Tall, Dark_.Westmoreland! - Brenda Jackson [32]
“I will.”
After leaving Chase’s Place, Reggie decided to stop by and visit with his parents. He’d always admired his parents and the strength of their marriage. Everyone in the family knew the story of how James and Sarah Westmoreland had met and how it had been love at first sight. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he thought about it now.
His mother and his aunt Evelyn had been the best of friends since childhood and had both been born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. After graduating from high school, Evelyn had come to Atlanta to visit her aunt for the summer. During her first week in the city, she’d gone on a church picnic and met John Westmoreland. It had been love at first sight, and deciding not to waste any time, John and Evelyn had eloped the following week.
Evelyn had called Sarah to tell her the news, and being the levelheaded person that his mother was, Sarah could not believe or accept that someone could meet and fall in love at first glance. So Sarah had gone to Atlanta to talk some sense into Evelyn, only to meet John’s twin brother, James, and fall in love with him at first sight as well. Two weeks later Sarah and James had married.
That had been nearly forty years ago, and his parents’ marriage was still going strong. There had been his mom’s cancer scare a few years back, when she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. But thankfully, she was now doing fine, although she made sure never to miss her annual checkups. His mother was a strong and determined woman who had the love and admiration of her family.
Although Reggie knew it was his mother’s desire to see her last son happily wedded, he was in no hurry. He had a good career as an accountant, with a very prestigious client list, and in a couple of months, he would know if his future would include politics.
His thoughts then shifted to Olivia Jeffries. He had enjoyed the time they had spent together tonight. In bed or out, she was someone he liked being with, and it bothered him that she had refused to see him again because of her father. The last thing they needed was to let anyone or anything get in the way of what could be a promising relationship. He understood that she would be leaving the country to return to Paris once the election was over, but Saturday night and today had proven that they were good together. He had actually enjoyed sitting in the coziness of that room at Chase’s Place with her while they did little more than engage in conversation with each other.
He had enjoyed studying her while she talked, watching her lips move with each and every word she enunciated. And she had been wearing the same perfume she’d had on Saturday night. It had been hard sitting there across from her, knowing that he had tasted every inch of her skin, had been inside her body and had brought her pleasure.
By the time he pulled into his parents’ driveway, he knew there was no way he could willingly walk away from Olivia Jeffries. He didn’t like the thought of the two of them sneaking around to see each other so her father wouldn’t find out, but at the moment he didn’t care. The bottom line was that he wanted to see her again and would do anything and everything in his power—even blackmail—to make it happen.
If Olivia thought she had seen or heard the last of him, she was sorely mistaken.
Seven
“I see you had a guest for dinner last night, Dad.”
Olivia watched her father actually blush across the breakfast table and thought it was kind of cute that he seemed a little embarrassed.
“Ahh, yes, Cathy stopped by, and I invited her to stay for dinner.”
“Oh, and why did she come by? Are the two of you working on another speech?”
“No, no,” her father was quick to say. “She thought I wasn’t in a good mood after yesterday’s luncheon and wanted to cheer me up. She stopped by the bakery and brought me my favorite Danish. I thought that was kind of her.”
“I think so, too, but then Cathy is a kind person. I like her.”
Her father lifted a brow. “Do you really?”
Olivia looked