Best She Ever Had (9781617733963) (14 page)

“But I'm the chink in your armor. You're married to a former gold digger who's been around the block more than just a few times. It's bound to—”

Cris held up his hand to stop her. “Can we not talk about this right now?”

“But, Cris, you're running for mayor, baby. You have to realize that—”

“I don't want to talk about it!” he boomed, making her jump. She stared at him, dumbfounded, as he shoved her aside, pushed back the sheets, and climbed to his feet. “Look, I'm . . . I'm sorry for yelling like that. But”—he balled then unclenched his fists—“I know who you are, who your family is, and what you've done, Lauren. I don't need to be reminded of it again. Like I told Marvin, if it's such a big issue, then damn it, those people don't have to vote for me! Vote for that hypocritical, self-righteous asshole Mayor Knightly.”

She squinted. “Wait, you and Marvin were discussing me?”

It was bad enough that Marvin had been sucking up to Cris. She didn't want Cris to really become friends with the man. Why was Cris discussing their personal life with him?

Cris sighed tiredly, looked away from her, and nodded. “We got into it a little during the meeting we had this afternoon.”

“You had a meeting with Marvin?
Why?
”

“It was just a lunch date with him and his wife. That's all, Lauren.”

A lunch date to which I wasn't invited
, she silently noted.

“Cris, why are you so chummy-chummy with Marvin Payton now, anyway?”

“He asked to be my campaign manager.”

She gaped at her husband. “What? When the hell did that happen? Why didn't you tell me? I didn't even know you wanted a campaign manager!”

“I didn't—at first. It was Marvin's suggestion. He made it last night, and we met for lunch today to discuss it in more detail. He thought my campaign could use some organization. I agreed with him, but I told him that I had to think about it.”

She sucked her teeth. “Well, Marvin is just
full
of suggestions, isn't he?”

“He's only trying to help, baby. He wants me to win.”

“I bet he does, which is why he was discussing with you how having a whore for a wife can look bad! What else did helpful Marvin suggest? Dropping me and getting another wife before the election?” she asked sarcastically.

“You know damn well that's not what he said!”

“Yeah, I can only imagine what he said,” she muttered. She then crawled to the other side of the bed and climbed to her feet.

Didn't Cris realize what a kiss-ass Marvin was? In some ways, he was worse than Mayor Knightly. A man like Marvin could be the wolf in sheep's clothing. Couldn't Cris see how someone like Marvin could have an insidious influence on them and their marriage?

She walked toward their bedroom door.

“Where are you going?” he shouted after her.

“To sleep somewhere else!” she shouted back at him as she strode naked into their second-floor hallway. “Don't forget to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Good night!”

She then slammed the door closed behind her.

“H
ave you made your selection, sir?” the waiter asked eagerly as he leaned over their table.

“Just a sec,” Korey said.

His eyes tap danced over the wine list, shifting between the two oversized pages. He flinched a little at the prices he saw listed next to each bottle of Pinot Grigio, Merlot, and Dom Pérignon.

But he told himself that it really wasn't
that
much money—considering how nice of a restaurant it was. They gave out complimentary caviar like it was nothing, like it was the garlic cheese biscuits at Red Lobster! And it's not like he was destitute. His longtime financial planner, Dan, often argued that a guy like Korey—the owner of two auto repair shops—could stand to take a hit.

“I encourage my clients to behave conservatively with their money, Korey, but honestly, you give new meaning to the word ‘cheapskate!' ” Dan once barked at him over the phone.

And Korey kept reminding himself that he was in Las Vegas—the land of fast times and fast cash. Plus, he was on a date with a very beautiful and desirable woman, and he wanted to impress her. He couldn't exactly do that if he asked her if she wouldn't mind eating at TGIFriday's instead.

“Splurge a little,” the voice in his head urged yet again.

He glanced up from his leatherbound menu to find Shino smiling at him. He shifted the menu toward her.

“Does anything on here interest you?”

Her seductive smile widened as she leaned closer. “As long as it's bubbly,” she whispered, looping one of her arms through his, “it doesn't matter to me.”

“We'll have the Moët then,” he said promptly before the tightwad in him screamed hysterically for him to stop.

“Very good choice, sir. I'll be right back with your champagne.” The waiter then took the menu from Korey and disappeared.

“He's right. That was a good choice.” Shino inched closer to Korey, pressing her breasts against his forearm and elbow. She traced a finger over his knuckles. “And you know what they say about champagne?”

“No, what do they say?”

The pink tip of her tongue darted over her glossy bottom lip. Her lashes lowered as her hand dropped from his arm to his thigh. “They say that it's an
amazing
aphrodisiac.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I've heard that.”

“Care to test the theory later?”

Korey did a double take.

“Here you are,” the waiter suddenly interrupted, making the couple jump in surprise.

A busboy removed their red and white wineglasses and replaced them with champagne flutes.

The waiter grinned. “Your bottle of Moët, sir.” He held the chilled bottle toward Korey for inspection.

Korey absently nodded while he felt Shino sliding her hand up and down his inner thigh underneath the table. She was making it hard to concentrate on the bottle label—let alone anything else in the room.

“So,” she whispered as the waiter poured champagne into their glasses, “you own your own business, huh?”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat as her hand wandered an inch higher, sending his pulse into overdrive. “A couple of auto body and repair shops back home.”

“So you're a gearhead
and
industrious? You know, that's pretty sexy. In fact, everything about you I find sexy, Korey.”

She then leaned forward and kissed him, lightly kneading her warm, plump lips over his before playfully darting that pink tongue inside his mouth. Korey was caught off guard at first, but he only hesitated a few seconds before kissing her back. She moaned softly and pressed against his chest. The kiss deepened as she linked her arms around his neck.

“I'll, uh . . . I'll be back with your entrées,” the waiter mumbled before backing away from their table. He bumped into the busboy, who was gaping behind him with a pitcher of water in his hands. The two men openly ogled the kissing couple. The busboy was so engrossed that he was almost spilling water onto the floor. The waiter grabbed the pitcher, muttered something in Spanish, and shooed the busboy away from the table.

A few seconds later, Korey tore his mouth away from Shino's, coming up for a gasp of badly needed air.

“Damn,” he murmured between breaths, making her grin again.

“Mmm-hmm.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “My sentiments exactly!”

She then leaned forward and kissed him again.

Korey had assured Cynthia that he wasn't on a date with Shino tonight to get some out-of-town booty, but that pretty much seemed to be where Shino was heading. She was definitely sending out “Anyway you want it, honey” vibes.

“To hell with Cindy,” the voice in his head argued. “If this woman is offering you some ass, then you get some ass, brothah!”

And how long had it been since he had had sex anyway?

Months,
he thought.
Hell, almost a year!
He hadn't done it since he went out with the recently divorced hairdresser who wanted a revenge fuck against her cheating ex-husband. A man like Korey didn't have the luxury of turning down a woman like Shino. He didn't know when an opportunity like this would come around again.

But despite the fact that he had this gorgeous woman's tongue in his mouth and her breast against his chest, Korey could not get Cynthia out of his damn mind. And it wasn't just Cindy, whom he could practically hear psychically nagging him to get up from the table and get his ass to the Venetian Hotel. No, he was thinking about Jared too.

Jared
.

Though his son may be nineteen years old and put on a bravado like he was ten years older, in some ways Korey knew Jared was still the little boy who proudly showed off a slam dunk on his Playskool basketball hoop in their driveway, who stumbled around the stage in his tap-dancing shoes and Christmas tree costume during his second-grade play. That Jared could be easily saddened and hurt.

Even after all these years, Korey's urge to protect his son hadn't waned. It wasn't that Korey was a “helicopter parent.” He knew that messing up and disappointments were part of growing up, but Jared was millimeters close to making one of the biggest mistakes of his life by marrying Clarissa Simpson. And despite all his best efforts, Korey probably couldn't stop it from happening.

He had once thought the couple might have a chance at happiness, but now he knew Jared was only in for pain and suffering if Jared entangled himself in the ongoing soap opera known as the Gibbons family. Clarissa wasn't a bad girl; she was rather sweet, to be honest. She couldn't help the family that she had been born into, but Clarissa had the unfortunate luck to be born to a Gibbons girl. Now that Korey had spent the day with Cynthia and was reminded of their family's bizarre rules, rituals, and mercenary ways, he didn't want his son to have anything to do with Clarissa. It would only lead to heartbreak.

“If he's in love with her, Jared is not going to avoid heartbreak,” the voice in his head insisted. “He won't be able to avoid it any more than you did.”

And knowing that fact broke Korey's heart all over again.

“Are you not into this?” Shino whispered against his lips.

Korey opened his eyes and blinked. “Huh?”

“I asked if you weren't into this,” Shino repeated, shifting back slightly. “This doesn't seem to be working for you.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, considering where my hand is, I thought I'd have your undivided attention by now—and I don't seem to.”

Korey looked down and saw that underneath the tablecloth, Shino's hand had wandered from his thigh to his crotch. She was almost cupping his balls. How the hell had he missed that?

“Sorry. Guess I . . . I guess I was focused somewhere else.”

“Obviously.” She removed her hand and sat back in her seat.

Korey reached for her champagne. They fell into an uncomfortable silence, and Korey frantically grappled for a way to salvage their date. He'd be damned if he let Cynthia ruin this from afar.

“I'm . . . I'm just worried about my son,” he mumbled, deciding to be honest with her. “That's all.”

“You have a son?”

“Yeah, his name is Jared. He's nineteen years old.”

“Nineteen, huh?” Shino lowered her glass. “So I guess you're worried he's raising holy hell back home? I wouldn't be too concerned, Korey. I used to do the same thing when I was a teenager and I could—”

“Jared's not back at home. He's here in Vegas.”

“Well, if he's here, then that's even less of a reason to be worried about him.” She placed a warm hand on his again. She gave it a squeeze. “Do you need to step away and make a quick phone call to see what he's up to? I don't mind. Go ahead.”

“It's not that. Look, it's . . .” He took a deep breath. “Jared is here in Vegas to get married, all right?”

Shino looked as if she was about to spit out her champagne. She squinted at Korey. “Come again?”

“My son ran away to Las Vegas to elope with his girlfriend. That's why I'm here to . . . to stop them. I hopped on a plane as soon as I found out what he was up to. I came here so that I could talk some sense into him. We both came.”

“Who's we?”

Korey hesitated again, wondering if introducing the topic of Cynthia right now was a bad idea. “‘We' is Cindy and me. We made the trip together.”

“Cindy?”
Confusion marred Shino's pretty face. “Who the hell is Cindy?”

“You met her earlier today. Remember? At the hotel buffet?”

She squinted, then suddenly realized who he was talking about. “Whoa! That woman from this morning?
That's
who you came with?”

Korey nodded. “The girl my son is marrying is her daughter.”

“So
that's
why she was so bitchy.” Shino slumped back into the plush leather booth. “It was like she was trying to melt me with her eyes! Now I know why! For a second there, I thought you two had something romantic going on.”

He looked at her as if that was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. “
Me and Cindy?
Oh, hell no! We haven't been together in
years.
I'm just with her now because I'm trying to find Jared. That's it! The woman is insane . . . unstable! I would never get with her.”

“Never get with her
now
, you mean. But you were together before?”

“Yeah . . . about twenty years ago! We were together back when we were teenagers. We were . . . I guess you could say we were first loves.”

“First loves?”
With that, Shino scrutinized him more carefully. “Did you guys run away to get married too?”

“No. Cindy would never do that. She was terrified of defying her mom, and her mother would never,
ever
have approved of her being with a guy like me. It's all about money with them, and I certainly didn't have any of it back then.”

“But you wanted to marry her. I mean you would have?”

How had the topic shifted from his search to find Jared to whether he wanted to marry Cindy?

“Really, that's all in the past. Why are we talking about this?”

“If it's in the past, then you shouldn't mind answering the question.” She searched his eyes. “Did you want to marry her . . . back then, I mean?”

Korey sat and thought for a minute, going back to the mind-set of the young man he was in 1994. “Yes,” he finally answered. “I would have married her. But all that's so long ago that it's not even worth talking about. Trust me. There's nothing going on between us now.”

Shino cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that, Korey? You know what they say about first loves.”

“I told you. She's crazy, and I'm not a boy anymore with his head in the clouds . . . who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. That was then, this is now. I know better. I would never get mixed up with her again. We're done.”

But even as he said it, he knew that wasn't totally true. If he was really completely over Cynthia, he wouldn't keep obsessing over the “who, what, when, and why” of their breakup all those years ago. He wouldn't still be holding out for an apology.

Shino assessed Korey again with her dark eyes. She didn't look like she believed him. He could see the incredulity plainly on her face—the way the corner of her lips tightened, the furrow between her brows—but at least she was polite enough to pretend she believed him.

“Well,” she said holding her half-filled champagne glass aloft, “here's to leaving behind crazy exes.”

He forced a smile and held his glass toward her. They clinked the rims of their glasses together. “Here's to leaving behind crazy exes.”

They drank and fell into another awkward silence. The waiter brought their entrées, placing the dishes on their table. As they began to eat, Shino gazed at him again.

“So . . .” She grinned. “Back to what we were discussing before.”

“Which was?” he asked between bites.

He honestly didn't remember since he had become so preoccupied with Cynthia and Jared.

Focus, Korey,
he told himself.
Focus. Remember? Prime piece o f ass right next to you!

“Which was what plans you have for us tonight.” The pink tongue darted out again. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

“Well, I—”

Korey paused when he heard his phone ring in his suit jacket pocket. He knew instinctively who was calling him at that moment. It could only be Cynthia, and she was probably wondering where he was.