Release Me

by Farrah Rochon

  “You’d better do more than think there’s a shot. You’d better work harder than you’ve ever worked before to make sure you make it to the top, because that’s Toby’s sole priority.

  “I’ve known Toby all my life, and I have never seen him put so much of his heart and soul into anything, even basketball. If you are not one-hundred percent serious about this, then you’d better tell me right now,” Sienna warned.

  “I am,” Aria insisted. “Really, I’m totally into this now. But I want Toby, too.”

  Sienna was tempted to come right out and tell her that she couldn’t have him. But it wasn’t her place. This was between Toby and his client. She wasn’t sure if Toby had given Aria an indication that there could be something more between them, but if he had he’d better straighten the girl out right now. There was too much at stake—her job, for one thing—to have it all wiped out over some misbegotten puppy dog infatuation.

  “You’re not going to tell Toby, are you?” Aria asked.

  “Are you still planning on cornering him and stripping down to your birthday suit?”

  “No,” Aria laughed, but Sienna could almost see the wheels turning in the girl’s head. She would try in some way to get Toby where she wanted him. For someone who was so adamant about keeping things on a professional level with his client, Toby had not done a good job of making his feelings known to Aria.

  What if Toby had been giving Aria false hope with the intention of getting her to bend to his will? Sienna knew more than most that when Toby was hell bent on doing something he went to extraordinary lengths to accomplish his goal.

  “Our feet are done,” Aria said, bright and bubbly. “Time to work on the hair.”

  Sienna rubbed the side of her head in an attempt to ease the pounding behind her eyes. Her afternoon of relaxation wasn’t all that relaxing anymore.

  Chapter Eleven

  The foot traffic in the French Quarter was in full force, with tourists dipping in and out of the assortment of restaurants and shops lining Decatur. The festival season was just beginning, with Jazz Fest only a few weeks away. The crowd would be doubled by the time that came around.

  Toby pulled open the door to Sylvia’s Treasures and was greeted by an overly strong floral scent he suspected was coming from the candle burning on a little round table to the right of the door.

  “Well, well. Hello, Tobias.” Sylvia Culpepper called from behind the glass-top counter. She didn’t bother to rise from her perch upon a stool behind the cash register. No surprise. He had been on Sylvia’s bad side ever since he broke her treasured decorative plate with a picture of the White House. Good thing she never found out about the Tequila incident. If she still held a grudge after all these years over a plate, she would damn him to hell for getting her fifteen-year-old daughter wasted and feeling her up in her closet.

  “Hi, Mrs. Culpepper,” Toby leaned over the counter to plant a barely there kiss on her cheek. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. I thought you’d forgotten about New Orleans.”

  “I could never forget my home.”

  “I guess Margo’s excited to have all three of her boys back at home. I was hoping to get a chance to talk to her at church on Sunday, but she wasn’t there.”

  “We went to a church in Slidell.”

  “She must have attended their bible study this week, too.”

  “No, she went to bible study at her church.”

  “I have known Margo Holmes long enough to remember what she looks like, and she was not at bible study,” Sylvia said, annoyance in her voice.

  “I’m sorry,” Toby answered. “It’s just that Alex dropped her off and I picked her up at the church hall.”

  “Well, I don’t know whose bible study she went to, but it wasn’t Morning Star Baptist.”

  “What are you doing here?” Toby turned at the sound of Sienna’s voice.

  Lord, have mercy.

  The dress she wore put the little black one she’d worn to the Hard Court’s opening night to shame. It was deep blue, low cut, and skintight. A lump of emotion lodged in Toby’s throat, making it hard to speak.

  “I thought we were meeting at the club at eight o’clock?” Sienna asked, making her way from the back of the store to the front counter.

  “Sienna Elaine, where are you going dressed like that?” Sylvia asked.

  “I told you, Mama. Aria Jordan, the singer Toby discovered, is singing at Toby’s friend’s club.”

  “You’d better hope they don’t turn you around wearing a dress like that.”

  Damn, she looked good. Toby wished he could get to her closet to see what other sexy treasures she had stored in there.

  Ignoring her mother, Sienna asked, “Are you ready?”

  “If you are,” Toby said, ecstatic that his voice decided to come out and play. “I know I’m a little early, but I figured we could walk from here since it’s not all that far.”

  “Actually, I was going to walk anyway, but I thought I’d just meet you there. Mama, Toby and I have a meeting with the producers of the show, so I won’t be able to come by this Saturday to help with inventory,” Sienna said.

  “I’ll manage,” Sylvia drawled.

  Sienna rolled her eyes, then stood on her tiptoes and leaned over the counter to place a kiss on her mother’s cheek. Toby tried hard not to stare at the way the dress stretched over her behind, but apparently there was a lack of communication between his eyes and his brain. Her ass was just begging to be held. It reminded Toby of his basketball days, and how perfectly the round ball used to fit in his palms. It had been a long time since he’d gripped a basketball. It had been a long time since he’d held a woman, too.

  But he didn’t want just any woman.

  Sienna turned. “Let me run to the restroom, and then we can go.”

  As he watched her walk toward the back of the store, Toby struggled with the thoughts that had plagued him constantly lately. For the past few days, any time his mind even ventured around thoughts of sex, only one woman showed up.

  Sienna.

  It was driving him crazy. He shouldn’t have these thoughts about her. Toby still doubted he could provide everything Sienna deserved in a man. She needed someone who would put her ahead of his own needs, who’d put her first.

  Sienna wasn’t his idea of prospective girlfriend material anyway. She was a jock. Well, she used to be a jock. In that dress, she was the furthest thing from a jock Toby had ever seen. But still, he could not seriously try to start something up with Sienna. There was too much history there.

  Although, if he were honest, which he usually was—at least with himself—Toby could admit that things were drastically different between he and Sienna. They were not the friends they used to be, and no matter how much they attempted to rediscover that camaraderie, it just was not the same.

  Could there be something more serious between them? How would he even broach the subject with her? He couldn’t just say, “Hey, Cee Cee, I’ve been picturing you naked. You want to get together and see how things work out?”

  She would kick his ass.

  Toby took a deep breath and tried to rein in the chaotic thoughts twisting through his mind. This was way too much for him to handle right now.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” Sienna said, coming out of the restroom. She preceded him out the door and they headed left down Royal Street, past a high-end furniture store displaying antiques emblemized with fleur de lis.

  “My goodness, even at eight o’clock in the evening it still feels like the middle of the day,” Sienna said.

  “Yeah, it took some getting used to. After being gone for so long, I had to recondition my body to function in this heat and humidity.”

  “I guess that would be a plus to living up north, although you did have all that cold and snow to deal with. I’m not sure how well I’d do in the snow.”

  Toby took her by the elbow as they dodged a huge break in the sidewalk at the
corner of Royal and Governor Nicholls Street.

  “The first day it snowed when I was at St. John’s, I missed all my classes. When I found out the professors had marked me absent, I told them where I’m from everything goes into hibernation when it snows. “

  Sienna threw her head back and let out a peal of laughter, the illumination from the Old World-style street lamp casting a warm glow over her coffee-colored skin. Toby stared at the column of her throat, imagining his tongue running along the slope under her jaw.

  “Do you miss it?” she asked.

  “What? The snow?” He asked, trying to pull his thoughts away from her delectable looking neck.

  “No, living up north. When you never came home, I figured you must really like it up there.”

  “It was all right.” He shrugged. “I fell into the flow of things pretty easily.”

  “Too easily,” she remarked quietly, glancing down at the sidewalk. “It made you forget everything and everyone back here.”

  Toby flinched at her accusation. “I didn’t forget, Cee Cee.”

  “Could have fooled me,” she mumbled, picking up her step.

  “Sienna, wait a minute.” He placed a restraining hand on her arm and waited until she looked up at him before saying, “You know I didn’t forget about you.”

  “Am I really supposed to believe that, Toby? I hardly ever saw you once you left for school.”

  “You were in Atlanta!” he said, his chest constricting at the hurt evident in her eyes.

  “I wasn’t in Atlanta all the time. I came home on holidays.”

  “It was too expensive to travel during holidays,” he defended. “I had to come home during the off season, when airfare was more reasonable.”

  “I know things were rough, but a phone call every now and then would not have broken the bank, Toby.”

  “You could have called, too, you know,” Toby charged, his defenses spurred by her insinuation that this gap between them was his fault. “Hell, you could have come up to New York if you wanted to.”

  “I was afraid,” she said, her voice small.

  “Of what?”

  “I was afraid I would cramp your style,” she said with a hesitant shrug, uncertainty naked in her apprehensive eyes. “I figured you were the big man on campus who wouldn’t want your skinny, tomboy friend from back home messing with your reputation.”

  Regret expanded in his chest. “You know I would never have said that.”

  “No, I didn’t know,” she said with a choked, desperate laugh. Sienna shook her head, her eyes, when she looked back at him, were filled with the same regret Toby felt. “It had been so long since I’d talked to you, I wasn’t sure what you would say or think. You changed while you were out there, Toby.” Her expressive eyes darkened even more with remorse. “You were not the same person. You’re still not.”

  “And you are?” he said, gesturing up and down the length of her. “The Sienna Culpepper who played point guard at St. Mary’s Academy wouldn’t have even known where to buy a dress like this. The shoes. The make-up. You’re not the same Cee Cee I left back in New Orleans.”

  Sienna gaped at him. “You’re comparing a dress and a little make-up to the changes you’ve undergone?”

  “That is more than just a dress.”

  Sienna’s eyes narrowed, and Toby told himself to look away. He wasn’t sure he was ready for her to see the desire he knew was in his eyes. He was still trying to figure this out for himself. But he couldn’t help it. And he couldn’t look away. Instead, his fingers rose to her face and trailed lightly across her smooth jaw.

  “Neither of us are the people we were when we left for college,” he said, his gaze falling to her full lips.

  “No, we’re not.” Her words came out on a husky breath.

  “We used to be best friends.”

  “We still could be,” she said.

  Acute desire blossomed in his chest. “Or…”

  “Or?”

  “We…can…” Confusion stalled his words. Were they ready for this next step? Was he? How would this affect their already tenuous relationship? How would it affect his career?

  Toby gave his head an imperceptible shake, flinging off the residual desire thrumming through his brain. He and Sienna still had to work together. Starting something up with her could be a distraction, and he couldn’t allow anything to get in the way of the success of the show.

  “It’s getting late,” he said, taking her by the arm. “We need to keep walking if we’re going to have dinner before Aria performs.”

  “Umm, okay,” Sienna answered, clearly shaken.

  They continued their way down Governor Nicholls without another word spoken between them.

  ***

  Sienna walked through the door Toby held open for her. The tension radiating between them had been building throughout their walk over to The Hard Court, and she was at the breaking point.

  This entire thing was getting far too complicated. It was less intimidating when she thought Toby and Aria were a couple. Now that she knew he was unattached it took away her excuses. If she was having this same conversation with Ivana, instead of with herself, how would she answer her sister if she asked for the reasons she chose to not seriously pursue Toby?

  There was no answer. At least not one she could share with Ivana or with anyone else. After all this time, how could she reveal the nightmare that had shattered her world?

  Not a single soul knew about the night she had been pinned against that building; how the despicable hands of that monster had ripped her dress. How he’d forced her legs apart and rammed his fingers into her body. The remembered stench of alcohol on his breath hit her like a violent fist. Her stomach twisted, bile rising in her throat.

  Sienna shut her eyes tight against the memories. Humiliation shuddered throughout her body. How could she have allowed it? Why didn’t she fight?

  A disturbing knot of anxiety balled in her stomach. Sienna pulled her bottom lip between her teeth to stop them from trembling. She had to get control of herself. This was neither the time nor the place to allow her emotions to overwhelm her.

  She had nearly convinced herself that she was over the assault. She’d tried. Lord knows she’d done everything she could to get on with her life. But vamping up her wardrobe with daring dresses and trying to use the flirting techniques she read about in magazines did little to instill in Sienna the confidence she witnessed in her friends. At the end of the day, her attempts at exploring her sexuality were futile. She clammed up whenever a guy showed interest.

  “Cee Cee, you okay?” Toby asked.

  Startled, Sienna’s eyes widened. How had she allowed herself to be pulled in by those memories again?

  She gazed up at Toby and a shower of relief washed over her. Toby was the one person Sienna knew would never hurt her—at least not physically. His inability to see her as anything but a friend sent a familiar pang of longing rushing through Sienna’s veins. But over the years, Sienna had come to recognize that the ache carried with it a hint of comfort. As long as she pined for a relationship with Toby, something that would probably never come to fruition, she didn’t have to face the fears of intimacy that had been born the night of her debutante ball.

  “Sienna?” Toby squeezed her upper arm.

  “I’m—” the word came out hoarse. She cleared her throat, tried again. “I’m fine. A glass of water wouldn’t hurt, though.”

  “Let’s go to the bar before we head upstairs,” Toby suggested.

  They walked past the lobby and onto the main floor of the club. There was a crowd gathering at the far right end, toward the bar. Sienna spotted Jonathan breaking away from the pack.

  “Hey, man,” Jonathan greeted. The two clasped palms and embraced in a half hug. “What’s going on over there?” Toby asked.

  Sienna could feel the discomfort shooting off of Jonathan as he shifted his stance. “We’ve got ourselves a celebrity in the club tonight,” he answered, nervously running a
hand over his head and shoving the other in his pocket.

  “Who?” Toby asked.

  “Isaac Payton.”

  The transformation was instant. Toby’s expression went from laid back to utterly hostile in less than a second. He glared at Jonathan. “Of all the players in the NBA, that’s who you invite to your club?” Toby asked accusingly.

  “I didn’t invite him,” Jonathan argued. “He showed up about an hour ago, but I’m not sending him away. Do you see the amount of people here? And it’s not even nine o’clock yet.”

  Toby’s jaw clenched; his eyes deadly.

  “You know, Toby, I’m not all that hungry. Maybe we can get out of here until Aria’s performance,” Sienna suggested in an attempt to diffuse his anger. She knew Toby and NBA super star Isaac Payton had played together at St. John’s, but that’s about all she knew. Well, that and the fact that the other man pulled about twelve million a year just in endorsements. By the look on Toby’s face, there was some bad blood between those two.

  “Even if you leave, I’m not promising that Payton will be gone by the time Aria gets on stage,” Jonathan said to Sienna. He turned his attention to Toby. “Look, man. All that stuff happened years ago. You need to put it behind you and use this jackass’s fame to your advantage. Think of all the exposure Aria will get tonight?”

  Jonathan was right, Sienna decided. Whatever problem Toby had with Isaac Payton was not worth losing the chance to expose Aria to tonight’s massive crowd. This was business. Personal issues had no part in it.

  Maybe she should think about that the next time she started thinking about Toby in a less than professional way.

  “We’re here to have dinner,” Toby said, taking Sienna by the hand. “Let the bastard stay right where he is. You’re right, he’ll be helping me out without even knowing it.”

  “That’s the way to look at it,” Jonathan said, throwing his arm over Toby’s shoulder. Together, the three of them walked upstairs. Jonathan sat them at the same out of the way table where they’d dined the first time they came to dinner.