The Secrets of Paradise Bay (20 page)

She offered a brief smile. “I'm always up for a good movie.”

It was obvious to Ivana that he was lying through his teeth in a bid to get away from them—or her. Maybe it was a wise decision, all things considered, for having him there only made her feel guiltier.

“Well, the movie's on us,” Trey said, putting an arm around Ivana. “Clyde probably told you that we own a few movie theaters in town.”

Stefani was taken aback. “No, he didn't.”

“I didn't want to overwhelm you with the fact that my brother practically owns half the city,” Clyde joked.

Stefani gave a little laugh. “Well, I suppose it could be a bit daunting, but fun to know.”

“It's not a big deal,” Trey said, downplaying. “I just want you to enjoy the movie. And throw in some popcorn and a drink as our treat.”

“You're very kind, but—”

“Don't argue with him,” Ivana cut in. “When Trey wants something, he usually doesn't take no for an answer.”

“Well, in that case, guess I won't say no,” Stefani said with an uneasy grin.

Ivana looked up at Trey, imagining he was pleased that she put him on a pedestal. She had a feeling Clyde had mixed emotions on the issue. For her part, Ivana had grown tired of fighting with the two brothers. She just wasn't sure how to resolve the issue that was threatening to tear them apart.

 

 

“What was all that about anyway?” Stefani asked Clyde during the drive.

He feigned ignorance, angling his eyes at her. “I don't follow you.”

“I didn't realize we had talked about seeing a movie.”

How can I explain without divulging things I shouldn't?
Clyde looked back at the road over the steering wheel. “Guess I just felt a bit stuffy in there. And with Trey seemingly ready to invite us to stay the night, I had to think of some way for us to leave.”

Stefani chuckled. “So it's a brother thing, huh?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Clyde said. Along with a sister-in-law thing. He wanted to kick himself for allowing Ivana to get under his skin. And to think he believed she might have been starting to come around. Instead, it was the same old bitter and jealous woman who seemed determined to stir up the pot and make him sweat.

“Are we still on for a movie?” Stefani regarded his profile. “Or was that simply to get out of there?”

“Unless you have something better in mind?” Clyde turned to her, hoping that was the case.

“We could go to your place instead,” Stefani suggested.

Clyde, who had been a perfect gentleman around Stefani, felt his libido go up a couple of notches. Only yesterday Raymond had moved out, finding a place not far from the club. Maybe things were happening as meant to be. One could only hope.

“Sure, we can go to my place,” he said. “As long as you don't expect a replica of my brother's grand estate.”

“No expectations,” she promised. “Let's just play it by ear.”

“Okay by me.” Clyde imagined nibbling on her ear, then the other, and much more thereafter. The notion agreed with him wholeheartedly.

The moment they stepped inside the loft, Clyde and Stefani were all over one another. They ripped off each other's clothes and barely made their way to Clyde's platform bed. It was Stefani who pushed Clyde onto the matelasse coverlet, admiring his six-pack abs and tightly muscled physique. Her eyes lowered to his magnificent, full erection and she felt a tremor at the thought of it being in her.

She bent down and kissed his penis, licking the shaft once, teasingly, and feeling Clyde shudder, before trailing hot kisses along his stomach and up his chest. When Stefani's mouth arrived at Clyde's handsome face and waiting lips, she went for them with the passion of a woman who somehow felt as though she'd met her match in Clyde Lancaster. She didn't know who he'd been with before her, or what issues there may have been, but in Stefani's mind it was ancient history, just as her own intimate past. She wanted only to focus on the here and now, and sensed Clyde felt very much the same way.

As though they were longtime companions, Clyde and Stefani began to make love zestfully and tirelessly, exploring each other's bodies, inhaling scents, and leaving no stone unturned.

“You feel wonderful inside me,” Stefani murmured in Clyde's ear as she absorbed his measured, mighty thrusts, wanting him to go deeper and deeper. She nibbled at his earlobe and ran her hands over and across his shaven head, wanting to enjoy every bit of him.

“I'm loving being in you,” Clyde spoke in a throaty voice as Stefani wrapped her legs high across his back, holding him tightly while they went at each other with utter abandon.

Clyde pulled Stefani atop him and they continued to have hot sex without missing a beat. He held her thin waist and arched his back to meet her time and again as she rode him lustfully. Soon, they were on their sides, kissing, licking, tickling, touching, and caressing, before changing positions and starting all over again as though neither could get enough of the other.

By the time they shared an explosive climax, their bodies were wet with lust and spent energy. Clyde put his tongue in Stefani's mouth, enchanted by her taste, before sucking her lips and thrusting himself into her during one final burst of dizzying heights. He slumped beside Stefani while catching his breath and trying to come to terms with what just happened. It was unreal, yet the most real thing he may have ever experienced.

“Did I just dream that?” he asked with a low laugh

Stefani hummed and ran a finger down his chest enticingly. “If you did, then we were both in dreamland.”

“Then don't ever wake me up. Unless, of course, I'm opening my eyes to you.”

She flushed. “Guess we make a pretty good team, huh?”

“More than pretty good,” Clyde said. “How about a
great
team!”

Stefani raised her chin. “Do you think it's a good idea to mix pleasure with business?”

He didn't have to think about it very long. “Yeah, in this case, it's very good.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

“The club can have you as one hell of a jazz singer,” Clyde said. “But you're all mine as a beautiful, vivacious, sexy-as-hell woman I want to be with.”

“And you're mine as a gorgeous, sexy man who definitely knows how to mesmerize this lady.”

It made Clyde think about being with Ivana, and how they had charmed each other. But that was different. He didn't experience the highs with her that he had with Stefani and was still feeling right now. If this wasn't love, it was damned close.

I'd better not go there right now. No need to spoil things by scaring the lady to death for something she may not be ready to hear
.

At the same time, Clyde felt that if they were going to go somewhere with this, he should be up front about an important part of his past. If she couldn't handle it, he needed to know now.

“I have to tell you something,” he spoke softly in her ear.

“Please don't tell me you have a wife and three children somewhere,” Stefani joked humorlessly.

“No, nothing like that.” Clyde drew in a deep breath. “I spent some time in prison.”

Stefani raised her eyes at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. I got into a fight with a friend and, well, things got out of hand.”

She was aghast. “Did you kill him?”

“No, but I hurt him pretty bad.”

“So what made you get into this fight with a friend?” she asked curiously.

Clyde pondered the question. He didn't want to involve his brother in this discussion. Or even think about the secret he carried about Trey in that regard.

“It was something stupid,” he said regretfully. “We had a disagreement and came to blows. He got the worst of it and I ended up in prison. I wish it hadn't happened, but it was a time in my life when I was too immature and hung out with the wrong people.” One person, in particular.

“It's all right,” Stefani told him. “Life can sometimes be a lesson to us all. I'm sure that part of your life is behind you.”

“It is,” Clyde promised, hoping to hell it didn't come back to haunt him again. “I just wanted you to know before Albert mentioned it.”

“Uncle Albert likes you, Clyde. I doubt he'd ever hold past sins against you.”

Clyde mused.
I hold them against myself, but that's another story
. “That's good to know.”

She tilted her chin and went for his mouth. “I'm a big girl. I make my own choices in men based on chemistry, intelligence, good looks, and what my instincts tell me. And I choose you.”

Clyde grinned, feeling warm all over. “That means more than you know. I choose you too.”

He kissed her, and it turned into more passionate kisses. They made love again, slow and sensually, then fast and furious, before Clyde reflected on the start of what promised to be a lasting, satisfying relationship, minus the drama and second thoughts of his brief involvement with Ivana.

Luther handed Willie a brown paper bag. “Check it out, man. I think this is what you wanted.”

Willie opened a bag as they stood in an alley. He pulled out a Ruger P345 automatic pistol and liked the way it felt in his hand. “Yeah, this'll work just fine. Where'd you get it?”

“Friend of a friend,” said Luther. “Been stripped, so it's cool.”

Willie took solace in that. “How much?”

Luther told him. “You're getting your money's worth.”

“I know that.”

Willie got out the hundred-dollar bills that Roselyn had taken from an advance on her credit card, and handed them over, aware that Luther was only acting as a middleman here and, as such, Willie didn't want to take a chance in screwing someone else over.

“So you gonna rob a bank now, or what?”

Willie smiled, tucking the pistol in his pants. Not that he hadn't considered it, but he had other plans for the gun. “Naw, man. I'll leave the bank robbin' to the pros. Like I told you before, I just want to have an insurance policy, in case somethin' goes down.”

Luther looked at him suspiciously. “You still plan on gunning for Clyde?”

“What if I am?” Willie asked tersely.

“I'm with you, man. But he ain't worth spending the rest of your life in prison. Everyone knows what he done to you. Including the cops. You think if he's offed they won't come lookin' for your ass?”

Willie's nostrils flared. The thought of rotting away in some cold cell with cockroaches at his feet didn't exactly sit well with him. Neither did letting bygones be bygones where it concerned his ex–best friend, Clyde. If Clyde could survive years behind bars it couldn't have been too bad.

Don't mean I want to follow his footsteps. Or watch him live the good life while mine continues to suck
.

“I got a score to settle with Clyde,” Willie said without apology. Maybe more than one. “There's other ways to get it done than taking a life.” He could think of few things that would be just as satisfying.

“I agree,” Luther said, sounding relieved. “He's got a weakness just like everyone else. Once you find it, you'll know what to do.”

Willie grinned mischievously. “Yeah, like Samson. Only I know it ain't shavin' his head.”

Both men laughed, but inside Willie was anything but jovial. Clyde Lancaster had gotten the upper hand on him one time too many. He planned to change that in a way he wouldn't soon forget.

 

 

Willie lay beside Roselyn in her bed, smoking a joint. It was a sweet aftermath to going at it for a good hour or more. The woman was insatiable. He wasn't complaining, though, as Willie gave as much as he received. And maybe a little bit extra. More importantly, she gave him money when he needed it, which was often. Seemed like a fair exchange to him.

Roselyn took the joint from Willie and inhaled deeply, then gave him a toothy smile. “That's so nice,” she hummed.

“You like it?” He smiled, amused.

“Not as good as sex, but yes, it's good.”

Willie grabbed the joint and sucked on it, already feeling his libido and erection returning.

“Will you take me to the grand opening of that jazz club Saturday night?” asked Roselyn.

Willie's left brow shot up. “What jazz club?”

“The one over on Broadway. Used to be the Violet Supper Club. Now it's called Clyde's Jazz Club. Think I heard that these two brothers bought the place and it will feature a jazz singer. I just love listening to that kind of music.”

Willie barely even paid attention to her as his mind was still caught on the jazz club owned by
two
brothers.
Clyde's Jazz Club?

He knew instinctively who the brothers were and which one had financed the buyout. It irked Willie that Clyde had gone over to the other side, deciding it was better to take his brother's money than resent it like before.

Maybe I'll take some of it too. And this time I won't let him or anyone else stop me
.

“Well, how about it, honey?” Roselyn entreated. “It would be fun.”

“Yeah, let's go. Maybe we'll even run into this Clyde dude himself.”

Willie sucked on the joint and felt it taking effect. So too was the anger boiling over in him like water in a kettle in seeing his old friend leading the good life as if he had a right to.
You'll get yours and so will your rich-ass brother.

Roselyn took the joint from him. “Think I'm in the mood for something else now.”

Willie felt an adrenaline rush. “Yeah, me too.”

“So let's do something about it.”

“Whatever you say, baby.”

Willie climbed on top of her and started to have sex, while thinking about raining hard on Clyde's parade so he never knew what hit him. 'Til it was too late.