A Tropical Rendezvous: A BWWM Interracial Bad Boy Billionaire Multicultural Romance (African American Romance) (59 page)

Chapter Two

By the end of the day, Jade was exhausted. The shop had a steady flow of customers all day, and most of them wanted to talk about what had happened to Julio. She’d sent an arrangement to his house and planned to bake a casserole for his wife, Molly. With Julio laid up for the next week or so, she’d need all the help she could get with four small children. She hated to think about the area changing, being ruled by a gang of thugs, criminals, and thieves. She shivered just thinking about it. “Better lock the door,” she reminded herself aloud and went to do just that. Instead, she found a giant oaf of a man standing directly in front of her glass doors dressed in all back. “Sorry sir, we’re closed for the day.”

Tattooed arms crossed over his massive chest with a strange curly hairstyle about twenty five years out of date, the guy looked like the stereotype of a mafia henchman. His tall frame shadowed her, and she felt her throat dry. “I ain’t here for no flowers.”

Crossing her arms, Jade grinned. “Well, we don’t sell chocolate or diamonds so maybe just offer your lady an apology. Now if you don’t mind, I need to close the shop.” Her nerves were getting the best of her. His dark brown eyes glared at her attempt at humor, and he hadn’t changed his imposing stance once.

“Five hundred bucks.”

She blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Five hundred dollars. That’s how much you owe each month for our protection.”

She nodded her understanding. Extortion for protection. She’d seen enough mafia movies to know what was happening. But she didn’t have to like it. “I don’t need any protection, but thanks for offering.”

“If you don’t pay the money little girl, you will need protection. Believe that.” One meaty finger pointed at her menacingly.

Jade crossed her arms and shook her head. “Well I can’t afford that, so you’ll just have to extort someone else.” She saw his sausage fingers touching an expensive crystal vase filled with one dozen exotic roses. “If you break that to prove your point, I really won’t have the money to pay so get the hell out of my shop!” He glared for a moment and stalked out, leaving her alone and in tears. She picked up her phone and hit the image of the wavy brown hair and smiling honey brown eyes and tapped the call button. “Anthony, I need you. Please.”

~

Anthony hopped in his car and made the seven minute drive from his restaurant to Jade’s shop in four and a half minutes. She’d been crying, dammit. A man could handle a lot of pain and torture, but nothing was as devastating as a woman in tears. He parked right out front and found the door locked. Tapping lightly had gotten her attention and the door quickly opened and locked again.

“Thanks for coming, Anth,” she wrapped her arms tight around his body and let the tears flow.

He was powerless against the body shaking tears his best friend released onto his shirt. Jade rarely cried, and these tears weren’t from a broken heart or a death in the family. This was something else. “Of course. I’ll always come for you, babe. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

She swiped at the remaining tears and dug a tissue from her sweet little golden sundress pocket. Hazel eyes were filled with anguish and uncertainty as she spilled the story of Brick’s visit. “So my first payment is due next week, and if I  pay them, I might not be able to keep the shop open after a few months.” Just the thought started the waterworks all over again, and Anthony clenched his jaws in anger.

“You don’t worry about that Jade, I’ll see what I can do.” It was no secret that Anthony’s Table was the favored hangout for active and retired mobsters. They loved his pasta primavera, and he had the best red sauce on the west coast. So he knew the players in town—new and old—and he had no problem approaching them on behalf of the only woman in his life.

“Anthony, no. Please don’t say anything. I couldn’t stand it if they turned on you because of me.” She pleaded with him, and those hazel eyes were all gold right now, filled with worry for him and his business.

“Don’t worry, babe. What can it hurt to ask?” He dried her tears and forced a smile to curve that pretty mouth. “Now you messed up my order, so you owe me an extra daisy arrangement tomorrow.” He laughed when the sadness morphed to outrage.

“If you would let me load up the van I could make sure, Anthony! You don’t work here,” she poked his chest, looking adorable in her anger. “From now on I do it, not you. Got it?”

“Anything for my best girl.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and guided her out the door.

“But I need to do receipts and clean up. I can’t leave now.” Her protests fell on deaf ears, and he pushed her out and locked the door, dropping her keys into her hands when he was finished.

“You’re my best girl Jade, and I’m not leaving you here by yourself after Brick’s visit. You can wait for me at my place and make that casserole for Molly. Make one for me too if you feel like it,” he flashed his best flirtatious smile, drawing a laugh from her.

“You’re impossible, you know that right?”

“But you love me,” he batted those sable lashes at her until she laughed again.

“That is completely irrelevant, and I’ll be sure to put extra jalapenos in yours.” Jade stuck out her tongue  and hopped in the car since she walked to work that day.

“Just make sure my beer is cold, woman.” He dropped her off and went back to the restaurant. He would have words with the man in charge as soon as he could because there was no way he’d let Jade lose
Nipped in the Bud
. It meant too much to her, and she meant too much to him.

Chapter Three

The next day Anthony anxiously waited for the first wave of gangsters to arrive. He assumed they kept late hours since the first group came in well after the lunch rush, stocking up for their first meal of the day. Just after three, the first group of five arrived, easily identifiable by their over the top stereotypical velour sweat suits and leather jackets over rayon shirts. If it wasn’t so ridiculous--and dangerous—Anthony would laugh. Instead, he grabbed a bunch of menus and made his way to the table. “Afternoon fellas.” Dealing the menus out like a deck of cards, he scanned the men until he found one who might speak in full sentences. “Franco, a minute?”

The short man with slicked back black hair stood, adjusting his burnt orange leather jacket like he was Andrew Dice Clay and motioned toward the hostess stand. “Sure, over there,” he said like a New York gangster even though he grew up in Portland.

“I’d like to speak with your boss if at all possible.” Vito, while dangerous, had tried to be fair to the long-standing businesses in town. He understood that without shops there would be no tourism and therefore no money to be made in the criminal world.

Franco smoothed his hair back and popped his collar. “Yeah well Vito ain’t in charge no more.”

Brown brows furrowed in confusion. “What happened?” He was afraid of the answer because really, there was only one way a mobster was unseated.

Franco shrugged. “Let’s just say he went for a swim and got lost, alright?” He chuckled and shook his head. “Sal’s in charge now and he ain’t nothin’ like Vito, Tony. He’s a ruthless son of a bitch who’d kill you dead for looking at him sideways.” Poking his finger in Anthony’s chest, Franco pointed at him. “I like you, Tony, you make the best tomato gravy I’ve ever tasted, even better than my
Nonna
. So I’m telling you to be careful. Sal will be here soon.” With that, he walked back to join his buddies.

Thirty minutes later a man who had to be in his eighties strolled in and took the empty seat at the head of the table. Dressed in a dark burgundy suit with silver pinstripes, his fat tie and wing tips spoke of a fashion from generations ago.
No way could this be Sal
, he thought just before the old man’s wrinkled hand waved him over. Grabbing a menu, he went over. “What can I get for you guys?” He always took their orders because the lunch girls were terrified of the group.

“I’m Sal and I hear you have business with me?” Grey streaked black brows perched expectantly over cloudy grey eyes.

Anthony nodded and ignored the cold that crept up the back of his neck. The man was old but he was intimidating as hell. “Yeah, if you have a minute?” Both men step outside where Sal lights up a long brown cigarette and listened as Anthony outlined the old Main Street. “If those businesses close tourism will dry up and there will be no one here to sell your
wares
to.”

Sal laughed and pointed at him with the cigarette. “You’ve got guts kids, I like that. But life’s not about fair, boy.”

Anthony noticed he didn’t bother to address his own business needs. “I know that, but you’re charging city prices and this isn’t the city. People come here for that old fashioned experience, the gorgeous awnings and hand painted signs.” He shook his head, knowing it was pointless to tug on the heartstrings of a heartless man.

“Which of the businesses is your concern?”

Straight to the point. “
Nipped in the Bud
. It’s been in that spot for eighty years, and it’s a landmark. Not to mention the only flower shop in town. Five hundred bucks a month and it’ll be gone in six months.”

“You’re welcome to pay it for her if you’d like. But if you do I’ll be forced to apply an exchange rate so you’d pay a grand a month.”

His light brown eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Seriously? That’s insane.” He shook his head, regretting now that these bastards were part of his regular clientele.

Sal barked out a laugh and flicked his cigarette to the ground. “No boy, that’s the price of doing business.” With a friendly smack on the shoulders, Sal smiled and walked back inside.

“Wait.” He dug out his wallet and handed the man all the cash inside. “This is the first thousand, I’ll let you know about the rest.” He shoved the money in his hand and stomped back to the kitchen, disgusted with himself and the whole damn situation.

He stayed in the kitchen for the rest of the day, needing to be as far away from the mobsters as possible before he said something that might get him or Jade seriously hurt. Being in the kitchen, acting as the prep cook, helped cool his anger and clear his mind. He needed to come up with something to help Jade. Losing her shop would kill her, and he would do anything he could to make sure that didn’t happen.

Chapter Four

It really sucks when you wanted to stress eat only to find you had no food in the house.
It was ironic really considering she’d made three casseroles last night, two for Molly and the kids and one for Anthony, and now at home alone she had nothing.
That’s what I get for not stopping at the store.
She’d been too stressed about the mob money to remember and by the time she finally had she’d already changed into her silky shorts and cami pajamas. Scanning the fridge, she realized she had nothing for a complete meal or snack. There was brie but no crackers. Prosciutto but again, no crackers or bread. Tons of condiments and two half empty bottles of wine. “Takeout,” she muttered and turned to her menu drawer.

Every single girl should have a drawer full of takeout menus, her grandma had told her years ago when she first moved into her apartment. “Just because a woman
should
know how to cook, doesn’t obligate her to do it every day when she works as hard as the next guy,” Jade smiled remembering those wise words and took the menus to the sofa. Silver Creek wasn’t all that big, but there were options ranging from pizza to fried chicken, Thai, and Greek. She flicked on the TV mounted on the wall and flipped to an easy to ignore movie on the Hallmark Channel.

Staring aimlessly at the menus, her mind couldn’t help but wander to the man called Brick and the five hundred bucks that would eventually put her out of business. From the outside, it might not seem like much, but after rent, a salary for her one part-timer, her own salary, and stock, she didn’t clear a huge profit. But Jade knew if she didn’t, Brick would come back—not alone—and wreck her place. This was the rock and the hard place she’d heard so much about.

A knock at the door startled her, and she laughed.
Get it together girl, they’re not showing up at your house at midnight. Yet.
She went to the door and smiled when she saw the handsome face of her best friend and swung the door open. “If you brought food I’ll love you forever.”

He flashed that quarterback smile and held up a bag emanating the most delicious smells. “I’ll hold you to that devotion,” he said, dropping a kiss on her cheek and entered her apartment.

“You know I’m devoted to no other,” she butchered a British accent. “How was your day.”

Anthony unpacked the food and plated it up while he told her about his meeting with Sal. “The guy’s older than dirt but meaner than a junkyard dog.” She saw the hesitation when he told her the rest.

“You did what? Anthony how could you!” Jade rounded the corner to face him head on. “What the hell is wrong with you?” She began to pace as her anger and worry rose. “I could kick your ass, Anthony Morelli. Do you know what you’ve done,” she asked, hearing her own voice break at the end of the question.

“Babe calm down, and don’t swear,” he laughed. “You know you can curse for shit, right?” He crossed his arms behind her neck and looked into those shiny hazel eyes. “Remember the last time  you tried to curse someone out?” He laughed recounting the tale of a girl who’d tossed a drink in his face while they were at dinner, accusing him of cheating with Jade. But she’d used a few choice words she hadn’t appreciated and Jade went off. “It was the funniest damn thing ever, still is.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is, babe, don’t swear.”

Eyes wide she stepped back and pushed him. Hard. “You curse like a damn sailor, and you’re telling me not to?” She growled and pushed him again, stealing both plates from the counter. “Bring me a glass of wine. You get water.” Spending time with Anthony always made her feel better, even when he was pissing her off. Like now.

“I’m telling you not to because you’re bad at it.” He sat beside her on the sofa and bumped her shoulder. “I love you dearly Jade, but you suck at it. Just stick to all the other words, okay?”

That made her laugh. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard it, it wasn’t even the first time Anthony said as much. Still. “So what, you shouldn’t have paid double to those gangsters. What happens when they make you pay for ‘protection’,” she asked, putting the last word in air quotes.

Anthony shrugged. “We’ll worry about it when it happens. For now, we need to worry about you.”

Jade put her plate down and face her best friend in the world, the only real family she had left in fact, and cupped his face. “I can’t let you do this, it’s too much. Don’t you understand that?”

~

What Anthony understood was that in this moment, with her warm, soft hands cupping his face and caressing his jaw gently, was that he wanted his best friend. He wanted her more than lifelong best friends should want each other. And if the pulse beating at the base of her throat was any indication, she felt something too.

He held her hazel gaze with his own, noticing the green and brown flakes swimming in those golden orbs. The moment was long and tense, and he felt that something had changed between them. Or maybe it hadn’t changed, maybe it had always been there since that failed date back in high school and they’d just chosen to ignore it. Whatever it was, tonight it was thick and smoky like a living, breathing thing.

And then her sweet pouty mouth was on his, tentative at first while she got comfortable with the idea of her lips touching his lips in a non-platonic way. Her tongue swept across his closed lips, back and forth over the seam until he opened up and her tongue touched his, sending shards of electricity shooting through his body and straight to his center. Her lithe fingers twirled through his hair and deepened the kiss.

When Jade groaned into his mouth, Anthony’s hands flew to her waist, gripping tight  until she was on his lap right where he wanted her. Her hips rocked on their own as she tackled his mouth, tamed it and brought it to heel under the power of her seductive kisses. He was so damn hard, and her grinding only made it worse. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity before she finally pulled back to catch her breath.

“What was that?” She smiled, but he knew her well and could spot the worry at the corners of her eyes and the nervous way she bit her lip. The lip he now knew tasted like strawberries.

“I don’t know, but I liked it. A lot.” He took in her heaving chest and the glow of satisfaction on her milk chocolate skin. “Did you?”

Jade nodded, her fingers still playing in the wispy sable curls at the back of his neck. She studied him closely, and he wondered what she saw. “I did. Is that weird, that this happened after all this time?”

He knew exactly what she meant. “Babe I think we’re the only two who think it's weird.” All of Silver Creek already thought they were a couple, so the only ones surprised by tonight’s events were them.

Jade nodded and slid off his lap, and he immediately felt the loss. “Okay. Okay,” she said again, nodding and staring into the distance. “Alright. I’m okay, but I need to think about this. Let’s just eat and watch some TV.”

He could because he knew Jade. Something like this would require endless analysis until she looked at it from every angle, so he would wait. “Alright but we’re not watching some crappy Hallmark movie.” He snatched the remote from the table and surfed until he found a movie they both loved. “Here we go.” When he looked her way she was still staring at him, specifically at his mouth. “Jade eyes on the TV,” he warned. He felt a satisfied swell of masculine pride at the flair of desire in her eyes before she turned back to the TV.

“We’re not done talking about the money, just so you know.”

Anthony smiled. “I never thought we were, babe.”