“I’m impressed. How will the owners handle you doing an article on their establishment?”
Raven’s face lit up. “They don’t have a problem with it. I know two of the owners, Tyrone and Tyrell Hardcastle, personally. They’re identical twins. Tyrell dated Robin some years back when the two of them attended the Culinary Institute of America.”
“Who’s Leo?”
“Their father, who’s a retired army captain. They named the place after him.”
John nodded. “And you’re sure they don’t have a problem with you hanging around and using this place as the basis of your research?”
“No, in fact I’ve already cleared it with them. They know I will do a good job with the article. They also know that I—”
Raven stopped talking when she noticed John’s gaze shifting from her to an object over her shoulder. She was just about to turn around in her seat to see what had captured his attention when she heard the sound of the rich and painfully sexy voice.
“Hello, Raven.”
Raven drew in a quick breath. There was no need for her to turn around. It had been over four years, but she would know that voice anywhere. She still heard it from time to time even while she slept. Memories of that voice whispering seductive, inviting, and passionate words in her ears while his body stroked hers into a feverish pitch consumed her and made her feel all hot inside.
She forced herself to blink when Linc moved into her line of vision and stood next to their table. Her mouth opened to form a word of greeting, but nothing came out. She was too shocked, seeing him after all these years when wanting to see him again had once been an ache she couldn’t soothe. What they had shared that week had been too special to walk away from, but they had done so anyway.
“Linc,” she finally found her voice to say, in a whispered breath. “What are you doing here?”
Raven watched his lips curve into a sensuous smile and felt robbed of her breath yet again. His smile had been the reason she had wanted to get to know him up close and personal when they had first met. If there was such a thing as actually drooling over a man, then she’d drooled profusely the moment Lincoln Corbain had smiled at her that day on the beach in Daytona. He was such a good-looking man, with his towering height well over six feet, broad and muscular shoulders, medium-brown skin, and clean-shaven head. She had never considered a shaven head on a man sexy until she met Linc.
“I moved here last month to take a job with Brown, Gilmore, and Summers as one of their attorneys. And you?” Linc asked.
“I moved here a year ago and began working for Augustan Publishers.”
John Augustan took the opportunity to clear his throat, reminding Raven of his presence.
“I’m sorry, John; I’m just so surprised to see Linc. We haven’t seen each other in over four years.”
John’s lips curved into a smile. “I understand.”
Raven glanced quickly at John, thinking that perhaps somehow he really did understand. “John, I’d like you to meet Lincoln Corbain. Linc, this is John Augustan, my boss and good friend.”
John stood and offered Linc his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Would you like to join us?”
“No, I was about to leave. I just wanted to come by and say hello to Raven. We haven’t seen each other since college.”
John nodded, smiling, as he sat back down. “The two of you attended the same college?”
“No,” Linc replied, shifting his gaze from John’s face back to Raven’s. Heat touched her body just as though his gaze had touched her intimately. “We met during spring break one year in Daytona Beach.” He flashed Raven another smile. “And for some stupid reason, over the years we didn’t stay in touch.”
Raven released a low sigh. The reason they had decided not to stay in touch had not been a stupid one. They both had had goals in life that did not include a serious relationship with anyone. His dream had been to one day enter politics. Apparently they were both still hacking away at fulfilling their dreams.
“It was good seeing you again, Linc.” She reached out and offered her hand to him.
Linc was silent for a moment, thoughtful as he took her hand and held it a little longer than necessary before letting it go. His gaze roamed over her face before settling on her mouth.
Raven couldn’t help but remember the steamy, passionate kisses they’d shared and wondered if he was remembering those kisses as well. The contact of his hand when it had held hers, and her heart racing were causing extreme sensual heat to settle in the lower part of her body. There had been this hot, blazing chemistry between them from the very first. It was the kind of chemistry that had continuously burned between them that week they had been together. Even after four years he could still effortlessly ignite her flame.
“It was good seeing you again, too, Raven,” Linc finally said. Nodding to John, he turned and walked away.
Raven didn’t know whether she felt relief or disappointment that he had done so.
Two
“Raven? Are you OK?”
Raven nodded, refusing to look at John for fear he would know that she was not OK. She had almost forgotten to breathe when Linc looked at her that one last time before walking off. She momentarily closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath.
She reopened them, thinking, Incredible. Lincoln Corbain is still simply incredible. It should be against the law for any man to have this much of an effect on a woman.
“You sure you’re OK?”
John’s question reminded Raven of his presence. “Yes, I’m fine,” she replied. Her words were strained, unconvincing.
“Do you want to tell me about him?”
Raven looked up. John was smiling. “Come on. You can tell me. There was a time you and I were close to becoming a family.”
Raven couldn’t help but return John’s smile. She knew he was trying to get her to loosen up some. He’d evidently realized that seeing Linc had her all tied up in knots.
“Linc could have become to me what you became to Falcon,” Raven said bluntly.
Surprise widened John’s eyes at her comment. He leaned back in his chair as his eyes met hers intently. “Which was?”
Raven’s gaze was steady as she returned his stare. “The first man who made her think seriously about putting her heart before her career.”
John was quiet for a while, almost too quiet. Then he asked, “And to you, Falcon, and Robin that’s a bad thing, isn’t it?”
Although Raven knew he was trying to make light of the question, his voice was tinged with anger, hurt, and pain. He stared at her, sipped his drink, waiting on her response. She knew he had loved Falcon deeply and probably still did. She also knew that Falcon had fallen in love with him and still loved him, although she had turned down his marriage proposal.
“Yes, it’s a bad thing for us, and you know why we feel that way,” she said, finally answering him. “I’m sure Falcon explained everything when she said no to your proposal.”
John shook his head, not wanting to relive the memory of the night his heart had gotten ripped apart. Falcon, as well as her two sisters, staunchly believed that falling in love meant becoming dependent on that person. They believed getting serious with someone meant losing your identity and tossing aside your dreams. And nothing he had said could convince Falcon otherwise. Their mother had instilled it deep within their brains to always pursue their dreams and never become dependent on a man.
“I know you don’t understand, John,” Raven said, knowing the two of them had gone from being employer and employee to friends. “You don’t know how hard it was on Mama and on us. You don’t know the things we girls went without while growing up and the numerous jobs Mama worked to make ends meet. And all because she’d become dependent on a man and believed that he would take care of her. Mama tossed aside her dreams for my father and then he left her high and dry.”
“Every man isn’t like your old man, Raven.”
“No,” she said. “But I have no desire t
o fish out the ones that are and toss them back. When I do become involved in a serious relationship it will be only after I’ve fulfilled every dream I’ve ever had or ever thought about having. No man is going to rob me of my dreams.”
John took a deep breath and sighed. “And you think I would have done that to Falcon?”
Raven stared at him for a long time before replying. “It really doesn’t matter what I think, John. Evidently Falcon felt that you could have.”
He shook his head. “The three of your minds work alike. You know what they say about birds of a feather flocking together.”
An inkling of a smile played at the corners of Raven’s lips, but she didn’t comment on his teasing her about the sisters’ names.
“So what about Lincoln Corbain, Raven?”
Raven stared into John’s eyes. “What about him?”
“Do you see him as a threat to your dreams?”
Raven nodded. “He could be if I allow him to be.”
“But you won’t?”
“No, I won’t. You know what my goals are, John. I don’t have time for a serious involvement at this stage in my life.”
John smiled. “Then I’d have to say the man you just introduced me to may be your biggest challenge. He seems to be the type of guy who goes after what he wants with all intentions of getting it. And from the looks of things here tonight, he definitely wants you.”
As soon as she got home Raven undressed and went into the bathroom to take her shower. Moments later she turned off the shower and toweled dry. Reentering her bedroom, she began smoothing lotion over every part of her body, loving the scent of it as it was absorbed into her skin. After that was done, she slipped into her nightgown. As she placed the bottle of lotion back on her dresser, her gaze was drawn to the framed photographs sitting there.
The first one was a picture of her mother that had been taken a year before her death. Willow Anderson had worked two jobs to send her three daughters to college and had died of cancer a couple of months after Raven, the youngest, had completed her studies. Her mother’s struggles and determination to provide for her daughters without her ex-husband’s help had earned her her daughters’ undying love, inspiration, and respect. Willow had never asked David Anderson for anything; whether that decision had stemmed from pride or embarrassment Raven never knew. The only thing she did know was that her and her sisters’ dreams had become their mother’s main agenda. She had been determined to see to it that her daughters reached whatever level of success they aimed for. She never wanted them to find themselves in the position she had found herself in because of love.
Raven’s gaze moved to the next picture. It was one of her and her sisters taken together last Christmas with Santa. Raven smiled. Of course it had been Robin who had insisted on sitting on Santa’s lap. Raven shook her head at the memory. Robin and Falcon were more than just sisters to her. They were also her very best friends. Falcon was the oldest by two years and Robin next oldest by one. While growing up they had been one another’s playmates and confidantes. In a way they still were. Although they now lived in different cities, they made it a point to get together at least three or four times a year.
Deciding to read before going to bed, Raven walked over to the bookcase and pulled out a mystery novel. Going into her living room, she got comfortable by stretching out on her sofa. Then it happened. Memories she had been holding at bay began to race through her mind. She thought about the Florida sun, the Atlantic Ocean, the sands of Daytona Beach, and the ultra-fine body of Linc Corbain in a pair of sexy swimming trunks while he played volleyball with some of his frat brothers. After the game was over he had walked over to her, introduced himself, and invited her to take a stroll with him along the boardwalk.
They had spent the next two days getting to know each other. He had told her that he was from Memphis, Tennessee, and came from a family of attorneys. His parents as well as his siblings were practicing lawyers. She in turn had shared with him that her single mom in South Carolina had raised her and her two sisters.
After those first two days that she and Linc had spent together, she had spent the rest of the week with him in his room at the Hilton Dayton Beach Hotel. She had given him her virginity and he had given her a week of treasured memories.
Since the last time she had seen him, Linc’s features had matured and were even more handsome. He had looked so good tonight dressed in a pair of casual slacks and a sports jacket. She hadn’t noticed a ring on his finger, which probably meant he was still single.
She scowled to herself, disgusted that her thoughts would even go there. It should not have mattered to her if he was single or married.
But it did matter and she was not in the mood to try to convince herself otherwise. From the moment she had first laid eyes on Linc four years ago, everything about him had mattered. But she had been realistic enough to know that although their time together had been special, that week had meant the same thing for them that it had meant to the other thousands of students who had escaped to Daytona Beach. They were there to enjoy their break from school and to have a good time. No one had come to Daytona looking for any serious entanglements or lasting involvements. Nothing about that week was to be taken seriously. Her mind had understood that, although at times her heart had tried not to. It was only after she’d returned to school and gotten refocused that she remembered that no matter what, the career she wanted would always come first in her life.
She dated occasionally, but she had not yet met a man whom she allowed herself to get serious about. When a man became too demanding of her time, she’d had no qualms about cutting him loose and asking him to move on.
Leaning back against the sofa, she closed her eyes as she remembered other things about Linc tonight. His lips were fuller. Her gaze had been glued to them all the while he had been talking. Those lips had taught her how to kiss—really kiss. She could still, even now, recall every earth-shattering moment of their first kiss.
She had also noticed that his shoulders beneath his jacket seemed wider, stronger. She remembered holding tight on to those shoulders while he carried her piggyback across a stretch of beach to keep sand from getting into her sandals. Then there was the memory of the feel of her hands clutching those shoulders while he’d been on top of her, making love to her; sensuously stroking his body inside her, taking her over the edge of mindless passion and fulfillment; imprinting himself in her mind and a part of her heart forever. During that week she had spent with Linc, she had experienced the wonders she’d only heard were possible.
For months following their time together, her body had throbbed endlessly for his, craving the pleasures he had given her, remembering the sensations of sharing herself with him. To combat those feelings she had thrown herself full force into her first job after college as a reporter for a newspaper in Boston. But still, it had taken her awhile to get over the hunger for his touch.
Raven opened her eyes, no longer wanting to dwell on those thoughts. She didn’t want her body to long for his touch like that again. And there was no way she could get involved with Linc again without the possibility of that happening. A hot and heavy involvement with him would be too easy to get into and would be hard as nails to get out of.
He would become to her like John had become to Falcon. A man she wanted but could not have; a man she could fall in love with; a man who could make her rethink her position on not putting her heart before her career. He was not one she could easily cut loose and ask to move on.
And those were things she could never risk happening.
Linc walked out onto the balcony off his bedroom and breathed a deep frustrated breath. His jaw tightened as the memory of Raven and John Augustan consumed his mind.
She had introduced him as her boss and her friend. They seemed comfortable with each other, and Linc couldn’t help wondering if perhaps something was going on between them, although the man didn’t seem the least bit territorial.
Why are you trippin�
�, man? an inner voice asked Linc. You don’t have any claims on her. It’s been over four years and you didn’t have any claims on her even back then, so chill. She can mess around with anyone she wants to. After all, she’s not yours.
Linc shook his head, refusing to accept what his mind was telling him. She was his. She was his in a way he had never considered before. During that week in Daytona he had made her his in the most elemental way, and in every sense. Somehow more than their bodies had gotten connected. He’d known it then but had walked away, not realizing its significance until he’d seen her again tonight.
From the moment he and Raven had met, he had known there was something different about her. When she had walked around on the beach, she seemed unaware that most of the guys she passed by stared at her with open mouths. She’d been the first woman he had met that week in Daytona who had not been totally absorbed in the knowledge of her appeal and allurement. That noticeable quality had stood her apart from all the other sistahs on the beach that day. It was obvious that she felt confident about herself and hadn’t felt the need to prove anything to anyone by putting herself on display or by doing anything to draw deliberate attention to herself. That was what he had admired most about her and what had caught his interest. There had been something so open, unselfish, and unpretentious about her. She had embraced life to the fullest, and that week, while around her, so had he.
Walking back into his bedroom, Linc paced the floor a few times before making a couple of decisions. One, he was determined to find out exactly what the real deal was between Raven and Augustan. And two, no matter what that situation was, he intended to make his interest known. He had long ago accepted that that week in Daytona had meant a lot to him.
After seeing her again, there was no doubt in his mind that something was still there between them, something unfinished. The Lincoln Corbain she had seen tonight was more matured in his thinking, a lot surer about the things he wanted, and after recently turning thirty-one, he was wiser. And he had no intentions of letting Raven Anderson walk out of his life a second time.
Some Like It Hot Page 2
