Irresistible You (36 page)

“I hope someday you find what you’re searching for,” she said instead of answering his question.

“I have.” He took a step toward her then stopped cold.

“Good evening.” Both Juliet and J.T. looked surprised. Senator Randolph Kingsley walked up beside Juliet and placed his arm around her waist protectively. He reached out with his free hand to shake J.T.’s. “How do you do? Senator Randolph Kingsley.”

J.T. obliged, “J.T. Evans.”

“Yes, of course, it’s good to meet you. E-Corp has very generously contributed to my campaign and been a welcome partner in a few of my public school computer programs. Thank you for all your support, it’s greatly appreciated.”

“Don’t mention it.” J.T. nodded but kept his eyes on Juliet.

“Juliet, are you ready to leave?”

“Yes,” she looked at J.T.. She could have explained everything right now and end this misunderstanding, but having J.T. believe that she was involved with Randolph was better. That way he’d let go easier and she could get back to her life. “Goodbye J.T.. All good things must come to an end. An old friend told me that.”

A muscle visibly tightened in his jaw. He nodded curtly while accepting Randolph’s hand again.

“A pleasure meeting you,” Randolph said and guided Juliet back into the main hall. They met Patricia standing, waiting in the doorway. She’d caught the last part of the conversation. She leaned toward Juliet as they prepared to leave. “What was all that about?”

Juliet sighed with boredom. “That was the aftermath of J.T. dumping me earlier this evening.”

“Are you okay?”

“Probably not.”

J.T. turned his back and stared out at the darkness.
Women.
He was beginning to think that Trey and his many theories about women and love were beginning to make sense. How desperate was that?

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Five card stud, play ‘em like you see ‘em, nothing wild,” Trey said as he tossed cards around the circular table as four red chips piled into the center.

“J.T.?”

“J.T., yo man, you all right,” Dennis Hayes asked. J.T. finally looked up. All eyes around the table were staring at him as Trey continued dealing the cards. He looked at Dennis questioning.

Trey looked up. His eyes connected with Raymond Gates sitting right next to him. Raymond nodded, questioningly. Trey smiled and shook his head sadly. He knew exactly what was up.

“The pot’s light,” Dennis said as he pointed to J.T.’s stack of chips.

J.T. nodded and tossed a red chip into the center of the table. It rolled several times then stopped and fell alongside the others. He picked up his cards and absently glanced at them.

The conversation quickly turned back to Raymond, the recently returned newlywed. Tony had led the pack in teasing him mercilessly all evening. “Black men do not go to Switzerland on a honeymoon,” Trey said as he dealt the last five cards to those sitting around the table. He placed the remaining cards in a neat pile near him. “It’s just not natural. Tahiti, Brazil, Hawaii, even Paris as a last resort, but not Switzerland.”

“Why not Switzerland,” Raymond asked.

“Simple, Switzerland is cold with a lot of chocolate and a lot of watches. A honeymoon my friend,” Trey said, “means having your new bride in as many skimpy outfits as possible one hundred and fifty percent of the time.”

“Another theory,” J.T. asked plucking two cards from his hand and tossing them in the center of the table. Trey replaced his two cards with those from the pile.

“Precisely,” Trey confirmed and pointed to Tony.

A collective moan sent the room in a loud, boisterous debate on the perfect honeymoon location led by Tony and Raymond, the only two married men in the room.

“I hear Buenos Aires is perfect for a honeymoon,” Trey said pointing across the table to Dennis.

“St. Thomas.” Dennis followed suit tossing three cards in. Trey replaced them from the pile.

Tony tossed two cards down. “A honeymoon can technically be on the moon as long as you’re with the woman you love,” he said as Trey pointed and gave him two in return.

“Switzerland was perfect,” Raymond smiled knowingly. He tossed two cards and accepted two in return. “Snow-capped mountains, beautiful scenery, crisp fresh air, skiing in the morning, shopping in the afternoon, and sitting close by the fire drinking champagne and eating chocolate while coming up with interesting ways to warm each other. Cold nights, hot love, sexy, and sensuous, believe me Switzerland was the perfect honeymoon spot.”

Trey pulled three cards from his hand, tossed them aside and replaced them with cards from the pile. He collected all the tossed cards and set them aside. The room hushed as each man looked at the cards in their hand studying and calculating the possibilities as they nodded, grudgingly admitting that Switzerland might not be bad location after all.

“I’m in,” J.T. said and tossed two chips onto the pile.

“I’ll see you,” Dennis said, following suit with two chips then added another two, “and I’ll raise you ten more.”

Tony eyed the men at the table and glanced at each one’s face card. He shook his head conceding “too rich for my blood. I fold,” he tossed his entire hand into the discard pile. “Egypt,” he continued to the silent room, citing his own honeymoon location. “The Pyramids, the Sphinx, Cairo Museums, treasures from ancient times, floating on the Nile by moonlight and following in the same footsteps as our ancestors, Egypt and Africa was perfect.”

“No way. Who wants to honeymoon in a thousand degrees? You and Madison got that roaming the desert on a camel stuff. Give me a cool breeze, but not Switzerland’s twenty below,” Trey said pointing to Raymond. Raymond tossed four chips into the pile. Trey continued, “…And give me warm temperatures, not Egypt’s hundred and ten degree weather. I’ll take something nicely tucked in the middle maybe with a little gambling just in case I get adventurous, maybe someplace like Aruba or Rio,” Trey said and tossed his chips into the pile and pointed to J.T.

“We’ve decided to go to St. Thomas,” Dennis added.

Heads nodded. St. Thomas was an excellent location for a honeymoon they all agreed, although Trey added that to party, a short ferry ride to St. John would definitely be in order.

After the conversation finally slowed, Tony looked at Trey. The poker game had come to a complete halt.

“J.T.” Trey said. Getting no response, he shrugged and nodded his head toward his distracted cousin.

“J.T.” Tony said.

“J.T. yo man, you all right man?” Dennis asked. J.T. finally looked up. All eyes around the table were staring at him again.

“J.T. man, what’s up? You feeling okay, you’ve been distracted and moping around here all night,” Raymond said.

“I know that look,” Tony said.

“Don’t mind him,” Trey answered. “He’s got a virus.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Raymond said as he laid his cards on the table face down. “What kind of virus?” The doctor in him immediately took over.

“Call,” J.T. said as he added two chips and turned his hand over. Each man followed suit revealing their cards. After sizing up the hands, Dennis chuckled and pulled the chips towards him. “I knew you were bluffing,” he said as Trey gathered the cards, shuffled and prepared to deal again.

J.T. glared at his cousin sitting beside him. Trey instantly began laughing as Raymond cut the cards. “Doctor, gentlemen,” Trey began, “My dear cousin here has contracted the worst of all viruses, no cure, no medicine, no treatments, no known antidotes and always completely fatal.” He began dealing the cards. “It leaves you mindless and whipped for the next seventy plus years. Two words my friends,
lovicuois jonesious
.”

“What?” Dennis asked looking at J.T. concerned.

“Love Jones,” Raymond said deciphering Trey’s
attempt at Latin.

“Exactly, and he caught if from Ms. Juliet Bridges.”

“Who’s Juliet Bridges?” Raymond and Dennis asked.

“You two have to get out more,” Tony said jokingly. “She’s a dancer.”

“Ooh, a dancer,” Dennis said tossing three cards to Raymond. “Nice.”

“Not bad,” Raymond said as his fist tapped lightly with Dennis’.

“Actually she’s a ballerina, and she’s infected our poor comrade here,” Trey said.

J.T. glared at Trey. “Can we please just play the game?” He said suddenly interested in playing their monthly game of poker. His annoyed tone only aggravated the situation as the four men sitting at the table burst into laughter.

“J.T. we’re not laughing at you man. We’ve all been there. We’re laughing with you,” Raymond said picking up his three cards and arranging them in his hand.

“Speak for yourself, I’m laughing at him,” Trey said as he tossed two cards toward Tony.

“Okay, wait, guys let him talk,” Tony said. “How’d you meet her?”

“Mamma Lou, how else,” Trey said.

Laugher erupted instantly as finger-pointing and howls of amusement surrounded J.T. Dennis pulled out his blackberry and started scanning to see who’d won their wager. “I knew you were next, I knew it,” he repeated several times.

“Now it makes sense, my grandmother strikes again,” Tony said well aware of his grandmother’s expertise in matchmaking with his wife Madison. “She’s got a better batting average than Hank Aaron.”

“My advice,” Raymond began, “Mamma Lou’s matchmaking is like going down in quicksand, the harder you struggle the quicker you fall in love. You wind up fighting a losing battle. Just relax and let it happen.”

Laughter continued as each man reminisced about Mamma Lou’s matchmaking and the ultimate reward of finding their soul mates.

“Well sorry to disappoint you all, but not this time,” J.T. shouted above the laughter. “Mamma Lou had nothing to do with me meeting Juliet, so all the bets are off.”

“That you know of,” Raymond said remembering how Louise got him and Hope together by purposely eating almonds and winding up in the emergency room under her care. “My grandmother can be very sneaky.”

“True that,” Tony began as he reached his beer bottle across the table to tap Dennis and Raymond’s bottle lightly. “Remember Madison came to Crescent Island and stayed at the cottage for rest and relaxation. Even she was in the dark when it came to Mamma Lou’s plans for the two of us.”

“Well unless she can blackout an entire city and a good part of the east coast and Canada, she had nothing to do with this.”

“Okay, okay, wait,” Dennis said waving his hands to calm the loud rowdy bunch. “If it wasn’t Mamma Lou who set you up, then who was it?”

“Nobody set us up,” J.T. confirmed.

“So how’d you meet her? Let’s face it you’re not exactly the kind of guy who hangs out at the opera and the ballet,” Dennis questioned.

“There was a blackout about ten months ago in Manhattan when I was there to speak at a conference. Everything was eventually cancelled. I couldn’t get back to the apartment so I checked into a small hotel in the Village. Juliet was in line at the desk in front of me. Because of the blackout, the hotel was cash only. She didn’t have enough. I didn’t have enough so we pooled our money and got the last available room.”

 Trey, Raymond, Tony and Dennis all looked at each other. “Mamma Lou,” Tony said. The room erupted with laughter again.

“There’s no way,” J.T. assured them finding it difficult to be heard over the howls, hoots and whoops of joy.