Page 4

Before the SUV came to a complete stop in front of Roni’s apartment building in Manhattan, Brax was already opening the door. Before his driver could hop out to assist him, he was already running up the stairs that led to the entrance doors. Using his key, he entered the lobby and hurried to the elevators.

There was no way any beat cop in New York City would be able to afford an apartment on the Upper East side like the one where Roni resided. But it was a compromise between her and Brax. He agreed to stop bugging her about her chosen profession if she agreed to not live in one of those shabby Brooklyn apartments near her job, and instead let him pay the rent on an apartment of his choice. At least then, he pointed out to her, he wouldn’t have to be worried about her during work and after she knocked off from work too. At least she would spend her off duty hours in a safe neighborhood.

But the thing he loved about Roni was that if you made a good, cogent argument, she wouldn’t battle you for the sake of the battle. She would concede the best point, no matter who was making it.

The elevator door dinged open and he raced onto the elevator, pressed the button to the sixteenth floor repeatedly, and then the doors finally closed him in. He couldn’t believe how hard his heart was hammering. But that was how concerned he was about her. That concern was what made him phone her every morning before she went to work, and why he made her phone him every evening after she got home from work. She used to rebel against it, and wouldn’t phone him for days on end. But when he gave in and stopped phoning her in the mornings too, she began phoning him every evening to make sure he was okay. Which made him smile still. She was just as concerned about him as he was about her! And with that reality set on both sides, they resumed their roles. He phoned her every morning, she phoned him every evening. Without fail. And although he knew she went out a lot at night with her girlfriends, he wasn’t at all sure about any men she might be seeing. When he casually asked her during one of their dinner dates, she turned the tables on him and asked how many women had he been seeing. That effectively shut that line of conversation down completely and they never brought it up again.

But she also had never stood him up whenever he came to town either. Until tonight.

When the elevator finally stopped and the doors reopened, he ran out, down the hall, and up to her apartment. He knocked quickly, but when there was no quick response, he used his key to let himself in.

“Roni?” he called out as he entered her apartment and closed and locked the door.

He had forgotten the layout of the place as he realized he hadn’t been inside her apartment in years. Perhaps only that one time when he and his realtor showed it to her before he rented it for her. Other than that, whenever he was in town and they had dinner together at that same restaurant, they would afterwards go their separate ways. Mainly to avoid any uncomfortable intimate moments where Brax wasn’t at all sure he could contain himself, and where Roni was sure would be a disaster to their friendship if they went down that road.

But also to make it clear that even though he paid the rent for the place, it was her place, and her call as to who visited and who didn’t. And since she never invited him back to her place after dinner, he never went.

But at least when he walked in this time, everything appeared to be in place. But where was she?

“Roni?” he called out again as he made his way through the living room, into the kitchen area, and then down the hall where the two bedrooms were.

When he walked into the master bedroom, he saw her shoes kicked off and her purse and keys still on her unmade bed. But he could also hear shower water running. “Roni, it’s me,” he said as he made his way to the bathroom.

The shower door was closed, the water was running inside, and her police uniform was all over the bathroom floor. “Roni, are you okay?” he yelled out again. But still no answer.

But as he walked up to the shower door, he could hear what sounded like crying. And that was when he hurried and flung open the shower door.

At first he didn’t see her. Until he peeped further in, at the back of the shower, and saw her. It was as if she had her back against the shower wall and had slid down to the shower floor. Wearing a shower cap to cover her hair, her knees were up against her chest and her hands were covering her face. And just as he suspected, she was crying.

His heart dropped. “Roni,” he said desperately as he turned off the shower water and then hurried into the shower, moved his six-feet-two big frame down on the knees of his expensive suit, and removed her hands from her face.

As soon as he removed her hands and saw her gorgeous, tear-stained hazel eyes, his heart melted.

When she looked into his sympathetic big green eyes, she melted too, and unleashed a howl of a cry. She could not hold back any longer.

“ Oh, Roni ,” Brax said so heartfelt that it tore up Roni even more. He pulled her into his big arms and just sat there. And let her cry.

For several minutes they remained on the floor of that shower as she cried and cried. He’d never seen her cry so hard in all the years he’d known her. Even at her mother’s funeral, where they sat side by side, she barely shed a tear. That was how tough she was. But now, in that moment, she was crying like a baby. It was so not Roni that it staggered him. What in the world had happened to her? But he didn’t question her. Not then. He let her cry.

When her sobbing finally came to an end, he helped her to her feet. With his arms still around her, he got her out of the shower and grabbed a towel off of the towel rack. But it was in that moment, when she stood naked before him, that his body, not just his heart, react to her. As soon as his eyes looked down at her sleek, perfect black body, his penis went so hard so fast that it tented his pants before he could even try to contain himself.

It was also in that moment that Roni had composed herself enough to realize she was standing naked in front of the man she loved; the man she knew would break her heart if it ever went anywhere near where they both wanted it to go. And when she saw the outline of his obviously large penis puncturing the fabric of his pants as if it was bursting at the seams to get out, it was a gut punch. She was vulnerable and he was ready. For the first time in their lives she was not only naked before him, but he was also bare before her. He was exposed by his reaction to her body, and she was exposed too.

And in that instant they realized the position they were truly in.

It was Roni who found the strength to put an end to it. She grabbed the towel from his hand and covered herself. “I’m okay,” she said.

“You sure?” he asked her. He knew it was the right thing she’d done, but he wasn’t at all sure if he was ready to let go of a body, the person , he’d dream of having for years.

But Roni was firm. She dated a lot of men in her twenty-nine years on earth, and she knew he was more than likely the love of her life. But she also knew that he was not a man who could commit to one woman, or even be completely faithful to that woman. He had to have his variety. That was him. That was his father. That was every man in the McCrae bloodline. He was not marriage material pure and simple. And she wasn’t settling. Pure and simple. “Yes, I’m sure,” she said to him.

Brax suddenly felt awkward. Which would be a shock to his numerous friends and employees and colleagues. He was known as the ironman, because of his ironfisted approach to everything he did. But with Roni, he was like mush.

Roni felt awkward, too, as she held that towel up to her body as if she was some innocent maven. But she knew how she felt about Brax. If she allowed him to have his way with her, she’d never be the same again. She’d be weak for him. She’d settle for whatever he would give to her. She’d find him, but lose herself in the process. She could never let that happen to her.

“Have you eaten?” he asked her.

“No, not yet.”

“You dry off. I’ll go in the kitchen and rustle up a meal.”

She wanted to say, you’re going to cook? You? But she couldn’t muster the energy. She was emotionally drained. “Okay,” was all she could manage to say.

And to both of their relief, he left the room.