Free His Paradise Wife by Tina Martin

asked. He’d seen Dante sitting alone and decided to
join him.
    “ What’s up, Des...thought
you’d be back in Asheville by now.”
    “ Well, you know, I met a
spicy young thang out here and I decided to stick around for a few
days.”
    Dante grinned and shook his head. “What
about Dimitrius?”
    “ He left
yesterday.”
    “ Oh. Okay.”
    “ What about you? You good?”
Desmond inquired.
    “ Yeah. I’m cool.”
    “ So what’s up with the long
face? You’ve been married for less than a week and you already look
miserable. See, that’s why y’all crazy folk can have the marriage
thing. It ain’t for everybody and it definitely ain’t for
me.”
    Dante grinned. His brother was a notorious
player, but he was sure that there would be some woman to come
along and make him change his opinion on marriage.
    “ Where is wifey anyway?”
Desmond inquired.
    “ I’m not sure at the
moment,” Dante said, truthfully.
    “ I saw her heading for the
docks earlier.”
    “ Heading for the
docks?”
    “ Yeah. So I would be correct
to assume that there’s literally trouble in paradise.”
    Dante wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Emily
thinks I’m a liar. She can’t seem to get over the fact that I
created a profile just to have the ability to interact with her.
And you know what...now that I think about it, she’s right. I
should not have done that.”
    “ I don’t know why you did it
anyway. You act like since you’re old, you don’t have any
game.”
    Dante grinned. “Forty is not old. I’m
distinguished, and I can get any woman I want. I tried a different
method with Emily because...well, she’s...different.”
    “ Different...that’s the same
thing you told me about Anita.”
    Dante nodded.
    “ Honestly, bro, I thought
you said that you would never get remarried after Anita
died.”
    “ I didn’t want to but when I
laid eyes on Emily, I knew she had a story and I was right. She
doesn’t know it yet, but she needs me, just like I need her. I’m
not like you...I can’t just pick up some chick at a club and bring
her back to my crib. That doesn’t do it for me. I need something
stable with a woman I can grow with and spend the rest of my life
with. I want children, a family. I want that stability.”
    “ I want those things, too,
just now right now.”
    “ That’s where we differ. I
want that now.”
    “ Well, you got a lot of work
to do.”
    Dante nodded. “When are you heading
back?”
    “ Late this afternoon. I need
to get my bag and I’m off to the airport right after.” Desmond
peeped at his watch. “As a matter of fact, I need to get going.” He
stood up and pat his brother on the shoulder. “Good luck. See when
you get back.”
    “ All right, Des. Take it
easy.”
     
     
    After lunch, Dante stood at the receptionist
desk to get an overall feel from his employees on how they thought
the event had turned out and if they had received any complaints.
There were none.
    Afterwards, he returned to the suite,
checking to see if Emily was back. She wasn’t. He walked in the
bedroom, looking around, his eyes instantly fixed on the wedding
ring he’d given her. He had the ring designed specifically for her
hand. It was special to him. Now it was lying abandoned on the
nightstand. Emily wasn’t taking him seriously and it irked him to
no end.
    After taking a short nap on the couch, he
woke up to find that she still wasn’t there. Or what if she came by
while he was resting, then quickly left again? He stood up, stepped
out onto the balcony, pacing the space, trying to determine where
she might be so he could go looking for her now. That’s when he
heard the door to the suite close.
    He walked back in the living room and saw
her making a beeline straight for the bedroom, but she wouldn’t
escape so easily this time. He’d had enough of being ignored. The
woman he fell in love with on the computer was here and he would
make her his before this trip was over, starting now.
    “ Excuse me,