Jordan’s Deliverance (3 page)

Chapter Four

 

 

Four Months Previously

Jordan looked like a prairie dog as she popped her head up every ten minutes, scanning the main dining room of Antoine’s Restaurant in New Orleans. She was so excited and nervous it was bordering on comical to the one interested observer at the table. That observer happened to be Audra, and unfortunately Jordan couldn’t share the reason why she was doing the fantastic impression of a nervous rodent.

“Okay, what gives, Jay?” asked Audra, looking first behind herself and then behind Jordan.

“Huh? Oh, nothing. I just saw someone and thought it was an old ex. You know how they pop up at the most inopportune times.”

“Uh huh. In New Orleans? Is he stalking you from DC?” teased Audra.

“Hey, you never know, girl. Remember that chick who drove cross country in a diaper to get to her ex? It happens,” she countered.

“You know what’s sad is that is a valid concern for you. You make such good dating choices.” Audra smirked and sipped her cabernet.

“Listen, my choice in men is not on discussion today, Ms. Smartass. This is a girls’ weekend, remember? If David could have flown his pretty ass down here from Boston, this all would have been perfect.”

Even as she placated Audra, Jordan kept glancing behind her at the restaurant entrance. Sitting with her back to the door was probably not a good idea. Ugh! Where was this guy? Riordan, right? Michael had said he was tall, blond, and had the same build he did. Which meant Riordan Deliverance was impressive. He was supposed to be flying in from Barcelona that afternoon and bringing the engagement ring Michael had designed direct from the jewelers’ hands to Michael’s. It was her job to keep Audra occupied until Michael and Riordan could meet at the restaurant to exchange the package. Michael had landed at Armstrong Airport fifteen minutes ago and was on his way, but his friend was nowhere to be found. This was an important day for her best friend. You only get engaged once—hopefully. If this guy screwed up Audra’s big moment, Jordan was going to beat him like a runaway slave.

When the three ladies next to them began to twitter loudly and turn toward the entrance, Jordan did the same. That was the first time she’d laid eyes on the future bane of her existence. Six foot two inches of blond, beautiful man had walked in alone and was leaning closely to the hostess, whispering something softly into her ear. The woman looked like she’d just won the damn Lotto. Hmm, yeah, he was hot from the back, and his suit had apparently been sewn onto his taut, chiseled ass while he slept last night He was seemingly very charming, also, if the struck-by-lightning look of the middle-aged hostess was any indication. When he turned to face the dining room, Jordan went breathless. His sun-streaked locks fell carelessly over his shoulders, and he chuckled at whatever the woman was saying, showing a deep dimple and large, cornflower-blue eyes.

“Jay? Jay…” Audra repeated, snapping her fingers in front of her friend’s face to bring her attention back to the table. “Who’s over there? What’s going on?”

Audra leaned over to get a clear shot of Riordan standing in the entrance of the restaurant.

“Riordan! Oh, my God! What’s he doing here? I’m going to check this out… Something must be wrong with Michael!” Audra made a motion to stand, and Jordan grabbed her hand and smiled up at her.

“Audra Lang, sit down. Trust me. Nothing’s wrong. In fact, keep your controlling butt in the chair and let people who love you make this night special.”

Audra sat back down slowly. She looked expectantly at Jordan, asking wordlessly for some explanation.

Jordan put her finger to her lips to quiet Audra. “Remember, don’t move.”

Slipping out of her seat, Jordan discreetly adjusted the burgundy velvet halter of her knee-length dress. She was five feet nine inches of stunning, caramel goodness that night and thanked God for the extra confidence. She had not been expecting to be teamed up with Thor’s distant
cousin. Her gold hammered cuff and matching necklace with a teardrop ruby nestled just above her cleavage made several men gaze longingly at the beautiful black woman with the aloof, queenly air about her.

Stopping at the hostess desk, she caught Riordan’s attention by placing her hand on his wrist. She immediately felt a jolt of energy from that slight touch, and it was only enforced when he turned his eyes on her. The heat in his gaze was almost overwhelming. She was tempted to inch closer and cozy up to his hard, muscled chest. She plastered on a bright smile and tried valiantly to cover the shock to her system while bringing him up to speed as quickly as possible.

“Hello, Riordan? My name’s Jordan Anderson. It’s a pleasure to meet you. The situation goes as follows: Audra is in the dining room right now dying of curiosity and staring at us. Michael texted me that he was on his way from the airport and is arriving in a few minutes, and you just made it. So, do you have the ring?”

 

***

 

Riordan’s gaze followed the French-manicured nails, up the lovely café au lait arm, to the full burgundy lips. Well, damn! This evening was most certainly looking up.

He smiled fully.

“Enchanted, Ms. Anderson. Michael didn’t tell me Isis herself was assisting us in this romantic scheme. It is most certainly a pleasure.”

Jordan smirked at the compliment. He was a smooth one, absolutely inaccurate regarding her ancestry but smooth nonetheless.

“Isis, really? That works for you?” she asked. “Wrong part of Africa, Viking. Try Ala, Nigerian goddess of fertility or Danu, Celtic Goddess and matriarch or perhaps
Sakwa Mana, Hopi Goddess of Bounty and Joy. I am a hybrid of all those things. Isis is Egyptian. If you have a preference for Egyptian sisters, I can forward you to a meet-up group that can fulfill your taste for the exotic. Again, do you have the ring?
”

Riordan drew back in surprise. Did she slash and burn every compliment given to her or just the ones from strange white dudes who were clearly stunned by her statuesque beauty?

“Forgive me,
dejlige hugorm
,
no offense was meant. I do have the ring.
Good guess on my heritage, by the way. You are quite accurate.”

She glanced back nervously. “Well, Audra has seen you now, and it would be highly out of character for you not to go say hello. I’m sure she’s aware something is up, but we don’t need to blow it totally,” said Jordan, turning her back to Riordan and walking toward the table.

He stifled a groan of appreciation as his eyes followed the smooth line of her naked back. Three delicate, gold-link chains connected the sides of the backless wet dream of a dress she was wearing and settled above an ass that was big, round, and dead sexy.

She paused and glanced over her shoulder.

Riordan stopped up short, close enough to feel the heat off her naked back against his chest.

“The next time you call me
lovely viper
in Danish I will have to retaliate in kind, Viking,” she whispered. “Not every woman thinks your sly insults are endearing.”

His raised brow was all the response she received.

When they arrived back at the table, Audra stood and hugged Riordan with the enthusiasm of a long-lost brother.

“Riordan, it’s so lovely to see you. What a wonderful surprise. Do you two know each other? I almost thought Jordan recognized you before I did.”

“Guess who knew I was in Louisiana and told me you would be here tonight? You guessed it. Mr. Overbearing himself,” teased Riordan, deftly avoiding her question. “What Michael didn’t know was I was going to come to your shop while I was in town to say hello anyway. We’re like family, and what big brother doesn’t come see his pipsqueak little sister when he’s in her city? Never say I didn’t do my fraternal duty!” Riordan finished.

“Well, I’m glad you swung by,” she offered. “Have a seat and I’ll just pretend my overprotective boyfriend didn’t send an enforcer to check on me. You’d think I had the secrets of the universe in my purse.”

Audra almost jumped to the ceiling when she heard Michael’s voice, low and sexy in her ear.

“Didn’t you know, sweetheart? The secrets of my universe are actually located between your lovely thighs.”

Audra’s surprise and excitement clearly overpowered any embarrassment she may have felt over Michael’s overtly sexual compliment. She slid back her chair and was immediately enfolded in his embrace.

Riordan smiled at the happy image they made as they were instantly lost in the bubble that was just those two. He glanced at Jordan, and her face looked pained, even slightly tortured. He raised a hand to the waitress.

“Excuse me, I’d like a Scotch and wat—” he began.

“Oh, no. We’re sorry, miss. We were just leaving,” Jordan interrupted.

She smiled sweetly at the waitress, turned to Riordan, and tipped her head twice toward the exit as a sign that it was time to hand off the package to Michael and get out of Dodge.

Riordan’s face lit up with realization as he first pushed back his chair and then pulled out Jordan’s. He leaned in to give Michael a brotherly hug and deftly dropped the ring box in his jacket pocket.

“Good luck, my man. I wish you the best,” he whispered.

Michael’s breath hitched, and he cleared this throat before he responded, “Brothers always. Thanks for picking this up for me.”

Riordan gave him a quick series of manly pats on the back and did some throat clearing of his own. “I guess we should leave these two to a lovely reunion. Ms. Anderson, what say you and I ditch this place and find a disgustingly dive-y bar to patronize?”

Jordan smiled tightly and rose from the table, ignoring Riordan’s invitation. “It’s nice to see you, Michael. Audra, we can continue the ladies’ weekend another time. I have a feeling you may be occupied for the next day or so.”

She leaned over and kissed her best friend on her cheek. Scooting swiftly past Riordan, she fled toward the exit and the nearest cab, leaving the handsome blond in her wake. Jordan knew stranger danger when she felt it, and Riordan Deliverance was as dangerously charming as they come.

Chapter Five

 

 

David leaned in close and stole Jordan’s chamomile tea. Sipping distractedly, he looked entirely engrossed in the drama, encouraging her with “hmmm hmmm” and the occasional, “No, he didn’t?”

“So then what happened?” he asked finally.

“Well,” she said, “the next four months were a series of Riordan and Jordan debacles. After that initial meeting was the engagement party, remember that? I stormed out the front door into an aggressive gang of timed sprinklers and my pantsuit was ruined? You were there. Guess who I was running from? One guess—ding, ding, ding—Riordan. He’d apparently told my date that if he spoke to me rudely again he was going to punch his teeth in, put his business under surveillance, and then have him audited and deported. I was so mortified I couldn’t even be in the same house as him.

“Then that madness happened at the dinner, when Audra and Michael announced her pregnancy. Riordan’s date cornered me in the bathroom and told me to ‘back off her man with my big ole tits and fat ass.’ I would like to think she wasn’t surprised when I slapped those blonde clip-on extensions out of her head. Can you believe she thought I was trying to steal her useless, playboy boyfriend? He was the one who stuck his fork in my dessert and offered to share his crème brûlée with me. I didn’t tell him to take her bitter ass home early. She should learn to act civilized in my best friend’s home.

“Then Michael insisted a group of us all go to his campsite for a weekend. I’m still amazed by that tomfoolery. I love nature and things, but burying my own waste is not a fun time. Then guess who shows up sans bimbo? You guessed it—Riordan. Then all of a sudden fire ants are in my tent, and he and I are huddled together in his rinky-dink GI Joe tent. I was up all night—he snores like a grizzly bear choir—and then…”

Jordan paused to grab another mug and turned back around to face David. He was staring at her with his mouth wide open, his eyes wide.

“Let me touch you. Are you feverish? When did you catch the stupid-as-hell disease?” he asked. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“I’m being stalked by an idiot. Yes, I know…”

“No, dear, he is waiting for you to ‘see’ him. He’s not going to court you outright because you constantly give off the fight-or-flight response, but he doesn’t want you to forget he’s there, either. Let’s look at the signs,” suggested David. “You have gone out to eat, camped, shared food, attended parties, you have friends in common, you’ve slept in the same room, and he’s threatened another man over you. Yup, you are dating. Now you just need to tell him you want to make this official.”

“I don’t want to make this official at all, David. I just want him to leave me alone,” she said softly, her expression changing from frustration to defeat.

David pulled her toward him in a hug. “Aw, Jay, you and he are so turned on by each other it’s obvious to everyone but you. Give the big guy a chance. I’m asking you as a friend who wants you to be happy. I’m not saying give him the keys to the store and your bank account numbers but at least find out if he’s capable to being trusted in the special way you need. Be honest with him and honest with yourself about what you want in your life. Don’t let fear win this time.”