The sleek blue BMW was easy to notice in the filled car park. The colour was simply arresting. It looked to have been made out of lapis-lazuli itself.He watched as it waited, its engine purring gently. Was she going to come out? Or would she remain waiting in the car? A thought occurred to him somewhere in his mind that he was behaving like a teenage boy out meeting his date — more like perving on her in this case. Only she wasn't his date. And he was no schoolboy.Just as he was going to look away, a blonde girl darted to the car, her hair in a high ponytail that swung gently from side to side as she walked. Ah, Naima.The kid made a face at the smoked glass and went to open the backseat door. Channing smiled at this then quickly snapped out of it, was he developing a liking for the kid too? But still, he wondered how it'd feel if he were her father. Okay, Chan, snap break.He returned his thoughts to the mother and almost groaned in frustration. Was she not going to come out? Hi

'Wakey, wakey.'Still pretty much asleep, Taissa slapped the tickling thing away. The giggle that followed broke her dreamy haze and she pried open her eyes, sitting up to shake out the cobwebs of sleep from her eyes.A smiling messy-haired blonde stood taller beside a grinning boy whose red hair looked like he'd stuck his hand in a toaster.'Happy birthday!' Yannis shouted. That got her full attention.'Birthday?' Naima frowned, turning to him.'Birthday?' Taissa said.Yannis sucked in his lips as though he'd just realized the meaning of his utterance. 'Um, is that not what you say when you bring me breakfast in bed?'For the first time, Taissa noticed the covered tray on the nightstand. 'Oh.'Naima palmed her face. 'No duh. That's because you mostly get breakfast in bed "on your birthdays"! ''Sorry, guess I'm just too used to that.' The little boy hung his head.'Sheesh!' Naima scolded. 'Mommy was supposed to guess the reason we were in her room.''Sorry.' His head couldn't go any

The kids had seemed okay by it, but Taissa wasn't convinced one bit about her daughter. It was obvious from the girl's expression that she had a million questions to ask.But Naima had always been a reasonable kid. She must have seen that her mother was going through struggles of her own at the moment and had decided to file her questions away for another time.After Taissa had made them promise not to tell anyone about it, for the time being, she kissed them and tucked them into bed. It was bad enough that she was single, broke and had two and a half other mouths to feed. If people knew she was pregnant, the onslaught of questions and pity and ridicule would be too much for her to bear.Taissa made up her mind to stay as clear-headed as she could be. She couldn't fool herself into thinking things would get better, but she could welcome the thought that things wouldn't get worse. She wouldn't let it. Not on her life.She sighed deeply as she shut the door to Naima's room, having just

She put a hand to her throat where her pulse was fluttering madly.What did he want from her? Her only offence had been to call out to him. What if he was a murderer?The breath caught in her throat at the thought. Sweet God, she was pregnant, she had two kids and they'd be orphans if she died. Her mouth dried. She looked around for any object with which to defend herself, but she saw, to her dismay, nothing within reach. Why did it have to be in a quiet corner where no one would hear her die? She prepared to scream when his hand closed over her shoulder a second before his mouth descended to claim hers. Taissa thought she heard him mutter her name at that second but she didn't give much mind to it as her mind was on another alarming thought. He was kissing her! She wasn't being murdered, she was being plundered. Crazily, she didn't fight him. It almost felt familiar, the kiss that is. But she hadn't kissed anyone in ages, well, save for Channing Chevrolet. There was nothing she cou

Channing Chevrolet was outside an event centre on the other side of the city. He had been seated in his car outside for a bit over an hour now. A friend of Racquelle's who also happened to be a family friend was having her ninth birthday party and Racquelle had insisted he bring her to the venue himself.Today, he was in a silver-red Lexus, contrary to the black Tesla he had taken to work this morning. He had been going for the don't-notice-me look, but he might have missed as people kept staring at the car as they pulled up for the party. Thankfully, the windows were smoked, so they couldn't possibly see him inside.A thought struck him that he should get a chaffeur, being a busy businessman and all. Leighton usually took the wheels or he put the car on autopilot.On arriving at the party, he had tried to kill time by video calling Chauncey. But the call had ended in a heated row when it was obvious his elder brother was having the time of his life and felt no remorse whatsoever fo