Southern Love

by Synithia Williams

  Jared reached out to shake Mr. Simmon’s hand. “Mr. Simmons, thanks again. Barry, will you finish up with him?”

  Barry nodded and Jared walked away with Cassandra. As soon as they were on the elevator Cassandra frowned.

  “I can’t wait to get back to L.A. The men in South Carolina behave as if they’ve never seen a woman.”

  Jared laughed. “You get the same reaction in L.A.”

  She smiled. “You’re right. But if one more man calls me ‘ma’am’ I’m going to throw up.” Her frown turned into one of her well-practiced pouts. “When are you going to move back to L.A., Jared? The facility is up and running perfectly. You don’t have to stay here to oversee things, Barry is wonderful. I miss having my buddy around.”

  They got off the elevator and crossed the hall into the main office of the facility. One side was Plexiglas, allowing him to look out over the floor. Since Jared didn’t work there daily, he’d assigned it to Barry, but used it whenever he came to the facility. Instead of sitting behind the desk he went to the couch near the window, pressed a button to lower a screen, and sat down. Cassandra slid in across from him.

  “I’m not coming back to L.A., at least not anytime time soon. Like I told you before I left, I’m a southern boy at heart. I don’t like the hustle and bustle of L.A.”

  Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Southern boy my ass. You love L.A. The women, the excitement, the celebrities paying too much money to work out with you. You’ll be back.”

  Jared nodded and laughed. He did love the women in L.A., but the memory of Tasha’s caramel skin, honey-colored eyes, and soft lips filled his head. L.A. women didn’t compare to the sweetness of a Carolina girl. “Yeah, maybe. But for now, I’m staying here. My brother’s here so that works. Now, did you really need to talk with me, or did you just want to badger me about moving back to L.A.?”

  “Both,” she said.

  Jared could only laugh. He did miss Cassandra, his only female friend. He also appreciated she let one of the reasons for his hasty return to South Carolina slide: avoiding sleeping with her again.

  He’d met Cassandra while working at a gym after moving to L.A. Every other male trainer worked overtime to land her as a client, including him. She’d denied him at first, but as usual his tenacity won out. It wasn’t long before their workouts began taking place out of the gym. He’d turned her on to his line of health food products, which combined with his workout routines helped her get her already slim body down to Hollywood standards. After that she’d put all of her PR muscle into promoting him. She’d recommended him one of her clients, an R&B singer with roots in South Carolina who wanted to lose some baby weight. When that worked, his name was tossed around as a person who could make miracles in the gym. Before he knew it, he was the most preferred personal trainer in Hollywood. By then their sex life had run its course, but she’d stayed on to handle personal relations for his brand. She was the reason his products, gyms, and workouts received nationwide attention.

  He reached over and squeezed her hand. He knew she wanted him back in L.A., but he meant what he said. He liked building his empire here, where things were more stable. Celebrities were fickle, and their love of him could be gone in a flash.

  “Since you’ve already asked me to move back and I’ve said no, we can move on to your other reason for wanting to talk to me.”

  She squeezed his hand back before pulling away. “I’m not giving up on you, but I guess I’ll move on. I think you should consider placing some of your organic products at the new State Farmers Market.”

  Jared sat back. He jerked at the tie he’d worn for the inspection and hastily untied it. “Really, why?”

  “I’ve been working and I finally got the Department of Agriculture to award your products with the Certified South Carolina label. Since you use products grown in South Carolina, it was a no brainer. With that certification, placement at the Farmers Market will introduce you to a line of customers you haven’t reached before.”

  Jared threw the tie over the back of the chair and relaxed as he undid the top buttons of his shirt while considering Cassandra’s suggestion. Since his facility was in an agricultural county, he had insisted on using products grown locally whenever possible. It not only saved on shipping costs, but the quality was better. The fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients were fresher since they weren’t shipped half way across the country. It was a smart move on Cassandra’s part to get the certification. He wished he’d thought of it first.

  He nodded. “That’s a good idea, Cassandra. Now I know why I hired you for PR.”

  Cassandra sucked her teeth and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Don’t play. You know I’m great at what I do.”

  Jared reached over and playfully tapped her chin. “Yes, you are.” He stood, walked to the desk, and pulled out his duffle bag. He’d missed his morning workout due to the inspection and was anxious to change and get to the gym. He preferred working out in his personal gym, but since he was making rounds, it wouldn’t hurt to combine his visit to his local franchise with his workout.

  He pulled his shirt out of his waistband and finished unbuttoning it. When Cassandra whistled appreciatively as he pulled it off he gave her a grin. “Cut that mess out, girl. I don’t need your jolly green giant to come after me.” Jared referred to Cassandra’s boyfriend, a defensive end for the L.A. Raiders.

  Cassandra stood. “Please, Ramon is the least of your worries.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because I’m finished with him. It was fun while it lasted, but I’d rather be with a man who can talk about something other than Saturday morning cartoons.”

  Jared laughed. “What, all muscle, no depth?”

  “Exactly.” She walked over and ran a hand over his arm. “I need beauty and brains.” Her eyes hinted he could fit the bill.

  A few years ago he would have accepted her invitation, but he knew Cassandra too well. Beneath all of her gloss and sophistication, she was a woman looking for a stable relationship. She was his friend and he wouldn’t take her up on that offer. Besides, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that no one other than Tasha would satisfy him right now. He didn’t want to think about why.

  When he didn’t reply she smiled slightly and let her arm drop. “I better go and get ready to catch my flight. I can work on placing your products in the Farmers Market from L.A., but I’ll call if I need you to do anything on this end.”

  Jared was glad she didn’t say anything about his brush off. “I can handle that. Call me when you land.”

  “Will do. Bye, lova.” She’d been calling him lova since their affair broke off years ago. She waved as she went out the door.

  Jared hurried and changed, feeling much more relaxed and himself in basketball shorts and a cutoff t-shirt. He searched out Barry and thanked him for another job well done before going to his gym, Red Fitness.

  When he’d first moved back to Columbia the local franchise was the first thing he’d overseen before plowing full steam on his production facility. Before Cassandra, his health food products were just a side hustle while he concentrated on building a name for himself as a personal trainer and fitness expert. He’d only been selling them to celebrities and a few health food stores, but she’d pushed to get them into Wal-Mart and Target. Once the big boxes placed his products, he’d quickly decided it would be smarter, and cheaper, to open a production facility in the south.

  At Red Fitness he went straight to the general manager’s office. The gym was busy for a Wednesday afternoon. He looked at his watch and saw it was lunchtime, which explained the crowd. He met briefly with the general manager before starting a circuit around the gym.

  Halfway through, he noticed a middle-aged man struggling with the equipment. Jared stopped his workout and went over to assist. Someone struggling with a workout today was the same person who
gave up working out tomorrow. After five minutes he’d introduced himself, learned the man was trying to lose the weight he’d put on after getting married a year ago, and hadn’t worked out regularly since college. There was always an underlying reason why people either gained, or tried to lose, weight. Learning that reason was the key to ensuring his clients stuck to their goals.

  Jared spent the rest of the hour working with him. During the course of the workout he’d discovered that the guy’s wife had lost interest, something Jared wasn’t surprised about. He hadn’t come across a faithfully married woman in years. When they finished he offered the guy six weeks of free personal training. Despite his belief in the stupidity of marriage, the guy wanted his wife’s attention again and Jared would help him try.

  After he showered his phone rang. It was his friend Devin.

  “What’s going on, man?”

  Devin groaned. “Nothing but a long day with no end in sight.”

  Jared laughed. “Why complain, doctor? Busy days mean more money.”

  “Easy for you to say. You don’t have to see half the black population in this town.” Devin was the only black doctor in Helena, a town on the outskirts of Kershaw County. It was where Devin had grown up, and he’d gone back to practice medicine after graduating from med school. Jared admired his friend for his dedication to his hometown, because he would avoid moving back home like the plague.

  Jared waved bye to his general manager and headed for the front of the gym. “You chose to practice in Mayberry, so don’t hate on the popularity.”

  Devin laughed. “Never that. Look, I only have a minute before my next patient, so I’ll get to the point. I just found out about a basketball tournament in Columbia this weekend. One of my patients is trying to put together a team and I thought you, Malcolm, and I could play.”

  Jared rubbed his jaw. “I’m not sure about a team that one of your patients is putting together. Can the brotha even play?”

  “He’s not sick.”

  “Then why is he seeing you?”

  Devin chuckled. “For reasons I can’t say, but know this, I wouldn’t be playing with him if I didn’t think he could win. He played for Carolina back in the day. He’s good.”

  Jared scoffed. “Now I know he’s sorry.” He was a strong Georgia Tech fan, having received his undergraduate degree from that very school.

  “Blow that crap out your ass another day. You in?”

  He would have usually jumped at the opportunity to play in a basketball tournament, but he didn’t want to cancel his weekend with Tasha. He was looking forward to it too much.

  “It sounds like fun, but I have plans this weekend. I’ll have to catch y’all later.”

  “Okay, I get it. What’s her name? Never mind, because I’ll never even meet her. Just cancel and tell her you’ll catch her after the tournament.”

  Jared smiled. “I can’t cancel on this lady, Devin. It’s going to be a special weekend I don’t want to miss.” He looked at his watch again. “In fact, I’m on my way to take her flowers now.”

  There was a silence on the other end of the phone and Jared called Devin’s name to be sure the call wasn’t dropped.

  “Yeah, I’m still here,” Devin answered. “I just thought you said you were taking a woman flowers.”

  Jared frowned. “It’s not like I’ve never given a woman flowers.”

  “For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never taken a woman flowers. You’ve already got a weekend lined up with this one, so why flowers? Are you getting serious?”

  Jared laughed out loud. It drew the attention of a few people in the gym so he quickly exited and walked to his car. “Man, the day I get serious about a woman is the day you can call a psychiatrist to come and take me to the nut house. I’m just making it special for her.”

  “Why? You’ve never cared before.”

  Jared’s laugh died and he frowned. It wasn’t as if he’d been truly uncaring with the women he’d been with in the past he just made sure they understood he wasn’t looking for any commitments. Devin talked as if he was cold blooded. He had been pretty cold to Monica, but she’d crossed the line. But he liked Tasha, and respected her. He couldn’t treat her like any other chick off the street.

  “Tasha’s cool. She’s not like the usual ladies I deal with, so she gets a bit more respect.”

  Devin didn’t immediately respond, but Jared could picture his friend with his brow furled as the considered that. “This should be interesting to see pan out.”

  “Excuse me?” Jared asked.

  There was rustling on the other end of the line. “Nothing, man. Handle your business. Look, my next patient has arrived. It seems like it’ll just be me and Malcolm this weekend. Holla at me when you get time.”

  “No problem. Good luck this weekend, all right?”

  “Cool. Peace.” Devin hung up the phone.

  Jared got into his car and sped out of the parking lot. He hadn’t considered taking Tasha flowers until he’d said it to Devin. He wanted to see her. He still planned to wait for the weekend, but nothing could prevent him from trying for a kiss or something. He smiled as the thought of her lips on his. Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt to go by her job and see her. Get her just as excited about their weekend as he was.

  CHAPTER 8

  “Excuse me, I’m looking for Tasha Smith.”

  Tasha froze in the middle of filing papers in her office. What was Jared doing here? It was too early for his mentoring session. That happened at six and it was barely three. Her excitement at seeing him was dampened by the thought that he’d changed his mind. She peeked around the corner as her high school intern, Latiffa, answered.

  “Hello, Mr. Patterson. I mean Jared. Do you care if I call you Jared? I know you don’t care, because you’re cool like that. I heard you started out here at the Rec Commission, way back when. I mean … I don’t mean that you are old or anything. Just that you started in the nineties and that was like a while ago. My bad. I mean, you’re still fine as hell … how old are you, anyway?”

  Jared chuckled. “Too old for you.”

  Latiffa leaned over the counter. “I’m old enough.”

  Tasha slammed her file cabinet closed and came out of her office. “That’s enough, Latiffa.” She glared at the young girl. “We didn’t give you this job to hit on every man that comes in the door.”

  Latiffa lowered her eyes. “I know, but dang, Ms. Tasha. Look at him.”

  Tasha rolled her eyes and finally looked at Jared. Damn, why did he have to look so good? He licked his lips before they spread into a sexy smile. There was a promise in his eyes that left her breathless. Tasha cleared her throat and broke eye contact. “Jared Patterson knows how he looks. He doesn’t need me, or you, telling him.”

  Jared leaned on the desk and winked at Latiffa. “I don’t know, Tasha. I don’t think you’ve ever told me your thoughts on my looks. Maybe I should take off my shirt, flex a few muscles, and you can give me thumbs up or down.”

  Latiffa’s eyes sparkled like Christmas lights. “Oh, will you!”

  “No, he won’t.” Tasha glared at Jared. “Did you have a reason for being here?”

  He stood and nodded. “Yeah, I came to see you.”

  Her heart sped up. “Why?”

  He glanced at Latiffa before answering. “I had a question about one of my mentees. Can we go in your office?”

  She nodded. “Sure. Follow me.”

  Jared came around the desk but stopped at her door. He tapped the door’s glass window, then glanced at her. “You know what? I haven’t seen the renovations to the gym. Why don’t you show me and we can talk on the way.”

  Tasha frowned and put a hand on her hip. “Jared, I have some stuff to put together for the budget hearing next week. We can talk here and then I’ll get someone else to
show you the gym.”

  He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “I would prefer talking to you alone.” His eyes went back to her mouth before returning to her eyes. “I promised discretion, but if you don’t come with me I’m going to kiss you right here in the middle of the office.”

  Her eyes widened and she took a quick step back. With just a few words, her annoyance melted into a delightful tingling. Humor reflected in his eyes. He was teasing her again. Her anger returned full force. She squared her shoulders and scowled. “Fine. Let’s go.” She brushed passed him, knocking him with her shoulder in order to push him out of the way.

  As she hurried out of the office and down the hall toward the gym, she fought the urge to slap the smug smile from his face the moment they were alone. How dare he come to her job, in the middle of the day, and look at her as if he wanted to devour her. She’d picked him for his discretion, but apparently, he didn’t care about showing the entire world they would be sleeping together.

  It didn’t help that he came here looking like he’d just tumbled out of bed. Did the man own anything other than basketball shorts and t-shirts? Just the sight of his well-formed biceps was enough to get her blood boiling.

  “Why are you here?” she asked without turning to look at him.

  When she didn’t get an answer, she stopped and spun around. The hall was empty. She was about to call out his name when he came around the corner, grabbed her arm, and pulled her down the corridor they’d just passed.

  “This isn’t the way to the gym. What are you doing?”

  He didn’t say anything, just looked to see if they were being followed. She tried to dig in her heels and stop him, but it was no use. He just tugged on her arm and pulled her along as if she weighed nothing. He turned suddenly to the right and pulled her into an empty classroom. It was the room they used for the evening aerobics class.

  Jared looked at the door and cursed. “I forgot every damn room in this building has a window.”