“Your chances of winning are excellent whether I’m there or not.” She reached across the table for his hand. “But I’d love to come cheer you on.”
“We won’t have a lot of time, but we should be able to squeeze in a few of the sites Paris has to offer.”
“Paris?” Brandi sputtered over her sip of cappuccino. “I thought the competition was in Montreal.”
A feeling of dread began to creep over Adam, replacing his short-lived elation. “No, the North American competition was in Montreal, the international final is in Paris.”
“Please tell me you mean Paris, Tennessee, or Kentucky? Or maybe Texas?”
He shook his head slowly. “France.”
Brandi pulled her hand back from his. “I’m sorry, Adam. I can’t,” she said. “It wouldn’t be right for me to run off to Europe this close to Erin’s wedding.”
He couldn’t hide his disappointment. “Yeah, that’s what I’d thought.”
Brandi sighed and her face went all dreamy. “It’s too bad because I’ve always wanted to see Paris,” she said. “And it would have been even more wonderful seeing it with you.”
“What if we could be there and back before the wedding?”
Adam knew it was selfish as hell of him to press her, but he really had come to think of her as his good-luck charm. He wanted her there. She wanted to be there.
“God, you don’t know how much I want to say yes,” she said. “But it’s not just the wedding, there’s the rehearsal dinner the night before and my mother or Erin might need me.”
“Isn’t your sister still in Atlantic City?”
Brandi nodded. “Which means she’ll be rushed and frazzled when she gets home and will need me that much more.”
It wasn’t for him to say, but it seemed to him if the bride wasn’t even in town, Brandi should be able to slip away for the weekend.
“You said yourself that your mother is an organizational dynamo who had every single detail of the wedding under control.” Adam continued to build his case. “It’s just for the weekend.”
“But Europe is an ocean away.”
“I’ll have you back in Nashville Monday evening, in plenty of time for Tuesday night’s rehearsal dinner.”
Brandi chewed at her bottom lip, and he could tell she was on the brink of reconsidering. “But won’t you be busy the day before the competition? I’d only be in the way.”
Deciding to use his negotiating skills to their best effect, he used a different carrot. “Actually, it would give you time to explore the fabric district.”
Brandi’s eyes widened and she straightened in her chair. “Fabric district?”
“Wholesale fabric district. It’s near the Sacré-Coeur,” he said. “But I’m sure the last thing you want to do is spend hours pawing through a bunch of fabric, threads and buttons for Arm Candy.”
“Enough. I give up. I’ll go.” Brandi held up her hands in mock surrender. “Oh, but there is something I’d like you to do for me.”
“Name it.”
“Would you be my date for Erin’s wedding?”
“I’d love to,” he said. “Now here’s another question for you. Can you be packed and ready for Paris by Thursday?”
She nodded. “Packed? All I need is a big empty suitcase to bring home all my new French fabric booty.”
Noticing they were done with the after-dinner coffees, the waiter stopped at the table. “Will there be anything else?”
“No, we’re ready for the check,” Adam said.
The waiter went to put the leather holder containing the bill on the table, and Brandi snatched it up quickly. “I’ll take that,” she said.
“Brandi, I invited you. The meal is on me.”
As if she hadn’t heard a word he’d said, she placed her credit card in the holder and handed it back to the waiter.
“It’s always your treat. Now it’s my turn.”
“I pay because that’s what a gentleman does on a date,” Adam said firmly.
Brandi blew out an impatient breath. “Look, I’m not trying to embarrass you, but you don’t have a job right now and I do.”
“But I told you I have…”
“Yeah, I know, you have savings, but they can’t last forever.”
Maybe not forever, but certainly a lifetime or two, Adam thought.
“I’m paying,” she said. “End of story.”
Adam watched her sign the credit card receipt and return her card to her wallet. “Okay, you win this time,” he said as they walked toward the front of the restaurant to collect their coats. “Thanks for dinner.”
Adam heard Omar’s slightly raised voice before they reached the maître d’s stand.
“Your reservation was for two hours ago. You didn’t call to say you’d be delayed, so your table is no longer available,” Omar said firmly.
Adam momentarily wondered who would be arrogant enough to show up late to a hot ticket like Ambience. He didn’t have to wait long for the answer.
“I don’t think you realize who you’re talking to. I’m…”
The voice was familiar enough that Adam didn’t need to hear the name. He caught the man’s surprised eye, just as he finished his sentence.
“…Zeke Holden, and my wife and I would like a table.”
Wife?
Adam’s head snapped up. He looked from Zeke to the woman standing next to him. Jade?
The three of them stared at each other openmouthed.
Meanwhile, the puzzle pieces quickly assembled themselves in Adam’s head. Zeke’s strange behavior of late. Jade’s impromptu visit and her last-minute plea for a reconciliation before moving on with her new life.
“Congratulations.” Adam broke the awkward silence.
Zeke ran a hand across his head. “Look, man, I didn’t mean for you to find out about me and Jade like this. I was going to tell you, but everything happened so fast.”
“So this was the mystery woman you assured me I didn’t know?” Adam asked.
“Like I said, it all happened quickly. One minute, my dad and I were hammering out a business deal with Jade’s father, and the next I was falling for his daughter,” his friend said, unable to look him in the eye. “Business is business. Hope you’re not mad. No hard feelings, right?”
The glint of Jade’s diamond wedding set caught Adam’s eye, and he could honestly say he wasn’t angry. However, he was deeply disappointed.
Not in Jade, but in Zeke.
Adam didn’t want Jade or her company and would have given Zeke his blessing. However, Zeke hadn’t been man or friend enough to mention to him he was going after them.
“Again, congratulations,” Adam said.
Omar passed their coats, and Adam helped Brandi with hers. “Let’s go, sweetheart.”
“Sweetheart?” Jade spoke for the first time. She eyed Brandi. “And you are?”
“Brandi Collins, meet my ex-fiancée, Jade Brooks, I mean Jade Holden and her new husband, Zeke,” Adam said.
“I didn’t realize you were seeing anyone.” Jade’s voice was a whisper.
“Well, I guess we’re all full of surprises,” Adam replied, but his gaze remained on his friend, who still wasn’t able to look him in the eye.
“Again, congratulations,” Adam said. “I wish you two the best.”
Chapter 15
Brandi wasn’t exactly sure what she’d witnessed back at the restaurant, but Adam seemed oddly calm for someone who’d just found out his ex-fiancée was married to his friend.
“Are you okay?” she ventured ten minutes into the drive back to their condos.
“Yeah, I am,” he said.
“So that was your ex, huh?”
He nodded and thumbed the control on t
he steering until the smooth sounds of a vintage Jill Scott tune filled the SUV’s cabin.
“Things seemed tense with you and her new husband,” she said. “Just how close of a friend is he to you?”
He sighed before he spoke. “Up until tonight, I’d considered him a good friend.”
“Ouch,” Brandi said. “Do you think he really meant what he said about wanting to tell you?”
Adam shook his head. “Zeke’s been avoiding me for weeks. I even drove out to his place to make sure he was okay. He could have told me then. Instead, he blew me off. Said he had a big date with someone I didn’t know.”
“Jade,” Brandi concluded.
“Evidently,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not still hung up on Jade. However, Zeke didn’t know that. He didn’t think enough of me or our friendship to be upfront.”
“He doesn’t sound like much of a friend to me.”
Adam snorted. “My brother never trusted him, but Zeke and I have similar backgrounds. I thought I knew him.”
“What about Jade?” Brandi couldn’t help asking. The look of longing in the woman’s eyes when she looked at Adam’s was obvious. So was the contemptuous expression in those same eyes when Adam had briefly introduced them.
“Jade didn’t betray me. I told her to move on.”
“That’s what her visit was about, wasn’t it?” Brandi asked. “She wanted to give you first dibs on her before she married him.”
“Pretty much.”
“Do you regret turning her away?” Brandi asked.
Her mother’s description of Jade had been no exaggeration. Adam’s ex was flawless. No man turns away a woman that looked like her with no regrets, Brandi thought.
He spared her a glance before returning his eyes to the road. “Why do you find it so hard to believe I had practically thrown her out of my place to come running straight to you?”
“The woman is stunning,” Brandi said.
“Hmm,” Adam said.
“Don’t you think so?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve never seen Jade sans her perfect weave, expertly applied makeup, fake nails and saline boobs.” Adam steered the car onto the interstate. “On the other hand, I know what you look like ranting at me about chocolate at three in the morning, sweaty from a grueling workout or pushing through exhaustion for the sake of your business,” he said. “I’ve seen your hair disheveled from me running my fingers through it, your lips swollen from my kisses and the expression of utter bliss on your face after I’ve made you come.”
Brandi gripped the armrest to keep from melting into the Porsche’s butter-soft leather seat.
“Those are the things I believe are beautiful.” He reached across the console for her hand and brought it to his lips in the sweetest kiss she’d ever experienced. “Not only can they not be purchased, they’re priceless.”
Brandi looked through the passenger-side window and discreetly wiped a tear from her eye. His words had done more than touch her emotionally.
Deep down she knew.
She’d been guarding her heart against the man it already belonged to.
* * *
The sound of knocking roused Adam from a deep sleep.
He’d passed out in the living room chair again, the twenty-four-hour sports network on the television watching him. It had become routine since his night with Brandi.
One night together and his bed felt lonely without her.
It had taken more restraint than he thought he possessed to say good-night at her door with just a kiss, but the next time he made love to Brandi he wanted her to be free of the baggage from her last relationship. He’d wait as long as it took because he wanted more than her body—he wanted her heart.
The pounding at the door kicked up again. Adam yawned and stretched the kinks out of his back. He squinted at his watch until the numbers came into focus.
“It had better be the fire department evacuating the building,” he grumbled, because he couldn’t think of another reason someone would be paying him a visit at five o’clock in the morning.
He looked through the peephole before yanking the door open.
“Aren’t you usually in some woman’s bed at this hour?” he asked.
“Just left,” his brother quipped as he walked through the door. “What did you do, sleep in your clothes, bro?”
Adam glanced down at the suit pants and wrinkled dress shirt he hadn’t bothered changing out of before he’d plopped down in front of the television last night. He followed his brother, who was apparently also wearing clothes from the night before, and found him rummaging through the kitchen cabinets.
“I’m starving.” Kyle opened the refrigerator and surveyed the contents. “The problem with models is they don’t eat, so they don’t get up and make breakfast.” He grabbed the orange juice and drank straight from the carton.
“Kyle,” Adam snapped and his early-morning guest stopped gulping down juice and faced him. “No offense, but what in the hell do you want this early in the morning?”
Kyle’s cocky demeanor vanished. He put the juice down, leaned back on the kitchen counter and folded his arms. He glanced down at the floor before looking up at him.
“I don’t know how to say this, but…”
The look on his younger brother’s face worried him. “You okay?”
“I wanted to tell you before you heard it somewhere else.”
“Jade married Zeke,” Adam finished for him.
His brother’s jaw dropped. “How did you find out so quickly? When I saw them eating dinner at the country club, Jade said she’d eloped to Vegas with that arrogant prick and had only returned to Nashville yesterday evening.”
“I saw them earlier trying to get a table at Ambience.”
“How the hell did you get a table at Ambience? I’ve been trying to eat there for months.”
Adam shrugged.
“Sorry you had to find out like that. That’s why I came straight over, well, right after I left Ariel’s,” Kyle said.
“Ariel? What happened to Greta?” Adam teased.
“Who?” Kyle looked genuinely dumbfounded. “Anyway, what did they have to say for themselves?”
Adam yawned. “Zeke gave me some bad Lifetime movie spiel about wanting to tell me, but the time was never right.”
“Please tell me you don’t believe him. I’ll bet he made his play for both her and Brooks Brand as soon as he’d heard you dropped out.”
“You’re probably right. In fact, you were right about Zeke being untrustworthy all along.”
“I’ll also bet Vegas was that sneaky bastard’s idea, and he couldn’t care less about Jade. Him and his father just wanted to get their greedy hands on Brooks Brand.”
“Jade seemed to know what she was getting into,” Adam said. “Still, I don’t understand how Zeke convinced her to go for a quickie wedding. When we got engaged, she didn’t want a wedding day, she wanted a weeklong celebration,” he said. “Who knows? Maybe it’s true love.”
Kyle already appeared to have lost interest in the topic.
“Hey, I apologize for how that whole blowup went down last time I was here. I was out of line.”
Adam nodded. “I could have handled things better myself.”
“For someone whose ex just hooked up with his best friend, you don’t seem too broken up,” Kyle said. “You really meant it when you said you two were over. I’d thought your breakup and this chocolate thing you’re pursuing were just part of a midlife crisis.”
Adam moved past his brother and reached for the bag of coffee beans. It didn’t look like Kyle was going anywhere soon, so he might as well get the coffee started.
“I don’t know if thirty-five qualifies as midlife, but I’m serious about this compet
ition. In fact, I’m headed to Paris this weekend for the final judging.”
“Well, that throws a kink into my plans. I was going to take Ariel down to Miami, but if you’re going to be hogging the jet all weekend…”
“I’m flying commercial,” Adam said over the sound of the coffee grinder.
“Commercial.” Kyle wrinkled his nose like he’d smelled something bad. “Don’t you think you’re taking this whole vow of poverty or whatever you’re calling it too far?”
“I painted myself into a corner and don’t have much of a choice.” Adam switched on the coffeemaker and pulled two mugs from the cabinet. “I’m seeing someone, and I’ve asked her to accompany me to Paris for the competition.”
“So?”
“She has no idea about my background. To her, I’m just an unemployed wannabe pastry chef. So I can’t suddenly drive up to a private plane.”
“You didn’t tell her? Man, that’s the first thing I tell a woman I want to impress.”
Adam shook his head. “I kept it quiet, and it’s not like she could connect any dots. You pick up any of our paper products, cleansers, detergents and they’re all different companies under the Ellison Industries umbrella,” he said. “When a customer picks up a jug of Tide at the grocery store, they’re thinking Tide not Proctor and Gamble. And years ago, when Sara Lee owned Coach, I don’t think many women associated pound cake with their leather purses.”
“Who’s the woman you’re taking to Paris? Do I know her?”
“Yes, you’ve met her, nosy. She was at the door the day you stormed out.”
“Oh, your neighbor. We crossed paths in the hallway this morning before I knocked on your door. She was dressed in workout clothes.” Kyle drained the juice carton and stuck it back in the fridge. “She cleans up good. Looked way better than she did the first time I saw her.”
Adam laughed at the thought about Brandi dressing down in the vintage velour track suit. He relayed the story to his brother as he filled the mugs with coffee.
“Well, it worked for me,” Kyle said. “I was completely turned off.”
“Good, playa. I don’t need you sniffing around my woman,” Adam joked.
Taste for Temptation (Kimani Hotties) Page 15