Fresh Temptation: Barboza Brothers, Book One (10 page)

“Just…no. Not tonight.
Trust me.”

Cara shook her head and
turned to leave the kitchen. “Fine, whatever. I’m too tired to
argue. I’m gonna go get comfortable.”

“Don’t get too
comfortable. Wear something decent.”

Cara spun around to face
her. She knew that tone in her meddling mother’s voice. “Okay.
You’re up to something. What is it?”

Patty shrugged and focused
her attention on a mixing bowl on the counter.
“Nothing.”

“You’re lying. What’s
going on? Did you invite someone over?” Cara raised her eyebrows.
“Is it Stanley, that guy you met in the park a few weeks ago who
you don’t think I know about?”

Patty’s lips pursed as a
pink hue flooded her cheeks. She whisked the ingredients in the
bowl. “That was nothing.”

“Oh, come on, mom. You’re
a hot grandma.” Cara was glad she talked Patty into dyeing her hair
recently. The new dark brown color covered Patty’s gray and made
her look ten years younger, by Cara’s estimation.

“Go keep your son occupied
while I finish up in here, okay? I’ve had to fight him away from
the fridge all afternoon since he saw me put the cake in
there.”

Cara groaned. “What the
heck, Mom? I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going
on.”

Patty let the whisk drop
to the bowl. “Fine.” She looked in her daughter’s eyes. “Your boss
is joining us for dinner.”

“What?” Cara gasped. “No!
You can’t!”

Patty gave her a
lighthearted grin. “Too late now. He’ll be here in…” She glanced at
the clock on the wall. “About an hour. Said he had a late business
meeting then he’d be on his way over.”

Cara was too stunned to
speak for a moment. She had barely seen Victor since their lunch on
Monday because he had been visiting clients or having closed-door
meetings in his office. She had determined by now that Victor
merely hired her to get back at Alexis Whitt. “Mom, this is a bad
idea for
so
many
reasons. You shouldn’t have called him.”

“I didn’t. He called here.
Said he wanted to make sure Isaac was okay. Then we started
talking.” Her eyes lit up. “He practically invited himself
over.”

“Why would he do that? He
could ask me about Isaac anytime.”

“Because he likes you!
That’s why.”

“He doesn’t like me, Mom.
He’s trying to make a point to his ex. That’s why he hired
me.”

Patty shrugged. “Whatever.
Doesn’t matter the reason. If he wants to give you some attention,
you should let him.”

Cara threw her hands in
the air. “Who knows? Maybe you’re right. I hadn’t thought about it
that way.”

“Yes. See? You should
listen to your mother more often.”

Cara grumbled to herself
and left the kitchen.

An hour later, the
doorbell rang, rustling the butterflies in Cara’s stomach. She had
changed into a pair of black pants and a loose-fitting light blue
blouse. Her long hair hung in soft curls down her back.

As Patty went for the
door, Cara gave Isaac another inspection to make sure he wasn’t
sticky or dirty.

“Mommy,” he said,
“cake?”

Cara winced. She could
tell from his whiny tone that they might be in for one of his rare
tantrums. She knelt down to look in his eyes. “If you be good you
can have cake after dinner, okay?”

He pouted. “Cake
now.”

She kissed his forehead.
“Not now. After dinner with everyone else.” She stood and took
Isaac’s hand, leading him to the front door when she heard Victor
speaking with Patty.
Please be good,
Isaac
, she silently pleaded.

Victor’s mesmerizing eyes
met hers immediately when she and Isaac entered the dining room. He
held her gaze for a long moment then said, “Hi, Cara. Hope it’s
okay that I came by for dinner.”

The nerves in her stomach
tightened, but she tried to appear calm. She noticed he was wearing
a long-sleeved white dress shirt with cufflinks, like he’d left his
jacket and tie in the car. The shirt was fitted perfectly, as if it
were molded just for his athletic, muscular body. “Yes, it’s
fine.”

Victor held up a gift bag.
“I brought something for Isaac.” He looked down in Isaac’s
direction, smiling. “Hello?”

Cara felt a sharp tug on
the back of her pants. Isaac had grabbed a handful of the fabric as
he hid behind her leg. She patted the top of his head and looked at
Victor. “Sorry, he’s shy around new people lately.”

“It’s just a phase.” Patty
touched Victor’s arm. “I need to go to the kitchen. Make yourself
at home.”

Victor nodded and turned
his attention to Isaac. “Hi there. We spoke on the
phone.”

Isaac hugged Cara’s leg
with all his might and looked down at the floor.

Cara’s voice was gentle.
“Do you remember talking on the phone?”

Isaac shook his
head.

“Come on,” she said. “Sure
you do. It’s Victor.”

Isaac paused, then loudly
whispered, “Bictow.”

Victor chuckled and picked
up a gift bag he had set down behind him. “I have a present for
you, Isaac.”

Cara’s eyebrows furrowed
at Victor. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to.” Victor
reached inside the bag and produced a large plastic yellow car with
a red stripe all the way around. He knelt down to Isaac’s level.
“This is for you. You told me you like cars.”

Isaac squealed. He let go
of Cara’s leg and grabbed the car from Victor with both arms. “Wace
caw!” He stomped his feet, giggling.

Cara melted inside at the
sight of her boss, down on his knees in his designer pants, smiling
at her son. “Isaac, what do you say when someone gives you a
present?”

Isaac held out the car,
examining it. Then he looked at Victor. “You wike wace
caws?”

“Yes,” Victor said. “I
love race cars.”

Isaac smiled and softly
said, “You have a wace caw?”

“No,” Cara said. “You know
what to say when someone gives you a present. Say, ‘thank
you.’”

Isaac hugged the car and
whispered, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Victor
said.

“You have a wace caw?”
Isaac asked again.

Cara shook her head. “I’m
sorry. He’s obsessed with race cars lately.”

“It’s okay,” Victor said,
beaming at Isaac. “I have a car outside. You wanna see
it?”

“Yeah!” Isaac ran past
Victor to fetch his shoes from the rack inside the front door,
letting his new toy fall to the floor with a loud
thunk
.

Victor stood, wincing at
Cara. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s fine.” Cara was
already worried about how she would get her son back inside for
dinner.

Isaac ran outside with
Victor in tow as soon as the door opened. This was the first time
Cara set eyes on Victor’s car. It was sleek and sporty and had a
symbol on the front she had never seen before.

Patty soon joined Cara as
they hovered nearby, watching Victor open the door to let Isaac sit
inside.

“They get along so well,”
Patty said. “You can tell he’d be a great father.”

Cara gritted her teeth.
“You’re thinking too far ahead. I don’t want Isaac getting attached
to him.”

Patty held back the words
she really wanted to say. “Well, it’s good for him to have a man
around once in a while.” She knew her daughter was too protective
of herself. They had argued about it dozens of times, and tonight
she just wanted Cara to loosen up and try to let her guard
down.

They both smiled as they
watched Isaac’s eyes dance around the inside of the fancy car.
Victor stood over him, pointing out things that made Isaac
ooh
and
ah
. After a minute,
Victor stepped away, laughing and holding the door open while Isaac
gripped the steering wheel and made his own sound effects as if he
were driving.

Patty waited a while
longer then went back inside to finish setting up for
dinner.

Cara walked up to the car.
“Having a good time?”

Isaac nodded gleefully,
puffing out his lips as he made a “
Vroom
vroom
” sound.

Cara whispered to Victor,
“The only time he can almost pronounce his R is when he’s saying
‘
vroom vroom
.’”

Victor laughed.

“Okay, sweetie.” Cara
looked at Isaac. “We have to go inside for dinner now.”

Isaac stuck out his bottom
lip and strengthened his grip on the steering wheel.

“Oh no,” Cara mumbled. She
thought for sure Isaac was about to screech at the top of his
lungs. “Remember the chocolate cake? You can have it if you go
inside for dinner.”

Isaac ignored her, but he
stared thoughtfully at the dashboard like he was considering his
options.

Victor extended his hand
to Isaac. “Come on. Let’s go eat. I want some of that
cake.”

Isaac gave Victor a
quizzical glance, then waited a moment and suddenly reached for his
hand and hopped out of the car. “Awwight.” He let out a dramatic
huff as he started toward the house, pulling Victor
along.

“Wait, let me lock up.”
Victor chuckled and closed the door, then walked along with Isaac
and Cara. “They’re a lot of fun at this age, huh?”

Cara narrowed her eyes.
“Depends on which day you ask me. I never know what to
expect.”

“Seems like he’s fully
recovered from surgery.”

“Yeah, seems that way.
He’s still healing but you’d never know it.”

Isaac stopped, looking up
at Victor. “See?” He opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. “No
tonsahs.”

Victor nodded. “Yes, I
see.”

Cara sighed. “He always
knows when we’re talking about him.”

They went inside the house
where Patty had dinner waiting. Patty also made sure that she and
Isaac sat together across the table while Cara and Victor sat side
by side.

Isaac did the most talking
during dinner, regaling Victor with tales that were sometimes hard
to understand. Some were true stories. Some were based on true
stories. Others were entirely fabricated. Through it all, Victor
was thoroughly entertained.

Cara was glad, for once,
that her son was in a talkative mood. It removed some of the
pressure from this awkward situation.

After dinner, the four of
them moved to the living room where they talked and had dessert.
Isaac was thrilled to finally eat the chocolate cake he’d been
waiting for. Cara was afraid he would want to go outside and see
Victor’s car again, but around eight o’clock he started to yawn and
said he was tired.

Patty winked at Cara. “We
went to the park today and he didn’t take a nap. He’s worn out.”
Patty forced a yawn. “And so am I, come to think about it.” She
turned to Isaac. “I think me and you better go upstairs, don’t
you?”

Isaac gave her a lazy
nod.

“Good night, Isaac,”
Victor said.

Isaac grinned. “Good
night, Bictow. Good night Mommy.”

Cara smirked at Patty, who
wouldn’t look at Cara as she followed Isaac out of the room. Cara
knew Patty wasn’t tired. She was just trying to leave her alone
with Victor.

As soon as they left,
Victor inched slightly closer to Cara on the sofa. “Looks like I
made a new friend tonight.”

“Yeah. He doesn’t usually
take to adults so quickly. Are you around children a
lot?”

“No. Almost never, in
fact.” Victor shrugged. “I guess we just click.”

“Hmm. So, tell me.” She
positioned herself so she was facing him. “Did you go to Gary’s
house the week you hired him, too?”

With a weak smile he said,
“Uh…no. No, I didn’t.”

“So, this isn’t normal new
employee procedure? Like taking me out to lunch my first
day?”

He undid the first button
of his shirt and flexed his neck, trying to get more comfortable.
He smiled at her question. “No, not exactly.”

“Then what are you doing
here? Calling my mom, giving my son a present. Hanging out after
dinner in this house.” She cocked her head to the side. “What’s
your game? Why are you doing this?”

“Maybe I’m just a nice
guy.”

“No, I don’t think that’s
it.”

He smirked.
“Thanks.”

“That’s not what I meant.
What I mean is, I don’t know why you’re being so nice to me. It’s
not normal.”

“Cara.” He looked deep in
her eyes. “You’re an intelligent woman. Do I really need to spell
it out for you?”

“Spell out what? That
you’re using me to get back at Alexis Whitt?”

Victor jolted out of his
relaxed position and sat up straight. “Whoa. Where the hell’d you
get that?”