“So, what happens now?” I asked, looking at him.
Russell pulled his hands through his dark hair, dropped his head for a while, and then looked back at me.
“Well, I guess it’s time we had a conversation with our parents. I must figure out how I’ll work with my father to strategize our next steps related to the company. But what about you? I thought your father was adamant about you marrying to inherit this company. Marrying me specifically.”
“He was.”
“So, where does that leave you?”
“I still have some things to work out, but I’m sure that I will.”
“No matter what business you’re going into, Xiomara, you’ll be successful. I know this. But that’s not what I’m worried about. It’s your heart that I wonder if it will be okay.”
“Don’t worry about my heart, Russell. It will be just fine.”
CHAPTER 21 – LAKE
SHE’D STOOD ME UP. Not only hadn’t she shown up at the dinner party as she’d promised me, but she had returned none of my calls or text messages that weekend.
Trying to reach her hadn’t been easy, but I’d run into Senait in town on the following Monday. She’d informed me that Xiomara had gone away for the weekend with Russell to work on strengthening their union for marriage.
I wasn’t even sure how to deal with that.
She’d promised to give me the time that I needed. But if she’d left with him, I could only guess that meant one thing. She’d decided that gaining Sheffield was more important to her.
The door opened, and a beautiful, thick, curvy woman stepped inside.
“Hello, I’m Charli.”
“Good evening, Charli.”
“Would you like a dance?”
I had just put out my cigar and took a sip of my drink when the woman approached me. Eyeing her carefully, I compared her to Xiomara.
All the ways she was unlike Xiomara, I admired. Because at that moment, I couldn’t stand the thought of Xiomara.
I took in the woman’s smooth, golden skin, lighter than Xiomara’s. Her brown, doe eyes were assessing me as a beguiling smile played around petulant bow-shaped lips.
She was close to Xiomara’s five-nine height, give or take an inch, and thicker than Xiomara. And if I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn that I’d seen her somewhere before, but I wasn’t sure where. It didn’t matter anyway because her secret would remain here at Prestige, thanks to their confidentiality clause.
Wherever I’d seen her couldn’t have been too bad because Prestige vetted every member and employee from their background to their age. Her eyes held a knowing look as if she knew that I’d recognized her, but I didn’t know her identity. Those eyes also held wisdom beyond this world. As though they’d seen things they shouldn’t have.
There was a wariness in her that told me even if I were to invite her upstairs, she might not accept the invitation. But she was just beautiful enough that she could have tempted me before.
Before Xiomara.
Instead, I said, “Sure,” and took another sip of my drink in my private entertainment room at Prestige. A small fee would garner a private room in the strip club section of Prestige where a person could find satisfaction for every whim, except for sex.
The club didn’t prostitute out its dancers, but if they engaged in sexual acts, it was of their own accord, and they received no pay.
I watched as she walked to a corner to turn on the music to set the mood. I’d come here tonight with the distinct plan of engaging in my former activities to purge Xiomara from my mind and heart.
But Harlow’s words played in my head like a broken record. I couldn’t go back to my old ways of having sex with strangers just to stay disconnected. Yet, once I arrived, I partook of a different pleasure. The art of striptease.
I didn’t mind watching a beautiful woman perform for me and tipping her handsomely. But at the end of the night, I would cancel my appointment after this performance and return home alone and find an alternative way to deal with the hurt. This would have to do for now.
By the time Rihanna’s Skin played in the background, Charli was on her knees in front of me with her legs splayed wide. Arching her hips up, she rolled back and over onto her right shoulder, pushed her legs into the air, and transitioned them parallel to the floor in an upside-down split as she remained on her shoulder with her face pressed against the floor.
The tiny leather thong she wore disappeared between her slit, giving me the perfect view.
Performing a series of seductive snakelike moves, she slid across the floor closer to me. Jumping up and arching her back, she ended with her ass on my lap. I kept my hands at my sides, giving her the respect that she deserved.
Pressing her hands to the floor, she pumped twice, making her ass clap and her slit pulse as the words “I know you wanna touch” poured out of the speakers.
My mind wandered to Xiomara, although I wanted to shut thoughts of her out. Images of Russell touching her the way that I had ran rampant in my head. Thoughts of him kissing her and his mouth all over her body the way that mine had been. And then the unthinkable...her mouth on his body and him inside of her.
Pulling a hand down my face, I turned my attention back toward Charli.
I’d been a damn fool for Xiomara. She was an engaged woman; it didn’t matter if it was an arranged marriage and if she said she didn’t love him. Still, she had just as much right to share her body with him as she did with me. Even more right.
I was the one that had no
