Mama Knows Best ♡

Part 3

The weeks quickly flew by and turned into months and soon enough one year had passed. Amoura more or less stopped asking about her father and Cherish was eternally grateful for that. Her own aching heart soon grew to accept that L'Duka was never the man he portrayed himself to be. Sure, it still hurt from time to time, but time was the master of healing all wounds. And slowly but surely hers was getting there. The sleepless nights mixed with nightmares popped up here and there; occasionally she would find herself missing him and crying at odd times during the day.
But she was getting better, she had to. She couldn't spend the rest of her life pining over a man who clearly did not give one fuck about her.

In the hopes of forgetting her painful breakup Cherish had moved to a quieter side of town. She now liked the simplicity of her life. Everything she did revolved around Amoura and Belle and there happiness.

Despite last year being an emotional rollercoaster and also a total wreck for her, Cherish counted Belle as one of her biggest blessings yet. She remembered how she felt as if it were yesterday. Her first instinct upon learning that she was pregnant with the scumbag's second baby was to abort it. It took three failed abortion appointments to convince her to keep it. And even then she had planned to give the baby up for adoption soon after birth, that's how much the germs had scarred her. And what a sick irony it was when Belle came out the splitting image of the one person she loathed and wanted to murder. Last year had tested her strength and demanded that she evolve. She went from a fragile caterpillar to an independent butterfly overlyprotective of her two eggs.

She trusted no-one.

Cherish popped her head into her daughters' room and smiled to herself. Moments like these made her so glad that she hadn't followed through with her initial plan. Her daughters looked absolutely gorgeous snuggled in their beds. Belle was perfect and Amoura was an amazing big sister. She walked inside of the room and gave them each a goodnight kiss. Her life felt complete with just the two of them in it. Combined they both brought her incomparable joy.

********

Cherish scrunched up her nose in disgust. Men on a whole sickened her. She rolled her eyes impatiently, waiting for the idiot to finish his rambling. She knew she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, so why was the fool in front of her trying so hard. Ah- simply because she was the new CEO and they were all trying to butter up to her thinking that would give them the position they sought after much quicker. If only they knew.

Cherish stopped the man mid-ramble, "Thank you and please close the door on your way out." The young man looked baffled and opened his mouth as if to object. Cherish sent him an icy look and of course that had the fool scrambling through the doors. Pathetic.

Needless to say ever since the whole L'Duka episode of her life, Cherish's heart had grown cold against the opposite sex. To say she hated men was an understatement. She'd be a fool to trust anything with a dick again.

She scrowled and picked up her much needed cup of coffee. Guess Mama was right, she mused, nobody would love her for her.

**********

He was tall, captivating, intriguing and he had trouble written all over him. He had everyone's attention in the room. Of course, Cherish saw him, she was very much still human and feminine. She ignored the tingling in her lady parts and cursed her body for betraying her. His voice was silky and commanding.
His gaze seemed to pierce her very soul, unaltered she stared back. He looked away when someone else demanded his action. Stone Reed was dangerously breathtaking.

He had the ability to make a woman's panty drop in less than five minutes of them meeting. Cherish too had succumbed to his charm. He was too good to pass up. The meeting ended abruptly and Cherish hurriedly scurried away ashamed of her thoughts.

Back in the safe cave of her office Cherish buried herself in work. Three knocks later and Stone was in her office. Cherish sighed. "What?"she snapped. He gave her a slow lazy smile.

Moments later they were both backed up against a wall in Cherish's office tonguing each other down. Sure, Cherish still thought all men were garbage which was why she was only using Stone for sex. He was really good at it, too.

Clothes flew everywhere and Stone's hands roamed Cherish's body knowingly. She might not have been gifted in the face but thanks to cosmetic surgery she now had a body worth killing for. Mattel had nothing on her.

Without her even realizing it, her self confidence had also sky rocketed in the last year.

Cherish loved this new found confidence about herself. She no longer needed a man's word or look to feel good about herself. She was the epitome of conceited and she loved it. If only her mother could see her now, she'd eat back all those ugly words she'd ever said about her.

Cherish was just about to go down on Stone when a knock at the door, stopped her from doing so. Annoyed, she called out, "Who is it?" The voice came back muffled. She rolled her eyes and quickly slipped back into her undergarments and dress. She pulled the door open with such force it was a miracle that the door was still attached at the hinges.

It was her assistant, Marlie. "Here," she said shoving some paperwork in Cherish's hands before turning abruptly on her Miu Miu black pumps. Their relationship had always been cordial and cold. Cherish knew Marlie loathed her but for once, she didn't care. It wasn't her fault she had gotten multiple raises so she could afford her curvaceous dream body, while she was shaped like SpongeBob.

Stone was fully dressed when he joined her at the door. "Let's have lunch together," he invited. A part of her was screaming at the idea that he wanted to be seen outside, in the public with her, but another part of her wanted to keep things strictly sexual between them. She didn't want a relationship and the sooner Stone got that in his head, the better off they would be. She wasn't looking for commitment.

"Some other time," she replied, with a fake smile.

She knew Stone, he wasn't going to give up this easily. What baffled her was that he was acting like this was more than just sex. Sure, they shared secrets here and there and had a few good jokes. So I suppose you could call them friends?

Stone touched the small of her back and kissed her cheek. "You smell amazing and yes, I'll take you up on your offer some other time so keep your timetable open for me."

Yup. He was stubborn, alright.