Читать книгу No Other Lover Will Do - Cheris Hodges - Страница 13

Kandace pulled her coat tighter as she walked near the beginner’s ski hill. The snow was beautiful, but it was freezing cold outside, despite the fact that she was dressed in three layers of clothes. She dashed into the resort café to warm herself with a latte before her spa treatment. After placing her order and receiving her cup of gourmet coffee, Kandace searched for a table. When she found one, she was thankful to rest her feet. That is until she saw who was seated at the table next to hers.

“Kandace,” Solomon said. “Did you like the flowers?”

“Actually, I did,” she said as she took her seat. Solomon moved over to her table as if he’d been invited. She shook her head and sucked her teeth.

“Did I invite you to sit with me?” she asked.

“Not verbally, but I could see it in your eyes,” he said.

Kandace took a sip of her latte, then looked at him. He was dressed in a pair of chocolate brown corduroy pants and a cream turtleneck that hugged his chest like a second skin. The heat she was feeling between her thighs had nothing to do with the beverage she was sipping as her gaze fell to his big hands. Flashes of her erotic dream jumped to the forefront of her mind. “You need to get your eyes checked,” Kandace said as she took another sip of her latte.

“I have perfect twenty-twenty vision. What are you sipping on?”

“You own the place. Shouldn’t you know the menu?”

Solomon smiled, revealing a dimple in his left cheek. She turned her head away and drained the rest of her drink. “I have to go,” she said.

“You don’t have to,” he said. “You never gave me an answer either.”

“An answer to what?” Kandace asked as she glanced at her watch.

“Can I have you for dinner?”

Kandace rolled her eyes and walked out of the café. She was tempted to answer his question with a yes, thinking about the arrogance of that man and the sheer sexiness of him. The angel on her right shoulder was whispering say no and walk away, but the voice coming from her left shoulder was much louder. “Let him have you for dinner. You only live once,” Kandace heard the little devil on her shoulder cry out. Sighing, she wasn’t sure how to answer Solomon’s intriguing question.

Solomon kicked back at the table and watched Kandace sashay out the door. Her hips moved like palm trees swaying in a tropical breeze and he got hard just watching her walk. Since he knew she was going to the spa, he didn’t make a sudden move to follow her. He was going to wait until she had no choice but to acknowledge the fire between them. When she was naked on the massage table, he’d make his move. Just as he was about to leave the café, his cell phone rang. He glanced down at the caller ID and saw that it was Carmen.

“What’s going on, Carmen?” he asked.

“Guess who was singing your praises this morning?” she said happily.

“I’m kind of in a rush right now. I don’t have time for guessing games,” he replied as he walked out the door.

“Richmond came in my office this morning saying that Carolina Serenity is doing great,” she said. “And that he was wrong to think opening our resort was a mistake.”

“That’s Captain Obvious for you. Look, I have to go.” Solomon hung up the phone and headed for the spa. When he walked into the waiting area, the receptionist recognized him from his earlier visit.

“Mr. Crawford, hello,” she said with a flirtatious lilt to her voice.

“Hi. Show me to the massage rooms again,” he said, then offered her a wink.

“Down the hall and to the left. Only one is occupied right now,” she said.

He nodded and headed to the room where he knew Kandace was. He slowly opened the door and signaled to the masseuse to stay silent. Solomon stepped in and closed the door. On the table, he saw Kandace lying on her stomach with a towel covering her lower back. While some of her more interesting parts were hidden, what he saw lit a fire in his loins. Her legs were strong, thighs thick like a real woman and not someone who spent her life dieting for a movie role or a cover shot. Her skin looked like the finest milk chocolate and had him nearly drooling. Solomon handed the masseuse a hundred dollar bill and pointed to the door. The man took the money, nodded, and headed out the door. Solomon quickly took his place, massaging Kandace’s shoulders and back with long deep strokes.

Kandace moaned in delight as his hands moved down her back. “That feels so good,” she said.

Solomon leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I can make you feel even better.”

Kandace opened her eyes and held her head up. “What in the hell are you doing here?” she demanded. Though she wanted to move, she wasn’t dressed for running in her bandeau bra and barely there panties. Solomon looked down at her, seeing her bra with its clasp at her lower back for the first time, and shook his head.

“And here I thought you were naked,” he said with a grin.

Kandace grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her waist as she slid off the table. “You’re a stalker and this has to stop,” she said. Solomon watched her lips move, but he couldn’t process what she was saying. He’d known she was beautiful, but seeing her nearly naked, he couldn’t hear past the crackling of desire in his heart and body.

“I’m not a stalker, but you’re making a brother have to come on strong. You could end all of this if you’d simply cooperate,” Solomon said.

“That’s not what this is. You’re just not used to someone refusing the great Solomon Crawford. Once again, I’m going to tell you no.” Kandace followed Solomon’s gaze to her breasts. “Pig!” she exclaimed as she covered her chest with her arms.

“Did you think I wouldn’t look?” he asked as he shrugged his shoulders. Then he flashed her a wily smile. “You see them everyday. You know your breasts are amazing.”

Kandace shook her head and reached for her robe. “Every time I start thinking you could be a decent guy, you go out of your way to remind me that I should stay far, far away from you.”

Solomon rocked back on his heels. “What do you want, Kandace? What can or should I do to get you to admit you want me?”

“Try being sincere for once. I know you want to sleep with me, but give me a reason to sleep with you,” she said bluntly.

He raised his right eyebrow. “I can give you several reasons. Multiple orgasms would be the first of many reasons.”

Kandace sucked her bottom lip in and shook her head. “Any vibrator can give a woman multiple orgasms.”

“But I’m far from a vibrator.”

“Yeah,” Kandace said. “You don’t have an off switch.”

Solomon poked out his lip like a sad little boy. “That was cold.”

“And so was interrupting my massage. I came here to relax and because of you, I haven’t gotten much of that done,” she said, then poked him in his chest.

“Well, you’ve only been here for a day and the first few days of a vacation are never relaxing,” he said. “And you have to admit, you like sparring with me.”

Kandace shot him a cold look. “You’re impossible,” she said. “Let me guess. When you were a little boy Mommy and Daddy yielded to your every whim.” Kandace gave him a slow once over. “Judging by your height, you played basketball and were the star of the team and that helped you get your way even more.”

Solomon shook his head. “You don’t know me, Kandace. I’d love for you to get to know me, but you can’t seem to let yourself go enough to enjoy whatever happens.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. “Go with the flow, baby.”

Kandace stomped on his foot, though her blow made with a bare foot had little physical impact, and Solomon released her. “If you go out to dinner with me and have a horrible time, I’ll take your no for an answer.”

“And if I tell you no now?” she questioned. “What are you going to do then?”

“You know I own this place, right? So, unless you plan on checking out, I’m going to show up everywhere you go until you say yes.”

“And you don’t think that’s stalking?” she asked as she rolled her eyes.

He shook his head. “I call it being persistent. You can end this whenever you want. Agree to have dinner with me,” Solomon said.

“Get out of here,” Kandace said. “And maybe I’ll consider it.”

“I tell you what,” he said as he backed away from her. “Since you say I ruined your spa treatment, have a deluxe one on me. That way you can’t say you were too stressed out to have dinner with me.”

“I said I’d consider having dinner with you, I didn’t agree to anything,” Kandace informed him.

Solomon opened the door. “But you will,” he said, then winked at her before sending the masseuse back inside.

Kandace tried to think of something other than Solomon’s hands as her real massage resumed. But she couldn’t. His strokes felt so good and her body had been on fire as he touched her. She’d tingled from the roots of her hair to her toenails. Dinner with him would be dangerous, because she knew what his kisses did to her, and coupled with his touch, she was going to be in serious trouble.

“Miss Davis,” the masseuse said, “we’re done. If you put on your robe, I can take you to your facial.”

“Thank you,” she said as she rose from the table and put on her robe. Kandace followed the man to another room and took a seat. Part of her wondered if Solomon was going to show up again. Once her facial got started, Kandace decided to relax and not worry about seeing Solomon again. At least not until she saw him at dinner.

Carmen slammed her phone into the cradle on her desk. She’d called Solomon five times in the last hour and her phone calls went directly to voice mail. She knew what that meant. Obviously that tramp Kandace had opened her legs to him. Carmen didn’t know what it was about this woman that got under her skin so badly. Maybe it was the fact that she didn’t know what was going on. When Solomon had his flings with models and actresses, he kept her in the loop, telling her how stupid they were and what a disappointment they’d turned out to be. This woman was different, because Carmen knew she wasn’t stupid. And from the pictures she’d seen of her on the Internet, she wasn’t ugly either. Still, she needed to know if Solomon had gotten what he wanted and was ready to move on. Better yet, to come back to New York. She picked up the phone and started dialing his number again.

“Knock, knock,” Danny said from the door of her office. Carmen looked up and faked a smile as she hung up the phone.

“Danny, right?” Carmen said.

“You’re killing my ego,” he said. “I invite you to lunch and you never call back, then struggle to remember my name.”

“I’m sorry, we just ran into some problems at the resort in North Carolina,” Carmen lied.

“I thought Solomon was down there handling all of that,” Danny said as he walked in. “You know that guy works you too hard. Does he realize how valuable you are?”

“I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for the job,” Carmen said with a hint of attitude in her voice.

Danny threw his hands up. “I was just kidding with you. No need to get so testy,” he said. “Solomon is my boy.”

Carmen raised her eyebrow and leaned back in her seat. “All right, why are you here?”

“At some point today, you’re going to have to eat. I’m here to insure that you eat one of those meals with me.”

While Carmen smiled at Danny, inside she was groaning and pushing him out of her office. Who did he think he was? Solomon Crawford? His line was stale and he didn’t have half of the charm and charisma that Solomon had in his pinky finger.

“I’m sorry you wasted your time, but I can’t go out to eat with you today. I have to put out this fire in North Carolina, head to my spin class, and then I have to brief Richmond on some other projects.”

Danny perched on the edge of Carmen’s desk and stared into her expressive hazel eyes. “Tell me something. Are we ever going to go out? If you’re not interested, let me know and I can stop making a fool of myself.”

Carmen patted his knee. “I’m sure you’re a nice guy, but I just don’t want to go out with you. Don’t take it personal. I hope we can be friends, but nothing more.”

Danny nodded. “I can live with that, especially since we’re going to be seeing more of each other anyway.”

“How so?” she asked.

“Solomon hired my company to run background checks on new employees and to do random background checks company wide.”

Carmen tugged at her hair. “He didn’t tell me about this.”

Danny shrugged. “Probably slipped his mind. If you have any security issues or questions you want me to take a look at, I’m going to be right down the hall.”

“Then I guess we should have lunch and talk about what you will be doing for us,” she said as he stood up. “Is one-thirty good for you?”

“I’ll check my calendar and get back to you,” he said, then headed out of her office.

Carmen was going to have to make extra nice with Danny. The last thing she needed was for that chump to uncover what she had worked so hard to hide.

Three hours after she entered the spa, Kandace stepped out feeling like a brand new woman. She would have to thank Solomon for her deluxe treatment, which included a facial, pedicure, manicure, and an appointment with the hair stylist on duty. Kandace had decided to try something new with her hair and allowed the woman to take two inches off her brown tresses. She ended up with a sleek bob that highlighted her cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. Though she’d have to give up her trademark ponytail now, she felt as if the sophistication of the cut was worth the sacrifice.

As she walked into the lobby, the front desk clerk stopped her. “Miss Davis, we have a package for you.”

“Thank you,” Kandace said as she walked over to the desk and took the box from the clerk. She knew it was from Solomon and a part of her couldn’t wait to see what it was. Knowing him, she figured it was some skimpy piece of lingerie. And if it was, she was going to send it right back. This man just isn’t going to learn, she thought as she tucked the box under her arm and headed for the elevator. When she arrived in her room, Kandace opened the box and instead of finding a tawdry piece of lingerie, she was treated to a beautiful red dress with a matching wrap. She pulled the dress from the box and held it against her skin. The silky material flowed as she spun around. “Good choice, Crawford,” she said to herself. Kandace stripped out of her clothes and slipped into the dress. Solomon had gotten her size perfectly, and the strapless, tea-length dress complimented her new haircut.

“I’m not going to be able to wear Uggs with this,” she said as she ran her hands down her sides. Just as she was about to take her dress off, there was a knock at the door. Expecting a delivery man, she dashed to the door and opened it.

Solomon expected Kandace to look good in red, he expected the dress to show off her shoulders and that phenomenal cleavage, but he didn’t expect to be breathless when he saw her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked after a brief moment of silence.

“Shoes,” he said. “I forgot to slip these in the box.” Solomon handed her a shoe box. “Are you going to invite me in?”

“No,” she said as she accepted the box. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Then why did you come to the door looking that damned good?” he asked as Kandace made an attempt to close the door. He wedged his boot-clad foot between the door and the jamb. “We could always have dinner inside.”

“Move your foot before I change my mind about going out to dinner with you. You’re supposed to be nicer.”

“What can I say? I’m a work in progress.”

“Good-bye, Solomon,” Kandace said, then closed the door as he moved his foot.

Kandace was the kind of woman that Solomon realized he needed to meet. She didn’t give him what he wanted right away and he had a feeling that she had many layers. The more he chased her, the more he wanted to get to know her. At some point, he wanted to have her between the sheets, but he’d be willing to wait, and Solomon Crawford never waited for anything—especially a woman.

Then again, it had been a long time since he’d had a reason to expect something special from a woman. Kandace seemed to be something special. As he walked toward the elevator, his cell phone rang again. He didn’t have to look at the caller ID to know that it was Carmen. She’d been phoning all day and he couldn’t figure out why she kept calling him. It was unlike her to be so annoying. Solomon knew if he didn’t take her call now, she would interrupt his date with Kandace and he wasn’t about to have that.

“Crawford,” he said, when he answered the phone.

“Solomon, I’ve been trying to reach you all day,” Carmen said.

“Is there a fire? What’s wrong?” he asked as he headed for the stairs so that he could finish this call with her.

“When did you hire Danny? Are there some security issues that I’m not aware of?”

“Carmen,” Solomon said, “is this why you’ve been calling me all day? I’m on vacation, all right? And when did you start questioning my decisions?”

“Well, I—I…It’s just that I thought there was some sort of problem. I didn’t mean to question you,” she said. “Still, if there is a serious security issue, I should be made aware of it.”

“Here’s the thing,” Solomon said. “We have to make sure everyone who works for us is on the up and up. We have to make sure everyone has the proper documentation and that we’re not hiring illegal workers. We discussed this three months ago, remember?”

“Right. I’m sorry,” she said.

“Do me a favor. Don’t call me unless it’s an emergency,” he said.

“Of course. Sorry.”

Solomon snapped his phone shut and headed to his room. He had a dinner to prepare for and nothing was going to stand in his way.