Black Pearl by Tiffany Patterson

remind him she did not have any clothes to wear to work, and that she did not want to send tongues wagging about her arriving with him in the morning. He finally relented when she promised to have dinner with him Tuesday night. It was now Wednesday and she arrived home to find that he bought her the painting she wanted at the gala. Laying the painting down, she picked up her phone to call him.
    “Hello, you,” the shiver that ran down her spine at hearing his deep, sexy voice was a reminder of the power he held over her body.
    “Hi. Are you busy?”
    “Not too busy to talk to you.” She knew he had a dinner meeting that night.
    “I just got home and received the painting from the gala. Thank you so much. It’s so beautiful,” she said looking at the picture.
    “Not as beautiful as you.” She tried to ignore the butterflies that rose in her stomach at his compliment. 
    “Thank you.”
    “You don’t have to thank me for telling the truth. What are you doing tonight?” He asked as if she hadn’t told him already.
    “I have my kickboxing class in an hour.”
    “Why don’t you come over after that?’
    “Nikola,” she said in a serious tone.
    He’d been trying to get her to come over to his condo every day since she left, and that was only two days ago.
    “What?” He asked feigning innocence.
    “You have a working dinner in…” She checked the time, “...thirty minutes and it will probably run late.”
    “So, you’ve memorized my schedule?” He asked a hint of mirth in his voice. She dipped her head embarrassed that she had, in fact, memorized his schedule. She still got updates on his schedule on her own calendar and hadn’t bothered changing it.
    “I just know you have a dinner meeting,” she defended, not wanting to give away what he clearly already knew.
    He sighed. “Tomorrow.”
    “Nikola.”
    “All right, all right. Friday, but you’re staying the weekend.”
    “Um.” She hesitated.
    “You have plans?” He asked his voice laced with an emotion she couldn’t quite identify.
    “Well, not plans, but I uh, have a performance.” This was one of her weekends performing at The Black Kitty.
    “When?” He asked gruffly.
    “Saturday.”
    “Fine, you will come over Friday and spend the whole weekend with me. I will take you to your performance on Saturday and you will come home with me. I have to go; my clients will be arriving soon.” He hung up before she could even respond.
    Devyn thought about the previous weekend. He asked her how long she’d been doing burlesque. She told him about Mercedes buying her classes and how it spiraled from there. She couldn’t read his thoughts or emotions on her performing. She didn’t know what he thought of it and he never said one way or the other. And she certainly, didn’t tell him the reason why Mercedes thought burlesque was a good idea for her after her break up with Marcus.
    She didn’t want to go into detail about her relationship with him and why they broke up. Part of the reason was because she was too embarrassed and ashamed. She was ashamed that she let someone control her so much that he destroyed her confidence in herself. She hated that Marcus’ beliefs about her had become her own. If she was honest with herself, she knew he was cheating on her for a while before they broke up, but she ignored it. She thought she deserved his cheating because she wasn’t model thin and deserving of someone who looked like him.
    The other reason she didn’t tell Nikola about her past with Marcus was because she didn’t want to reveal too much to him. She knew whatever they were doing wouldn’t last. Nikola was not looking for a love or marriage. She didn’t want to share all of herself with him, give him her heart, only to have him leave. She knew if she did, his leaving would hurt way more than any pain Marcus inflicted on her.

* * * *
    “Hey, Devyn what are you doing here?” Devyn turned to see Jeff, the head of marketing, enter the