Fresh Temptation: Barboza Brothers, Book One (21 page)

After her conversation
with Alexis, Cara had been too nervous to eat or focus on
work.
What if she was right? What if
Victor doesn’t understand?

She planned to tell him
the entire story about Isaac’s father over dinner tonight. Victor
made reservations for two at a cozy Italian restaurant a few blocks
from the office. As the hour drew closer, she worried he had
forgotten.
Just as well
, she thought.
I’m in no mood to
eat.

Gary poked his head into
her office and said, “Have a good night, Cara,” just as she heard
her phone ring.

“You too!” Her heart
thumped with excitement, hoping to soon hear that Victor was on his
way. But when she saw the name of her former manager in Chicago,
she groaned her disappointment and clicked the button to ignore the
call, assuming she would soon hear from Victor.

Seconds later, Justine
called again.

Cara grimaced at the phone
as if it were a real person. “Not now!” As she listened to it ring
a few more times, she rolled her eyes and decided to answer, only
to have a distraction from her worries about Victor. “Hi Justine.
How ya doin’?”

“I’m fine but I’d be doing
much better if I could get one of my most talented employees back.
How are you?
”

Not this again.
Cara ignored the two emails Justine had sent her
since their talk a few weeks earlier. “I’m all right. My new job
keeps me very busy.”

“I’m sure it does. But
Cara, I really need you. I wish I’d never had to let you go in the
first place but it wasn’t my decision to make.
”

“I know, but I’m sure
you’ll find someone soon. There are so many people looking for jobs
right now and—”

“Yes, but not many with
your experience. I need someone who can hit the ground running, and
I need them now. I’ve interviewed fifteen people and in the back of
my mind I keep thinking, if only I could get another
Cara…
”

“I’m sorry. I feel your
pain but I just can’t. My new boss needs me, too.”

“No, he can’t need you as
badly as I do.
”

Cara laughed. She hadn’t
told Justine about her romantic involvement with Victor. “I’m not
so sure about that.”

“Come on. I wasn’t that
horrible to work for, was I?
”

“No, it has nothing to do
with that. You know I loved working with you. I was just telling
someone the other day about how we used to go out for drinks after
work sometimes.”

“I miss that. We had a
really good group.”
Justine sighed.
“
Come on. Tell me what I have to
do.
”

“There’s nothing you
can—”

“How’s a ten grand sign-on
bonus sound? In addition to relocation expenses?
”

“No, I really
can’t—”

“Twenty grand. That’s as
high as I can go. And you’ll start out at fifteen grand over what
you were making when you left.
”

“I can’t be worth that
much.”

“Yes, you can. Compared to
the cost of hiring someone new who doesn’t have your experience?
You’re a steal.
”

Cara whined as she spoke.
“I’m sorry. It hurts me to say no but I have to. If only you’d
called me before I got this job…”

“Yeah,
yeah.
” Justine’s tone was sad.
“
Well, call me if you change your mind in
the next few days. I’ll have to make a decision to hire someone
else soon.
”

“I will.” Cara’s phone
beeped. “I’m sorry, I gotta go. Getting another call.”

“Okay,
bye.
”

“Bye.” Cara took a deep
breath when she saw it was Victor. “Hello?”

“Hello,
querida.
”
He
yawned. “
I’m sorry. How rude of me. It’s
been an exhausting day
.”

“What happened? Who’s in
the hospital?”

He paused for a long
moment. “
Douglas Whitt
.”

Cara gulped. “You mean,
Alexis’s dad?”

“Yes
.”

She shook her head,
confused. “Why are you there? Did she call you? Why would you spend
all day at the hospital with her?”

“It wasn’t about her. He
was my friend.
”
Victor’s voice was quiet and sober. “
And he didn’t make it. He passed away a little over an hour
ago. Massive stroke.
”

“Oh no. I’m so
sorry.”

“Me too. He was a great
man. I’ll miss him.
”

Cara held the phone to her
ear with no idea what to say. All day, Alexis had been in her head,
tormenting her with anger and doubt. And now, that woman’s own
father was dead? It was hard to imagine.

After a while, Victor
inhaled deeply, then said, “
I’ll have to
cancel our dinner plans tonight. And since I had to shift my
schedule around today, I may not see much of you tomorrow. I’m
sorry.
”

“I understand.”

“Good.
” He sighed in relief. “
Before I go,
I need to tell you Alexis apologized for everything. Says she feels
terrible about it.
”

Cara scoffed. “Yeah, okay.
I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Me neither. It really
surprised me.
”

“You don’t really think
she’s changed, do you?”

“I think she’s in shock.
She’s grieving. Probably saying a lot of things.
”

Startled by the genuine
sympathy she sensed in his tone, she let a few thoughts slip loose,
in haste. “Is that why you’ve been with her all day? Are you
comforting her? Will you be with her tonight?”

“No! God, Cara. I’m here
because Douglas was asking for me. And yes, I’ve tried to be kind
to Alexis. Her father just died. I’m not
heartless.
”

“I didn’t mean to imply
you were. I’m just a little confused.”

Victor yawned again.
“
It’s fine. We’ll talk about it later,
okay? I’ve gotta go. I’m sorry.
”

Several minutes later,
Cara was alone with her thoughts as she drove home. Her mind was
still reeling from the news about Alexis’s father. Having lost her
own father as a teenager, Cara wanted to have some empathy for
Alexis but all she could think about was the cruelty Alexis had
shown her. Surely, she was crazy enough to use even this tragic
situation for her own gain. She could see it in her mind. Alexis
batting her eyelashes at Victor, playing on his
kindness.

Victor wouldn’t fall for
that, would he?

When Cara entered her
mother’s house for the night, Isaac jumped up into her arms as
usual. She hugged him extra tight.

Patty strolled in from the
kitchen as Cara was setting Isaac on the floor. “What are you doing
home so early? You should’ve called while you were on the way. I
figured you’d call later to tell me you were staying the night with
you-know-who.”

“You know who” had become
their code name for Victor when Isaac was around because every time
the toddler heard the name “Victor” he nearly threw a fit and
demanded to see him.

Cara let out a sad sigh.
“It’s a long story. He had to cancel because Alexis’s father died
today.”

“Oh no.” Patty brought her
hand to her chest. “She didn’t have something to do with it, did
she? You know, to get an early inheritance?”

“I don’t think
she’s
that
crazy.
Supposedly, he had a stroke.”

“Hmm.” She nodded, deep in
thought. “What’s that have to do with him canceling
dinner?”

“He was close to her dad.
Really close.” Cara looked around to make sure Isaac was occupied
with toys on the living room floor. She then lowered her voice.
“It’s so strange to me. He told me Alexis apologized. She feels bad
about everything.”

“About what,
exactly?”

“All he said was she feels
bad about
everything
.” Cara shrugged. “I don’t know. I assume for all the spying.
Harassment. Getting me fired. He was so brief on the phone. Said he
was tired.”

“I can tell you’re
worried.” Patty put her hand on Cara’s shoulder. “It’ll be all
right. I’m sure he’ll make it up to you soon.”

“I don’t know. He seemed
so distant. He didn’t even say when we’d see each other
again.”

“Don’t do that.” Patty
waggled a finger. “Don’t be the needy girlfriend. There’s no better
way to scare a man off.”

“It’s not
that
, Mom. I don’t need
his constant attention.” Cara turned around to watch Isaac. “How
stupid am I to get involved with my boss? I could lose everything
if he doesn’t want me anymore. He said I shouldn’t be scared. He’d
find me another job or whatever. But what if he doesn’t? And what
about
him
?” She
nodded toward Isaac. “He’s already so attached.”

“I think you’re
overreacting. You-know-who had a bad day and he canceled dinner.
End of story. Don’t overthink it.”

Cara’s eyes were still on
Isaac. “Justine called me again today.”

“Justine? In
Chicago?”

“Yeah. Offered me a lot of
money to come back. A
lot
of money.”

Patty winced. “Oh boy.”
She could see in her daughter’s eyes that she was seriously
considering the offer. Cara was always too practical. Wise beyond
her years. Patty’s eyes welled up at the thought of Cara and Isaac
leaving. “I hope you won’t do that.”

Cara cleared her throat,
choking away tears of her own. “I was careless to let myself get so
swept away. It’d be different if it was just me but I have a kid to
think about. We need security.”

“But sweetie, nothing’s
secure these days. You could take that job and be laid off
again.”

“That could happen here,
too. You just said it—nothing’s secure. And at least with Justine,
I don’t have to worry about me and my son both getting our hearts
broken by my boss.” Cara slid her hand across her cheek to get rid
of a tear as she turned to her mom. “Maybe her phone call was
perfect timing.”

Patty stuck her palm to
her forehead, her eyes closed. “I have to go finish dinner. Please
don’t make any rash decisions. At least sleep on the
idea.”

Cara watched Patty go to
the kitchen before sitting on the couch, where she quietly burst
into tears. Thankfully, Isaac was too busy crashing toy cars
together to notice.

Victor placed his hand on
Colleen Whitt’s shoulder. “Please let me know if you need
anything.” It was the morning after Douglas’s passing, and Victor
had dropped by the Whitt estate before beginning the business of
the day. He sat alone with her on a plush sofa in the
parlor.

“I will.” She nodded
weakly.

“And again, I’m so sorry I
won’t be able to attend the memorial service in Kentucky. I’ve
tried to work it out on my calendar—”

“Shh.” Her eyes narrowed
as she patted his hand. “You’ve done enough, Victor. Much more than
you should’ve. It means so much to me that you came to the hospital
yesterday.” With a sad sigh, she added. “It’s a shame about you and
Alexis. Douglas always spoke of you so highly. It did his heart
good to see you.” Colleen’s tiny grin faded and she brought a
tissue to her eyes, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She
opened her mouth to speak again when she turned sharply in response
to a loud noise from the kitchen. She then rolled her eyes and
said, “Caterers. Sounds like they’re tearing the house apart just
to set up a small brunch.”

“You’re having a brunch
today?”

“Yes. To feed the lawyers
coming over. There’s so much business to settle.”

“You should have someone
else do that for you. I can make some calls.”

Colleen sniffled and shook
her head. “No. I need to stay busy or I’ll fall apart.” Another
sound came from the kitchen as she rose to her feet. “Oh dear.” She
gave Victor a frantic look.

“I’ll show myself out.”
Victor stood up and gave her one last small hug. She scurried off
toward the kitchen as Victor headed in the opposite
direction.

He was only a few steps
from heading out the front door when he heard a voice calling his
name from the grand staircase behind him. He groaned inwardly as he
turned around to see Alexis descending the stairs.

When he caught a glimpse
of her short lacy form-fitting nightgown, he stared away from her,
at the wall. “Good morning, Alexis. I was just paying my
condolences to your mother. I have to go.”

“Leaving already?” Her
bare feet were light as she raced to the bottom and walked up to
him. “Weren’t you going to say anything to me?”