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  When he returned to the room, Kennedy had removed her gown and was sitting nude on the side of the bed. He walked over to her, stopping in front of her. With his left hand, he stroked her hair and the side of her face. To him she seemed even more beautiful than when he’d left her moments ago, and he didn’t doubt that every time from that moment on that he looked at her, her beauty would have multiplied. She was delicate and at the same time tenacious. She was soft, yet strong. She had endured so much and still she was fresh and new. Malik felt in his marrow that he would never meet another woman like Kennedy. His only desire at that moment was to plant himself inside of her and stake his claim. For as long as was possible, she would be his.

  Kennedy reached both hands around his waist and pulled both Malik’s pajama bottoms and his boxers down to his knees at the same time. Malik stepped out of them, kicking them behind him with his feet. Kennedy ran her hands up and down his thighs, envisioning the tight muscular limbs in her mind. She already knew that he was strong from the way he’d lifted and carried her about at Stillwater. She could tell that his body was fit and well toned, her fingers having yet to meet a flabby spot on him. The width of his lips was evident as they devoured her mouth and breasts. Her fingers had played with the bushy hair of his eyebrows and the curly lashes on his lids. In her mind she’d used what her hands had told her about him to create a visual of the man who stood in front of her and that image was breathtaking.

  She reached out, taking his now fully erect penis in her hands. It pulsed against her palm. She tightened her grip, encircling him in warmth. Malik tore open one of the condom wrappers, removing the latex. He placed it on the tip of his penis and Kennedy took over, rolling the plastic down his shaft with deliberately slow motions. When it was in place, she held on to him, massaging him with tender strokes. Finally, she slid backwards on the bed and Malik followed. His mouth found hers again, covering her with kisses so sweet that she melted. A river flowed between her legs and when his hand slid between her satiny thighs, all he found was wetness and warmth as she parted her legs for him.

  “You’re so ready,” he whispered into her mouth.

  “Just for you,” she breathed.

  Kennedy raised her legs, planting both feet on the mattress beneath her as Malik positioned himself above her. As he inserted himself into her waiting nest, she gasped. He froze, unwilling to cause her one instant of discomfort. It was Kennedy who held on to his hips and guided him inside of her, pulling until their bodies met, pelvis to pelvis.

  “Okay?” he asked timidly.

  “Mmm, hmm,” Kennedy moaned, her face contorted with pleasure.

  Her hips arched against his, signaling him that she was, indeed, ready for him. He began to move, matching her rolling hips move for move. Their sweat mingled as their bodies moved into and against one another. Everything that Malik had dreamed about in this moment paled in comparison to the reality of it. He had not doubted her ability to satisfy him. What caught him completely off guard was how much making love to her would gratify every part of him, mind, body and soul.

  Chapter 12

  “You know, I never told anyone this, but the night of the accident…I think I died.”

  “What? You mean you passed out, right?”

  “No, I mean…I know it sounds crazy, but I really think I passed away. Only, there was no bright, white light like you hear in the movies. There was this moment, right before the car hit the pole when everything seemed to stand still for just a split second and it was like, I knew that it was over. Then I guess the car hit the pole and that was it. Later, when I was in the hospital, I started seeing images of myself in the smashed car, and I could see myself slumped over in the seat, bleeding and not moving. I saw it all. At first I thought it was a dream, just my imagination working overtime because of the drugs.”

  “But now you think it was more than that?”

  “Yes, I do. I think I was actually outside of my body looking at the accident. I’m talking about before the paramedics and the police arrived, when it was just me in the mangled car beneath the driving rain. Sounds crazy, right?”

  Malik shifted so that his body was even closer to Kennedy, his arms tight around her torso.

  “I don’t think it’s crazy, but I will tell you this, I think I’m going to send those emergency response guys a big box of chocolate tomorrow.”

  “For what?” Kennedy giggled.

  “For saving you…for me,” Malik said.

  He reached down and placed his finger beneath Kennedy’s chin. In the soft light her hazel eyes stared straight ahead as Malik gazed into them. Over the past couple of weeks since she’d been back at home, she’d stopped hiding her eyes from him behind sunglasses as she did around other people. That simple act spoke of the level of trust and openness she felt toward him. To look into her wide and unseeing eyes, but knowing all along that she saw him better than most people he’d known who had twenty-twenty vision, reaffirmed Malik’s belief that she’d come into his life at the right time and for a reason. He knew that she could only see fuzzy outlines of figures, but he hoped that his words showed her the depth of his feelings for her.

  Kennedy smiled. She moved closer to Malik, wanting to be as close to him as was physically possible. Beneath his wings is where she felt like anything was possible and like nothing could go wrong. She knew that she was just pretending. She wasn’t naive enough to believe that Malik had the power to shelter her from all of life’s storms. She’d learned the hard way that it did not matter where a person came from, how much money or prestige one’s family had, every human being was made of flesh and bone that could be torn or broken. For a little while, however, she pretended that what they had was invincible.

  It had been a night of arduous lovemaking. Their first time together stretched into hours and then the next day and still they lingered in one another’s arms. The sun rose, bringing a new day and with it came a renewed lust for each other that could not be satiated, no matter how hard they tried. They answered the physical demands on their bodies for nourishment, snacking on whatever they could find in the kitchen that didn’t require much preparation. They slept when fatigue overtook them, touched and explored whenever curiosity struck them and talked as often as words found their way to the surface of their lips.

  “Your childhood sounds like you had so much fun. I can’t imagine hanging out like you did…going to parties and stuff like that. When I was a kid, everything I did…every party, every activity was supervised and approved by either my parents or someone else’s parents. To have the kind of freedom you had must have been a powerful feeling,” Kennedy said as she played with the soft bed of hairs on Malik’s chest.

  “Well, you know what they say about freedom. Sometimes when you have too much of it, it corrupts.”

  “What do you mean when you say that it corrupts?”

  “I just mean that sometimes, rules and supervision can be a good thing. Most of the cats I grew up with didn’t have a daddy at home to keep them straight and even those of us who did were knuckleheads who didn’t always listen. Hanging out in the streets until all hours of the night, fighting and partying…those were some of the best times I ever had and some of the worse,” Malik reminisced.

  “Yeah, but at least you had them. Sometimes I can’t help but feel like I missed out on so much. I feel like I still am missing out. It’s like living in a world, but not really feeling like you’re part of it. There are so many things that I don’t know anything about. I’ve never had to struggle for anything. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to.”

  “That’s not true. Look what you’ve just made it through. No amount of money or Daddy’s connections could change your accident or what happened afterward. It was you, with your will and determination, that brought you out of that accident on top. If that’s not struggling, I don’t know what is.”

  “Yeah, but Malik, think about it. If I didn’t have a good job, with medical benefits and a family with money, I might not h
ave gotten the quality of care that I received at the hospital. That is what saved my life. My parents paid what the insurance didn’t cover for my time at Stillwater. Think about people who don’t have access to that level of health care?”

  “Yeah, like the people I grew up with. We had the free clinic, which was understaffed and overused, and a box of Band-Aids to keep us going.” Malik laughed.

  There was no bitterness in his laugh because he had long ago reconciled himself to the fact that in the world there would always be the haves and the have-nots. While he was determined to always be an independent, self-sufficient man who did not have to rely on charity to live, he did not believe that he would ever reach the material success of people like the Daniels. He was okay with that fact and unlike Kennedy, he did not feel bad about it.

  “See, that’s what I’m talking about. You can laugh about not having a lot of money and stuff, but I think about people like my parents, like me, and I wonder if we’d be able to laugh if suddenly it was all taken away from us. I doubt it seriously.”

  “Well, I don’t know your parents, Kennedy, but I definitely think you could adjust to anything. You are more than the money and the possessions.”

  “You think you know me so well, don’t you?” Kennedy said, her lips now tasting Malik’s skin, still damp from their shower.

  “I think I do,” Malik answered.

  He didn’t tell her how much he did know about her, exactly the depth to which he’d been able to peer into her soul in the short time they’d been together. He didn’t have to tell her because his touch and his loving showed her.

  Chapter 13

  “I wish you could come with me,” Kennedy said as they stood outside of the security checkpoint.

  Her flight would be called to board in just under thirty minutes, giving them scarce enough time to say goodbye.

  “Me, too, but from what you’ve told me, your parents have enough to deal with concerning your sister. We don’t need to add meeting some new guy to their plate right now.”

  “I know,” Kennedy agreed.

  She had regretted this trip from the moment she’d booked her flight the day before. Actually, she’d regretted it from the second her mother had called. She’d been frantic. This time Madison’s antics had reached an all-time high level of distastefulness, causing embarrassment from which Elmira didn’t seem likely to recover anytime soon. Kennedy didn’t know what her parents expected her to say or do to her sister, but she could not stay away, especially when she heard the tremor in her mother’s voice over the phone.

  Elmira was not one to worry. She had always believed that she and she alone controlled her fate and her family’s destiny. Kennedy’s accident had been just about the worst thing that had ever happened to them. It had shaken Elmira to the core and it seemed that her worrisome youngest child was following up in an effort to demolish what remained of her haughty confidence.

  Malik kissed her lips, wishing in that moment that they were alone. He’d spent every night in bed with her since the first night they’d made love, fallen asleep with her in his arms and he doubted seriously he’d get a moment’s rest without her gentle snoring against his neck.

  The flight to Raleigh-Durham Airport in North Carolina was short and uneventful. Kennedy spent the entire time steeling herself to deal with her parents and her sister. She already knew how the weekend would play out. Her parents would nag, Madison would yell and Kennedy would play the peacemaker. Each of their roles had been defined a long time ago and they played them to perfection.

  But this time Madison had crossed the line. According to her mother, Madison’s latest exploits had made the front cover of the gossip rags. Madison had been discovered leaving a second-class hotel with Edward Worthington, one of the biggest technology moguls in the country. At fifty-five years old, Worthington was a public figure who had a hand in the political climate of the state of North Carolina and the federal government. His business had a net worth of over five billion dollars. The Daniels and the Worthingtons traveled in the same circles—charity functions, political engagements and more of the same. They would not be considered friends but peers, and as members of the black bourgeoisie, they shared a network of common friends and associates, making it all terribly sordid and embarrassing.

  Worthington’s wife was a socialite who’d long suspected him of cheating. The media reported that she’d hired a private investigator to confirm her suspicions once and for all in preparation for a gruesome divorce in which she planned to ravage him financially. Photos of Madison and Worthington in a compromising position as the pair left an out-of-the-way hotel was just the kind of dirt she needed to dig his grave, beat him unconscious and then bury him. When the news hit, the confrontation between their parents and Madison was explosive and Madison had stormed out of the house. Two days later when she resurfaced, she was wearing the same clothing and was inebriated beyond belief.

  When Kennedy arrived at her parents’ home, it was uncomfortably quiet. Madison was in her bedroom, where she’d been holed up for much of the past twenty-four hours since she’d returned. Annemarie, the woman who’d cooked and cleaned for the Daniels since the girls were in grade school, had gotten Madison to eat a couple of light meals and had even cajoled her into taking a hot bath. Other than that, no one had had any interaction with Madison at all.

  Kennedy went to her sister’s room after having a brief conversation with parents. Elmira was breathing fire over the whole unseemly affair, while Joseph simply sounded drained, as if he was worn out from all the years of Madison’s soap opera-worthy escapades and Elmira’s dramatic responses. Perhaps it was more than that, but Kennedy had the distinct impression that her father had had more than his spirit could take.

  “Maddie?” Kennedy called softly as she tapped on the door.

  Muppet stood by her side, looking up at her quizzically. It was the first time Muppet had visited the expansive house and he was still trying to get used to the new surroundings.

  The Daniels home had at one time been a plantation. They’d discovered that Joseph’s great, great, great grandfather had been a slave on the plantation, owned by a man named Holmes Taggard. It seemed that by the time of the emancipation of the slaves, Taggard had racked up so much gambling debt that he’d already sold off much of his property in pieces. All that remained was the house and about two acres of land surrounding the structure. When Joseph and Elmira first laid eyes on the house early in their marriage, after having discovered its significance in Joseph’s family history, the decision to purchase it was a mere formality. They spent nearly a half a million dollars restoring it and told the story of its legacy with pride.

  The long corridors of hardwood floors and high ceilings had poor Muppet confused and anxious. Kennedy could relate to the dog’s tension, often finding herself longing for the close quarters she now called home in D.C. every time she came here. Her room had remained untouched, as if she was still an eighteen-year-old just heading off for a semester at college.

  “Don’t worry, Muppet,” she soothed the dog, “we’ll be back home soon enough.”

  The even-keeled guide dog stayed by Kennedy’s side throughout their visit, going wherever she went as if that was the way things had always been.

  “Yes,” Madison answered.

  Kennedy opened the door and stepped into the room. It smelled of jasmine and clovers, the scents escaping from the aromatherapy candles that were lit and placed around the room.

  “Kennedy, what are you doing here?” Madison asked, jumping up from the bed where she’d been lying.

  She crossed the wide expanse to the door, putting her arms around her sister when she reached her. She kissed her cheek.

  “Don’t tell me Mother made you come all the way down here over this mess with me?”

  “She didn’t make me, but you know her. She’s upset and Dad’s upset, too. Neither one of them is saying anything that is rational or makes much sense. I wanted to see for myself how you were do
ing.”

  Madison sighed, stepping away from her sister.

  “Hey, who’s your little friend?”

  “This is Muppet. Muppet, meet Madison. Muppet is the best eyes a girl could ask for, aren’t you, boy?” Kennedy stroked the top of Muppet’s head.

  “Is he friendly?” Madison asked as she crouched down slowly in front of the dog.

  “Very. He’s a sweetie pie, right, big boy?”

  “Hi there, Muppet. You are a cutie, aren’t you?” Madison said, scratching the sensitive place beneath Muppet’s jaw.

  Muppet responded by licking Madison’s chin, prompting a giggle from her.

  “He reminds me of the dog Mr. Johnson used to have, remember him?”

  “Mr. Johnson, the church janitor? Oh, yeah…Boscoe, right? He was a mutt, though, wasn’t he?”

  “Yeah, but he was almost the same color as Muppet and the same size.”

  “They told me he’s white and gray…mostly gray, though, with a little beige mixed in.”

  Madison looked up at her sister, the realization that Kennedy couldn’t see kicking in again. Kennedy’s face, as beautiful as ever, wore a slight smile. Her eyes were shaded by a slight pair of designer sunglasses, tortoise shell and catlike, giving her an elegant look.

  “How are you making out, Kennedy?” Madison asked.

  She stood and touched her sister’s arm.

  “Me? I’m good. I’m really, really good. It’s amazing what losing your eyesight can do for you,” she joked.