The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (5 page)

When Desmond sensed she’d
been staring, he looked at her, shot a half smile her way then
walked right up to her, invading precious, personal space. “What’s
up lil’ man?” he said to Ezra.

A whiff of Desmond’s scent
nearly rendered her spellbound. He must’ve just taken a shower and
the smell of soap, deodorant and cologne, along with the natural
smell of his skin was downright intoxicating. She had to put
distance between the two of them, and fast. “You want to hold him?”
she asked.

He grinned, well aware of
what she was doing. “No. Where’s my little Gracie?”

Gracie…

Melanie had told her that
Desmond called Grace,
Gracie
, his own nickname for his
niece. When Grace was born, she had to stay in the neonatal
intensive care unit for six days since she was under five pounds.
Melanie, Dimitrius – everyone was worried sick. And Desmond, no
matter how busy he was visited his little
Gracie
every day while she was
there. He’d bonded with her.

“
Grace is in the family
room. Melanie left her in the car seat since she’s
sleeping.”

“
The car seat? That’s no
way for my niece to sleep. She needs to be lying against Uncle
Desmond’s chest.” He walked to the family room, carefully unbuckled
Grace and slowly lifted her from the car seat, holding her close
against his chest.

Sherita walked into the
room and saw him reclined on the sofa with Grace on his chest. The
baby looked tiny against him. His hands were larger than her head.
She was surprised at how comfortable he seemed while holding her.
Most people freaked out when it came to holding a baby, fearing
they would do it all wrong. Desmond had no problems with holding
his niece. She wondered if it was because he was natural at it, or
if he had practiced. Did he have children of his own sprinkled
around town? Whatever the case, she was as equally impressed as she
was shocked.

“
So what are our baby
plans?” he asked.

Baby plans?
Sherita ignored him and paid more attention to
Ezra instead. She sat in the chair opposite of the sofa where
Desmond was holding Grace. She bounced Ezra on her lap again,
watching him smile, and then she finger-combed his hair. She had no
interest in talking to Desmond – especially not after the stunt he
pulled at the coffee shop. And she wasn’t about to do the back and
forth, tit-for-tat word dance he seemed to thrive on. She’d much
rather escape into a different room instead, but she couldn’t run
away from him. She had to learn how to deal with him, especially
since they would see each other pretty often – well, now that he’d
come out of hiding. Since pretending she hadn’t heard his question
seemed to have been working for now, she continued smiling at Ezra,
raking his thin, silky straight black hair back with her
fingers.

“
Look at you, big boy,”
she said, watching him smile, showing his gums in an adorable way
that made her giggle. “Do you love your Aunt Rita? Do you love your
Aunt Rita?”

Desmond thought about what
she said for a moment.
Aunt
Rita
. In a way, she
was
like an aunt to Ezra and Grace.
She babysat the babies often, and when she hung out with Melanie
and Emily on the weekends, she’d get to see the babies. She was
just as much a part of their lives as he was. But she wasn’t
a
real
aunt. She
would have to be married to him in order to be their aunt, and that
wouldn’t happen. He liked Sherita, but marriage was out of the
question, and that went for every woman he’d come into contact with
who thought he’d budge on his stance.

“
Sherita, did you hear
me?” his said in a low tone so as not to wake Grace.

Sherita’s smile faded. She
looked over at Desmond, watching him gently stroke Grace’s hair
with his large hand. “I heard you…not sure I understand what you
mean.”

“
We have to keep the
babies entertained, right? So what are our plans?”

Sherita shrugged. “You tell
me, Uncle Desmond. What do you do with your children?”

Eyebrows raised, he asked,
“My children?”

“
Yes.
Your
children.”

He smirked. “That’s rather
presumptuous of you to say. I don’t have children. Don’t want
any.”

“
Oh, then I apologize. I
just assumed a man with your reputation would be a proud father
with multiple baby mommas.”

The smirk on his face had
sense faded and now, glaring at her, Desmond responded, “That’s why
you shouldn’t assume things. You don’t even know me,
Sherita.”

“
You’re right. I don’t
know you, and I don’t want to know you so stop talking to me.”
Sherita stood up and walked out of the room with Ezra in her arms,
continuing on to the kitchen. Thirty minutes into babysitting and
she was already thinking of leaving. But, she couldn’t let Emily
down, and she wanted to spend time with the babies. Maybe if she
steered clear of Desmond, things would go a bit smoother. He could
stay in the family room with Grace, and she would find some place
to get comfortable with Ezra.

She opened the
refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of water and when she turned
around, she saw Desmond standing near the island, staring. Without
Grace. He’d probably put her back in the car seat, or in Ezra’s
Pack N’ Play.

Sherita felt blood rush to
her head. She didn’t need this. Not now. Not ever.

“
Can I ask you something,
Sherita?”

“
No.”

“
Why don’t you like me?”
he asked anyway.

She glared at him. “I’m not
about to argue with you in front of the babies, so you can forget
about it.”

“
Argue? I haven’t been in
an argument with a woman since—” He thought for a moment and
continued, “Actually, I’ve never been in an argument with a woman.
I have other ways of dealing with my frustration. But that’s
irrelevant at the moment. Right now, I want to
talk
with you.”

“
About?”

“
Your obvious attitude
towards me. If you don’t like me, that’s fine. I’m a big boy. I can
handle it, baby, but that doesn’t mean you can just talk to me any
kind of way and think I’m cool with it. I’m telling you, I’m
not.”

“
And I’m telling
you
I have no interest
in talking to you at all.”

He took slow steps her way.
“And I’m telling you that’s not acceptable. Like it or not, we have
to see each other quite frequently.”

“
No we don’t. You proved
that for an entire year. Anytime I showed up to one of your
family’s events, you left. And, from what I understand, you would
call people to see if I was in attendance at a particular place,
and if I was, you wouldn’t show up at all. Why don’t you continue
doing that, Desmond? It was working really well.”

So she knew. He couldn’t
dispute it. He had been avoiding her, but she wouldn’t understand
the reason why. She wouldn’t get it if he told her that being
around her made him desire things he didn’t feel he wanted or was
ready for – like children, a home and especially a wife. And it
didn’t help matters that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever
laid eyes on. Even now, staring at her pouty, pink lips had him
thinking about kissing them.

“
This is ridiculous,”
Sherita mumbled, certain Desmond hadn’t heard her. She had to get
out of the house. This co-babysitting was not a good idea as she
suspected it wouldn’t be. “After I feed Ezra and Grace, I plan on
taking them to Carrier Park to take some pictures for Emily and
Melanie. They always talked about getting photos of them together,
but with everyone’s busy schedule, it hasn’t happened yet. So
that’s what I’m doing.” She blew a distressing breath, and deciding
to be the bigger person, she said, “I appreciate you agreeing to
help out with the babies, but we obviously do not work well
together, so I’m going to distance myself from this.”

Desmond stood there,
holding her gaze, not saying a word and not even showing any sort
of expression on his face. Maybe he was a bit too pushy. Too
forthcoming for her taste.

Sherita held his serious
gaze for as long as she could stand until she couldn’t handle it
anymore. Until she was intimidated by his presence. His aura. Was
he happy? Annoyed? Indifferent? She had no clue. “Well, I’m going
to get Ezra’s bottle, and I may as well warm Grace’s milk while I’m
at it. Can you hold Ezra for a moment?”

“
Sure.”

Sherita took a few steps
closer to Desmond then handed Ezra off to him. When she did,
Desmond reached out to grab Ezra but his hand latched on to
Sherita’s forearm before he quickly corrected and took Ezra in his
grasp. The moment she felt his hand against her arm, she snatched
it away. Just that simple touch sent a chill down her spine, the
same way his breath against her neck had in the coffee shop this
morning. How had she been able to go five years without being
affected by men who tried to charm her, and she couldn’t handle
this one man?

“
Look at you, big guy,”
Desmond said to Ezra. “Looking just like your daddy…”

He looks like you,
too.
It was on the tip of her tongue, but
Sherita didn’t say it. She preferred to keep all communication with
Desmond at a minimum. She wouldn’t talk to him anymore this evening
unless it was absolutely necessary.

CHAPTER 5

After they had fed the
babies, changed diapers and secured them in their car seats,
Sherita carried Ezra to the car. Desmond followed behind her with
Grace.

“
Be sure to turn the car
seat rear-facing,” she told him.

A smile came to the corner
of his mouth. “Yes, I’m aware of that, Sherita.”

“
Oh. I wasn’t sure,
so…”

“
No, it’s cool. I know
you’re just making sure the babies are properly taken care of. I
appreciate that.”

“
Oh, and another
thing…don’t let the inside of my car scare you. I have camera
equipment all over the floor.”

“
Thanks for the warning.”
Desmond opened the rear passenger door and, just like she said,
there was camera equipment on the floor – lenses, a few digital
cameras, tripods, lights, batteries and what looked to be a photo
umbrella. He went ahead and strapped Grace’s car seat in place,
securing it.

Sherita had already secured
Ezra’s seat and was sitting in the driver seat of her 2004 Honda
Accord waiting for Desmond to close the back door. Finally, she
would be getting away from him. She needed this space to clear the
air and balance herself out again because everything about him
threw her off balance, from his good looks to his not so good
attitude.

Once he pushed the back
door closed, Sherita started the car but felt a knot twisting in
her stomach when Desmond reached to open the passenger door. What
was he doing?

He got inside, closed the
door behind himself then looked at her. “Ready?”

She scrunched up her face.
“What do you think you’re doing?”

Doing his best to disguise
amusement, he said, “I’m going with you to the park. Surely you
need some help with the babies and all of your equipment,
right?”

She could just die. “No, I
don’t. I can handle it.”

“
Well, I think I should go
anyway.”

Of course you do.
She should’ve known it wouldn’t be easy to get
away from him, and now, not only did she have to deal with him at
the park, but she had to be trapped with him inside of her small
car. That bothered her more than anything else.

She glanced over at his
long legs, his knees snug against the glove compartment. “Maybe you
should take your motorcycle. As you can see, I don’t have much leg
room for you.”

“
I’m good,” he told her.
“This is cozy.”

Cozy?
Yeah, sure. This from a man who drove a motorcycle, a
Mercedes jeep and a silver Bentley.

“
Last chance before I
drive away,” she said, hoping for a miracle.

“
I’m good,” he said,
reaching for the seatbelt, pulling it across his chest. When he
buckled it, his hairy arm grazed her smooth one. He could’ve sworn
he heard her whimper when it happened, when their skin touched.
“Let’s go. You only have about an hour and a half of daylight left,
princess.”

Feeling a vein pulsate at
her temple, Sherita shifted the car in gear, beginning the
ten-minute drive to Carrier Park. Feeling warmer than usual, she
turned up the AC a little higher than where she normally had it
set. She didn’t want the babies to get cold, but she didn’t want to
pass out while driving either. With Desmond next to her, she was a
nervous wreck, and it didn’t help matters that he was staring at
her like he was making it his goal to see her sweat.

Desmond saw the moment her
breathing quickened. He’d gotten this reaction from women for so
long, he could pick up on it right away – on when a woman was
either attracted to him or intimidated by him. Only thing is, he
had yet to figure out which category Sherita fell into because he
wasn’t around her long enough to make the distinction. So he
purposely studied her, and he could not care less if she was
uncomfortable. Besides a near
rear-end
experience at the coffee
shop, this was the only other time he’d ever been this close to
her. And boy did he like what he saw.