What the Heart Wants ; Sealed with a Kiss

by Donna Hill

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  Southern Seduction

  by Carolyn Hector

  Chapter 1

  The black-stained, pecan-wood flooring cooled the heels of Caden Archibald’s bare feet as he strolled through the long hallway toward his office. Two oversize garnet-colored velvet pillows still lay in the center of the parlor room from his painting party last night. Three of his college fraternity friends spread themselves in the bay windows to his left. One slept on the floor with the velvet pillow propping his feet.

  Bottles of Ace of Spades champagne and William Chase gin clanked together in the box Caden’s maid carried at her hip. The pretty blonde in the gray-and-white uniform that matched the interior of his three-story riverfront home smiled at Caden. The devilish grin on her face reminded him he needed to grab a shirt before jumping on the video call with his mother, Kit Archibald.

  “Dear God.”

  Caden chuckled to himself. His best friend and business partner at A&O Sports Agency stumbled out of the library with dried green paint across his face. “You okay, Kofi?”

  Kofi Odem, who stood an even six feet, bent over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. The tips of his dreads touched the floor. “Why is it so bright?”

  The drapes of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the dining room across from the library were pulled open, letting in the morning light. “It’s called daytime,” Caden answered. “You’re up every morning at the same time. I fail to understand why today is so hard.”

  “Because last night you had me over here drinking bottles of alcohol.”

  A laugh threatened in the back of his mind, but Caden decided to suppress it. “We’ve been out of college for just eight years. You’re telling me you can’t hang anymore?”

  Kofi gave his head a slow shake. “No, man, I’m a married man with two children.”

  “I love Michele and my godsons to death, Kofi. I’m sure Najee and KJ keep you busy, but your home life is incredibly dull.” A deep shiver rolled down Caden’s spine. One woman for the rest of his life? She’d have to work some form of magic spell on him.

  Being raised by a mother who sponsored beauty pageants, women had been at his beck and call from an early age whether he sought it or not. Caden’s brothers indulged, and for the most part, he stayed out of their way—unless their behavior impacted business. His father, Ellison Archibald, believed it natural for men and women who worked closely together to develop feelings. But after witnessing the pain his mother went through when his father had acted on some of those feelings years ago by taking up with a mistress, Caden had sworn off marriage.

  Coming to his full height, Kofi braced the doorjamb. “If I weren’t so hungover, I would knock you out.”

  “You’d try,” replied Caden with a lazy yawn.

  Caden continued down the hall with Kofi close behind. “Don’t knock married life until you try it.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  “I wake up, have a cup of coffee in bed, and sometimes I’m even served breakfast in bed by a beautiful woman. And sometimes I even serve her breakfast in bed, too.”

  While Caden knew what Kofi meant, he still taunted him, waving his hand toward the open space of the gray-and-white marbled kitchen, where Chef Ebony prepared what smelled like bacon, bananas Foster and French toast. A very wise investment, he thought to himself. Ebony McCartney had recently left the Aqua Star Seafood Kitchen off Resort Drive to start up her own spot, and Caden had scooped her up.

  “You’re welcome to get in one of the beds upstairs and I can have Ebony bring you breakfast.”

  Upon hearing her name, Ebony turned around with one hand on her hip and waved a honey-covered spoon at them. The thick sweet liquid drizzled to the floor. “You know good and well there’s one Archibald for me.”

  With a shake of his head, Caden continued on.

  “You can’t tell me you like living like this?” Kofi went on. “A carousel of women?”

  “Relax,” said Caden. “Last night was a special occasion. Our bruh is joining your ranks of marriage. I had to send him out with a bang.”

  Kofi caught up with Caden’s pace. “I see why you had it two weeks before the wedding. It’s going to take at least that long for Shawn to recuperate. Are you going to come to his wedding?”

  If marriage put the fear of God in Caden, the idea of attending a wedding with so many single women eyeing him as a prospect scared the living daylights out of him. No, Caden preferred to spend his time with the groom on an extended party. If Caden had his way, he would have had a bachelor party last the entire summer, but as it was, he was going to have to cut a portion of his weekend of celebration short. His mother needed him.

  Caden opened the doors to his office. An oversize desk was filled with client files, which cluttered the inkblot calendar. He strolled over the Persian rug handed down from his grandfather and found the remote control he used to lower the computer screen. An icon of a phone ringing popped up, giving Caden enough time to grab a button-down shirt from the armoire by the window and shrugged into it as he closed the blinds to conceal his location.

  “So nice of you to join us, Caden.” Kit’s voice filled the office. “Kofi—” her voice softened at the sight of her unofficially adopted son “—thank you for making sure he arrived for this meeting.”

  “And without a naked woman by his side.” The snarky commentary came from Aunt Em. She was Caden’s double aunt, meaning she and her sister Kit had married brothers. Emily Archibald had the reputation to tell it like it was, while Caden’s mother often looked at Caden with rose-colored glasses.

  “Leave him be, Em,” Kit scolded. “He works hard.”

  Kofi snickered, and Caden threw a balled-up T-shirt he’d grabbed from the closet earlier at his head. “See what I’m dealing with, Mama Kit?” Kofi stood in front of the screen.

  “I’ll keep praying for you,” said Kit. “Have we gotten Caden to take on any lady athletes? I’ve been watching that sports channel.”

  Shy of a lawsuit, everyone knew A&O did not take on women clientele. Caden argued there were plenty of other sports agencies and talent agencies to represent women during and after their sports careers.

  “Mama,” Caden said, hoping his tone didn’t come off rushed. “To what do I owe the pleasure? The pageant isn’t until the end of summer. Are you checking to make sure I’ve got an emcee lined up for you?”

  “Wait, what’s going on there?” Caden’s older brother, Chase, leaned into the frame. “So the rumors are true. You are in town.”

  Confused, Kit pinched the bridge of her nose. “Caden, am I correct in my understanding? You’re in Savannah, yet you cannot come in to my conference room?”

  Kofi stepped out of view, and Caden cursed under his breath. He avoided being around his father and brothers at all costs. It was on his calendar to visit his mother before he left for Miami, his home away from home. The beachfront condo was where his
private life and business were located.

  Oblivious, Chase continued. “Did I hear something about a bachelor party at your riverfront place?”

  “I doubt it,” Caden clipped. He made sure his guests left their cell phones at the door, and the nude models, art instructor and the rest of his staff signed nondisclosure agreements, so no one would have to worry about embarrassing photos or stories turning up later. The party might have been meant to send Shawn off properly, but it had been one of Caden’s most epic events ever. And his biological brothers were not allowed.

  “That’s messed up, man,” complained Chase.

  “You called this meeting, Mama?”

  Kit started off her agenda in typical fashion, announcing all the things she needed done before the fiftieth annual Miss Southern Style Glitz Beauty Pageant. Multiple sclerosis had left her in a wheelchair for the last eight years, but that did not stop her from an active life or from calling spur-of-the-moment conferences.

  Distracted by the two empty chairs in his mother’s conference room next to his own on the screen, Caden thought about what his mother had been through and what they might face. It was only a matter of time before their fifty-year-old pageant fell under public scrutiny—due to missteps by the men who should have been occupying those empty seats—Caden’s brother Heath and their cousin Spike. Heath and Spike had been relieved of their duties when emails between the two on their private accounts were discovered after one of them lost his phone—emails filled with sexist remarks about last year’s contestants. Though it was truly a private conversation not done on company time or property, it was still in poor taste, and for that, Kit had needed to have them step down. After what had happened to other contests last year involving sexist and possibly even harassing behavior, SSGBP wasn’t going to come under fire for similar transgressions. He wanted to make sure it was clear the pageant had dealt with the problem before it became a bad headline.

  Jason, Caden’s other brother, sat across from Caden’s empty spot, and judging from the bored look on his brother’s face, this was the last place he wanted to be as well, which surprised Caden. If memory served him correctly, Jason usually acted like a kid in a candy store when it came to the pageant, using his charm to pick up disappointed beauty queen candidates. Caden also deduced from Jason’s rumpled attire that this last-minute meeting had interrupted a morning tryst. With a shake of his head, he moved on to the man seated next to Jason—Bruno Archibald, Caden’s double cousin.

  Wide-eyed, Bruno opened the manila folder Kit had obviously had waiting for them when they entered the boardroom and all but salivated. Aunt Emily, Kit’s right-hand woman, elbowed her son for the low, adolescent moan he emitted when he fanned out the photos of former beauty queens in Kit’s file.

  Caden took a moment to glance over the agenda his mother had sent him over his phone. Given this was the pageant’s fiftieth anniversary, Kit wanted to make it special. He scrolled down, trying to figure out what got his cousin drooling. The first page of the to-do list was filled with names of folks his mother wanted to attend this year’s fiftieth anniversary. This included an appearance by the band that first played during the intermissions, a slew of zydeco players. She wanted the caterers, flowers, cakes and former contestants from previous pageants there, as well.

  One name in particular caught Caden off guard, somehow causing the air in the private office to become scarce and his body to respond in an adolescent way. To avoid attracting attention of Kofi or anyone on the screen, Caden slipped into the soft leather seat behind his desk.

  The memory of her soft fingertips tracing along the center of his back haunted him after every failed relationship he’d had over the last decade. Caden shivered and shook the image out of his mind. Maggie hadn’t been one of his mother’s first beauty queens, but she definitely was the most memorable.

  “I would very much appreciate it if someone could bring Magnolia Swayne,” Kit went on, pulling Caden out of his reflection. Kit pointed at the slides of various photos of Maggie in the front row at every show during last year’s fashion week.

  “Is she the hologram star?” A woman’s voice asked.

  A smile touched Caden’s mouth when he remembered the first time Maggie used that technology. Certain levels of the Southern Style Glitz Beauty Pageant were always predetermined over the weekend before the big event itself, and it was easy for contestants to figure out from those scores where they stood. When she knew she was not going to make it into the top ten, Maggie Swayne had used her technology talents to have some fun. On her own she’d hosted pageant participants backstage, recording their images and projecting them as holograms on all the aisles for people to have a better glimpse of the backstage action.

  It had never been done before, and while other concert venues used holograms to bring back deceased celebrities for a performance on stage, it just wasn’t the same as Maggie’s up close and personal appearances. After the pageant, Caden had received an up close and personal session with the beauty queen. Clearing his throat, Caden adjusted the knot of his tie at his neck and watched the screen.

  “The exact person.” Kit beamed at Caden’s cousin Alana. “I want to have her appear at the press conference coming up soon.”

  “In person or as a hologram?” someone asked out loud.

  Kit half grinned. “I’d prefer in person.”

  “Do you think she would?” Uncle Samuel, Kit’s brother, flattened his hands on the conference table. “Do it, I mean. She’s scaled back her social media presence, and when she posts, there’s no record of her location. Does anyone know how to reach her?”

  “I may,” Caden blurted out. The moment everyone turned to face him, he regretted speaking up. Brows shot up on everyone’s faces around the conference table. Kofi spun on his feet. “I said I may. Let me do some digging and get back with you.”

  The screen paused with Maggie’s beautifully freckled face on the screen as the conference call ended. Light filtered through her naturally red hair. And her smile, damn. Still stole his heart.

  “I take it you know her?” Kofi asked him.

  Never one to kiss and tell, Caden briefly glanced up. His index finger stroked the screen on his phone.

  “Dude, we have to do this for Mama Kit,” Kofi announced.

  Caden squinted his eyes. “Not that I wouldn’t do anything for her, but why are you so gung-ho?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Kofi scoffed as if Caden were stupid. “She’s retiring.”

  “What?” Caden chuckled and sat back in his seat. “She’s been running that pageant for years. Fifty, to be exact.”

  Kofi shook his head. “Do you hear yourself? She’s given everyone a specific task. I bet whoever can accomplish the goals will get her seat.” He held up his finger to silence Caden. “What better way to expand A&O than with the talented ladies from a beauty pageant? We keep taking on new sports clients, shoveling out the retiring ones to Hollywood. Taking on a singer or budding actress can really turn the page for us. And if that doesn’t entice you, how about your dislike for your brothers?”

  “I don’t dislike them.”

  “Which is why you’re at my house every Christmas?”

  Caden shrugged. “I love my godsons.”

  “And they love you, too. We all do in my house, which is why I know you wouldn’t want to see Chase, Heath or Jason running Mama Kit’s beloved pageant into the ground, or worse, making the other pageant scandals pale in comparison.”

  Besides being shamed, directors and other staffers were put out of work when some of the pageants shut down entirely.

  The people working for his mother had been around for a while, some for all five decades. They worked endlessly to put on a great event that helped women move into jobs in television, modeling, news and more. It wouldn’t be fair to see staff put out of work if the pageant were harmed.

  “That’s not fai
r.”

  “It’s business, Caden,” Kofi reminded him. “Save your mom’s legacy or let it crash and burn.”

  “Of course I don’t want to see it die down.”

  “Then go find that girl so we can take over the pageant and expand our brand.”

  * * *

  The bell above the glass doors of The Cupcakery jingled for the umpteenth time this today—as expected. A flash of bright sunshine spread on the black and white tiles of the floor. Hungry residents of Southwood, Georgia, clad in bright-colored flip-flops—the silver slipper of the South—shifted patiently in a line in front of the counter. Folks huddled around the pink high-top tables or filled the black leather booths with the checkered tablecloths. Even the bay windows on either side of the front door were filled with a set of readers while they sipped their coffee and waited. Today was the first day of the month, which meant the release of a new cupcake: the Southern butter pecan hummingbird. And it was all Maggie Swayne’s. She hadn’t felt prouder in months. This must be the feeling her beloved father meant when he announced he was cutting her off.

  Apparently people frowned upon someone being almost thirty without a career and still receiving an allowance. Not only had her father, Mitchell Swayne, repossessed her Jag, Miami condo and unlimited credit cards, he’d given her the worst ultimatum: if she didn’t find and hold a full-time job for six weeks, he was going to postpone the release of her trust fund for another ten years until she turned forty.

  The family owned Swayne’s Pecan Orchard, and it wasn’t like the company was threatened with a pecan glut sending prices down. This was the South. Everything had a pecan in it somewhere.

  Being the apple of her father’s eye, Maggie had managed to bargain for a chance. Her father gave Maggie until her thirtieth birthday to get her life together. Haute Tips, Maggie’s vlog, didn’t qualify as a sustainable career. While looking for a full-time gig that would last six weeks, Maggie took up a part-time one at The Cupcakery, which in the beginning had just provided some spending money but after a few weeks gave her enjoyment, too. She liked the people she worked with and the labor itself. If things went well with the success of this cupcake Maggie had created, she might secure a full-time job as a pastry chef for the next six weeks. Besides, if she did get her cupcake featured on a website the owner was targeting, Maggie could win a prize, with well-deserved prize money she planned on using for an upcoming family trip to New Orleans. But the deadline for posting these photos was fast approaching.