Some Like It Hot (6 page)

Raven lifted her head and looked at Erica. Seeing no reason not to tell her, she said, “It’s from Linc.”

Placing the card on her desk, Raven removed the tissue paper stuffed inside the box. Tucked under it all was a beautiful glass case containing several beautiful seashells.

A breathless astonished sigh escaped Raven’s lips as she stared at the gift Linc had sent her. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the sound of the ocean as they strolled along the seashore holding hands while looking for seashells.

“Raven, you OK?”

Raven slowly opened her eyes to see Erica staring at her. She looked back down at the item she held in her hands. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Erica smiled as she stood up. “Yes, simply beautiful. Umm, I’d even say expensive. That glass looks like real crystal. Not only does Linc Corbain look good, but the brother has good taste. I think I’ll leave you alone to think about whatever else he has that’s good.” She then walked out of the office, closing the door behind her.

Raven leaned back in her chair as she stared down at the gift that had been delivered to her. She pursed her lips as she considered her predicament. Lincoln Corbain was pulling out all the stops to get next to her. He was using the one thing she couldn’t fight, and that was the memory of their time together in Daytona Beach.

The man was definitely playing dirty.

Raven sat alone with a glass of wine in her hand as she studied the sights and sounds around her. Soft conversations flowed through the club and mixed in with the smooth sound of jazz music. Her gaze roamed the room, lingering and committing to memory those things she would need to make the article she was writing informative and interesting.

She had selected the right place to use as the basis of her story. Leo’s, like so many other supper clubs that were now springing up in different cities around the country, had found its niche. She admired the Hardcastles for operating such an upscale establishment that was both formal and friendly. Supper clubs, which had once been local traditions, had quickly gotten replaced by franchise restaurants, mostly the bar-and-grill types. But those franchises did not provide the novel entertainment, delicious food, and coziness that supper clubs had. Restaurant entrepreneurs, in their haste to become dining giants, had lost sight of those things that were tried-and-true favorites. The Hardcastles had not lost sight of them, which was probably the reason people kept coming back.

“Would you like to order dinner now?”

Raven lifted her head to look up at the waiter who had appeared by her side. “No, not yet, but I’d love to have some more wine.”

The older man nodded as he went about refilling her glass. After he left, she took a sip and began thinking about someone she had promised herself she would not think about: Linc.

Today he had sent her another gift, a small potted palm tree. The plant was gorgeous, and she’d found the perfect place in her house for it. The card that had accompanied the plant had said:

Raven released a deep sigh. The problem she was having was the fact that she
was
remembering, which was something she didn’t want to do. Ever since the plant had arrived she’d had memories of her and Linc’s picnic on the beach one afternoon.

During the day the beach had been crowded, but in the late afternoon you could usually find a secluded spot. They had found the perfect place under a cluster of palm trees. She remembered Linc spreading a blanket out on the sand. He’d then pulled her down on the blanket next to him. Opening the picnic basket the hotel had prepared for them, he had withdrawn grilled chicken sandwiches, chips, grapes, a bottle of wine, and two wineglasses. After filling both glasses, he had handed one to her and then raised his own. “Here’s to graduation in a few months, but more important, here’s to what has been a beautiful and special week,” he had murmured hoarsely.

“To graduation and to a beautiful and special week,” she had repeated, touching her glass to his, then sipping the wine.

Raven shook her head, bringing her thoughts back to the present, not at all happy that she’d had them in the past yet again. Thoughts and memories were intruding into her work time, and she couldn’t allow that to continue. No man had ever competed with her attention to her work assignments. And she was determined that Lincoln Corbain wouldn’t be the first.

She didn’t want to think about their nights together, the warmth and hard feel of his body as it lay atop hers, or the sounds she’d heard in the pitch-black of their hotel room: sounds of their heavy breathing, their moans, groans, and passionate cries. And she refused to think about their mornings and waking up to the brightness of his eyes that still glowed with wanting and inner fire.

Raven picked up her glass to take another sip of her wine. The tingling warmth of the liquid that flowed down her throat matched the tingling warmth that flowed through her limbs and pooled at her core whenever she remembered Linc making love to her.

For the first time in four years she suddenly felt unbearably hungry, but it wasn’t food that her body craved.

Sitting across the room at the crowded bar, Linc watched as Raven took another sip of her wine. His steady gaze watched as she lifted the glass to her lips, slightly tipped her head back, and arched her neck. Never before had observing a woman sipping her drink been sensuous enough to send involuntary tremors of arousal through him.

“Do you want a refill?” the bartender asked, intruding on Linc’s thoughts. Linc noticed the man wasn’t Flint and remembered that Flint only moonlighted a couple of nights of the week and Friday wasn’t one of them.

“No, thanks, this is it for me tonight.”

“You’re planning on sticking around, aren’t you?” the bartender asked.

Linc glanced over at the table where Raven was sitting alone. “Possibly. Why?”

“It’s Sixties and Seventies Night. There’s bound to be a lot of dancing going on.”

Linc nodded. A delicious thought drifted through his mind. It was one of him holding Raven in his arms while he danced with her to a very slow tune, with the heat of his body pressing against hers long enough for him to savor the contact.

“In that case I’ll definitely be sticking around.”

An upbeat selection of sixties and seventies music filled the club as one singing group after another took the stage. First it had been the Commodores, then the Delfonics, and now the Dells. A large number of people crowded the dance floor. Most of them were couples, and others were in groups. There were even a few bold singles dancing anything and everything from swing to the bump, to the whatever-you-want-to-call-it current style of dancing.

Raven smiled as her gaze took in the entire scene. People were really enjoying themselves, as was evident in the laughter and rousing conversations surrounding her. She looked across the room and her gaze came into contact with Linc’s. She had seen him earlier sitting at the bar, but other than lifting his glass in a silent greeting to her, he had kept his distance. In a way she was glad, but another part of her felt the least he could do was come over and say hello. Then she could thank him for the gifts he had sent and in a nice way ask him not to send her anything else.

She turned to the stage when the Dells came to the mike and the announcer said they were about to do one of their slow numbers. The dance floor crowd suddenly began thinning out when the groups and singles gave way to the couples.

“I want every man who has a special lady here tonight to use this opportunity to take her into your arms on the dance floor,” the announcer said, smiling. Raven watched as more couples began heading forward.

“Raven?”

At the sound of her name, Raven turned and saw Linc standing next to her table. Stunned, she looked at him and watched as he reached his hand out to her. “May I have this dance?”

She tilted her head up, considering his request, knowing she should say no and reinforce her stand that there could not be anything between them. But instead she nodded, placed her hand in his, and stood. He led her to the dance floor.

Raven knew she was a goner the moment he took her into his arms. When he placed his arms around her, she inhaled sharply as their bodies began swaying in time to the music.

“You look good tonight, Raven,” he whispered softly in her ear, tightening his hold on her.

“Thank you,” she replied in a voice so low she knew he probably had to strain to hear it. “And thanks for the gifts, Linc.”

“You’re welcome.”

“But you’re going to have to stop sending things for the sole purpose of recapturing memories of our time in Daytona.”

“No, I don’t,” he said.

He heard her release a long sigh before saying, “You weren’t this way before.”

He leaned back and met her gaze. “What way?”

“Aggressive.”

He smiled. “Thank you.”

She frowned. “It wasn’t meant to be a compliment, Linc.”

His smile turned into a chuckle. “Yeah, I know.”

Deciding to drop the subject for now, Raven pressed her cheek against his hard chest as they continued to dance to the slow music. She drew in a deep breath when he pulled her closer to his body and wrapped his arms around her more securely. Her body, so close to his, made her feel every hard part of him. Their movements were slow, charged, stimulating. By the time the last lyric had been sung and the last note played, a moan of pure want had arisen in her throat. She forced herself to swallow it.

“I have to go,” she said when he escorted her back to her table. Her voice was trembling.

“I’ll follow in my car to make sure you get in OK.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ve been going in after dark by myself for quite awhile,” she said sharply.

Slowly he smiled. “I’m sure you have, but I prefer doing it anyway.”

Raven frowned. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”

Linc’s arm closed around her shoulder as they walked out of Leo’s. He wished he could take her up on her offer to do whatever he wanted, because his body was aching and, more than anything, he wanted to make nonstop love to her tonight.

“Lincoln Corbain is going to be the death of me,” Raven said to herself in a low, deep growl of anguish as she looked in her rearview mirror to see the lights of the car following close behind her.

“The bottom line is,” she raged on to herself, “the man is
not
going to get next to me. I refuse to let him do that. I have plans and dreams that don’t include him. The sooner he realizes that, the better.”

Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “If the reason he’s following me is because he thinks he’s going to get another kiss off me like he did a few nights ago, well, he has another thought coming.”

Her heart pounded when she pulled into the driveway of her apartment complex. “I won’t let him kiss me; I won’t,” she chanted to herself as she parked her car and got out with her door key in her hand. She wasn’t surprised when he parked next to her and got out. But she was surprised when he said, “I’ll wait right here until you get in. Flip the light switch twice to let me know you’re inside and things are OK.”

Raven frowned.
He wasn’t going to try to talk his way inside her apartment? He wasn’t going to try to kiss her good night? Well, that was just fine with her. That’s what she wanted anyway, wasn’t it?

“Raven?”

She looked over at him. He was leaning against his car staring at her. “What?”

“Pleasant dreams.” His words came with that megawatt smile that could always cause extreme sensual heat to settle in the lower part of her body, like it was doing now.

She fumed as she walked to her door. Pleasant dreams? In order to dream, one had to sleep, and there was no way she was going to get any sleep tonight.

Glaring at him one last time, she unlocked her door and went inside. And as he had asked her to do, she flipped the light switch twice.

Raven had undressed, showered, and gotten settled in bed when the phone rang. She looked at the digital clock on the nightstand, then back at the phone, wondering if it was Linc. She then thought there was no way it could be him because, as far as she knew, he didn’t have her number. She picked up the phone.

“Hello.”

“Took you long enough.”

Raven smiled at her sister’s impatient voice. “I was wondering who would be calling me this late. How are things going, Falcon?”

“They’re going. You OK?”

Raven shifted her position in the bed to find a more comfortable spot. “Yeah, I’m OK. What about you?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Have you heard from Robin lately?”

Raven frowned. Actually, she hadn’t, at least not this week, and that was unusual. Robin was the one who made it her business to keep in touch on a rather frequent basis. “No, I haven’t. You?”

“She called and left a message on my answering machine a few nights ago saying she’s doing OK and to tell you she’s been busy but will call you this coming week. I guess she wants to get us to finalize the details for her birthday party.”

Raven smiled, shaking her head. Of the three of them, Robin was the one into birthday celebrations big time. “Yes, I suppose.”

“How are things at work?”

“They’re fine, and before you ask, he’s doing OK, Falcon.”

“I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb, Falcon. You’re too smart. Besides, being coy doesn’t become you.”

There was a long pause. “I miss him, Raven. It’s been a year tonight.”

Raven sighed upon hearing the pain and loneliness in her sister’s voice. She also had heard the occasional sniffing that indicated Falcon had been crying. “Yeah, I know. I thought about it this morning. It was the week before Robin’s birthday last year that John asked you to marry him.” She decided not to tell Falcon that John had not come into the office at all today. Chances were he had remembered, too, and the day had been just as miserable for him as it had been for Falcon.

“And I turned him down,” Falcon finished. “But I did the right thing. I know I did.”

“If you really believe that, then everything will eventually be all right, Falcon,” Raven said softly, not knowing what else to say.

“Of course it will be. I think I’ll have enough money saved in another year to get things started with the company I plan on opening.”

“Oh, Falcon, that’s wonderful.”

“I can’t wait.” There was another pause. “That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it, Raven? It’s about working hard and fulfilling our dreams. Everything else can wait. Nothing else is important.”

Raven sucked in a deep breath as she heard her sister’s words. She let it back out slowly. Leave it to Falcon to always remind her of what came first with them. “You’re right, Falcon,” she said softly. “Nothing else is important.”