The Savvy Sistahs (7 page)

Amber’s throat went dry and she swallowed hard as she closed the distance separating them. Only standing a few feet away, she could feel the warmth of his body and could smell the scent of his aftershave. It was a manly fragrance and she found herself inhaling deeply to let it consume her nostrils. When she realized just what she was doing, she forced herself to look at the display.“Well,yes,especially this time ofthe year, romance novels are big sellers.”

He raised a dark brow. A very dark and gorgeous brow. “Why’s that? I thought Valentine’s Day was when people got silly and fell in love.”

She raised her own brow. He sounded a bit cynical although there was a teasing smile at the corners of his lips. They were lips that looked pretty damn naughty, but oh so nice. “Actually, people who believe in true love can fall in love at any time. But the reason we have a special display is because other than the summer months, late fall is the hottest time for reading and a lot of women like to read to escape.”

“Into fantasy land?”

“If you want to call it that.”

“I do.”

“Then what should women call it when guys become absorbed in books about superhuman heroes, creatures from the deep, Star Trek flicks, pets coming back from the dead, invisible men, and flying cars? Now that’s the stuff that sounds pretty much like fantasy to me. I find nothing whimsical about two people in a committed relationship.”

He bowed his head to fully meet her gaze and smiled. Then he released a deep, tumbling sound of laughter from deep within his gut. “Hey, lady, you got me there. You’ve definitely put me in my place.”

Amber smiled. “Not at the expense of losing a potential customer, I hope.”

He shook his head, still smiling. “No, not at all. I like women who speak their minds.” He glanced around again. “Do you own this place?”

“Yes.”

He looked at the huge sign inside the shop. “So you’re Amber?”

“Yes,” she responded, and wished he didn’t look so appealing. His nose was straight and his mouth was full, very full yet slightly curved. And she suddenly wondered how it would feel to spread her own mouth over that mouth and tinted a darker shade of brown at the thought. His voice sounded pretty damn good too. She could feel the goosebumps forming on her arms.

“Well, from what I can see you have a real nice place here. How long have you been in business?”

“For almost two years. In fact I’m having an anniversary party in a few weeks and you’re welcome to come.”

“Thanks, but for now I’ll just settle on that pleasure read.”

She nodded and stepped closer to him. “Before I make a few suggestions of my own, do you have anything in mind?”

“A friend recommended a book by Walter Mosley.”

Amber nodded. “Good recommendation. I take it you like mysteries?”

“If it will relax me, then yes.”

She chuckled. “Trust me. A good book can do more than relax you. It can carry you into another world if you get that absorbed in it.”

He braced his tall frame against one of the counters. “Really? I take it you like to read.”

“Yes, I love books. I use to be a librarian, so that should tell you a lot. And I take it that it’s just the opposite with you.”

He nodded. “I only read when I have to, mainly because I usually don’t have the time. I’m much too busy these days. I’m an accountant and tax season is fast approaching.”

Well, I’m glad you’ve decided to chill awhile and do some pleasure reading. If you like this book then please come back for others. We have a vast assortment of them here.”

He glanced around. “Yeah, I can see that.”

After Amber had shown him a copy of Walter Mosley’s latest book he agreed he would buy it. He also decided to buy a romance novel— out of curiosity and nothing else—and told her he would probably give it to his secretary since she had a birthday coming up.

When he handed Amber his credit card she glanced at the name. Cord Jeffries. “Will there be anything else for you today, Mr. Jeffries?”

“No, these two items should do it.”

“All right.”

After giving him his total, she presented the sales slip for his signature. She couldn’t help noticing his hands, how big and strong they looked. She bet they were hands that could evoke the most stimulating kind of passion and literally drive a woman insane. Amber cleared her throat when he slid the pen and sales slip back across the counter to her. He even had a real nice signature.

A few seconds later, she handed him the bag containing his books and the receipt. “Thanks for your business, and I hope you come back.”

His eyes lightened and he smiled. “I intend to.”

It was late afternoon when Brandy let herself into her suite. She’d had a meeting with the committee in charge of hosting the Florida Classic. Everyone was gearing up for the game that would be played in three weeks. Plans were in place to assure that every person who stayed at her hotel was well taken care of.

She dropped her briefcase and purse down on the sofa, and plopped down beside them. She decided to just stay in tonight and watch a movie and order something from room service instead of cooking herself. She appreciated the kitchen in her suite but tonight didn’t want to use it.

She stood and was just about to go in the bedroom to remove her clothes when she saw the note someone had placed on the breakfast bar counter that separated the kitchen from the living room area. She snatched it up immediately, recognizing the writing from yesterday’s note.

Brandy frantically glanced around the room. Everything seemed in place but someone had gotten into her suite and left another note. This one was just as creepy as the one before. Cold chills immediately swept up and down her spine.

She snatched up the phone to call security.

Chapter 6

S
o, who did you end up going out with last night?”

Sonya met Carla’s gaze over her glass of water. She had declined the waiter’s offer of wine since she had consumed enough alcohol last night to last her a lifetime. And even now, some of what had happened was still pretty foggy, but the one thing she did remember was leaving Sylvester’s with Dalton Gregory and participating in the most intense and enjoyable sex she’d ever had in her life. And to think she’d never liked the man. Well, she certainly hadn’t been thinking that last night. “

I went out by myself,” she responded. There was no way she was telling Carla she had slept with Dalton. “

By yourself and you didn’t come home?”

Sonya gave her a smirty smile. “Carla, a woman who goes to Sylvester’s doesn’t really expect to come home—at least not alone.”

Carla leaned back in her chair with a deep frown on her face. Anyone living in Orlando knew the place. It was a very trendy restaurant and bar that had a not-so-glowing reputation as a pick-up place. “I guess you must have had a purpose for going there.” She really didn’t expect Sonya to answer and almost dropped her mouth open when she did.

“Yes, I needed to have sex with somebody last night and in a big way. Nice, hot, sweaty, mind-boggling sex. Safe sex, of course, but sex just the same.”

Carla shot her another frown. “And all because I couldn’t meet you for dinner last night?”

“No, I would have been in a bad way regardless, but at least talking to you would have taken the edge off things some, since you’ve become such a Goody Two-shoes these days. And since you didn’t have time for me, I found time for myself. Although I had to compete against all those young, hot, and easy college girls that were there. However, once it got past their bedtime then I hit gold. It felt downright sinful sitting in a bar with a bunch of men who were oozing with testosterone, knowing they were aching for something I had.”

Carla shook her head. Sonya sounded like an outright slut. “I hope you know what you did last night.”

Sonya smiled and thought of just how far she had gone with Dalton and just how far he had gone with her, and she had no complaints. “Hey, chill, let’s not get uptight. It’s not the first one-night stand I’ve had, and probably won’t be the last. And if I remember correctly you’ve been involved in one yourself? Little Craig wasn’t conceived with a vibrator.”

Carla frowned as she took another sip of her drink. “This discussion is about you and not me, Sonya. What is with you these days? Why all this misplaced jealousy when it comes to my relationship with Brandy and Amber? Why do you see them as a threat to our friendship?”

Sonya glared across the table at her. “Mainly because they are. The last several times I needed to talk to you, you were somewhere with them.”

“Yes, and no matter where we go I always invite you to come along.”

“I did once and I felt totally excluded from the conversation. The three of you have things in common that I don’t, like men problems.”

Carla leaned back in her chair. “Yes, and we admire you for that.”

Sonya lifted a brow, surprised. “Admire me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because in all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never let any man get under your skin and hurt you the way the three of us have been hurt. All we’re doing is trying to overcome a difficult period in our lives, as well as trying to survive in the business world out there. That’s what me, Brandy, and Amber have in common. With you and me it goes back farther than that and it’s even deeper. You were my friend when my mom and Clark wouldn’t give me the time of day. Then when Dad died, I don’t know how I would have made it without you sticking closer to me than a blood sister. You were there with me through that ordeal with Jesse Devereau; let’s not forget Mom’s obsession that I let him know that I’d gotten pregnant and when I refused to do so, how she turned her back on me. A person couldn’t ask for a better friend than you. I love you and I’m sorry if I let you down by not being there for you when you needed me.” Carla wiped a tear from her eye.

“Damn, Carla,” Sonya said, pushing back her chair and going over to Carla and giving her a huge hug, not caring that they were causing a scene in the restaurant.

“I’m sorry, too. Things have been so funky with Mom. She’s about to drive me to drinking. In fact she did. Last night I got so balled over in Sylvester’s that the bartender offered to call me a cab. But that was before someone offered me a ride to their place to spend the night.”

Carla wiped her eyes and broke off their hug. Sonya went and sat down. “You nut. What if the person had turned out to be a mass murderer or somebody?”

Sonya smiled through her tears. “Hey, he was okay and it wasn’t like he was a total stranger. He was someone I knew, although we’ve never hit it off before.”

“Until last night?”

Sonya chuckled. “Yes, until last night. And boy, could he do the thang. He plumb wore out this little body of mine.”

Carla shook her head. “You know you’re downright awful, don’t you?”

“Yes, and I’ve always been that way so don’t act surprised. You know I’ve always depended on you to keep me straight.”

Carla hugged her friend, smiling. “Well, it’s a tough job but I guess somebody has to do it.”

Sonya couldn’t help laughing. “Yeah, you are so right.”

Perry Hall glanced at Brandy. She was standing in the same spot he’d left her in when he’d started making a thorough check of her suite. He had been about to leave for the day when she had frantically summoned him telling him only that someone had been her in suite. Although she claimed nothing was missing, it was apparent she was pretty shaken up and believed her claim although he could find nothing to support it. Everything looked pretty much in order.

“I checked the entire suite and couldn’t find anything. Are you sure someone else other than the cleaning lady has been here?”

Brandy met his gaze. “Yes, I’m positive.” She would not tell him or anyone at the hotel about the threatening notes she’d received. “I’ve been back up here a couple times after she left this morning, and this evening when I returned I noticed a couple of things out of place.”

He sighed. The only things she’d told him were out of place were some items on her kitchen counter. How a woman could rightly remember exactly how she’d left things beat the hell out of him. He had a gut feeling she wasn’t telling him everything. “I’m going down to the front desk and cut you a new passkey and recode the security panel box in the private elevator. No one will have access to this entire floor except for you. I’ll make arrangements with housekeeping to only let their person come when you’re here or for you to buzz them up. The same thing will apply to room service.”

“Thanks, I’d really appreciate it.”

He nodded. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

She sighed deeply. “Yes, I’m fine, and I’d prefer if you didn’t say anything about this to anyone, Mr. Hall.”

“All right, Ms. Bennett. I’ll be back in a few minutes with that new key.”

An hour or so later, after Perry Hall had returned and gone, Brandy was still pacing the room. She had questioned her secretary, Donna Fields, when she’d come in that morning and the older woman had told her that other than the cleaning crew no one had dropped by her office. However, Mrs. Fields said that she had left early for a dentist appointment yesterday.

Brandy couldn’t shake the thought that someone was deliberately trying to scare her, and what bothered her the most was that she didn’t know just who among her employees she could trust. Most of them had worked for her ex-husband and still might feel some type of loyalty to him, even Perry Hall. Lorenzo had been the one to promote Mr. Hall to his present position and she couldn’t forget Lorenzo’s threat to her the last time she’d seen him. He’d sworn that she would be sorry for taking the hotel away from him.

Brandy stopped in front of the window and sighed deeply. There was no use freaking out since there was absolutely nothing she could do right now other than involve the police and she’d already tossed aside that idea. But the thought that someone had been inside her suite was unnerving.

She had checked around the apartment several times to make sure none of her personal things had been tampered with. It seemed whomever had come into her suite had not used forced entry and had dropped off the note and left without touching anything else.

Twice she had started to call her cousins to brainstorm with them for ideas on how she should handle things, but each time she reached over to pick up the phone, she had changed her mind. Rae’jean, Alexia, and Taye had come up with an idea to get her out of one mess, she didn’t want to depend on them to come up with another. This was going to be something that she would have to handle on her own. The hotel was hers and she refused to let anyone take it away or scare her away.

She jumped when she heard the telephone ring and for a moment almost didn’t answer it, but then changed her mind. It could be room service asking when she wanted her dinner delivered. She inhaled deeply, doubting very seriously that she would be able to eat anything tonight.

Walking over to the phone she picked it up on the fourth ring. “Yes?”

“It’s about time you answered.” Her cousin Taye’s voice came in loud and clear. “Rae’jean and Alexia are on the line, too. We thought we’d better call to let you know the latest. Cousin Sophie called a few minutes ago, hollering and screaming that your mom told Uncle Victor about his surprise birthday party just because since she didn’t get an invitation.”

“If you ask me, he knew about it anyway,” Rae’jean piped in, laughing at the dramatics involving her family back in Macon. Living in Boston kept Rae’jean pretty isolated and she depended on Taye to keep her updated.

“Yeah, but that’s what they get for not inviting Valerie,” Alexia added, grinning over the line. “They should know after all these years that your mama doesn’t get even, Brandy, she gets spiteful.”

After a few moments Taye, Rae’jean, and Alexia noticed that Brandy had yet to make any kind of comment.

“Brandy, you still there?” Alexia asked with concern in her voice.

“Yes, I’m still here,” Brandy said in a soft voice. Any chance of calming down had gone completely out the window the moment she’d heard her cousins’ voices.

“What’s wrong, Brandy? You don’t sound like yourself,” Rae’jean asked, matching Alexia’s concern.

Brandy took a deep breath. “I don’t feel like myself either,” she answered, close to tears. She had tried being brave, but she couldn’t any longer. The truth was that she had become a nervous wreck and was scared senseless.

“What is it, Brandy?” Taye asked in a direct, you’d-better-tell-me-what’s-going-on voice. “What’s happened?”

Brandy dropped down on the sofa and told them the only thing she could: “I’m being stalked.”