No Other Lover Will Do (19 page)

“Oh my God,” Serena said. “Do you two ever come up for air?”

“Shut up, Serena,” Jade said. “Be careful, Kandace, and have fun.”

“Says the woman who married the first man she met on vacation,” Alicia quipped.

Kandace smiled as Solomon placed the tray on the night table beside the bed and then crawled onto the bed beside her. “All right, girls,” Kandace said as Solomon's hand snaked up her thigh. “I'll call you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” the women said in concert.

Kandace hung up the phone and turned her attention to Solomon. “Did you come in here to rush me off the phone?” she asked.

“Come on, you're lying here in that and I'm supposed to stay in the room while you're in here?” Solomon asked as he kissed her collarbone. “Besides, I didn't want the chocolate to get cold.”

“Sure you didn't,” she said with a sly smile. Solomon handed her the mug of hot chocolate and laughed.

“All right, so, I came to rush you off the phone. I know how you women get. You probably could've stayed on the phone for hours, just talking about me,” he said with a slight chuckle.

“And why do you assume my friends and I were talking about you?” she asked. “Women can talk about things other than men.”

“But you don't and we love it,” Solomon said as he picked up his mug of hot chocolate.

Kandace sipped the rich drink and closed her eyes in satisfaction. “I'd better get dressed,” she said as she set the mug on the nightstand.

“Now, why would you do a thing like that?” Solomon asked. “When I was just sitting here admiring the lovely view.” He ran his index finger down the length of her arm.

Kandace swatted him away. “Because I want to try out my waterproof suit. And you can take it off me when I'm dripping wet.”

Solomon inched his hand between her thighs. “And you're telling me that you aren't right now?”

Kandace clamped her legs shut on his hand. “That's for me to know and you to fantasize about. Put on your layers, Crawford. We're going to play in the snow.”

He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “You are such a kid.”

“That's right,” she said. “And unless you want me to throw a fit like a five-year-old, you're going to hand me that ski suit.”

“All right, all right,” he said as he rose from the bed. “Whatever Kandace wants.” Solomon headed into the sitting area and got the outfit she requested. When he returned to the bedroom, Kandace was leaning against the doorjamb with her panties in her hand.

“I changed my mind,” she said. “I want to play with you instead.”

He tossed the suit over his shoulder and pulled Kandace against his chest. “Let the playing begin,” he said.

 

After two hours in the store with Rorie, Carmen was ready to leave. She wanted to get as far away from the loquacious man as possible. He'd told her about his dead wife, who'd passed away three years ago after a bout with cancer. Then he told her about his thirteen grandchildren who lived all over the country. His oldest grandson, Trey, was in the navy in Greece and always e-mailed pictures, but he could never view them unless his younger granddaughter came over and pulled up the Internet for him.

Carmen looked out the window as he launched into a story about the family reunion last summer when it was more than ninety degrees every day and the state was in a horrible drought. “They couldn't turn the water hose on and—”

“Look,” Carmen said, “the plows are clearing the roads. We can get out of here.”

“I was having such a good time talking to you, Sherry, that I didn't even pay attention to what was going on out there. You're going to leave now?”

“I think I made my boyfriend suffer enough. I bet he's worried about me since we don't know anyone around here,” she said as she hugged her blanket against her chest.

“Well, you be careful out there, little lady. You want a cup of coffee to go? Take one of those travel mugs and fill it up. And you can come back anytime for a visit,” Rorie said as Carmen took a dusty travel mug from the shelf and filled it with coffee. She knew she'd need the warmth when she got back to the resort—unless she could use her pass key card to get in the room in the basement. There, she could hide out and catch Kandace off guard. Then she would get rid of her, and Solomon would have no choice but to turn to her and finally fall in love with her.

I know he loves me and when he understands how long I've loved him and how I will do anything for him, he will give me the chance I deserve,
she thought as she put the top on her coffee mug and waved to Rorie. She shivered as she stepped outside in the cold air and rushed to her car. Before leaving, she filled the car with gas just in case she had to sleep in the car. Arriving at the resort, she was happy to see that the police cars were gone. Did that mean they thought she was gone?

Carmen smiled. Kandace wouldn't know what hit her.

The sun was starting to set when Kandace and Solomon woke up naked and satisfied. He stroked her forehead and smiled at her. “Tell me that you had more fun in this bed with me than you would have had rolling around in the snow,” he said.

“Of course I had fun with you,” she replied with a smile on her face. “But I hope you don't think this gets you out of playing in the snow.”

“Not at all,” he said as he nestled against her.

“Good, then let's go outside and play before it gets too dark and the streetlights come on,” she joked.

“They had streetlights in Guam?” Solomon asked with a laugh.

“On the army base where we lived, yes, and my mom didn't play with me getting in the house late. She had rules and regulations,” Kandace said. “But she didn't apply those rules to her own life all the time.”

“Was it hard growing up on an army base?”

Kandace nodded. “It seemed like as soon as you made friends, they left. That's why Alicia, Serena, and Jade are so important to me. A lot of friendships don't last past college, but we all needed different things and found it all in each other.”

Solomon nodded and got a far-off look in his eye. “Yeah, I know what it means to have someone who has your back.”

“You're thinking about your friend?” she asked.

Solomon nodded. “Danny would've loved you,” he said. “He wouldn't have believed that I'm so into you.”

“You're so into me?” she asked.

“Very,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. “Otherwise, I wouldn't be getting ready to get out of this very warm bed to play in the snow. The extremely cold snow.”

Kandace stroked his cheek, wishing she was brave enough to tell Solomon that she felt as if she was falling for him. But the fear of his reputation and the distance between them kept her mouth closed. What if she did tell him how she felt only to turn on E! in a few days and see him kissing another supermodel? How did she know it was even safe to entertain being in love with him? Carmen was still out there and she was obsessed with him.

“Well,” Kandace said. “I guess we'd better get dressed.”

Solomon stopped her from getting out of the bed. “What's wrong?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I told you how I felt about you and I got the silent treatment,” he said.

“Solomon, we can't know that anything will happen…”

He placed his index finger to her lips. “I don't want to hear that anymore. I can make anything happen and we're not over when your vacation ends.”

“Please don't disappoint me,” Kandace said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “I've seen and had enough disappointment in my life and I don't want anymore. I don't know if I could take it.”

“I'm going to tell you something that I've never told another woman. I would never do anything to hurt you. You opened up something inside me and I care about you.” Solomon stroked Kandace's back. “I'm not going to let you down.”

Kandace turned around and faced him. “Don't make promises that you can't keep.”

“I don't make promises. If I say it, it will be done,” he said as he pointed his finger at her chest. “What about you? I got a heart too.”

“I told you, I'm not a heartbreaker,” she said. Solomon pounced on Kandace, pushing her back on the bed.

“I hear you, but prove it to me,” he said, then kissed her on the neck.

“I will, as soon as we get outside, now get off me!” she said as she pushed against his shoulder.

“All right, all right.” He laughed as he rolled off her.

After they were dressed and bundled in their coats, hats, and gloves, Solomon and Kandace headed over to the beginner's ski mountain. While some more advanced skiers had taken to the slopes, Kandace and Solomon were basically alone in the snow. When he wasn't looking, Kandace made a snowball and tossed it at his back.

“Hey, that's not a snow angel,” he said as he turned around armed with his own snowball. He threw it at Kandace and she ducked out of the way of the first one, but Solomon's second shot hit her in the midsection.

“I'm going to get you,” she said as she rushed toward him and pushed him. Solomon fell and pulled Kandace down on top of him.

“I think I got you,” he said as he rolled over on top of her and kissed her. Kandace wrapped her legs around his waist as he brushed his nose against hers. “Are you wet yet?”

“This suit is incredibly warm,” she said with a laugh. Solomon rolled over on his back beside Kandace.

“All right, let's do this,” he said as he extended his arms and began making a snow angel.

Kandace followed suit and laughed like a little girl as she watched Solomon. She rose to her feet at the same time that he did. “I think my angel looks better,” she said.

“That's because she has a cute little figure,” Solomon said. “Let's build a snowman.”

“Who's the kid now?” she asked with a sweet laugh.

“Still you, because you're the one who started throwing snowballs when we got out here,” he said as he started rolling snow for the base of the snowman.

Kandace started piling snow and shook her head. “You know, I had the VHS tape of
Frosty the Snowman
and I remember telling my mom that I wanted to build a snowman and bring it to life. She said if we ever got snow in Guam, it probably would come to life.”

“I bet,” he said. “We never played in the snow in New York. Richmond was too busy sitting in front of the fireplace reading Shakespeare when it was snowing outside, and my parents wouldn't let the nanny take me out because she said I'd probably pound her with snowballs. So, I was stuck in the house with my brother.”

“Were you and your brother ever close?” she asked as they raised the midsection of the snowman on top of the base.

“Not really. Richmond always wanted to tell me what to do and I don't follow orders,” he said.

“I'm so surprised to hear that,” she said sarcastically, then broke out in a fit of laughter.

Solomon stood back and looked at their handiwork. “This snowman looks like he would ride a short bus to the North Pole.”

“Maybe that's because it doesn't have a head?” she said.

Solomon shook his head. “We suck at building a snowman,” he said as he rolled a ball for the head.

Kandace cocked her head to the side and looked at the pile of snow. “I guess you're right,” she said. “That is one ugly snowman.”

“It's probably going to scare the kids, too.”

“So, the great Solomon Crawford can't do everything,” she said with a laugh. “I wish I had a camera.”

“I'm glad you don't,” he said. “You probably have a Facebook page that you would post this picture on.”

“Actually, we have a Facebook profile for the restaurant and I'm pretty sure the page hasn't been updated since I've been gone,” she said.

“Were you all work and no play before this vacation?” he asked as he leaned on the snowman.

“According to my friends, yes. And, honestly, I was. I'd work nearly thirteen hours a day because I didn't have anything else. Jade's a newlywed and a new mom. Serena's trying to pretend she's not falling in love, and Alicia is trying to make everyone who didn't believe in her see that she is everything that they said she'd never be.”

“Wow, you don't seem to be the kind of women anyone should take lightly.”

“We're not, but people make that mistake all the time,” she said as she crossed over to him.

“If you have a snowball in your hand, it's on.”

“What if I was coming over here to kiss you?” she asked with her hand behind her back.

Solomon met her in front of the snowman and she tossed her snowball at him. “Dirty,” he called out as she hit him in the stomach with her hidden snowball.

“I'm done, I'm done,” she cried out as Solomon lifted her in his arms and spun her around.

“But I'm just getting started,” he said, then captured her lips.

 

Carmen fought tears as she watched from the woods and saw how happy Solomon looked as he played with Kandace. She'd never seen him act that way and she knew there was something different about the way he felt about Kandace. But he was giving his feelings to the wrong woman, again. Just like the woman he'd almost married, Kandace wasn't good enough for him. Her friends wanted to use him and they'd probably sent Kandace to the resort to seduce Solomon, get him to come down there, and bring national attention to that business crap the other woman was talking about on the phone. Carmen swore that she wasn't going to let those bitches hurt the man she loved. More than that, she wasn't going to stand by and watch Solomon fawn all over this woman who didn't know him or love him the way she did. She inched closer to the line of trees next to the hill where Solomon and Kandace were. As he kissed her, Carmen dug her nails into her hand and fought the urge to scream. He should be kissing her, frolicking in the snow with her, and smiling at her the way he did with Kandace.

I hate her. I hate her!
she repeated in her mind over and over. Reaching for her blanket, the gun she'd been carrying fell on the ground. She ran her finger across the cold black steel. “I could kill her right now,” she muttered. “She deserves to die.”

Carmen picked up the gun and pointed it at Kandace's back, but before she pulled the trigger, Solomon spun her around and dipped her as if they had been dancing. Carmen dropped the gun as she saw that firing it would strike the man she loved. “Solomon, why won't you give me a chance?” she whispered.

She took off toward the resort and crept around to the employee entrance. Luckily for her, the door was cracked open. Earlier in the evening, Carmen had discovered that her pass key card didn't work. She pushed the door open and walked into the locker room. She glanced around the corner, making sure no one was inside to see her. Carmen grabbed a pass key card from one of the housekeeping carts and headed to the stairwell. Resting against the wall, she took a deep breath. It felt good to be inside, but she knew she had to move fast before someone saw her. Carmen wondered if Solomon and Kandace were staying in her suite or his. This was going to end tonight one way or another. Carmen checked her waistband to make sure the gun was still there. As she was about to walk up the stairs, she heard the door open. Carmen quickly ducked underneath the stairs as she heard two housekeepers walking up them.

“It's a shame about Anita,” one of the women said. “And the police still don't know who did it.”

“I miss that bossy woman,” the other woman said. “Whoever killed her should just come forward and confess. She never bothered anybody.”

Oh please, shut up. If that woman hadn't gotten in my way, she'd be alive,
Carmen thought as she listened to the women walk up the stairs. When she finally heard the door close behind them, Carmen came out from underneath the stairs and dashed up to the fifth floor. She entered the Wonderland Suite and saw that it was empty.

“I should've known she moved into his suite. I bet she's been telling him how she's so afraid and needs him to protect her,” Carmen muttered. “Well, no more. I'm getting my man back and she's just going to have to deal with it.”

 

Kandace sighed as she sipped a hot latte in the café with Solomon. Her hair stuck to her neck as the snow melted from all the rolling around they'd done on the hill. “I had so much fun,” she said as she leaned over the table and touched the back of his hand.

“Fun? You wore me out,” Solomon said. “You're worse than a kid.”

Kandace smiled. “I know you're not one to talk about wearing someone out. You've been doing that to me since we met.”

“Whatever,” he said with a grin. “I dare you to say that you didn't like it.”

She stroked his hand. “I never said I didn't. But, I need to get out of this suit and wash my hair.” Kandace sopped up water from her neck.

“I told you, incredibly wet,” he said, then tweaked her nose.

“Let's go upstairs so that you can take my clothes off and warm me up even more,” she said with a wink.

Solomon dropped a few bills on the table to pay for their drinks, then he and Kandace quickly headed up to his suite.

Once they made it inside, Solomon kicked off his boots before turning to Kandace and unzipping her ski suit. He pushed the garment off her shoulders and kissed her neck as he continued to take the suit off. When she was standing there in just her thermal underwear, Solomon sighed. “You seriously have on too many clothes.”

“Did you really think I was going to roll around in the snow in just the ski suit? I'll be naked when I get in the tub if you get it started now,” she said. Solomon winked at her as he pulled his clothes off and headed into the bathroom.

Kandace slipped out of her thermal underwear and followed him into the bathroom, where he was filling the whirlpool tub with water and bath oil. She slipped behind him and kissed him on his neck.

“What did I do to deserve that?” he asked, turning around and smiling at Kandace in her birthday suit.

“Everything,” she said. “I had a lot of fun with you and…”

“It's not over,” he said. “I was thinking that I should go back to Charlotte with you at the end of the week.”

“Don't you have work to do?” she asked.

“I'm the boss. I work when I want to,” Solomon said as he pulled her into his lap. He dipped his hand in the tub and sprinkled water on her stomach. “After everything that's been going on, I don't want to go back to New York right away.”

Kandace wrapped her arms around his neck as he turned the water off. “Are you all right?”

“Sometimes when I sit down and think about Danny and Carmen, I can't believe how things have changed,” he said. “I don't want to get caught off guard again. I want to live in the moment and spend many of those moments just like this.”