“We should call a truce,” he said.
“Are we at war?”
He chuckled. “You always have an answer, don’t you? No, we’re not at war. At least, I don’t want to be. We should try being friends since our best friends are married to each other.”
“That would be boring, wouldn’t it, if we got along?”
“So you like fighting with me, is that it?” His eyes mirrored the question. They stood out against his swarthy skin, and she wondered how she’d never noticed how attractive they were before. Light brown. No flecks of green or other colors, only a pure, antiqued gold like a strong whiskey.
Did she like arguing with him? Maybe she did. Their sparring matches always left her buzzing with energy afterward, and after the meeting with her grandmother, she welcomed the interaction.
“Even if I do,” she said, “you like it way more than I do. You’re always the one who gets the fights started, like you did a minute ago.”
“Only because you need it.”
“Need it?” Talia cocked an eyebrow. “You have to explain what you mean.”
“You’re one of those women who can get out of hand, so I have to keep you grounded. You have a…cómo se dice? Oh, I remember.” He snapped his fingers. “You have a Napoleon complex.”
She shot him her Are-you-for-real? look. “I don’t think so.”
“Yes, you do. It’s because you’re so short.” He sliced his hand horizontally from his nose over the top of her head. “See?”
Talia stood up straighter, as if she could grow taller by sheer will power. “I do not have a Napoleon complex, and anyway, I’m pretty sure that only applies to men.”
He looked amused. “No, I’m sure the complex applies to women, too. I have a perfect example standing right in front of me. How’s the weather down there?”
She cut her eyes at him and continued searching for food.
“No response? I’m so disappointed,” he said.
“I’m ignoring you for the rest of the day.”
“This is a first. I silenced Talia Jackson all by myself, and I didn’t need to tape her mouth. I should make an announcement.” He picked up a piece of baked chicken with his hand.
“There are tongs.” Talia held up a set. “What are you, a barbarian?”
“We called a truce, remember?” He bit into the chicken and winked.
She stared at him for a moment and then shook her head, laughing. He was so ridiculous. How freeing it must be to do as you please and not worry about what others think.
She noted the expression on Tomas’s face but couldn’t decipher the look.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
He took another bite of chicken and finished chewing before he answered her question. He grinned. “You should smile more.”
Chapter Three
Tomas almost laughed out loud at Talia’s stunned expression. Priceless.
The ice princess wasn’t so icy after all. He’d obviously given her something to think about. With a quirk of his brow he tossed the bone in the trash before grabbing a napkin to wipe his hands. He went out the back door, leaving her behind. She could think about what he’d said while he relaxed outside with Shawna, Ryan, and William.
Greeting his friends, he dragged a chair over to the table to join the conversation.
“I like the new place,” he said, dropping into the seat.
“Thanks,” Ryan said. “If she’ll stop buying stuff, maybe one of these days we’ll be settled in and comfortable.” He placed a hand on his wife’s denim-clad knee.
“Don’t listen to him,” Shawna said. On her lap, Madison gnawed her chubby fingers, observing the adults around the table with big brown eyes, uncannily similar to her mother’s. A pink headband partially covering her curly black hair matched the pink and white onesie she wore. “Of course I’m going to pick up things to decorate the house, but he’s the one with the problem. He’s already built a wardrobe for the baby room, but that’s not enough. He insists we need to redo the walk-in closet in the master bedroom because he hates those iron thingy shelves, and he wants to replace all the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms.”
“The craftsmanship just isn’t there,” Ryan explained. “But other than the storage situation, we love the house.”
They all laughed. Ryan made custom furniture and tended to be more critical than the average person about woodwork, but Tomas understood. He often critiqued homes he entered because he built houses.
“I thought Talia would be here by now,” Shawna said, looking toward the house.
“She’s inside,” Tomas said.
“Oh, she’s here? I didn’t know.”
“I don’t think she’s been here long. She was putting a plate together when I saw her.”
Shawna stood and placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “I’m going to check on her and see how she’s doing. You want anything while I’m inside?”
“What about me?” William spread his arms wide, pretending to look offended but not quite succeeding.
“Aren’t you supposed to be putting together the scavenger hunt for the kids?”
William groaned. “I don’t know why I let Yvonne talk me into overseeing the hunt. This is my first weekend off from the hospital in weeks, and I still have work to do.” He was a doctor at Northside Hospital.
“You better hurry up before she finds out you haven’t hidden those items,” Shawna warned, the corners of her mouth lifting into a soft smile.
Still muttering to himself, William rose from the table and headed to the house. Shawna raised an inquiring brow at Ryan to get an answer to her question.
“I don’t need anything. Thanks, love,” he said.
She dropped a kiss on his lips before following William, and Tomas watched Ryan watch her walk across the lawn. When she disappeared into the house, Ryan finally turned his head in Tomas’s direction.
“Ryan, you’re a lucky man.”
He laughed. “Don’t I know it.”
“So tell me about the job.” Tomas worked as a foreman for a residential housing contractor, but he also took side jobs to supplement his income. Ryan had mentioned a possibility earlier on the phone.
Ryan pulled a folded piece of notebook paper from his pocket. “Here’s the name of the guy and the address. He wants to knock out a wall between the kitchen and dining room. I went by there to take a look and you could probably complete the job in a couple of weekends. Once you’re done with the renovations, I’ll install the cabinets.”
“Thanks.” Tomas tucked the note into his pocket. He could always count on Ryan to send him business. “So what’s the deal with Talia?” he asked, trying to sound casual.
“What do you mean?”
“Are she and her husband really having problems?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard? They got a divorce. It became final about a month ago.”
“You’re kidding.” Tomas leaned forward. “They were married for what—ten years? That’s a long time.”
“It didn’t work out.” Ryan shrugged.
He mulled over this new information. “How old is she? Late twenties, right?”
“Twenty-nine.”
That made Tomas four years older than her.
“If I remember correctly,” Ryan continued, “Her grandmother introduced her and her husband at some political function during her freshman year in college, and they got married the following year. They work together now, which I bet must be pretty awkward.” Ryan sipped his beer. “He’s a bit older than her, too—around forty-three, forty-four, something like that.”
Tomas stroked his chin. He’d never met the man, only heard about him. The times he’d seen Talia at social gatherings, she’d always been alone. “Do you know him well?”
Ryan shook his head. “Not really. I met him a few times. Shawna knows him better than I do since she and Talia have been friends for a few years.”
He’d heard the story of how the two women met. Talia had
gone shopping in Shawna’s clothing boutique one day and they’d hit it off.
Tomas glanced back at the house. “Divorced. Huh.”
What had happened? Was it the husband’s fault? Their split certainly didn’t have anything to do with Talia letting herself go. Her makeup was always immaculate, and today her thick hair flowed down her back in black, glossy waves. From the day he’d met her, not once had he ever seen a strand out of place. He wondered fleetingly if it felt as soft as it looked.
She always smelled so damn good, too, and had a queenly bearing which added to the impression of aloofness that surrounded her. Yet she wasn’t aloof at all. Quiet would be a better word to describe her personality because she always spoke to anyone who spoke to her, but she never seemed quite comfortable at their social gatherings and tended to stick to the people she knew well.
She had a musical quality to her voice, even when she ripped him a new one. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t resist harassing her every time he saw her. He wanted to hear that sweet voice. With her catlike eyes and dark umber skin glowing like polished stone, she was easily the most striking woman at the gathering and exuded a confidence that had always made him pay extra attention to her. And those rose-tinted lips—full, puckered. Damn, her ex-husband had been a lucky son of a bitch for ten years.
He intended to ask Ryan another question when his gaze collided with his friend’s disapproving blue eyes.
“No,” Ryan said.
“No, what?”
“No, you can’t date her. No, I won’t hook you up because she’s one of Shawna’s best friends and Shawna would kill me. And no, you can’t date her.”
“You don’t have to say it twice.”
“I thought I should repeat it.” Ryan sipped his beer again and pinned Tomas with a lethal stare.
“I don’t blame you for your reaction, but I’m not a monster,” Tomas said dryly. “It’s not like I pillage villages and ravish blushing virgins. I tell women my philosophy on dating upfront so there are no misunderstandings.”
He had nothing to offer in the way of commitment and most of the women he slept with wanted the same type of arrangement. If they were interested, they were treated to an exciting short-term relationship, and at times his generosity involved sending them on their way with parting gifts. He preferred to live his life without the trappings of monogamy and couldn’t understand why Ryan and other men chose to settle down. Shawna was a good woman, but there were so many other women out there to sample.
Black, white, Asian, Latin. Blondes, brunettes, redheads.
Voluptuous, slender.
Introverts, extroverts.
An endless list of possibilities existed. How could a man limit himself to one? The very idea bordered on the ridiculous. Till death do us part went against nature. He was certain of it.
“Normally I’m indifferent to whatever or whomever your latest conquest is,” Ryan said. “Personally, I think karma’s going to get you one day. But this time, I’ve got to run interference, buddy. Talia’s my wife’s best friend, and she’s my friend, too.”
Tomas understood his friend’s need to protect, but still…
“I’m not the Grinch who stole Christmas,” he said.
“You’re not exactly Santa Claus, either,” Ryan countered. “Don’t go there.”
“If you continue, you’re going to hurt my feelings, amigo.”
“I’m trying to put this into perspective for you and make sure you lead with your top head and not the bottom one.”
“I always lead with the top head, but the second one does follow close behind.”
Injecting humor into the conversation should have lightened the mood, but Ryan didn’t respond to his effort. With a thoughtful frown on his face, his friend twisted the beer can in a circle several times on the tabletop. “Leave this one alone.”
“It’s not me, it’s the women,” Tomas said. That was partially true. Women threw themselves at him all the time. Was it so wrong to give them what they wanted? “They love the accent.”
“The accent, huh?” Ryan said skeptically. “See if you can turn off the charm. Your love ’em and leave ’em tactics are not a good idea this time around. She hasn’t even been divorced two months yet. I would hate to see her get hurt.”
“Coño, I understand,” Tomas said, throwing up his hands. “You want the Big Bad Wolf to stay away from Caperucita Roja. I promise not to eat her.” He couldn’t resist a lascivious smile at the double entendre.
Ryan sighed heavily and shook his head. “You’re hopeless. Speaking of eating, have you eaten yet?”
“I had a piece of chicken.”
“Come on, then. You have to help us get rid of this food, and make sure you take a plate with you. Hell, take a couple of plates.” He stood and patted his stomach. “I think it’s about time for round two for me anyway.”
“Only round two?” Tomas gave him a good-natured slap on the back. “You’re slipping.”
They made their way across the lawn, stopping to speak to friends on the way in. Once back in the house, Shawna hurried over.
“I haven’t found Talia. Where is she? Have you seen her?” The words rushed out of her mouth and she looked decidedly worried.
Ryan gave his wife his full attention. “What’s wrong?”
“Carter’s here,” Shawna whispered.
Ryan frowned. “What’s he doing here? You didn’t invite him, did you?”
“Of course not.” Shawna gnawed a corner of her bottom lip. “Well, not exactly. When I sent out the invitations two months ago, it went to their house because Talia hadn’t moved out yet. He must have assumed he was still invited even though they’re divorced now. The thing is,” her voice lowered even more, and Tomas strained to hear, “he’s not alone. He brought Paula with him.”
“He brought his new girlfriend? He’s got some nerve.” With a hard set to his jaw, Ryan set his plate on the counter. “See if you can find Talia, and I’ll get rid of him.”
“I last saw him in the living room,” Shawna said as Ryan walked away.
Tomas knew he should mind his own business, but he couldn’t help but be curious to see the man Talia had been married to for ten years. He followed Ryan to the foyer.
“Hey, Carter, how’s it going?” Ryan said to a tall, fair-skinned black male coming out of the living room on the other side of the staircase. A black woman almost as tall as Carter, but who appeared to be about twenty years younger, followed closely behind.
“Ryan, it’s good to see you.” Carter shook his hand. “Congratulations on the new house.”
Then, perhaps the worst thing that could happen, happened. Talia descended the stairs, laughing and talking to Yvonne. When she saw Carter, she stopped and her eyes widened. At the same time, Shawna hurried from the kitchen and screeched to a halt when she observed the catastrophe about to take place. William strolled in the front door, and a group of children raced ahead of him, screaming and giggling and almost knocking over the adults in the entryway.
No one moved. No one made a sound as they waited for Talia to react. And then she did.
She stormed down the stairs and marched over to Carter and his girlfriend, her body rigid and face contorted in anger.
“How dare you come here? And how could you bring her?”
Chapter Four
Polished, educated, Carter Anderson III was the perfect man. Now he had the perfect girlfriend, Paula, beautiful and very tall. Her height felt like an insult, a strike at Talia’s diminutive size.
The fact that he hadn’t batted an eyelash when she’d asked for a divorce didn’t sit well, and Talia’s anger had only magnified when he’d arrived at the company picnic a couple of weeks ago with his new girlfriend in tow. Now, for him to show up at the housewarming struck a nerve.
She’d let him have the house and most of the possessions they’d accumulated while together, but these were her friends. He had no right to be here and bring another woman. Her nails bit into her palms
as she curled her fingers into angry fists.
“Talia, I didn’t know you’d be here,” Carter said. “If I’d known—”
“How could you not know?” Talia shouted. “Shawna’s my best friend!”
“Calm the hell down,” Carter said.
Ryan stepped forward. “Guys, this isn’t the time or place. Carter, you should go.”
“You were seeing her before we got a divorce, weren’t you?” Talia asked. The question had haunted her since she’d found out about their relationship. “And you couldn’t wait to flaunt your little slut in my face.”
“I’m not a slut,” Paula said from behind Carter, looking hurt and incredulous.
“She’s not a slut, and for the record, I never cheated on you, but I don’t think anyone would have blamed me if I had. I should have, because God knows you could push a man into the arms of another woman.”
“You are absolutely despicable,” Talia said.
“What’s the matter, upset because you can’t find anyone yourself?” Carter’s voice dripped with venom, and the caustic remark cut her to the core.
Guests slowly approached the scene, some peeking around the corner to find out who the raised voices belonged to.
“Who says I don’t have someone?” Talia lifted her chin.
“Who would put up with you?” he shot back.
The stinging words constricted her throat, but she swallowed past the pain. “You think I was the problem?” she asked, wanting to lash out. Wanting to hurt him. “Maybe it wasn’t me. Maybe I had to find the right man; one who could make me happy and satisfy me.”
She narrowed her eyes and felt a perverse sense of satisfaction when a small gasp erupted from the group. Carter’s cheeks darkened to a ruddy hue.
Ryan held up his hands. “Guys, really, this is getting out of hand.”
William nodded his agreement. “He’s right. Enough already.”
“Nice try, Talia,” Carter sneered. “You’re as cold as a dead fish, and I know you’re not seeing anyone.”
The Wrong Man (Love Unexpected) Page 2