Blueprint for Love (3 page)

“
Going to Candace’s speech
for some uppity business folks is not my idea of fun,
Ronnie!”

Ronnie laughed. “Then, why are you
going?”

“
To make sure you get your
tail there.”

“
Always looking out for
me. I’ll see you soon.”

Ronnie hung up, smiling. She couldn’t be too
mad. At least someone cared about her. Quatara had the best of
intentions. The moment they met over ten years ago, Ronnie knew
they were kindred spirits. It was a time when Ronnie really needed
a friend too. Her marriage was already showing signs of strain. Her
husband, Frank was always deployed somewhere, and whenever he did
return home, it was as though they were strangers. The love was
gone. The passion was definitely gone. It was a wonder their son,
Jovan was born. It happened one of those nights when she was
feeling sorry for herself and Frank was feeling horny.

What was it called? Mercy Sex?

When she found out she was pregnant, she was
depressed for eight months. It was the second time around for her.
The first had ended in a miscarriage. She was devastated. While
most women would have been happy for a second chance at having a
baby, she dreaded it. To face another pregnancy alone was
petrifying. Of course, Frank was on a tour of duty for most of the
time.

She figured maybe they could stay together
for Jovan’s sake. She was willing to give it a try. She promised
when Frank returned, she would work harder at their marriage. But
he never came back. He died in service to his Country. It seemed
death shrouded each of her pregnancies. Only this time, she had a
beautiful baby boy. God had blessed her.

Thankfully, those dark days of depression
were now behind her.

Without warning, a loud pop punched the air.
Her Beemer lurched to the right and back again, like an amusement
park ride. She held the steering wheel in a death grip.

“
What the
hell—?”

Thinking she’d hit something in the road,
she slowed down and pulled over to the shoulder. When she jumped
out to inspect the damage, she noticed the rear tire on the
driver’s side was flat.

She groaned. What else could go wrong
tonight? She was already running late. It was getting darker with
each passing moment. Instead of feeling inconvenienced, she was
scared. She’d never had to change a flat tire before. She had no
idea where to start.

Why wasn’t I more prepared?

She fought against the tears pricking the
backs of her eyes. Crying would not resolve the situation. She
reached for her cell phone. She would call roadside assistance. She
glanced at the battery indicator. It was dangerously low. She was
saving her last bit of juice for an emergency.

This definitely constituted an
emergency.

She thumbed through her phone contacts until
she found the number.

“
Thank you for calling ABC
Towing,” a feminine voice chirped. “How may I—?”

Suddenly, the line went dead.

Dammit! Her luck had finally run out on
her.

A flat tire.

A dead battery.

A dark road.

Could things get any worse?

She grumbled aloud, “This is all because I
didn’t leave work in a timely manner.”

Now she was paying the price.

She heard an eerie howl that made her jump
out of her sensible office shoes.

What was that? A coyote? A wolf? There are
no wolves in Miami! Are there?

She placed a nervous palm over her heart.
She should probably just wait in her car. But wait for what? With
no phone and no possibility of help, she would have to sit here
until daylight or until another car came along.

Just as the depressing
thought entered her mind, she saw a pair of headlights in the
distance. She watched with trepidation as the car came closer. It
looked like the vehicle was slowing down.
Please Lord, she prayed, don’t let it be a serial killer.
Please, let it be some helpful elderly gentleman who’s harmless and
knows how to change a tire.

Ronnie held her breath as the car came to a
stop near the front of her Beemer, on the opposite side of the
road. From the size of the massive shadow, she could tell it was an
SUV, but she had no idea what make and model. The driver side door
opened, and a tall figure emerged. He walked toward her. In the dim
light, Ronnie had to squint to see the man approaching.

Broad shoulders.

Charcoal wavy hair.

She knew that face!

Her breath caught in her throat as she
suppressed the urge to groan aloud. On one hand, she was relieved
it wasn’t a stranger. On the other hand, this was the last person
she wanted to rescue her.

The man’s eyes widened when he saw her. He
threw her a cocky grin. “Ms. Jones. Fancy meeting you again.”

Vic could tell by the look on her face,
Ronnie ‘Ice Queen’ Jones was not pleased to see him. The feeling
was mutual. He was on his way to take care of some important
business. The last thing he needed was to be held up by a woman who
looked down her nose at him.

“
Car broke down?” he
asked.

She shook her head. “No. I’ve got a
flat.”

As he stepped closer, she visibly trembled
beneath his gaze. She was wearing another pantsuit, and the weather
wasn’t cool enough for her to be chilly. So, he assumed he was the
reason for her discomfort.

If he were a woman stranded on a dark road,
he’d probably be apprehensive too.

Don’t feel sorry for her. She wasn’t feeling
sorry for you when she turned you down flat.

He shook off his negative thoughts. Not even
time spent in the joint had hardened him to the point of not
caring. Despite their rocky introduction, she needed his help. He
bit back a grin. For all her high and mighty ways, there was
something Ms. Ronnie Jones couldn’t do for herself. She needed
him.

He’d change her flat and be on his way. It
was the decent thing to do.

“
Pop the trunk,” he
ordered. “I’ll change your tire.”

“
Oh, thank you so much.
That is so nice of you.”

“
Yeah, I’m that type of
guy—nice.”

Ronnie joined him at the rear of the car.
Her floral-scented perfume played havoc with his senses. He opened
the trunk and pulled out a black sequined dress encased in a clear,
plastic garment bag. Wordlessly, he passed it to her. Then, he
searched the roomy depths of the trunk. The cavity was big enough
to store a dead body. He peeled back the carpet and frowned.

“
Where’s your spare?” he
asked.

She stood beside him. “I don’t know.”

“
It should be right here.
Have you had a flat tire recently?”

“
Yeah, right
now.”

He shot her an annoyed look. “I mean before
tonight.”

“
No.”

He slammed the lid of the trunk down.
“Without a spare tire, I can’t help you.”

“
What does that mean?” she
demanded.

“
It means you ain’t goin’
nowhere.”

Her eyes grew wide. “How is it even possible
that I don’t have a spare? This is a new car!”

He shrugged. “It’s your car. I don’t know,
but in my experience, all luxury cars have a spare. Looks like
somebody gypped you at the dealership. Have you tried calling
OnStar for a tow?”

She gave him a sheepish look.

“
Let me guess,” he
interjected. “It’s disabled.”

She nodded. “I didn’t think I needed it. It
was an unnecessary expense.”

“
I guess that’s how rich
folks stay rich. Cutting out all the extra costs.”

“
I’m not rich.”

He glanced at her designer shoes and gold
jewelry. “Okay, whatever you say.” If that wasn’t rich, he knew
plenty of folks who wouldn’t mind being ‘Ronnie Jones’ poor. “Is
there someone else you can call?” he asked. “A roadside service? A
friend?”

“
My battery on my cell
phone is dead.”

He sucked his teeth, making a disapproving
sound. “Good thing I came along when I did. You are totally
unprepared for a flat tire on a dark, lonely stretch of road.”

She smirked. “Can I use your phone? I’m late
for a very important event and I need to let someone know.”

He pulled his cell phone from the back
pocket of his jeans and passed it to her. He watched with interest
as she dialed a number and then hung up, frustration clouding her
pretty features.

“
Dammit! There’s no
answer,” she said.

He grinned. “Not
the
Ms. Jones cursing?
The model of propriety.”

“
This model wants to kick
something.”

“
And violence too? What
would your clients say?”

She ignored him and tried dialing two more
numbers. He waited as she left a voicemail letting someone named
Marlowe know that she was running late.

She punched in another number without
success.

“
Looks like nothing is
going your way tonight, Ms. Jones. I know how you feel. I had a day
like that earlier this week. Has that ever happened to you? You
have a hopeful day and one person comes along and pisses all over
your parade?”

He knew she knew he was referring to the day
of the interview.

“
I should have left
earlier,” she moaned, obviously oblivious to his feelings. “Then, I
wouldn’t have had to have taken this short cut.”

She really was too caught up in her own
drama to focus on what he was saying. He glanced around at the dark
outlines of shrubbery along the ground. The plants looked like
little monsters that could come alive at any time. He took this
road all the time. He’d never given any thought to how dark it was.
Standing in the glow of the high beams of his Explorer made him
realize how vulnerable a person could be out here.

“
You shouldn’t be taking
this short cut,” he said.

“
Why not? You’re taking
it.”

“
I’m a man.”

Her full mouth transformed into a scowl.
“There you go with that sexist attitude again.”

“
That’s not what I meant.
It’s safer for me. If I get stranded, nobody’s gonna tangle with
me. A beautiful woman alone at night is a different
story.”

“
Is that your way of
paying me a backhanded compliment?”

“
Maybe.”

She blew out a frustrated breath. “Okay,
listen. There’s only one solution here. You’re going to have to
take me to this event.”

“
What? Lady, you must be
crazy. I need to get somewhere ASAP.”

“
Well, so do I. And I’m
headed in the opposite direction.”

He shook his head. “No can do. My event is
extremely important.”

“
So is mine,” she battled
back.

“
I don’t care if you’re
meeting the Pope. I’m on a mission. I’m due to pick up a young lady
in twenty minutes.”

The crestfallen look on her face almost
touched his heart. Almost. He was sorry for her predicament, but he
couldn’t screw up tonight. Besides, he’d been planning this for
weeks. Ms. Jones was obviously used to flying by the seat of her
pantsuit.

“
Sorry,” he told her, “but
failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my
part.” He delivered the line he’d heard on some TV show.

A resolute look of determination flickered
in her eyes. “I’ll flip you for it.”

“
Flip a coin?”

She smirked. “Well, I certainly can’t flip
your body weight.”

His heart stuttered a beat as he conjured a
mental image of her trying to flip him, tangled in silk sheets, her
long legs wrapped around his torso. No, she couldn’t flip him, but
it would be fun as hell to let her try.

“
I’m talking about a coin
toss,” she confirmed. “Heads you win. Tails I win.”

He waved her away. “No thanks.”

“
I thought you were a man
who took chances, Vic Romano. I thought you grabbed life by the
horns.”

“
I don’t know where you
would have gotten that notion.”

She shrugged. “I took a wild guess. Was I
right?”

He thought about his days before prison.
Days when he’d made rash decisions without considering the
consequences. Those actions had cost him dearly. “Maybe once. But
not now.”

She was undeterred. “C’mon, don’t be such a
wuss.”

That word wasn’t even in his vocabulary. Ms.
Jones obviously didn’t know what type of man she was dealing with.
“Fine. I’ll do it, if it means you’ll leave me alone and I can get
on about my business.”

He pulled a quarter from his front jeans
pocket. With a quick flick of his wrist, he flipped the coin
skyward, caught it in his palm, and slapped it on the back of his
hand.

Tails.

Damn.

“
I win!” she declared. A
triumphant grin stretched across her sensuous lips. Finally, he did
one thing to make her smile. Too bad it was at his
expense.

“
Let me get my purse,” she
said. She walked toward her car, still holding his cell phone when
it rattled in her hand. In the dark, he saw the oversized screen
light up with a familiar pretty face. Big, innocent eyes and long
blonde hair stared back. The name, ‘Andrea’ popped up on the
display.

“
Shit!” he huffed,
reaching for the phone. “I’ll take that.”

He plucked the phone from Ronnie’s hands.
Now, Andrea would be wondering where the hell he was. The last
thing he needed was to be at the mercy of two females.