The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (28 page)

“
You sure? Your family is
around.”

“
Do I look like I care? I
need to talk to you, Sherita.”

“
Why? Whatever it is you
have to say won’t change anything.”

Desmond squeezed his eyes
together tightly. “Okay. I know I messed up with you and for that I
apologize. And I know I’ve been acting crazy and doing all kinds of
weird things, and everything you said about me is right. I am a
jerk, and I’m sorry, Sherita. I’ve never been in love before, and I
don’t know…if…” He couldn’t find the right words. “All I know is, I
don’t want to lose you, Sherita,” he said, taking a step closer to
her. “I don’t want to fight with you. I want to love you. I miss
you.”

She shook her head. “It’s
too late, Desmond.”

“
Why is it too
late?”

“
Because I don’t love you
anymore.”

An ache slammed into his
chest, nearly knocked him off balance.

I don’t love you
anymore.

Those were words he’d never
thought she’d say. She may as well had driven a knife through his
heart. For a long while, he just stood there, dazed, feeling a
chill consume his core. The room was quiet, too quiet, until
Grace’s faint cry grabbed Melanie’s attention.

Melanie walked away to get
her.

“
Well, I guess there’s
nothing left to be said,” Desmond’s lips quivered. He walked
outside, jumped inside of his jeep and drove away, heading for
home. She hurt him to his core, and he imagined she was hurting
just as equally, if not more. But if she didn’t love him, then
there was nothing he could do about it. He’d never chased after a
woman before, and he wasn’t about to start now. Women chased him.
Not vice versa.

CHAPTER 34

“
Does anyone care to give
me a ride to my hotel, or are we just going to stand around in
shock?” Sherita asked.

Dante frowned, not at her
straightforwardness and sarcasm but at her demeanor. Desmond had
done a real number on her, so much so that she was expressing her
anger in ways she probably never had before.

Melanie tilted her head to
the side.
Who was this woman and what
happened to the Sherita Wilkins she knew? The one who was sweet and
loveable?

“
You know what…forget it.
I’ll call a taxi,” Sherita said.

Dimitrius shook his head.
Desmond had dug a hole for himself, and he knew his brother had
crossed over into uncharted waters where Sherita was concerned.
Desmond had never given his heart to a woman, but the
one
woman he wanted to
give it to, he had acted upon it too late. Now, she had fallen out
of love with him.

“
First of all, you’re not
calling a taxi, and you’re definitely not staying at a hotel,
Sherita,” Emily said. “Second, we need to talk.”

Sherita pushed out a bitter
exhale.

“
Dimitrius, let’s go check
on Desmond,” Dante said.

“
Yeah. Let’s do
that.”

Once the men were out of
the door, Emily said, “Let’s go in the family room with Melanie and
sit down for a minute.”

Sherita followed her there,
sat down on the sofa, watching Melanie rock Grace to
sleep.

“
I know all of this has
been difficult for you,” Emily said.

“
You
think
you know,” Sherita said. “You
don’t know the half.”

“
I know you love
Desmond—”

“
I don’t. Didn’t you just
hear me tell him that?”

“
I heard you, but I don’t
believe you.”

Sherita hid her face with
her hands, trying to keep tears at bay but to no avail. Of course
she loved him. His babies were growing inside of her. How could she
not love their father? “I’m so stupid,” Sherita cried.

Melanie scooted closer to
her and said, “You’re not stupid, Sherita.”

“
I am. I don’t know why I
allow myself to keep falling for the same kind of man. The wrong
kind.”

“
But Sherita, he just told
you how he felt about you, and you shot him down
completely.”

“
Because I know a lie when
I hear one. He would’ve never married me if he’d known Dante set
this up.”

“
Maybe not, but he did,
and I think he really cares for you.”

“
How can he, Emily? You
know Desmond as well as I do.”

“
Nah…I don’t know him as
well as you do,” Emily quipped.

“
You know what I mean,”
Sherita said, smiling through her pain. Desmond has always
maintained that he never wanted a wife, and he definitely didn’t
want children, and now, he has those things.”

“
Wait…what?” Melanie
asked.

“
What do you mean he has
those things? Desmond doesn’t have any children unless you’re—”
Emily’s mouth dropped open. “Sherita are you—”

“
Pregnant?” Sherita
finished saying for her. “Yes. I’m pregnant.”

“
Oh my gosh!” Emily
exclaimed.

Melanie was just was
excited. “Congratulations!”

“
Yes! Congrats!” Emily
said. Then, staring at Sherita’s stomach, she continued, “You don’t
even look pregnant. Your stomach is as flat as a deflated
balloon.”

“
I’m only three months,
Emily. You’ve been through this process. You know you don’t start
showing until around five or six months.”

The women encircled Sherita
with a hug.

“
Does Desmond know about
the baby?” Emily asked.

Sherita shook her
head.

“
You do know you have to
tell him, right?” Melanie said.

“
I do, and I will. I just
need to do it on my own time. I have to figure out a plan on how
we’re going to co-parent before I approach him with it.”

“
So you’re still planning
on living in Myrtle Beach? Permanently?”

“
Yes.”

Tears came to Emily’s eyes.
“It’s not fair, Sherita. I always thought our children would grow
up together.”

“
Me too,” Melanie said.
“And I don’t care what he says. Desmond loves kids. You’ve seen him
with Grace.”

Sherita smiled. “If only he
could love his own child that way.”

“
I agree with Melanie,”
Emily said. “There’s no way Desmond would give up his child. Let’s
face it…he claimed he never wanted to fall in love, but he just
declared his love for you in front of us.”

“
It wasn’t an actual
declaration of love. He was just doing what he felt he had to do
like he always does.” Sherita said. “And then Dante…” Sherita shook
her head. “Dante made up this marriage thing just so me and Desmond
could get together. Why is your husband always doing something
behind the scenes?”

“
He said it was because he
knew Desmond liked you,” Emily said.

Sherita furrowed a brow.
“So you knew about this all along?”

“
No,” Emily said, palms
up. “I thought it was a genuine concern of his…thought he really
needed y’all to be married in order to secure that deal. I tried to
talk him out of it…told him I didn’t think it was a good idea at
the time, but he persisted.”

Sherita smirked. “I
remember how persistent Dante can be.”

Emily chuckled, recalling
how Dante had pursued her. “Don’t worry, Rita…I’m going to strangle
Dante first chance I get.”

The women
laughed.

“
Leave Dante alone,”
Melanie said. “He’s the reason why me and Dimitrius got together. I
will always be grateful to him for that.”

Sherita cracked a half
smile. “Well at least it worked out for you, Melanie.”

“
It could work out for you
too, Sherita,” Melanie told her.

“
It will work out,” Emily
said. “I doubt very seriously if Desmond Champion has ever admitted
to loving anyone, and he says he loves you. Something tells me he’s
not done with you, Sherita, especially when he finds out you’re
carrying his child.”

Sherita sighed
heavily.
Something
had told her the same thing.

CHAPTER 35

He drove his jeep home for
the first time in a week. In the passenger seat, he saw an envelope
containing the money he’d given her.
I
don’t love you anymore.
He never thought
it would come to that. Giving her a few days at the beach alone had
driven them apart instead of doing the opposite. Now, he was paying
the price for breaking a woman’s heart.

I don’t love you
anymore.

Desmond poured a shot of
vodka then tossed it back to his throat. Sherita was the only woman
he loved, the only woman he cared for. And she said she didn’t love
him…

He sat on a barstool in his
kitchen, his elbow resting on the countertop, his hands covering
his face.

“
Des, where you at, man?”
Dimitrius shouted from the living room.

“
I’m in the kitchen,” he
said, unenthusiastically. He didn’t even glance up when Dimitrius
and Dante stepped in.

“
He got the Grey Goose
out. That’s not a good sign,” Dimitrius said.

Dante walked over to the
cupboard and took out a couple of shot glasses. He bought them over
to the island, then poured a shot for himself and
Dimitrius.

“
No need for you to be in
here drinking alone, man,” Dante said after tossing a shot
back.

Dimitrius took one down,
too.

“
I really screwed up with
her,” Desmond admitted.

“
This is all my fault,”
Dante said. “I should not have tried to put you guys together. I
thought I was doing what was best for my little brother because I
knew you wouldn’t make a move.”

“
How could you be so
sure?” Desmond asked with worried, pinkish eyes, turning to the
right to look at Dante.

“
Because I watched you
stare her down for two years without doing anything about it,”
Dante said.

Desmond smirked. “Stare her
down…”

“
You did. Dimitrius saw
it, too.”

“
I saw you looking at
Sherita at my wedding,” Dimitrius said, tapping his shot glass on
the countertop. “And it was so obvious you liked her when you would
call around to make sure she wasn’t at our houses before you would
show up. I recognized that approach right away, since I did the
same thing with Melanie. I avoided her for a long time before I
decided I wanted her for myself.”

Desmond cracked a half
smile, though he didn’t feel like smiling at all. “Do you recall
the first dinner we had with Victor?”

“
Who can forget that
night?” Dante quipped. “You and Sherita were on fire.”

Desmond smirked,
remembering how Sherita had whispered in his ear, held his hand and
kissed him. It was a kiss he would never forget.

Dimitrius grinned. “Melanie
had asked me if she should pry you two away from each other with
her salad fork.”

The men
chuckled.

“
I was really shocked,
though,” Dante said. “I know I told you two to pretend you were in
love, but I didn’t think you would go all-out like that. If you
would’ve kissed any longer, you would’ve set off the
sprinklers.”

Dante and Dimitrius
laughed.

Desmond covered his face
with his hands and sighed heavily before lowering his hands to the
countertop again. “That’s the night our relationship changed…the
night we became more than just two people working together for the
sake of a business deal.”

“
It’s been going on for
that long?” Dante asked.

Desmond nodded. “She had me
doing things I could never see myself doing before…had me wanting
things I never wanted before, and I blew it.”

“
You didn’t blow it, Des,”
Dimitrius said. “Sherita still loves you.”

“
How can you be so
sure?”

“
Because Melanie once said
she didn’t love me, and it nearly killed me. It hurt. It was a lie,
obviously, since we’re together now, but at the time, it hurt when
she said it. I later found out she had a reason for saying it, and
I’m sure Sherita has one, too.”

Desmond shook his
head.

“
So don’t give up little
brother,” Dante said.

“
Give up?” Desmond said.
“I don’t give up. I told Sherita right out the gate that she was
mine, and I meant it.”

“
Well, it seems you have a
lot of work to do, bro,” Dante told him.

“
Looks that
way.”

Dante stood up. So did
Dimitrius.

“
Well, I’m going to get
back home,” Dante said. “I’m sure Emily is waiting to talk to me
about all of this.” Dante patted Desmond on the shoulder. “Love
you, man.”

Dimitrius laid his hand on
the opposite shoulder and said, “Love you, bro.”

“
Put the alcohol away,
take a shower and try to relax,” Dante said.