“Twenty-five as of last week,” Donna said proudly. She’d really worked her ass off to lose weight. She’d eaten a lot of salads and skinless chicken breasts and exercised nearly every day.
“You should be very proud of yourself. You’re setting a great example for your kids to show them they can do anything they work hard enough at, plus that education is important, important enough for you to pursue it,” her mom said. “Your dad would be proud of you.”
New tears gathered in her eyes. “Thanks, Mom. It hasn’t been easy, but you’re right. I want my kids to see by example that education and hard work matters.”
“Did you call Rich yet and tell him?”
“I sent him a text. He’s working and couldn’t talk, but he did say he was proud of me.”
“That boy’s support of you has been incredible. He’s a keeper, Donna.”
“Mom, he’s just a friend,” she said, even though in her heart, she felt a much deeper affection for Rich Burke than she’d ever admit to.
“I think he’s more than a friend. He’s been more of a dad to your kids than their own fathers, and he treats you as more than just a friend.”
“Mom, there is nothing sexual going on with him,” Donna insisted.
“I didn’t say there was. The man has been a constant in your life for a year now. Don’t confuse emotional closeness with physical closeness. He can love you without sleeping with you. I think it’s refreshing he hasn’t rushed into a physical relationship with you like the men in your past did.”
“Yes, very refreshing, Mom,” she agreed to end the topic. Although she knew her mother did not approve that she’d hadthree children with three different men. It was a subject they avoided.
“Did you tell Laura Lee yet?”
“No, I’ll text her when we get off the phone,” Donna promised.
“Call her, sweetheart,” her mom said. “You two have far too many conversations through text message. I thought you two were doing better since all that happened last Thanksgiving.”
“We are,” Donna said. “It’s just that I know she works a lot and it’s important work, and I don’t want to interrupt with a phone call.”
“If it’s not a good time, she can let it go to voicemail. Call your sister, Donna.”
“I will. Call me when Jeriah is awake, and I’ll come get her,” Donna said before disconnecting the call.
Her thoughts went back to just before last Thanksgiving. Everything in her life changed the day Rich Burke entered her life as private security to protect her and her children. He was a coworker and friend of her sister, Laura Lee, and her sister had picked him to safeguard them when Laura Lee’s job and her past put them all in danger.
Rich walked into her home, and Donna immediately took notice. He was tall, at least six-four. His body was lean, sculpted muscle. He had medium-colored skinned, an exotic mixed raceof an African American father and a Korean mother, she later learned. His hair was clipped very short, which accentuated his incredibly handsome face. His skin was flawless. He had to be the most handsome man she’d ever seen.
After her sister and her sister’s partner, an abrasive man by the name of Garcia, left, Rich stayed to help her get her and the kids’ bags packed. They would be going to Miami Beach, where her mother would be checked into a Parkinson’s research hospital and where it would be safer. He was helpful and not judgmental when many of the clothes were in the laundry pile. He assured her that where they were going had laundry facilities and they would just wash them there. Laura Lee would have berated her for the many loads of laundry that sat waiting to be washed and for the clutter and mess in the house. Rich did not. And when they left her home, he carried bags and her daughter and was a calming presence in what would otherwise have been a tense and hectic situation.
He protected them at a condo that was right on the beach, where they posed as a family, a role they all easily slipped into. While there, she got to know the gorgeous man with the deep, rich, powerful voice who spoke with authority and was both tough and tender, which she discovered through his actions.
One afternoon after a fun-filled morning on the beach, the doorknob of the entry door turned, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a key trying to be inserted into the lock.
“In there,” Burke whispered to Donna as he grabbed hold of her biceps while pointing to the bedroom where Jeriah took her nap. He tugged her towards the closed door. “Boys, go with yourmom,” he added when they’d barely glanced his way. He herded them into the bedroom. “Keep this door closed and locked until I come for you.” He closed the bedroom door.
Donna was left stunned by his intensity. “Don’t wake your sister,” she whispered to the boys. “But sit on the floor over there by your iPads. You can have them if you use your headphones. The boys eagerly obeyed her.
She quietly cracked open the door and peeked through, catching a glimpse of Rich. He soundlessly crept to the front door of the condo with stealth and grace to confront the threat. She was alarmed to see him draw his weapon. In one fluid movement, he opened the door and grabbed the man whose hands fiddled with a set of keys he was still trying to insert into the lock. He pulled the man inside and body-slammed him against the door, re-closing it with a bang. She saw Rich had his handgun pressed against the man’s side. His other hand gripped the frightened man’s throat.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Burke growled.
“I, um, my unit, three-seventeen,” he stammered.
“You’re at the wrong door,” Burke said.
The man’s blood-shot eyes nervously raced around the room. “This isn’t my unit,” he said.
“You got any weapons or needles on you?” Burke asked.
