Page 61 of Alpha Bait

"The suspense is killing me."

"Sorry, my dear."

I appreciated his sweetness, but I was still impatient.

"I'm leaving New York," he said.

He said the words like they were nothing. Each word held such deep implications. I am leaving New York. As in, you are not leaving New York.

Leaving. Not traveling from. He had no intention of coming back.

And then, "New York". That was the location of his family business. His position in the company would definitely require his presence.

"That's a loaded sentence," I replied, condensing my confusion into one flat sentence.

He began to undo the buttons on his shirt. As he revealed his chiseled chest inch by inch, I found it difficult to remain focused on the topic at hand.

"I don't want to talk about it," he tempted me.

Of course, I didn't want to talk about his news either. Rich's six-pack had just come into view and it had been too long since we last touched.

"You have to," I snapped myself out of my infatuation.

This was too important to let Richard's physical appearance distracts me.

"Your brother. He filed a restraining order," Rich replied with disbelief that I wouldn't be aware of his reason for leaving.

I should have known this already, his tone said. But I didn't. Since Selena's death, Jamal had strategically iced me out just as much as I'd tried to keep my distance. He was furious that I had refused Will Harkness's hand in marriage and he kept me confined to my duties and expertise within the company.

"I had no idea," I gasped honestly.

"Why do I have such a hard time believing that?" Richard snorted.

"You have to believe me. I would have warned you. I wouldn't have let that happen."

"It's happening. And my lawyers can't do anything to fight it. Jamal has got himself some bulldogs..."

I refrained from telling him that I was the one that petitioned for the hire of those bulldogs after hearing how powerful and renowned the Carmichael lawyers were. Suddenly I felt guilty. That was always going to be the issue with dating him, wasn't it?

With Richard, I would always have to make a choice: him or my family.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked.

"I don't wish to talk about it."

By now, he was shirtless. Faced with the choice of dealing with the issues head on, or postponing them until after we dealt with our passions, the choice was simple.

Richard approached me and reached his arm behind my back, grasping the zipper that sat at the nape of my neck.

"I'd prefer," he said, sliding the zipper down the length of my spine, "if we kept things light tonight."

"Do we have the luxury?"

"No."

By then, the zipper rested at the base of my spine. He stroked his hand down my exposed back, resting it at my waist. He pulled me close and then kissed me for the first time since I'd walked into the room. His kisses usually made light work of my daily stressors. Today was different.

I had the nagging sense that this interaction represented some finality between me and Richard.

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