Caress (13 page)

Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I just don’t understand how he could ignore what she wants most in the world. If she were mine—”

“If she were yours?” Pert eyebrows lifted over her warm brown eyes.

“If she were my daughter, I wouldn’t get in the way, especially if I knew she was capable. That’s not right.”

Lysette continued her scrutiny. “You like her, don’t you? No, don’t try to deny it. I can tell you do. But I can also tell that you’re not sure what to make of her. Don’t think that just because she plays hardball when it comes down to business that that’s all there is to her. She’s a wonderful friend, a talented artist, and just a beautiful, beautiful person whom I am very lucky to have as a friend. I also hope that she finds someone the way that I have. She deserves it.”

The air in the car had suddenly grown thick and heavy. Michael needed to get out and have a moment to himself to think through all of the things he’d learned. He got out of the car, preparing to bid Lysette farewell. Then it struck him. He leaned in the passenger window with his brows knit in confusion. “Artist?” Michael questioned.

Lysette’s answer came right away. “Everybody in that whole family is an artist. Nya’s no different. Her mother told me once that Nyron had never been as good at painting as he wanted to be, but that Nya has a real gift for it, a genuine, God-given gift. Her mother told me that Nyron just wants her to do with the talent what he would have done with it. That’s why he tries so hard to push her in that direction. But, if you ask anyone, she also has a gift for business, the same one Nyron has, and she wants to see how far she can go with it.”

An artist?
Michael couldn’t picture it. He couldn’t picture that frosty businesswoman wearing a smock with paint splattered all over her. And then the vision of her face softening and glowing beneath his gaze assailed him. The memory of the way she felt pressed against him came blazing back. That woman was capable of passion, oh yes she was.

“So why don’t you trust him?” Lysette’s voice broke in and brought him back to the present.

“Trust who?”

“Elphonse. The kind of questions you’ve been asking lets me know you don’t. I don’t, either. But knowing him as long as I have explains why I don’t trust him. What about you?”

“Because I don’t like being used or made a fool of,” Michael replied, then related an abridged version of his story to her. He still wouldn’t name Deklerk as his main source for the article, but he did let Lysette know that the man had not prevented him from pushing forward with his story. She listened with curious and believing ears.

“This could be bad, Michael. Really bad.”

“I know, Lysette, I know,” he replied, trying to make sense of all the things she’d told him. He was pleased to know that she was now in his corner. “Please, Lysette. You know I can’t afford to make another mistake like the last one. I need to find out some more about Deklerk before I accuse him of anything. I don’t think you should say anything to Nya yet.”

“I won’t, unless I think she could be hurt in some way. Then all bets are off.”

“Deal.”

After he backed away from her sporty red SUV, she peered up at him and said, “I love Nya. I don’t have all the facts. I don’t know the whole story, but if you suspect something, I think you’re the man to track it down and to stop her from being hurt. Protect her, Michael.”

A knot formed in the back of his throat. “I’m not so sure.” Michael stood back from the SUV and shoved his hands into his pockets. Lysette obviously had everything figured out. He didn’t have anything figured out. “I don’t think—”

She raced her engine. “Listen, I’m not trying to force anything. I’m just saying, get to know her. If you noticed, everyone at the office loves her and so do her friends. We can’t all be wrong. She’s not cold, just focused.”

No, Michael thought to himself as Lysette pulled off, she certainly isn’t cold.

Lysette just couldn’t bring herself to go straight home. Granted, she wanted to know why her friend had left him at the galleries, but, more importantly, she needed to find a way to approach the things he had told her about Elphonse. For so long she had worried that El had been hiding some parts of his life, and she hadn’t once thought they were good parts. But Nya had unwavering faith in the man, as if she had not noticed the significant changes in him over the years.

She parked in the driveway and went up to the house. She knocked on the door off the kitchen.

Nya came to the door wiping her hands on a towel. “Hey, ’Sette. Come on in.”

“What are you cooking?” Lysette asked, sitting on a bar stool positioned next to the island.

“Brownies.”

“Brownies?”

“Don’t start,” Nya warned.

“Start what?”

“I wanted brownies.”

“I’m sure you did.”

“Shut up, Lysette. I don’t just bake brownies when I’m anxious.”

“No, you also do it when you’re feeling guilty.”

Nya rolled her eyes and tried her level best to ignore her best friend.

No dice.

“You also do it when you’re horny.”

“Oh, my God, Lysette. Shut up!”

“Which reminds me, you’ll never guess who I just talked to.”

“I’m sure I would, considering I sent you to pick him up,” Nya answered wearily.

“You’re no fun,” she said and pouted. “So, yes, I just spent some quality time with Michael Harrison.”

“And?” Nya said as she stirred brownie batter.

“And I want to know what happened. I want to know why you left the man hanging at the galleries.”

Nya turned away from her to slide the brownie pan into the oven. “You want a glass of wine?”

“Sure.”

Nya moved over to the wine rack, removed a bottle of red, and then poured a glass for each of them. After handing Lysette her glass, she took a sip of her own as she rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand.

“Lysette, I don’t know what got into me,” she blurted.

“Girl, tell me what happened!”

Nya plopped down onto a stool next to her, tucking her long legs back beneath her. “Lysette, it was awful. I can’t believe I did what I did.”

Lysette rocked forward in her seat. Nya was only hesitant when it came to talking about trouble with her family and talking about sex. “Okay, so tell me. What did you do?”

Nya took a fortifying sip. “So, we know I was attracted to Michael when I first saw him.”

“Who wouldn’t be?”

“Right. I mean, he has this fabulous smile.”

“You were looking at his smile?”

Nya made a sound like partial groan and partial giggle. “I don’t know, Lysette. We were in the garden and I just… I just lost my mind!”

“You are
killing
me, Nya. What the hell happened?”

“I kissed him. Or maybe he kissed me, but I kissed him back, and it just went on and on. Right there in the garden where anyone could have seen us. We just…”

Lysette could feel her eyes growing wider at every word.

A blush silenced Nya and she averted her eyes.

“You
kissed
him?”

Nya’s attention snapped back to her friend. “Look, I
know
that’s insane. I’ve been telling myself over and over again that I can’t get involved with him. I don’t have time for a relationship, especially since he’s the reason why I’m doing damage control right now, and especially not in the middle of this investigation and everything.”

“
Ahem
. Pardon the interruption, dear, but you
never
think you have time for a relationship.”

“Lysette, you
know
that if I let up at all at the office, my father will not waste time naming someone else to a position that is rightfully mine.”

“Nya, you don’t think you’re being a little over-dramatic?”

“I’m not. You
know
Daddy.”

“Yeah, I do. That’s not what I’m talking about. Your dad’s a lunatic and, yeah, you have to stay focused, but all you did was kiss a man. At your age, that’s definitely not enough to ruin your life.”

“God, you don’t understand.”

“For once, we agree. I don’t. I mean, you
left
him there.”

“I had to. After… after everything I just couldn’t face him.”

“Come on, you didn’t strip down and hump in the sand, did you?”

“No, no. But it was a little more than a simple kiss.” Nya winced but pushed forward. “We were all over each other. I mean kissing and groping like—”

“Like you couldn’t get enough of each other?”

“Y-yes. I mean, I’ve
never
let myself get that carried away before, and practically in
public
.”

“So it was good? You two had chemistry?”

“God, yes,” Nya moaned. “Anyway, I didn’t know what to do. I hardly know him, and what I do know of him is that he wrote an article based on the word of Marshall Ellis that paints us as monsters that could potentially let the real monsters go free. God, I should have known better. Then I ran away like some… some…
virgin
and made it even worse.”

“Yeah, now
that
is a little weird.”

“I know. I was just embarrassed by my reaction to him.”

“I say either you really, really like him, or it’s been too damn long.”

“I think I’ll go with the latter.”

“I think I’ll go with both.” The rich scent of chocolate filled the kitchen and Lysette took another sip of red wine. “Just admit it. You like him.”

“I think I’ve already admitted it. I liked him a little too much.”

“You know what I mean.”

Nya shrugged. “I admit it, then. I feel a crazy connection to him, crazy because I just met him.”

“Jamie and I got married three months after we met.”

“You guys are the exception.”

“Might be, but it still means that it’s possible. If things went down the way you said they did, I’m sure he feels that same connection.”

“He’s a man. He probably feels it every morning when he wakes up.”

Lysette giggled, and then cleared her throat. Nya was a little more relaxed, so maybe it was a good time to approach the other thing she wanted to talk about. “Hey, there is something important I want to talk to you about.”

Nya frowned and looked up at her. “What’s that?”

“You might be a little bashful after what happened between you, but I think you ought to talk to Michael about the Art Sentries Foundation, about the article.”

“I thought I’d already done that.”

“Did you ever ask him who his sources were?”

“He said he didn’t know who his sources were—go figure—except for Marshall.”

Lysette bit down on her lip and closed her eyes. “I’m pretty sure he has questions about at least one other one.”

Nya sat up straight. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” Lysette studied her friend closely. Nya was on alert. All semblance of the relaxed and vulnerable woman of moments before was gone. Maybe it wasn’t such a good time to tell her about El. “Well, I told him you were flying out tomorrow. He asked for your number here. I figured you would be okay with me giving it to him, if he had something to share.”

“Of course.”

“And of course that was before I knew you jumped his bones.”

“Not funny, Lysette.”

Lysette decided then not to go any further. She’d let Michael break the news, then offer support afterwards.

h

Nya was cutting brownies when her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number and gave her best friend an arch look. The phone rang again and she picked it up.

“Hello,” Nya squeaked. She cleared her throat. “Hello?”

“Nya, it’s me, Michael. Are you busy?”

Man, he had a sexy phone voice. Already she started to feel that warm, languid, and tingly sensation in her belly. She recognized the arousal, but tried her best to tamp it down. “No, just in the kitchen with Lysette.”

“Do you need me to call you back?”

“No, really, it’s fine. Uhhh… ummm…” She didn’t quite know where to start.

Lysette took her hesitation as a clue to disappear into the den.

“Michael, I’m sorry about how I left today. I… uhh… wasn’t expecting what happened between us, and… and…”

“It’s okay,” he told her. “Not so great for my ego, but—”

“Oh, no! It’s not like that.”

“Thank the Lord.”

“It’s just…”

“I know,” he said in a deep, soothing voice. “I was a little taken off guard, too. You may find this hard to believe, but I don’t normally accost beautiful young women in public gardens.”

Nya smiled.

“How about we put that behind us for now? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about, about the Art Sentries Foundation situation.”