To Tempt A Stallion

Chapter 3

Freshly showered, Rebecca sat buck naked in the center of the hotel’s king-sized bed with her laptop, her iPad and two cell phones. Technology had made conducting her business behind the privacy of a closed door a luxury she had no intentions of ever losing. Being her own boss allowed her perks a regular nine-to-five job didn’t afford.

She scrolled through her list of things to do, ticking off the last few items for the day. Signage, menus and paper products had been ordered for Nathaniel’s restaurant. He’d approved the final logo and designs and with the many pieces needed for him to open falling into place, his excitement fueled hers.

Carl and his crew were already knee-deep in the renovations and they were only two short weeks from the tables and chairs being delivered. Both she and Nathaniel had pulled every favor ever owed to them to make everything happen as quickly as it needed to. Rebecca had snapped her fingers, cajoled and coddled egos, and had begged and prayed in order to help her friend achieve his goals. Others would have balked at the challenge. She’d embraced it. For him.

She knew from his text messages that he wasn’t too thrilled about her walking out without at least saying goodbye first. But she knew he’d get over it and forgive her that small slight. When she’d woken and found him in the shower she’d resisted the urge to strip out of her clothes and join him. Slipping out of the door like a thief on a mission had been her only option. Because everything in her had just wanted to strip off her clothes.

Her cell phone chimed, interrupting the memory. She bit down against her bottom lip to stall the quiver of heat that pulsed for attention, focusing instead on the call.

Felicia Marks began to rant the minute Rebecca said hello.

“I have been calling you since you took off without telling anyone where you were going. Have you completely lost your mind?” Rebecca’s older sister admonished.

“I left you a message.”

“Be back in a few weeks. That’s what your message said. That’s all your message said. Be back in a few weeks. Not where you were disappearing to. Not if you were with someone. Not what your plans were. Not how many weeks was a few. Your note said nothing. And then you stopped answering your cell phone!”

“But I left one!” Rebecca said, her singsong tone meant to annoy her oldest sibling even more. She sensed her sister shaking her head on the other end of the phone and imagined the glare painting the woman’s expression.

“You are so lucky that I can’t get my hands on you right now.”

“You worry too much. I’m perfectly fine.”

“Where are you?”

“Carmel-by-the-Sea. With Nathaniel Stallion. Helping him to open his new restaurant. I think I told you about it when he first mentioned the idea.”

“Really, Rebecca? I know you do not expect me to believe that you just snuck off without telling anyone just to continue pretending you’re not in love with that man. Restaurant my behind!”

“Nathaniel and I are just friends. That’s all.”

“So who’s handling your other clients while you’re away?”

“I do have employees and I can work from wherever. Technology has come a long way since your DOS-based computer programs and HP calculators. We use the internet now. You should give it a try,” she said facetiously.

“Don’t be a wise-ass, Rebecca. I’m concerned about you.”

“You shouldn’t, sissy. I’m a big girl and I know what I’m doing.”

“Are you ever going to tell him, Rebecca?”

“Right now I am going to get dressed and go take a walk along the beach. It’s been a long and productive day and I deserve to treat myself. That is what I’m going to do. I might even buy myself some ice cream.”

“Here is where I’d give you my lecture about not being afraid to take risks and how you should step out on faith and trust in what fate has in store for you. Because you are so in love with that man! You should tell him, Rebecca. But since I know you’ll ignore me and pretend you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, I won’t waste my breath. I’ll just tell him myself the next time I see the two of you.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Rebecca quipped.

Felicia laughed. “Wouldn’t I?”

“I am so done with you right now. Are we good? Are you satisfied that I’m still alive and breathing so you can go back to whatever it is you do?”

“Call me tomorrow, Rebecca, or I will call you.”

“Bye, Felicia!”

“That really isn’t cute anymore,” Felicia laughed. “It’s not cute at all!”

Rebecca disconnected the line. She waited a quick second and then she sent her sister a text message, simply saying, I love you.

She dropped into reflection, thinking about her situation. Rebecca knew she didn’t always make it easy for the people who cared about her. Her sister Felicia and Nathaniel especially. It was bad enough that she still had to explain her disappearing act to him but she didn’t have the energy to also explain herself to her sister. Especially since her sister knew her so well. Felicia read her as easily as Nathaniel did, and Rebecca didn’t always need to say things out loud.

Her sister was her best female friend. Most times they were like oil and water, Felicia holding her up while she floated all willy-nilly in the atmosphere. It had been that way since they’d been little girls. She had only told Felicia what she felt for Nathaniel and that was after way too many alcoholic beverages. The two had been on a girl’s weekend bender, determined to have a good time while still managing to stay out of trouble. She’d let her secret spill and Felicia had been giving her a hard time ever since. But the more she thought about it, the more she was starting to think that maybe her sister was right. Maybe it was time to tell Nathaniel how she felt, to expose her hand and hope he was open to the possibilities.

Another message chimed on the device in her hand. She had lost count of the number of messages Nathaniel had sent to get her attention. She hadn’t lost sight of the fact she’d ignored most of them. She stole a quick glance to the digital clock on the nightstand. She’d missed lunch and the biscuit she’d eaten for breakfast was a distant memory. She was hungry and finally texted him back about when and where.

She could do dinner, she thought, beginning to gather her belongings from the bed. And because she knew he would have questions, she began to prep her answers, getting her excuses and story in order.

* * *

Nathaniel’s brow was raised, his eyes wide, as he stared at her. The two were seated at Bar Mars, a popular dinner spot that catered to a wealthy crowd of pretty people. Rebecca had insisted he check out his competition, wanting to critique the food and the ambience. After one size-thin woman too many had vied for his attention as if Rebecca weren’t standing by his side, she’d been having second thoughts about them coming there. She took a deep breath and held it, knowing he expected an answer to his question. He repeated himself.

“I’m serious, Bec. I really want to know why you left the way you did. And why you won’t just stay at the house.”

She rolled her eyes skyward. “It really isn’t a big deal, Nate. We both had things to do. You were in the shower and I needed one. It just made sense for me to go back to the hotel where my things were.”

Nathaniel shook his head. “Then you ignore my calls all day. I was starting to think I’d done something to offend you.”

“You know how I am,” Rebecca said. “I just needed some time to myself.”

“I would have thought you’d outgrown those mood swings by now,” he said with a wry grin.

She laughed. “Nope and I’m still prone to throwing tantrums when I can’t have my way. You’ve been warned.”

Nathaniel nodded. “My invitation still stands,” he said. “There is more than enough room at the house for you and your stuff. You don’t need to stay at that hotel.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a single key on a silver key ring, passing it to her.

“What is this?”

“It’s the key to my house. You use it to unlock the doors.”

Rebecca closed her eyes and took another deep breath. When she opened them, the look he was giving her caused a ripple of heat to trail down the length of her spine. She clenched her fists tightly together. “You’re giving me the keys to your house?”

“Why wouldn’t I? It just makes sense that you should be able to come and go as you please.”

“I am not going to just let myself into your home like I live there. Not going to happen!”

“Why are you always so damn stubborn?”

“Me? What about you? Always trying to tell people what to do.”

He grinned. “I just tell you what to do and you never listen to me.”

“I’m still not staying at your house or using a key.”

Nathaniel nodded. “Yes, you will!” And then he reached across the table and dropped the keyring into her purse.

Rebecca was ready with a snarky response when someone suddenly called her name. She and Nathaniel both turned at the same time, gazes shifting toward the deep baritone voice with the familiar Caribbean lilt.

“Rebecca Marks! I thought that was you!”

Rebecca’s eyes widened as she fixated on the man moving swiftly in her direction. She stole the quickest glance toward Nathaniel who was eyeing them both curiously.

“Is that who I think it is?” he muttered under his breath.

Rebecca mumbled back. “Yep! That’s my former fiancé.”

As the man reached their table, Rebecca forced a smile to her face. “Jeffrey Baylor! What a surprise!” she gushed, moving onto the platform heels she’d worn.

Jeffrey swept her into his arms and spun her in a circle. His excitement was palpable, the wealth of it making it seem like it had taken over the room. Those at the tables closest to them turned to stare, smiles widening as the two old friends greeted each other. When the man suddenly kissed her, pressing his mouth tightly to hers, Nathaniel felt himself bristle with indignation, a flagrant wave of jealousy sweeping through him. He was on his feet before he realized it, his stance just aggressive enough to pull at Rebecca’s attention.

She swiped the back of her hand across her full lips, her face tinged a brilliant shade of deep red. “Jeffrey, you remember Nathaniel Stallion, don’t you? He went to school with us,” she said as she took a step back, pulling herself from the man’s clutches.

“How could I forget. It’s good to see you, Stallion.”

“It’s good to see you as well,” Nathaniel said, his tone dry. “What a small world.”

“Not small enough,” Jeffrey quipped with a slight chuckle. He turned his full focus back on Rebecca.

“You are as beautiful as ever, Rebecca! So what are you doing here?”

Rebecca smiled. “Working,” she said, taking another quick glance toward Nathaniel. “Nathaniel is opening a restaurant not too far from here, so we thought we should come check out the competition.”

Jeffrey nodded, a smile pulling at his mouth. “I’m flattered that you see me and my restaurant as competition.”

Rebecca and Nathaniel both looked stunned. “You own this place?” Nathaniel questioned.

“I do. Five years now.”

“So, you did put those culinary skills of yours to good use! We’re very impressed.”

“We’re not that impressed,” Nathaniel muttered under his breath.

Rebecca’s laugh was a nervous titter. She was suddenly hypersensitive, her emotions on serious overload. She inhaled swiftly and held the warm breath deep in her lungs.

As third wheels go, Jeffrey didn’t appear to notice her discomfort and didn’t seem to care much about Nathaniel’s. He gestured for them both to retake their seats and then slid into the booth with them, into the empty space beside Rebecca. He eyed Nathaniel intently.

“So, Stallion, you purchased the restaurant property on Mile Drive. I’d put a bid in on it, but obviously I lost out. Although, I have to say I think you paid way too much for it!”

Nathaniel snorted. “It’s an investment I’ll easily recoup.”

“I’m sure you know the restaurant business isn’t an easy one. But I wish you luck with yours.”

“Nathaniel will do very well. We’re very excited for what his restaurant will bring to the area,” Rebecca interjected, sounding very much like a marketing professional. She and Nathaniel exchanged a look, he eyeing her with a raised brow.

Jeffry dropped a hand to her thigh and she tensed, his touch causing her breath to hitch. She pulled away from his grasp, shifting herself closer to the wall. The man smiled and winked an eye at her. “It’s great that you have such talent working for you,” he said, shifting his gaze back toward Nathaniel. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, Stallion, but weren’t you planning on a medical career when we were in school?”

“Actually, it’s Dr. Stallion and I’ve had a very successful surgical career since graduation and med school.”

“So the restaurant is just an investment thing for you?”

Rebecca chimed in a second time. “Not at all. Nathaniel is deeply committed to this new venture. He will be very hands-on with the day-to-day operations. He’s a marvelous chef and has gotten rave reviews for the two pop-up restaurants he tested in Los Angeles last year.”

Jeffry smiled. “Well, I look forward to visiting your place when you get it open, Stallion.” He stood back up. “Rebecca, I’d love to catch up. Maybe we can grab coffee one day this week? That is if you can tear yourself away from your work for a short while.”

Rebecca smiled. “Maybe.”

He pulled a ballpoint pen and a business card from the breast pocket of his button-down shirt. He jotted a phone number on the back then winked his eye at her a second time. “Here’s my number. Please. Call me. I’d love for us to sit down and talk.”

Rebecca nodded, her face lifting in a sweet smile. “I will do that,” she responded.

Nathaniel met Jeffrey’s outstretched hand with his own and shook it. “It was good seeing you again, Jeff,” he said politely.

The two watched as Jeffrey took his leave, sauntering back across the room and through the swinging doors into the employees-only area.

“Well, that was a surprise,” Rebecca quipped as casually as she could muster.

Nathaniel sensed her feeling out his mood as she tried to make sense of her own emotions. He nodded. “It’s not often you run into your ex-fiancé. Must have been like old times the way he was so touchy-feely.”

“It was not like that.”

“You sure about that, Bec? You looked like you were enjoying his attention.”

“I did not!”

“You did, too! And that’s okay if you were. I know how much you loved him. You were ready to throw your whole life away to follow him around the world. The way it ended left a lot unsaid. You may still have some residual feelings for him.”

Rebecca closed her eyes. Jeffrey Baylor had been so lost in her past that she had never imagined ever having to revisit him or that time period again. He’d arrived as a transfer student at UCLA their junior year. Tall, dark and handsome to the nth degree, he’d captured the attention of every woman on campus and Rebecca had captured his. His pursuit of her had been taken right out of the handbook for a romance novel. He’d said and done all the right things, never amiss with the romantic attention. He’d had her swooning by the third date and before she knew it she’d been his girl. Even then Nathaniel’s teasing her about it had been unmerciful.

But her best friend and her boyfriend had never meshed, unable to find any common ground. Not even her happiness. The two had butted heads at every turn, like two bulls in a china shop racing for the door. Nathaniel hadn’t trusted the man and had often pointed out flaws she’d chosen to ignore. When her grades slipped, her attention divided, he’d blamed her love life, often admonishing her to get back on track.

Jeffrey had graduated the year before she and Nathaniel did, with plans to head to France for a culinary career. When he’d shown up on her doorstep begging her to join him, she had wanted to say yes. When Nathaniel found out, enumerating every reason why that was a bad idea, doubt had set in. Although the two had never discussed it, the words never said out loud, she and Jeffrey had known that if she’d been made to choose one over the other, Nathaniel would have always won. He’d known and he had hated it and despised Nathaniel for it. But Nathaniel owned her heart, Jeffrey had only occupied a very small piece of it. She could have loved Jeffrey but she would have always been in love with Nathaniel. It had been the difference between her leaving and her final decision to stay. And Nathaniel didn’t have a clue.

She opened her eyes to stare at her friend. “You really don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Nate.”

“I know what I see, Bec.”

“Do you really? I swear, you are such a jerk sometimes!” she hissed between clenched teeth. She stood up abruptly.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my hotel room.”

“I thought you wanted to go walk on the beach?”

“You just ruined the mood!” she said and with a dismissive flick of her hand and a twirl on her high heels she stomped toward the door and out of the restaurant.

Chapter 4

Nathaniel hated when Rebecca was angry with him. It had been three days since she’d stormed out of the restaurant, pissed beyond measure. He still didn’t have a clue why she’d gotten so furious or how he could fix what he’d apparently broken. His calls weren’t being answered and his business dealings had been passed on to one of her associates. If he hadn’t checked, he wouldn’t have even known if she were still registered at the hotel.

He was barely listening to Naomi and Natalie who were both chattering away on the three-way call. When one of them, and he wasn’t sure which, called his name, pulling at his attention, he was genuinely surprised.

“Are you still on the line?” Naomi snapped.

“Yeah! I’m here. What’s wrong?” he questioned.

“We should be asking you that,” Natalie said. “You haven’t heard a word either of us has said for the last ten minutes. What’s wrong with you?”

“And we want the truth,” Naomi added.

Nathaniel heaved a deep sigh. “I just have a lot on my mind. Getting this restaurant open is just a challenge, that’s all.”

“And how is Rebecca?” Naomi asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

“She is still working on the restaurant with you, right?”

“Does anything get past you two?” Nathaniel asked.

Both women answered simultaneously. “No!”

He chuckled softly. “She’s got an attitude about something and she’s not talking to me.”

“What did you do?” Natalie quipped.

“And why haven’t you fixed it?” Naomi interjected.

“Why is this my fault? I didn’t do anything. She’s just crazy! I’m sure all of it has something to do with that ex-boyfriend of hers. We ran into him at dinner the other night. He owns a restaurant not far from mine.”

“So did something happen to upset her?”

Nathaniel spent the next few minutes filling them in on the minor details of his time with Rebecca. He concluded, “Then she blew up when I told her I thought she still had feelings for him. But you should have seen how she was when he was hugging her all up. And he even kissed her! Clearly, she didn’t seem to mind that, right?”

Naomi laughed, noting the agitation in her brother’s tone. “When are you and Rebecca going to stop playing this game with each other?”

“What game?”

“Pretending you don’t have feelings for each other,” Natalie quipped.

“It’s not like that. We’re great friends and I care about her, but...”

“You love her, big brother. You’ve always loved her. You’ve just been afraid to admit it,” Naomi said, adding her two cents to the conversation.

“I’m not saying I don’t love Bec, I’m saying...”

“That you are a complete and total moron!” Natalie said. “You are such a man it makes my jaw tight!”

“What? I am not that bad.”

“You’re worse. You’re so busy telling Rebecca what you see between her and some other guy, but you’re blind to what’s happening right up under your nose with you and her.”

“I’m not blind. I...well...it’s complicated,” he said finally.

“So do you want us to tell you how to fix it?” Naomi asked.

Nathaniel hesitated. When he finally said, “Yes,” the two sisters laughed warmly.