The Savvy Sistahs (25 page)

Carla smiled sadly. “Yes, I can imagine.”

“Yes, but the sad thing is that in just six months I discovered just what a classy woman she was, and all those years I spent hating the person who’d given me away dissolved. Although I didn’t want to, I understood the circumstances that she and my father had been placed in. An interracial relationship back in the late sixties was not acceptable.”

Carla nodded again. She was glad things had somewhat changed since then. Most people now were marrying for love and not for color. “Did either of them have family?”

“No, neither of them had siblings or kids of their own, so I still don’t have any family other than Craig and my friend Mike Kelly. Mike and I met when we were fifteen and spent time in the same foster home. In fact we ran away together one night and have basically been together since. We learned to live off the streets together, learned to hustle together and we both learned the hard way that crime didn’t pay and having a good education was the key to our future success.”

Carla’s heart suddenly did a flip when it went out to the child that Jesse had once been. The child who’d had no one he could count on other than this friend who had stuck by his side, pretty much the way she and Sonya had stuck by each other while growing up. But then, unlike him, she had known at least one parent’s love. Although her mother may not have wanted her, she’d always known that she’d held a special place in her father’s heart and that he loved her dearly. He had lived every day of his life showing her just how much.

Now a part of her understood Jesse’s need to know about Craig and why he’d taken her refusal to confirm or deny Craig was his child so personal.

“I never got the chance to thank you for what you did today,” she said softly.

He looked at her as if surprised by her words of thanks. “You’re welcome.”

She cleared her throat.“Are you sure you don’t want a cup of coffee?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” A thought then struck him. “Do you have any pictures?”

Carla raised a confused brow. “Pictures?”

“Yes, pictures of Craig when he was a baby? Photographs of the first two years of his life?”

Carla couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, I have more pictures than most people since Sonya’s hobby is photography. Would you like to see them?”

“Yes, please.”

She nodded and walked across the room to where she kept her numerous photo albums. When she brought them over to hand to Jesse, he stood up laughing as he took the armload of photo albums out of her hands. “Hey, you weren’t kidding, were you?”

“Nope. It’s gotten so bad that all we have to do is reach for a camera and Craig automatically smiles. He is so conceited.”

Jesse continued laughing. “He is also a very beautiful child. You should be proud of him.”

His comment made her smile.“I am.”She then looked at him and he lowered his head to look at Craig’s baby picture that had been inserted into one of the album’s covers. “And you should be proud of him, too, Jesse. We made him together.” For some reason she couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped her throat. “Can we produce or what?”

He shook his head grinning. “Yeah, we can definitely produce.”

When their gazes met and held for what Carla thought was an uncomfortable moment, she took a step back and said, “I think I’ll go check on Craig. I’ll be back in a moment.”

“All right.”

When Carla walked across the room she glanced back over her shoulder. Her breath caught and her heart swelled when she saw the look of pure happiness on Jesse’s face as he slowly began flipping the pages to the album to begin a photographic journey into his son’s life— a part that he had not shared. And at that moment she regretted that she had assumed the worst about him and had not contacted him when she’d found out she was pregnant.

And a part of her wondered if he would ever completely forgive her for it.

Chapter 26

G
rey pinned Brandy with his dark glare. “Why of all times are you being difficult now?”

Brandy turned from the kitchen counter and gave him a dark glare of her own. “Because I have too much to do around here than to roll over and play dead, Grey. What you’re asking me to do is impossible. I own this hotel and the biggest event of the year is taking place. We have reservations for over a thousand rooms this coming week. Now is not the time for you to suggest that I go visit my relatives in Macon.”

And before he could get another word out she said,“Besides, I’m not as convinced as you that Jolene had anything to do with this. It doesn’t make sense. I was the injured party three years ago, not her. I didn’t sleep with
her
fiané, dammit, she slept with
mine
. So she has nothing to be pissed about and definitely no reason to want to do me harm. And,” she continued, holding up her hand to stop him from saying anything still, “everything you’ve told me is speculation. Everyone I know has been a suspect, all my employees and even my close friends. Although I don’t consider Jolene a friend—in fact I could care less if our paths never crossed again—you’re trying to paint her as a looney tune and one thing I do know is that she’s an intelligent woman with plenty of sense.”

Grey cursed silently. He balled his hands into fists at his sides. He had stayed up practically all damn night on the phone and the computer with his friends in D.C. as well as the other investigators at his firm in Atlanta as they tried to piece together what they felt was a viable suspect. Over breakfast he had been completely up front with Brandy. He’d told her how Jolene had been forced to resign her position at BCC because of the videotape scandal and how she had worked at UCF for only a short while before the videos had shown up there as well. They had not been able to locate where her social security number was being used which meant she was either not working or working using someone else’s identification. None of those things set right with him and his men, and they agreed that the best thing to do until they tightened the lid on things was to get Brandy out of the line of fire. In other words, persuade her to leave town for a few days since it seemed Jolene was somewhere in the area.

The only problem with that suggestion was the fact that Brandy wasn’t budging.

“I was sent here to protect you, Brandy.”

“Then do it, Grey, but do it the way you’ve been doing it and that’s from a distance. I don’t need you to be glued to my hip now. I have a hotel to run and I’m talking about a huge amount of revenue that’s about to flow in due to the Florida Classic. Now, if this conversation is over then we—”

“Dammit, Brandy, this conversation is not over,” he said, crossing the room at lightning speed and grabbing hold of her shoulders. “If Jolene Bradford is the person who sent those messages that either means she has access in and out of this hotel or she has an accomplice. How do you know that Lorenzo didn’t make her privy to information about this hotel when the two of them were lovers? How do you know she’s not sleeping buddies with someone here on your staff, and how do you—”

“Grey, please be reasonable. That videotape was shown almost three years ago. Why would she wait until now to do anything to harass me? It doesn’t make sense.”

“When people take it upon themselves to lash out at other people for whatever reason, it never makes sense, Brandy. If you won’t leave then I’m asking that you follow my orders to the letter.”

She glared up at him. “What orders?”

“That you let me know where you are at all times, every second of the day.” He wished that he could lock her up in the suite and throw away the key until this matter was resolved.

She sighed deeply. “I’ve been doing that anyway, Grey, ever since the tone of that last message. Please don’t think I’m not taking any of this seriously, because I am. I just don’t intend for it to stop my life and my business. I’m not a coward and I won’t act like one.”

Brandy could see Grey’s frustration. She could feel his impatience with her and his need to assert his dominance over her. But more than anything she also felt his intense desire to keep her safe, to keep anything from happening to her and a part of her wanted to believe it had nothing to do with the job he’d been paid to do but that it had everything to do with what the two of them had shared since the night they had crossed the boundaries and staked their claims.

A long, tense moment passed between them and then Grey reached out and pulled her to him and she felt the impact of his hard body pressed against hers. The dark, intense glare in his eyes suddenly turned heated, hot, scorching. His hands slowly moved down her shoulders, past the line of her back and waist to cup the firm curve of her bottom.

“No one will hurt you,” he said thickly, from between gritted teeth. His words were absolute, definite, clear.

Then his mouth came down on hers with a hunger that took her breath away. The air surrounding them suddenly became overheated, heavy with the nuance of a sexual power neither Brandy nor Grey could control. Her body constricted with a sizzling stroke of heat when his tongue captured hers possessively, pleasuring her mouth in a way that only he was capable of doing.

With today being the day when most of the guests would arrive, there was a chance she was needed downstairs but going anyplace was the last thing on Brandy’s mind and evidently his. He suddenly wedged his feet in between hers, drawing her knees apart, spreading open her legs. Then she felt his hand move and quickly lift her skirt.

He continued kissing her while she heard his zipper being eased down and then she felt her skimpy panties being ripped off her. Before she had time to react, Grey broke the kiss and whispered. “Wrap your legs around me.”

He lifted her into his arms and she obeyed, placing her legs around his waist, tight. As soon as the swollen folds of her moist femininity touched his hard, aching erection she buried her face against his shoulder. She felt every nerve in her body, every single muscle, tighten in anticipation when she felt his hard, engorged flesh get in position at the entrance of her mound.

“I want to come in you, again.”

His words, whispered softly, erupted her passion and she gasped when he thrust into her, his hardness filling every single inch of her body. He took a few steps and when she felt the hard, solid wall against her back, her fingernails sank deep into the blades of his shoulders. He then proceeded to take her with a hunger and fierceness that had her crying out in pleasure as his body began thrusting in and out of her. She met his every thrust, her body just as hungry, just as greedy as his.

Passion, the mind-boggling, gut-wrenching kind, the get-your-fill kind, took away her ability to think. All she was capable of doing was feeling the way his body was entering her, withdrawing, then entering her again, while their tongues tasted, mated. He held her body in place, her back braced firmly against the wall as he continued to pleasure her, make love to her. And then she felt his shoulders tense beneath her fingers. He broke off the kiss and threw his head back. His nostrils flared and he thrust into her, pinning her against the wall with the force of his arousal. And then she felt him come as the hot molten liquid that he enjoyed giving her, releasing into her body, mingled with her own, flooding her insides.

His eyes locked on hers the moment her inner muscles gripped him, held him, milked him for every drop of semen his testicles could produce. She wanted it all, everything, inside of her. Her legs around his waist tightened.

Their bodies arched. She intended to have it. He intended to give it to her.

“Brandy!”

“Grey!”

Their names were screamed from their lips simultaneously; the atmosphere surrounding them drenched with the scent of sex. He leaned down and recaptured her mouth. Their tongues tangled as a potent, overpowering rush of passion washed over them, around them, through them, and at that moment they both knew how it felt to go up in flames.

The next two days went by in a whirl at the hotel with the number of guests who’d begun arriving and checking in. To make sure everyone had sufficient accommodations, the hotel had increased its staff even more, which didn’t sit too well with Grey, although he understood why. An increase in staff made things rather complicated for his investigation. One person he’d felt confident in marking off the list of suspects had been Wilbur Green. One night Grey had run into the man sitting at the bar drinking. Off work and deciding to relax somewhat, Green had also loosened his lips and told Grey about his pending divorce and how he felt his wife was trying to take him to the cleaners. Grey was satisfied that had pretty much explained the reason behind the phone call Brandy had overheard the month before.

A phone call that Grey received from his contact at the local Bureau later had compelled him to call a short meeting with his investigators who had joined him at the hotel the week before. Brandy was presently in a staff luncheon meeting and one of his men, who were pretending to be a waiter, was keeping close watch on her. What bothered Grey the most was just how easily his people had been hired by the hotel with false identification and credentials. Brandy assumed her employees were getting a thorough screening before being hired and he was finding out that was not the case.

“Earlier this week I noticed Sam Perrin in the private elevator, the one that goes to the administrative offices and Ms. Bennett’s private floor,” Apollo Guisto, one of Grey’s top investigators, remarked. Apollo had gotten a job with the hotel as a highly skilled repairman who was assigned to work on the elevators and air-conditioning systems.

Grey glanced down at his list. With so many employees coming and going, it was hard to keep track of all the names at times. “Perrin? That’s the kid who’s a bellman, right?”

“Right. He’s about twenty-one and from what I understand, a student at a local college here.”

Grey nodded. Perrin had been the same person who Brandy had mentioned having bumped into once in a deserted hall when he first arrived. At the time Grey hadn’t found anything significant about that since a profile he had ordered indicated the young man was a hard worker at the hotel, as well as a good student in school. “Did he mention why he was in that elevator?”

“No, in fact I saw him about to mess with the security system when I walked up. When I asked if anything was wrong with the system, he brushed it off saying that he had stepped on the wrong elevator by mistake. But that didn’t explain what he’d been about to do to the security box.”

Grey nodded. “I think we should make sure we keep a close eye on Perrin.”

The other men in the room nodded. “Let’s meet again tomorrow unless something develops that we all need to know about,” Grey said, checking his watch. Brandy’s luncheon would be over in less than ten minutes and he intended to be right there in plain view when she walked out of the meeting room.

Another meeting was called later that day when one of Grey’s men had something to report. “Sam Perrin quit.”

Grey lifted a dark brow. “He quit?”

“Yes, he called in earlier today and said he won’t back. He’s not even giving two weeks notice.”

“Did he say why he was resigning?” Apollo Guisto asked.

“According to what I heard, he claimed he was getting behind in his studies at school. And there is something else. Something I think is major.”

Grey met the man’s gaze. “What?”

“A little investigation has revealed that Sam Perrin and Jolene Bradford know each other, very well.”

Grey sat up straight in his chair; his gaze was intense when he got the man’s meaning. Jolene had to be at least twelve years older than Perrin. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. In fact they lived together for over six months.”

“Are they still living together?”

“It doesn’t look that way. My sources say she moved out a month or so ago but that Perrin was pretty damn smitten with her.”

Grey sighed deeply as he stood. He still didn’t know Jolene Bradford’s whereabouts and that bothered him. “I want to know everything there is to know about Perrin including every aspect of his job while he was here. And I want Jolene Bradford located. I’m going to get a photograph of her so we can be on the lookout in case she makes an appearance here at the hotel.

Swearing softly, Grey spun on his heel and strode out of the room.

A hour or so later Grey entered the suite to find it dark and quiet. Evidently Brandy had gone to bed already. He’d had one of his men stationed right outside the door all the while he’d been in a meeting. He wasn’t taking any chances especially after receiving the last note, the one he hadn’t told Brandy about yet.

He shuddered at the threat that had been made, this one a little more explicit than the others. It claimed that when he was through, no other man would want Brandy. Again it had been signed
The Man
,but now that Grey knew the writer was a woman—a woman who believed all the ills that were befalling her were Brandy’s fault—he knew he was dealing with someone who was not in their right mind, and the only thing on that demented mind was revenge.

Earlier that day, a friend of his, a former agent, had paid a visit to Jolene’s parents in South Carolina. They claimed they had not heard from their daughter in over eight months. They’d also told the agent that when they had seen her last, she had not been herself but they didn’t believe that she would deliberately hurt anyone.

Removing his jacket, he relieved himself of his gun and holster. He carried both into the office and placed them in a drawer. He couldn’t help but remember the first time Brandy had seen his revolver. For the longest time she had stared at it like she’d never seen a gun before. Then her eyes had looked up at him as if expecting some sort of explanation as to why he was carrying such a lethal weapon. But now whenever she saw it she didn’t seem to think twice about it.

He rubbed a frustrated hand along his taut jaw. His shoulders felt tense, which was usually a good sign that something, although he didn’t have a clue as to what, was about to happen. He was glad he and his team had uncovered so much in a relatively short period of time but didn’t like the fact that their prime suspect could not be found. That meant she could be just about anyplace.