Fresh Temptation: Barboza Brothers, Book One (17 page)

Disappointed, Patty nodded
and watched him get dressed. “I understand.”

A few minutes later, Patty
and Tom walked down to the front door, quickly joined by Isaac, who
hid behind Patty’s leg.

“Well, you have my number
and you know where to find me,” she said.

Tom looked down at Isaac
to make sure he was not watching, then kissed Patty’s cheek. “I’d
like to see you soon, if that’s okay.”

Patty beamed. “Dinner here
tonight? You could meet my daughter.”

A nervous twinge formed in
Tom’s stomach at the mention of Cara. “I’d like that.”

“Seven o’clock
then?”

“Yes.” He kissed her cheek
once more. “I’ll be here.”

An hour and a half later,
Tom arrived at the usual meeting spot to speak with
Alexis.

After sipping water at a
table by himself for a few minutes, he watched the socialite waltz
through the room, smiling.

Alexis sat across from
him. “So, this must be important. I didn’t expect to hear from you
so soon.” She rubbed her hands together. “So, let’s get to
it.”

Tom folded his hands
across the table. “Fine. There’s no easy way to say this.” He
cleared his throat. “I can’t work for you anymore.”

“What? No!”

“Yes, Ms. Whitt. I’m off
the case.”

Alexis crossed her arms
over her chest, pursing her lips. “You can’t be off the case. We
have a contract. I’ve already had money wired to your
account.”

Tom shrugged. “I’ll unwire
the money. Send it right back to you. Either of us can void that
contract at any time.”

Alexis fumed. She was more
desperate than ever for new information, especially after hearing
from another source that Cara and Victor went away on a business
trip the previous day. “So, you have nothing new to tell me? I
thought you were working this case all day yesterday.”

Tom gave her a
lighthearted grin and adjusted his glasses. “I was, indeed. But no
more. I got no news for ya. I’m done.”

Huffing loudly, Alexis
spit out her words. “I’ll ruin your name. You’ll never work for
anyone again if I have anything to do with it.”

Tom took a deep breath and
stood. “Well, you do what you gotta do, Ms. Whitt. I got some other
business to attend to. Expect the money to be returned to your
account in the next few days.” And with that, he nodded one last
time and walked out of the restaurant.

Cursing under her breath,
Alexis took out her phone to make a call. “Hey, Sally?”

“Hey Alexis. Let me put
you on hold for a sec.” Sally, a staff accountant at Monarch
Enterprises, waved for one of her co-workers to leave her cubicle,
then returned to the phone. “So, what can I do for you
today?”

“I just wanted to double
check what you told me about Victor’s trip request. His flight’s
scheduled to return at what time today?”

“Give me a moment to pull
it up.” Sally double-clicked on the travel module and entered
Victor’s name. “Hmm. He’s traveled a lot lately. Okay, here’s
today’s trip. He was originally supposed to return today at four
o’clock. It can change at the last minute, though.”

“Four o’clock?” Alexis’s
heart sank. “That means they’ve spent almost all day
together.”

“Sorry, hon. I can’t do
anything about that.”

Alexis sighed. “I know.
I’ll talk to you later, okay? I gotta go.”

Sally had barely said,
“Goodbye,” when Alexis ended the call.

Alexis hung her head,
quietly crying in the middle of the crowded restaurant. It was time
to plan her next move. She had no idea it would hurt so much to
think Victor may have an interest in another woman. Whatever it
took, she would get him back.

Men don’t say, “no” to
Alexis Whitt
.

* * *

At five o’clock, Cara and
Victor greeted Gary as they walked to Cara’s office.

Victor waited for Cara to
set her laptop bag down, then he shut the door behind them and
pulled her into a kiss.

Cara never thought she
would feel so comfortable kissing a man in the office, let alone
her boss. But she came back from Houston with a new sense of
confidence, ready to see where life would take her and
Victor.

His tongue searched her
mouth desperately until he absolutely had to pull away. “I’m sorry.
I’ll be late for a dinner meeting if I don’t leave now. I’d ask you
to join me but I’ve already kept you from Isaac for too
long.”

Cara nodded. “I
understand.”

“Please tell him Big Toe
says hi.” Victor laughed. “I’ll call you tonight, hopefully not too
late.” He gave her another peck on the lips, then opened the door
and left.

Cara walked to her chair
and sat down, taking a moment to steady herself before docking her
laptop to finish some work. Her life had never felt more like a
whirlwind, and for once, she appreciated the sudden changes instead
of doing everything in her power to stop them.

After she was settled in
at her desk, she found her cell phone in her purse and dialed
Marcy.

“Cara?
”
Marcy answered.

“Hey. How are
you?”

Marcy let out a little
gasp. “
Me? No, no, no. You better be
calling to tell me all about what happened with Mr. Boss Man.
Especially after that little text message you sent this
morning
.”

Cara giggled and peered
through her door to make sure Gary was busy at his desk. “I don’t
know where to start. He’s amazing, Marcy.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. Did he
show you some amazing moves last night?
”

“Shut up!” Cara felt her
cheeks blush. “And yes.”

Marcy cackled.
“
It’s about time! Details! I need
details!
”

“Not now. I’m at work. You
free to come over tonight?”

“Maybe. Lost one of my
offices today. Got swiped out from under me by some other cleaning
crew
.”

“Oh, I’m so
sorry…”

“It’s okay. I’ll figure it
out. So, back to you. Is it getting serious? Or is it just a
sizzling hot work fling?
”

“I really don’t know.”
Cara bit her fingernail. “He says we’re dating.”

“Well, what do
you
say? Are you dating
or not?
”

“Yeah. I suppose we
are.”

“Good. I was gonna slap
you if you said no to that
.”

Cara laughed for a moment.
“But it’s a little scary. He says if we don’t work out he’ll find
me another job. How do I know he’s telling me the
truth?”

“Stop freaking out. Just
let it happen
.”

“I’m not freaking out. I’m
a lot calmer than I sound.” Cara sucked in a breath. “I remember
what I wanted to tell you. He has a brother. Ramon.”

“Okay. A single
brother?
”

“Yes.”

“So…you wanna introduce
me?
”

“Maybe, but there’s a
slight catch. He lives in Texas.”

“Texas?
”

“Yes. He lives on a
ranch.”

“Huh? A ranch? Like, with
cows and stuff?
”

“Yes, with cows and stuff.
It’s the same ranch where Victor and his brothers grew
up.”

“Huh
.” Marcy paused. “
Would he move to
Jersey, you think?
”

“It’s doubtful. But
he’s
so
gorgeous.
Totally your type.” Cara smiled as she imagined introducing the
two. Marcy was a curvy, pretty brunette who seemed cursed with bad
luck when it came to picking the right men.
Maybe she just needs someone else to do the
picking
, Cara thought.

“Hmm. Well, you never
know.
” Marcy sighed. “
Let’s work on you first, though
.”

“Okay. Just wanted to let
you know about him. Hey, I probably better go. I have a few things
to do before I leave.”

“See you
tonight
.”

“Bye.”

At five-thirty, Cara
strolled through the parking garage, dangling her keys in her hand.
As she approached her car, the door of a small Mercedes convertible
opened two spaces away from her. Cara’s neck tensed when she saw
the woman who stepped out of it.

“Are you Cara?” Alexis
asked.

Cara stopped in her
tracks. “Excuse me?”

Alexis took off her
sunglasses and slinked toward Cara, her stilettos clacking loudly
across the pavement. She narrowed her eyes and looked Cara up and
down. “Well, well, well. Victor must be slumming these
days.”

Cara put her fist on her
hip. “Again. Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Alexis
scoffed. “You don’t really think you have a chance with him, do
you? What man in his right mind would pick you over,” she gestured
to her small frame, wearing a tight blue dress, “this?”

Her jaw firmly set, Cara
looked in her eyes. “He didn’t seem to have a problem with it last
night.” She grinned. “Or this morning. Or yesterday—”

Alexis stepped forward.
“Do you really think you can please a man like him? He’s used to a
different class of woman. A higher class.”

“A higher class? You mean,
the kind of woman who gets another woman fired just to assert her
power?”

“You got yourself fired.
You’re the one who broke the rules with your cell phone that
night.”

Cara’s jaw dropped. “Are
you really that petty? You think I deserved to be fired because I
took five seconds to find out if my son needed emergency
surgery?”

Alexis shrugged. “Rules
are rules. If he was sick, you should’ve been home with him. I’d
never do that if I had a sick child at home. Never.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t,
because if you had a child you’d just pawn him off on one of your
nannies and forget about him. You’d be too busy with your little
fundraisers and your designer clothes to worry yourself with
actually raising a child.”

Alexis shook her head.
“You’re pathetic. You know, when I first heard you were working for
Victor, I thought maybe you’d planned the whole thing at the
benefit dinner that night. Maybe he already knew you somehow. Knew
you’d get fired. He wanted to paint me as the evil ex-fiancee in
front of our friends. But no. I see what happened now. You got
fired, fair and square. He felt sorry for you. And now, you’re
using that precious little boy of yours to win him over.” She
squared her shoulders. “Because honey, that’s all you got. Trust
me.”

“Are you kidding me? Are
you so out of touch with reality that you think a man like Victor
Barboza could be won over by a single mom? Do you know how hard it
is to date anyone, at all, when you have a child?”

“Well, I can think of no
other explanation for why he’d hire someone like you.” Alexis
shrugged. “Maybe that’s what he wanted all along. A child. An
insta-family. That’s the only thing you have that I don’t have. A
cute kid he can play with.” She let out a loud huff. “I’m sure
Victor just loves to go to your house in Newark for a home cooked
meal and let your kid play with his car. But it’ll get old. You’re
like a new toy to him. He’ll move on soon enough.”

“Wait. How’d you know
about any of that?”

With a smug grin plastered
across her face, Alexis said, “It’s a small world. For all you
know, maybe Victor told me himself. Maybe he came running to my
house after he left yours that night.”

In her anger, a million
thoughts raced through Cara’s mind. But there was one question on
her mind. If she had the answer, maybe all of this would start to
make sense. “Why did you and Victor break up?”

Alexis chuckled to herself
as she walked around to the door of her car and opened it, staring
at Cara over the roof. “He cheated on me.” Alexis then put her
sunglasses back on and slipped inside her car. Her tires squealed
when she pounded the gas pedal.

Dumbfounded, Cara stared
at Alexis’s car until its taillights disappeared.

Cara drove home in a
zombie-like state. Her altercation with Alexis felt like the
world’s biggest slap in the face after the euphoria she had
experienced when she was out of town with Victor.

She tried to call Victor
several times on her way home, but every time, his voicemail picked
up. This was not unusual for him. She had heard Gary mention that
Victor turned off his phone when he was with a client, to give them
his undivided attention. Cara thought best not to leave a
voicemail. For one thing, she didn’t even know where to start with
such a message.

Also, what if she became
frantic and sounded as crazy as Alexis?

But what if Alexis wasn’t
crazy? What if she was completely sane, and she met Cara in that
parking lot simply to warn her?