An Unconditional Love by cimmy1
RetiredSummary:

Noelle and Trey are two individuals looking for the same thing, in Washington D.C.'s highly competitive social scene, where power and money are king. Though they are both from different worlds they both want... An Unconditional Love.

    

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I would like to send a big shout out to JUNEBUG66 for all of her help getting this story off the ground. She was a literal Slave Driver. But because of her drive and commitment, I finally got the beginning parts off the ground. So THANK YOU,  Sister girl. For helping a newbie like me :0). Hope to do us proud.

Disclaimer:  All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plots are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

 

 


Categories: Original Fiction Characters: Original Character(s)
Classification: None
Genre: Romance
Story Status: None
Pairings: None
Warnings: Adult Situations
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 5 Completed: No Word count: 9393 Read: 23254 Published: 14/07/10 Updated: 14/11/11
Story Notes:
Meet Noelle and Trey. 

1. Chapter 1 by cimmy1

2. Chapter 2 by cimmy1

3. Chapter 3 by cimmy1

4. Chapter 4 by cimmy1

5. Chapter 5 by cimmy1

Chapter 1 by cimmy1
Author's Notes:

CAST

mer:  All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plots are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

 

 

 

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duval

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End Notes:

I will put in more pictures as needed. Check back for family, friends and enemies. Here is an update.

Chapter 2 by cimmy1
Author's Notes:

 Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended 

 

We see more of Noelle and  a whole lot more of Trey.

 

Sitting in traffic on a hot May afternoon was not Trey Powell’s idea of being productive. He had been in Laurel, Maryland early that morning for his managerial research and design meeting.

 It had been a long day overseeing the new designs for the fifty million dollar radio prototype for the Phoenix land vehicle. It was not the biggest contract that he had with the Department of Defense, but it had the potential of bringing in much more revenue in the future than all of the others.

  He was more than ready to start his long Memorial Day Weekend.  Driving on I-95 on any day was a trial, but a Friday on a holiday weekend was even worse if that could have been possibly.

Trey knew that it would take an extra hour for him to get home from his offices in downtown D.C., where he had mistakenly left his keys to his house last night. 

 He was leaving the city after his dinner engagement tonight with Mrs. Wells; he had planned on taking her to a play to help her celebrate her sixty second birthday. Jayne had worked for him for the past nine years and had been a faithful worker and friend. She didn’t have any family living in the area, so he felt the need to stand in and take her out.

 Her two daughters lived in Georgia and North Carolina with their families, and would be coming to town for the weekend. There had been many a night when he had been invited over to her house for dinner and conversation. She treated him like a son, but was respectful of the fact that he was still her boss. He treated her like a favorite aunt and her husband Cliff who had died three year ago had been like an uncle.

He was not close to his parents but was to his siblings, to say that his parents were distant and cold for most of their life was truly an understatement. They had been more interested in their social and political causes than in child rearing. His parents were better suited to dealing with adults than children.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          There  There was no love lost between the Powell siblings and their parents. They had basically sent their children away to board at The Meriwether Academy from K-12th grade.

Their housekeeper, Mrs. Francis had been more of a mother to the Powell children than their own mother. Trey recognized that he didn’t want a woman like his mother for a wife and mother to his children and he didn’t want to be a man like his father.

  His mother, Gale was a hard and cold woman, only interested in what the people in her social registry could do for her. His father was content to let her do what she wanted as long as she left him to own devices. Trenton II had been an avid boater since childhood and could be found anywhere there was a major boating event.

 If only they could have had such passion for their offspring, life would have been much happier at the Powell residence. 

 Trey realized that he was tired of the women that were in his circle that only seemed to want a relationship with him based on his family name and money. Needless to say it seemed like there were a whole lot of gold diggers in his circle.

 After swinging by his office, he made it to Georgetown by 5:30, but with it being a Friday afternoon parking spaces where at a premium. He drove past the store and found one half a block down from it that was big enough for his Audi Q7 SUV. 

As Trey was buzzed into I.N. Jeweler he was greeted by a dark blond young man sitting at the reception desk.

“Hello sir. How may I help you”? Eric said in a polite tone.

He admired Trey’s stylishly hair cut dark hair, navy waistcoat and silk blue and white striped tie with his white shirt sleeves rolled up to tanned forearms and black shoes in one swiftly appraising glance.

 “Hi, I’m Trenton Powell and I’m here to pick up my purchase.” he said to the young man.

 “Yes Mr. Powell, Let me go and check on that for you.”  While the baby-faced clerk went off to retrieve the gift, a pendant for Jayne, he looked around the store, admiring the jewelry and art work that was predominately displayed around the store.

There were two glass pieces that really captured his attention and he walked closer to read the labels. They were both by Dale Chihuly, one was a glass sculpture called ‘Honey Suckle Blue Persian w/ Yellow Lip Wrap’. The other was called ‘Violet Grey Persian Set with Indian Yellow wrap’.

  The glass sculptures were visually appealing and he made a mental note to see if they were for sale, either one would fit in with the décor of his Bethesda home or Foggy Bottom penthouse.

 “Excuse me, Mr. Powell”, said the clerk and Trey turned, “The pendant that you ordered isn’t quite ready yet. If you don’t mind we can have it delivered to you at your home by one of the associates.” the young man said to Trey.

 “That would be fine. I need it to be there by 6:30.” he told the young man.

 “Yes, sir, it will be delivered by then. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”

“That fine, no harm done”, said Trey and after verifying his home address and inquiring about the glass sculpture he made his way out of the store.

Trey decided that since the evening was becoming quite warm that he would pick out a different suit to wear than the one he had already chosen, he didn’t want to wear anything that would be uncomfortable. His apartment was in the Foggy Bottom Community in the Langdon Building which had been in existence since the early 1900’s.

The penthouse was centrally located between his Laurel facilities and his home in Bethesda; he’d lived there since college. Trey drove to the underground parking garage and made his way to the lobby of the twenty-five story building and spoke to the doorman Dennis and asked if flowers had been delivered yet.

“No," Mr. Trey they haven’t yet, but I will bring them up as soon as they arrive.” The older man promised. The man still had a trace of his Irish accent even though he’d lived in the States for years and looked very dapper in the burgundy jacket, white shirt and striped tie that was the uniform of the building.

“I’m also expecting a delivery of jewelry from I.N. Jewelers can you please send them up when they arrive.” He instructed before riding his elevator up.  

           ~*~*~*~*~* 

 “If you don’t stop calling me, I’m going to take out a restraining order against you Antron!” Noelle Hendricks shouted into the cell phone before snapping it closed.

She couldn’t believe she had wasted three year of her life with a playa like Antron Kendall, newscaster for the local Fox Channel. How a man so smart and in the public eye like he was had expected to keep his affairs with other women a secret was a mystery to Noelle.

She was still fuming over the fact that he had gotten her new phone number when she entered the store lobby to pick up the delivery that Eric had pleaded with her had to be taken to a VIP customer before 6:30.

 Eric wasn’t at his usual post when she entered the lobby of the store to buzz her into the main sales floor and she punched in the code to allow her to gain access. Eric came from the back room with their signature black and silver bag, and saw Noelle had let herself in.

“Hi Eric, I need to go, I’m double parked so can I have the address please?” she said to her colleague. Eric Stanfield was a fellow student at Georgetown working on his degree in International Financing.

“Here you go Noelle and thanks again, I owe you big time. The address is on a piece of paper in the bag.” The dark blonde haired man told her,

“Not a problem, lucky for you I was in the area.” She said taking the bag from him. She had worked for the owner Ian and Nicole Sullivan for year since she had been a teen.

 Noelle missed the admiring stare Eric sent her as she hustled out the door; he had stopped asking her out when she told him that she didn’t date co-workers.

 She was always well dressed and the knee length, spaghetti strapped dress with large blue, black and red flowers on a white background was cool and summery. Her feet were in silver thong sandals and her dark hair was long and loose around her medium brown shoulders.

She had told him once that her ancestors were from Panama and Trinidad and he thought it made for a beautiful combination.

Noelle jumped back into her Audi Q5 thanking the parking gods that she had not gotten a ticket and put on her seatbelt before shifting into drive and pulling away.

She pulled the slip of paper out of the bag and looked at it quickly; it was only about 10 minutes away and she turned up the Brian Culbertson and Avante song she had been listening to before she got the annoying phone call from her ex.

She wasn’t happy that someone had given him the number and she was going to have to be more careful with whom she gave her number to and she was going to block his number as soon as she got the chance.

Noelle was familiar with the area, having worked and attended school at Georgetown for the past three years.

 She had decided to pursue her Master’s degree at Georgetown after completing her B.S from Howard after the untimely death of her parents. She had been an only child and close to her parents and their deaths in a mining accident had been a hard blow for the twenty-two year old.

 Noelle had found it impossible to focus on school and she had taken off a year in which she had volunteered as a reading mentor at program for elementary school kids.  Being around the youthful enthusiasm of the children had gone some ways towards healing the void in her life caused by the loss but she had still gone home to an empty house.

Noelle had finally decided to lease the house to a married couple who worked at Howard while she had bought an apartment in a trendier neighborhood with a younger demographic.

 She left her car to be valet parked and stopped at the front desk to speak to the doorman.

“Hi, my name is Noelle and I’m here to drop off a delivery from I.N. Jewelers to Mr. Trey Powell.” She said politely to the older man.

“Yes, Mr. Powell is expecting you. You take this elevator.” The man told her going over to unlock it with a key he had on a bunch. Noelle thanked him and rode up in the private elevator to the twenty-fifth floor admiring the Impressionist print wondering if it was an original.

 The elevator rose swiftly and soon the doors opened into the lobby of his penthouse and she opened the door with the P1 on the door as instructed. The foyer didn’t give any indication of what to expect as she rounded the corner and a very masculine living room opened up to a panoramic view which included Roosevelt Island.

Her breath was taken away with the décor of the apartment as much as the view. The walls were painted a creamy tan color and several large colorful paintings were hung to break up the monotony and most of the furniture was shades of a chocolaty brown. Two sofas sat flanking a highly polished round table with a glass face where a glass vase sat filled with orange tulips

“Hello.” She called remembering why she was there but received no answer. Noelle wandered further into the penthouse looking for the occupant and realized she could hear an electric shaver running and she walked towards the sound.

“Hello?” she said again, still no reply. Noelle walked into what turned out to be a very masculine brown and cream man’s bedroom with a minimalistic leather headboard and platform raised bed and saw a black suit lying across it. 

 Noelle didn’t want to leave the bag without saying anything to the customer, but this was highly inappropriate. Just as that thought occurred to her the razor turned off and the water turned on in the adjoining bathroom.

 Noelle started to back out of the room when a pair of tight naked buns appeared and she froze. While she had been focusing on the room and its contents, the other occupant of the penthouse appeared in her sight. 

She saw the front of a naked, muscular, well endowed, white man in the large mirror as he rubbed his face with a big hand. He walked to the marble bathroom counter to put his razor down and apply his aftershave.

Noelle stood there in a daze with her mouth agape she had not seen such prime beef cake in a loooong, loooong time.   

 

trey

 

End Notes:

REVIEW,RATE, Tell me something Good! I wonder who he is thinking about?

Chapter 3 by cimmy1
Author's Notes:

Disclaimer:  All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plots are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

We are seeing a little more of Trey that most never see. Noelle has something to worry about.

 

cast

 

 

 

The sight before her was totally awe inspiring, but a small, a very small part of her knew that it was a huge, big, terrible invasion of his privacy.

Noelle started to back pedal as she saw him reach out to pick up another tube of what seemed like a styling product off of the counter.

 Though she couldn’t see the man’s face due to the foggy bathroom mirror she could see the absolutely sexy little dip on his left groin area as well as a thatch of pubic hair. She paused fascinated by the shifting and flexing of his muscles in his arms, back, thighs and most especially his bum. It was truly a work of art along with the rest of him, it looked hard and muscular. He had the body of a runner, with lightly tanned muscular thighs and calves.

She was momentarily spell bound by the sight, riveted to the spot and filled with LUST. It was like starting a diet and the next day someone bringing her favorite red velvet cupcake to work it had been so long since she’d been with Antron and this man was edible.

She dragged her eyes away, turned and ran out of the room ignoring the shout behind her, quickly making her way through the apartment and out the door.

 Noelle couldn't believe that she had stood there and looked at that man like that. She was mortified at own behavior, her parents had actually taught her better, but my oh my the view was fantastic.

Even now as she was going down in the elevator, Noelle was experiencing hot flashes thinking about... the customer of I.N. Jewelers that she had eyed like a side of choice Angus beef. Noelle put a shaking hand up to cover her flushed face as she thought about what she had just done.

Her lust was rapidly cooled as she pondered what this could do to the reputation of her employers and friends. She had worked for Ian and Nicole Sullivan since high school because her parents had wanted her to develop a good work ethic and they had been friends with the Sullivan for as long as she could remember.

If he reported this incident to her bosses and they took no action it could mean the loss of more than one customer, if he told this story to his friends.

 There was no question this Trey Powell was wealthy, a condo like that in Foggy Bottom was worth nearly two million dollars.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

 

   Trey caught a glimpse of something white in his peripheral vision and turned fully as he heard the sound of light footsteps running from the room. 

 “Hey stop!” he yelled, grabbing a towel from the towel warmer. Trey left the bathroom in pursuit of who ever had been so bold as to enter his penthouse without his knowledge.

He got as far as his living room when the front door closed and was about to called down to Dennis in the lobby when his cell phone rang, playing the ring tone for his sister, Aubrey.

 He had barely answered before she started.

“Your mother has called me again, for the third time this week, trying to lay a guilt trip on me about my lack of effort in communicating with her. She gave me this whole spiel about how her other friends kids call them all the time, in the morning before they leave for work and again after they arrive home. Mom just does not get that I don’t feel like working as hard on a relationship with her as she suddenly seems to be.” she vented angrily not even giving him a chance to say hello.

 “Aubrey.” he began still thinking he had time to catch the person but Aubrey was on a roll.

“I don’t feel like being degraded and put down whenever she gets the urge. I told her that a relationship is two sided. Do you know that she got offended because I decided to say that? I should be the one offended! When we needed them to be available for us they never were! She can’t expect us to be alright over night!” Aubrey continued.

 The relationship between the Powell women had been volatile from early on and showed no sign of changing anytime soon.  He tried again to get her attention.

 “Aubrey, Aubrey!” he practically shouted down the phone.

“WHAT!” she screamed back.  Her frustration levels really high like she could be taking it out on him.

 “Look, I know how annoying Mom can be when she gets on these rants, but you need to act like the great adult and successful lawyer that you are and ignore her.” he said patiently trying to reason with her.

“Easy for you to say she isn’t calling you, but don’t worry brother dear your turn will come.” Aubrey grumbled.

“Look Aubrey call me this weekend so we can talk o.k.? I’ve got a bit of a situation here.” he replied.

 “Sure fine don’t be there for me when I need you the most. Tell your latest lady friend that she takes precedence over your own flesh and blood.” Aubrey said hoping to make him feel guilty.“

"I love you too sis, bye.” he said in a distracted tone.

 “Bye Trey.“She replied unhappily.

As soon as she hung up, Trey called down to speak to Dennis in the lobby.

  “Dennis did you send the delivery person to my penthouse in the last half hour?” he asked quickly.

 “Yes, sir I did and your flowers were dropped off too. The young lady from the jewelry store just left a few minutes ago looking a little flustered. Was there a problem?”  The doorman replied a little puzzled.

Trey walked back into his bedroom and saw the silver and black bag sitting on his table.

“No Dennis, I just wanted to thank the young lady. Did you get her name?  She told me but I had other things on my mind.” Trey said thinking on his feet.

“Mr. Trey when you see a lovely little lady like that all of your attention needs to be on her. I may be old but apparently I can still teach you a thing or two about how to treat a woman. Her name is Noelle.” the older man jokingly said.

 “Thank you for the information Dennis, I really appreciate you looking out for me with the ladies.” he replied catching the faint scent of feminine perfume as he walked back into his bedroom.

“No problem, sir.” the other man answered.

“I will be down shortly to get those flowers from you then.” Trey said and hung up. He wondered what the mysterious Noelle had seen and shrugged. If she walked into some one's personal space a naked man was no less than she should expect to see.

He hoped she had enjoyed the show as he looked down at his bed. The black Dolce & Gabbana pinstriped suit and purple shirt were a nice contrast with his dark hair and vivid blue eyes. He put on a pair of black Hugo Boss leather slip-ons and grabbed his black leather Tag Heuer watch from his bedside table. The watch had been his grandfather’s and he liked to wear it when he was going out for the evening.

Trey looked back at his bathroom as he was walking out of his room and decided to track down “Noelle” tomorrow. That promised to be a fun conversation Trey thought with a grin on his handsome face.

Trey stopped by Dennis and got the flowers which were white, yellow, peach and pink Peruvian lilies in a large Waterford crystal vase. Trey called Jayne from his car to see if she would be ready by the time he got to her house, the drive over only took fifteen minutes from his place to Dupont Circle.

When he arrived she was waiting for him eager for the evening festivities to begin. She didn’t know that he had picked up a little something extra to surprise her with. Trey presented silver and black gift bag knowing he had shocked her.

The delicate pendant was a gold egg shape pendant with a teal colored sphere in the center to Jayne who totally loved it. He also gave her a card that had a certificate for a monthly fruit basket from Harry and David.

 Because of the close proximity of the Roof Terrace Restaurant in the Kennedy Center they had decided to go there instead of one of the other many restaurants in the area. It also was one of the places Jayne and her husband Cliff would visit frequently.

 After leaving his car with the valet they made their way up to the top floor where they were shown to their table overlooking the Potomac River. Trey ordered a Vodka Martini “shaken not stirred” and Jayne a glass of white wine and looked over their menus while the drinks were brought.

Jayne ordered a chilled avocado & cucumber soup with red onion, basil and olive oil, while Trey ordered the Caesar wedge salad with bocarones, parmesan reggiano and crostini.

 For the main course Jayne ordered the pan seared Pacific halibut with ratatouille of baby squash and Trey the grilled beef tenderloin with roasted new potatoes, baby carrots and haricots verts with a cabernet reduction. For dessert they both ordered the bergamot and lemon curd tart with citrus anglaise, white chocolate and fresh berries.

They both finished their meal as the sun was setting over the view of Georgetown and the majestic Lincoln Monument.

Trey paid the bill and they moved down to the Opera House for the evening performance of Mary Poppins. Tickets were hard to come by for the hit musical that had taken Broadway by storm and was now touring the country, but Trey had gotten the tickets two months earlier.

Jayne thoroughly enjoyed the performance and they both thought it had been a ‘magical’ experience. The sceneries had been so life like and vibrant; to see Mary Poppins “flying” out into the audience had really brought the story to life. It had truly been a wonderful show.    

~*~*~*~*~* 

 

 Noelle had sat at the light unsure what to do. Maybe she should have gone back and apologized for invading his home like that and he wouldn’t say anything to her employer she thought.

 She finally decided that she would come clean on Tuesday to Ian and Nicole and hope for the best. The twenty minute drive home gave her a chance to clear her mind as she tried not to dwell on the momentous events of the evening.

 Noelle considered her plans for the next day including some major yard work in an effort to distract herself from her problem.  She was going to pick out her plants tomorrow while her teenage neighbors tilled the backyard under the supervision of their father.

She had been living in Berkley for three and a half years moving out of her childhood home a few months after the deaths of her parents. One of Monet’s older brothers Marques was a real estate agent and he had found the three bedroom, three and a half bathroom house in this quiet neighborhood.

She loved her new home but hadn’t done any real landscaping, but the interior of the house was finally to where she wanted it.

She parked in the driveway and waved at Scott and Todd Jensen who were going to be working on her yard before going into the house.

 Noelle had no plans for the evening except to make dinner, she had been tutoring all day and she was tired. She had called her two girl friends to see what their plans were for the evening but they had both been out or busy.

Monet Jean-Charles was the event coordinator for Chateau Noir her family owned and operated banquet facility and tonight they were having multiple events. 

Marissa Flores was a corporate lawyer for one of the largest life insurance companies on the east coast, she had just taken on a large client and her work load had increased drastically.

 This meant that Noelle was on her own for the evening. 

End Notes:

An unofficial meeting in the flesh, may not be the way we would like to meet someone for the first time. But those unexpected, chance meeting can be so truly memorable.  

Chapter 4 by cimmy1
Author's Notes:

Disclaimer:  All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plots are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

After a loooong hiatus I have come back to Trey and Noelle. I must say that even though they have not made an appearance in months, they have both been very busy. 

Thank You, to The Readers who have continued to read and review. I won't be so long again ;0)! 

Big Shout OUT TO JuneBug66!  Who has Been Bugging the HELL out of me to Think, Write, Dream of my people. I HAVE, I DID, SO HERE! SURPRISE!!!!

Forgive the format errors will fix tonight! It's now 4:30am.

Noelle and Trenton meet behind a tree, of all things. Haha.

The sun was streaming through the three large picture windows which overlooked a huge tree lined backyard and pool area. trey  

 

 

 

 

The walls were silver and contrasted beautifully with the pink curtains and the mahogany stained floors. The floors were heated throughout the house and this was one of the features that had attracted her to the house.

On the far side of the room was a sitting area that consisted of a charcoal colored micro suede sofa, a grey colored micro suede chair and ottoman with a shag earth tone rug sitting in front of the fire place.   

Her king sized platformed bed was dark brown with matching nightstands and storage room below. The bedding was a soothing floral design in grey and pink iridescent cotton sateen,

Noelle pushed back the covers and swung her feet out onto the lip of the bed; she sat for a moment and thanked God for another day.  

Noelle decided as she sat there that this would be a great day of renewal and life for her. She thought of all of the Saturdays that had been spent with her parents going to the home improvement store to buy supply for the renovation projects that they were constantly doing on the house that had been bought at auction.  

The house had been seized by the bank from the owners and sold to pay off their taxes. Noelle parents had seen the potential in the three bedroom house and had invested all that they had been saving to buy the family their dream home.   

The house had needed major repair, but her father and mother had not been afraid to tackle the hard work that had been required to make the house a show place.  

Those days were long gone unfortunately, but with this being such a beautiful morning Noelle wanted to do something in honor of her parents’ memory. After this long hard winter her yard was very much in need of work. 

She had left her laptop on the sofa last night as she had done some research and measured the area where the plants would go and wanted the information so that she wouldn’t seem lost at the greenhouse. She would print out the information to take with her. 

Noelle’s thoughts went to the naked man she had ogled last night, Mr. Trey Powell by name. Fortunately she didn’t ogled naked men on a regular, but he had fueled some very vivid erotic dreams last night and she felt a little languid this morning.                

                         trey

  

  

She finished her morning rituals and went into the kitchen and made a cup of coffee and popped a whole grain bagel into the toaster before grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl.

Her mind went right back into the gutter and Noelle remembered the thick, long... she shoved the banana back into the bowl as her phone began to ring and she snatched it up before it could ring twice.  

“Morning Noelle.” said Monet Jean-Charles.   

For a moment Noelle was tempted to tell her best friend what had happened to her. 

“Hey, girl. Good Morning. You sound upbeat this morning what’s up?” Noelle asked.

She put the cordless phone between her ear and shoulder before removing her bagel out of the toaster and taking the cream cheese and orange marmalade out of the stainless steel refrigerator.  

“Not much, I have a big society wedding today so I’ve got my running shoes on as usual.” Monet answered.  

Monet’s family owned one of the largest banquet venues in Washington D.C., that hosted parties, weddings, conventions and other social events. Like Noelle, her grandparents had also come from the Caribbean back in the early part of the last century to make a better life for themselves and their offspring.

They had moved to D.C. like so many other West Indian families and opened a restaurant that proved to be very popular with not only people from the Caribbean islands, but the community at large. That was the beginning of their successful banquet business.  

“So what do you have planned for today?” her friend asked and her gaze went to the backyard that she was now ready to tackle.  

“I’m going to drive over to Johnson’s Nursery on Wisconsin Ave. to pick out some plants to make my yard look like a yard and not the Gobi Desert.” she said.  

Her imagination was running wild thinking about the plants she had seen last week at the garden section of the home center.  

“Sounds good, I maybe I can come over to see what you've done sometime this weekend.” Monet said. 

Noelle could hear a female voice over the phone. 

“Monet, excuse me can you give me the seating counts again?” asked her sister Giselle in the background. 

"I’ve got to run, Noelle. Giselle needs me. I’ll check in with you later, ok?” Monet said. 

“Yeah, call me later and tell Giselle I said 'good morning'. I’ll probably call Marissa, see if she wants to take a ride with me.” she replied before saying goodbye and they both hung up.  

Noelle sat looking at the bare yard, feeling inspiration flow and quickly finished the bagel before she got up. 

She took a shower, before getting dressed in the clothes she had laid out earlier. Noelle had inherited her mother’s love of color and her yellow halter top and hipster blue jean shorts were soon paired with Cell Puma running shoe and no show socks.

She ran a brush through her long dark hair. She had cut it short after her parents died but had let it grow back and now it was halfway down her back where it had been four years ago. The short and curly look had been cute but she wanted a more grown up look and longer hair did that for her.  

She had also inherited her mother’s backside. Turning around to peer into the mirror at it  shook her head, thankfully she also had the trim waist and nice, if muscular legs and she was going to show them off today.

Noelle went through the utility room into the garage where her baby was sitting and patted the Audi before she slid into the driver’s seat.  

She dialed Marissa knowing that if the other woman was up the time it took her to get ready would equal the time it took her to drive to her home.  

“Rise and shine sleepy head.” she said brightly after she heard a muffled hello. 

“If you weren’t my best friend I would kill you.” Marissa Flores groused sleepily. 

“It’s a glorious morning in D.C. what are you still doing in bed?” she asked.  

“I was up until nearly three this morning working on a deposition. Call me later Niña. I’m beat.” the red head complained before hanging up abruptly. 

“Well, I guess I’ll do this by myself.” she said and turned on the radio.  

She arrived at the nursery twenty minutes later and saw that other people had the same idea about doing some planting for spring. Noelle loved the idea of having some plants in her backyard but she also wanted something that would give her some fruit.  

“Do you have any Dwarf Meyer lemon trees?” Noelle asked one of the workers as she walked around.   

“Yes we do, they are over by the regular fruiting orange trees in the right hand corner and we just got in some pomegranate trees if you’re interested.” the green smocked worker told her pointing in the general direction.  

She smiled her thanks and walked in that direction the idea of getting a pomegranate tree taking her back to a trip she had made to Trinidad when she was a teenager with her parents. 

Her mother had very little family left and she had been an only child. The same was true of her father but they had also made several trips to Panama during her childhood. As two only children they had gravitated to one another and it was ironic that Noelle herself had been an only child as well.

Their parents had immigrated to the south and Helen and Nathan had actually come up to D.C. to attend college. They had liked being in the cosmopolitan atmosphere and chosen to remain in Washington and had gotten jobs working for the government.

Noelle found the fruit trees and liked the look of the dwarf pomegranate trees and thought she would get two of them; one for each of her parents along with a Meyer lemon because she loved lemonade and cooked a lot of fish and chicken.  

After some discussion with a fellow gardener, Noelle decided on a beautiful azalea in hot pink as they were her mother’s favorite color. She also chose a red crepe myrtle dwarf shrub, three pink hibiscus plants and a few pots of variegated hostas, dwarf pampas grasses, and a dozen accent plants.  

Noelle also added four bags of potting soil and two of mulch which a worker was all too happy to put on her trolley for her.                                                         

~*~*~*~*~    

Trey saw the hot pink azaleas on the cart coming toward him first and barely got out of the way as the driver kept coming unable to see past the lemon and pomegranate trees. 

“Miss, you need to be more careful.” he said in warning as the woman passed him.  

The shrubs on the trolley were taller than her he noted and guessed she was about a foot shorter than his six foot two inch height. No wonder she had a hard time seeing over them.

He looked down into a pair of wide brown eyes and the yellow of her top against her chocolate skin was a startling but beautiful combination.  

“I’m sorry, did I hit you?” she asked worriedly as she ran her eyes over his grey vintage t-shirt and blue jean clad form.                 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Trey was taking in her long legs, tight shorts and small waist  hoping he wasn’t leering at her when he looked up to see her eyebrow quirking. She was what his grandfather would have called a healthy girl, not a stick figure model at all.

 

 

                             trey  “No you didn’t hit me, but it was a near thing.” he answered trying to focus on what she had asked.

Trey most definitely wanted to say, that he really would have like to have been run over by any part of her that she would allow.

The longer that he stared at her more appealing and beautiful she became to him. She was like a work of art. She had the prettiest, smoothest skin he had seen; the color reminded him of his favorite drink as a child, cocoa with lots of milk and sugar.

Her shape was definitely sweet, athletic without being too hard and muscular, what his friend Jacob would call thick. This young woman had a small pert nose and a firm sexy kissable mouth topped off by a head full of long, black silky looking hair.  

As his brain finally started functioning again he realized something that was strange, he swore he could smell the same perfume he had noticed yesterday in his apartment.                                      

“I promise to be more careful.” she said solemnly and then she smiled at him and it was like the sun shone directly from her eyes. 

Noelle was entranced by his serious blue eyes beneath a shock of hair so black it shone with blue highlights and she had always found the Black Irish thing sexy. He looked like something of a bad boy too and even worse she could tell money when she saw it and as casually dressed as he was, this guy had it.

 

                              trey

 

 

She pulled herself together and continued to push the trolley this time a little more carefully; peering around the plants as she went and swore she could feel his eyes all over her backside.  

He was most definitely a man worth running over just so she could give him some well earned CPR. Just looking at his muscular forearms and legs was enough to start her heart to racing.

This was the second stranger in less than 24 hours that was giving her some very wicked thoughts.  

After having a much needed talk with the head gardener, Noelle finally made her way to the check-out and paid for her items. On the way out the door she grabbed several pieces of plastic sheeting to lay on the carpeting of her car.

As she did that Noelle made a quick scan of the store. She was kind of hoping to catch a glimpse of The Guy, but didn't spot him anywhere. He had certainly brightened her day. 

Making her way across the parking lot to her Audi she noticed that there was now the bigger version of her car parked right next to it.

Noelle thought that the owner must have spotted her car and wanted to park next to her to keep the family together. She sometimes found herself doing the same thing when she went out, it was a cute game and apparently she wasn’t the only one who did it.  

Noelle unlocked her vehicle and climbed into the back passenger side door so that she could put the rear seats down and spread the protective sheeting to load up.  

“Excuse me, would you like some help?” she heard a familiar deep and refined voice ask.  

'Oh God, please tell me that hot man is not standing behind me staring at my ass hanging out in the breeze.' she said to herself.  

*~*~*~*

'Right there', Trey thought to himself, ‘is absolutely perfect!'        

End Notes:
Thank you for reading.
Chapter 5 by cimmy1
Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plots are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

 

Hi everyone Having problem posting SORRY! Will fix everything and include pic later. I have to recover from the trauma.

SHOUT OUT TO JUNEBUG66!!! My Thorn in my SIDE!!!! She has help me keep this story alive when I wanted to just read other peoples, including her ;0)!!!

Chapter 4

 

 

dc

Trey usually was not so forward with women, but this one was seriously messing with his mind and for a moment he was afraid he had voiced his thoughts aloud. He had been thinking about the young lady from the almost hit and run, but now he was getting the very up close and personal viewing of the back of her.

The view was quite fantastic with her smooth and toned brown legs that ended at a nicely rounded and tight as hell ass.

Oh, yeah that had been a favorite position, but now it had just moved to the top of the list Trey thought as he stood behind her.

Noelle climbed down and lo and behold who was standing right there but Mr. Near Miss himself.

“Oh. Um. Hello.” Noelle said as she felt her face flush and was happy he wouldn’t be able to tell because of her complexion.

“What did you say?” she asked as she turned to face him. This was the second time she was caught in an embarrassing position and she was tired of it. They both knew that she had heard him and that she was trying to save face, a girl could only take so much.

“I asked if you’d like some assistance. You’ve got a lot of plant materials and they might be a little heavy for you. Your husband really should have come with you if you were going to buy this much.” he said politely.

 

His friendliness seemed to rub her the wrong way however. “I’m not married and I don’t need help thank you.” she replied haughtily and walked around him to begin loading her purchases into the trunk.

She didn’t see the unholy grin that lit his face at that bit of important information and he pressed the remote control button to open the trunk on his vehicle. Trey had never seen the purpose of pursuing someone who had a prior commitment, especially if they seemed happy. Good to know it was all clear.

Her head jerked up when she saw him go to the big Audi Q7 next to her and begin loading his purchases and she heard his trunk close before she could get the bigger plants into the back of her car. Noelle heard him start up the engine of his car and turned to stare in amazement when she heard O-Shen’s “Beautiful Island Princess”.

 

 

She would never have figured him for a reggae lover much less someone like the Papua, New Guinean star. He looked over at her as she struggled to lift one of the two foot tall pomegranate plants and seemed to make up his mind about something before he got out of the luxury SUV. He walked towards her as she hefted the pot into the back and he easily lifted the other pot onto the lift gate. 

garden

He did the same with all of the others and would have walked back to his car, but she stopped him.

“Thank you for your help.” She said quietly and he gave her a two finger salute off of his brow.

“Look, I am sorry for the way I just responded to your offer of help. Will you please forgive me?” Noelle asked humbling herself. Trey was completely taken by surprise at the sincerity of her apology; it was rare that someone would admit to a wrong doing.

“I accept your apology, Thank you.” Trey said as he turned to go, but quickly turn back when she said.

“Can I buying you a drink?” she further asked after deliberating for a moment. It was not every day that she would ask a complete stranger out and was wondering if that had been the right decision.

Noelle had decided to take a chance and live a little and see what would happen. She of all people knew how swiftly life could change and she wanted to have an active role in hers. She decided to be bold and not worry about possible rejection.

He didn’t miss the uncertain expression on her face which wasn’t really necessary; he was actually surprised that she had made the offer knowing that she had just apologized to him but pleased.

“I know a small Italian bistro in Adams Morgan that makes a nice Scotch on the Rocks.” she told him when he only stared down at her. She had thought for a moment back in the nursery that he seemed interested and to find his car parked next to hers, not to mention it being the same make and type had seemed like fate was really looking out.

“Do they also make the best pizza this side of Italy?” he asked finally speaking and saw her smile.

“You know Tyro’s Pizza Margarita?” she asked and he nodded smiling back. “Every time I go there I have the same thing and every time it’s delicious.” he told her and she agreed.

“You look like you’ll have your hands full unloading this. Do you need any help offloading this stuff when you get home?” he asked and this time she laughed.

“My neighbor’s sons are waiting at my house to help.” she said tucking her hair behind her ear. She had helped the boys by tutoring them in Calculus and Environmental Science this past school year and in turn they had promised to help with any yard work that she had. He stuck out his hand and she looked up at him before she took it. The electricity that was flowing between them was compounded when they touched.

“My name is Trenton by the way. It’s nice to meet you.” he said in a deep voice looking down at her small, brown hand as awareness shot through them both. “Hi, my name is Noelle.” She replied huskily and saw his thick eyebrows shoot up.

“Yes, I was born two days before Christmas.” Noelle said and he could tell she had gotten that question a lot.

That wasn’t what he had thought though. It had not escaped him that her name was the same as the young woman who had delivered the bag from I.N. Jewelers last evening. What would be the odds that this could be the young woman? Trey was pretty sure that if she was the same woman that had been in his apartment then she would be mortified.

 

“Yes, I would like that very much. Thank you.” he said quickly, before she changed her mind.

He didn’t want to let go of her hand but he couldn’t very well continue to hold her hostage like this, still he felt compelled to keep her by his side. A car driving by blew its horn and they broke apart and he watched her stick her hands in her back pocket almost guiltily.

“What time would you like to meet?” he asked as she bit her bottom lip. Trey thought that it was unusual for a beautiful woman like this Noelle not to have plans for a Saturday night.

“How does 6:30 sound?” Noelle asked looking at him from beneath her lashes.

“That’s fine. I can give you my number in case something comes up.” Trey replied holding out his hand for her phone.

Noelle walked to her car seat and rummaging in her bag pulled out her cell, trying her hardest to be a lady and not stick her bum out at him. She found it quickly and gave it to him. She watched Trey’s long fingers fly as he put in his name and cell number wondering what his hands would feel like on her skin.

He looked up for a second and she admired his long lashes and blue eyes before he went back to his task, he was giving the phone back a moment later.

 

“I’ll take this trolley back for you and I’ll see you later?” he said and with a sexy grin he pulled the cart out of the way.

“Bye Trenton, see you later.” Noelle replied with a wave of her hand as she climbed into her truck.

Trenton was still standing there looking at her as she pulled out of the parking lot.

 

 

~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~~~

 

 

 

”Well that was interesting” Noelle thought. “One minute I am about to curse out this man and the next, we are going on a date. Life sure can be funny, can’t it?”

she mused. Her girls would be dying with laughter if they could see her now. They were always saying that she was too quick to shut down a guy.

“They won’t say that now.” Noelle said as she turned onto Wisconsin Avenue. “I know Mommy would have thought that was funny too.” She said with a laugh.

Her parents Nathan and Helen Hendricks had loved all things outdoors and adventurous and that love had been responsible for their untimely deaths at Canyon Falls Mines. They were collectors of raw uncut gems and wanted the first hand experience of seeing where some of the gems that they bought came from. They both had excellent jobs working for the Defense Department and as the Vice-President of the school board respectively and could well afford the time and money for the trip. So they had gone for a week long stay and on the day before their return the fatal accident had happened.

Noelle had received a hefty settlement from the wrongful death suit her godmother and attorney Christine Taylor had filed and won on her behalf. Unfortunately money could never take the place of her mother’s clothing advice as they went shopping or her father’s arms hugging her good- morning before she left the house.

It was the little things that she missed and it had not helped to find out that the one person she had counted on not to let her down had totally failed to be there for her.

She had been dating Antron before her parents’ death and had taken it for granted that he understood that she didn’t want to be intimate with him she had just wanted to date.

It turned out that he had some other girl in his phone on speed dial listed as Wifey. He had the nerve to blame her for his not being able to keep his pants zipped.

His cold hearted behavior at being told “NO” and his anger as he had called her a teasing bitch, had just spoken volume to the things her mother had already said about him. Helen would always say that line to Noelle as she was growing up and more so after she met Antron.

It was a quote from Thomas Macaulay that she had learned in school and taken to heart. Her mother had perceived that Antron was not all that he made himself out to be. On more than one occasion her mom had told her, “You can easily judge the character of a person by the way they treat people who can do nothing for them.”

Antron appeared to be a sneaky minded man to her, willing to say anything to appear as a friend. He had always looked for opportunities to insinuate himself into her life by attending parties with Noelle on campus and about town.

There were occasions when he had spoken ill of her and her friends in the presence of some of her acquaintances and word had eventually gotten back to her. Noelle had kicked him to the curb with a quickness when she discovered his infidelity and lies.

Her parents would not know that their assessment of him had been so on point. Noelle never realized how crushing it could be to have someone treat you like you matter then stop and treat you like something on the bottom of their shoe.

She had worked hard at forgiving him and facing the hostile feeling that she had harbored inside so that she could move on and not deny herself the love from her friends

 

noelle

~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Trey stared after her Audi as it exited the lot, and turned away only when it was out of sight. He wondered if Noelle would meet him. He hoped that she would. He liked when a woman was willing to pursue what she wanted with confidence and class. Trey got his cell phone out and dialed I.N. Jewelers to find out about the other mysterious Noelle from last night.

“Hello, I.N. Jeweler's, this is Nicole speaking. How may I help you?” a polite voice asked.

“Hello, my name is Trenton Powell. I’m calling about a delivery that was made to my home yesterday May I speak to the manager please.” he replied, preferring to keep the reason for the call to himself.

“You are speaking to one of the owners Mr. Powell. This is Nicole.” she replied, wondering if there was a problem. Nicole recognized his name from all of the sales receipt that had crossed her desk over the years; she had even met him a few times and knew of his parents. She tried to keep her voice calm but she didn’t like the sound of this for some reason.

“I would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Was there a problem with the piece?” Nicole asked as she pulled the receipts from the previous days’ purchases.

“No, no the necklace was beautiful. The reason I was calling was about the young woman who delivered the jewelry. I believe her name is Noelle?” he said quickly not wanting to alarm her.

Trey was trying to put the woman’s voice with a face and last name. It was right on the tip of his tongue, he knew it had to be something Irish or Scottish but he was having a hard time producing it.

 

Nicole had found the receipt, but paused when he mentioned Noelle. Eric had left a note stating that Noelle had made the delivery after Trenton Powell had come in but had been unable to take his purchase with him.

“I’m so sorry for any inconvenience. Did Noelle not get the item to you in a timely manner?” Nicole asked frowning deeply.

“No everything was fine I just wanted to speak with her. Would it be possible to get her last name? I would like to send her something because she made quite an impression and I wanted her to know that.” he replied not exactly lying.

“We don’t normally give out the names of our employees.” Nicole told him, wondering what her young friend had done to get this man’s attention.

“I’m not asking you this to make you uncomfortable or put you on the spot. I’ve been a regular customer for years and you may know my family. I just wanted to get in touch with her.” he told the woman smoothly.

“ Yes, Mr. Powell, I am aware of who you and because of that fact I will give you her last name and if she's listed in the phone book you can get in touch with her." Nicole said knowing full well the other woman was unlisted.

“That’s fine, thank you very much.” Trey replied trying not to sound too eager.

“Noelle Hendricks is a friend of mine Mr. Powell. I've known her since she was a little girl. She and my niece have been best friends since grade school and I think of her like another niece." she finally answered a warning in her voice.

Trey was busy pumping his fist in the air, elation at having some of his suspicion confirmed. He wanted to do the chicken dance, he was so happy. He was beginning to feel like this could really be fated.

“Mrs. Sullivan please rest assured, I don’t mean Noelle any harm I would just like to speak to her.” he said as he remembered her last name.

“Thank you very much, I appreciate this lot.” Trey said as he hung up.

 

 

 

~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Nicole quickly called Noelle on her cell phone to let her know that a customer was trying to get personal information on her and only got her voicemail so she left a message.

 

 “Noelle, this is Nicole, I was trying to get in contact with you. The client you delivered to last night is trying to reach you. I gave him your last name but unless he's got ties with the FBI, I don't think he'll make much progress. Give me a call when you get this message. Bye, love you.” Nicole said ending the call.

 

Nicole sensed that there was more going on in that brief conversation than Trenton Powell trying to get a phone number. Hopefully Noelle would answer that question soon.

 

 

 

trey

PERFECTION!!! Ggrrrr

End Notes:

Sorry for any  error.  I will reedit later I am just trying to get it up. This is the 6th time I am trying to post tonight. Picture later REVIEW!!!

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