Читать книгу Secret Attraction - Donna Hill, Donna Hill - Страница 9

Desiree had always known that her twin was determined and single-minded. However, she’d never been on the receiving end of all that focus, and in the first twenty-four hours of their pact, she was already regretting it.

“First I thought we could do some double-dating. Chris, a guy I met a few weeks ago on the tennis court, has some really great-looking friends,” Dominique was saying while she sipped her orange juice.

Desiree groaned. “Dom, you make me sound like some kind of castoff.” She pushed back from the kitchen island counter and walked to the sink.

“Okay, how about this? What if I just invite Chris and one of his friends over here? That way, no pressure, only a friendly gathering at the pool.”

Inwardly, Desiree cringed. She must have been out of her mind or truly desperate to have agreed to this. “Fine,” she said on a breath of frustration.

Dominique clapped and hopped up from her stool. “I’ll give Chris a call.” She pranced out of the kitchen.

“Hey, sis, why the long face?”

Desiree glanced up to see her brother Justin en route to his favorite spot in the house—the refrigerator. Every time she looked at her handsome younger brother, she was reminded of their mom: they both shared the same open and welcoming countenance.

“Oh, just thinking about some issues at work. How is school going?”

He shrugged. “Easy semester. Just looking forward to graduation.”

“It will be here before you know it. Do you think you’re going to take the consulting job or the congressional aide position?”

“I’m still deciding. Both opportunities are great. I want to make the right decision.” He took a carton of eggs and a package of bacon out of the fridge.

“You will.” She smiled. “I have all the confidence in the world in you.”

“Thanks. Man, I sure miss having Lee Ann around.” He took the eggs and bacon to the stove and took down the frying pan from the hanging rack overhead. “She always had breakfast ready on Sunday morning.”

“Yep, Lee Ann always had everything under control. We were spoiled.”

“When is Grace coming back?”

“Hopefully soon, sweetie, and then things can get back to normal,” she teased.

Grace Howard was their longtime housekeeper, who’d gone to her native home of Grenada for more than two months, leaving shortly after Lee Ann’s wedding to take care of her ailing mother.

“She said her mother is much better and getting up and around.”

“That’s good. I mean, I wouldn’t want her to leave her mother but she sure is missed around here.” He lined up the bacon and the pan sizzled.

“Well, I will leave you to your cooking. See you later.” She patted him on his broad shoulders and walked off.

Located on the ground floor of the sprawling mansion were two home offices, one that Desiree used and one that her father used when he was in town. Even though it was Sunday and she could have been lounging on the pool deck, there was paperwork that she wanted to go through to prepare for a community forum later in the week. Rezoning was a major issue in the parish and the residents wanted to have their say.

Just as she was settling down to work, the opening and closing of doors and the sound of voices drifted to her from the front of the house. Her heart tumbled. Pushing back from the desk, she crossed the room to the partially opened door.

Dominique’s laughter floated to her, followed by the rugged baritone of Spence. A slow heat moved through her, even though all she could make out was the impression and resonance of his voice, not the words.

She held the frame of the door to keep her feet from moving by the magnetic pull of him. He’d obviously come to see Dominique and placing herself in front of him for some trumped-up reason would only make her look ridiculous.

Drawing in a long breath of resolve, she shut the door and returned to her computer. She was determined to focus on the work at hand even as images of her and Spence together, with her body wrapped around his, continued to battle for control of her senses.

As Spence followed Dominique through the house, he took surreptitious looks around in the hopes of spotting Desiree. The house was relatively quiet aside from the faint sounds of music coming from one of the upstairs rooms, which he assumed was Justin.

“So to what do I owe this surprise?” Dominique asked, leading the way to the back patio.

“I decided to take the Mustang for a ride and wanted who else but my best girl in the passenger seat.”

“You’re just the sweetest,” she cooed, turning to him and lifting up on her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek. Her warm brandy-toned eyes moved slowly over his face. She used her thumb to gently wipe the lipstick from his cheek.

Why couldn’t this be Desiree? he thought, taking her hand and kissing the inside of her palm. “Are you game?”

“When have I ever not been game?” She flashed him a wicked smile. “Let me run up and change. Make yourself at home. You know where everything is.” She darted off and left Spence on the patio.

He walked over to the railing and looked out onto the expansive lawn. The Lawsons lived well, he mused. They were part of the elite of Louisiana. Yet, each member of the Lawson clan was as ordinary as the next person. None of them were known for lauding their family name and using their clout to get what they wanted. They worked hard in their chosen fields and didn’t look for a free ride, although their name provided entrée into any door that they wanted opened.

The sound of the sliding door opening behind him turned him in that direction. His nostrils flared as he drew in a short breath.

“Hey,” said Desiree.

“Hey, yourself. I didn’t know you were here,” he answered.

“Tucked away in my office. Last-minute stuff. I thought I heard a car pull up.”

“Yeah, I brought over the Mustang, which I’d been working on. Came to see if Dom wanted to go for a ride.”

“Hmm.” She glanced at her sandals for a moment. “Well, you guys enjoy yourself. I’m going to get back to work. Good to see you.”

She started to close the door.

“How did you like the show last night? I didn’t get to see you afterward.”

She was half in the door. “It was great. I had a wonderful time and, of course, the dinner was superb.” She smiled. “I dreamed about you—it all night.” Her face burned. Why did she say that?

“So did I … I mean, I have these crazy dreams sometimes before a big … event.”

She leaned against the door frame. “You don’t strike me as someone who gets … lets things get you all worked up … sleepless.” Oh, God, she was babbling.

Spence gripped the railing behind him to keep from walking right up to her and taking her in his arms the way he’d been dreaming about when he finally did fall asleep. “You’d be surprised.”

“I’m sure I would.”

“You should come more often.”

The air stuck in her chest. She knew good and well what he meant but her libido had taken charge. “Come?”

“To the club.”

She ran her tongue lightly across her lips. “I don’t get out as much as I should.”

“All work?”

“Something like that.” She ran her hand absently along the door frame. “Especially with the elections coming up and all of the local referendums.” She finally felt the floor beneath her feet again, having moved the topic to something that she could manage.

“Yeah, the whole rezoning thing,” he said, nodding his head as he spoke. “I’ve been following you—it, in the papers.”

Her eyes widened ever so slightly in pleasant surprise. “A very hot topic for the community. The rezoning will bring business but at the expense of much needed housing.”

“There has to be a middle ground,” he said, his expression tightening in thought. “I know from experience the good, the bad and the ugly about gentrification.”

“Experience?”

He nodded. “Back in Memphis, where I grew up, the same thing happened. City claimed eminent domain and ran a highway through the neighborhood, pushed people out and built a mall.” He expelled a mirthless laugh.

“I’m sorry, that must have been horrible. How old were you?”

“Hmm, ‘bout fifteen. Old enough to be angry, but not old enough to do much about it.”

“What did your family wind up doing?”

“They gave my mother some money for our place.” He glanced off, back to that unsettling time in his life. “We moved into a walk-up apartment in a three-family house.”

In all the years that she’d known Spence this was all a revelation. She knew he wasn’t born in Louisiana but had no idea that Memphis was home or that he was raised by a single mom. Desiree watched the montage of emotions crease his brow, tighten his casual body language and put a hard edge in his voice. That experience, she sensed, changed him somehow. Forced him to see the injustices of life, perhaps too soon.

Spence blew out a breath and returned from that place he’d put behind him and smiled at Desiree. He opened his mouth to speak just as Dominique appeared behind her sister. Desiree stepped out of the way.

“Good seeing you, Spence. Enjoy the ride!” She gave a short wave and walked away.

Dominique slid her sunglasses on her nose. “Ready?”

“Sure.”

He walked alongside Dominique as they rounded the house from the back to reach his car on the driveway.

“She sure is a beauty.” Dominique ran her hand along the high-glossed side.

Spence glanced at the house and could have sworn he saw someone drop the curtain in the window. “Yeah, she is.”

Desiree turned away from the window, mortified at the thought that she might have been caught staring. She felt as if he’d looked right at her—or through her. Why did she even care? He hadn’t come to see her. He’d come to see her sister. He never even asked if she wanted to come along. Why should he? She would have just been a third wheel.

She pushed out a long breath. Yes, Patrice and Dominique were right. It was time she got a life and put a man in it. She reentered her office and shut the door behind her.

“Where are we headed?” Dominique asked, leaning back against the cool leather as the warm Louisiana wind blew around them. She rested her elbow against the frame of the open window.

He should have asked Desiree to come along. Although he was pretty sure she would have said no. She’d never seemed interested in whatever he and Dominique might be doing together, whether it was a day at the shore, going out for drinks with friends … parties. She always had “other plans,” which was why he was so surprised to see her last night. And seeing her had only stirred up all the desires he’d kept under a lid. She was the real reason he’d come to the Lawson home in the first place.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Huh?” He snatched a glance in Dominique’s direction.

She pursed her lips in feigned annoyance. “I asked you where we were going. If you don’t have any place special in mind, I want to pop by and see Rafe for a minute. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Not a problem.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No. Why?”

“You seem distracted or out of it.”

He chuckled. “Naw. I’m good.” He turned to her and winked.

She cut him a look from the corner of her eye, studying his stiff profile, which was so out of character. Spence was usually so laid-back and relaxed, always an easy smile on his face. But today his entire body was tight and inflexible. He barely looked at her, and when he did, it was as if he didn’t really see her. And that was something she certainly wasn’t used to. She ran her fingers through her short, spiky hairdo and wondered what was really on Spence’s mind.

“How’s the new program going at the agency?”

Dominique shot him a look. “Oh, you’re talking to me now?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I might as well not even be here for all the attention you’ve paid to me since I got in the car.”

“Now you’re being silly.”

Her neck jerked back. “Silly?”

“Yes, silly.”

She folded her arms tightly beneath her breasts and pouted.

Spence inhaled deeply. He and Dominique had been close for years. He’d grown accustomed to her moods and her often irrational feelings of being ignored. It had taken him a long time to understand that it wasn’t him or anything that he was or wasn’t doing; it was pure insecurity on her part. At times it could be endearing, and he’d want to comfort her and make it all go away; other times it was totally frustrating. He knew it was why she was always flamboyant, the party girl, the one who needed to be noticed. And when she wasn’t, she pouted, like now.

“So are you going to tell me how the program is going, or are you going to keep those luscious lips poked out until we get to Rafe’s house? My mama always said, ‘If you do your mouth like that, your lips are gonna stay that way,’” he said in a bad falsetto with a heavy Southern twang.

Dominique turned to look at him and rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh.

“It’s going fine. Thank you very much for asking.”

Dominique was the executive director of First Impressions, a nonprofit agency that provided clothing and training to disadvantaged women and single mothers. She’d recently been approved for a grant to fund a GED program.

“How many students so far?”

“Can you believe we already have a waiting list?” She shook her head in wonder.

“Yeah, actually I can. Lotta people are struggling out there, Dom. All they need is a chance.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I don’t think I ever realized how much until I started the agency.”

“You do good work.” He turned to her. “I’m proud of you.”

She reached across the gears and squeezed his hand as the car drew to a stoplight. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.” Her eyes held his for a moment.

He turned his attention back to the road. “Rafe’s town house is on the next street, right?”

“Yep. Third one from the corner, on the left.”

“Does he know you’re coming?”

“No.”

“Dom, suppose he’s … busy.”

She chuckled. “What else would be new?”

“I’ve been trying to get him to come down to the club and play. He’s always busy,” Spence said, pulling into Rafe’s driveway.

Dominique got out of the car and shut the door. “You should’ve told me. I would have spoken to him for you. Rafe can never tell me no.”

They stood in front of the door. Spence turned to her. “Who can?”