Love Me Now (20 page)

“Yeah, about that, we're gonna have to pick it up a bit. We'll go shopping for some real groceries.”

“No way, it'll just sit and rot. There's no way I'm going to come home every night and cook like this. You can do it, but I can't. Give me a microwave dinner or takeout any day.”

“I guess that means I'm gonna have to be around to cook for you, at least for a little bit. Is that all right with you?”

Kenya refused to look at him even though she knew he was looking at her. One turn in his direction and she knew she'd completely abandon her plan. “I'll think about it.”

Two slices of frittata each and a bottle of wine later, and they were full, relaxed and comfortable. They cleaned up the kitchen at his insistence. She was just too relaxed to bother so he did most of the work.

“Why do you do that?” she asked as she sat on a stool at the counter and watched him load the dishwasher and wipe down the stove and countertop.

“Do what?” he asked as he turned to her.

“Be so nice, so wonderful,” she said in a near whisper.

“Kind of hard to hate me, huh?” he asked.

“Yeah, something like that,” she said.

He walked over and stood between her legs. He reached up and stroked her face gently. She looked at him. Her eyes begged for redemption. “Your eyes are glassy. You had too much wine.”

“No, I didn't. I'm fine. I'm just—”

“Just what?” he asked as he slowly leaned in to kiss her.

“Falling…”

“Don't worry, I'll catch you,” he whispered instantly, surprising himself as the words held tight.

“No, you won't.”

“Yes, I will,” he promised. “Remember, I told you I'd never lie to you.” She nodded. “Believe it.” She nodded again. He kissed her again. “Now come on and walk me to the elevator.”

“You're leaving?” she asked as she held on to him and pulled him back to her. He nodded. “Stay.”

“No.”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because if I stay, I'll want to make love to you and I can't do that.”

“But I want you to,” she said truthfully as she pulled his hips closer. “I want to be with you tonight. Stay.” He shook his head. “Why not?”

“This is moving too fast for both of us. We have to slow it down. I'm not interested in a one-night stand with you, Kenya,” he said as he gently kissed her temple. “Let's get to know each other, not from what you read on the Internet or from files, but for real, the real us. Can you do that?”

She laid her head on his chest and felt the comfortable rhythm of his heart. It wasn't made of ice after all. It beat and pumped just like everybody else's. She wrapped her arms around him and held tight. The feeling of falling came to her again. All she had to do was let go. But she couldn't. Letting go would mean walking away and she couldn't do that yet.

She was no fool. She knew that as soon as he found out exactly what she was up to and intended to do, he'd hate her. So holding on only prolonged this feeling. He was right about everything. They had happened too fast. She did want to know him aside from all the drama. And she did believe that he would catch her when she fell. It was the last part that made her sad.

He'd never lied to her, yet she'd done nothing but lie to him from the moment they met. It was doomed from the start. She'd gone into this with her eyes wide open and it was nobody's fault but her own. She'd made her bed, now it was time to lie in it. “I don't know,” she said softly, then hopped down from the stool. She took his hand and walked him over to the sofa. They sat down. “Let's talk.”

“Okay,” he said. “Me first. I have one sister, younger, you met her. She just completed a graduate program at GWU a
few years ago. She's a pain and insists on spending more time in my personal business then she should. I got your message, by the way.”

Kenya smiled. “Yes, we met. She seemed nice.”

“She is.”

“Brothers?” she asked. He didn't answer right away. He seemed to be debating the question. “It's not that difficult a question, or is it?”

“I have two half brothers.”

“Oh.”

“Parents,” he said.

“My mom is a sweet, kind and generous woman. She loves her flowers and would rather go to a flower show than a stage show. She'd give her last penny to help someone or intervene to save a stray cat. She has a loving, trusting spirit. Too trusting sometimes but then again, I wish I was more like that, like her.”

“Aren't you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “She's forgiving, too. I'm not like that. I wish I was.”

“Maybe you just need to work on it.”

“Yeah, maybe,” she said thoughtfully. “We never really talk anymore. We don't have a whole lot in common. I guess if anything I wish she was more proactive about her life.”

“How do you mean?” he asked.

“She's not that old, but she's like a product of the fifties. She gives my father full rein to do everything. Even when he clearly has no idea what he's doing.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Yes, it is.”

“She lets him be a man. Sometimes that's important.”

“No, she gives up her power. My dad does whatever he pleases. She never says a word. He makes all the decisions
about money. My mom wouldn't know a thing about what to do with money.”

“You'd be surprised what people know.”

She looked at him. “What do you mean?”

Trey smiled. “I've learned never to underestimate people. They have a way of surprising you.”

“I guess you're right,” Kenya said, and then paused. “She loves him, I get that, but when is love weakness?”

“You think her love for your father makes her weak?”

She nodded. “Sometimes.”

“You don't want to be weak,” he surmised.

“No, never again. She completely lost herself. I don't ever want to be like that.”

Trey nodded. It explained a lot. “I can't believe I'm about to say this, but love isn't about losing yourself in someone else, it's about finding yourself.”

“Is that off a ninety-nine-cent Valentine's Day card?”

He smiled. “No it's a theory I've been working on lately.”

“Well, it is for the women in my family. It's a curse, I think. My grandmother was the same way. My grandfather finally left her. And she had to fend for herself and their daughter. And I, believe it or not, almost gave up everything the same way.”

“But you didn't?” he asked.

“No.”

“You know, being strong is fine. Having power is great but love is the ultimate high.”

“And you know this how? By all accounts you're not exactly a poster child for happily-ever-after.”

“But it's all around me, my family and friends. I see their joy and sometimes I'm just a bit envious.”

“Have you ever been in love?” she asked.

“I'm not sure,” he said honestly.

The way he looked at her made her insides melt. He was
saying something but she didn't want to hear it. “Okay, your mother,” Kenya said.

“My mom is special. She's loving and the most caring woman I know, present company excluded. She's like a superhero, she believes in honesty and courage and standing up for what's right. She's not afraid to fight the good fight if she thinks it's for a good cause. She's got a strong sense of right and wrong and a keen business sense. My sister is a lot like that. I'm not.”

“Funny, I would think you were describing yourself. Aren't you supposed to be brilliant? Businesswise, I mean.” Trey laughed.

“Let's just say I'm skilled.”

“Okay, what about your father?” he asked.

Kenya tensed. “You first,” she said, stalling.

“Okay, what do I say about a man I grew up hating?”

“What, you hated your father?” she said.

“Correction, I didn't know my father. There was a man who showed up on occasion with presents and money. He'd come in, talk about business, money and power, and then he'd leave.”

“I presume your parents were divorced.”

“Thankfully yes, they divorced a few years after my sister was born. She didn't even really get to know him at all.”

“But you did.”

“I knew enough.”

“Do you still see him?”

“No, not since I took over his company.”

“So that part is true, you took over your own father's company?” she said slowly. “Why? How could you do that?”

“I had my reasons.”

“And that justifies what you did, taking a man's life's work, stealing his company. Fine, maybe he wasn't the greatest guy in the world, and maybe he was a lousy father, but taking everything he had, I don't think so.”

“You're taking this personally. It wasn't personal, it was business.”

“Like with my father, too. Was that just business? I know my dad's not perfect, but he didn't deserve what you did. You just can't arbitrarily make a business decision and change a person's life.”

“Yes, I can,” he said.

“Just like that, cold and calculated,” she said.

He nodded. “When I have to be.”

“When you took over your father's company, is that when they started calling you Iceman?” she asked. He nodded. “I wondered about that. I guess under the circumstances, it's fitting.”

Very few people knew the absolute truth behind the takeover of his father's company. Usually he didn't care one way or the other what people thought or believed. But for some reason he didn't want Kenya to think any less of him than she already did.

“The truth is he was ruining the company. He'd already taken some of the employee pension money, he didn't pay taxes and the federal government was about to toss him in jail. I bought the company, revived it and got the government off his back. So of course he wanted me to sell it back to him, at a very reasonable rate. I refused.”

“Why would he want it back, to keep doing what he was doing? What about the employees?”

“I don't think they really mattered. He sued me for misrepresentation of intent. The headlines during the court case were pretty sensational. He was the poor pitiful father and I was the cold-blooded son. I'm sure it sold a lot more papers.”

“Did the courts give him the company back?”

“No.”

“So you saved the company, paid his debts, saved him from going to jail and still became the bad guy.”

“All in a day's work, ma'am,” he joked. “Your turn, tell me about James Whitaker.”

“Please, you know all about James Whitaker.”

“I know the basics. James Whitaker, previous owner of Whitaker Real Estate Investment Company, a small real estate investment company. Six months ago he came at me sideways with a takeover bid.”

“A takeover bid,” she repeated.

“He made a few amateur mistakes. One being, he sent a letter of intent prematurely. I was able to outmaneuver him. I made a deal with his partner, then bought all his available stock. Bottom line, his company is now my company.”

“Couldn't you have given him a break?” she asked.

“Your father played and lost, that's the game. Although, an interesting maneuver, I'll give him that. None of us actually even saw it coming,” Trey said.

“So what are you going to do with his company, sell it, strip it?”

“I haven't decided yet,” he said smugly.

“Sell it to me.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I want it—sell it to me.”

“You're going to be a real estate investor now? What about your designs, your boutique?”

“That's not your concern. This is business.”

“You can't afford it.”

“I'll have Shelly buy me out and get a bank loan,” she said.

Trey, knowing better, half smiled while shaking his head. “You can't afford it.”

“One good thing about having dated a stock broker is I got really great stock tips.”

“I never gave you any stock tips.”

“I'm not talking about you.”

Trey realized that she was referring to an ex from her past. The sting of jealousy bit him hard. “No, I'm not selling you the company.”

The firmness is his tone was final, but there was no way she was giving up. She decided to relent for now, but this was far from over. “Okay, round one of negotiations done.”

“Agreed. Now what?”