Love Me Now (18 page)

“So enough of this ancient history, what about you and your young lady? Been together four months, is it?”

“Actually, it's only been a day,” he confessed. “We met yesterday morning shortly before you arrived. I hated to lie to you and Mamma Lou but—”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“Exactly,” Trey said.

“I figured as much.”

“You did? How? Does Mamma Lou know?”

“No, I don't think so. All she saw were her sparks.”

“Her sparks,” Trey repeated.

“Yep, she seems to think that true love comes with sparks. When she saw you and Kenya together, she saw sparks. But don't underestimate her, she saw these same sparks with just about every couple you know.”

“Sparks, huh. I don't know if they were sparks or not, but something.”

“What do you mean?” Colonel Wheeler asked.

“Neither one of us is being very honest about our intentions. She has an ulterior motive and, well, me, I guess I'm just playing the game.”

“That doesn't sound good.”

“That's how it started, anyway.”

“And now how is it?”

“To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I'd been sitting here thinking about that all morning. She stopped by late last night. We talked, really talked, and got to know each other. She's smart, talented and funny and everything I always complained I couldn't find in a woman. But is it really her or is this all part of this game she's playing? She stayed over. And, not to sound like a couple of locker-room jocks, but I've never met anyone like her. The woman is amazing. But I keep wondering.”

“The game thing, are you sure it's just a game?”

Trey nodded. “It involves her father. In brief, he tried to take over my company so I got to him first.”

“Revenge, is it?” Colonel Wheeler asked.

“I'm sure that's how it started but now I hope—”

“You need to make a move. Nothing ever comes from sitting on the sidelines watching. If this is more, you'll know it. If you want it to be more you need to show it.”

“Sparks?” Trey offered.

Colonel Wheeler nodded then caught himself. “Oh, no, did I just suggest that?” he asked, chuckling. Trey joined in.

“What are you two doing in here laughing and talking like two old housewives over a back fence?” Louise said as she came in with the twins. “I think we're ready for a morning snack.”

“Coming right up,” Trey said. He went over to the counter, picked up a box and shook it. “Who wants Cheerios?” Jonathan and Johanna came running.

T
he day was miserable, rainy and wet. But Kenya didn't even notice. By the time she got into her car her breathing was erratic, her heart was pounding and her nerves were on edge. Asia was so wrong, she was a good actress, 'cause she had no idea how she kept her calm when Trey's sister walked in and nearly caught her. They talked casually, but all the time she was panicking inside.

She hadn't expected Regina to show up. Who would have thought that Trey's sister would just walk in like that, no warning. She was just thankful it wasn't Trey. There was no way she could have explained going through his briefcase and taking pictures. She just got lucky.

“Okay, it's over, calm down, relax,” she told herself while still glancing in the rearview mirror every once in a while. After a few minutes driving, her nerves finally settled down. She continued home in a self-imposed fog centered mostly on Trey.

“You did it,” she whispered, then squealed, “I did it.” The elation she felt inside spread wide across her face. She did it.

After a night of mindless bliss, she'd been shocked back to reality. How could she be so stupid? How could she even think about trusting him? She actually had second thoughts about getting back at him. But not anymore, all bets were off. Trey Evans deserved everything he got, and she intended to give it to him.

She glanced up in the rearview mirror again. This time she caught a glimpse of her reflection. Her smile faded.

So why was she still so conflicted? On one hand there was what she'd seen in the folder and on the other hand there was her time with Trey. But the reality of what Trey had done was right there in black and white. She didn't read all of it, but she did note several passages concerning her father's company. It implied that TE Acquisitions & Associates intended to implement plans to shut down Whitaker Real Estate Investment Company permanently. It was dated six months ago.

Trey had swindled her father just as he'd told her. But six months ago, how was that possible? Yet all her doubts had been silenced. The proof had been sitting right there beside the coffee table the whole time. Seeing it took her breath away. She looked down at her purse. Her camera cell phone was in there. How could he? How could anyone be so malicious as to steal when they already had so much? But it was okay now. One night was all it took and she'd gotten what she needed.

Of course, last night wasn't what she expected when she went over there, at least not all of it. She was going to make him want her, not the other way around. Her plan was simple when she arrived—seduce him, then drag him along and keep him wanting. She needed him to trust her. After all, there was no way she was going to actually sleep with the man who ruined her father. But she had.

A slow smile spread across her face as memories of the night flooded through her. The night before had been unbelievable. She'd done it. Where countless others had failed, she had successfully melted the coldhearted, detached Trey Evans, at least for the night. The exhilaration of her success made her smile again.

She had to admit, he was amazing. He was nothing at all like she imagined. As a lover he was open and generous and patient, far different from the insensitive businessman.

When she opened his shirt and saw his chest, everything—her plan, her common sense—vanished. Then she touched him. It was as if her fingers were on fire. Sure, she went to his house for the sole purpose of revenge, but somewhere along the way things changed.

She pulled up in front of her building and got out. Walking to her condo, her thoughts finally centered on the day ahead.

As soon as she got home she jumped into a hot shower, got dressed and headed to the boutique. She struggled through the morning, creating one disaster after the next. Nothing went right and it appeared the afternoon was headed in the same direction.

“Okay, enough of this, you've been acting weird all morning and now you're just creepin' me out. You've sewn, ripped out and then resewn the same thing again. It's a wonder there's any material left on that one pair of jeans. I've never seen you this jittery. What's going on with you?” Shelly asked.

“Nothing,” Kenya said innocently, “I'm just preoccupied.”

“Girl, please, who do you think you're fooling. Does it look like I just got off the banana boat yesterday? This isn't preoccupied, this is downright spooked. What happened, what did you do?” she asked. Then it dawned on her and her jaw dropped. “You didn't. Kenya,” she said. Kenya didn't look up. “I don't believe it. You did, you slept with him last night, didn't you?”

“I am not justifying that with an answer,” Kenya said.

“Don't even think about taking the high road with me. It's all over your face. You slept with him and you just met him what, yesterday morning? I can't believe you did that. Since when do you get your passport punched like that?”

“Shelly, please, don't start, this has nothing to do with anything.”

“It has everything to do with anything. Kenya, stop this now before you get in over your head.”

“Nothing's changed. I know exactly what I'm doing.”

“Oh, please, you don't have a clue. Since when do you sleep with a man after just meeting him? Never, that's when,” she said, answering her own question. “And all this crap about conning him is ridiculous. Don't you see this is all wrong? You can't win in the end. Revenge isn't right. And what you're doing is for all the wrong reasons.”

“He deserves it, Shelly,” Kenya said firmly.

“You've got revenge on the mind. And it's obvious that ever since that drama with Craig, you've been on this man-hating thing.”

“I have not. I don't hate men.”

“No, not all men, just men with power. The rest you just don't trust thanks to Craig.”

“This has nothing to do with Craig.”

“This has everything to do with how he made you feel. He hurt you and you're using this to get back at him. You want to use and hurt Trey Evans like Craig hurt you. So last night you slept with him.”

“I didn't do anything that I can't live with.”

“You made love to him,” Shelly said.

“I had sex with him, there's a difference.”

“Semantics. Just because you didn't actually feel anything for him doesn't mean that it was any different,” Shelly said,
then saw Kenya's face. “Wait a minute, you do feel something for him.”

“No, it was nothing.”

“Like hell it was nothing. Look at you.”

“Okay, okay, yes, I did it. We did it, over and over again. It's not what I expected. He wasn't how I expected. But I didn't mean to do it. It wasn't the plan when I went over there.”

“Where men and women and hearts are concerned, there is no plan.”

“Fine, then all's fair in love and war,” she recited.

“You really think you know what you're doing?”

“I know what I'm doing,” Kenya said firmly. But that's as far as the words got. Inside, deep in her heart, she didn't have a clue.

“Okay, if you say so.”

The conversation stopped. In silence they each continued doing their work. Shelly was on the sewing machine and Kenya was at a form altering a jumper bodice again. She put pins in her mouth so that she wouldn't speak. She had had enough of talking about Trey. It was bad enough that she'd slept with him, but now she was thinking about him differently. Being with him had altered her perception, and she couldn't afford that.

She stiffened her back and sat straight up, in hopes of maybe physically affirming her position. She had to stay focused. That's what he'd do. She needed to be like him, coldhearted and unfeeling. Her resoluteness had to be unshakable. Revenge didn't work if emotions got in the way.
I can do this, I can do this,
she silently chanted. Moments later she slumped.

“Girl,” she said quietly when Shelly walked over to the ironing board, “I swear I was climbing the walls. I couldn't get enough of him. Okay, I'm not exactly overly sexual, but I swear I wanted him all night long. I have no idea what came over me.”

“Maybe because it's been such a long time,” Shelly suggested. “You and Craig broke up almost a year ago, right?”

Kenya nodded. “I woke him up twice just to be with him. I was uncontrollable, like a sex maniac. I don't know what came over me.”

“Lust.”

“Yeah, a whole lot of that.”

“Affection, desire, trust.”

“No, not trust. Not after what he did to Dad.”

“Kenya, you had to trust him in order to sleep with him the first day you met him.”

“No, not trust,” she still insisted.

“Okay then, let me make sure I have this right. What you're saying is that you met this man in the morning, hung out a few hours and then wound up sleeping with him last night. All because you don't trust him and your master plan is still to ruin him.”

“Not exactly, plus when you say it like that, it sounds wrong,” Kenya said.

Shelly sipped her coffee. “That's 'cause it is kind of wrong. What are you thinking?”

“I know what I'm doing.”

“No, you don't. If you did you wouldn't have done something so out of character. Look, Kenya, I know you're pissed about your father and believe me, I am, too, but you can't just go around hurting people like this. Stuff like this always backfires.”

“Believe me, he won't hurt for long. It's not in his nature.”

“But it's in yours. Okay, say you get him and he falls for you and then you break his heart. The SEC investigates. Then what? It's not in your nature to be so cruel. If you succeed you're gonna remember this and feel guilty if you're lucky.”

“What do you mean, if I'm lucky?”

“I mean you'll be lucky if that's all you feel. Knowing you, you'll wind up just as brokenhearted as him. But you'd beat him in the end. And after all, that was the plan, right?”

“I hate it when you do this.”

“I'm just saying,” Shelly said quietly.

“I'll be fine and so will he.”

“How do you know?”

“He's the Iceman, remember? No feelings, that's how he can destroy people like my father so easily. I'm just beating him at his game. It's just that the stakes are different.”

“And what if your heart gets broken in the process?” Shelly asked.

“It won't. I remind myself that it's just business all the time.”

“Even when you were with him last night?” she asked. Kenya paused. No, she couldn't honestly say that it was all business. The feelings she experienced being with him went beyond revenge. Her anger had turned to want and her want to need. She needed him last night. “One more question,” Shelly said. Kenya looked up at her. “What if he doesn't call you and you don't hear from him again? Then what? You said he usually only goes out with a woman once, maybe twice, right?”

The idea of him not contacting her again was a definite possibility. He'd gotten what most men wanted. She'd made it too easy for him. There was no challenge, no real need for him to see her again. But hopefully the message she sent by way of his sister would pique her curiosity and she would initiate a conversation with Trey.

But nothing was completely set where Trey was concerned. Everything she'd read told her that he was unpredictable. Shelly was right—what if he was through with her?

“Is that someone knocking on the front door?” Shelly asked.

“Are we expecting a delivery today?” Kenya asked.

“I'll go see who it is,” Shelly said. She went into the front area then came back. “Kenya, it's for you.”

“Me? Who is it?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”