“It’s her nickname. Everyone calls her that,” Cicely replied with a smirk.

Latonya turned and glared at him. “Everyone except for you! And if you tell anyone I’ll have to do you bodily harm.”

“Hey, it’s okay, your secret is safe with me, Peanut. I mean Latonya. I just want to talk to you for a minute,” Carlton lied. He wanted to do a whole lot more than talk to Peanut. “Can we go somewhere?”

“You can go, sis. I’m staying in tonight. I’ll stay with Gran. She’s resting, anyway,” Cicely offered.

Latonya glanced at Carlton. “Well, if going to have a talk with you is the only way I’m going to get you out of my home, then I guess I’ll do it.” She turned to Cicely. “I’m going to peek in on Gran. Don’t tell him any more family secrets before I get back.”

Carlton watched Latonya walk down the short hallway and into what he assumed was one of the bedrooms.

“So, what exactly are your intentions with my sister?” Cicely asked.

Carlton turned to see the younger woman studying him carefully. “Only good things, I promise.”

Cicely tilted her head and studied him. “Well, judging from that big bouquet of flowers and the fact that she is giving you such a hard time, you aren’t off to a very good start.”

“I know. I’m working on it,” Carlton responded as he nervously ran his hand across his head again.

“Well just so you know, we Stevens girls are tough, but we can still be hurt. You better not hurt my sister.”

Carlton stared at the young woman and paused to consider her threat. Something in her eyes told him that she had experienced some hurt herself. He took a deep breath. If he had anything to do with it, no one would hurt one of the tough Stevens girls again, especially not him. “Don’t worry, Cicely. I got off to a rocky start with Latonya. But I don’t plan on messing up again.”

“See that you don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Latonya asked as she walked back into the entryway.

“Don’t stay out too late. I’m only home for a couple of days and I want to spend as much time as possible with you.” Cicely hugged Latonya. “And you have been holding out! I want all the details when you come back. He’s cute, by the way. Maybe we can send him over to deal with that mean jerk of a boss of yours.” She flounced off.

Cicely was quick on her feet and Carlton decided then and there that he liked the young woman. He understood why Latonya was so devoted to her younger sister.

Latonya’s cheeks turned red. “So, I have been complaining about you for the past few months. I had to vent somewhere.” She opened the door. “Let’s go and get this talk over with. Where are we going?”

“We could go back to my place,” Carton responded. He hadn’t planned on them actually going anywhere. He thought she would take the flowers, forgive him and they would be on track. He now realized it would take a bit more work. Judging from the way she twisted up her lips when he suggested his home, he reasoned it would take a lot more work.

“We can go grab a bite to eat or a cup of coffee?” he offered. “Or we can just have Paul drive us around the city. It’s beautiful at night.”

“That sounds good. I have a busy day tomorrow. Job hunting,” Latonya responded as she walked out of the house and got into his limousine.

Perplexed, Carlton followed her. Once they were seated in the car and on their way, he asked, “You mean you’re still leaving your job?”

Latonya shook her head. “Yes. I think it would be for the best.”

“What about us?”

“What about us, Carlton?” She frowned. “I think it’s clear that whatever we thought we could share won’t work.”

“That’s not true, Latonya. I know that it can work. I know that I can be hard to deal with sometimes. But I also know that you make me want to be better. I have never felt like this before. Give it a chance. Give us a chance.” Carlton reached out his hand and clasped hers. “I know you thought I was crazy the other night, but watching you walk out that door today showed me more than ever, I want you. I have to have you.”

When he first made the offer to marry her he’d momentarily questioned his sanity. The more he thought about it, however, the more he realized that Latonya was meant to be his wife. No woman had ever made him feel so much and taken him through so many conflicting emotions. He’d started to think that no woman ever could. Watching his mother repeatedly cheat on his father and his father repeatedly run after his mother had hardened him to any emotions as far as the opposite sex was concerned.

Latonya showed him that wasn’t the case at all. At first he wanted to run from the feelings. Then he thought he could bed her and get rid of them. Now that he knew for sure that the feelings weren’t going anywhere and were instead getting stronger, he needed to embrace them.

Her eyes widened and she stared at him with her mouth open before responding. “You can’t seriously still think that I would move in with you?”

“No…I mean yes I want you to move in. But I want you to move in as my wife. I want to marry you. I want to share the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

“Why would you want to marry a woman who you think is primed to jump into another man’s bed? You think so very little of me. Why on earth would you want to marry me, Carlton?” Letting out a shuddering breath, she continued, “Why can’t you just be satisfied with what we had and move on? All you have to do is give me a letter of reference and let me go.”

“Doesn’t work for me. I want you. That has not changed. So, what will it be? Marry me, Tonya. Let me take care of you and your family.” He pulled her closer to him. A smile briefly crossed his lips, glad when she didn’t resist.

Shaking her head incredulously, she said, “And you expect me to just jump into your arms and walk down the aisle at that offer?”

“Things will be good between us. I promise. You’re attracted to me. Why are you fighting this?”

Deciding it would be more prudent to show her the benefits of a union between them, he bent his head and took her lush mouth with his.

Her mouth opened, readily accepting the caresses of his tongue. He felt his heart pounding and marveled that every fiber of his being could be impacted by just one sweet kiss from her. Pulling her close, he softly nibbled on her lips.

“I want you so bad I ache. Tell me I’m not wrong, Latonya. I feel like you want me, too. I felt it the first time I kissed you. I have a feeling deep in my gut that if you give us a chance you won’t regret it.” Carlton had to make her see that things could work. She was The One. His heart wouldn’t allow him to let her get away.

“Why are you making this into an all-or-nothing thing? It makes it really hard for me to trust you.” She let out a sigh of exasperation and shut her eyes.

“I’m not making it an all-or-nothing. Or at least I don’t mean to. I just feel this sense of urgency. You hold my future happiness in your hands. And I want to make sure that we can share it.”

Shaking her head, she muttered. “Don’t you think it’s problematic that you think you deserve to have everything you want? Life doesn’t work that way. Sometimes we don’t get what we want, Carlton. Sometimes people get disappointed. People get hurt.”

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not saying that I won’t make mistakes, and mess up every now and then. But I swear, I only want to take care of you and make you happy,” he offered.

She closed her eyes in contemplation.

“I just want us to be together. Say yes. You felt how good it is. I know you want to be with me. I can feel it when I kiss you.” He touched her cheek and willed her to say yes.

She opened her eyes, looked at him for several minutes, and bit her lower lip as she considered what he’d said. She sighed. “Okay, you can cut the sales pitch.” She looked at him for what seemed like an eternity before she simply said, “Yes.”

Caught up in a whirlwind of swirling emotions, Latonya could barely believe that the word yes had just fallen out of her mouth. The thing she realized as she left Harrington Enterprise earlier that evening was that she cared for Carlton more than she was willing to admit. She had already shared more with him in just a matter of days than she had ever shared with anyone. She looked at the man who had captured her heart before she even knew it was in danger of being lost, and the reality of her situation hit her: playa-proof Latonya had fallen in love. All at once she felt fear and excitement pulsing through her veins. Carlton hadn’t said that he loved her. And she hadn’t said that she loved him. But when she was with him, she felt as if her heart knew him. She didn’t want to lose that feeling. She knew it wouldn’t be easy for the two of them, but she also knew she had to move past her fears and give it a try.

It wasn’t just the way he made her body feel, either. It was the power he had to make her heart beat faster or even stop with the smallest of acts. It was the way her heart ached when for the few short hours she thought she’d never see him again. She had to say yes, because she couldn’t say no.

“Yes!” Carlton shouted as he squeezed her tightly. “You have just made me the happiest man in the world.” He brought his lips to hers and kissed her passionately before whispering, “You won’t regret this, baby. It’s going to be so good between us. You’ll see.”

Allowing herself to relish the tight squeeze of his embrace and the soothing touch of his hands, she prayed that he was right. Even though she had no reason to expect good things to last, she didn’t want the special stirrings that he’d awakened in her to end yet.

Experience had taught her that even when you tried your best, things didn’t always go as planned. She’d tried to be a good girl, help out around the house and take care of her little sister so that her parents wouldn’t argue so much. And her father still left them. She stood out in the parking lot of the grocery store helping people carry groceries to their cars to get extra money so her mom wouldn’t have to work so hard. And her mother had still worked herself to an early grave. Latonya had even turned down a partial tuition scholarship to a school out of state to stay in Miami and help Gran. And Gran had a stroke, anyway. As she let herself feel the warmth of Carlton’s embrace, Latonya figured she was long overdue for a little happiness, even if it didn’t last.

“You believe it, don’t you, baby? I know you feel it.” His hand moved through her hair and her entire body tingled.

“Yes. I do,” was all she could say in response, because she did. God help her, she did.