Free The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed by Tina Martin

couldn’t see him. “Yes. Have you heard
otherwise?” Desmond inquired.
    “ No. I haven’t heard a
thing. The only reason I’m asking is because you had already left
by the time we’d gotten back.”
    “ Oh, yeah…had to leave
early to meet someone.”
    “ Oh.” But why would he be meeting someone when it was obvious he
had it bad for Sherita? Well, it was
obvious to him. He hadn’t known if anyone else had picked up on it,
but he certainly had. “So did you and Sherita get a chance to
talk?”
    More Sherita
questions… “A little.”
    “ And?”
    His face twisted. “And
what, Dante?”
    “ How was the conversation?
Did you hit it off? What happened?”
    “ Nothing happened. What
did you think was going to happen?”
    Dante chuckled. “Man,
Desmond, I don’t know who you think you’re fooling, but I know
you’re feeling her.”
    “ I thought I was, too.
Turns out, I don’t like her as much as I thought I did. Why do you
think I came here, Dante? I told you last week I didn’t want to
take this trip, but I had to get away from there, from her, and I
would appreciate it if you and Dimitrius would stop pawning the
girl off on me like she’s destined to be mine.”
    “ Des—”
    “ No, I’m serious. You
married Emily. Dimitris married Melanie. Just because Sherita is
the single friend of your wives does not make her next in line to
marry me because that life isn’t for me.”
    Dante released a heavy
sigh. “Fine. I won’t mention her name again, but do me a favor,
Des.”
    “ What’s that?”
    “ Don’t call me and don’t
call Dimitrius when you want to find out if Sherita is going to be
at a particular event. If you don’t like her, then you have no
reason to avoid her. It’s not like she’s stalking you or
anything.”
    “ Not a problem. Later.”
Desmond hung up the phone and scrubbed his hand over his
head. Sherita strikes again…
    Now she was causing
problems between him and his brothers. He had good relationships
with his brothers – personal and work. They were close and the only
time they got into heated discussions was when something came up
that concerned the business. Sherita wasn’t included in that, yet
she seemed to be driving a wedge between them. He had to get her
out of his system, and he knew what kind of distraction he needed
to do just that.
     
    * * *
     
    After eating a small salad
for dinner, Sherita showered and was about to recline on the sofa
when she heard her cell phone ringing. She picked it up from the
coffee table and saw the caller – her mother.
    “ Hey, Ma,” she
answered.
    “ Hey, Rita. How are you,
sweetie?”
    “ I’m fine…been busy with
work. Are you okay?”
    “ I’m doing good. Your
father is okay, too. I was just calling to tell you that Thane
stopped by. He was asking about you.”
    No, no, no, no, no! “Mom, you do realize Thane and I broke up like
three years ago, and I haven’t seen him since.”
    “ Yes, but I told you Thane
would come around. He loves you, Rita. And you should see him now,
honey. That boy done filled out into a good-looking young man. He told your
father he started his own law firm right here in Asheville. Now you
know he didn’t come back here just to start a business, sweetie. He
came back for you, Rita.”
    “ Well, that’s too bad,
because I don’t want anything to do with Thane. Why don’t you tell
him that the next time he decides to drop in?”
    “ Come on now, baby. You
both were young back then. People change, you know.”
    “ People don’t change, Ma.
They just get old.”
    Her mother laughed. “Well,
with age comes wisdom, right?”
    “ In some cases…definitely
not all.”
    “ Look-a here, Rita. Your
father and I want you to be happy. Don’t you want to get
married?”
    “ Of course I do, but not
to Thane Pennington.”
    “ Right now, he seems to be
your only prospect.”
    “ Wow. Umm…Ma, I’m not
having this conversation with you, okay.”
    “ Look, now you gettin’
upset and