Icing on the Cake (11 page)

Stephen smiled but it lacked mirth. “Ms. Eaton. I am prepared to pay well above your normal standard fees. I want Brooke Haven’s plans, objective, her
fucking
life on a damn flash drive. If you can’t handle it, don’t waste any more of my time…”

Carte cleared his throat. “Olivia. Mr. Silver has another meeting, so he must be going. Tonica and I will fill you in on the finer details. What we need is information and proof that Brooke is out to destroy, steal, and possibly kill.”

Leave it to Carte to try to smooth feathers, but that was only when Stephen had ruffled them in the first place. So, he tried to behave himself and check his frustration. Olivia wasn’t to blame.

“I apologize for my rudeness, but I am out of patience. My fiancée means everything to me. Brooke threatened her and all I have worked for. I want Brooke found. I want proof so that I can
end
her. Figuratively, of course. Do you understand me?”

Stephen struggled to control the tone and level of his voice. He wanted to roar in frustration. To beat his chest and race out into Greensboro with murder on his mind and willingness in his heart. But Cree kept him from the ridiculousness of those actions.

Olivia stood up slowly from behind her desk, but her eyes were trained on him.

“I do understand.”

“So do we have a deal?” Stephan asked. He extended his hand to her.

Olivia’s smile—cold, detached, matched his own. “Who am I to disagree with Stephen Silver?”

They shook.

“Whew,” Tonica said, laughing. “That was way harder than it had to be.”

Carte kissed her cheek. “No, Tonks. I would be the same if someone threatened you. What you’re looking at is a man in love. Terribly, deeply, wrapped in—love for his woman. When that is threatened and he cannot fix it immediately, you see him at his worse.”

“Shush, Carte. You’ll tell all the secrets,” Stephen said.

“I’ll walk you out,” Carte replied.

Once they cleared the doors to the office, Carte turned to him. “Tonks is really good at her job. They’ll find Brooke. We’ll get her.”

Stephen nodded. “The keycard belonged to Patrick Pedmore.”

“Ahh…but we deactivated it.” Carte scowled in puzzlement.

“Yes, someone reactivated it.”

That alone kept him up at night. Someone at C.A.K.E. plotted with Brooke and acted in concert with her.

He’d always treated his employees like family, but now, he had to take a hard look at everyone.

Everyone.

Chapter
Fourteen

“So, you want to come in or what?” Brice asked her, a big grin on his face. With his clothes wrinkled, and new growth sprouting all over the lower half of his face, he didn’t look anything like the polished professional salesman she’d met just a few months ago.

A lot had changed since then.

Parked outside his home, Aerial got out of the sports car. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that read,
Mean People Suck
, she took in the big townhouse with amazement. Finally. She’d get to see his home. Just like the car, Brice’s house spoke to his success as a salesman. Scanning the quiet, picturesque neighborhood, Aerial noted that Wendover Avenue seemed it was hundreds of miles away, not merely five. Located in High Point, on the edge of Greensboro, the neighborhood looked immaculate from the outside. Well-manicured plots of grass, flowers in full bloom bobbing in the breezes, and stainless steel and metallic ornate fixings on the doors and windows. It didn’t seem to fit the Brice Middleton she had come to know. The guy who ate potato chips by the bag—a family-size bag. Or the man who liked to juggle apples. Or the man who kept a comic book collection in his desk at work.

“I’m coming.” She walked up the brick pathway that led from the driveway to the flat porch. No, this home spoke of a family man. She expected a man, a wife and two little kids to coming bopping out and announce that Brice didn’t live here, but in fact, was pranking her.

Her sneakered feet moved forward as if on their own accord. Surreal, she couldn’t believe he’d brought her here, to his home. He stood between the screen and the front doors watching her in that careful, deliberate manner of his. Wearing a fitted, navy blue A&T T-shirt and jeans, he looked very casual and comfortable and yummy.

Last night, he’d spent the evening at her apartment, but today he demanded he go home—and that she come too. This morning, after a lazy breakfast of cereal and soy milk, he dressed quickly. He’d flown out to San Diego on business for the last month, but he’d managed to make the three hour time differential between the East coast and the West work for them. They had managed to stay in touch.

As he often did when he came home from traveling, he’d driven directly from PTI Airport to her apartment. Exhausted, jet lagged, he would simply strip down to nudity, pull her close, and fall asleep. If he had to work the next day, he would shower at her place and use the clean clothes he had in his suitcase.

Later, in the evenings, as soon as her shift ended at the café, Aerial would leap into his silver sports car purring at the curb and drive off with him. After a movie, pizza and a few beers, she and Brice got to know each other all over again.

Set to repeat. It happened like this for weeks. She didn’t like him traveling so much, but it was his career and he loved it.

Last night had been heaven, and this morning, he woke up, smiling at her with something she didn’t know if she would ever be able to see in his eyes—trust. Now, standing outside his townhouse, she realized how serious Brice had become about them.

“You coming?” He smiled.

She hurried and joined him. He ushered her into the hardwood floored space. Locking the door behind him, Brice swept his hand outward. “Home.”

A soft, orange cat meowed a hello.

“Oh, hi!”

“Tabitha, meet Aerial,” he said and scooped her up.

Aerial stroked her sweetly and the cat purred at the ministrations.  “You have a cat,” Aerial said and put out her hands.

He looked at her hands and then down at Tabitha. For a brief second, Aerial thought he wasn’t going to let her hold his pet, but he handed her over. Of course, Tabitha wouldn’t have any of that and leapt out of Aerial’s arms.

“She doesn’t like strangers, too much.” Brice took Aerial’s hand.

“Sounds like someone else I know.”

“Hey, I’m trying here.”

“I know.”

She kissed him on the cheek, feeling the soft pricks of his new growth. “Brice…”

“I’ll shave in a little bit.”

He walked around the townhouse, showing her his paintings and the wall of photos. Lily’s face appeared in a number of them, grinning happily. Brice’s unsmiling face stood protectively close to her. An older woman who looked identical to Lily appeared in a few of the older ones but not many. No father at all.

“Lily has the same eyes as you.”

“My father’s,” Brice said tightly. A cloud floated across his face. He tugged her hand away from the pictures and up the stairs to the upper level. Three bedrooms, one that had been converted to an office, and a second room that acted as a guest room completed the top floor. She spied books and dolls in the guestroom. She turned to Brice.

“Your niece, right?” Aerial asked.

At the top of the stairs, Brice turned to look at her. Again, she watched him wrestle with how much to tell or maybe to tell her at all. Giving in, he answered. “Shelly. I often felt like she was the closest thing to a child I’d ever have.”

“They don’t live around here, do they?” Aerial asked.

She’d heard Brice speak of them, and not too often. He kept so much of himself at bay. Truth be known, he’d been allowing her entry into his life, but it occurred very slowly—painfully slow. It annoyed her, but she checked her patience.  Pain scampered across his face at the mention of Lily and his niece. Without him giving her information, she didn’t know which topics to avoid and which were okay.

“I’m sorry, Brice. I didn’t mean to bring up negative…”

“It’s not your fault.” He walked down stairs and she followed.

He sat down on the soft beige leather and patted the spot beside him. “Come here.”

“Oh, what movie are we going to watch?” She brightened when she saw that he hadn’t continued to nurse his pain. Opposite the sofa, a large 50” flat screen television rested above a fireplace. The mantle’s marbled surface gave the living room the feel of elegance, like the fixtures. Brice truly took pride in his home. A bachelor’s pad for sure, nothing gave any indications of a female living there and it was very clean, organized. Only sports magazines, books on sports, finance, and sales.

“We’re not watching a movie just yet,” Brice said. He cleared his throat.

“Okay.” She sat down on the sofa. On the coffee table lay a book. “
Hamlet
! You have a copy of
Hamlet!
”

She scooped up the bound version of the play.

“I got it because you have a show in a few weeks,” he said, smiling.

“Yeah I do, but what are you going to do?” Aerial laughed, holding the copy above her head.

He tried to grab it from her, but instead, they ended up wrestling. She tucked it under her body, and rolled over, keeping it away from him. Of course, Brice managed to tickle her and as she dissolved into laughter, he took it out of her hands.

With his tousled blond hair and flushed face, he looked incredibly sexy.

“I love you,” Aerial sighed. Giggling, she sat up and fixed her afro puffs.

Brice had gone very quiet.

Brice’s blood stopped.

Or so it seemed.

It was as if someone had punched him hard in the chest. Breathing became difficult and he struggled to calm down. Had she really just said she loved him?
Love.
Him?

“Aerial…”

She crossed her legs and fingered her big hoop earring. “Yes?”

 “You know my past. I’m not an easy man to love…”

She erupted in giggles. “Oh see. Here we go again with you pushing people out.”

“Let me finish…” He tickled her and she laughed harder. It made him feel so light. “Look at me.”

Turning those dark, delicious eyes to him, she sobered.

“Seven years ago, I wanted to die and felt like my life was over. Now, I see that I lived for one reason only. For you. You are sunshine when I am stormy. My ray of light when I’m cloaked in shadow. You are
mine,
Aerial. I love you.”

He kissed her hard on the mouth, stealing her breath and making her gasp. Dizzy from his hungry kiss, Aerial grabbed the sofa to steady herself when it came to an end.

“I’m crazy about you.” Aerial stretched.

He took her hand and placed it on his heart.

“Aerial, you have my heart. I’m giving it to you, to cherish. Will you do that as I will for you?”

“Yes,” she said and rose up to kiss him again. She closed her eyes to the kiss.

When she opened them again, he found her eyes shiny with unshed tears.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m very happy.” He kissed her again.

“I love you.”

“I knew you would,” she quipped.

He smiled. “Finding you has definitely been the icing on the cake.”

“Hey, that’s my line!”

R
AE
L
YNN