IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN

by LaConnie Taylor-Jones

  “Laney,” Alex warned, “Ray would kill me and half of America if he ever found out I let you get involved with anything that could possibly put you in danger.”

  The room became graveyard silent.

  Finally, JoJo snapped his finger in front of Laney’s face. When she didn’t flinch, he slapped his hand against his forehead. “Oh, Christ, Alex. I knew we shouldn’t have told her. The stress has become too much for her!” His eyes settled on Laney again. “Boo, are you okay?”

  Laney glanced at Alex. “And you’re certain I can’t be of some assistance?”

  Alex sighed wearily. “Laney, for the last time, the answer is no. I understand you want to help Ray, but stay out of this. Please?”

  Laney folded her arms over her chest. Alex was too protective to let her help. JoJo was even worst. She hadn’t thoroughly thought out all the details of what she’d plan to do, but she would. After all, figuring out the unknown was how she made her living. Plus, whatever she decided to do didn’t mean she needed Alex and JoJo’s assistance.

  Alex issued a stern warning. “Laney, do I have your word I won’t hear anymore from you about this?”

  Laney’s angelic expression appeared. To her way of thinking, not talking about it wasn’t the same as not doing it. “Yes, Alex. I promise not to utter another word to you on this subject.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Darling, you trust me, right?” Laney posed the question the moment Raphael walked out the bathroom with nothing but a towel tucked at his waist. She called on ever measure of restraint she could muster to ignore the droplets of water on his skin, which sparkled like diamonds. Smiling, she tilted her head back, moving closer to feel the heat of his lean body.

  Ray tightened his fingers on her hip as her whispered words flowed over him like warm honey. Did she even have to ask that question? From the day he’d walked through the doors of Olivia, everything she’d done had been on his behalf. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing she could ever do to betray him. “You know I do.”

  After Alex and JoJo left, Laney contemplated not sharing with Raphael the conversation she’d had with them. Her reason was simple. Tomorrow he began his third round of chemo. From the day she’d returned to Olivia, Raphael prepared himself for each week of treatment both mentally and emotionally. The last thing she wanted to do was interfere with that process. How could she burden him with the knowledge that Ashton might have tipped off Evangeline as to his whereabouts? She analyzed that very question for over an hour and always came to the same conclusion.

  How could she not tell him?

  Laney shared with Raphael the incident with the reporters at the hospital and everything she’d discussed with Alex and JoJo. “Let me help you with this.”

  “Oh, hell no!” Ray’s tone was unyielding. “Red, there’s no way I’ll ever let you tangle with Evangeline. No way!” Laney’s undaunted stance coupled with the surfacing of her calm expression made him groan.

  There was absolutely, positively, without question, no way on earth he’d ever let her go up against a pack of music industry vultures on his behalf no matter what the circumstances were. Hell, on his best day, he was half-scared to deal with them himself. He noticed the way Laney had lifted her chin up, her lips pursed. He sighed with frustration because he saw a fight in the making. She wasn’t about to back down. And neither was he.

  “Raphael, whether you want to admit it or not, you need me.”

  “Yes, I need you.” Ray gently cupped her chin, his fingertips tracing along the smoothness of her jaw. “But not at the expense of you getting involved in this situation. I’ll figure something out.”

  Laney stared at Ray, her green eyes dark. “What if Evangeline somehow manages to find out you have cancer and uses the information against you?”

  Ray’s face was like stone. Recently, Alex told him the hospital investigation in California proved his medical records hadn’t been breeched. At least he was safe on that front. However, he knew how the paparazzi operated. If they wanted information, they’d kill their own mother to get it. Still, Laney’s theory that Ashton recognized him and shared his whereabouts with Evangeline was a probability he couldn’t ignore. “Whether she finds out or not, I’ll handle it. Understand me?”

  Ray looked down at Laney’s determined expression with both exasperation and amusement. The researcher in her made her inquisitive, which led to her methodically investigating whatever seized her interest. She didn’t rush to do anything. Nor did she poke her nose into every detail that came her way, unless it drew her interest.

  “You do know we’re dealing with another party in all of this besides Evangeline, don’t you?”

  “Ashton,” he replied shortly. “Don’t remind me.” Ray had a flashback to the day he confronted him at Laney’s office. He was still angry. And what made him even angrier was that he hadn’t taken care of him when he had the chance. “You need to be on your P’s and Q’s with player.

  “Raphael, I don’t concern myself with Ashton. I remember my mother telling me he acted the same way with her when they worked together. ”

  “You should be concerned,” Ray roared. “He’s a racist. I don’t see why you continue to work around him.”

  “I took that job for one reason and one reason only. I wanted to continue the research my mother began. Achieving that goal far outweighs my hate for racism.”

  Ray let that conversation drop. He already knew what he planned to do concerning Evangeline and Ashton. “I don’t want you to get involved in this. Hear me?”

  “Now see here—”

  “No, you see here. Red, I’m going to tell you this only once. I got this. And if I find out you’re sticking your nose into this mess with Evangeline and Ashton, I’ll drag your pretty freckled-face behind into a room and tie you up until it’s over with. Got it?”

  Laney offered a sweet smile in return and batted her eyelashes. “Hmmm, so you think my behind is pretty?”

  “Very pretty.” Ray watched the way she looked at him with narrow-eyed intensity. “Girl, don’t bat those eyes at me either. It won’t make me change my mind. Not on this one.”

  Why would someone want to invade his privacy? It was bad enough he had to fight cancer, but he certainly didn’t need to wage war against someone who wanted to use his illness against him for their own selfish gain. She was prepared to do whatever was necessary to protect him. Laney rested her head on his chest, rubbing her cheek against the hairless spot between each nipple. “I’m not going to let you do this alone, darling.” The tiny bud was mere inches away from her mouth and she took advantage of the irresistible urge to know what it tastes like. Her tongue darted out and moved along the flat circle with exquisite gentleness and precise slowness.

  Ray shuddered. His arm tightened around her waist, but his gaze was grim, his decision steadfast and unmovable. “The best way you can help me is by staying out of this drama with Evangeline.”

  Laney lifted her head and crossed her arms, offering an indisputable fact. “Okay, exactly what will you do if Evangeline tries to blackmail you into signing the contract renewal?”

  “Red, you been watching too much Perry Mason.” Ray lifted his brow. “Isn’t it close to your bedtime?”

  “Changing the subject won’t work, Raphael.”

  “Baby, that’s not what I’m doing,” he lied.

  She reached up and tapped his forehead with her knuckles.

  Surprised, he took a step back. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “No, but apparently you’ve lost yours. Raphael, right now you can’t fight Evangeline, but I can.”

  Ray wasn’t sure which stunned him most, the conviction in the voice of this slightly-built, delicate creature, which carried enough force to hurl him across the room, or his momentary lapse of sanity to even consider her request. “Mon ange…”

  He ran his hands up the length of her arms and over her shoulders with the ache to do more if he could as he felt the delicacy of her bones. H
er willingness to fight for him when he couldn’t do it himself had him so turned on, he wanted to not only tell her in words, but show her with his body how much it meant. For a brief moment, he wanted to try. God, how he wanted to try. In his heart of hearts, he knew now wasn’t the time. When they did make love, he wanted nothing between them. One day, his physical limitations would no longer exist. One day, he could take his time and pleased her the way she deserved. One day, the fight with cancer would be over, which was two months away.

  Sixty, long, hellish days.

  He inhaled deeply, reaching for control. He wasn’t sure if there were any words possible to convince her she wasn’t Goliath. Despite the slightness of her frame and the delicacy of her skin, Laney was a fighter. She was also amazingly valiant, but if something ever happened to her, he wasn’t certain his nerves could stand it.

  “God, what am I gonna do with you,” he finally uttered and reached out to hold her.

  “Allow me to help you,” Laney answered, moving away from his grasp, her eyes cool and confident. “And if you don’t, I’ll find a way to do it myself.”

  Still unconvinced, Ray folded his arms over his chest. “All right, Sherlock, exactly what scheme is rattling inside that brilliant mind of yours?”

  After hearing Laney’s succinct strategy, he knew she’d follow through whether he agreed or not. She had an undaunted look in her eyes that he’d never seen before. It was measured, calculating. No matter what was thrown her way, she wouldn’t shy away.

  Laney might be delicate, but she was as strong as steel.

  ~ ~ ~

  After Laney returned to her room, Ray paced in a tight circle inside his bedroom suite, trying to clear his mind. The sharp turn of today’s events caused his thoughts to boomerang inside his head so fast he couldn’t make sense of them, no matter how hard he tried. He came to Olivia to escape the paparazzi and conceal his illness, but now Evangeline had managed to track him down with the possible help of Ashton.

  At that moment, Evangeline and Ashton weren’t the ones who had his nerves rattled. It was Laney. In a little over two months, she had wrapped herself so firmly around his heart, had so completely insulated herself into every fiber of his being, it scared him. Something inside of him was growing more and more powerful and he was helpless to stop it.

  Ray plopped on the bed in a spread eagle position, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, his mind traveling down memory lane. His strong, private core was the distinguishing feature between him and his five siblings. Growing up, they’d teased him merciless because he could be alone, yet be perfectly content. That solitary nature transcended into his career. As a celebrity, he mastered the ability to hold people away and refrained from trusting them. He was never sure if people wanted to befriend him because of who he was or because of what he had. He’d observed cautiously and had the uncanny ability to use his charm as a shield to appear outgoing, perhaps spontaneous when in fact, he wasn’t.

  All of that served him well until he met Laney.

  After they first met, Ray convinced himself he’d be sated without Laney. He’d persuaded himself that she wasn’t good for his sanity because she made him forget about his one passion in life—his music—and think only of sex. Not sex in general, but sex in particular with her. Whenever he tried to turn his thoughts to the women he’d slept with, their names and faces eluded him. And month after month, his only concrete thought was of her.

  He’d wanted her then. Now, he needed her more than he ever thought possible. Was this kind of want the fundamental attraction between couples? Maybe. Smiling, he knew what existed between them was based on much, much more.

  Facing the most extenuating circumstance of his life was one thing, but coming to terms with his agreement to let Laney help him was another. Ray lifted up slightly, bracing his weight on both elbows. His expression was one of resolve rather than surprise. Laney’s plan sounded crazy at first, but the more he thought about it, it could actually work. Her plan was two-folded: have someone double as Ray LaSalle so that the paparazzi followed the look-a-like instead of him and allow O’Reilly Enterprise to feed information on his whereabouts to the media.

  The key to her strategy working was to be sure his double stayed away from Memphis and the paparazzi never got too close to him. Hopefully, seeing his look-a-like out and about would not only quail the speculation involving his illness, but keep the media running around in circles long enough for him to land back on his feet. He rolled over and picked up is cell phone and punched in a number.

  “Mon frère, I need you to help me out with something.”

  “Okay. What’s up?”

  “Take a peep into Evangeline’s background for me. And while you’re digging, check out Ashton Bryant, too.”

  Ray went on and shared with Alex the discussion he and Laney had. For a brief moment, he second-guessed the validity of the entire strategy as he listened to silence. “C’mon and talk to me, mon frère.”

  Alex chuckled. “Well, part one of your request is a cakewalk. As for part two, it’s a hellva of a better plan than what Nicki thought of. When she found out, she wanted to call the National Guard.” There was a long pause. “I would never have imagined Laney could think up something like this.”

  Ray groaned. “Look it, mon frère, let me give you a heads up on Red. By the time you figure out which way is up, that sista will bust a move on you and you’re left standing in the dust.”

  Alex chuckled. “Seriously?”

  “Oh, hell yeah. Now I know why Big Eddie occasionally refers to her as the Calm before the Storm.”

  “The what?”

  “You know how there’s a brief calm before a storm makes landfall?”

  “Yeah,” Alex drawled.

  Ray thought back to the day in the kitchen when he experienced the aftermath of Hurricane Laney. “Well, that’s Red. That’s all the time that little bitty tack head needs to roll up on you and leave total devastation.” Ray shook his head in amazement. “I’m telling you, mon frère, you’ve got watch her. Red is Slick Willie’s baby sister.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Two days later, Laney flew to Oakland to visit her grandfather, Charles O’Reilly. Although Raphael had begun his third round of chemo, she didn’t hesitate to leave his side. With the help of his father Alcee and her family, she knew Raphael would receive the best of care.

  When Charles entered the family room, she walked over to his well-stocked liquor cabinet and poured his favorite drink, Scotch and water. She poured sparkling water in her glass. He lifted his glass to her and as always, his eyes smiled though his mouth didn’t. She lifted her glass in return. “To a conundrum.”

  Charles lifted his brow. “Aaah, the truth emerges.”

  She dipped her head, acknowledging the accuracy of his statement. “Didn’t you teach me to always be truthful?”

  “That I did.” Charles tasted his drink and sighed with satisfaction. “Would you like to know what’s for dinner?”

  Laney gave her grandfather an angelic look. “Hopefully, it’s conversation.”

  With an amused look, Charles sat his glass down on the bar. “So, exactly what are we conversing about?”

  “Evangeline Williams.”

  Right after Raphael begrudgingly agreed to her plan, Laney phoned her grandfather and asked him to initiate the steps to purchase Universal Entertainment. She needed to be doubly sure the focus was off of Raphael. Although she knew nothing about Evangeline, she banked on the fact that she’d fight tooth and nail against the sale, which would draw her attention away from investigating Raphael for a while. With the paparazzi running around in circles chasing Ray LaSalle’s double coupled with Evangeline focusing on preventing a buyout, it would give Raphael the time he needed to recover.

  No sooner had she come to grips with her decision, she got a quiver in the pit of her stomach. The feeling was no different than what she’d felt when she’d set out to accomplish any major goal in her life. Nothing had been disastrous then. She
prayed the same held true now.

  “What about Evangeline?”

  “Do you know anything about her?”

  “Evangeline is the one person you need to walk away from.”

  “Why?”

  Laney listened, stunned as her grandfather explained in detail exactly what he learned about Evangeline. Wide-eyed, it was the first time in her life she recalled stammering over her words. “Poppy are you one hundred percent certain she was the one?”

  Charles offered a rueful nod. “I double and triple checked. Evangeline was the one.”

  “This doesn’t change anything. I’d like you to continue with the purchase of Universal Entertainment,” Laney stated, feeling a bit of exhilaration for the daring of it.

  “Laney Olivia, are you sure about this?”

  “Absolutely certain.”

  “Evangeline is tougher than most men I know and can definitely hold her own.”

  “If she harms Raphael in any way, I’ll destroy her.”

  “You’re the most even-tempered person I know. You don’t have a vindictive bone in your body.”

  “In this case, I’m afraid I do,” Laney admitted in the tone she used when racism confronted her. It had caused the most bigoted people to back away.

  “And there’s nothing I can say to talk you out of this?”

  Laney wrinkled her nose, her eyes gleaming with victory. The man under her roof was in a fight for his life. She’d promised to stand by him, and that’s exactly what she planned to do. She’d extracted Evangeline out of her life years ago. Plus, this wasn’t about her any longer. “No. Besides, nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

  Charles actually smiled this time. He withdrew a white handkerchief from his pocket and waved it in surrender.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Boy, ever since ya been here, I been watching ya.” Big Eddie removed a toothpick from his mouth and held it between two fingers. “Ya little sweet on Laney Olivia, ain’t ya.”

  “Yeah,” Ray admitted. “Is there a problem with that?”