Say You Need Me

When she saw him, Serena Childs very nearly
choked on her mouthful of succulent, medium-rare sirloin—the best darn steak she’d had in a long time. Her eyes first bulged with stunned disbelief, then narrowed with bitter realization, while the morsel of beef lodged in her throat. He’d seen her, no doubt about it, and as if he were some stranger casually flirting with her from the restaurant bar, the bastard had actually had the nerve to smile.

Somehow, Serena managed to swallow her food without gagging. “That shameless son of a
bitch!
”

Startled by Serena’s outburst, Kiana, Serena’s younger sister by a year, flinched and dropped her silverware. The knife and fork clinked as they landed on her plate. Her eyebrows bunched together as she regarded Serena with concern. “What is it?”

Serena and her sister were at a restaurant on Miami
Beach’s Ocean Drive, seated at an outside table. Until now, Serena had been enjoying the lovely March evening. Just a hint of a breeze floated off the Atlantic Ocean, and the lively sounds of a salsa band made the atmosphere festive. Just the type of ambiance Serena had been looking forward to after a very stressful week.

Now, one look at the slime ball who had made her last few weeks a living hell, and the evening was ruined.

Kiana looked over her shoulder, following the direction of Serena’s gaze to the restaurant’s outdoor bar. She turned back to her sister and frowned. “What?”

“I don’t believe it,” Serena replied, her gaze never leaving the lying jerk’s face. “It’s
Cecil
.”

Kiana’s jaw dropped to the table. “
Cecil
Cecil? As in—”

“Cecil Montford.”

“Oh, my God.” Kiana whipped her head around, scanning the crowded outdoor patio and bar. “Where is he?”

“He’s on the far side of the bar. Dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans.”

After a moment, Kiana said, “Oh, yes. There he is.”

Serena scowled at the back of her sister’s head. Kiana’s voice was dreamy, as if they were talking about Cecil the sweetheart, instead of Cecil the world-class prick. Having met Cecil once when they’d all gone out for dinner, Kiana had been very impressed with him. Afterward, Kiana had crooned on and on about how gorgeous and charming Cecil was, how he definitely knew how to treat a woman right. She’d been as smitten by him as Serena had.

Clearly, Kiana was still smitten.

Not that Serena could completely blame her. He
was
drop dead gorgeous fine, which was why Serena had been so flattered by his attention. Most of the time, Serena
dressed in comfortable, roomy clothes when she went to work at the library—far from glamorous. She didn’t own a mini-skirt, and the only time she wore tights was when she worked out—and even then she wore an oversized T-shirt to cover her hips and thighs. Usually, she opted for her glasses over her contact lenses, which helped contribute to her dull librarian image. So, at first, she hadn’t been able to understand what such a gorgeous man would want with a woman like her. Men like him didn’t give her a second look. But as she’d spoken with him time and time again when he’d come to the library, making it clear with his kind words that he was interested in her, she’d slowly let down her guard.

After witnessing her parents’ wonderful love affair, Serena had held out her whole life for Mr. Right, and Cecil had finally seemed like he could be The One.

She gritted her teeth at the memory. She couldn’t have been more wrong if she’d thought she was going to marry the Pope.

Kiana turned back to Serena, her short braids swaying as she moved. Instantly, her large brown eyes grew wide with alarm. “Serena! God, what are you trying to do? Strangle the wineglass?”

Startled by her sister’s comment, Serena’s gaze dropped to her hand. Her fingers were tightly wrapped around the wineglass’s stem as though she planned to snap it in two.

Not a bad idea…if it was Cecil’s neck.

Again, Serena looked at Cecil. How could he sit there so casually, eyeing her as if he hadn’t done a damn thing wrong? Seeing her staring at him, Cecil raised his wineglass and smiled.

“Oh, no. He did
not
do what I think he just did. Did you see that?” Serena asked incredulously, flitting her eyes between Kiana and Cecil. “I can’t believe he’s…he’s
flirting
with me!”

“Hmm.” Again, Kiana’s voice got dreamy. “Yeah, he’s a charmer. Too bad he turned out to be such a jerk. Damn, he really is good looking.”

What was wrong with Kiana? Serena had expected nothing less than outrage from her overprotective, worry-wart-by-nature sister. Instead, she seemed to be off in lala land, still unable to escape Cecil’s charm, despite what he’d done.

Casting another glance in his direction, Serena lifted her wineglass and took a liberal sip of her cabernet sauvignon, needing something to wet her throat. No doubt about it, Cecil was fine. Even now she couldn’t help noticing his striking brown eyes, his I’m-gonna-make-you-love-me smile. And maybe it was the restaurant’s lighting, but he actually seemed more attractive tonight than she’d remembered.

That had been her problem from the beginning. Falling for his pretty boy good looks and charm had gotten her into this mess.

Still, it was hard to reconcile the reality that the attractive man twenty feet away from her could have done something so heinous.

As if reading her thoughts, Kiana commented, “With that
mmm baby
look he’s giving you, you’d never think he’d split town with all your money.”

“I know.” Serena frowned, wondering what his game was. Was he going to flirt with her all night from afar, or was he finally going to approach her and give her some
lame excuse for what he’d done? Clearly, since he wasn’t ignoring her, he must be planning to give her some line of bull. Otherwise he would have hightailed it out of the restaurant before she’d seen him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of their overly chipper waiter. Smiling from ear to ear, he placed another glass of red wine on the table before her.

“I didn’t order this,” Serena told him.

“I know,” he replied in a singsong voice. “This is compliments of the gentleman at the bar.” The waiter nodded in Cecil’s direction.

Startled, Serena whirled her head around to face Cecil. He flashed her another one of his sexy smiles, the type that had stolen her heart in the first place.

God, he really did have a lot of nerve.

Well, this time his charm wouldn’t work.

Until now, Serena hadn’t been sure how to handle the situation. Approach him? Wait until he approached her? But, as he continued to make goo-goo eyes at her, she knew exactly what she’d do.

He just wouldn’t like it.

“Excuse me.” Serena pushed back her chair.

“Serena,” Kiana said, her tone wary. She threw a hand out to grab her sister’s arm, but Serena was already out of her chair.

Serena picked up the glass of wine.

“Serena, I don’t think—”

Serena took a step, then halted. Her sister was right. Why waste a good glass of wine? She put it back on the table. Then, she gave her sister a saccharine grin as Kiana stared at her from worried eyes. “This won’t take long.”

“Serena…”

Ignoring her sister, Serena casually approached the restaurant’s outdoor bar. Cecil’s smile widened as she neared him, revealing perfect pearly white teeth. Either he thought she was completely clueless, or he figured he could actually explain away the last few weeks. She’d love to see the jerk explain away the fact that his cell, business, and home numbers had been disconnected—right after he’d left her that cryptic note about having to leave town on some emergency.

“Hey, there,” he said.

Hey, there?
He’d taken off with her family heirloom, her check for ten thousand dollars that she’d given him as a down payment for her antique jewelry store, and he was greeting her with a
hey, there
?

“Hey, yourself,” Serena replied flippantly.

Cecil’s eyes crinkled as he grinned at her, and damn if Serena’s heart didn’t do a little jiggy in her chest. Yes, he looked especially handsome tonight, definitely more so than the last time she’d seen him. Why her heart should do a hyper pitter-pat now, given what he’d done to her, was beyond her.

Nerves,
she told herself, squaring her shoulders.

“So,” he said, chuckling softly.

Serena mimicked his chuckle, then abruptly gave him an evil glare. “
So?
You take off with ten grand of my money and all you have to say for yourself is
so?
”

Cecil’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

“Oh, now you have no idea what I’m talking about. Let me guess,” she continued, raising her voice and placing a hand on her hip, “you’ve never seen me before, right?” She guffawed. “Is that part of the scam once you’ve been caught? To make
me
look crazy?”

“Actually, you do look kinda—”

Whack!
Serena swung her hand back, then slapped Cecil upside the head. Her palm stung from hitting him with such force, but she didn’t dare show that she’d hurt herself. Besides, the pain was overshadowed by the feeling of intense satisfaction.

She’d wanted to do that—and more—for nearly three weeks.

Cecil’s hand immediately went to his injured jaw.

“That’s for stealing my money,” she told him, not caring that everyone within earshot was listening. “And for taking the necklace my grandmother gave me—God, the sight of you makes me
sick
. I’d ask why you did it,
how
you could do it, but I know all I’ll hear from you are lies. You…” She faltered, but went on. “You never cared about me. I can’t believe I was so incredibly stupid to believe a word that ever came out of your lying mouth.”

“Wait a second—”

“No,
you
wait.” She shook a finger at him while doing a quick neck rotation, full of attitude. “I want my money back. And my great-great-great grandmother’s necklace. You know that means everything to me.”

“If you’ll let me get a word in—”

“I don’t want to hear a word out of your slimy mouth.”

Cecil’s eyebrows shot together. “
Slimy?
”

“If you have one decent bone left in your body, do the right thing.” Serena blew out a ragged breath, her body suddenly trembling. “Look, I can live without the money…but the necklace.” She hated that she had to beg this jerk for what was hers, but she’d do whatever it took to get back the heirloom that had been in her family for generations. “Even if you keep the money, at least re
turn the necklace. You know where I work; you can bring it there.” She looked him up and down with distaste. “God, I curse the day I ever let you into my life.”

Cecil was speechless, and Serena’s satisfaction grew. She had never caused such a public display before, yet she wasn’t embarrassed by her behavior. Humiliating Cecil was entirely worth it. She only prayed that she got her point across and he would do right by her.

He opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, but before the lying bastard could say a word, she turned and stalked back to the table where she’d left her sister.

Her concerned expression replaced with a smirk, Kiana gave Serena two enthusiastic thumbs up. And then a smile erupted on Serena’s face, the first genuine smile she’d had in nearly three weeks.

“Damn it,” Darrell exclaimed, nursing his cheek as he watched the crazy woman who’d just publicly chewed him out stomp away. He felt the beginnings of a welt forming on his face.

Who would have thought the demure-looking woman could pack such a punch?

Groaning, Darrell glanced around the bar where he sat. While the place had been buzzing with chatter only minutes before, it was now significantly quieter.
Everyone
—wait staff, bar staff, managers and restaurant patrons—was looking at him, some scowling, all no doubt thinking that he was a first-rate asshole. Why would such a sweet-looking woman publicly humiliate him unless he deserved it?

It didn’t matter that he’d never seen the woman in his life. Everyone here thought they were intimately involved, and that he’d screwed her over royally.

God, this was priceless.

He’d certainly picked the wrong woman to flirt with.

Making eye contact with the guy next to him, Darrell gave a sheepish smile, but the older man merely shook his head and glanced away.

So much for relaxing his first night in Miami.

The hell of it was, Darrell couldn’t blame her for thinking she knew him. Two seconds into the woman’s tirade, and he had known she’d mistaken him for his good-for-nothing scamming twin brother, Cecil. Clearly, she was another casualty left in Cecil’s wake.

Surreptitiously, he stole a glimpse of her. But she saw him look, and she glowered. So did the woman sitting with her. Groaning, Darrell turned.

What had his brother done this time?

All his life, Darrell had been dealing with crap his brother had gotten into. Hell, that’s why he was here in Miami now. But good grief, he was too old for this. How much longer would Cecil have him picking up the pieces of the messes he made? And once, just once, Darrell wanted someone to look at him with happiness and relief, not disgust and scorn. But that would probably never happen, considering he was Cecil’s identical twin and Cecil had screwed over people all across the country.

Darrell snuck another peek at the crazy woman. Part of him wanted to head over to her and explain who he really was, if for no other reason than to mollify his bruised ego. But with the evil look she continued to give him, he knew she wouldn’t buy a word he said.

Darrell glanced around and saw that everyone still stared at him like he was one of America’s Most Wanted. No, forget explaining anything to the insane woman. It
was time he hightailed it out of here before any other scorned women came out of the woodwork.

“Excuse me.” Darrell stood and summoned the bartender. The attractive redhead already had his check in hand as she approached. Giving him a nasty scowl, she slammed it down on the bar in front of him.