother. "Don't have one.
Don't want one."
Mark gave her a dismissive wave. "I
wasn't talking to you. I was talking to that sexy female
standing beside you."
Essence sucked her teeth and
played along. "My man will be here shortly, and he's really
jealous, so you better get to stepping before he
arrives."
"Well, in that case, let's give him
something to be pissed off about." Mark moved up beside his
wife and snaked a possessive arm around her waist. Leaning
forward, he pressed his lips against hers in a long, sensual
kiss. Kelly smiled with envy as she watched the two. The
couple had been married almost seven years after the former
United States Air Force captain returned home on leave to
discover the one night he'd spent with Essence had produced
a son. With relentless determination, he'd pursued the
fourth-grade schoolteacher until Essence accepted his offer
to spend their lives together. After a boating accident
caused limited mobility in his left hand, Mark had retired
from the military, and he and his family had returned to
Wilmington, Delaware.
After one final kiss, Mark
released his wife, then focused his attention on his little
sister. "I see you're having a good time."
Kelly
nodded. "Yes, coming out tonight was just what I needed. I
love this place. It's classy and vibrant. Thanks, big
brother, this is great."
"You're welcome."
She
gave him a big squeeze, then lowered herself back into her
seat again. "And thank you for the VIP passes. Essence said
the owner's a friend of yours."
A mischievous smile
touched Mark's lips. "Yes, as a matter of fact he is, and
here he comes now."
Kelly followed the direction of
his gaze toward the spiral staircase, and her breath caught
in her throat when she noticed it was the handsome stranger
she had been watching earlier. He started in their
direction. Just as before, her heart began to pound heavily
as her eyes scanned him from his wingtip shoes to his smooth
dark face. When she reached his large chocolate eyes, her
stomach clenched with
recognition.
Oh.
My.
Goodness.
She
knew him. She knew him well.
As Kelly took a deep
breath, she looked over at her brother and at Essence, who
were both staring down at the dance floor, avoiding eye
contact. The knowing looks on their faces told her tonight
had been a setup.
"Hello, Kellis."
Her birth
name coming from his full sensual lips was a whisper so soft
it felt like a caress, and almost made her whimper. Tilting
her head, Kelly stared up at the man she had fallen in love
with when she was barely a teenager.
Diamere
Redmond.
Her pulse raced as he looped an arm around
her waist and hugged her close. With his hard body against
her, she felt her head begin to spin, and her own body came
wildly alive. And all from a simple hug. Only, there was
nothing simple about it, or the man holding
her.
Diamere finally released her and for several
seconds Kelly was speechless, too in shock to form any kind
of coherent response. Instead, she gazed up into the
chocolate depths of his eyes until she found her breath.
"Hi," she began, stopping to clear the frog from her throat.
"I didn't know you were back on the East
Coast."
"Been back almost a year now," he replied,
grinning broadly.
A whole year and no one told
me, she thought. She glanced out of the corner of her
eyes at Mark and pursed her lips with
disapproval.
She looked back once again and met the
intense gaze of Diamere, who was standing so close Kelly
could smell the succulent woody scent of his cologne. It was
a familiar smell that made her sway toward him, longing to
rest her cheek on his chest and simply inhale. It was as if
they were the only two people standing there as she became
lost admiring him. A few lines had developed in the corners
of his eyes, which were deep, dark and mysterious, reminding
her of a dark winter night. The firmness of his jaw made his
face more angular than she remembered. His coffee-colored
features were still disturbingly handsome. The shape of his
luscious mouth was and always would be a turn-on, and he
still had those sexy dimples he used to flash at her so
often. Gone were his thick curls, replaced by a short, even
haircut.
"I thought you were teaching in Texas."
Diamere's deep voice broke into her trip down memory
lane.
"I was. But I missed Wilmington," she said,
barely audible above the beat of the music. For so long she
had imagined seeing him again. She'd thought she would be
prepared, but everything she had practiced, everything she
had planned to say, was gone. Her mind had drawn a blank.
Instead, all she could do was stare.
I must be
dreaming.
Kelly blinked once, then twice, but
Diamere was still there standing right before her, looking
better than any man had a right to look. And for that reason
she couldn't tear her eyes away from him no matter how hard
she tried. All she could do was stand there as she
remembered that this was the man she had once loved to
distraction. The same man she dreamed would be the father of
her children. The man to whom she'd vowed to give her
virginity.
"You okay?" she heard him
ask.
Kelly blinked twice more, then cleared her
throat. Damn, she was pathetic. You're ma k ing a fo ol
of yourself. The last thing she wanted was for Diamere
to think she had been pining over him all these years.
Swallowing sharply, she pulled herself together. "I'm fine.
Just a little surprised to see you." A smile curled her lips
as she met his grin. "I hear you own this club?"
He
shifted his weight to his other foot as he spoke. "Not that
I'm trying to brag, but I actually own three
nightclubs."
A big smile crinkled her eyes.
"Three? Dang! You're doing big things."
Diamere held
her gaze as he replied, "Just trying to get
paid."
She dragged her gaze away from him long enough
to glance around the room in admiration. But Diamere had
such beautiful eyes they were like a magnet, so looking away
wasn't easy. "Well, I'd say you're definitely doing
that."
Taking another deep breath, Kelly groaned
inwardly as her head suddenly cleared long enough for her to
remember. Diamere was wearing Armani cologne. He'd had it on
the last time they were together, seven years ago. She'd
know that fragrance anywhere. Only on Diamere it blended
with his natural scent and smelled as if the designer had
created it specifically for him.