by Tina Martin
REGAL
A St. Claire Novel
Tina Martin
Copyright @ 2018 Tina Martin
REGAL
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Regal (A St. Claire Novel) – Synopsis
His eyes would always follow her signature strut in a pair of tall heels. He always had something witty to say with her because he just HAD to say something. But the small talk was no longer cutting it. He wanted to know the real Felicity James.
Regal St. Claire isn’t single because someone broke his heart. He never desired marriage because he didn’t think it fit him. He was okay with being himself and not tied down to a woman. But when he met Felicity, he knew he wouldn’t mind being forever joined to a woman like her. She’s feisty. Smart. She’s the kind of woman who could keep in on his toes. The only problem is, she can’t stand him.
Felicity has been going out of her way to avoid Regal, but she can’t avoid him when he comes into her place of business, Wedded Bliss, Inc., ready to sign up to her matchmaking service. He figured the best way to get to know the woman of his dreams is to pose like he’s searching for someone else. All the while, he’s learning her mannerisms and hoping that she’ll see that she’s really the woman he wants.
* * *
About the St. Claire Series…
Royal (Book 1) is a standalone novel that tells the story of Royal St. Claire and Gemma Jacobsen.
Ramsey (Book 2) is a standalone novel that gives an update on Ramsey St. Claire and Gianna. [To read how these two initially met, check out The Boardwalk Bakery Romance Series consisting of Baked With Love, Baked With Love 2 and Baked With Love 3.]
Romulus (Book 3) is a standalone novel that tells the friends-to-lovers story of Romulus St. Claire and Siderra Monroe.
Regal (Book 4) is a standalone novel that tells the story of Regal St. Claire and Felicity James.
~ . ~
Sometimes the best relationships
are the ones you don’t see coming.
~ . ~
Regal
A St. Claire Novel
Prologue
Regal stepped into the pastel pink walls of The Boardwalk Bakery and instantly caught a contact high from the aroma of warm, sweet batter and spices mingling in sugary deliciousness along with the smell of freshly brewed coffee. This was cupcake heaven. That’s what Gianna should’ve named this place: Cupcake Heaven. And to think he didn’t used to like cupcakes…
Apparently, he wasn’t the only person obsessed with her mouthwatering creations. The place was packed to the brim. Every table was occupied. Mouths were being stuffed. Coffee, chugged. Business was good.
Walking from the back wearing an apron, Gianna saw her dapper, suited up, brother-in-law and immediately smiled. He wore a tan suit today, turning heads left and right. She grinned. Women just couldn’t resist well-dressed, deep-voiced, educated black men. There was something about the swag, the confidence and the whole tall, dark and handsome description of the perfect man since the beginning of time. And the St. Claire men were a handsome bunch – tall and delectably chocolate to boot.
“What up, cupcake queen?”
“Hey, Regal.” Gianna walked around the counter to greet him with a hug.
He squeezed her gently, then released. “I see the place is jumping this afternoon.”
“Yeah. It’s been like this every Friday for a while now,” she said, looking up at him. He was so much taller than her, just like Ramsey.
“That’s good. Now all you need to do is start selling some croissant sandwiches or something to cater to the lunch crowd around here.”
“The lunch crowd always come here after lunch for a post-lunch dessert, so technically, I already cater to them, thank you very much.”
“True, but imagine the business you’d get if you served actual lunch food. You could put at least five umbrella tables right outside for extra seating. Then you’ll be in direct competition with Ciro’s, Saigon Bay, House of Leng and Zapata’s.”
“Not necessarily. Ciro’s is Italian. Saigon Bay is Japanese. House of Leng is Chinese and Zapata’s is Mexican. All the restaurants out here serve different styles of food.”
“True, but they have one thing in common—they all serve lunch. You don’t.”
Gianna smiled. “You and Ramsey are definitely brothers. You both sound just alike with your business ideas. Ramsey’s always looking for new ways to expand the bakery.”
“Of course. You gotta stay with or ahead of the competition to have a successful business.” Regal glanced around the restaurant. “By the way, Ramsey’s caught up on a high-level conference call at the moment.”
“I know,” Gianna said, wiping down the front counter near the register. “He texted me earlier to let me know he wouldn’t be able to stop by.”
“Cool. Ay, how was my little cupcake this morning?” Regal inquired, his expression cheerful.
Gianna knew he was referring to Rianne. Regal made it a habit to stop by and spend some time with his niece. He did so several times during the week and even on the weekends, he’d make a short visit whenever they were at home.
“She’s good. She was so happy when I dropped her off at Grandma’s this morning.” Gianna put the cleaning solution into a bottom cabinet.
“She doesn’t have any more of that separation anxiety, huh?”
“No, at least not as bad as she used to have it, and you know your mother knows how to handle her now anyway, so I’m not too worried about that at all.”
“That’s good.” Regal turned around and looked out at the dining area where the customers were sitting.
“Hey, I’m glad you were able to stop by,” Gianna told him. “I got something for you.”
“You do?” Regal asked, rubbing his hands together. He’d been after Gianna for his own personal batch of cupcakes for months. Did she finally hear his pleas for sugar and take him seriously?
“Yes. I’ll be right back,” she said. She placed a large coffee cup on the counter. “In the meantime, go get some coffee and relax. It’s on the house.”
He glanced around the restaurant again, noticing the cupcake of the day scribbled on the chalkboard was the Snickers flavor. He’d never tried one of those. He walked over to the coffee station and poured a cup of regular, racking his brain trying to determine which day Felicity usually came by the bakery to help Gianna. Was it Friday or Saturday? Today was Friday, and she was nowhere in sight which sucked. She was his sole purpose for coming by.
“Here you go,” Gianna said, coming from the back holding a box. “Your very own specialty dozen. I made you three different flavors—vanilla with chocolate frosting, red velvet and banana cream.”
“A woman after my own heart. Thank you, sweetie.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You’re the best sister-in
-law I could ever ask for. Don’t tell Gemma and Siderra I said that.”
“My lips are sealed.”
Regal opened the box, his mouth watering at the sight of the different variety of cupcakes. “My months of begging finally paid off.”
Gianna giggled. “I told you I would make you some.”
“Yes, you did.” Regal took out his black, leather wallet.
“Nope,” Gianna said. “They’re yours. No charge.”
Regal handed her a fifty-dollar bill.
“Regal, don’t give me any money,” Gianna said.
“Here,” he insisted. “And keep the change, cupcake.”
“Noo. I’m giving them to you. Take ‘em.” Gianna pushed the box closer to him.
“Girl, you better take this money,” he said.
“No. I don’t charge family.”
“What you mean? Family should be the main people willing to pay. Are you kidding me? I tell you what…if you don’t take this money, I’ma call Ramsey and tell him I caught you kissing one of your customers.”
“You’re going to blackmail me into taking money?” Gianna asked, tickled.
“Yep.”
“Okay. Go right ahead and call Ramsey,” she said, amused. “He won’t believe you. Ramsey knows he got this locked down.”
“Dang! See, that’s the kind of love I need right there. That lockdown love.” He took Gianna’s hand and placed the fifty-dollar bill in it and closed her fingers around it. “Thank you.”
Gianna smiled. “You are so hardheaded.”
“It’s not a hard head, sugar face. It’s appreciation. You work hard for your money. I appreciate you.”
Gianna was still smiling at his sugar face comment when she said, “Don’t get sick eating all those cupcakes.”
He grinned a little. “These joints probably won’t make it home.”
“You can’t have that much of a sweet tooth…”
“What can I say? I’m a man who enjoys good food. Ay, speaking of delicious things, don’t your friend WB help you out around here on Fridays?”
Gianna laughed. “You mean my friend, Fe-li-ci-ty?” she asked.
“Yeah. That’s what I said.”
Gianna could only shake her head. Regal got a kick out of calling Felicity by whatever name he saw fit – drove Felicity mad. “Actually, you said WB.”
“WB, Dub, Baby Hands—she knows her many names.”
“You know she doesn’t like it when you call her those.”
“I’m aware. That’s what makes it so fun,” he said.
Gianna smirked. Poor Felicity. Her friend always tried to be so serious about life and work but she’d caught the attention of the one and only Regal St. Claire from the very beginning – back when Gianna and Ramsey had started seeing each other. And Regal loved teasing Felicity. Every time their paths crossed, he had something to say. That was before Felicity got smart and began successfully ducking and dodging him like she was a two-strike felon hiding from the cops.
Her plan was working.
Whenever they would be invited to the same functions like St. Claire family cookouts for instance, she would make her great escape as soon as she got wind of Regal’s impending arrival. She hadn’t run into him in weeks.
“Is she usually here on Fridays or Saturdays?” he asked with a pair of serious eyes, bent on getting an answer.
“Fridays,” Gianna answered, “But since Beth is here full-time now, Felicity doesn’t have to do as much as she used to.”
“I see. She didn’t come by today, I take it…”
“Yeah. She’s here.”
He raised a brow. “She’s here?”
“Um, hmmm…”
“Where?” he asked, glancing around once more.
“She took a phone call in my office,” Gianna informed him. “That’s her stuff right over there.” Gianna pointed to the table that housed Felicity’s belongings – a notebook, pen, coffee cup with the pink shade of her lipstick on the brim and a briefcase in one of the chairs.
Regal turned away from the table to look at Gianna. “Oh, I see what’s going on here.”
“Do you?” Gianna asked hiding a grin, curious about what he had to say because as far as she was concerned, nothing was going on.
“Yeah. Your girl saw me coming and took off, didn’t she?”
“You’re so wrong. I told you she’s on a call.”
“Then why are you laughing?”
“Because I think this little thing going on between you two is hilarious.”
“What thing?”
“You know exactly what I mean, Regal—the back-and-forth banter. You’re always teasing her and she’s always trying to stay away from you. It’s funny.”
“Aha! I knew she was hiding from me. That’s alright. I got something for her.”
“I didn’t say she was hiding—”
“Thanks, G,” Felicity said as she walked from the back up to the front by the register where Gianna was standing. “I didn’t touch anything on your desk.” It wasn’t until she looked up that she saw Regal standing at the counter. And he already had a smirk on his face…
Her heart sank in her chest. The color immediately drained from her face. All the days that had turned into weeks of successfully avoiding him seemed like a waste now that he was standing right here in front of her, staring like he was waiting for her to speak.
“Gianna, you could’ve warned me that a dark cloud blew in,” she mumbled.
Regal cracked a smile. “It’s good to see you too, Felicity James.”
“Wow. You know my real name. That’s a first.” She walked past her bearded nemesis and back to her table where she could breathe – well, somewhat. Every time she laid eyes on Regal, no matter how much he worked and shuffled her nerves, something stirred inside of her – something that went deeper than worked nerves. It felt more like hot coals – a heated sensation that made her nervy and sweaty because as bossy and independent as she was, she was well aware of her limitations when it came to men, especially ones she was attracted to and Regal St. Claire had what it took to stir reactions from any woman, not just her.
He was tall – like NBA tall. Skin, milk chocolate. He dressed nice – always rocked stylish, designer suits not because he was trying to impress anyone. It’s just the way he dressed. What woman didn’t like a well-dressed man? And his expensive suits accentuated his broad shoulders and muscular frame. His shoes looked like he’d paid a small fortune for them. His watch, he had paid a small fortune for that – a platinum Rolex. And he was handsome – not cute-handsome but grown man-handsome with a side of fine-as-heck. Always came through drippin’ swag.
And he was strong.
Gorgeous.
Confident, self-assured and charismatic.
Deliciously arrogant with a weird sense of humor.
His eyes were a deep brown like coffee beans. An interesting, hard-as-steel jaw set him apart from the few men who fell into his caliber. Along with that came a straight nose, full, parted lips and a beard that he kept neat, edged and trimmed right along with the hair on his head. The man was all kinds of fine.
A part of her hated running into him for fear he’d read the reactions she had whenever he came around. She matched couples together for a living and studied body language in college. She didn’t want to give Regal any ammunition to work with where she was concerned. She couldn’t let him notice her sweaty palms, dilated pupils and slight uneasiness. Besides, a man knew when he made a woman all flustered and off balance. She had to keep her head on straight with him and every other man at this stage in her life. So much had gone wrong beginning with her parent’s failed marriage, the departure of her ex and other things – secrets she couldn’t bring herself to speak on, let alone think about. At least not right now.
Still standing by the counter, Regal glanced over at her and watched her expression grow into a full-fledged frown devoid of any sort of warmth. He turned to Gianna and asked, “Is she always like this?”
Gianna threw a hand on her hip. “Come on, Regal. You know how Felicity is.”
“I do, but I’m sensing she’s a lot crankier than normal.”
“She is, and I don’t know why so maybe you should leave her alone today.”
A smile came to his face. “Now you know I can’t do that, cupcake.” He walked away from Gianna and over to the coffee station. After refilling his cup, he waltzed over to Felicity’s table like a certified boss, pulled out a chair and sat down like he belonged – almost like he dared her to make him leave. When she didn’t acknowledge his presence, he took a loud, slurpy sip of coffee.
Felicity’s eyes rolled up from the paperwork she’d been reviewing to see the smirk on his face, his exceptionally straight white teeth and then there was a dimple. Lawd…
Oh. My. God. Focus, Felicity. Yeah, he’s fine, but he’s also a pain in the butt. Don’t let him get to you.
“Good morning,” he said, offering up a quick smile.
Her lips quivered. Why does he have to be so handsome and annoying at the same freakin’ time? Why? His smile alone was enough to make her blush. “I’m busy,” she told him, hoping he’d be on his way.
“That’s not the response you give someone when they greet you with, good morning,” he said, staring at her hair up close. It looked soft, hanging down to her defined collarbone. He wondered how all that hair would feel in his hands. He had a sudden hankering to touch it, but she’d probably turn into an EF5 tornado had he done such a thing.
He glanced at her nails. They were medium length with sharp, pointy tips, painted pink, the same color as her blouse. Nice, he thought. He’d always liked the way she carried herself.
