The Sweetest Love (Love Conquers All Book 5) Read online

  Was it the wine she consumed earlier? Or was it her pleading lips daring her to kiss him, to see if his would feel just as good against hers? You better not, the tiny voice in her head warned.

  “Hey Adam,” she responded shyly, taking a tiny step back to regain her equilibrium.

  “What? No kiss? No hug? I don’t get nothing?” he teased with his hands out to the side in the universal “what’s up” gesture.

  Roxy giggled. Stepping into his open arms, she hugged him. She sure hoped he didn’t hear the tiny sigh she let out when his arms wrapped around her. After a few seconds she attempted to break the embraced. She was pleasantly pleased when he held her closer.

  Just another second, Adam told himself as he held her a little longer. Breaking contact, he asked her, “Where are you off to?”

  “I was going to walk down to the corner so I can catch a cab home.”

  Adam removed his suit jacket and briefcase from the hood of the car he was leaning against. “I live a few blocks from here. If you don’t mind walking back to my place so I can get my car, I’ll take you home.”

  “Are you sure? I live up in East Oak Lane.” She didn’t want to put him out since where she lived wasn’t exactly around the corner. But getting a ride with him was way safer than getting in a cab. Philly cabbies were right up there with New York cabbies with their reckless driving.

  Adam chuckled as he took her hand in his. “Yes, I’m sure.”

  Smiling up at Adam, she thanked him as they began the short walk back to his place.

  Three noses were smashed against the window, as the women they belonged to witnessed the scene on the sidewalk unfolding in front of their eyes.

  They’d been ready to take off their stilettos and use them as weapons when dude walked up on Roxy and kissed her on the cheek. Each let out a collective sigh of relief when instead of smacking the daylights out of him, she hugged him as they began to engage in conversation. And when she walked off with him they were certain this wasn’t some random stranger she’d gone off with.

  “Well, I’ll be a plucked duck. He is fine.” Kay muttered.

  “Looks like little Miss Roxy has jump started our get-a-man pact,” Sonia commented, rather amused.

  “Mmm-hmm, and I ain’t even mad at her,” Jen said, a smile dancing across her lips.

  By the time they made it to Adam’s car Roxy wanted to cry. I thought he said a couple of blocks! Five blocks ain’t no couple of blocks! It’s five blocks! Her feet were killing her so badly she had declined his offer to go inside and have a cup of coffee. She wanted to get home so she could relax and put her feet up.

  As soon as her butt hit the leather passenger seat, she flung her purse on the floor and snatched the four-inch heels off. Her feet were not meant to be confined in those cute little hell traps for twelve plus hours.

  “You alright?” Adam queried as he put the key in the ignition, starting the car. A look of misery was sketched all over her features.

  “My feet hurt,” she pouted, not caring that she probably was so not cute right about now.

  She was in so much pain she didn’t even move when he leaned over the car’s console, retrieving one of her stilettos off the floor. Letting out a long whistle he said, “How do you walk on these stilts without breaking your neck? I mean, they look good on you and everything.”

  Laughing, Roxy snatched her shoe from Adam’s hand. “Gimme! It’s a woman thing. You wouldn’t understand.”

  Adam put the car in gear as he eased out of the parking space in front of his townhouse. “You’re right, I don’t understand self-induced torture,” he drawled sarcastically.

  Smiling at him ever so sweetly, she kindly demanded, “Adam, shut up and get me home. I done told you my feet hurt!”

  After she’d given him her address she melted into the soft leather upholstery, closed her eyes and wiggled her aching toes.

  Just as soon as she began wiggling her toes, they instantly curled from the deep, sexy chuckle coming from Adam.

  “Damn girl, you sure have changed,” he said with a note of admiration in his voice.

  Roxy turned on her left hip to face him, staring at him in open curiosity. What did he mean she’s changed? “How so?”

  Shrugging a broad shoulder, brushing off her tone, he told her exactly what he thought. “Look at you. You’re nothing like you were as a kid.”

  She didn’t respond. Instead she raised an arched brow at him. Did he think she was still that little shy, timid mouse of a girl? The one he used to treat like an annoying piece of toilet tissue stuck to the bottom of his shoe?

  Easing to a stop at a red light, he looked over at Roxy. He knew exactly where her thoughts were. “Oh come on, Roxy don’t look at me like that.”

  Roxy crossed her arms over her chest. “Like what? Like you weren’t the absolute meanest jerk to me when I was a little girl? Or like you went out of your way to make it known that I wasn’t welcomed in your parents’ home? Or how you sent me running out into the night crying and hiding under a bush? Take your pick, Adam.”

  Wincing at the truth of her words, Adam dropped his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. This conversation was going to happen sooner or later. If he wanted to explore the idea of getting to know Roxy they had to do this. Pulling off from the light, he suggested, “Maybe we can talk when we get to your place.”

  Man, she really has changed. How in the world did what he’d meant as a compliment tick her off?

  “Fine,” she snipped, settling back into the soft leather, not feeling bad one bit for putting him on blast. She had wanted to get this off of her chest for years. She didn’t deserve to be his punching bag because he was mad at the world. I thought you were all over that, the tiny voice inside her taunted.

  So what! I have a right to change my mind! She screamed back at her pesky conscience. It was so much easier to be forgiving while all cozy in his arms.

  Chapter 10

  “Sorry about the lumpy futon. Me and my mom may get around to shopping for a new one tomorrow afternoon,” she apologized as she kicked her shoes off. Walking to the fridge, she took out a Brita pitcher. “Would you like a glass of water?”

  “Sure and don’t worry about the lumps.” Adam teased trying to get back the mood from earlier. When she didn’t respond, he shrugged his broad shoulders and looked around the clean, but sparsely decorated studio apartment.

  A sad smile curved his lips at the picture on the milk crate end table of Roxy and Abby with their arms thrown around each other’s shoulders, cheesing hard at the camera. The lump rising up in his throat threatened to cut off his oxygen supply. The yellow tinge in Abby’s skin and the white of her eyes had been a source of her being teased by other children. But the face smiling back at him didn’t care about the other children, she was as happy as ever with her best friend.

  Bringing the glasses of water over, Roxy’s eyes followed Adam’s gazing at the picture. The sadness in his eyes tore at her heart. Handing the glass to Adam, she sat next to him. She felt foolish for getting all snippy earlier. He had gone out of his way to bring her home and she nearly bit his head off over something that happened years ago. Something she told herself she was over. She wanted to hug him and apologize for acting like an unforgiving brat. Instead she took a sip of her water and waited for him to begin talking.

  The small space felt really cramped to Adam. She had every right to still be angry with him. Turning the glass up to his lips, he drained the entire contents in what seemed like one swallow. Setting the glass down on the rickety coffee table, he got down to the reason he had asked to come in.

  Running a hand down his clean shaven face, he shifted his body so that they were face to face. He ignored the lump he settled on that was beyond uncomfortable.

  “Roxy, I can’t tell you how sorry I am for the way I treated you when you were a kid.”

  “It’s okay—”

  She attempted to say to halt his apology, but was stopped by him putting a finger to
her lips. “Let me finish.”

  Taking her hand in his, he interlocked their fingers. He began by telling her he wasn’t pleased at all by his parents having a baby, but after Abby came along he fell in love with her. She smiled at him when he shared with her how he doted on her as a toddler.

  A feeling of sadness overcame her when he told her he felt as if he was pushed into a corner and forgotten when his baby sister started showing signs of being ill. Their entire lives had begun to center around Abby’s wants and needs.

  He admitted to being thrilled when Roxy came along as his sister’s playmate. He felt Roxy stiffen when he told her it was soon replaced by more bitterness and anger because she had begun taking attention from his parents that should have been for him.

  Rubbing his hands down his face, he let out a deep breath. “Now as a grown man I understand that my parents’ actions weren’t intentional and that they were just so thankful that Abby had you for a friend.”

  Taking another deep breath, he confessed, “I misunderstood everything. I never knew my mom blamed herself for Abby getting sick. I didn’t understand that my parents gave her so much attention because they knew she didn’t have a lot of time left with us.”

  During family counseling Adam learned his parents had a disagreement the morning of the accident. Nelson had wanted to stay home, relax and watch sports that Saturday afternoon. He had tried persuading Brenda to put off their family outing until Sunday after church. But Brenda had dug her heels in, going on and on about them needing to take the kids to the carnival near the Philadelphia Zoo. To keep the peace, Nelson had given in to his wife’s demands.

  The raw emotion in Adam’s voice was killing her. “It wasn’t her fault. But when the doctors were upfront about Abby’s prognosis the guilt nearly killed my mom. My dad tried like crazy to get her to believe the blame was at the feet of the drunken driver and car seat manufacturer. But she wouldn’t hear it.”

  Her eyes dropped to their intertwined fingers. Her heart shattered into a million pieces for Mr. and Mrs. West. To know your child was slowly dying and there was nothing you could do about it had to be beyond devastating. To lose a child at such a young age was just so against God’s law of nature.

  She didn’t know she was crying until her tears splattered on their skin. “That’s why your mom and dad gave her so much attention. They knew their little girl would never grow up. It wasn’t that they didn’t love you, Adam. Ms. Brenda and Mr. Nelson knew they would always have you,” she said quietly.

  He reached up to wipe away her tears only to have more follow. “I know that now,” he said just as quietly.

  Disengaging their fingers, he wrapped his arms around Roxy. Willingly, she settled into his warm embrace. Agreeing to let him have his say about the past was a good thing. She had always only seen things from her perspective. He wasn’t a mean, brutish tormentor. He simply was a helpless, hurting child.

  Silence enveloped them like a cozy comforter. Holding her so close felt so right, he could sit there, lumpy futon and all, and hold her all night. But he knew he should get going. On the walk from the lounge to his place, she mentioned she had a date with her mother in the morning.

  Brushing his lips across her forehead as if it was the most natural thing to do, he said, “I should get going. I know you have plans in the morning.”

  “Noooo, you can’t go,” she playfully whined. “I’m just starting to like you again.”

  Adam threw his head back and laughed. “Just starting to like me again?” The teasing in his voice turned her face a shade of crimson.

  Did she just confess to him she’d at one time liked him? See, this is what she got for getting all cozy in the comfort of his arms. Embarrassed, she buried her face in his chest. “I plead the fifth, counselor.”

  No way was she about to admit she had the hugest crush on him the first time she met him. Easing her way out of the hot seat, she gently untangled herself and stood to her feet. Pointing to the door, her lips twitched in a grin. “Weren’t you leaving?”

  Standing, Adam’s arms snaked around Roxy’s waist. “Not until I do this,” he said, his voice a deep, sensual murmur.

  Roxy’s heart hammered in her chest. A tiny tingle of electricity shot from the crown of her head to her soles of her feet when their lips touched. Standing on her tippy-toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into his solid, muscular frame.

  Adam felt her nipples pucker against his chest. Letting out a deep groan, he deepened the kiss, giving her as much as she was willing to take.

  The things he did with his tongue as it dipped, swirled, licked and nibbled on and around her mouth had her drowning in a sea called Adam. She couldn’t help the wanton moans escaping from deep within the pit of her belly when he bit down on her bottom lip, and then sweetly suckled the tender flesh, melting the sting away.

  Breaking the kiss to come up for air, Adam rested his forehead against Roxy’s. “Now I’m ready to leave.”

  “Mmm… not yet,” she purred before returning the favor of another long, titillating kiss.

  Chapter 11

  Three days earlier

  Jenkintown Starbucks

  “Mmm, mmm, mmm! Girl, you still look good!”

  Reba rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. The man sitting across from her at one time had been her everything. She would even go so far as to admit he was the air she breathed. If he told her the sky was purple she would have believed him and dared anyone to say it was actually blue.

  What did she know? She was barely eighteen and just out of high school when she met the handsome groundskeeper of the apartment complex she lived in with her father and stepmother.

  Their meeting started off innocently enough. She’d always give him a hurried hello as she rushed past him to the bus stop. One particular morning she was running extremely late for an early morning English class at Community College. She’d been grateful when he offered to give her a ride so she wouldn’t miss her mid-term exam. And as they say, the rest is history.

  After all these years the sting of his betrayal still cut deep. Not so much the grown- up Reba, but the young girl who had fallen so hard for him. So many times she wanted to curse the day she accepted that ride. But then a tiny part of her saw it as a blessing because the one good thing he had ever done in his miserable life was to give her Roxanna.

  The sucker had a nerve to still be handsome. The gray hair at his temples gave him that distinguished gentleman look.

  He must have come into some good fortune because he wasn’t shabby looking and he had pulled up in a decent car. It didn’t matter how good he looked or the car he drove. Whatever he was selling, she wasn’t buying.

  “Thank you, but I didn’t come out here for you to tell me how good I look, Harold,” she all but snarled. He was up to something and she knew it.

  “Damn baby, you don’t have to be so cold,” Harold drawled, a grin curving his lips. Chuckling, he added, “I remember a time when you were the sweetest little thing.”

  Irritated, Reba threw her handbag over her shoulder. She wasn’t about to sit here while he played his games. “Listen, I don’t have time for this.” She pushed her chair back and stood to go.

  Harold reached out and grabbed her wrist. He quickly released her when her eyes flashing with anger dropped to his hand touching her and then back up to his face. “Come on now, don’t go. I need to talk to you,” he pleaded, turning serious.

  He had thought long and hard about contacting Reba. When his plan of getting his wife back didn’t work, he tried reaching out to his daughters. He was certain they would want him involved in the lives of his grandchildren.

  He had messed up at being in the running for Father of the Year, but he certainly could make a go out of being a splendid grandfather. Unfortunately for him, his daughters didn’t see it that way. They had pretty much told him the damage he’d done was beyond repair. And although they forgave him for abandoning them over and over again, there was no room for
him in their lives. They’d even gone so far as to forbid a relationship with the grandchildren.

  It was that stuck up Starr, who was just like her damn mother, who denied him first. “You will not run in and out of my children’s lives hurting them the way you did me and my sister. When they get older and if they want a relationship with you, I’ll contact you.” And wouldn’t you know it, that weak, no backbone of a sister of hers agreed with her and had given him the same speech.

  An anger that he had never known welled up inside of him from their rejection. How dare they not want any parts of him! After all, he was their blood and not that man masquerading as father and grandfather. To hell with them all! He had another daughter that was just probably dying to know him.

  When Reba didn’t make a move to sit down or ask what he wanted to talk about, he boldly demanded, “I want to see my daughter.”

  Reba’s knees buckled, forcing her to flop back down in the wooden chair. She felt like she’d been sucker punched in the gut. A host of emotions began to assault her all at once. She wanted to jump up and down, and scream until her throat was raw for all of Jenkintown to know what a rotten bastard he was. Hell, picking up the chair with him in it, and hurling it through the glass window would do, too, if she had the strength.

  If she didn’t think she would go to jail, she’d stab him in the eye with every key on her key ring. Leaning forward, she rested her elbow on the table. “Come here,” she whispered as she motioned for him lean across the table.

  She wanted, no needed, him to know she was not playing with him when it came to her child. She’d given him two different occasions to be part of Roxy’s life. The first when she told him about her pregnancy. The second was when Roxy was eight years old and began to ask questions about her father. Both times he denied her. And now he had a nerve to want to get to know his twenty-six year old daughter. Niggah, please!

  Through clenched teeth she gritted out, “You dirty son-of-a-bitch. You don’t get to call her your daughter. You gave up that right a long time ago.” Leaning back in her chair, she shot daggers at him. “Remember?”