The Savvy Sistahs

by Brenda Jackson

  Amber glanced over at Cord and saw him smile. She also took note of the affection he displayed in his eyes for his doctor and immediately knew they shared more than a doctor-patient relationship. “The two of you are friends?” she blurted out.

  “Sometimes,” Cord said frowning at the man.

  “All the time,” the doctor countered and frowned back. Dev then offered his hand to Amber. “I’m Doctor Devin Phillips, best friend of this guy who wants to be difficult, and besides being his pretend-fiancée, you are?”

  “Amber Stuart, and like I said the reason I told the—”

  “You explained once Ms. Stuart, there’s no reason to explain again. I’m glad you cared enough to stay and check on him. I’ve been out of town at a medical convention and got back after midnight. And I’m about to impose some forced rest on my friend here.”

  “I have work to do at the office, Dev.”

  “Work that can wait, Cord. This here should be your wake up call. Maybe now you’ll take me seriously. I’ve already contacted Janelle and told her that if you call and ask her to bring work to your house to refuse you and I promised her she wouldn’t get fired. You need at least four solid days of rest, Cord, and I mean it. You either get it at home or I will make arrangements to keep your butt right here in this hospital for the next four days. So what’s it’s going to be.”

  Cord didn’t say anything for the longest moment and then he said, “All right.”

  Dev lifted a brow. “For some reason I don’t believe you. The other stipulation before I agree to release you is for you to hire a nurse to move in with you for the next four days. I want someone who’ll make sure you take your medicine, eat properly and—”

  “In other words you want someone to spy on me and report back to you with information on every little thing I do.”

  “Or refuse to do. You’re still not well, Cord. You need the next four days to regain your strength. No man should have been working the hours you’ve worked over the past six months and it’s time to stop. So what’s it going to be? Are you willing to have a live-in-nurse for the next four days?”

  “No.”

  “Then I have no choice but to keep you confined right here.”

  Amber sighed. She could see that both men were extremely stubborn and decided to offer a solution. “I can do it.”

  Cord’s gaze left Dev and shifted to Amber. “You can do what?”

  “I can make sure you do all those things.”

  Dev looked at Amber and frowned. “Are you saying that you’re willing to move in with him for four days to—”

  “Be his spy?” Cord interrupted frowning.

  Amber frowned at both men. “No, I don’t intend to be anyone’s spy. But I am willing to help out any way I can. I can easily arrange my schedule to take off four days and make sure Cord rests and gets the proper care he needs. After all, he did pass out in my store.”

  Cord inwardly smiled when he knew he should feel like a downright heel. Amber was willing to come stay at his house and play nursemaid and by golly he intended to take her up on her offer. He could just see her taking care of him, feeding him, soothing him and possibly getting naughty with him. “Are you sure you want to do that?”he asked, hoping like hell that she was sure.

  “Yes, I’m positive. And just to set the record straight, Cord. I will make sure that you follow Dr. Phillips’ orders so I hope you don’t think I’m some kind of a pushover because I’m not. You will do just what you’re supposed to do. Understood?”

  Cord lifted a brow. Boy, the woman was downright bossy but hell he could deal with that. Besides, as soon as they got behind closed doors he intended to make her forget all about doctor orders. He planned to put another agenda in place. He smiled. “Understood.”

  A few moments later, Amber had stepped out of the room while Dev checked Cord over. Cord knew he should be downright embarrassed when Dev couldn’t help but notice his erection that refused to go down.

  “You should be ashamed of yourself, Cord.”

  Cord chuckled, deciding not to remind Dev of the many times he’d seen him in a similar state with his girlfriend Briana. All Briana had to do was to walk into a room and Dev’s midsection would go bonkers. “I have nothing to be ashamed of. As a doctor I’m sure you know there are certain things a man doesn’t have control of and arousal is one of them.”

  Dev raised his eyes to the ceiling. “I’m not talking about that, Cord. At least not directly. I’m talking about your eagerness to take advantage of Amber Stuart.”

  Cord frowned. “I’m not taking advantage of her. She volunteered.”

  “Yeah, and you were right there, ready and quite enthusiastic about pouncing on her offer with blatant ideas in your head of pouncing on something else. I know you have an ulterior motive behind this.”

  Cord smiled knowingly and had no intentions of denying that he had one. “Of course there’s an ulterior motive.I want to get to know her better. I told you a couple of weeks ago that the woman fascinates me. Can I help it if someone up there heard my prayers?”

  “I’m not sure it’s your prayers they heard, Cord.”

  Cord released a deep breath. Maybe now was a good time to remind Dev how he’d met Briana. Evidently Dev had forgotten that day he had seen Briana for the first time, immediately falling in love. He had gone after her with a vengeance and dared anything and anyone to get in his way, even an old jerk of a boyfriend who’d been determined to get her back.

  Dev frowned after Cord’s reminder. “My situation with Briana isn’t the same. She knew from day one what my intentions were, but Amber Stuart doesn’t have a clue that you intend to have her flat on her back in four days or less. So I have no other choice but to protect her.”

  Cord’s jaw clenched. Now was not the time for his best friend to play Saint Devin. “Protect her how?”

  Dev smiled. “I’m including an additional restriction to my orders for you, restrictions I’m going to make sure Ms. Stuart is aware of just in case you get any ideas. But after hearing her comments there’s no doubt in my mind that she’s going to make sure you follow my orders to a tee.”

  “What additional restriction?” Cord arched his brow and waited expectantly to hear something that he knew he would not like.

  Dev leaned against the closed door. “Since you need to build up your energy level, you are restricted from indulging in any sexual activity with a woman for at least two weeks.”

  Chapter 19

  Sonya walked into the lobby of the exclusive St. Laurent Hotel thinking it comical that the hotel Jesse Devereau had chosen was one that belonged to a very good friend of Carla’s. Chances were he wasn’t even aware of that fact.

  She strutted over to the station where a courtesy phone set and picked it up. Moments later a hotel operator came on the line. “Could you please ring Jesse Devereau’s room? Yes, I’ll hold.”

  A few minutes later the operator returned to the line and advised her that Mr. Devereau was not answering his phone. Sonya raised a brow as she glanced her watch. It was barely eight in the morning and she wondered if perhaps he’d come down to the restaurant for breakfast and decided to check out that possibility.

  Moments later she walked into the restaurant. It wasn’t hard picking out Jesse Devereau from what she remembered three years ago. Even from his side profile she could tell that time had definitely been kind to him. He was still a very good-looking man.

  She frowned. He was dining with someone and she wondered if perhaps he was holding a business breakfast meeting. Well, as far as she was concerned that was too friggin’ bad. Whatever business he was conducting had to wait. Carla came first.

  She started toward his table. The blond-haired, blue-eyed man who was sitting with Jesse Devereau looked up and gave her a smile. For a heart-stopping moment she was tempted to smile back then decided she didn’t want him to think she was flirting, since she was a woman who’d never been curious to know if it was true that blonds had more fun. “Mr. De
vereau.”

  Jesse looked up from his meal and Sonya knew the moment recognition hit. Both men stood. “Ah, yes, Miss Morrison. Sonya Morrison, right?” Jesse asked, giving her one of those charming smiles that she remembered so well. But the smile wasn’t working on her this morning.

  “You do remember me?” she said coolly, accepting his handshake.

  “I don’t think I could forget.” He then motioned to the man also standing. “And this is my very good friend, Mike Kelly. Mike, this is Sonya Morrison. I met her father a few years ago during my last visit to Orlando, and he was gracious enough to invite me to Sonya’s birthday party while I was in town.”

  “Nice meeting you, Mike,” she said, offering the other man her hand.

  “Likewise, Miss Morrison.”

  Sonya frowned as a sharp sensation shot through her the moment she and Mike’s hands touched. She knew he’d felt it too and appeared just as startled.

  “Would you like to join us for breakfast? We’re just getting started.” Jesse asked, sitting back down to continue eating, leaving her and Mike standing, still holding hands like two dimwits.

  She quickly dropped her hand from Mike’s and gave Jesse her full attention. “What I would like is to have a private conversation with you if that’s possible.”

  Jesse shook his head. “That’s not possible if you’re here to discuss your best friend. If so, then we have nothing to talk about.”

  Sonya pulled out a chair and sat down. “That’s where you’re wrong. We have a lot to talk about since I’m the one responsible for you getting that letter.”

  “You’re the one who sent it?”

  Sonya lifted a brow. Mike, not Jesse had asked the question. Evidently Mike Kelly was privy to Jesse’s business so she decided to answer. “No, I didn’t send that letter but I know who did, and I feel responsible because the person who sent it got the information from someone I told. I’d promised Carla that I wouldn’t tell anyone the name of Craig’s father and I broke that promise.”

  Jesse stared at Sonya long and hard. What she’d said verified that Carla’s child was his, but he wanted to hear it from Carla. She owed him the courtesy of that. “As far as I’m concerned, it should never have been a secret. I had every right to know I had fathered a child. The least Carla could have done was be up front with me when I asked.”

  Jesse’s words pissed Sonya off. “Carla would have told you when she first found out she was pregnant had you not lied to her that night about not being involved with someone else. She found out the truth.”

  Jesse stopped chewing his food and glared at her. “Involved with someone else? If that’s what she told you, then she’s the one who lied.”

  That statement angered Sonya even more. “One thing Carla doesn’t do is lie which is why your name is on Craig’s birth certificate instead of the phony name I told her to use. I know for a fact you were involved with someone when you told her you weren’t because I read it in the newspapers while on a business trip to L.A. less than a couple of months later. Carla was crushed when I brought back a copy of the newspaper for her to read. She couldn’t believe you were nothing more than a gigolo and were the lover of some old wh—”

  Sonya stopped, quickly remembered her audience and amended what she was about to say. “That you were the lover of some wealthy, old woman.”

  Both men stared at her for the longest time and said nothing. She saw blatant anger in Jesse Devereau’s eyes and what appeared to be amusement in Mike’s, which confused her.

  That confusion was cut short when Jesse stood and threw his napkin on the table. “I refuse to sit here and talk to you a minute longer, Miss Morrison. It’s Mike’s business if he wants to stay and listen to what you have to say, but personally, I’ve heard enough. Have a good day.” Without waiting for her to respond, he angrily walked off.

  Sonya watched his retreating back until he was no longer in sight. Sighing deeply she then turned to Mike Kelly. “Damn, he’s pretty upset, isn’t he?”

  Mike Kelly laughed. For some reason he liked this woman. She was cocky and had plenty of spunk. “Yes, I guess you can say that he is. He tried on two occasions to get Miss Osborne to talk to him and she refused to do so which was unfortunate. Now he intends to take drastic steps to force her to tell him what he wants to know.”

  Sonya frowned and tried not to be drawn in by the deep blue of Mike’s eyes. “By taking away her company?”

  “Yes, for starters.”

  Sonya sat up straight in her chair. “For starters?”

  “Yes. Like you said, he’s pretty upset right now and you pretty much confirmed Miss Osborne’s child is his, so he’s angrier than before because he feels she should have told him. There’s no telling how far he’ll go now.”

  Sonya instinctively reached across the table and grabbed Mike’s hand. She almost let go of it when she felt that same sizzle of awareness she’d felt earlier. “Then we have to do something.”

  Mike raised a brow. “We?”

  “Yes. He and Carla need to sit down and talk.”

  Mike shook his head. “Like I said, Jesse tried talking to her, but Miss Osborne refused to have anything to do with him. In fact she had him kicked off Osborne Computer Network’s property. He won’t make another attempt to see her. Instead he’ll let their attorneys battle it out and it won’t be pretty.”

  Sonya sighed. “You’re his friend, Mike. Can’t you get through to him and try deflecting some of his anger?”

  Mike met her gaze. “And Miss Osborne is your friend, can’t you get through to her as well?” he countered, smiling.

  “I’ll try.”

  “And so will I.”

  Sonya returned his smile but it faded the moment she noticed that they were still holding hands. She quickly pulled her hand back and decided it was best to address this attraction between them before he got any ideas. “Just to set the record straight, I’ve never liked vanilla.”

  “It’s straight,” he said grinning at her. “Because I’ve never developed a taste for chocolate.”

  She nodded and thought, good. Just so they understood each other.

  An hour later Mike was in the suite talking to Jesse. “You heard Sonya Morrison for yourself. The reason Carla Osborne didn’t contact you to let you know she was pregnant is because she assumed, like a number of other people, that you and Susan Brady were having an affair.”

  Jesse eyes narrowed. “Even if that was true, she still had no right to not tell me she had gotten pregnant.”

  “But if she thought the only thing she had meant to you that night was nothing more than a one-night stand, she would have felt she did have that right.” When Jesse didn’t say anything, Mike added. “But then you and I both know she was more than a one-night stand that night, don’t we, Jess?”

  Not waiting for him to respond, Mike turned and walked through the doorway that led to his connecting suite. He threw his sports jacket on the bed and walked over to the window and thought about Sonya Morrison and her rather frank way of putting things.

  He smiled and decided for the second time that day that he liked her.

  Chapter 20

  And you have no idea why Thomas Reynolds makes it his business to drive by the hotel every so often, to check and make sure your car is here?”

  Brandy glanced across the table at Grey and thought long and hard about his question. Once they had gotten out of bed that morning, they had showered together and ordered room service for breakfast. He had just finished telling her about what he’d found out about Thomas Reynolds.

  “No, although if he’s doing it, it really wouldn’t surprise me. Thomas is very protective of me, Grey.”

  Or very jealous, Grey wanted to say but decided not to. He knew she still didn’t want to consider the possibility that Thomas Reynolds might be the one sending her those messages. “What’s on the agenda today?” he asked instead. It was hard to sit across from her and not think about everything they had done the night before. They
had made love in just about every room in this suite, even in the kitchen on this very table. He didn’t know any other woman who basked in her sensuality like Brandy, who was so open and uninhibited. Each and every time he’d come inside of her, when groans of pleasure rumbled deep in his throat, he would ride the waves of the most earth-shattering orgasm known to mankind, then he would inhale her scent, their scent, and would become thick, hard, and fully aroused all over again.

  “Things are going to get pretty busy around here today,” she said. “The game is next weekend so many of the committee members will check in, as well as members of the media. This is the first year the St. Laurent has been a host hotel and I’m very excited about it.”

  Grey nodded, deciding that with all the activities at the hotel it was going to be difficult to keep her well protected. But he was determined to do so and had even called in a few other contacts he had for backup. “I need to know where you are at all times, Brandy. Most of the time I’ll be with you except for when you’re involved in all that committee stuff. It won’t bother me that people will began to wonder why I’m not letting you out of my sight. I’m sure they’ll start thinking that I’m a very jealous and possessive lover.”

  Grey sighed. In a way he felt just that way. The thought of another man anywhere near her made his blood boil. But then, a part of him believed that what they’d shared last night had been unique, special and just between them.

  “And it wouldn’t bother me in the least if they think of you that way, too. I’ll be the envy of all the women around here, and they’ll wonder how I got so lucky,” Brandy said smiling.

  A seductive smile tilted the corners of Grey’s mouth. “Do you have any regrets about last night?” he murmured questioningly.

  Brandy leaned back in the chair. “No, I have none.”

  At that moment the phone rang and Brandy stood to pick it up. “Yes?”

  She nodded. “They’ve started arriving already?” A few minutes later she said. “All right, that’s fine. Most have been given rooms on the tenth floor except for a few. Make sure all their wishes are met.” Then she quickly amended. “Within reason.”