After the storm Read Online Free PDF Page B

way. Her phone vibrated as a text came
in. It was Akeem's driver, letting her know he was around and where
he was parked. She called the driver's number to let him know she
was on her way.
    "Hey,
Yemi!" She heard her friend Sesan's voice and turned around. She
had been so focused on getting to Akeem's driver on time that she
had not seen him approaching.
    "Hi
Shez!" she said, calling him by his nickname. "How've you been?"
She and Sesan had been close friends since they were kids. His
parents were lecturers as well and lived two streets from Yemi's
house.
    "Good,"
he replied, catching up with her. "Looking great," he said, giving
her outfit an admiring glance.
    She
flashed him a smile. "Thanks, Shez." She hoped Akeem would think so
too. She had taken extra care with her appearance before leaving
home.
    "Finished lectures for today?"
    "Yep, I
only had a couple of lectures. What about you?"
    "I'm
done as well. I'm off to the library now."
    "I'm
heading in that direction as well. Meeting up with someone
there."
    "Good,
we can walk together then," Sesan replied, falling in step with
her. "We've not really had time for a proper talk since you
returned from the UK. How was your trip?"
    "Super!"
Yemi smiled. "Best holiday I've had in a while."
    "Really?
You did say you had something to tell me when we spoke on the
phone. Was it anything to do with your hols?"
    "Yes,
but we need plenty of time to talk about that bit." She was
definitely going to need his masculine perspective on
Akeem.
    They
rounded the corner just before the library, and she saw Akeem's
car. It was easy to spot from the description he had given her. The
driver was standing by it, and Yemi waved to him. He waved
back.
    Sesan
arched his brows as he looked at Akeem's black BMW jeep and the
driver standing beside it. "Is that the person you are meeting up
with?"
    "Yes,"
Yemi replied, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. "Or rather,
he's the driver of the person I'm going to see."
    Sesan's
brows went up a notch higher. "Okay…"
    Yemi
glanced quickly at his face. His voice had disconcerted her, but
his face was expressionless. "Let me leave you, then," he said
quietly. "I'll talk to you later."
    "Okay,
Shez," Yemi called after him as she hurried towards the car. "We've
got lots of stuff to talk about."
    He gave
her a small wave, but his face had lost some of its cheeriness. She
wondered what was wrong with him. She decided she would catch up
with him later to find out.
    "Hello,
you must be Mike," she said to the driver as she approached. "I'm
Yemi. Thanks for coming to pick me up."
    "You're
welcome," he replied, opening the door to the back seat for her.
"Are you ready to go now?"
    "Yes,
thank you," Yemi said, settling into the car. She brought out the
magazine she had bought earlier in the day and looked through it
during the drive to Lekki, where Akeem lived.
    There
were smatterings of traffic on the road, but it was not as bad as
she had expected it to be, and they arrived at the house about
forty minutes later.
    The
house was picturesque, as was typical of houses in Lekki, and was
surrounded by well-manicured lawns and beautiful flower beds. But
she gave no more than a cursory glance around, as her attention was
taken up by Akeem walking out the front door.
    He
hugged her tightly. "So good to see you, baby. I've really
missed you."
    "Same
here," she said, breathing in his now-familiar cologne and reveling
in the feel of his strong arms around her.
    Akeem
led her into the house and they went through what was probably his
reception lounge. It was a fairly large room with a polished white
oak floor and Venetian-style furniture. The sofas were upholstered
in a floral beige damask fabric. Beautiful drapes, in a darker
shade of beige, bordered each side of the ceiling-to-floor
windows.
    "And I
thought your apartment in London was nice," Yemi said as they
entered into another, larger sitting room. "It's not even half as
lovely as this." She wandered around, admiring