Pink Champagne Read online

  Quenby snatched her phone from where it lay on the desk. “I was just trying to connect with an old friend,” she said, her tone cool. By old she meant new, of course.

  “Looks like you succeeded. Look at this message he just left on your wall.” Isaac winked at her and pointed to her phone. He put the paperweight back on her desk.

  She pulled her phone close to her chest. “I really need to get back to work, Isaac.”

  “Sure you do. ‘Work’.” He made air quotes with his index and middle fingers and then laughed. “Tell homeboy from Facebook I said hi.”

  Quenby glared at him, but said nothing.

  “Oh, by the way, I’m taking a long lunch. I met this hot little thing at the gym last week. Her divorce was finalized this morning. I’m going to pick her up from the spa, and we’re going to celebrate. Wink wink, nudge nudge.” Isaac chuckled. He admired himself for a moment in the reflection from the window in Quenby’s office door. “I’ll probably get a new customer out of it, too. Be back in a couple of hours. Behave yourself okay?”

  “Bye, Isaac.”

  “Bye, cutie.” Isaac gave her a look that left her feeling dirty, winked at her, and then left her office, chuckling to himself again.

  “What an ass,” Quenby mumbled under her breath. And unfortunately, exactly the type she would have dated before the whole Derek fiasco. If they were pretty, she let a lot go. Too much. And here she went again—letting a gorgeous guy live on her couch for a week. Apparently, it was impossible for her to learn lessons.

  She looked down at her phone now that it was safe. She smiled, tracing her fingers over the message Caleb had left: Can’t wait ‘til 5:30PM. She couldn’t wait, either. She wanted to wrap her legs around him again. Rebound fling or not, this would be one good week. Whatever this mess was, it was fun. She’d gotten herself into something that might have been a little not smart, but she liked being in it a lot.

  #

  Caleb opened the front door and came face-to-face with the groom from the wedding.

  “What are you doing here?” Derek asked, attempting to move past Caleb.

  Caleb didn’t budge. “Quenby asked me to be here.”

  “Where is she?” Derek shouted past Caleb into the condo. “Quenby!”

  “She’s at work.”

  “Why would she be there? She told me to stop by today.”

  “She didn’t want to be here for this,” Caleb said. “You can deal with me.”

  “What the? No. She needs to be here for this.” He shook his head. “I won’t do it today.”

  “Frankly, after the way you treated her, you’re lucky she didn’t just throw all your crap on the street. I would have. Clearly, she’s a better person than I am.”

  “We lived together for five years,” Derek said, a smug note creeping into his tone. “It’s going to be complicated, separating our things.”

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  “Excuse me?” Derek gave him a look that was half-questioning, half-indignant.

  “We did it last night. It was pretty easy, actually. Caleb stepped aside and gestured to two stacks of boxes in the middle of the living room floor.

  “Who said you could touch my things?” Derek pushed past Caleb and into the living room. He circled the boxes, staring at them in disbelief.

  “Quenby says if you want any of the furniture, you can arrange to have movers or someone else who’s not you come and pick it up. You can let me know what you want.”

  “Not a damned thing.” Derek snatched one of the boxes from the shorter of the two stacks.

  “Need any help with those boxes, man?” Caleb asked.

  “Nope. Got it.” Derek stomped out into the hall with a box. He was clearly staggering under the weight of the thing, but he tried not to let it show.

  “You sure?” Caleb started toward the stack of boxes.

  “You touch anything of mine one more time, man! One more time!” Derek snarled. “And I’ll call the cops on you.”

  Good thing Quenby wasn’t Derek’s any longer.

  When he came up for the last of his boxes, Derek asked, “Is that your, uh, car down there parked in Quenby’s visitor spot?” Derek smirked. “That little compact?”

  “Yeah.” It was his rental.

  “That’s…economical. I double-parked my Jag next to it. I’m almost through here, so I won’t have you boxed in much longer. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Nope. Don’t mind.” Caleb didn’t bother to mention that he’d picked up that rental after flying first class from Georgia to Richmond. He also didn’t tell Derek how he’d driven Macon and himself to the airport in his Land Rover because he felt no need to get into a pissing contest with this jerk. Pissing contests were for guys who were insecure little boys inside. Guys like Derek.

  Caleb watch Derek struggle toward the elevator with his box and thought about poor Quenby. She’d really been deprived if that was what she’d called having a man in her life for the past five years. No wonder she was afraid to take another chance. He’d bring her around and make her see that all men weren’t like Derek, though. He was determined to do that because he wanted nothing more than a chance to be a part of that incredible woman’s life.

  #

  Caleb looked up as Quenby came through the front door that evening. He slowly worked his way up from black pumps to shapely calves in nylon stockings to black skirt that showed off just enough thigh to black jacket.

  “How’d things go with Derek?” she asked.

  “It’s all over. That’s the important thing,” he said as he watched her unbutton her jacket, revealing a white blouse that fit her in a way that made his jeans a little too snug.

  “Didn’t come to blows, did it?”

  “Nah.”

  “What’d you fill the rest of the day with?”

  “Studying. Sleeping.” He was too busy trying to keep from panting to form complete sentences.

  “I’m glad you stayed.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I’m not going to work for the rest of the week,” she announced.

  “I like that idea.”

  She sat on his lap, and his hands went around her waist. Wanting to do to her what she was doing to him, he ran his thumb up her nylon covered thigh, letting his hand rest beneath her skirt.

  “When someone gives you a gift, you don’t overanalyze it.” She unzipped his pants. Relief flooded him when she freed him from the confines of his jeans.

  “Yeah.” He kissed her cheek, wondering how she could make him so crazy just by walking into a room. He’d never wanted someone so badly. There was lust, and then there was this—whatever it was he felt for Quenby. Lust plus a strong something else.

  “This is all I could think about all day.” She pushed a hand beneath his shirt, running her fingers over his abs.

  He lay her down on the couch and lay over her, bracing his elbows above her shoulders. “Me, too.”

  She shook her head, pushing at his chest. “Wait a minute.”

  He sat up, baffled and disappointed until she kneeled between his legs and caressed his penis, which nearly ended everything right there he wanted her touch so badly.

  “Your turn.” Her mouth closed over it and he groaned, completely under her control as she stroked him with her tongue, bringing his fantasies from all day and the night before into reality.

  Chapter 9

  Adia invited Quenby and Caleb over for dinner Wednesday. He told her on the phone that if this guy was going to be hanging around her, he had to make sure he was okay. Of course Macon had blabbed and told Adia Caleb was staying for the week. Quenby had warned him to be nice. Adia had promised he would, so Wednesday evening, Quenby and Caleb headed over.

  Quenby stopped a few blocks away from Adia’s place to pick up a few things. Ron had asked her to bring him protein powder from a nutrition store near the apartment, and Quenby wanted to stop in a Middle Eastern grocery store near the nutrition store. They had a tea there she liked that she�
�d never been able to find anywhere else.

  She parallel parked near the nutrition store, and they got out of the car. One of her favorite things about fall was the way the humidity dropped off, making the air cool and breathable. If only they got more autumn in Virginia. They seemed to get a week or two at most between summer heat and winter cold every year. She breathed the sweet air in deeply as she and Caleb walked down the street.

  Caleb offered to go to the nutrition store. Quenby told him which protein powder to get, and he told her he’d meet her by the car. Quenby stepped into the small market a couple doors down to get her tea. She nodded to Salim, the proprietor, who stood behind the counter. Then, she headed to the aisle that contained the teas and spices.

  Quenby was headed back to the counter at the front with her tea when she stopped dead in her tracks. Derek and Lisa were right in front of her. She nearly dropped the box of tea she was carrying.

  “Hi, Quenby.” Derek smiled at her. He actually had the nerve to look happy and as if they were old friends meeting again. At least he had the decency to drop Lisa’s hand.

  “Hey.” She clutched the tea to her chest as if it could protect her from him.

  “You look good. Really, really good,” he said.

  She nodded, giving Lisa a quick once-over. She wore a leather miniskirt and a white tank top. In the middle of the day. In the middle of the week. In the middle of October. It was barely seventy degrees outside. Lisa just a friend he met at a bar. Lisa just-one-of-the-guys he’d invited to his bachelor party. And then proceeded to fuck.

  Derek had always looked good in a suit. He must have just come from work.

  “Baby, can you give us a minute? I’ll meet you in the cheese section,” Derek said to Lisa. She gave him an unnecessarily long kiss, smirked at Quenby, and flounced off. Derek turned to Quenby. “I met your little friend.”

  “I know,” Quenby said.

  “That was real mature, Quen. Leaving me to deal with He-Man. We can’t even talk now? We can’t be civil?” Derek smiled again, but his eyes were hard.

  “I offered you half the furniture. You said you didn’t want it.”

  “Please. Like I want or need that furniture.” He shook his head at her. “You know what? No, no never mind. I’m not even going to stoop to your level.”

  “My level? What? Just say what you were going to say, Derek.”

  “I refuse to take all the blame for this. You’re selfish, Quenby. The way you called off the wedding and how you’ve handled everything since proves that.”

  “Me? Selfish?” The comment was so idiotic coming from him after all he’d done to her that she couldn’t come up with a good way to respond to it.

  “You practically made me step out on you.”

  “What?” Quenby shrieked.

  “Sometimes a man needs to be a man. You never let me be the man.”

  “That is the stupidest bullshit I’ve ever heard.”

  “See? There you go again. Belittling me.”

  “There is never a good excuse for cheating. And what you just said is an especially poor and stupid one!” She was tempted to pick up a nearby can of chickpeas and hurl it at him.

  “Well, I won’t keep you. Lisa lives around the corner, so we came here to pick up some goat cheese to go with dinner.” Derek’s words were a punch to the gut. So they’d come to her store to pick up something for dinner. She didn’t want to think of what was coming after dinner. Maybe “who” was the better word. “Have a good time with He-Man.”

  He went to the cheese section, leaving Quenby speechless behind him. She walked to the front of the store, dropped the box of tea on the counter, and reached for her purse with trembling hands.

  “What a snake,” Salim said, narrowing his eyes. He knew about what had happened with the wedding. Indigo said she’d mentioned it to him. Quenby and Indigo often stopped in to chat with Salim on their way to and from the guys’ apartment.

  “Tell me about it,” Quenby said, setting her wallet on the counter and handing Salim a ten dollar bill.

  “You want? I charge him double for the cheese.” Salim handed Quenby her change.

  She laughed. “Thanks, but that’s okay. Don’t do that.”

  “Okay. You take care of yourself.”

  “I will.”

  She was almost out of the door when she realized Salim was calling her name. Turning to look at him, she realized he held her wallet in the air.

  “You are forgetting something very important,” he said in a sing-song voice.

  “Oh, thank you, Salim.” She rushed back over to take her wallet from him.

  Out on the street, she saw Caleb leaning against the car, waiting for her. They got back into the car without her saying anything.

  “You’re looking pretty down over there. What happen? Price of the tea that bad?” Caleb asked.

  Quenby shook her head.

  “I know that was a bad joke, but was it that bad?”

  “It’s not your joke,” she said. “I’m fine.” The rest of the drive to Adia and Ron’s building was quiet, but she felt his stare.

  She’d told herself that was going to be a week of not thinking about Derek, not caring about anything. That plan, like many of her plans, had been blown to shreds.

  She found a spot a little bit down the block from their building. When they got to the front door to the building, she punched in the code for Adia and Ron’s apartment. Finally, she snapped.

  She turned to him in the elevator with an exaggerated sigh. “I saw Derek in the store, okay? He was with that skank he slept with the night before we were supposed to get married. He acted like he never did anything wrong. He had the nerve to blame me! Why do they all act like that? Just once, can I get an ‘I’m sorry’ at least? If they can’t love me, can’t they at least be sorry for breaking my heart?”

  Caleb looked at her, his hazel eyes soft with compassion. But not pity. She couldn’t remember ever getting such a tender look from a guy. She turned away. She felt his hand on her arm, but she didn’t turn around.

  The elevator doors opened, and they stepped off. He still held her arm. She pulled away and started to walk toward the apartment. She stopped when she realized he’d never moved and was still standing between the two elevators that faced each other at the end of the hall.

  He slowly walked up to her and stood in front of her for a moment. She didn’t move. Didn’t speak. That look again. This time, she couldn’t break free of it. He put his arms around her and drew her into a hug. She stood flush against his chest. Her heart beat wildly and her breath became ragged with anticipation and desire. With him so close, all she could see or think was him.

  He put his hand under her chin and gently lifted her gaze to meet his. “Don’t you know you deserve so much more—so much better—than him?”

  She glanced down but didn’t pull away from his fingers.

  He brushed his lips against her cheek, a whisper kiss like that of a feather on skin. Nothing like the heated kisses he’d been giving her all week.

  “What was that for?” she whispered.

  He looked down at her, a longing in his eyes that set her on fire and erased Derek from her mind for the moment. “You looked like you needed it. Especially the way you look now, the way you sounded then. You’re much too beautiful and good of a person to be in that kind of pain. I couldn’t bear to see it.”

  Quenby laughed nervously. “You don’t even know me.” Despite the physical closeness they shared over the past few days, they were barely more than strangers.

  “You keep saying that.” He held her palm to his mouth and mumbled into it. “I know all I need to know.”

  Quenby reached up and kissed him. He put his hands low on her waist. She nuzzled hers against the back of his neck, not able to get close enough to him to satisfy her even though there wasn’t an inch of space between their bodies.

  He dropped the bag containing the jar of protein powder he’d been carrying. Pushing her against
a wall, he took the kiss deeper. His kisses were soft, slow, yet insistent. She moaned, sinking into him. His hand slipped down to her leg. He brought her thigh up to rest on his hip. She tried to pull him closer even though it was impossible. His hand drifted to her bottom, caressing each cheek and then moving lower, toward the hem of her skirt, which had ridden up close to her hip. She moaned, tempted to tell him they should skip dinner.

  She heard a door open down the hall, and she pushed him backward even though she didn’t want to. She straightened her blouse and pulled the hem of her skirt down to her knees. Glanced at Caleb. There was a hungry look on his handsome face that made her want to jump back on him even though there was a man walking toward them.

  The man who’d opened the door walked past them on the way to the elevator, open curiosity on his face. Quenby had seen him around the building before, but she couldn’t remember his name. He greeted them, and they answered back with a greeting. He clearly wanted to stay and chat and probably fish for info he could gossip about later, but thankfully he didn’t stay and ask any questions. Quenby ran her fingers along her lips almost without realizing she was doing it, thinking about Caleb’s lips on hers.

  Once the man was past, Quenby looked at Caleb again. Clearly, Caleb wanted it as badly as she did. She and Caleb had been physical, but they hadn’t closed the deal yet. And it’d been a while—she and Derek hadn’t had sex for at least a month before the wedding. He’d told her he wanted to hold off a while before their wedding night. She should have been suspicious then. At the time, she’d thought it was sweet. She’d been swimming in denial when it came to him.

  That night, they were going to stop playing around and get to the good stuff. She wanted to get Caleb back to her place, get him naked, and have hot, nasty sex with him all night long. But first they had to get through dinner.

  “We should get in there. For dinner,” Quenby said.

  Caleb nodded. He picked up the white plastic bag he’d dropped earlier.

  “The sooner we eat, the sooner I can get you all to myself.”

  “Quenby, I—”

  “Sh.”

  He looked at her, and all she wanted was to hold him again. Feel his lips. Taste his mouth. Push her hands through that golden hair. Shiver under the touch of his large, strong hands.