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“I didn’t say today…someday, perhaps. Someday when you’ve grown to know me and to trust me with all of you,” he interrupted.
“What makes you so sure we’re headed toward that day?” Madison asked.
“I believe in fate, Madison. I do not believe that there are accidental meetings or chance phenomena. People come into your life for a reason. You are confronted with various situations for a purpose. Sometimes, we choose to ignore those signs…maybe because we’re afraid or because we believe that what we’ve planned for ourselves is the only avenue that we should travel. However, I’ve learned to accept what is presented to me, knowing that God would not put anything before me that is not meant for me to have.”
“Are you a religious man?” Madison asked.
“I like to think that I’m in touch with my spiritual self. When I was little, my parents and I attended Mass every Sunday bright and early. I took communion, listened to the word of God and did all the things a good little Catholic boy was supposed to do. Yet, I don’t think it was until college that I really began to understand what I’d been reading and hearing all of my life. Now I don’t go to church much, but I know that there is one ruler, one entity whose mercy directs all things great and small. I also know that the responsibility lies within me to live a good life and follow my purpose. What about you? Are you a good little church girl?”
“Me? Well, like you, I was raised going to church. Say your prayers, repent for your sins and honor your parents. I don’t think I ever really felt a connection to God though. I mean, believing in something is one thing but trusting in it to govern your life is something entirely different.”
Steve placed his other hand over Madison’s, smiling at her. “You have a hard time with trusting, don’t you?”
“What makes you say that?” Madison asked defensively.
They held each other’s gaze for a moment before they both erupted into side-splitting laughter.
“All right, so you might be right. But, in my defense, there are a lot of people out in the world who don’t mean you any good. You can’t trust everybody you come across. For all I know, you could be a mass murderer, wanted all across England for accosting women in taxis and dismembering them,” Madison laughed.
“For that matter, so could you. In fact, I do think I’ve seen a Wanted poster with a woman who bore a striking resemblance to you. Let me get a good look at you.”
Steve leaned closer, his chest resting against the edge of the round table that separated them. “Mmm-hmm—a perfect match.”
“What am I wanted for?”
“The charge was breaking hearts in the first degree. I think I’m going to make a phone call to see if they’re still offering a reward for your capture,” he said.
“Oh, like you need reward money. The Elliott Corporation is one of the highest-grossing corporations in this century,” she said.
“So, what does that mean?”
“That means you’re loaded. Oh, I’m sorry, was that supposed to be a secret?”
“Let me correct you—my dad is loaded. The Elliott Corporation is his baby, not mine. Yes, I work for him, and yes, he’d like me to take over the business one day. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure if that’s what I want.”
“I see. Well, feel free to correct me again if I’m wrong, but your dad doesn’t seem like the type of man who’s going to let his son go off and find himself as opposed to taking his place at the helm of the family business. Just an observation,” she said.
Steve smiled a half smile and leaned back in his chair. “You’re not wrong, but I guess we’ll just wait and see what happens, huh?”
As the sun began to come up on the horizon, lighting up the never-sleeping, but quieter than normal streets of Manhattan, Steve insisted on sharing Madison’s taxi uptown to her apartment on East Seventy-fourth Street. They sat shoulder to shoulder, quietly enjoying the short ride. When they arrived, Steve paid the driver to wait while he walked Madison to the building’s door.
“I’d like to see you again,” he said softly.
They were facing each other, the fingers of their hands locked together. Once again, Madison’s faced felt flushed as she looked up into warm brown eyes. “When are you leaving town?”
“In a few days. Can I see you tonight?”
The urgency in his voice mirrored the feeling that had come over her. She struggled to recapture the common sense that had seemed to escape her mind from the moment she’d met Stevenson Elliott, but it was no use. She was under a spell and breaking it simply was not in her power at this point.
“Tonight?” She echoed his words as she stalled for time to get her mouth to say what the nagging voice in the back of her mind was telling her to say.
“Yes, tonight. You call the shots. Anytime you say. Anywhere you say. I just want to see you again,” Steve said forcefully.
The earnestness in his voice caused her resolve to melt instantly and the voice of doubt was bound, gagged and shoved in the back of a closet.
“Eight o’clock?” she asked.
“Eight o’clock. I’ll be here to pick you up.”
Steve seemed relieved as he accepted her concession to his request. He searched her face, as if wanting to memorize every inch of it in case he never had the opportunity to see her again.
“I’ll see you tonight,” Madison said, reassuring him.
Steve leaned forward, grazing his lips ever so lightly across Madison’s left cheek, and walked away. Her hand rose, her fingers landing on the spot he’d kissed, which was warm and tingling.
Chapter 4
Madison tossed an olive-colored blouse across the bed, changing her mind for the eighth time in the past hour. After spending all night with Steve, Madison had come back to her apartment, showered and lain across her bed. Unable to sleep, however, she’d gotten up after an hour, donned her workout gear and walked the three blocks to the gym where she worked out daily and taught yoga classes. All through the vigorous workout she undertook, her mind replayed the previous night. She could not believe that one chance meeting had upset the balance of her life so much. Steve Elliott had left an indelible mark on her, which was not an easy feat.
She decided to stop thinking about what had happened and pondering the implications of it. After spending hours contemplating the impact that this man had had on her, she concluded that all she needed to do was to live in the moment and enjoy herself. It was not exactly as if this was a foreign concept for her, for Madison had lived her entire adult life following this approach. However, in the months since she’d relocated to New York City, she’d purposely shed her former attitude and now allowed reason and consideration of all angles to guide her. She didn’t want to be known as the fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants woman she’d been known as. Yet she also knew that unlike many of her past escapades, passing some time with Steve would not prove detrimental to her. Steve was a good guy with whom she’d crossed paths and shared a connection unlike any other she’d ever experienced. Why not take pleasure in it for as long as it lasted?
With that thought in mind, she settled on an orange miniskirt and an ivory halter top patterned with thin pink and orange stripes. After a hot bath, she freshened up a three-day-old pedicure and curled up on the sofa with a magazine. She turned page after page, unable to focus on the fashions before her because of a severe case of distraction. Steve’s face kept flashing before her eyes, his sexy smile and seductive voice running freely through her imagination. She chided herself for allowing her mind to run away with her senses over a guy she’d just met, but there was something so alluringly different about Steve that she could not help herself. She dozed and found that visions of him ran through her dreams. By the time he arrived to pick her up for their date, she was filled with a heady excitement that carried her on air down the stairs.
“What would you like to do tonight?” Steve asked as he held open the passenger door of a rented Mercedes.
“I don’t know. It’s such a beautiful night…let’s do something outdoors. Oh, I know. We can drive down to the South Street Seaport. There’s always something going on down there,” Madison answered excitedly.
“South Street Seaport it is. You’re going to have to direct me though.”
Madison settled into the soft leather seat and they meandered through city traffic. Their conversation and laughter flowed like syrup over a stack of hot pancakes, their words sticking in all the right places. Steve parked on the corner of Fulton Street and they walked slowly toward Pier Seventeen on South Street, the cool breeze, coming from the direction of the water, caressing their faces.
“So, Madison Daniels, you’ve never told me what a country girl such as yourself is doing here in the big city, all alone and on your own. Don’t tell me it’s that same sad cliché?”
“Which one is that?”
“The one about the girl who came here chasing some guy, found out he was a cross-dresser and it didn’t work out,” Steve laughed.
Madison dipped a celery stick into the bowl of blue cheese dressing that had come with her order of buffalo wings. They were seated at Uno’s, one of the cafes located on the upstairs outer deck of the food court, a view of the water and small dinner boats to their left. The lights of the shops and boats along the water sparkled more brilliantly tonight, it seemed, although the real illumination that engulfed them had nothing to do with the scenery.
“Ha!” Madison exploded. “Do you honestly think that I’d ever chase a guy somewhere? Hmph, I guess you’ve got a lot to learn about me, Mr. Elliott.”
“Nah, I was just teasing. I know that you are the pursuee, not the pursuer. You enjoy having men crumble at your feet while you look down upon them, laugh and then grind your stilettos into their tortured hearts.”
Steve leaned forward and wiped a spot of blue cheese from the corner of Madison’s mouth. His touch was so gentle that for a moment she lost all train of thought.
“I think you watch too many movies. I’m not at all the femme fatale you’re making me out to be. But to answer your question, no, I didn’t come to New York chasing anyone. I guess you could say I was looking for someone.”
“Who?”
Madison studied the lights shimmering on the water for a moment before returning her gaze to Steve’s face. She didn’t know why she was talking so much to someone that twenty-four hours ago she hadn’t even known existed. She was not a talker, not by a long shot, but maybe she had been waiting all of her life for the right person to talk to.
“Me,” she said at last.
Steve nodded his head slowly, understanding registering on his handsome face as if he, too, had been waiting for the right person to talk to about the things that were going on inside him. At that moment the connection between the two of them was undeniable and, furthermore, neither of them wanted to even try to pretend that something unexpected yet amazing had not occurred in their meeting.
Steve reached out and stayed the hand that Madison was using to feed another piece of celery into her mouth. He leaned forward and when his lips found hers, her breath caught in her throat. Soft pliable lips pressed against hers with a tenderness that was so marked that it was more passionate than even the most ardent and lustful kiss she’d ever shared with anyone. He withdrew slowly, his smile that of a bashful adolescent. From that moment on, they both knew that they had innocently stumbled upon a situation that neither would be able to walk away from unchanged.
Chapter 5
“Stevenson, what do you mean you are not ready to go home? You know your father has a lot on his plate right now with the expansion. He’s already spent more time in the States than he could afford to take, just to indulge our pleas for a family holiday.”
“I know that, Mother, but that doesn’t have anything to do with me,” Steve answered.
“Nothing to do with you? Nothing to do…Correct me if I’m wrong, son, but don’t you work for your father? Of course it has everything to do with you.” Janice Elliott huffed as she considered her son’s serious countenance and his earnest request. She resealed the designer duffel bag that she had just closed for the second time as she stuffed yet another toiletry in the already full carrier. They’d bought two extra pieces of luggage in order to accommodate her shopping expenditures, and she feared that she would still not have enough room. She’d been considering the possibility that she’d have to have the hotel ship some of her belongings when Steve had knocked at their Waldorf Astoria suite door.
Another look at her son and Janice realized that this conversation would require her complete attention. Their flight to London was scheduled for an eight o’clock departure the next morning and she had already done most of the packing for herself and her husband, who was in the bedroom of their suite at the posh hotel taking a conference call. Janice stopped her packing, sighed and sat down on the edge of an ottoman.
“I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant that…Well, you and I both know that Dad can handle things for the time being without me,” Steve said at length.
He moved across the room and sat down on the sofa. Janice eyed her son, her only child, marveling at the fine young man he’d become, which was a behavior she’d found herself engaging in more and more often recently. He was slightly taller than his father, having inherited her side of the family’s stature. His chestnut-brown skin matched Gregory’s, and he shared the same powerful features. She watched as her son matched the tips of his long fingers together, pressing each hand against the other, something he always did when he was thinking or pressed by some urgent decision. Janice’s brow wrinkled as she realized that her son had something very important on his mind. She moved closer to him, taking a seat beside him on the sofa.
“What’s going on, Stevenson?” she asked.
“There’s nothing going on, Mother. I just want to spend some more time here in the States. Look, I know that Dad’s got a lot going on and I understand why you guys need to get back right away. But, Mother, I’ve been working day in and day out since I finished at the university. I need a little break.”
“Isn’t this a little sudden, son? I mean, you haven’t mentioned anything about wanting to take some time off before. Why now?” Janice pressed, wanting her son to confide in her the way he used to.
“There’s no specific reason. We’re here in New York City and it’s a great city. I just thought I could take a few more days…perhaps a week or two to get to see more of it. Take in some shows, a couple of basketball games at the Garden…you know. Look, I’ll be back at home and at work before Dad even misses me. Come on, Mother, what do you say?”
“Well, Stevenson, you’re a grown man. You certainly don’t need my permission,” Janice replied.
“I know that, Mother, but I want it just the same.”
“No, what you want is for me to soften the request to your father,” Janice countered.
She knew her son well and she also knew that like her, he was well aware of his father’s demanding nature.
“All right. I was thinking that Dad would be less likely to flip out if you were on my side,” Steve admitted. “You know that you have a way with him. So what do you say?” Steve said, nudging his mother’s thigh with his leg.
Janice grinned as she looked into her son’s face, never having been able to resist that infectious Elliott smile of either her child or his father. She’d gladly take the brunt of Gregory’s discord if it meant sparing Stevenson the same.
“Oh, all right,” she said. “But you’ll have to make your own arrangements. We’re not paying for you to keep your suite here. It’s an expense that isn’t necessary, considering the amount of time you’ve actually spent indoors. Where will you stay?”
“That’s already taken care of. I got a room at the Crowne Plaza near the United Nations building. It’s right here in the heart of Midtown and it’s a whole lot cheaper than this place.”
“Oh, you have?” Janice said, eyeing her son suspiciously. “Well, I guess you’ve thought this all through. All right, well, make sure you contact the travel agent, Elaine, and have her reissue your return flight ticket. And when exactly will that be?”
“I’ll call you in a few days, Mother, and let you know. Listen, you and Dad have a safe trip and I’ll talk to you soon,” Steve said, kissing his mother swiftly on the cheek before jumping up from the sofa.
“Aren’t you going to wait to speak with your father?” Janice called as he began making his way toward the door.
“Oh, you know he’s going to be on the phone with those Wesco guys for at least another hour. I’ve got to get going…I have plans for tonight. Don’t worry, I’ve already packed my belongings. You can just have the bellhop leave my bags with the concierge and I’ll pick them up tomorrow. Love you, Mother,” Steve said.
With that, he was gone, leaving a puzzled Janice staring after the closed door of the hotel suite, wondering just what had gotten into her son. She also wondered exactly what he meant by a cheaper hotel, hoping that he hadn’t checked in to some economy dive.
She slipped into a reverie of a time that didn’t seem so far away. When she was her son’s age, her life had been difficult at best. She and Gregory struggled to make ends meet while getting his business off the ground. Janice remembered the early days vividly. She’d given birth to her only child when she and Gregory still lived in a tiny two-room flat that lacked indoor plumbing in the rural farmlands of Jamaica. Both she and Gregory had been raised in the countryside of St. Elizabeth. Gregory was a couple of years older than her, but their families had attended the same ramshackle church where they’d played together as children. Both she and her sister Claudia had carried crushes on Gregory Elliott all through grade school, but it was Janice who’d won his heart.
Janice always knew that Gregory would be successful. She would sit and listen to him talk for hours about how he was going to get out of the country, out of Jamaica and live a good life. As the youngest of five children in a Seventh Day Adventist family led by a hardworking but indebted farming couple, Gregory had dreamed of a life far removed from the one he’d known. He was sorely embarrassed by his family’s lack, even though all of their neighbors, and the entire town for that matter, were no better off. Gregory became an exceptional student and a determined young man. He had done whatever was necessary to become the success he always knew he could be, and she’d supported him in every way she knew how. Janice supported him emotionally and physically as he earned, bribed and brown-nosed his way into a successful career after starting out in the natural resources manufacturing and trade business in Jamaica.
By the time Steve turned five years old, Gregory had relocated to England and brought his family over after a six-month separation, leaving the poverty behind. In doing so, they’d also gladly severed all ties to their shameful beginnings. Gregory made every one of his and Janice’s dreams come true, and she was proud to know that their son would have options and opportunities that they had only dreamed of when they were his age. She’d always reasoned that someday there would be retribution for the things they’d done, but she never let that certainty deter her. One of her greatest joys was the knowledge that her son would never have to work as hard as his father had worked. He would never have to sacrifice the way they’d had to. Most importantly to her, his conscience would never be burdened by sins of the past the way hers was. As heir to the Elliott Corporation, one of the largest import/export companies in England, Stevenson was assured of his future.
Janice smiled again as she thought of her son. She realized that he did deserve a little time off, as he had always worked hard and lived up to every expectation they held for him, even when he was just a little boy. Soon enough it would be time for him to take over more of his father’s operations and settle down to begin a family of his own. She looked forward to the day when she and Gregory could sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labors. She’d already begun planning the trips abroad she’d wanted to take and the extended excursions she’d always dreamed of. Janice could not imagine having a more perfect life and had no doubts that it would continue to just get sweeter.
Chapter 6
“This place reminds me of the nightclubs back home in England,” Steve shouted over the loud, pulsing house music that boomed from every corner of the dimly lit room.
They were on the upper floor of Webster Hall, a trendy dance club located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was housed inside an old warehouse on one of the lower-numbered streets in a diverse neighborhood. The cavernous club contained room after room of eclectic décor and varying musical stylings.
“This is only my second time coming here, and I still can’t get enough. You’ve got every type of person in here from rocker to hip-hop heads and everything in between. It’s wild,” Madison shouted back over the din of the music and voices.
They’d spent the past few days around the city. Steve professed that he wanted to see every inch of New York City and, despite the fact that Madison was a recent transplant herself, he appointed her his personal tour guide. They’d gone to the Empire State Building in midtown Manhattan, Flushing Meadow Park in Queens and various other points of interest in and around the five boroughs. Tonight, Madison had felt like dancing.
The couple made their way to the bar, where Steve ordered two Coronas. They sipped their beers in silence, gazing at the variety of New Yorkers who circled the room. The same-sex couples mixed and mingled with the straight ones, while the preppie college kids shared drinks with the Bohemian old-heads.
When a gorgeous blonde approached them and began chatting Madison up, Steve stared in wide-eyed wonder as the woman made a blatant pass at his companion as if he weren’t standing there. Steve had never considered himself the jealous or insecure type, but he had to acknowledge that the woman was striking and, hey, this was the new millennium. It occurred to him that he didn’t know enough about Madison to know specifically what she was in to and decided he wasn’t about to take any chances. He placed a defensive arm around Madison’s waist and pulled her to the dance floor. Madison’s admirer followed them with burning eyes for a while before moving on in search of a new conquest.
“Well, Mr. Elliott, let’s see what kind of moves you’ve got. Now you know this isn’t ballroom dancing. I hope you can keep up,” Madison teased.
“I’ve got moves, baby, believe that,” he stated with the self-assuredness that she had grown used to hearing from him.
The beat pulsed loudly in their ears, sucking them into it as their bodies moved against one another. They danced through song after song, laughing and teasing as they grew familiar with the movement of each other’s bodies. Steve looked down at Madison, captivated by the sexiness of her frame as much as by the femininity she exuded without even trying. The skirt she wore exposed legs that held a promise that could not be denied. He ran his hands up and down her diminutive waist, settling on her hips, which were swaying against him at a melodic tempo.
Their bodies met, finding a comfortable space to claim as their own. The lights zipped across the dance floor, flashing on her golden skin, now covered with a thin layer of perspiration, and Steve realized that he had never met a woman whom he found more alluring. His arousal as they danced grew from deep inside and by the time it became a physical wanting, it was larger than the room itself. Their eyes locked and held as they both became aware of the desire that was building between them. Steve ran his hand across the soft locks that framed her face, delighting in the texture and feel of them against his skin. Steve’s desire to kiss her, to taste her mouth and tongue, was stronger than any other urge he’d ever felt. Cupping her face in his hands and moving in slow motion, he bent his head toward hers and found a sweet mouth waiting in anticipation for him. His tongue tentatively pried its way in between her lips, making contact with her tongue in an almost timid fashion. She opened her mouth wider, allowing him deeper access, and he responded by giving her all of his tongue. Their kiss engaged every bit of their oral cavities, as they drew one another in to completely discover their essences.
Forgetting time and space, the gyrating bodies around them became a distant memory, they moved to a place in their minds that was far removed from anything recognizable. Their ragged breathing was louder in their ears than the music, and everyone else in the room seemed to disappear at once, leaving them alone within their passion. The probing exploration of their tongues spurred them to greater desire until finally Steve pulled away, unable to take one more second of tortured provocation. He wanted to get her alone, and it was that single thought that drove him silently through the throngs of people and out onto the street.
Leaving the club arm in arm, they maintained the electrifying connection that had exploded between them. Madison settled against Steve’s side as they drove back uptown to her place. With her eyes closed, she replayed the images of the two of them together, still warm from the heat their bodies had generated on the dance floor. When Steve found an empty parking spot right outside Madison’s building, it was she who wordlessly took him by the hand and led him up the stairs to her third-story apartment.
They stood just inside the entryway of her apartment, staring at one another in the thick darkness. They both recognized the importance of their next steps and as they weighed the implications in their minds, they were overwhelmingly aware of the current that connected them. Somehow, Madison found the presence of mind to pause, a task that was equally difficult and unwanted.
“Are we moving too fast?” Madison asked at last, looking into Steve’s eyes.
“Yes, we are,” he answered truthfully, as he moved closer to her, still compelled to be near her.
Steve, like many young men of his age, had had his share of casual affairs. Yet he knew, without fully understanding why, that Madison could not be classified in that way. There would be no way that he could share her bed and just walk away, because she had already infected his heart in a way that no woman had ever managed to do. For her part, Madison was not a virgin and did not possess any virginlike ideals that made her desirous of resisting her sexuality or her body’s longings. However, she was also aware that Steve had gotten under her skin, and sharing her body with him would not come without strings and entanglements. Neither could pretend that the feelings they were caught up in were not incredibly intense and moving.
“We probably should think this through,” she whispered, her lips brushing across his as she spoke.
