* * *
Lunch never materialized, but Barker made up for that by putting together an incredible dinner. By then, Ray had sobered somewhat. Part of her mind—her body—was still in her bedroom and being supremely pleasured by the dark, powerful male who’d had command of her for over forty-eight hours. She picked up her fork and set it back to her plate for a third time.
Barker had no trouble massacring the gargantuan rib eye he’d prepared. “Hungry?” he asked her.
“Starved.”
“I get it,” he said, grinning. “Not used to anyone cooking in your apartment except you.”
Ray recognized his dig about her not entertaining company much. “I’ll have you know I actually have the luxury of quite a few people taking over my kitchen from time to time.”
That got more of Barker’s attention, pulling it from the perfectly cooked steak. “If you won’t eat, could you at least share some details?”
“Nothing too secretive. Clari’s over a lot, so are the girls from the club, and then there are my girls from the center so...”
The last captured more of Barker’s attention.
“I volunteer at a local home for teen girls.” She hesitated over the slice of steak she’d forked up. “Haven’t done as good a job as I should be doing with the clubs changing over to schools.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Oh, yeah.” Ray savored her cut of steak. “We’re in the process of changing over the clubs—”
“No, I mean your volunteer work.” He sat back in his chair, watching her with mounting admiration. “How long?”
“Since I moved here from Miami, actually.”
“Impressive.” He practically sighed the word. “You’ve been here since your teens. That’s some dedication, Ray. Few people manage to stick to volunteer commitments unless they’re required to.”
“Yeah.” Ray enjoyed another bite of the tender meat. “I really wanted to do it, especially back then. I didn’t want anyone making the kinds of mistakes I did, or was about to.”
“Not a very positive outlook on that time.”
“I was a teenager back then. Besides—” she set down her fork once more “—I came here knowing mistakes would be required if I planned on getting what I wanted.”
“And that was?”
“To make it on my terms,” she replied without hesitation. “I didn’t want to explain how I did it or why I did it the way I did.”
“Bold. Dangerous,” Barker noted.
Ray enjoyed her steak with a little more gusto then. “Most bold things are.”
“Luck has to play a role, too, right? Young girl trying to make it on her own here. Most don’t live to tell a tale like that.”
“You’re right, but I had something better than luck—Jaz Beaumont.”
Barker grinned while conjuring an image of the bodacious woman who was responsible for a fair amount of the scandalous news in Philadelphia during her time.
“Your best friend’s aunt was quite a woman.”
“She was that.” Ray smiled, remembering. “She always said living life to the fullest often meant getting yourself snared in a fair amount of scandal.”
“Guess that’s true. I wouldn’t have had much of a career if it wasn’t.”
“Shouldn’t you sound a little happier about it?” Ray regarded her dinner partner curiously.
“And that’s the misconception. A reporter’s job is to share info—not to revel in the fact that the info could be rewarded if it’s dark enough.”
Ray gave a subtle shake of her head. “You’re not the average reporter.”
“Maybe I am—seems I’ve been sharing a lot of dark news lately and getting rewarded for it.”
“Ah—your pending promotion. I remember you mentioning it in the Bahamas. Any closer to making a decision whether to accept?”
Barker fiddled with his silverware. His expression was a smidge brooding. “Accepting would give me more power over future stories. Whether or not they see the light of day, that kind of thing.”
“But?”
Barker smiled, appreciating her perception. “It might put a current story in jeopardy.”
“Because you’re still not willing to give your staff the freedom to take the reins? I remember you saying something about that, too.”
Barker shifted, getting a little more comfortable in his seat. “I think they’d do fine. It’s the dancing around those who’d prefer they didn’t that I worry about them handling.”
“I see.” Ray bathed a sliver of steak in the special sauce Barker had made. “Always the never-ending tug of war between the worker bees and management. I’d think one of the revered Grants could find ways around that.”
“I could, if I was willing to trade on my name and money. I’m not—I can’t. If I did, I’d never know if that power was due to my strength as a writer or something else.”
“Barker, Barker...has anyone ever told you you’re too honorable for your own job—I mean, your own good?”
He chuckled, noting the dig. “It’s why I’m suspicious of accepting this new opportunity.”
“You really think they’d do that? Offer you one job to keep you from doing another?”
“It’d be very stupid and desperate of them if they did.” Barker finished the beer he’d had with his dinner. “Desperate because it means they’ve got something to hide. Stupid because they’ve told me so. They know I’m thinking about the offer at least. That buys me some time to figure out the rest, I guess.”
“And what if you don’t find anything else?”
“That’s the other misconception, Ms. Keats.” Barker leaned in to finish his meal. “There’s always something to find—always another layer to the story. At least there is when you start to uncover information. That’s the level I’d like to reach—the one that leads to the end of the story.”
“Where everyone lives happily-ever-after?”
“That’s what they tell me.” Barker studied Rayelle closely. “Why do I get the impression you’re interested in all this for a more personal reason?”
“Always more to the story, huh?” Ray said.
Barker shrugged. “You’re just easy to read.”
She laughed. “Most don’t think so.”
“Most don’t know you.”
Ray decided against following up on the comment. “All don’t live happily-ever-after, you know? There’s always someone left out in the cold. No one gets everything they want out of the mix.”
“And since that group tends to include the bad guys, no one cares much.”
“Bad guys aren’t always involved, Barker, just people trying to do the right thing without realizing it could put others in a bad place.”
“You’re not on board with Clarissa’s changes to her aunt’s club, are you?”
Ray felt her heart lurch over the sudden shift in topic. Yes, he was good. Instead of verbal confirmation to his probe, she merely stared.
“I know how to keep my mouth shut, Ray.”
She gave a weary shake of her head. “It’s no secret. Clari knows I’ve got reservations.”
“Does she know how strong they are?”
The query had Ray leaving the table.
“How long before you tell her?”
“Never,” Ray responded quickly. “This is what Miss J always wanted.”
“What she wanted, but was hesitant to act on,” Barker mused.
“It had nothing to do with money.” Ray came swiftly to her late mentor’s defense. “Miss J knew her clubs—the girls she employed...she knew it was all they had. She gave them a way when there wasn’t one—not one that wouldn’t have them doing things that could eventually put their lives in jeopardy, at any rate.”
Ray went to stand before the hearth where the flames burned lo
w. “She understood that her dreams weren’t everyone else’s, and she was big enough to step back from them to give her people what they needed. She could’ve gotten out of the gentlemen’s club business and into something more respectable a long time ago—shutting up everyone who tried to judge her. She wouldn’t let what others thought rule her actions.”
“You loved her a lot, didn’t you?”
Ray nodded eagerly. “Clari did, too, but...well...she was gone during so much of what Miss J went through. She sees her aunt’s dream as a testament to her life, but those girls—their happiness—that was the testament.”
“Will you tell Clarissa that?”
“I would if I knew how.”
“You think Clarissa would resent you for it?”
“I think I’d resent myself for it. If Clari holds back from changing things, those girls might never have the chance to know if they could be more than a piece of meat for some guy to drool over.”
“In the end, it’s their choice, you know?” Barker kept his voice soft. “Jazmina Beaumont ran her business with its own set of limits, and there were those who tested those limits, remember?”
“Yeah.” Ray rested a fist along the mantel. “Yeah, I remember.” She drew her hands through her hair then. “I don’t consider a choice between a stripper and a ballerina an easy one—even a realistic one,” she said. “Knowing how to do something isn’t a guarantee of being paid to do it.” She smiled then, feeling Barker’s arms sliding around her waist.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” He spoke into her neck.
She laughed. “Are you about to tell me that’s your job?”
Barker laughed then, too. “I wasn’t going to, but now that you mentioned it...” He began to tend the satiny flesh at her nape.
Ray was poised to let herself be tugged under a wave of sensation, but he stopped.
“I think you could come up with a plan to give everybody their happily-ever-after.”
Ray felt wary over the possibility he proposed. “You’ve got a lot of faith in me, but I’m not the creative thinker you might believe.”
Barker held her tighter. “I believe quite a bit when it comes to how creative a thinker you are.”
“Sounds like I’ve got you fooled.”
“Convinced is more like it. Shall I show you why?”
Ray was eager to take her mind off anything remotely confrontational. She was eager for just a few more hours with the man drawing her into his arms.
“I’d like that,” she said. “I’d like that a lot.”
Chapter 4
Three days later
Ray scanned the pad with a cool look and wasn’t surprised to find that it offered no hints about the topic currently under discussion. That would’ve been impossible, of course, considering she’d done little more in the way of note-taking, except to draw a series of squiggly lines and circles of varying sizes between the margins of a yellow legal pad.
Nevertheless, she took time to refer to the page, if only to treat herself to a few additional seconds before experiencing the inevitable embarrassment of meeting the inquiring eyes of her staff and business partner.
Clarissa David cleared her throat and stood to address the group of women occupying the cozy office. “You’ll hear from us—” she sent a smile down the table toward Ray “—when we know more about the contractor’s proposed dates. We’ll discuss how to deal with the current clientele at that time. Until then, start thinking of new ideas to make the transition easier.”
Clarissa took a few final questions and then adjourned the meeting.
“In case you’re wondering about the question that was on the table before you zoned out,” Clarissa said once she and Rayelle were alone, “it was whether or not we’re to tell prospective employees about our plans for the school.”
“Right.” Ray nodded. “Thanks for the save. Guess that answer rests on whether we’re still keeping it a secret that changing over to schools is the plan for all the clubs.”
“Guess that all depends on you.”
Ray’s zoned-out expression cleared abruptly. “Me?”
Clarissa looked as though she was hard at work trying to shield a smile. “Where’s your head, Ray? I guess you forgot you haven’t given me an official yes about taking over out here.”
“Taking over.” Ray felt newly dazed.
“Well, Ray, I’ve got responsibilities for Aunt Jaz’s businesses out west—it’ll be hard giving my all to the ones here without your help. If that help can’t come from you, it’s gonna have to be someone.”
“Right, right.” Ray hid her face in her hands then. She had completely blanked on that part in the latest round of negotiations regarding the Jazzy B’s franchise.
Declining Clarissa’s offer would be one way to stave off having to discuss her disagreement with the majority of those changes. Unfortunately, declining Clarissa’s offer would also have the woman demanding to know why. Ray figured she could always lie and tell Clarissa that she was just too exhausted to take on a job like that...but she owed her friend the truth.
A thunderous commotion sent Ray’s thoughts back to the present, and she saw that Clarissa had intentionally slammed down a bookend that supported a broad stack of folders. The woman’s expression all but screamed her concern.
“I’m sorry, Clari—”
“Save it. I don’t want your apologies, I want to know what the hell’s going on with you.”
Ray tugged her hair free of its low ponytail and pulled a hand through her messy locks. “Guess I’m still lagging after the trip—an amazing trip, but I’m beat.”
“Understandable.” Clarissa eased into her chair at the round table in the Jazzy B’s manager’s wing, where they’d met with the employees. A sly smile took shape on her mouth. “I would’ve thought you’d have had more fun once we got back over the weekend.”
Ray frowned, waiting for her friend to clarify.
Clarissa seemed to relish her words. “I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who noticed how Barker insisted on seeing you home when we landed.”
“He didn’t insist.” Ray dropped her eyes to the table. Once again, she searched for solace among the series of squiggly lines and circles doodled on the legal pad.
“Oh, he insisted all right,” Clarissa argued coolly. “The least you can do is soothe my curiosity with a tiny explanation. I don’t need all the details unless you just want to share—which wouldn’t be strange considering we’re best friends and all.”
“Clari, look, I—” Ray was about to say there were no details, but she couldn’t complete the lie.
Clarissa’s eyes widened in tandem with her mouth curving into a perfect O-shape. Seconds later, she was using both hands to cover it. “Barker Grant is a man who knows how to take his time,” she said finally.
“Amen to that,” Ray mumbled.
“My guess is he knows how to use his time well,” Clarissa said. “I’ve been trying to call you all weekend. Do I take that to mean he kept you...indisposed for two days?”
Ray decided she’d go even crazier trying to keep the truth from Clarissa. “It was more like three days,” she confessed. “He...um...he didn’t leave my place until Monday morning.”
Clarissa’s eyes went impossibly wider. Instead of her mouth forming an O-shape again, she shrieked delightedly. “He’s a man who knows how to make up for lost time.” Her sly look returned. “Am I right?”
Ray pushed back from the round table. “You’re right. Very.”
Clarissa’s gaze followed Ray as she took a turn around the room. “So...um...where do things stand with you two?”
“They stand exactly where they stood before and during the Bahamas, Clari. We’re friends.”
“Ray!”
“All right, close friends.”
Clarissa looked as though s
he’d lost the ability to do more than gawk incredulously. Meanwhile Ray continued to pace the back room.
“Do you really think an entire weekend with him was just about sex?” Clarissa finally managed to ask.
“I do, Clari, because that’s what it is. We’re two grown, mature people who enjoyed something we both needed, and that was that.”
Clarissa snorted. “I’m pretty sure Barker Grant isn’t a man who’s hurting for a robust sex life. He seems smarter than to compromise friendship with sex.”
“Grown and mature, Clari,” Ray sang, “and male. If opportunity is there, a man will always choose the complication if it gets him sex.”
“So that’s where you left things?” Clarissa countered. “A one-weekend stand—friendship still intact?”
Ray only shrugged.
“And your zoned-out demeanor?”
“Jet lag.”
“That’s crap. Have you talked to him since—”
“I haven’t.”
“It’s been three days, Ray.”
“Friends don’t chat every day, Clari. Not even the close ones.”
Clarissa observed her friend with all the knowledge of one who’d known another for much of their lives. “Have you not talked to him because he hasn’t called, or because you haven’t taken his calls?”
“Don’t do this, Clarissa.” Ray rolled her eyes.
“I’m right.” Clarissa was unsympathetic. “Seriously, Ray?”
“Clarissa, don’t.”
“Can I at least ask why?” Clarissa insisted.
“He’s Barker Grant.” Ray seemed to drop what remained of her nonchalant facade then. “He’s Barker Grant,” she repeated, as though it were all that needed to be said.
“That explains nothing,” Clarissa retorted.
“Clarissa, why are you doing this?” Ray groaned, dragging both hands down her face. “I mean, is this how you repay all the understanding I showed when you found Eli?”
“Understanding, huh? You mean the hard time you gave me about him, right? Don’t try changing the subject.”
“Whatever.” Ray threw out a wave. “It’s not my fault you can’t focus once the guy’s name is mentioned.” Ray referred to Elias Joss, Clarissa’s significant other of almost a year.
Seductive Moments Page 4
