To My Senses The Nicci Beauvoir Series Book 1 (15 page)

“
I tried to think about
what you were doing. I painted you the way I saw you spending your
days.” He came up beside me. “I call them my Jenny
pictures.”

“
Jenny? Why
Jenny?”

“
Better than calling them
my Nicci pictures, don’t you think? Come on. The bathroom is
through there.” He put his arm around me and guided me down a short
hallway behind the kitchen. “There’s a robe behind the door that
you can use.” Before I could object, he shut the bathroom
door.

I stripped down to my
underwear, suddenly feeling very self-conscious without my clothes
to protect me. I quickly pulled on the thick blue robe and knotted
the belt securely. It smelled of him and I could feel myself
weakening further. I looked over at the mirror above the sink and
took a deep breath, reminding myself of what I had come here to do.
I squared my shoulders and opened the door.

He was waiting in the
kitchen. “Looks good on you.” He nodded to the robe and then waved
to a pot of brewing coffee. “I thought you could use
that.”

“
Thanks.” I gestured to the
studio. “You’ve been busy.”

He grabbed two mugs from
the cabinet and removed the pot from the coffeemaker. I waited as
he poured the mugs full of the black liquid.

“
How have you been?” he
asked, handing me a mug.

“
I was going to leave a
note.” I took a large gulp of the coffee, avoiding his
eyes.

“
The pink note?”

“
Yes. A ‘Dear David’
note.”

“
I see.” He sipped his
coffee. “Well, now that you are here, perhaps you would care to
tell me what you put in the note. Or am I to read it
later?”

“
No. I was going to tell
you that we shouldn’t see each other again. That we are no good for
each other and, well…you know the rest.” I put my coffee mug down
on the granite kitchen countertop.

He kept his eyes on my
coffee mug. “Now that you are here do you still feel the same
way?”

“
I don’t know,” I sighed
and rubbed my face.

He came closer to me.
“Something wrong?”

“
Colleen’s pregnant.” I
noted how his face fell in surprise. “It’s Eddie’s.”

He let go a soft whistle.
“Does Eddie know?”

“
Not yet. I’m making
Colleen wait until I arrange some kind of meeting to break the news
to him. You know Eddie, and you can guess how he’ll take
this.”

“
He will try and kill her,
if Sammy doesn’t do it first.” He drank down some more of his
coffee. “What does she want? Money?”

“
No, that would be easy.
She wants to marry him.” He broke out into a fit of laughter. “I
know, I know,” I agreed. “But that’s what she has had her heart set
on since we were kids. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she
planned the whole thing.”

“
It’s not all her fault,”
he argued. “Eddie should have been more responsible. A man must
plan ahead for such encounters.”

“
Do you always plan ahead
for such encounters?”

He smiled, raising his
coffee mug to his lips. “I’m a very cautious fellow.”

“
I guess in your line of
work you must have to buy condoms in bulk.” The smile disappeared
from his face. “I just meant….” The blush rose on my
face.

“
I know what you meant.” He
put his coffee mug down on the countertop next to him. “Look, why
are you getting involved in this situation? This is obviously Eddie
and Colleen’s problem, not yours.”

“
I can’t help but think
this is my fault. If Eddie hadn’t seen me dancing with you that
night, then perhaps—”

“
Do not blame yourself for
their mistake.” He put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “He’s a
grown man and she’s a grown woman. No one forced them together.
From what you’ve said about your cousin, it sounds like she would
have arranged this sooner or later.”

I looked about the sparsely
equipped kitchen, trying to think of something to say. His eyes
were getting to me, and the way his thick chest and ripped abs
were—

“
Was that in the note?” he
intruded into my thoughts.

“
No,” I said, trying not to
look at his chest. Instead, I fingered a pizza delivery magnet on
the refrigerator.

A sudden crash of thunder
rocked the house and then the lights went out. I jumped and David
cursed. It was too dark outside to see by the light of day. I felt
for the countertop and tried to orient myself among the
shadows.

“
I have candles somewhere.”
I could hear him going through the kitchen drawers. “Don’t
move.”

“
I’m not going
anywhere.”

I heard him rummaging
around the apartment. After several bangs, and accompanying curses,
I heard a cry of success from the living room. I could just make
out his form wandering back with a lighted candle. He came into the
kitchen and took my hand.

“
I don’t have any
flashlights. I’m afraid this will have to do,” he declared, leading
me into the studio.

The light from outside was
much better in the studio. I could see the eyes in each of the
paintings, eerily watching us, as we passed through the room. In
the living room, he motioned to the sofa.

“
Sit. Nothing to crash into
here.”

I sat down and, carrying
the candle, he wandered back to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, he
reappeared with the two refilled coffee mugs. “I hope you know some
way we could pass the time.” I could almost hear him smirking in
the darkness when he sat down next to me.

“
Very funny.”

A loud knock on the door
made me flinch. David placed his hand on my shoulder when the front
door flew open with a bang. The wet wind from the storm rushed into
the living room, making the candle on the coffee table flicker in
protest. I could just make out a large figure blocking the doorway,
as a bright beam from a flashlight began probing into the
room.

“
Cora,” David chuckled.
“Right in the nick of time.”

“
Hey there, sonny. I
thought ya could use some candles.” The voice was deep and
sprinkled with a heavy Cajun accent. The flashlight beam zeroed in
on me, and I found myself temporarily blinded.

David stood from the sofa,
and said, “Come on in, Cora. I want you to meet
somebody.”

The flashlight danced about the room as Cora
came inside. She and David spread the candles about the living room
and then the flashlight went out. It took my eyes a few moments to
adjust before the image of Cora began to appear.

She was tall and wide with a round face,
turned up nose, delicate mouth, and small chin. The deep-set laugh
lines that surrounded her large brown eyes seemed to complement her
cheerful features. She wore her light brown hair pulled back into a
ponytail and secured with a red bow. Her dark blue jumper clung to
her full figure, having been soaked through by the rain.

I noticed how her eyes were
all over me like a swarm of bees, buzzing with curiosity. As I rose
from the sofa, trying to drag the long robe with me, I swore that
her eyes flashed with recognition.

“
Cora Dickerson, I’d like
you to meet Nicci Beauvoir.”

After David introduced us,
I stretched out my hand. She took it warmly and gave it a powerful
shake.

“
Please to meet ya.” Cora
looked at David. “But if ya ask me, she looks more like a Jenny,
than a Nicci.” She gave a small tinkling trill of laughter,
sounding just like a little girl.

“
Ah, yes,” David cleared
his throat. “Nicci is my model.”

“
Model, hell. If my
ex-husband painted me like that, we’d never got divorced. I might
even had a lot more kids than I did.”

“
I’m pleased to meet you,
Ms. Dickerson,” I asserted.

“
You just call me Cora,
sweetheart. I’m glad to see there’s a face behind them pictures. I
was startin’ to wonder ‘bout this boy’s mind.”

“
Cora is my landlady and my
second mother,” David began. “She worries about me all the time.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

Cora howled with delight.
“Hell, boy, I ain’t so sure I want to be your mama. Comin’ and
goin’ at all hours like ya do.” She slapped his arm playfully. “You
watch out for this boy. If he gives ya any trouble, I’ll come over
and set him straight. He’s too smart for his own britches.” She
winked at me.

“
Thanks for the candles,”
David said dryly.

“
I’ll be goin’. I know when
I ain’t wanted.” She winked at David and then turned to go. “You
two jus’ hollar if ya need anythin’.”

I waited, as David showed
her to the door. She turned and looked at me one more time before
she walked outside. David must have whispered something to her
because she slapped his arm and told him to behave.

I stood by the sofa, as
David closed and secured the front door. The light from the candles
around us illuminated the room with a warm glow. David turned back
to me, grinning.

I ignored him and returned
to my seat on the sofa. “She seems like a nice lady.”

“
She is. She has a big
heart and likes to take care of everyone. Including me.”

“
Has Sammy met Cora?” I
pressed, knowing the question would irk him.

“
Sammy never came here. But
that’s all over now.”

“
So you told me. Is that
permanent or just a temporary thing?” I waited as he took his seat
on the sofa, and then moved a little closer to me.

“
Sammy and I are over.
That’s all there is to it,” he avowed with great seriousness in his
voice.

“
What prompted your sudden
change of heart?” I inquired, smiling sweetly.

“
You, for one. I couldn’t
go on seeing her when I kept thinking of you. Then there were her
other affairs.”

I raised my eyebrows
inquisitively. “Other men?”

“
No, her business affairs.
She’s very ruthless. She seems to enjoy ruining people.” He sat
back on the sofa. “You know, she is out to capture Beauvoir Scrap
for her own.”

I snickered. “Oh, that.
She’s been at it for years. She’ll never succeed.”

“
Now she might,” he coldly
returned.

I tilted my head to the
side and stared at him. “How?”

“
Sammy has concocted a
scheme to push your father out of business. She plans on financing
it with some oil leases she acquired in Russia.”

I sat up and leaned closer
to him. “Go on.”

“
Sammy received the leases
through an Egyptian businessman she knows. They were originally
thought to be worthless, but some new surveys have reported that
the area may be one of the richest finds in the last ten years. The
engineers will release the final survey findings to the press soon,
thereby increasing the price of the stock in her small drilling
business. The stock is expected to increase five times in three to
four weeks. Once she sells off some shares, she could have enough
capital to start a price war with Beauvoir Scrap.”

My heart rose in my throat.
“Can she do that?”

“
Yes, from what I hear. It
seems your uncle has caused some problems for the business by
making promises he didn’t keep, and running up a large number of
debts. Many of the businesses associated with your family’s scrap
company are ripe for a change. Sammy wants to cut her costs and win
over your father’s clients.”

“
Doesn’t Sammy have enough
money?” I blurted out in disgust.

“
Enough net worth, but
she’s cash poor. The drilling company she owns is too small to
drill, refine, and transport all the oil she is expected to find.
She’s negotiating with some of the larger oil companies to buy her
out of the leases. That news will drive up her drilling company’s
stock price even further. Sammy and the oil companies are just
waiting for the release of the surveys to the press. Sammy already
knows that the leases are worth a fortune. She’s going to make all
the money she needs, and more, to break Beauvoir Scrap.”

I sat motionless, peering
down at the floor. The shock hit me like a falling building. David
moved closer to me and held my hand.

“
How long?” I demanded.
“How long until all this happens?”

“
I heard Sammy on the phone
saying three months.”

“
You need to tell my father
all of this. Would you do that?”

“
I was hoping you would say
that. I didn’t want to stand by and watch Sammy destroy your
family. That’s a big reason why I left her.”

My heart sank with the
realization of what his disclosure meant to my family. If Sammy
could get her hands on Beauvoir Scrap, my father and uncle would be
ruined. It was all they had. It was all they knew how to do. I
couldn’t picture my father going to apply for a job in another firm
or business. He would be lost.

“
I have to get home,” I
murmured.

“
You can’t go now. Your
clothes are soaked and you can’t go out in this.” He pointed to the
door and the near hurricane still blowing outside.