Beyond Temptation - Brenda Jackson [68]
“And I think I’m right, Lena. If all Morgan wanted was to sleep with you, once he’d done that he wouldn’t have come back, and I know the two of you have slept together.”
Lena leaned forward. “And how do you know that?”
Kylie smiled. “The same way you knew that Chance and I had slept together without me having said one word. I was celibate for over fifteen years and I know you haven’t been with anyone since your dad died. Although I hadn’t seen you in the past couple of days when I talked to you a couple of days ago you sounded funny.”
Lena leaned back in the chair and lifted a brow. “Funny how?”
“Like you were tired, exhausted, sexually fulfilled. And when I talked to your mom yesterday and she happened to mentioned the fact that you had swollen lips, I thought that—”
Lena straightened in her chair. “Mom told you that?”
Kylie couldn’t help but giggle. “Yes, you know mothers don’t miss anything. They see everything. Trust me, although she might not have said anything, she noticed.”
Lena nodded. “So what did you tell her?”
Kylie smiled. “I told her it must have been a soda bottle. I heard Donovan give that excuse to Chance once.”
Lena inhaled deeply. “Okay, Morgan and I did sleep together, once.”
Kylie lifted a brow, then reached out and touched a mark on Lena’s upper arm. “Once? This sure looks like a recent passion mark to me.”
Lena rolled her eyes. “Okay, more than once. So he got what he wanted.”
Kylie shook her head. “I’m sorry you think that way. You know what your problem is, Lena?”
“No, what do you think my problem is, Kylie?” she asked sarcastically.
“I’ve known you all my life and you’ve always felt you’ve had to complete against skinny females. Why can’t you believe and accept that there are some men who don’t give a damn about a woman’s weight? They see beyond all that and see what’s in her heart. Why can’t you believe Morgan is one of those men? To him, you are his perfect woman. You and not Jamie Hollis or any other slim woman who wants to catch his eye. But until you believe in your own beauty, both inside and outside, what he sees doesn’t really matter.”
Donovan glared at his two oldest brothers. “I refuse to play another game until the two of you calm Morgan down. What the hell is his problem?”
Bas smiled as he grabbed the ball from Chance. Morgan had called time-out for a bathroom break and they were using the time while he was gone to discuss him. “If I recall, you pissed him off that day when he was daydreaming in the meeting. You should have figured then there would be hell to pay. Stop whining and take it like a man.”
“No, it’s more than just that particular day,” Chance said, concerned. “He’s been playing pretty rough with all of us. I wonder what’s going on.”
“Whatever it is, I bet it has something to do with Lena,” Donovan said.
Bas rolled his eyes. “What else is new?”
“Hey, look at who just walked in,” Chance said.
Both Bas and Donovan squinted their eyes against the gym’s bright lights. “Isn’t that Jamie Hollis and your ex, Bas?” Donovan asked.
Bas frowned. “You make her sound like she used to be my wife,” he said of the woman with Jamie, Cassandra Tisdale. “I wonder what the hell the two of them are doing here.”
Donovan grinned. “Oh, I know the answer to that one. Jamie is after Morgan. In fact there are bets going around that she’s going to be the one he eventually marries instead of Lena.”
Chance shook his head. “Does Morgan know that?”
“Yes, I told him. I also told him that I’d heard that Cassandra had even boasted about it to Lena,” Donovan said.
“No wonder Lena dumped him,” Bas said, frowning.
“Lena didn’t dump me,” Morgan said angrily, approaching his brothers from behind. “Ready to play another game?” He then glanced up into the bleachers, recognized the two women and frowned. “What the hell are they doing here?”
Bas turned to his brother and grinned. “Evidently, they came to see you get your ass kicked all over the basketball court