Chapter 7 #2
When she’d first arrived in New York to live with her grandfather fourteen years ago, she’d moved into his place on the Sharpe Estate in Long Island.
She loved the house because being there had reminded her of all the summer visits she’d had, when she was a child—to see her grandparents.
Her grandfather had worked a lot back then, but the time Desiree had spent with her grandmother was still a special memory for her.
Desiree could vividly recall her grandmother, who had died when she’d been around ten. She remembered accompanying her parents to the funeral and how sad she had been knowing she would never see the kind and wonderful grandmother whose name she had been given.
She remembered Allison Sharpe as a stately, refined, and beautiful woman who always smiled and had a heart of gold. And during those summers, she’d also had plenty of love, time, and attention to give to a little girl who’d been neglected by her parents.
Those summers she’d spent in America had been the best times of her life.
She’d felt loved and carefree. The Sharpes of Long Island had worked hard to project an image of a Black family worthy of admiration.
They had worked hard, earned good educations, and achieved the American dream of a life of wealth, style, and honor.
They also lived by the family motto—‘lifting while climbing’.
Thanks to the Sharpe Family’s support of numerous charities and their establishment of several scholarships, coordinated by her grandmother, the same opportunities and advantages that had been given to Richard and Allison Sharpe were shared with others.
To this day, her grandfather remained a recognized philanthropist.
She had been proud to be named Allison, after the woman she had loved so very much.
However, the summer before she was to leave for college, she’d come home from boarding school and discovered that her grandfather had decided to sell the house and buy a condo in Harlem, so he’d be closer to Manhattan.
Knowing that the most special times in her life─those wonderful and perfect summers she’d spent on the Sharpe Estate─ would be lost to her forever, she made a radical decision—when she got to college, she told her friends to call her Desiree, not Allison.
Still, Desiree had to admit she had fallen in love with the luxury condo.
It was spacious, and the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and dining room overlooked Central Park, Midtown, and the George Washington Bridge.
The section of the condo she occupied opened onto a spectacular rooftop patio.
After she returned from Paris, she’d assumed her grandfather would suggest that she get an apartment, but so far, he hadn’t.
It helped that Helga, who had been the Sharpe’s long-time cook and live-in housekeeper for years, was still with them. Richard Sharpe had purchased the older woman a smaller condo on the same floor in the building.
“You’re home, Desiree.”
Home. She glanced out of the windshield. Yes, she was home. Or at least, she considered the condo home…for now. “Thanks for the ride, Cobra. I hope that you enjoy your time in Savannah with your family this weekend.”
“I intend to,” he said, parking the car.
“You don’t have to park. I can go inside alone.”
“You can withdraw your independent claws. I am a gentleman, and as one, I will be seeing you to the door.” He got out of the car.
When he walked around and opened the door, she unsnapped her seat belt and took his hand, but not before he lightly stroked the racing pulse on her wrist. She released the sharp breath she was unable to suppress.
From the smug look in his eyes, she knew his actions had been deliberate—he’d wanted to prove a point.
As she stepped out of the car, he didn’t back up, and their bodies touched. “Remember what I said, Desiree. No woman has ever left my bed disappointed. Just something for you to think about…”
He finally took a step back, but kept her hand in his. When they reached the entrance where the doorman stood, she said to Cobra. “I’ll be good from here.”
“I’m walking you to your door.”
She knew that she would be wasting her time arguing, so she nodded and walked beside him. For some reason, she appreciated the silence between them during the elevator ride.
When they reached her door, she turned to him. “Again, thanks, Cobra.”
“No problem. I’m glad I showed up at your office. It was fun.”
Before she could say anything, he leaned in and brushed a kiss across her lips. Knowing his intent, she decided to poke the bear again, and intentionally brushed her tongue across his lips.
What happened next was spontaneity at its best. He pulled her into his arms, and this kiss was even more passionate than the one in her office. It quickly deepened and became as hot and needy as she felt.
She might be poking him, but in return he was pushing her buttons in ways she hadn’t counted on.
This kiss just blew her away. Where before, he’d kissed her with wild, hungry abandonment, now, he was simply merciless.
Every stroke of his tongue felt like he was marking her, leaving behind a signature she’d be forced to carry whether she wanted it or not.
Suddenly, he broke off the kiss and stared down at her. At that moment, she would have given anything to be able to read his thoughts, yet at the same time, she was very relieved that he couldn’t read hers.
Reaching up, he slid his finger back and forth across her mouth, and whispered in a deep, husky voice. “If I’m not careful, Allison Desiree Sharpe, those lips of yours are going to be my downfall.”
She could certainly say the same thing. Knowing she needed to get away from him quickly, if she was going to manage to take control of her heightened senses, she used her key to open the door, then turned back to him. “Goodnight, Cobra,” she said, then quickly went inside.
***
As Cobra drove away from Richard’s condo, he was stunned to realize that he had met his match with Desiree.
But then, there was a good reason for it.
He had met her at the most vulnerable time in his life.
During one of his most sexually weak moments, when he was desperate for a physical connection—in other words, desperate to get laid─and he was unable to move forward with it.
He still intended to prime her for what was to come, but for now, he figured the best thing to do would be to put distance between them.
At least until he could reevaluate the situation and revise his strategy.
That meant he would not deliberately seek her out again, like he had done tonight.
If he happened to run into her on a Thursday night when he was playing chess with Richard, he would try like hell to control his urges where she was concerned.
It would be hard, but the only other option was to tell her about the bet with his brothers.
And that was the last thing he wanted to do.
Most women would assume that the thought of losing money was the underlying reason for his decision to keep his pants zipped, and that it was nothing more than a lack of self-control on his part.
The last thing he wanted was to be seen as a man not in control of his emotions or physical urges.
The bet with his brothers was nothing more than motivation.
After that episode with Bernice, sexual abstinence was something he would be doing regardless.
The thought of taking his brothers’ money in the process was simply icing on the cake.
For him, it was about self-discipline. Not making love to a woman was a physical challenge he was determined to overcome.
He had to prove that he had the mental resilience and willpower to deny himself even the most seductive of temptations ─ like Desiree ─ if it meant maintaining absolute command over his desires and internal impulses.
In other words, he would delay gratification for now to meet his long-term goal of never placing himself in a situation like the one he had with Bernice Whey ever again.
An hour later, he stood on the fourth-floor rooftop of his brownstone.
If he looked past a bunch of trees and a couple of buildings, he could see the condo where the Sharpes lived.
Why did he still have Desiree on his mind?
Why was he still remembering every moment he’d spent with her tonight?
Had she actually hinted that she and a former lover had been sexually incompatible in the bedroom?
Was that why she thought they might be as well?
Well, he couldn’t wait to prove differently.
He had no doubt the two of them would light the bedsheets on fire.
When his phone rang, he pulled it from the pocket of his jeans. He knew who it was on the line. His friend Anthony Tombstone. “What’s up, Tomb?”
“You’re still coming home this weekend?”
“Yes.”
“Then we can celebrate?”
Cobra lifted a brow. “Celebrate what?”
“You will have made it through eight months of celibacy, with only four more to go. Just so you know, I got my money on you.”
Cobra frowned. “And who are you betting with?”
“Straw. He doesn’t think you can do it.”
“Oh, he doesn’t, does he?”
“Nope. And we need to prove him wrong. I have two hundred dollars riding on you, and I don’t want to lose my money, Cobra.”
“You won’t,” he assured Tomb.
“Good.”
“I’ll see you Saturday, and we can celebrate at any place but Swanky’s,” Cobra said. Swanky’s had always been his ‘go to’ nightclub whenever he came home to visit, but not anymore. He hadn’t set foot in the place since the night he met Bernice Whey there.
“I hear you,” Tomb said, chuckling.
After ending the call with Tombstone, and being reminded of that fateful night when he almost lost everything, Cobra was more determined than ever not to be tempted by Allison Desiree Sharpe.
***