Brandi’s eyes remained downcast, her attention focused on the tissue she was shredding in her hands. “My mom also mentioned she’s very beautiful. I believe breathtaking was the word she used.”
“She is,” Adam agreed, “on the outside.”
“I see.” Her eyes were still downcast.
“I don’t think you do. Superficial beauty isn’t good enough for me anymore.”
“It was enough for you to ask her to marry you.”
Adam ran a hand over his head. His short engagement to Jade seemed like a lifetime ago. His life and goals had done a complete turnaround since they were together.
“I admit, at the time, I thought she was what I wanted,” he said. Her and Brooks Brand, he thought, but was too embarrassed to divulge it to Brandi.
Still, he needed to give her some kind of explanation.
“Long story made less long, Jade wanted Adam the prominent businessman, not Adam the unemployed, wannabe pastry chef.”
“Has she changed her mind?”
Adam shook his head. “No, she wanted to know if I’d changed mine. For the record, I haven’t. I count leaving my old job and Jade breaking it off with me as the second and third best things to happen to me in a long time.”
“And the first?”
“Meeting you.”
Finally, a hint of a smile tugged at her mouth, and she threw up her hand in a dismissive wave. “You’re smoother than your chocolate ganache.”
Adam rose from the sofa. He walked over to the chair she was sitting on, took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “You believe me, don’t you?”
She averted her gaze and chewed at her bottom lip. “I want to…”
Adam lifted her chin with the tip of his forefinger until her eyes met his. “You can trust me, Brandi.”
His hopes dipped as she slowly shook her head. “It’s just… I’ve been burned, and yes, I know you’re not him. I’m not trying to make you pay for what another man did, but at the same time…”
“I know you have baggage, and it makes it harder for you to take what I say at face value,” he said. “Also, we haven’t known each other very long.”
“Then you understand?”
“I do. Trust isn’t easy for you.” He dropped his finger from her chin, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he held her close, so close he could feel the gentle thump of her heartbeat through her robe.
Finally, he loosened his embrace, but he wasn’t ready to let go. Nor was he willing to give up on her. Or let her give up on them.
“I consider your heart precious cargo. I’ll always do my best to protect it, not break it.”
She brushed her knuckles across his cheek. “That has to be the absolute sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“I mean it.” Adam closed his eyes briefly and blew out a breath, summoning the mental toughness to push aside his desire and keep his personal pledge to do right by this woman. “That’s why I think it would be best if we put the intimate aspect of our relationship on hiatus.”
“So we go back to being simply neighbors?” Brandi asked.
“No, we don’t go back. We move forward as in going out on genuine dates, you know, dinner, the movies, dancing, an occasional concert. It’ll give you time to learn that you trust me implicitly,” he said. “Besides, after last night, we’ll never be simply neighbors.”
Brandi nodded mutely.
“Now get dressed.” He dropped a kiss on top of her head and released her. “You have cakes to taste.”
Chapter 14
“What about this one?”
Brandi glanced up from the rack of dresses to the one Lynn held up. She rolled her eyes skyward at the clingy, silver-metallic material covered in a faux-snakeskin pattern.
“You’re supposed to be helping me pick out a dress, not a Halloween costume,” she snapped.
She and her friend had come to the upscale Green Hills consignment shop after school the following Monday to hunt down a dress for Brandi’s date with Adam that evening. He was taking her to dinner to celebrate the fact they’d perfected his entries for the competition this upcoming weekend.
Thanks to the weeks of torture sessions with Heather, Brandi was down a full dress size, leaving her with a closet full of baggy clothes.
“Geez, you’re crabby these days,” Lynn said. “How long has it been again since you had your special tasting at your neighbor’s?”
“Almost two weeks,” Brandi grumbled. She’d spent the majority of the time kicking herself for, in her silence, agreeing to Adam’s proposal to put the brakes on sex. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, and the best way for her to absolve herself of the trust issues lingering from the whole Wesley debacle.
Now she wasn’t so sure.
Spending time with him every evening, whether going to dinner and a movie or giving input on his latest chocolate creation, was leaving her increasingly frustrated.
One more chaste kiss good-night, and she was going to drag him into her bedroom and slam the door behind them.
Lynn pulled another dress from the rack she was searching through. This one was cherry red with a short skirt and a deep, one-shoulder neckline Brandi hadn’t seen the likes of since a rerun of the movie Flashdance on late-night television.
“This is cute.” Her friend turned the dress around on the hanger to give her a view of the back.
“Yeah, for a hooker attending the Player’s Ball.”
Lynn returned the dress to the rack and planted her hands on her hips. “I wish you’d let him give you a tune-up, because you’re becoming grouchier by the day.”
Brandi turned away from the rack of staid, black dresses she’d been thumbing through and blew out a sigh.
“I’m sorry, Lynn,” she said. “I don’t understand it. Between Wesley and I deciding to abstain from sex after we got engaged to make our honeymoon more special and the six months after our breakup, I went over a year without it. No problem.” She threw up her hands. “I sleep with Adam one time, now two weeks without it has turned me into a royal bitch.”
Lynn shrugged and went back to searching the dress rack. “Maybe with Wesley there wasn’t so much to miss.”
Brandi smirked despite herself. Her friend made a good point.
At the time, Brandi had thought what she and her ex had was perfectly fine. Okay, so it wasn’t earthquake or sky-rocket worthy, but until Adam she’d thought that was all just a bunch of bull Cosmo used to sell magazines to gullible single women.
“Imagine eating a single bite of the most fabulous dessert ever, and then it’s abruptly snatched away,” Brandi said glumly. “Then you’ll have an inkling of how I feel right now.”
“Get your nose out of those grandma dresses and into something like this,” her friend held up a gold spandex dress with the back cut down to butt-crack level, “and Adam won’t be able to keep his hands to himself.”
“C’mon, Lynn, I can’t wear that. He managed to get us a table at Ambience.”
“Then the man must be totally smitten,” her friend said. “I tried calling for reservations after the big write-up about them in the Tennessean, and they were booked solid. The snooty guy who answered the phone told me to try again in a few months.”
“So please help me find an appropriate dress. My old ones are baggy, and I don’t have time to take them in.”
Brandi’s phone rang and she fished it from the bottom of her tartan-plaid bag. Her mother’s number flashed across the small screen.
Lynn peeked at the phone face and shook her head hard. “Don’t answer it,” she whispered as if she feared the caller would hear.
Brandi’s mother had been busy nailing down last-minute wedding details, and they’d
only seen each other once since they’d talked that day at her condo. Brandi had taken her mom out for lunch at her favorite Chinese restaurant last week, where to her credit, Jolene only mentioned her weight twice.
“Hi, Mom,” Brandi said into the phone, ignoring Lynn’s scowl.
Brandi listened as her mother launched into a tirade over Erin’s whereabouts.
“Yes, I did know Erin was taking off to Atlantic City for a bachelorette bash with her girlfriends,” Brandi answered.
Lynn held up another dress, this one a slinky cowl-neck. Only the cowl came down to the navel.
Brandi scrunched up her nose.
“I didn’t try to stop her, Mom. No, she didn’t invite me to come along.” She and Erin were as close as they could be considering their twelve-year age difference. Brandi wasn’t offended her sister hadn’t asked her to join them.
She was trying to abide by her mother’s and Erin’s wishes for her to mind her own business. If her baby sister wanted to enjoy her last days as a single woman partying with her friends instead of attending a traditional bridal shower hosted by her mother and decade-older sister, so be it.
Her mother hit her with another barrage of questions.
“I’m sure she knows it’s February and the wedding is next week.”
Brandi held up an embroidered-lace black sheath for Lynn’s perusal, and her friend held her nose in lieu of a reply.
“If you really need to get in touch with her, I’m sure Maurice has her hotel info and itinerary.”
Apparently, he didn’t.
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, Mom.”
Actually, Brandi did know where Erin was staying, but her sister had sworn her to secrecy. Besides, a few days away from her overbearing fiancé and their mother would be good for Erin.
“Sorry, can’t do it tonight. I have a date,” Brandi said. “Yes, it’s with the gigolo from next door.”
“Gigolo?” Lynn asked, after Brandi had ended the call.
“She’s convinced he’s only seeing me for my money.”
“What money?” Lynn asked, still holding her sides from laughing.
“Didn’t you know?” Brandi snorted. “I’m really a secret millionaire.”
Lynn pulled a scarlet cross-front dress from the rack and held it out to her. Brandi picked up the hem and tried to imagine herself in the formfitting wrap dress with shirred skirt and leg-revealing slit.
“Pretty, but the color is a bit daring, don’t you think?”
“Try it on, Miz Moneybags.”
Brandi checked the price tag before taking the dress and heading toward the dressing room. “Speaking of moneybags, Adam’s been taking me out quite a lot, and I feel guilty about him always paying. After all, I’m the one with the job.”
“Has he complained?” Lynn stood outside the dressing-room door as Brandi changed.
“Just the opposite, he insists. I know his condo’s paid off. Still, he’s living off his savings.”
“He knows best what he can afford, but if you’re concerned then grab the check before he does.”
Brandi stepped outside the dressing-room door to give Lynn a look at the dress.
“Wow!” Lynn’s eyes widened. “You’re looking hot.”
Brandi ventured a look in the mirror, and her reflection caught her by surprise. She did look kind of hot.
“How many pounds have you lost again?” her friend asked.
“Only nine, but I’ve shaved off a lot of inches,” Brandi said. “Heather says I’ve built muscle, and it takes up less room than fat.”
Brandi did another turn in the mirror.
“All I’m saying is if you wear that dress tonight, you may not be so grumpy tomorrow morning.” Lynn winked.
Twenty minutes later, the two were walking out of the store, Brandi carrying a bag with the red dress plus the pair of shoes she’d found to wear with it.
“Do you mind walking around the corner with me?” Brandi asked.
“Not at all. James doesn’t get off his shift until tomorrow afternoon, so I don’t have to make dinner,” she said. “You want to check out the spot for Arm Candy?”
Brandi nodded. She liked walking past her store and imagining how she’d set up business there. Now that the children’s clothing store had pulled up stakes, it was that much closer to being hers.
If only one of the microloans she applied for would come through soon, she thought. So far she only heard from one lender with a rejection.
They rounded the corner and as the store came into view, Brandi stopped in her tracks. The “FOR LEASE” sign was gone, replaced with a “COMING SOON” banner for a gourmet dog-biscuit bakery.
* * *
“We don’t have to do this tonight,” Adam said. “I can make a U-turn, call for pizza and have us home by the time the delivery guy arrives.”
He caught Brandi’s brief headshake in his peripheral vision as he steered the SUV off the interstate onto the narrow downtown streets leading to the restaurant.
She was putting up a good front, but Adam knew seeing the retail space she’d had her heart set on for her handbag boutique already leased had been a tremendous letdown.
“I hope you’re not trying to weasel out of taking me to the hottest restaurant in town,” she said. “Not after I bought a new dress and everything.”
“And a knockout dress it is.” He reached over the SUV’s console and pulled back the flap of her coat. “It’s a good thing you’re wearing a coat, otherwise I might have accidently wrapped the car around a tree stealing glances at those legs of yours.”
Brandi batted his hand away. “Keep your eyes on the road. I’ve looked forward to this meal ever since you told me you’d snagged reservations,” she said. “How did you manage it, anyway?”
Adam shrugged. “In my old life, I brought business associates to Ambience for meals quite frequently.”
Omar, the maître d’ and also the co-owner of the popular restaurant, welcomed them the minute they walked through the door. “It’s been a while. It’s good to have you dining with us again.”
He gave Adam’s hand an enthusiastic shake before taking their coats.
“Glad to be back,” Adam said. He turned his attention to Brandi. “Omar, I’d like you to meet my date, Brandi Collins.”
Omar dipped his head. “Always nice to meet a beautiful woman.”
Adam caught the hint of a blush flush Brandi’s cheeks as she thanked him for the compliment.
“So, how’ve you been, Omar?”
“Business is great, so I’m great,” the maître d’ said. “I saved one of our best tables just for you and the lovely Miss Collins.”
Adam placed a possessive hand on Brandi’s back as Omar led them through the urbane restaurant. She was his, and he wanted the male eyes glued to the woman in the stunning red dress to know it. His date not only dazzled against the restaurant’s understated decor, she made the other female diners, dressed in their cookie-cutter uniforms of boring black, look like attendees at an undertaker’s convention.
“So far, the restaurant certainly lives up to its name.” Brandi glanced around after Omar seated them at a corner table with plush microsuede banquettes on each side. It gave them privacy, but at the same time offered a view of the entire restaurant. “Thanks for the invite.”
“It was the least I could do after all your help with my competition entries.”
She shrugged. “All I did was eat a little chocolate. There isn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t have killed to be in my shoes.”
Adam saw the sommelier armed with the wine list and waved him off. Instead, he ordered soft drinks from the waiter who’d brought their menus.
“You could have enjoyed a glass of wine,” Brandi said. “I wouldn’t have minded.�
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“The only thing I want to enjoy is your company.”
Brandi’s eyes narrowed as she opened her menu. “You’re quite the flatterer this evening. If I didn’t know better I’d think you were leading up to something.”
“Then your instincts are right on target,” Adam admitted.
Fortunately, their waiter returned to take their orders before she started asking questions.
“You’re the regular here, what do you recommend?” she asked.
“Everything here is good. I’m partial to the scallops, but both the lamb and steak are quite good.”
An hour later, they’d devoured salads, an appetizer of calamari tossed in cherry tomatoes and garlic butter, and plates of perfectly seared jumbo sea scallops accompanied by roasted asparagus and mashed-coconut, red-curry sweet potatoes.
And then faced a frowning Omar who had returned to their table.
“I just heard you two aren’t having dessert,” he said. “Surely you aren’t going to pass on our special toasted lemon pound cake.”
Adam checked with Brandi. “I wish I could, but I’m stuffed,” she answered.
“Then I insist you at least have an after-dinner drink.”
“They do make a marvelous cappuccino.” Adam looked across the table at his date, who nodded her approval.
Once Omar was out of earshot, Brandi leveled him with a stare. “Now that we’ve eaten and made small talk, are you going to tell me what you’ve been buttering me up for?”
Adam took a deep breath and slowly released it. “As you know, the competition is this weekend.”
“When are you leaving?”
“We,” he corrected. “I’d like you to come with me.”
“I’d love to!” Her face lit up. “Did you think you’d actually have to persuade me?”
Adam took a sip of the cappuccino the waiter dropped off at their table and relaxed for the first time since the meal began. “You’d mentioned taking a week off work, but I wasn’t sure with it being the weekend before your sister’s wedding. I know you have a lot to do,” he said. “But I’m very happy you’ve agreed to come. I consider you my good-luck charm. No way I can win this thing without you there.”
Taste for Temptation (Kimani Hotties) Page 14