His Paradise Wife (18 page)

“
But...but...how? You know I
can’t afford this place.”

“
Well, thanks to a gentleman
by the name of Dante Champion, you won’t have to.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
When he found out what the
landlord had been doing to you by raising the rent, he bought the
building.”

“
What?”

Melanie smiled big. “You heard me. Your
husband bought this building.”

More tears fell from her eyes.

“
And since you’re not
talking to him, he wanted me to let you know that you’ll never have
to pay a lease for this place even if you never speak to him again.
It’s yours.”

Emily sniffled and dabbed her nose.

“
Listen, Emily,” Melanie
said. “I don’t know what happened between you guys, but Dante is a
good man and he’s completely in love with you. I think you owe it
to him to give the marriage a try.”

Emily squeezed her eyes tight. “You’re
right, but...”

“
But what?” Sherita asked.
“Girl, if I had a man do something like this for me, I would be at
his crib right now.”

“
It’s more complicated than
that. I messed up big time. I was a complete jerk to him when he
came to the hospital.”

“
Why?” Sherita
inquired.

“
Because I felt myself
falling so deeply in love with him that it scared me. I thought I
could only have those feelings for Melvin, but—”

“
Well, all I know is, even
after your little hospital meltdown, Dante called me personally to
get ideas on what you might like for the store,” Melanie said. ‘He
was very exact, and knew what he wanted this place to look like for
you.”

He had some idea what she wanted. They had
talked about it briefly, well, when they were talking. Little did
she know that he was listening intently, and maybe even already
making plans to help her with the store.

“
After everything I put him
through, he still did this for me. I really don’t even know what to
say.”

“
I’m sure a simple ‘thank
you’ would be a start,” Melanie said. “You have to start somewhere,
Em, or lose another good man.

Chapter 35

A week later, Dante was sitting behind his
desk, his brothers in his office again, having their weekly
meeting. Even though it was difficult to do, he tried to push Emily
to the back of his mind. Business had to resume as usual and he had
to get back into the swing of things if he was going to move on and
live without her.

“
First on the agenda,” Dante
began, “Is filling the position of Marketing Manager, someone to
oversee the bulk of the marketing team and, who would report
directly to Desmond. As we discussed a few weeks ago, that would
free up some time for Desmond to do more traveling.”

“
Have you posted the
position internally yet?” Desmond asked.

“
No. I don’t need to post
it. I have a candidate in mind that I would like to discuss with
the both of you.”

“
And who’s that?”

“
Melanie
Summers.”

“
The chick from the hotel?”
Desmond asked.

“
The
woman
from the hotel who works in
guest services. Yes,” Dante said. “She’s very sharp, professional
and I think she’ll make an impact on the marketing
team.”

“
Cool. I would
love
for her to work
under me,” Desmond said with a sneaky grin.

Dante watched Dimitrius grimace. Then he
asked, “What do you think, Dimitrius?”

“
I think we should bring her
in for a group interview,” Dimitrius suggested.

Desmond frowned. “A group interview? She’ll
be reporting to me. I’m capable of handling my own interviews.”

“
Des, I think Dimitrius is
right,” Dante said. He knew Dimitrius had a thing for Melanie,
which is probably the reason he requested a group interview. That
would ensure he’d be part of the process and thus have time to
interact with her. “I haven’t spoken with her about it yet. I plan
on speaking to her sometime this week and if she shows an interest,
I’ll set up the interview. So moving on to the next item on the
agenda...three weeks ago when I was at the GHC resort, I briefly
ran into Steven Harris. He brought up something that Desmond had
mentioned a while ago...about how there seems to be interest at the
resort from people who are not grieving the loss of a spouse or
needing help from therapists per se. These are just everyday folk,
looking to vacation at a high-end, exclusive resort and as you
know, GHC is just that. Desmond, do you have any
thoughts?”

“
Steven is right. The
interest is there, and as you know, autumn and winter are our
slowest seasons. So I was thinking about exploring the idea and
making those months available for outsiders, shall we
say.”

Dante nodded and said, “Dimitrius, you want
to weigh in on this?”

Dimitrius rubbed his chin
and said, “Um...I was thinking about how that would work from an
accounts perspective, because if these
outsiders
don’t fit the model, then
they have no need in opening an account, so we will lose money from
the monthly subscriptions.”

“
That’s a good point,” Dante
said. “But we could recoup the money as a premium upon booking,
can’t we?”

“
We could, however, the
system is not set up like that currently.”

“
Well, that’s not a problem.
We can get I.T. to do a system change if need be. I’m just worried
about the brand. Right now, as it stands, GHC is strictly for the
purpose of rehabilitating and helping people. If we change that and
let any and everybody in, then I think we will lose our
credibility, and people who really need the help of the services
offered there may turn elsewhere...someplace they deem to be
more
serious
than
GHC, shall we say.”

“
I could see something like
that happening,” Dimitrius concurred.

“
And that’s my main concern,
which I have expressed to Steven,” Dante said. “I didn’t create GHC
to be a vacation resort. I created it to be sort of a grief
retreat...someplace that could serve as a springboard for new
beginnings.”

“
Too bad it doesn’t work for
everyone,” Dimitrius said, totally off subject.

“
What’s that supposed to
mean?” Dante asked.

“
Just what I said. It
doesn’t work for everyone.”

“
GHC works, Dimitrius. You
know that. You’ve read the testimonials and—”

“
You were there for almost
two full weeks,” Dimitrius said. “Where’s your new beginning,
Dante?”

“
My
new beginning?” Dante asked, completely caught off guard by
what his brother was hinting at.

“
Yeah, meaning, have you
heard from her?” Dimitrius asked, referring to Emily.

“
As you know, I just got
back into town last night after attending a business summit in
Indianapolis.”

“
So the answer is no?”
Desmond inquired.

Dante sighed. “Let’s get back to work.”

“
Let’s not,” Desmond
responded. “Dante, I’ve watched you immerse yourself in this
company and make it the success that it is, but I know you were
only doing it to keep Anita off of your mind, and now, you’re doing
the same with Emily. You can’t keep on doing this to
yourself.”

Dante leaned back in his chair. He missed
Emily, but he didn’t want to pursue a woman who was dead set on
being alone and miserable for the rest of her life. After a few
more seconds, he finally spoke up and said, “Emily has made it
clear to me that I’m not the man she wants.”

“
Then why’d you spend
millions of dollars buying that building so she wouldn’t lose her
store?” Dimitrius asked.

“
Because I love her and I
want her to be happy.”

“
And she knows that?”
Dimitrius asked. He told Dante before to tell Emily how he really
felt, that he loved her.

Dante, however, had never said those words
to Emily because he wasn’t sure if she felt the same way about him.
If judging by actions, Emily should’ve known that he loved her, but
when it came down to love, there was nothing like having those
three little words spoken to you by someone whom you have the exact
same feelings for – the same affection.

“
We still have several more
items on the agenda to discuss. I suggest we get back to work,”
Dante told his brothers, finally quieting them.

Chapter 36

Dante had been frustrated for the remainder
of the workday, because he was sure that after the good deed he did
for Emily, he would at least gotten a phone call from her. But she
chose to remain distant and that upset him. To make matters worse,
all he could do was think about her, about how they’d made
passionate love and how she was irate with him at the hospital.

He glanced at the clock. It was 1:04, just
after midnight and he couldn’t sleep. He decided to go the kitchen
for a drink. He poured some Bourbon in a glass, then sat on a
barstool at the island. He tossed it all to the back of his throat
and remembered being deep inside of her, making love to her, but
the thought was tainted by her telling him to leave the hospital –
telling him she didn’t need him, that she wanted him to leave her
alone when all he wanted to do was love her.

The chime of the doorbell interrupted his
thoughts and brought a frown to his face. He looked at the clock
again. Who was at his door at this time of night?”

Wearing only a pair of boxers, he sauntered
to the door, then peeped out of the blinds. There she was, Emily,
the woman who had caused him so much heartache. The woman of his
dreams. The woman who invaded his life with her personality and
natural beauty. The woman who was able to excite his heart and make
him do things he’d never done before. She had also turned out to be
the woman who pained him.

He opened the door and Emily looked him up
and down, having flashbacks of the one and only time they’d made
love. Dante had been incredible, she could admit. He was strong and
caring, there for her emotionally, only she refused to accept the
emotional part. She’d pushed him away and now she hoped that she
hadn’t pushed him too far, so far that he couldn’t stand the sight
of her.

“
Hi,” she forced
out.

Had Dante heard that she’d spoken? He was
startled by the fact that she was even there, at his house. She’d
never been there before. Just the feeling of her being at his home
was enough to excite him, to make him believe that love between
them was possible. But she’d proven that love isn’t what she
wanted. She wanted to be left alone. So why was she standing here,
at his door at such a late hour?

One thing was for sure. He was done with her
hot-and-cold attitude. One minute she couldn’t stand him. The
other, she was kissing him, screaming his name louder than he’d
ever heard a woman do it and then she was back to hating him again.
Not anymore. It was his turn to take control.

“
Why are you here,
Emily?”

She crossed her arms as if a sudden chill
had struck her.

“
I just wanted to
talk.”

“
At one-thirty in the
morning, you want to talk?”

“
Yes, I wanted to apologize
to you for the way I acted.”

Just taking in her beauty had his heart
pounding in his chest. She had on a black, flowey dress that fell
at her knees. Her curly hair that he loved so much was bouncy and
neat. He remembered his fingers submerged in those curls while
they’d made love.

“
Why are you here, Emily?”
he asked again, watching her lips tremble.

“
Dante, I’m sorry about the
things I said to you. You didn’t deserve them and—”

“
And what? You want me to
forgive you and then what happens, Emily? You get angry
again...regret everything we do together, push me away like I mean
nothing to you?”

“
No.”

“
Well, that’s what you did,
and I would never do that to you, Emily. Never!”

Tears blurred her vision. He was upset and
now, she knew it was too late. She shouldn’t have allowed so much
time to pass between them. The distance only made things worse. “I
don’t know what happens, Dante,” she said. “I just wanted you to
know that I’m sorry.” She covered her face and turned away from
him, heading back for her car.

Before she could walk away, he stepped out
onto the porch and grabbed her forearm, pulling her into his grasp,
staring into her worried eyes while holding her head between those
strong hands of his. “Why are you here, Emily?”

More tears spilled out of her eyes as she
looked at him. With trembling lips, she said, “Because I miss you
and I love you, Dante.”

He closed his eyes briefly. Hearing her say
those words gave him a euphoric feeling even more than when they
made love. He longed to hear them and finally, she was able to
confess what he had known. She loved him.

Dante attacked her lips, kissing her
hungrily, sucking greedily on them and parting them with his tongue
so he could reacquaint himself with her taste. Just the sensation
of their warm tongues touching made him want to explode.