Page 20 of Someone Like You

Casimir

One Week Later

I t hadn’t taken much to get Giselle moved into my penthouse suite at The Vista. She didn’t have much to bring with her since she had lost everything in the fire.

I hadn’t seen her in the week since she had moved in.

I had received a simple “Thank you” text from her, but I knew she needed her space, which was why I hadn’t bothered to visit.

Besides, I recalled the painful look in her eyes when I told her that I would be staying with Beth and had been staying with her.

Jude had commented on the sexual chemistry between Giselle and me after we had dropped her back off to pick up her car.

I gave her the spare key and had her name added to the residence so that she wouldn’t have a problem coming or going or seeking any assistance that she might need.

She emphasized that it was only a temporary arrangement.

Thankfully, Jude had been caught up that first week with other clients he was already working with, and this week, he was heading out of town to a seminar and wouldn’t be back until next week.

I looked at my watch and smiled. I was certain that Giselle would be home this evening.

I only hoped that she didn’t have any company.

I didn’t know much about Giselle’s personal life, but I doubted she would bring another man up there.

She didn’t seem like the disrespectful type, but still I was taking a chance visiting her unannounced.

I pushed the doorbell. Although I still had a key to this place, I knew that using it was the quickest way to have her pack up and leave.

I pushed it a second time, and when she finally opened it, she stared up at me in confusion.

“Hey. What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

She was gorgeous in a soft peach loungewear set.

The top barely brushed the top of her navel, and I could see that she had a belly piercing.

The shorts were short enough to expose a butterfly on her upper right thigh, and I could only imagine if she turned around that I might catch a glimpse of that fat peach.

I held my hands up with the two bags that I carried.

“I came bearing gifts.”

She sniffed the air, and a light smile crossed her lips.

“It smells delicious.”

“I’m hoping that it is.”

She opened the door wider, and I stepped inside. “Did you already cook?” I asked.

“No. I’m actually starving and was thinking about ordering takeout. I haven’t had time to cook because I’ve been working on some case notes.”

I followed her into the den, where she had her laptop set up, a bright blue cashmere blanket, and several folders. There was a glass of juice sitting on a coaster on the table. The TV was on over the fireplace, but it was muted.

“Sorry about the mess. I was just—”

“No apologies. Your mess, as you call it, is actually very organized and controlled. Besides, you’re at home. I’m the one infringing on your personal time.”

“Temporarily.”

“Huh?”

“It’s my temporary home,” she explained as I sat down.

“I’ll be right back. What would you like to drink? Water? Juice? Wine? Beer?”

“Water will be fine.”

I set the food out as she disappeared into the kitchen. When she returned with napkins, forks, and bottled water, she took a chair opposite me.

“I haven’t heard from Jude much since you’ve been gone.”

“Yeah, he had to go out of town for some seminar,” I explained.

“Mm . . .”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked as I uncovered the lid on my platter.

I had picked up some food from Off The Bone. They were a barbeque joint that served a variety of barbeque along with all the fixings.

“It’s awfully convenient how he was able to drop everything to come running to my rescue when my sister called. But now that you’re involved, things suddenly came to a halt.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Mm-hmm,” she replied as she licked some barbeque sauce from her fingertips. “He was out of pocket at first because of pressing issues with clients whom he put on hold for me. And now he’s out of town at a seminar. Just saying, it’s mighty convenient in keeping me here in your place.”

“It could look like that, but trust me, my homie’s a nig—man of integrity if nothing else.”

“It’s okay, Casimir. You don’t have to do that,” she stated as she removed the top from her container of collard greens.

“Do what?”

“Alter your speech for me. You’re in your home . . . or a place that you own, I should say.”

I chuckled. “You caught that, huh?”

“Yeah. You present yourself in one light around me. I would dare say that it’s this altered version that you said your in-laws created. A facade that you feel pressured to uphold in the presence of some.”

“Some like who?” I asked.

“Those who have ties to your wife and in-laws.”

“And you think that you have those ties?”

“Not like that,” she denied and forked some potato salad.

“I mean, people you met through them or because of them in some way. Like, take me for instance. If your wife hadn’t insisted that you come to marriage counseling and hadn’t made the appointment, you wouldn’t know me,” she explained before shoveling the potato salad into her mouth.

I bit into my rib and nodded. I took my time chewing before I answered. “You’re right.”

“And you shouldn’t have to do that, especially in a place that belongs to you. I mean, you did tell me that was why you were leaving her, right? Because you wanted to be yourself again.”

“I did.”

“Then do nothing less than that no matter who you’re around. Be yourself when you’re around me too.”

We ate in silence for a little while longer before she spoke up. “I have a question.”

“What’s that?”

“Where did you go?”

“What do you mean?”

“I remember that you said that you were leaving her and that you’d filed for divorce. Where did you move to if you didn’t come here? Isn’t that what you purchased this place for?”

“It was.”

“So, where are you?”

“At home still.”

“With Bethany?”

“Yes.”

She set her fork down and nodded. I watched as she lifted her glass to her lips and took a sip. I knew that I wasn’t mistaken. She was clearly disappointed with that shit, knowing that I remained in the house with my wife.

“Are you okay?” I asked after a couple of minutes. She lifted her laptop back onto her lap and typed as if she didn’t have a plateful of food sitting there that she’d just been throwing down on.

“Yes. Why?” Giselle asked, not looking up at me.

“Because you just quit eating all out of the blue.”

“Oh, I’m okay.”

I stood and walked to the kitchen. After I washed my hands, I returned to the den and sat beside her. I removed the laptop from her lap.

“What are you doing, Casimir? Please give that back to me.”

“No. You can work later. We’re talking now.”

“You can’t just take my stuff and force me to do what you want me to do.”

“I can, and I did.”

She sat back with her legs crisscrossed and folded beneath her on the couch. My eyes dropped to those thick, beautiful thighs, and she grabbed her Afghan and pulled it over her lap. I snatched it, and she gripped the edge, not wanting to let it go.

We played tug-of-war for a second before I snatched it completely out of her hand and tossed it aside.

“Fine. What is it that you want to talk about?” Giselle crossed her arms underneath her breasts and pushed them up further.

“I want to know what was that all about just then. You looked like you were in your feelings about me saying that I was still at the house with Beth.”

“I did not get in my feelings.”

“Why’d you stop eating?”

“I have work to do.”

“Yeah, but you hadn’t finished eating.”

“I was done, Casimir. Okay?”

“No, you weren’t. Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours.”

“I have a ton of work to do, and I wasn’t expecting company. Okay?”

“Damn. Mood ruined just like that, huh?”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “I already knew that you were still there the day that you showed me this place. I hoped that I misunderstood, but I guess I didn’t.”

“Does it matter?”

“Of course it does.”

“Why?”

She turned away from me and shook her head. I gripped her chin and turned her face toward me.

Giselle huffed out a sigh.

“Talk to me, beautiful.”

“What do you want, Casimir?”

“I want to know what you’re feeling.”

“I’m feeling confused and crazy, okay? Like, why am I playing this game with you? Why am I sitting up in your house? Why are you still with your wife and you have me here? Does she even know that I’m here? Why am I here? What is it that you want from me?”

“You.”

“Cas—”

“Shh,” I whispered and placed my finger over her lips for a moment before I replaced it with my lips.

Giselle and I engaged in several lip-smacking pecks before I cupped the back of her neck and lifted her onto my lap.

“Mmm.” Giselle whimpered underneath my kiss.

I sucked at her lips until she opened them for me and allowed my tongue to enter. She was hungry, greedy even for my kisses, as she could barely allow me to lead. She sucked eagerly at my tongue as she moaned and whimpered, and soon, she threw her arms around my neck.

I pulled back from the kiss, but just enough to put space between our lips and not between us. Our foreheads rested gently against one another’s, and I dragged my hand away from the back of her neck and down her arms. Our fingers clutched and locked with one another’s.

“She’s not my wife. Beth is my ex-wife whom I happen to still live with.”

“What are we doing?” She whispered so softly in the quiet room that I strained to hear her voice.

“Getting to know each other, Giselle, and I like it.”

“It’s scaring me . . . these feelings that I feel for you. And they’re so wrong.”

“Stop overthinking shit. Just let go and feel, Giselle.”

“I can’t. You belong to another woman.”

“No, I don’t. You know that better than anyone.”

“I know what you tell me.”

“If you were any other woman, I would agree, but it’s you. You saw the destruction Beth was willing to cause. You saw the hatred that lives in her. That’s not what I want. I want you.”

“But you’re still living with her.”

“We’re divorced.”

“That’s what you tell me.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you.”

She sighed. “I’m not ready anyway,” Giselle responded and pulled back.

“What do you mean you’re not ready?”

She started to get up, but I grabbed her wrist and tugged her back down onto my lap. Rubbing the back of her neck, I commanded, “Tell me.”

“There’s nothing left to tell.”

“It’s been five years, Giselle. It’s okay to love again.”

“No. I’m just not ready.”

I leaned forward again, and I asked, “Do you remember when I asked who was there for you? Who gave you a shoulder to lean on? Let me be that for you, Giselle.”

“No. It’s wrong, Casimir. You are . . . were my patient. And you’re still living with your ex-wife. I can’t come between that.”

“You’re not,” I admitted gruffly. “I can move out. Do you remember when I told you that Beth’s father didn’t want us to get a divorce, but he didn’t want her to drag it out in court?”

Giselle nodded.

“That was because he knew if Beth dragged it out in court, it would become a distraction and fodder for his opponents to use against him. He only asked for one thing from me. And that was for me to remain in the house until the campaign was finished. I agreed.”

“But where will you go?”

“I can get another place.”

“But you have this place here.”

“You want me to stay here with you?” I asked, smirking.

She sighed. “That’s not what I’m saying. I feel like this is my fault, though.”

“Why? Because she blamed you?” I asked as she climbed off me with her back to me.

Giselle turned around and faced me. The fire that sparked from her eyes was hot enough to singe me.

“No, because I caught feelings for you long before you and Bethany decided to give up on the marriage and divorce her. I had feelings for you before she decided that counseling wasn’t working,” Giselle confessed softly.

My heart flickered to life for the first time. It was a small fire, but it was there, burning brightly with hope, possibilities, and love. And as scared as I was to ask my next question for fear her answer might douse that flame, I had to ask it anyway.

I stood. “Then what’s keeping us apart now?”

“My license, Casimir. If anyone finds out, I could lose my license! I cannot do that. I worked too hard to get to where I am.”

“No one has to know.”

“So, I’ll just be what? Your secret lover?”

“No! That’s not what I meant, Giselle.”

“But that’s exactly what I would become, Casimir. I think you should leave,” Giselle announced.

“Why?”

“Because I need some space from you. I’m overwhelmed by your presence.

I know that I’m not thinking clearly right now because I want to let you in, and I know that if I do, I can never get you out.

I’m thinking with my heart and not my mind.

Truth is, we’re no good for each other. Please, just leave. ”

She stalked off and headed down the hallway. I still wasn’t sure how to convince her that she belonged to me, but I would find a way.