Whole Latte Love (The Jewells)

by Ayala, Rachelle

  “It will be when your rocker boy finds out you helped her get out of a pre-nup. Jewell Capital stands to make a ton on the C&T acquisition and if Rebecca can inflate the valuation, she’ll make out like a bandit.”

  What was he trying to do? Get her implicated on an insider trading scheme? It was too bad the train entered the cross bay tunnel with no stops for miles. “Can we not talk for the rest of the ride? I’m exhausted.”

  “Fine. I just feel bad for you putting in all these hours for nothing. Wanna know why I left Mogul?”

  Not really, but he’d tell her anyway.

  “So I can be long gone before the SEC investigates Rebecca.” He spread his legs and impinged into her space further. “Besides, my dad’s having me run his hedge fund now.”

  “Good for you.” Carina crossed her arms and scrunched herself against the window. If only she could get rid of him.

  Rob put his arm around her shoulder. “Yes, and it can be good for you too. I can recommend you for a job if you’ll go out with me.”

  Nothing like being direct. Oh well, might as well burn this bridge now.

  “Take your hand off me.” She squirmed from his embrace. “Dylan and I are real close.”

  “If you really cared about Dylan, you’d make sure Rebecca doesn’t become his stepmother. She’s poison. The special project she has you doing proves it.”

  “How do you know about it?” Something about Rob’s smug tone alerted her.

  “I have eyes and ears.”

  “You mean you planted a bug?”

  “Or maybe I have friends.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Friends in high places.”

  This couldn’t be good for Mogul. She’d drop an anonymous note with security to check for electronic eavesdropping devices. She half-listened to him namedrop and brag about his father’s fund and the places he’d traveled to to investigate companies. Time seemed to drag in the endless trans bay tunnel.

  Time to pry him for some information. “What do you have against Rebecca anyway? I thought you liked working for her.”

  “About as much as Nigel liked working for Miranda Priestley in The Devil Wears Prada.”

  Carina huffed. “And I’m the Anne Hathaway character. Really, Rob, what did Rebecca do to you? Spill.”

  He leaned in, his breath washing her with disgust. “I’ll tell you after you become my partner. Why don’t you try a long straddle with me?”

  Ugh. Dweebiest hedge fund manager pickup line in history. Carina stood as the train lurched to the first trans bay station, 12th Street/Oakland City Center, not the best neighborhood.

  “I’m more of a short strangle type of girl.” Carina squeezed her way to the aisle. “I’m betting on little near term volatility. Bye.”

  As she predicted, Rob was not man enough to follow her off the stop into one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the Bay Area. Time to hail a cab and expense it to Mogul as war duty pay.

  Chapter 22

  Carina stood in front of a vegetable stand at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market. It was a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon, and Sheila had convinced her to scout around for organic food to eat healthier. If wilting lettuce and small gnats flying in her face were any indication of hygiene, she’d stick to the supermarket salad greens which came prewashed and wrapped in plastic.

  “Guess who?” A pair of hands clapped over Carina’s eyes.

  She gasped. “Dylan. What are you doing?”

  “Did I surprise you?” Dylan took his hands off her eyes. He swept her windblown hair from her face and drew her into a wet, slippery kiss.

  Carina’s toes tingled and her head swirled. Heat flashed her entire body along with a shot of adrenaline. This could be dangerous. All week, he’d been showering her with attention, sending her email, flowers, and candy. After work, they’d talk on the phone until she fell asleep. He wanted to know everything about her—her hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

  Kissing her urgently, he dipped her backwards so that she kicked up one leg for balance. His skillful lips caressed hers, tender yet hard, hungry, aggressive. A moan growled from his throat, and Carina surrendered to the incredible sensations.

  No one had ever kissed her like this before, liquefying her on the spot and tossing her inhibitions to the clouds—especially in public, surrounded by commenting bystanders.

  “That’s so sweet.”

  “Hey, it’s Dylan Jewell of The Licked Blues.”

  “Ah … She’s so lucky.”

  “He’s licking her blues away, all right.”

  “Who is she? His girlfriend?”

  A niggling worm of pride edged into her chest. All these colorful Californian girls were envious of her. How had that happened?

  “Show’s over, show’s over,” Sheila said as Dylan released the lip lock and sidestepped through the crowd. “If you kids are okay, I’m going to hop over the Bay and have dinner with a friend.”

  “Sure, we’re good,” Dylan said.

  “Have fun, buddy.” Sheila tiptoed and gave Dylan a kiss on the cheek before waving goodbye.

  “Want to take a walk through the campus?” Dylan pulled Carina toward an intersection.

  “Sure, I’d love to.” She took a deep breath. The air smelled so sweet and the sunshine warmed her delightfully. Having a hot, sexy man kiss you off your feet was an added bonus.

  “Did you miss me?” Dylan nudged her.

  “We’ve been emailing all week.”

  “Yeah, but I’d rather get physical. We’ve practically written our autobiographies.”

  “You know all my secrets.” A chill rolled over Carina. All her secrets except one. What would he do if he found out she’d been in cahoots with Rebecca to turn him into a financial whiz?

  He wiggled his eyebrows and flashed a suggestive smile. “Not all secrets can be discovered with words.”

  Heat flushed Carina’s chest and radiated to her cheeks. She batted her eyelashes and licked her lips, then let her focused stare rove down to his crotch. If she ever got intimate with Dylan, she’d never tell Rebecca. It would be too precious, too private to share.

  Dylan cleared his throat and tugged her hand. “I want to show you something.”

  They walked past large buildings through a plaza lined with broad leafed trees. A large tower loomed above them. Music chimed from the bells at the top of the clock tower, vibrating through the courtyard and beyond.

  “Let’s go up while they’re playing.” Dylan pointed at the bells. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

  “Not at all, only afraid of falling.” Carina could barely contain her excitement. The view up there would be fantastic, especially this close to evening.

  After paying the fee, they entered an elevator which took them part way up, then walked up a flight of stairs to get to the pavilion.

  Bells of all sizes were arrayed up above, the tiny ones in the center and large ones at the edges. Each bell had a clapper connected by a chain to the intricate set of gears and pulleys operated by the lone carillon player who pressed levers inside a glass booth.

  The music moved with a leisurely cadence, hitting a series of high notes alternating with mid range notes, the sound filling the rest intervals. Carina hugged Dylan and rested her ear against his chest. The campus lay below them, full of red tiled roofs, with the city of Berkeley stretching westward. The silver streak of the Bay Bridge rose from the freeway and arched like a dragon’s back toward the island leading to San Francisco.

  “Look way out there.” Dylan pointed to the right. “The Golden Gate Bridge.”

  “It’s beautiful.” The two towers and suspension ties swept gracefully beyond a light dusting of mist beneath the blue skies.

  “I’m glad I brought you here.” Dylan kissed Carina’s hand. “Because I want to tell you how special you are to me.”

  An electric sizzle traveled up her arm and ignited her pulse. Dylan’s ocean-blue eyes held her enthralled. She’d give anything to hold that gaze and the sweet, big-hearte
d man behind it forever.

  He dropped to his knees. “It’s not easy to say what comes from my heart. But when I’m with you, all I know is you, all I feel is you, and all I want is you.”

  Wow, seriously? He couldn’t possibly be proposing. They hadn’t gotten to that stage yet. But would it be so bad if he were?

  He took her hand, rubbing it. “The first time I met you, a bell rang deep inside me. And even though I teased, joked, and made fun of you, I couldn’t keep myself from touching you and wanting your attention. You became my focus, the pole that my compass pointed to. Everything I did after meeting you was to get you to notice me, maybe even like me, and want to be around me.”

  He paused as if expecting a response. Carina’s knees weakened and she wet her lips. He was so eloquent as a songwriter, but his words rang true, laden with emotion. This could be it. The big question.

  Above her, the bells careened more frantically as each clang clashed with the one before. Carina was tossed on a sea of indecision. She loved being with Dylan. Whether he was career oriented or not, he made her happy, feel desired and appreciated. But could she accept, knowing how unsettled his life was?

  It was easier to kiss than talk. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his. A deep, resounding bong vibrated through both of their bodies, joining them as the bells pealed.

  When she surfaced for air, he stroked her face. “What are you thinking right now?”

  That I’m totally head over heels in love with you, but I can’t let you know because you’ll laugh and tickle and tease me and call me a little girl with a crush on her big teddy bear and forget about me when you’re a big rock star riding the big Kahuna wave of fame.

  He nudged her with his lips and tugged at her earlobe. “Tell me before I ask you.”

  Ask me what? She’d be stupid to assume he wanted a permanent commitment. Maybe this was just a prelude to sex.

  Panic seized her tongue and she cleared her throat. “We only have three more weeks. I’m going back to school and you’re going on your tour.”

  He frowned and shook his head. “I haven’t signed yet.”

  “But you want to, and you should.”

  Rebecca would go ballistic if she heard Carina recommend the opposite of what she was supposed to. But how could she tell Dylan to work for his father when his heart was with his music and his acts of charity?

  “Would you miss me?” he asked.

  “I’d miss you whether you were here working at The Brewed Force or touring.”

  “Fortunately, we still have time.” He took the hippie heart pendant from his pocket, and his eyes sparkled earnestly. “Pretend the world ends in three weeks. Let’s not think about the future or the past. We’ll have the best three weeks of our lives together.”

  Carina’s heart flew into a frenzy. “What are you asking?”

  “To be the man who makes your heart sing.” His voice caressed her like waves slipping over the beach. “To be yours, right here and now, whether we have three minutes, three weeks, or forever.”

  The bells chimed the hour, enveloping them in a sphere of sound. Each toll shook Carina’s insides, dissolving her doubts in a clamor of bangs.

  “I want you to be my girl.” Dylan’s breath whispered once the bells stopped tolling.

  Trembling to the core, she nodded as he slipped the pendant around her neck.

  Yes, Dylan Jewell. Yes, I’ll take what I can get because for once in my life, I want to live a dream. With you.

  ~ ~ ~

  The wind whipped across the dry fields of Cesar Chavez Park, making it a perfect day for the annual Berkeley Kite Festival. Carina huddled in her windbreaker. A summer day in Philadelphia would have meant high heat and humidity, with the chance of a thunderstorm. Definitely not kite-flying weather.

  Two weeks had passed since Dylan had asked her to be his girl. She’d met him every morning at The Brewed Force before going to work and spoke on the phone with him until late into the night afterwards. If only she had more time, but the hours she was required to put in were impossible.

  Carina gave herself a contented sigh. Today was her twenty-first birthday and nothing was better than being Dylan’s girlfriend and sitting in a camp chair directly in front of the stage where he and his band were performing. He was intimately aware of her presence and every song was directed at her, his gaze resting on her as if she were the only member of the audience.

  People lay on beach towels or had set up camp with tents over the surrounding hillside. A group of Dylan’s friends from People’s Park had staked a claim on a hill overlooking the petting zoo. Above them, large, colorful kites fluttered in the sky: stacks of dazzling octopus kites with long, dangling tentacles, a giant black and white puppy, a pink kitty cat, a gray shark, and tropical fishes of every stripe.

  Rebecca hadn’t been pleased that Carina had made no progress with Dylan, as if becoming his girlfriend didn’t count. She’d complained, Every day he’s getting closer to signing the tour contract. What the hell am I going to tell his father?

  Carina had retorted, If he can’t get his son to kowtow, how am I supposed to pull it off?

  I want to be married before the end of summer and that means Dylan needs to be set on the right track.

  Well, at least Dylan got a haircut and a shave. Not that she’d asked him to, but Carina had to claim some credit.

  There had been no further point arguing with Rebecca. Why would she marry a man who cared more about his son’s career than about her? In any case, Rebecca had let Carina have her birthday off to spend it with Dylan, which was why she was enjoying herself at the festival rather than going blind in front of a spreadsheet.

  The announcer on the grandstand took the mic from Dylan and pointed to the open area behind the stage. “Now, for our team flying event, synchronized kite flying at its best. Crank it up!”

  Dylan’s bandmates struck up a rollicking old time rock instrumental while Dylan put his guitar away and took a drink of water. He winked at Carina and jumped off the stage.

  “Break time. Let’s watch them.” Dylan pulled Carina from her chair, and pointed to a line of kite flyers standing at the far end of the field. Giant bat-like kites shaped like two joined triangles lifted off and flew in formation. They chased each other in a single line, then hovered in the air before dropping into a completed circle. The circle exploded and contracted several times before snaking into formation and buzzing like a line of fighter jets.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this.” Carina flipped her cell phone out and turned on the video recorder.

  “Woof!” A large dog bumped into her, his tail whacking her leg. He dropped a Frisbee at Dylan’s feet.

  A boy and girl ran after the dog, followed by two women, one carrying a baby and the other visibly pregnant.

  Dylan picked up the Frisbee and tossed it high and far. The dog scrambled after it.

  Carina kept her cell phone trained on the kites which had formed a square with each alternating row scooting one way and then the other.

  “Dylan,” the pregnant woman said, “you haven’t called me about the apartment. If possible, I’d like to move in early.”

  Hair rose on the back of Carina’s scalp. A pregnant woman was moving in with him? Did he know her from before or was he giving up his apartment for good? Which meant he was on the verge of signing?

  She swallowed acid. As close as she’d been to Dylan the past two weeks, the one area he refused to talk to her about was his career. He’d practice with the band, laugh and joke about them, but if she asked him about the tour, he’d kiss her and tell her not to worry. They’d enjoy the time they had together whether it was three minutes or three weeks. Funny how he’d dropped the “forever” clause.

  The other woman, a tall brown-haired beauty, handed her baby to Dylan and gave him a smooch on the cheek. Dylan rubbed his nose on the baby’s tummy, seemingly enthralled with the little bundle. She knew him well enough to let him hold her baby?

&nb
sp; Suddenly the kite acrobatics were no longer spectacular, and when the dog returned, it barked and jumped for attention.

  Ugh. The video was ruined again. Carina slipped her phone into the pocket of her windbreaker. This was supposed to be the best time of her life—being Dylan’s girlfriend, having him cater to her, treat her like a princess—if only she had more alone time with him and no ticking time bomb of the tour looming.

  “Hey, it’s Dylan Jewell,” a female voice shouted behind her. “Let’s get some pictures with him.”

  Carina wandered back to her chair and slumped into it.

  Happy birthday to me.

  ~ ~ ~

  Dylan’s facial muscles were permanently frozen into a smile. He had spots in his eyes from the pictures with the fans and his fingers ached from signing autographs.

  Fortunately, the announcer distracted the crowd by holding the raffle for a rainbow-colored octopus kite.

  His cousin Dave handed him a pair of sunglasses and a Shopahol hat. “Where’s that girlfriend of yours? Your father says she’s a real financial whiz.”

  Dylan’s scalp prickled. How would his father know about her? Dave’s two kids tugged at his shirt, clamoring to know if they’d won the kite.

  “She’s over there.” Dylan pointed to where Carina sat, raptly watching the raffle ticket drawing.

  “I want to get her take on the Crowns and Thrones deal,” Dave said. “The valuations don’t look quite right with the market conditions and demographics of the current game offerings.”

  Even more shocking. Dylan hadn’t even known what deals Carina was working on. Who could be leaking this to his cousin?

  Dylan and Dave walked toward Carina.

  “Hey, sweetie,” Dylan said. “I’d like you to meet my cousin Dave.”

  Carina’s eyes grew round and she glanced at Dylan and then back at his cousin. “Mr. Jewell, nice to meet you.”

  Interesting, she knows he’s the big shot of Silicon Valley.

  Dave shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Miss Chen. I’ve heard lots of good things about you.”

  “You have? Er … Thank you.” Her breath caught and she seemed thunderstruck with awe.