“So, what’s next?”
That was another thing that had drawn him to Summer, her interest in his job. She would ask questions and seemed to understand his excitement about it as well as his frustrations. He would enjoy getting off work at the end of his shift and dropping by her place to tell her how his day had gone.
“I’ll continue to conduct an investigation over at the refinery while working on the security and the accounting systems here. Since the TCC wants me to personally handle both, I’ve delegated my other projects.”
There, he’d just told her his plans which meant, whether she liked it or not, he would be hanging around for a while. He wondered if she had assumed he would be moving on and assigning the shelter job to someone else, but he couldn’t read her expression.
“Well, I’ll let you get back to work. I’ll see you at noon.”
He watched as her brow lifted. “Noon?”
He smiled. “Yes. We’re doing lunch.”
She stared at him. “Are we?”
“Sure we are, and I’ll even let you twist my arm into getting one of those salads you seem to like so much.”
There was a pause, and Darius sensed she was trying to determine whether it was worth the effort to start an argument with him. When she began speaking, she spoke her words slowly as if to make sure they were understood. “I don’t want you to assume we’re going to lunch together every day, Darius.”
“Don’t you like my company?”
She hesitated, and he watched her nervously lick her top lip with her tongue before she answered. “Whether I like your company or not has nothing to do with it. We have issues we haven’t yet resolved.”
They had issues yet to be resolved? She made it sound like she had been the injured party and not the other way around. He hadn’t been the one to skip town with a man old enough to be her father who could buy her all the things Darius couldn’t afford on his detective salary. They would resolve things all right, but his way. Pretty soon she would see how it felt to have someone you assumed loved you turn around and leave you high and dry with a broken heart.
“Some things can’t be resolved and are better left alone,” he said. “And in our case, maybe that’s the way things should be, Summer. What happened between us was seven years ago. People change and they grow to regret things they did when they were young and foolish.”
Darius maintained eye contact with her, assuming she was thinking about what he’d said. He made it sound as if he was giving her a chance to redeem herself, and that he was willing to forgive her for what she had done. Little did she know how far from the truth that was.
“Maybe you have the right idea,” she finally said. “It was seven years ago and we’ve grown a lot since then.”
“I’d like to believe we have.” Deciding he didn’t want to discuss it any further, he asked, “So, do we have another date for lunch?”
She hesitated and then said, “Yes, we do.”
* * *
After Darius walked out of her office, Summer couldn’t help wondering if she was making a mistake by agreeing to put the past behind them. He evidently found it easy to do so, but he hadn’t been the one to get his heart broken. But then, on the other hand, she couldn’t discount the fact that Darius had saved her life. And then another part of her wondered if perhaps she had put more stock in their affair, and had expected more from the relationship than he had.
She had gone a long time without getting involved with a man and she wasn’t so sure if she could handle Darius—she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to. She had gotten used to being by herself. Why was he determined to invade her space?
The only thing she was certain about was the way he made her feel whenever he touched her. To be honest, he didn’t even have to touch her to make her hormones react. He could stand five feet away and she had the ability to feel how the tension in the air surrounding them seemed to vibrate, emitting all sorts of sensuous stirrings and longings. He had been in her office less than fifteen minutes and already her vital signs were at their highest peak.
But she was no longer concerned by the staggering degree of physical chemistry flowing between them. It had always been there, from the first. What she was concerned about was how easily she wanted to forgive him and believe that what Darius had said was true. Seven years ago, they had been different people with different values, at a different place in their lives. People change. And they come to regret decisions and actions of their past. Decisions and actions that they can’t change.
She knew some men didn’t like confrontation and Darius was probably of the mind that even if they hashed the issues out, it would not change anything. But still, was it too much to expect an apology for sharing something private and personal with his partner? Couldn’t he see that doing so had degraded what they’d shared?
Even now she could vividly recall that day, after she and Darius had spent the night together. He had left her bed that morning seemingly in a good mood, making plans for them to spend the day together. But first he had to go home to get a change of clothes and stop by police headquarters to complete some paperwork, and she had to work a few hours at the restaurant where she was a part-time waitress.
When she’d returned home, she had waited for Darius. When hours passed, she had gotten worried. That evening, Walt had appeared on her doorstep with a message from Darius saying he’d had to leave town unexpectedly on police business. After delivering that message, Walt had asked if he could talk to her privately. That is when he’d told her how Darius had come to the station that day and bragged about finally sleeping with her. He had made a bet with Walt that it would take less than a month to share her bed. Discovering their one night together hadn’t been anything more than a chance for him to win a bet had hurt her deeply. And then to know he’d gone back and told his friend had been another crushing blow.
While listening to Walt level with her about what Darius had done, she had barely been able to maintain her composure. Only after Walt had left did she break down and let it all out. She knew she had to leave Houston immediately and did not want to see Darius again, ever. It had been bad enough with Tyrone, but the hurt Darius had inflicted was even worse because in just a short time, she had fallen in love with him.
She had been too ashamed to call her aunt to tell her what had happened, so in the days that followed, she’d made some quick decisions. One of her regular customers at the restaurant, an author of academic books named Jack Lindsey, would be spending a year in Florida with his wife while he penned his next book. Jack had offered her the chance to accompany them as his assistant, to organize and edit all of his notes. He had made the offer before, but she had turned him down because of Tyrone’s threats regarding what he would do if she ever left town. But with no future for her in Houston, she had quickly packed up and left town with the Lindseys.
The Lindseys had been wonderful and she had enjoyed the year she had spent with them on their beach property in Miami. She had buried herself in her work, determined to put Darius out of her mind and go about healing her heart. When she hadn’t heard from him in over two weeks, that had only verified everything Walt had said. Their night together had been a conquest for him and nothing more.
Since both Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey were former teachers, they had encouraged Summer to pursue a college degree, and Mrs. Lindsey had even tutored her on those subjects Summer had felt would hold her back from getting accepted to any college. Using the money she’d made working for the Lindseys, along with a very nice bonus they had given her at the end of the year, she had remained in Miami to attend college there. She had poured all her time and energy into her classes, determined to reach every goal she had established for herself and refusing to wallow in the hurt and pain Darius had caused her.
Summer got up from her desk and looked out the window, not sure how she would handle the one man she thought she would never see
again.
What she was up against now was how he could make her feel. Whenever she was around him, he was capable of bringing out feelings and desires that she wished would stay buried. In seven years, no man had made her remember how it felt to be a woman. A desired woman. It was something Darius could do so effortlessly.
When he met her gaze, she could see the desire in his eyes, and on most occasions he wasn’t trying to mask it. It was as if he knew exactly what he was doing to her, what buttons to push, what words to say.
She had thought about him a lot over the weekend, wondering how and what he was doing. And, she thought as she bit her lower lip, with whom. She wished she could claim she didn’t care, but she did. She couldn’t help but notice how ladies would glance their way whenever they walked into the café together. There was feminine interest in their eyes and she couldn’t very well blame them for it. After all, she was a woman, too.
She sighed deeply before checking her watch. It was time to make her rounds and greet everyone. She would keep herself busy until lunchtime.
* * *
Darius stared long and hard at the computer screen, thinking he must have missed something while setting up the billing system. He needed to go back and recheck. Or better yet, he thought, leaning back in the chair and rubbing the bridge of his nose, it would probably be a good idea if he kept his mind on what he was doing and stopped thinking about Summer. Having her on his mind was probably the reason he’d thought he’d found a number of irregularities in the TCC’s accounting.
Deciding to give both his eyes and his mind a break, he pushed away from the desk and stood, needing to stretch his body. He had been sitting at the computer practically all morning and the limited space under the desk had been murder on his long legs.
He glanced at his watch. He had another hour to go before lunch and he couldn’t deny he was looking forward to dining with Summer again. He tried convincing himself that spending time with her meant absolutely nothing, and was just a part of his plan for revenge. There was no reason to think it was anything more than that.
He breathed in deeply, truly wishing he believed that. But he knew if he wasn’t careful, he would be succumbing to Summer’s charms all over again. And he didn’t want that. He had given his heart to her once and what she’d done had almost destroyed him, made him unable to put his complete trust in another woman.
He had asked her how her meeting with Kev had gone, but he’d already been privy to that information. To say she had impressed Kev was an understatement. Besides stating the obvious about what a good-looking woman she was, Kev had been taken with her keen sense of intelligence as well as her concern for the women who sought refuge at the shelter. Kev also felt she had a lot of good ideas that the TCC should definitely take under consideration.
Sitting back down at the computer, he resumed setting up the Helping Hands account, trying to push thoughts of Summer to the back of his mind. However, once again a few discrepancies within TCC’s accounting system popped up.
He pulled back when his cell phone went off. It was Lance. “Yeah, Lance, what’s up?”
“Kate’s fixing dinner tonight and wants you to come eat with us.”
Darius smiled. He liked Kate and would be the first to say she was just what Lance needed. “I’d love to.”
“Great. I’ll let her know.”
“Lance?”
“Yeah?”
Darius paused, not sure if he should mention anything about the discrepancies he’d found in TCC’s accounting. Huntington and his band of tightwads managed the accounting for the club—namely the money they got from fundraisers and endowments. And everybody knew his group kept a tight squeeze on TCC’s money supply. If there was anything wrong with the club’s funds, they would know it. But still...
“Darius? What is it?”
Darius breathed in deeply. “Nothing,” he finally said, deciding not to jump to any conclusions about the discrepancies until he’d had a chance to look at them more carefully.
“How are things going with you and Summer Martindale?”
Darius frowned. “You talk as if we’re a couple.”
“Aren’t you?” Lance countered.
“Not yet.”
There must have been something in his voice that gave him away.
“I don’t know what your plans are regarding her, Darius, but be careful. They can backfire on you. If you’re going to pursue her, then you need to forget about what happened seven years ago and move on.”
Darius didn’t say anything for a moment and then admitted, “I can’t.”
“You should try, man. When the shit blows up in your face, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
* * *
“Today I came prepared,” Darius said, glancing down at his feet.
Summer followed his gaze and noted he had removed his boots and was now wearing a pair of leather loafers. That meant he had come to the shelter today prepared to walk over to the café, and had assumed she would have lunch with him. She wasn’t sure whether she liked the fact that he’d known she would give in.
She returned her gaze to his face. “So I see. You’re ready?”
“I’m always ready, Summer.”
She had absolute confidence in the truth of that statement. “Excuse me for a second. I need to let Marcy know I’m leaving.”
She walked over to Marcy’s desk. Marcy was in her late fifties and was someone Summer had become close to since working at the shelter. “I’m going to lunch now, Marcy.”
Marcy smiled. “Okay. Did you ever get that dripping faucet at your house fixed?”
Summer shook her head. “Not yet, but I better do so soon, since it’s keeping me from getting a good night’s sleep.” She then turned to rejoin Darius and together they left the building to walk over to the café for lunch. Her morning had been busy and she needed time away from the shelter. She always enjoyed her lunch, at least whenever she could make time for it.
It was a beautiful day and for some reason, Summer couldn’t push aside the pleasurable sensations she was feeling with Darius beside her. She felt lucky today. She had counseled two women that morning and after listening to their stories, a part of her felt blessed that she had cut her ties with Tyrone when she had, otherwise she could have been one of them. And although Tyrone had caused unnecessary drama that had landed him behind bars for twenty years, she was free to make choices about her life. Now it was her job to convince those two women they could make choices about their lives, as well.
“So, how has your day been so far?” Darius asked.
She began sharing bits and pieces of how busy she’d been as they continued their walk to the café. Although his legs were a lot longer than hers, he adjusted his steps to keep in line with hers. More than once, while sharing her ideas about a number of things she would like to see happen at the shelter, she would glance up and see how absorbed he was in what she was saying. They were ideas she hadn’t shared with Kevin Novak for not wanting to overwhelm the man since everything she had in mind included a hefty price tag. But they were expenditures she felt would greatly benefit the women who sought refuge at the shelter.
Then, while it was on her mind, she asked about his brother, something she should have done long before now since she knew how close the two of them were. Like her, he had lost his parents at an early age, and he and his brother had been raised by their grandmother.
“Ethan is doing fine now.”
She opened her mouth to ask what he meant by that when suddenly a warm, masculine arm snaked around her waist to stop her from stepping in a rut in the cement sidewalk. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said, releasing her.
Summer tried to ignore the sensations that raced through her veins at his touch. When they reached the café and he opened the door, she quickly moved past him, wondering how she was go
ing to get through her meal.
* * *
Kate Thornton Brody smiled up at Darius. “You need a woman in your life,” she said.
Darius lifted a brow, wondering where that had come from. He glanced across the living room and shot Lance a questioning look, but all his friend did was smile and shrug his shoulders. Damn, he hadn’t been in the house five minutes and already Kate was on him about being single.
Seeing that Lance wouldn’t be giving him much help, Darius reached out and placed a friendly arm around Kate’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, you know I prefer being single.”
She gave him one of her sidelong looks that said she’d taken what he’d said with a grain of salt. “So did Lance at one time.”
“But now he has you and he’s a lucky man,” Darius said truthfully. He had known Kate ever since she began working for Lance as his very competent administrative assistant when he took over Brody Oil and Gas a few years back, and had always liked her.
“What’s for dinner? I’m starving,” he quickly said, before Kate could make another comment about the state of his affairs or lack of them.
“Didn’t you eat lunch?” Lance asked, finally moving off the sofa.
Lance’s question reminded him of Summer...not that he could forget. He hated admitting that whenever he had lunch with her, it was a pleasant experience. She was a great conversationalist. Always had been. And today she’d seemed more relaxed with him, more at ease. And as usual, she had looked beautiful sitting across from him.
“Yes, I had lunch,” he finally said. “A salad.”
Humor lit Lance’s eyes. “A salad? What kind of foolishness is that?”
“Don’t let Lance tease you, Darius. There’s nothing wrong with eating a salad,” Kate said, walking back toward the kitchen.
One More Night Page 8
