“I’m sick of your bar room shit,” Richmond yelled as he approached his desk. “And this is the last time that you will put your hands on me.”
Solomon rose to his feet. “What are you going to do, Richmond?”
“Bring you down to the gutter where you belong,” Richmond spat, then threw his ice pack at Solomon, hitting him in the chest. “You’d better clean up this mess and I’m not going to help you.”
Solomon glared at his brother. “I’ve never asked you for your damned help and if I had, you wouldn’t have given it to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re behind this.”
“Here we go with this nonsense again. Why don’t you just head over to Police Plaza and tell the cops your theory?”
“If I had proof, I would,” Solomon said. “I’m going down to North Carolina and when I get back, maybe you should have your resignation on my desk.”
“What?”
“I think I made myself clear. I want you out of this company. You’re dead weight I’m tired of carrying,” Solomon said as he tossed the ice pack in the trash can.
Richmond slammed out of the office muttering obscenities.
After his brother left, Solomon gathered his things and called Kandace’s room. He needed to hear her voice.
“Hello?” she said when she answered the phone.
“Kandace, it’s Solomon.”
“Hi, how are you?” she asked, her voice brimmed with concern. Solomon smiled, despite the turmoil he’d been sinking in all day.
“I’m starting to feel a lot better,” he said. “It’s been crazy here, but I’m flying into Charlotte tonight so that I can see what’s really going on at the resort.”
“The front desk sent the guests a statement that said the police think this murder was a domestic situation,” Kandace said. “Is that true?”
“As far as I know,” Solomon said, not wanting to get into his theory over the phone. “We can talk about it further when I get back to Sugar Mountain. But the first thing I want to do when I get there is kiss you.”
“Solomon, I’m sure you have more important things to worry about than kissing me,” she said.
“Kissing you is the only thing I don’t have to worry about. I’m actually looking forward to it.”
“So am I,” she said honestly. “But I’ve been so worried about you.”
“I’m all right, I guess. When I booked the jet to go back down there, I hung up with the hangar and punched in Danny’s number. I wanted to ask him to look into the death down there, and then I realized that he wasn’t here anymore.”
“Oh, Solomon.”
“Yeah, I’m going to have to get used to that,” he said as he closed his office door. “How was your day?”
“After the police left, I went out and rode a snowmobile,” she said.
“Please tell me I didn’t miss you falling in the snow again,” he joked.
“Actually, I’m pretty nasty on the snowmobile. Maybe when you get back, I’ll take you for a ride. I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”
“I know what kind of ride I’m looking forward to tonight,” he said seductively.
“If you’re up for it, I’d be happy to strap up and give you what you want.”
“Oh, I’m going to be up for it, believe that,” he said as he waved his arm to hail a cab. “I’ll give you a call from the plane. I’ve got to track down a cab. No matter how much money you have, a black man still can’t get a cab in New York.”
Kandace laughed and told him that she was going to have a snack in the café.
“Save some chocolate for me,” he said as caught the attention of a Yellow Cab.
“Always,” she said. “Be safe, Solomon.”
“I will.” They said good-bye as he climbed into the cab. Solomon knew that Kandace was just the calm he needed in the middle of this storm.
CHAPTER 16
Kandace looked up into the sky and held out her gloved hand to capture flakes as they fell. Then she laughed at herself because every time she saw the snow, she felt like a twelve-year-old out of school on a snow day. As she walked into the building, headed for the café, a woman bumped into her.
“Excuse me,” she said. “I didn’t see you there.”
“That’s all right,” Kandace said.
The woman cocked her head to the side and gave Kandace a once-over. “Have we met before?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” Kandace said as she attempted to sidestep the woman.
“I know who you are. You’re Solomon’s latest—um—friend,” she said. “I’m Carmen De La Croix. Solomon and I are partners.”
“That’s nice,” Kandace said.
“Partners in every way. I know you two have been spending some time together while you’ve been here, but that’s over now.”
“Excuse me?” Kandace asked, raising her right eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
Carmen pushed her hair behind her ears and smiled at Kandace. “We had a fight before he came here and I know he was letting off some steam with you. He told me all about it, the hot tub and all of that.”
“What are you saying? You’re Solomon’s girlfriend?” Kandace asked incredulously.
“Well, I’m the only woman in his life he’s ever depended on. I’m here because of the current crisis at this resort and in New York. He told me to wait in his suite for him so that we could make up.”
Kandace folded her arms across her chest. “Why are telling me this? Why don’t you just traipse your ass up to his suite and wait for him then?”
Carmen smiled again. “Surely, you didn’t think you and Solomon had a future. Yes, you’re kind of cute, but his life is in New York, with me.”
“Go to hell,” Kandace sniped as she pushed past Carmen and stormed inside the café. Was she telling the truth? Was she Solomon’s girlfriend? What am I worried about it for? I knew this thing with Solomon was going to be a brief fling anyway. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to be the other woman in his relationship. Maybe that’s why all of his relationships with the models and the actresses fizzle, because of Carmen. Why can’t men be honest?
“Ma’am, do you need more time?” the barista asked Kandace.
“I’m sorry, I changed my mind. I don’t want anything.” Kandace tore out of the café and returned to her suite. She had a few choice words she planned to share with Solomon before she kicked him out of her life.
Kandace opened the door to her suite and shook her head for allowing herself to get caught up in this affair with Solomon. Honestly, she hadn’t thought about having a future with him, but how could he be so dishonest? He should’ve told her that he had a girlfriend! And then he had the nerve to call her when he knew that woman was in his suite. “Son of a bitch,” she muttered as she crossed the room and picked up the phone to call Jade. As the phone rang, Kandace considered packing her things and heading back to Charlotte. She never wanted to see Solomon Crawford’s lying face again.
Solomon closed his eyes as the jet reached its cruising altitude. He was looking forward to seeing Kandace as soon as he returned to the resort. But he had to talk to Frances first and find out what was going on with the investigation of Anita’s death. He shivered inadvertently. There was too much death around him and his work.
I hope Anita’s death was simply related to her ex-husband and not something different. Maybe this is related to the way I’ve treated women. Should I settle down and just be with one woman and stop with all the games? Kandace is the kind of woman that I could see myself settling down with…. Wait a minute, I’m a long way from that. Danny would’ve loved this.
“Mr. Crawford, would you like a drink?” Rita, the flight attendant, asked.
“No, I’m fine. I’m going to make some phone calls and get some work done.”
“Buzz me if you need anything,” she said, then headed to the front of the cabin.
Solomon pulled out his BlackBerry and called Carmen.
“Solomon, hi,” she said
.
“Hey. I’m on my way back to the resort.”
“Already? I thought you would’ve—”
“Well,” Solomon said, cutting her off, “I want to see what’s going on with the murder investigation and I wanted to see Kandace. I’ll probably be staying with her, so you can keep the suite.”
“Oh, all right,” she said. “What time do you think you’ll be getting here?”
“That’s another reason why I called. What’s the weather like? I’ll be in Charlotte in an hour and a half, but I need to know what kind of car to rent.”
“It’s been snowing off and on all day. I’d get an SUV if I were you,” she suggested.
“Thanks, Carmen. I’ll talk with you tomorrow,” he said. Solomon ended the call and then closed his eyes and slept for the rest of the flight.
When the plane began its decent, Rita tapped Solomon on the shoulder. “Mr. Crawford, you need to buckle your seat belt,” she said.
“That was quick,” he said as he lifted his seat and fastened his seat belt.
“You slept the entire flight,” she said. “Would you like me to call and arrange a car for you?”
“I need a rental, something with four-wheel drive. I’m going into the mountains,” he said as Rita took note.
Solomon couldn’t wait to feel Kandace’s arms around him and her lips pressed against his.
“Kandace, are you serious?” Jade asked as she listened to her friend tell her about the woman who had confronted her at the resort’s café. “And Solomon didn’t tell you that he and this Carmen woman were intimate?”
“No, but she made sure I knew all about it. Hell, she should’ve been talking to him and not me. I didn’t make a comment to her,” Kandace said as she paced back and forth.
“You sound kind of upset about all of it. I know you didn’t think things were serious with this guy.”
“No, I didn’t. But I have never been and will never be someone’s other woman,” Kandace said. “I ought to pack up and come back to Charlotte.”
“How about no? You should still enjoy your vacation,” she said. “Don’t let that dog steal your joy. And if you come back to Charlotte, you’re still going to be banned from the restaurant. Speaking of the restaurant, do you know someone named April Martin?”
“I don’t think so. Who is she?”
“She said you two went to graduate school together and she was stopping in to see you. I got a bad vibe from her.”
“I don’t remember any April Martin from graduate school. What did she look like?”
“Tall, light-brown skin, kind of Puerto Rican-looking.”
“Long hair?”
“Yeah, you know her?”
“Umm-hmm. That was Carmen De La Croix. Something isn’t right about that woman. I guess she Googled me after Solomon told her about us.”
“She sounds like an unstable stalker. What if what she said about Solomon wasn’t true?”
Kandace sighed and tugged at her hair. “Then why would she be staying in his suite?”
“Good point,” Jade said just as Jaden began to cry. “My son is begging for attention or my breast. I’m going to call you back.”
“Don’t bother. I’m going to light a fire and finish reading Wild Justice. I’m sure Solomon and his girlfriend will have their reunion tonight and I won’t have to look in his damned face.”
“All right, but you know you’re better off, right?”
“Yeah,” Kandace said. But she sure didn’t feel that way. As she hung up the phone, she wondered how she could’ve been so wrong about Solomon. No, she hadn’t expected anything to happen beyond the end of her stay at Carolina Serenity, but he could’ve told her the truth, that he was in a relationship with that crazy woman.
“I can’t believe she went to Charlotte looking for me when she knew I was here with her man. Crazy bitch,” Kandace muttered as she crossed over to the fireplace and added fresh logs to it. Before lighting it, she decided that she was going back to the café to get that latte and brownie she’d wanted when Carmen accosted her earlier. She grabbed her shoes, put them on, and headed out the door. She wasn’t going to let anyone ruin her vacation. There were plenty of things she could do other than lay in Solomon’s arms or kiss him.
To hell with him, she thought as she closed the door behind her.
Carmen watched Kandace from around the corner as she got on to the elevator. She knew that she’d gotten to her, but she wouldn’t be satisfied until that woman left the resort. Carmen used her stolen pass key card and entered Kandace’s suite. She quickly crossed over to the fireplace and smiled when she saw that it looked as if it had been used. Carmen figured that Kandace would probably use it again tonight since her bed was sure to be cold without Solomon in it. She knelt down and closed the damper on the fireplace.
“I wish I had some gas to pour on these logs. No, I can’t do that because the fire would destroy this resort and Solomon loves this place. I don’t want to do anything to hurt Solomon,” she said as she headed for the door. The last thing she wanted to happen was to get caught in Kandace’s room. Instead of taking the elevator, she dashed up the stairs to Solomon’s suite. She couldn’t wait until he arrived at the resort. She was going to be waiting to comfort him when Kandace kicked him out of her suite and her life. She could feel it in her soul that tonight was the night that things were going to change for her and Solomon. Tonight he was going to make love to her and they were going to be together.
Carmen smiled as she made it to the eighth floor. She had to hurry and get ready for Solomon’s return. When she entered the suite, she called room service and ordered two steak dinners, a bottle of Dom Pérignon, chocolate covered strawberries, and a bowl of whipped cream.
“Make sure you bring candles,” she told the operator.
“Yes, Miss De La Croix. Anything else?”
“No, just make sure after the meal is delivered that no one disturbs us. I want the phone placed on ‘do not disturb’ also,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Carmen hung up the phone, then headed into the bathroom and took a shower with honey lemon shower gel. She had to make sure she was smooth and silky when he touched her. She cursed as she realized that she’d left her razor in the bedroom. Hopping out of the shower, she dashed into the bedroom and grabbed her razor from her makeup kit. Glancing at the bed, she smiled as she thought of how Solomon would make love to her on top of the goose down comforter. I’d better hurry before dinner and my man get here.
On his drive to the resort, Solomon fought fatigue, but when he saw the shimmering lights of Carolina Serenity, his energy came back in spades. As he pulled his rented Ford Explorer into a parking spot near the café, he caught a glimpse of Kandace sitting near the window sipping a drink. She looked beautiful in her pink sweat suit and her face scrubbed free of makeup. Solomon couldn’t get out of the SUV fast enough to get to her. He needed her kiss and her touch more than anything else in the world.
He burst through the door and stood at Kandace’s table. “Hello, beautiful,” he said.
She looked up at him with a sour scowl on her face and quickly rose to her feet. “You son of a bitch,” Kandace snapped, and tossed the contents of her cup at his chest.
“What did I do to deserve that?” he asked as he grabbed a napkin from the table and wiped the lukewarm liquid from his chest.
“Why don’t you go to your suite and ask your damned girlfriend?” Kandace shrieked.
“My what?” Solomon asked as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“I’m not going to stand here and listen to your lies. She’s in your suite. You just allow random women to wait in your bed for you?” Kandace glanced around the café and saw every eye in the place focused on her and Solomon. “I’m not doing this. But you’d better stay away from me.”
He reached out and grabbed her arm, but Kandace snatched it away and tore out of the café. Solomon offered a terse smile t
o the patrons as he took off after Kandace.
He caught up to her as she stepped on the elevator, despite the fact that she was furiously pressing the button to close the door. “Kandace,” he said, “I don’t understand this.”
Kandace folded her arms and glared at him. “Why don’t you go up to the eighth floor and ask Carmen what she said to me? Obviously, she knows what we’ve been doing and she felt the need to come all the way to North Carolina to stop it as she does with your other relationships. How dare you make me the other woman?” She pounded her fists against his chest.
Solomon held her wrists and forced her to look him in the eye. “You are not the other woman. Carmen is just my business partner.”
“That’s not what she said, and since she has free reign of your suite, I’m inclined to believe her,” Kandace said as she pulled away from him. The doors opened to the fifth floor and Kandace bolted off the elevator with Solomon on her heels.
“Kandace,” he said as she fumbled with her key card to open her door.
“I told you to stay away from me,” she barked.
“No, I’m not,” Solomon said. “You must have misunderstood what she said.”
Kandace opened the door and Solomon stepped in before she could slam the door in his face. “Please talk to me, because all day I’ve been looking forward to seeing you and holding you.”
“Save it,” she said, throwing her hand up in his face. “Because you’re a damned liar. Your girlfriend not only confronted me here, but she went to my restaurant in Charlotte. Something is wrong with her and I’m not getting in the middle of this bullshit.”
“There is nothing to be in the middle of,” he said with an exasperated groan. “Let’s go upstairs right now and straighten this out.”
“Are you dense?” she snapped.
“No, but I’m not going to let this misunderstanding come between us,” he said.
Kandace rolled her eyes and pointed toward the door. “I want that door to come between us, because I’m done talking to you and being in your damned presence. Get out!”
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