Chapter 9

Serena laughed as she remembered how Amara used to talk to her like this when she wanted to get anything out of her. Angrov. It had been a while since anybody called her that.

All she heard these days was that she was Jones now. Jones. Jones. Jones. One would have thought she never had an identity before that. She batted her friend's hand from her face playfully "It is Serena Jones to you now, woman and you had better remember that"

"Pfft. I don't want to" Amara stuck out her tongue to her friend before she turned to face front "Anyways, even if you did not tell me, I can tell that you have not done it in a while, maybe not this month at all" she caught the expression in her friend's eyes and turned to her sharply "I am right, ain't I? How long? One month? Two months?"

Can she really tell? Does it show? Serena thought as she laughed at her friend "I am not discussing my sex life or the lack of it with you, you horny girl"

Amara sighed dramatically as she shook her head at Serena "This is not natural. Nope, I swear if I am a man, I would snap you up within a twinkle of an eye and I would probably fuck your brains out half of the time"

"Ama!" Serena shook her head "I give up" she rolled her eyes at her friend, even as she imagined how it would be if she really had someone like that. Can Mathew ever do that? Is that even possible?

"I think you should cheat on him," Amara said quietly as if in thought.

"What?" Serena jerked her head towards her friend with a disapproving frown "What are you talking about? I can never cheat on my husband, what has come over you?"

"Cool your jets, momma. I am just thinking here, you know. It's not as if I asked you to go out and jump the next guy you see. Moreover, Bo will kill me if he hears me say this, but I think your husband needs a kind of push. He had grown too complacent. If he sees anything that threatens him into believing he can lose you. His arrogant ass might actually get lighted. Sorry I just had to use that word, been stopping myself since but that is the first thing that does come to mind whenever I think of what he is doing to you these days''

"So what? I should simply cheat on him and all my issues will be solved? Wow, great advice, Ama. Do you have your guest room aired out? I think I might be in need of it soon '' Serena said sassily.

"Don't be sarcastic with me, girl. I already said that was just a hypothesis" Amara sighed again as she patted her friend's hand "What I am saying is that it ain't natural for a gorgeous, warm-blooded woman like you not to get actions from time to time. I understand that you were so focused in college, then you met him and well, you being you, you focused totally on him without having an inkling of men that were tripping over their feet because of you"

Serena snorted "You are making that up"

"What? Girl, did you have on invisible blindfolds in college? I always guessed so but now I can see that I was right. Okay, let me take, for instance, Lance. Remember Lance? The guy that…"

"No, I do not remember him, '' Serena said firmly. What was the point in reliving any kind of what-ifs? She would just be giving herself more heartache.

"Fine, fine. We won't talk about that'' Amara succumbed as she saw how swiftly her friend's countenance had changed. The sad hue she had worked to take off her friend's eyes was back, even though she was sure that her friend had no idea. Good job, Ama, now you've blown it. She thought to herself as she thought of what could cheer her friend up again.

"Anyways, I am lucky to have my own naughty mechanic," she said blandly like she was talking about the weather.

"Your what?" Serena looked at her incomprehensibly with a small smile.

"You know, my mechanic that unclogs my valves and changes my oil," she said with a salacious smile on her face.

"Oh my God" Serena covered her face as she tried to hold back her laughter "I swear you are getting more bad by the day. I wonder how Bo could put up with you"

"Oh, he put up with me just fine," she said suggestively with a wiggle of her eyebrows then she leaned closer to Serena "Just the other…"

"Did I not say I don't want to hear it?"

"Oh? Okay, Spoilsport'' Amara pouted as she turned away from her friend.

Serena laughed. "I swear, you and your child would be competing with your childishness. Poor Bo" she looked up when something caught her eyes in the distance "And here comes the mechanic himself" she covered her mouth in shock "Oh my God, I just said that out loud. Now you will have that stuck in my head, you evil girl," she said in a strangled tone as she gave Amara the evil eye.

"Good, that would give you something else to think about" Amara laughed before she turned toward the direction Serena had seen her husband. Her heart sighed when she saw his tall figure coming towards her, engrossed in a conversation with their daughter. Her world.

She turned towards Serena and groaned "He must have thought I have had enough sunshine and fresh air. He will take me back and have me cooped up in the house in the name of rest" she folded her hands like a praying mantis and blinked her eyes at her friend. "Please save me"

Serena laughed "You dramatic crazy woman, you know you love it"

Yes, she does "His mother wants to kill me," she said in a serious tone.

Serena's heart dropped. Was that nice woman giving her friend grief too and she had been here supporting her? "What?"

Amara laughed out loud when she saw the expression on her friend's face "Gotcha! With food. She wants to kill me with food. She decided to come back with us because I am close to term now. Between her and her son, I am sure I would weigh fifty pounds more by the time I gave birth" she grinned sheepishly "The worst thing is that I can't resist her, she makes such mouth-watering meals, in fact thinking about it now, I can't wait to…"

"Is she talking about mother behind her back again?" Bo asked with a charming grin as he heard the last part of their conversation when he joined them. He bent down to kiss his wife's hair.

"Yes" Serena replied in a confidential tone "She was really bad-mouthing her"

"You traitor!" Amara said dramatically.

They all laughed.

Slowly walking back home as she took in the air to clear her head, Serena recalled how much she had enjoyed her afternoon. It had been a while since she had been that carefree. She firmly shoved the thought of how her evening might end out of her head as she simply take in the scene in the short work that lead to her home. Home. she repeated in her mind. A home was supposed to feel like one and not like a wall with barriers that seemed to suffocate her daily.

"Maybe I need to spruce things up a bit. Do some redecorations. Yes, that would be just the thing" she thought as she took in the familiar sound and scent of Chevsko.

Oblivious to a pair of eyes trained on her across the street.

***************************

"Slow down, Jeff" Kincaid Aslanov, current head of the Aslanov clan said to his aide.

"Is everything fine, boss?" Jeff Shante asked anxiously from the front. Has he changed his mind? That wouldn't do at all. He might have to come up with a plan B.

Is something wrong with Jeff or was he just being paranoid, Kincaid thought as he looked out at what had caught his attention.

"No, just roll down the windows. Just checking out the terrain, you know. Never bad to check out the lay of the land in places like this'' he said as he looked appreciatively at the drop-dead gorgeous redhead that was oblivious to how men were staring and looking back at her or maybe she wasn't oblivious and was deliberately using the "I don't care" attitude to draw men closer. He knew about women and their artifice. She looked at something beside her and that fiery mane of hers swung in tandem with her hip.

"Damn it," he thought as he had an instant hard-on. He couldn't remember the last time he had that kind of reaction to anyone. Not even Leticia, his fuck buddy had ever stirred that much reaction in him. He had always been in control. Every step of the way.

He realised he wanted to fuck her. So hard that she would scream, with his hands in that fire mane of hers that he was sure would feel like silk to the touch. He had no idea how he knew but he was sure she would be so responsive. He wanted to get down on her with his cock…

Kincaid curbed his wayward thought as he took his gaze away from the swinging hips of the woman who had no idea that he was seated here gawking at her like a teenager.

"How pathetic," Kincaid thought. He was no teenager and he only needed to snap his hand to get any woman he needed.

"Let's go," he said to Jeff and his aide rolled up the window back.

Kincaid knew that he had to focus on the task ahead. No distraction was allowed yet the image of a fiery-haired siren popped up in his mind as he settled down to go over the plan in his mind.

"Straight to the hotel, boss?" Jeff asked as he looked at Kincaid through the rearview.

"Yes," Kincaid replied as a fleeting thought came to his mind again that something seemed off with Jeff but he dismissed it that it might have something to do with jetlag, his aide had never been good with flights.

Good. There would be no need for a plan B. Jeff thought to himself as he drove off.