Flames of Attraction

chapter 8



“Cathy will be calling you later today, Libby.”

Olivia lifted her gaze from her cereal bowl to glance over at her father, with a questioning look on her face. “For what reason?”

“To schedule all those fund-raisers that you and I will need to attend over the next couple of weeks, beginning this Saturday.”

Panic shot through Olivia. “Not this Saturday night, I hope.”

Her father quirked a thick brow. “No, it’s Saturday midday at the home of Darwin Walker and his wife.”

She nodded. Darwin and Terrence used to play together for the Miami Dolphins. Last year Darwin, who, like Terrence, had retired from the NFL, moved to Atlanta after accepting a coaching position with the Falcons.

“And why are you concerned about Saturday night? Do you have plans or something?” Orin asked.

Olivia swallowed. She hated lying to her father, but there was no way she could tell him the truth. Running for political office had made him somewhat unreasonable, especially when it came to Reggie. She was convinced that the only reason he didn’t like Reggie was that he was the main person standing in the way of him becoming a senator. However, she intended to do as Reggie had suggested and believe that the election had no bearing on what was developing between them.

She met her father’s gaze. “Yes, I have plans. I ran into a friend at the party Saturday night, and we’re getting together again this weekend.” At least what she’d said wasn’t a total lie.

Her father’s features softened. “That’s good. I’ve been feeling badly about asking you to put your life in Paris on hold to come here and be my escort for all these campaign events. I’m glad you’ve managed to squeeze in some fun time.”

If only you knew just how much fun I’ve had thanks to Reggie, she thought.

Both she and her father resumed eating, and the kitchen became quiet. There was something she needed to ask him, something she truly needed to know. The issue had been bothering her since she’d heard about it yesterday.

She glanced across the table at her father. He had resumed reading the paper and was flipping through the pages. She hated interrupting, but she had to. “Dad, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, sweetheart,” Orin said, looking up to meet her gaze and placing the newspaper aside. “What is it?”

“Reggie Westmoreland,” she said and watched her father’s jaw flex.

“What about him, Libby?”

“Did you authorize any of your staff members to put out that false statement about his company facing bankruptcy and layoffs?”

Her father frowned. “Of course not. Why would I or my staff do something like that?”

“To discredit him.”

His features tightened. “And you believe I would do something like that or give my staff permission to do so?”

“I don’t want to believe that, but I’m not naive. I know how dirty politics can be, Dad.”

Orin leaned back in his chair. “Are you taking up for Reggie Westmoreland?” he asked, studying her features.

She sighed deeply. “No, Dad, I’m not taking up for anyone. Such tactics can backfire, so my concern is actually for you.”

What she didn’t say was that she was sure Reggie was aware of the rumor, which had circulated yesterday, but he hadn’t mentioned it to her. Although he had to have been upset about it, Reggie had given her his full concentration and had kept his word not to mix his competition with her father and his relationship with her.

Now it was her turn to study her father’s features, and she could see that what she’d said had him thinking. Was he so disjointed from his campaign staff that he truly didn’t know what was going on? Did he not know what they were capable of?

“I’m having a meeting with my campaign staff this morning, and if I discover that someone on my staff is connected to yesterday’s story in any way, they will be dismissed.”

She came close to asking if that included Senator Reed. She had a feeling he was behind the rumor. “Thanks, Dad. I think it will be in your best interest in the long run.”

* * *

“Where were you yesterday, Reggie? I tried reaching you all afternoon,” Brent said, looking across the breakfast table at his friend. They were sitting in Chase’s Place, where they had met for breakfast.

Reggie shrugged. “I was busy. Did anything come up that you couldn’t handle?”

“Of course not.” Brent set his coffee cup down, and his blue eyes studied Reggie intently. “But it would have been nice if I’d been able to contact you. Someone from Newsweek called to do an article on you. We’re not talking about a local magazine, Reg. We’re talking about Newsweek. You know how long I’ve been trying to get you national coverage.”

Yes, Reggie did know, and he felt badly about it. But at the time all he could think about was that he wanted to spend uninterrupted time with Olivia. “I’m sorry about that, Brent.”

“You’re seeing her, aren’t you?”

Reggie lifted a brow and met Brent’s stare. “It depends on who you’re referring to.”

“Orin Jeffries’s daughter.”

Reggie leaned back in his chair. He and Brent had been friends for a long time, since grade school, actually. After attending college at Yale, Brent had worked for a number of years in Boston before moving back to Atlanta a few years ago to care for his elderly parents. A couple of months ago, Reggie had been the best man at Brent’s wedding.

As far as Reggie was concerned, other than his brothers and cousins, there wasn’t a man he trusted more. He met his best friend’s eyes. “Yes, I’m seeing her.”

Brent let out a deep sigh. “Do you think that’s smart?”

Reggie chuckled. “Considering the fact that I plan to marry her sometime after the election, yes, I would have to say it’s smart.”

Brent’s jaw dropped. “Marry!” And then he quickly glanced around, hoping no one had heard his outburst. After turning back around, he nervously brushed back a strand of blond hair that had fallen onto his face. “Reggie, you just met the woman on Monday at that luncheon.”

“No,” Reggie said, smiling, as he absently swirled the coffee around in his cup. “Actually, we met before then.”

Brent lifted a brow. “When?”

“Saturday night, at the Firemen’s Masquerade Ball.”

“Saturday night?”

“Yes,” replied Reggie.

“That wasn’t even a week ago. Are you telling me you decided once you saw her at a party that you were going to marry her?”

“Something like that. And at the time I didn’t know who she was. I found out her true identity on Monday, at that luncheon, the same time she found out mine.” Reggie could only smile. Brent was staring at him like he had totally lost his mind. “Trust me, my friend, I haven’t lost my mind. Just my heart.”

Brent took a sip of his orange juice. His expression implied that he wished the juice was laced with vodka. “Do the two of you understand the implications of what you’re doing? Hello,” he said, putting emphasis on that single word. “Her father is your opponent in a Senate race.”

“We’re aware of that. However, we’ve decided that has nothing to do with what’s going on between us,” Reggie said.

“And you love her?” Brent asked incredulously.

“With all my heart and then some,” Reggie answered truthfully.

He had thought about it a lot last night. To be honest, he hadn’t been able to think about anything else. As crazy as it might seem to some people, yes, he had fallen in love with her. He had never been totally against marriage, especially since his family over the past seven years—starting with Delaney—seemed to be falling like flies into matrimony. He just knew he wouldn’t ever settle down until the right woman came along. Because of his career and his decision to get into politics, he hadn’t expected that to happen anytime soon. He thought he would at least be in his late thirties when he tied the knot, although he knew his mother wished otherwise.

“And she feels the same way?”

Brent’s question invaded Reggie’s thoughts. “Not sure. I’ve never asked her. In fact, I haven’t even shared my feelings with her yet. It will be best to wait until after the campaign.”

Brent took another gulp of his orange juice. “I swear, Reggie, you’re going to give me heart failure.”

Reggie smiled. “Don’t mean to. I’m sure you remember when you met Melody. What did you tell me? You claimed you had fallen in love with her instantly.”

“I did. But her father wasn’t my political opponent,” Brent countered.

“Shouldn’t matter, and we intend not to let it affect our relationship, either. So wish us luck.”

Brent couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, man, what you need are prayers, and I’ll be the first to send one up for you.”

* * *

Olivia stepped off the elevator and glanced around. Over the years, not much in her father’s office had changed. The placement of the furniture was still the same. She remembered coming here as a child after school and sitting on the sofa and watching television—but only after she had completed her homework. Duan and Terrence had been into after-school sports, so instead of letting her go home to an empty house, her father had hired a private car to pick her up from school and bring her here.

“Libby, it’s good to see you. You didn’t need to come in to meet with me.”

Olivia couldn’t help but return Cathy’s warm smile. “I didn’t mind. I wanted to get out of the house, anyway.”

That much was true. She had tried to paint, but the only subject that had readily come to mind was Reggie, and she couldn’t risk her father finding sketches of him all over the place. She slid into the chair next to Cathy’s desk.

“If you wanted to see your dad you’re too late. He stepped out. I think he went over to his campaign headquarters,” Cathy was saying, with a concerned expression on her face. “He was on the phone earlier with his campaign staff, and he wasn’t a happy camper. He suspects someone released that false information on Westmoreland yesterday. Now it says in this morning’s paper that your father’s campaign is turning to dirty politics.”

Olivia sighed. She’d been afraid that would happen. “Well, I’m glad Dad is addressing it. Otherwise, it could backfire even more if whoever is responsible keeps it up.”

“I agree.”

Olivia liked Cathy. She was attractive, responsible, and Olivia knew the woman had her father’s interests at heart. At least her father was beginning to notice Cathy as a woman, although he was moving way too slowly to suit Olivia. “Well, as you can see, I brought my planner,” she said to Cathy. “Dad wants me to pencil in all those important dates of those campaign events. I still don’t understand why he just didn’t ask you to go with him.”

Cathy blushed. “Your father would never do that. I’m his secretary.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “You’re not just his secretary, Cathy. You’re his right hand in more ways than one, and I’m sure he knows it. Frankly, I’m concerned about him and the election. Sometimes I think he wants to become a senator, and other times I’m not sure. What’s your take on it?”

Cathy hesitated in responding, and Olivia knew it was because she thought that to say anything negative about Orin or the campaign might be construed as disloyalty. “I think that if it had been left up to your father, he would not have run,” Cathy said hesitantly.

“Then why did he?”

“Because Senator Reed talked him into it.”

Olivia shook her head, still not understanding. “My father is a grown man who can make decisions on his own. Why would he let Senator Reed talk him into doing anything? That doesn’t make sense. It’s not like they have a history or have been friends for a terribly long time. It’s my understanding that they met playing golf just a few years ago.”

Cathy shook her head. “No, their relationship goes back further than that.”

Olivia blinked, surprised. She had a feeling Cathy knew a lot more than she was telling. Definitely a lot more than Olivia or her brothers knew. “So, what’s the relationship?”

Cathy, Olivia noted, was nervously biting her lips. “I’m not sure it’s my place to say, Libby,” she said.

Olivia knew that if she didn’t get the information from Cathy, then she would never get it. Deciding to go for broke, she said in a low and soft voice, “I know you love Dad, Cathy.” At the woman’s surprised look, Olivia lowered her voice even more. “And I’m hoping Dad realizes, and very soon, what a jewel he has in you, not only as an employee, but, more importantly, as a woman who, I know, has his back. But I’m honestly worried that something is going on that my brothers and I wouldn’t agree with, and if that’s the case, then we need to know what it is.”

Cathy stared at her for a long moment. “Your father feels indebted to the senator.”

Olivia raised a brow. “And why would he feel that way?”

Cathy didn’t say anything for a long while. “Because of your mother,” the older woman said.

Olivia’s head began spinning. “How does my mother have anything to do with this? My brothers and I haven’t heard from her in over twenty-something years. Are you saying that my father has? That he and my mother are in contact with each other?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

With a desperate look in her eyes, Olivia took hold of the woman’s hand. “Tell me, Cathy. You need to tell me what’s going on and what my mother has to do with it.”

“Years ago, your mother ran off with another man, a married man,” Cathy said.

Olivia nodded. She knew all that. Although she had been only three then, years later she had overheard one of her grandparents talking about her mother in whispers. “And?”

“The man’s wife had a child.”

“Yes, I know that as well,” Olivia said. “I also know the woman was so torn up about what happened that eventually she and her child moved away.”

“Yes, but what you probably don’t know is that eventually, a couple of years later, that woman committed suicide. She could never get over losing her husband.”

Olivia gasped. Cathy was right. She hadn’t known that. “How awful.”

Cathy nodded sadly in agreement. “Yes, it was. And what’s even worse, when she decided to stall her car on the train tracks and just sit there waiting for the train to come, she had her child in the car with her. They were both killed.”

Tears she couldn’t hold back sprang into Olivia’s eyes. It was bad enough that her mother’s actions had broken up a family, but they had also caused a woman to end her own life and that of her child.

“I didn’t want to tell you,” Cathy said softly, handing Olivia a tissue.

Olivia dabbed at her eyes. “I’m glad you did. But what does all that have to do with Senator Reed?”

Now it was Cathy who reached out to hold Olivia’s hand. “The woman who committed suicide was his sister, Libby, and your father feels responsible for what eventually happened to her and her little girl because of what your mother did.”

* * *

The first thing Olivia did when she got home was to pull out her sketch pad and water colors, determined to go to the park. Painting always soothed her mind, and she needed it today more than ever.

She had come home soon after her conversation with Cathy; otherwise, she would have gone looking for her father just to cry in his arms. It just wasn’t fair that he felt responsible for the choices his wife had made over twenty years before, choices that had ultimately led to a sad tragedy. And if Senator Reed was intentionally playing with her father’s conscience, he would have to stop.

Once at the park, she found several scenes she could concentrate on and tried her hand at doing a few sketches, but her concentration wavered. A part of her wanted to call her brothers and tell them what she’d found out, but she resisted doing so. They would be in town next weekend, and she would tell them then. They would know how to handle the situation. She loved her father and if he really wanted to enter politics and become a senator, then he had her support. But if he was being railroaded into doing something out of misplaced guilt, then she definitely had a problem with that.

For the first time in years, she thought about the woman who had given birth to her. The woman had walked out of her, her father’s and her brothers’ lives without looking back. When Duan had gotten old enough, he had tried contacting her, to satisfy his need to know why Susan Jeffries’s maternal instincts had never driven her to stay in contact with the three kids she had left behind. Instead of finding a woman who regretted what she had done, he had found a selfish individual who had been married four times and had never given birth to another child. Instead, she had been living life in the fast lane and was the mistress of a race-car driver, apparently working on hubby number five. That had been six years ago. There was no telling what number she was on now.

The more Olivia thought about her mother, the more depressed she became, and she found that even painting couldn’t soothe her troubled mind. It was strange that the happiest of her days were those she’d spent with Reggie. Not just sharing a bed with him, but sharing a bit of herself like she’d never shared with a man before. They would talk in between their lovemaking. Pillow talk. She felt so good around him.

A child’s laughter caught her attention, and she glanced across the pond to see a mother interacting with a child that appeared to be about three, the same age she’d been when her mother left. The woman seemed to be having fun, and the exuberance on the face of the little girl left no doubt that she, too, was having the time of her life. That’s what real mothers did. They put smiles on their children’s faces, not sad frowns that lasted a lifetime.

Aware that she had begun thinking of her poor excuse for a mother again, she shifted her thoughts back to Reggie. She would love to see him now, be held by him and kissed by him. It was hard to believe that they had met less than a week ago, but since then they had shared so much.

Half an hour later she was still sitting on the park bench, thinking about Reggie. They had spent most of yesterday together. Would he want to see her today? Would he meet her somewhere if she were to call, just to hold her in his arms and do nothing more?

Olivia swallowed. There was only one way to find out. She took her cell phone out of her bag and dialed his number.

“Hello. This is Reggie Westmoreland.”

The sound of his sexy voice oozed all over her. “Hi. This is Olivia. I didn’t want to call you, but I didn’t have anyone else to call.”

“Olivia, what’s wrong?”

She swiped at a tear. “Nothing really. I just need to be held.”

“Where are you?”

“At a park. I came here to paint and—”

“What’s the name of the park?”

“Cypress Park.”

“I know where it’s located. I’m on my way.”

“No, it’s out in the open. Is there a place near here where we can meet?” she asked.

There was a pause, and then he said, “Yes, in fact, there is. My cousin Delaney and her husband, Jamal, own a town house a few blocks away. It’s on Commonwealth Boulevard. Delaney’s Square.”

“A town house just for her?” Olivia asked.

“Jamal was the first tenant and decided to buy out the others so he, Delaney and the kids could have their privacy whenever they came to town. I have a key to check on things when they’re not here. Go there now, sweetheart. I’ll be waiting.”

* * *

Olivia recognized Reggie’s car parked in front of a massive group of elegant buildings, all townhomes, around ten of them, on a beautiful landscaped property.

She strolled up the walkway to the center building; her pulse rate increased with every step she took. When she reached the front door, she glanced around. She lifted her hand to knock on the door, but before her knuckles could make contact, the door opened and Reggie was there. He captured her hand in his and gently pulled her inside and closed the door behind her.

Olivia looked up at him, and he gently pulled her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her face to his chest.

She inhaled deeply. He smelled of man, a nice, robust scent that sent shivers down her spine. This was what she needed. To be held in his arms. Riding over here, she kept thinking about how it would feel to be in his arms again. Her life was in turmoil, and right now he was a solid force in her mixed-up world.

Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted in his arms, and she linked her arms around his neck. “Where are you taking me?” she asked when he began walking.

“Over here, to the sofa, so I can hold you the way I want to, and so you can tell me what’s bothering you.”

Olivia pressed her lips together, not sure she could do that without implicating her father, and that wouldn’t be good. He didn’t need to know that her father had felt compelled to enter the Senate race because Senator Reed, a man he felt indebted to, had encouraged him to do so, and that her father’s heart might not be in it.

Reggie adjusted her in his arms when he sat down on the sofa and angled her body so that she could look up at him. “What happened, Olivia? What happened to make you call me?”

She hesitated and then decided to tell him some of what was bothering her, but not all of it. “I was at the park and saw this mother and child. The little girl was about the age I was when my mother walked out on my dad, my brothers and me. Seeing them made me realize how easy it was for my mother to walk away without looking back.”

“And she’s never tried contacting you?” Reggie asked, softly stroking the side of her face with the pad of his thumb.

Oliver shook her head. “No, she never has.”

Reggie tightened his hold on Olivia, and she clung to his warmth. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before she lifted her head to look at him. He looked at her, studied her face. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

She nodded. “I am now. But I have to go. Dad will worry because it’s getting late.”

He stood with her in his arms and let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor. For a long moment, she stood there and stared at him, realizing that he hadn’t kissed her yet. He must have read her mind, because he lowered his mouth to her. She craned her neck to meet him halfway and let out a deep sigh when their lips met.

His tongue was in her mouth in a flash, moving around in a circular motion before winding around hers, taking it in total possession. She wrapped her arms around his neck and groaned out loud when he deepened the kiss. Sensations throbbed within her, and she felt a shiver pass through her body.

Moments later, she pulled back from the kiss, gasping for breath. Nobody could kiss like Reggie Westmoreland. She was totally convinced of that. They had to stand there a moment to catch their breaths. In a way, it did her heart good to know he had been just as affected by the kiss.

“Do you want me to show you around before you go?” Reggie asked her in a ragged voice, taking her hand in his.

Olivia glanced around. The place was absolutely beautiful, with its sprawling living room that was lavishly decorated in peach and cream, its bigger-than-life dining room and kitchen and its spiral staircase. Fit for a king. And from what she’d read, Sheikh Jamal Ari Yasir would one day inherit that title.

“Yes, I’d love to see the rest of it.”

Reggie showed her around, and she was in total awe of the lavishly decorated bedrooms and baths, and when they toured one of the beautifully decorated guest rooms, with a huge four-poster bed, he didn’t try to get her in it. Instead, he looked at her. “Saturday night will be ours. Today you just needed me to hold you,” he whispered.

His words went a long way to calm her, soothed her troubled mind and actually made her feel special, mainly because she had called and he had come. “Thank you for coming, Reggie.”

He looked down at her and pulled her closer to him. “I will always come when you call, Olivia.”

She met his gaze, thinking that was a strange thing to say. They didn’t have a future together. At the end of two months, she would be returning to Paris.

“Come on. Let me walk you to your car,” Reggie said huskily as he placed his arms around her shoulders.

Olivia regretted that her time with Reggie was about to end and appreciated that he had been there for her when she had needed him. That meant a lot.