Rivals in Paradise (4 page)

Chase had loved his old job. He'd loved the thrill of sniffing out companies ripe for corporate takeovers. His instincts had made for a quick rise in the business world. Although his devotion to his job had meant that he hadn't been able to make it home often. He had a spacious home that he'd built for when he visited the island, and he barely used it.

He seldom had time for a social life. But he had managed to find time for other recreational activities. He hadn't been hard-pressed to find company of the female persuasion. Fortunately, the demands of his former job meant he hadn't had the time to forge long-lasting relationships. He didn't have any intention of giving up his bachelor status any time in the near future.

Yes, women usually came and went at his command, all except for one.

He turned to Cicely, still bobbing her head and pretending to ignore him.

That she would be sitting next to him all high and mighty was a sunny side to his vacation that he hadn't expected but certainly welcomed. It was time to pay little Miss Cee Cee back for her lies and games.

This time she wouldn't get away until he was quite done with her.

She had fooled him once with her sweet idealism. He had admired her spunk in running for SGA president at the end of her sophomore year. Every time he had spoken with her, even during their heated public debates, he'd found himself liking her more and more. He hadn't intended to let her win, of course. But he could have seen her doing great things for the university in the future.

He had even considered telling his fraternity brothers to calm down on the campaign tactics, especially when she came to see him and he'd ended up kissing her. He hadn't known until later that it had been a setup.

She had paid someone to get pictures of the kiss.

Luckily, one of his fraternity brothers had been able to get a copy of the picture and their camp had used it first. It hadn't made a difference, however.
What she had come back with using the same picture of them kissing was what he felt cost him the election.

Do you really want a president who can't stop sniffing behind women long enough to properly run a campaign, let alone run the student government? Cicely “Cee Cee” Stevens will go to great lengths for FAMU, even if it means kissing a fool to get at the truth! Vote for Cee Cee and leave The Wolf to his pitiful prowl.

The truth.

That was exactly what Chase was going to devote his vacation to finding out. Cicely obviously wasn't the sweet girl he'd thought her to be. And the one kiss they'd shared had cost him the election and had haunted him for years. It was time to put all those old feelings to bed,
literally
.

He glanced at her.

She was still beautiful. Her flawless nutmeg complexion was radiant. Even that fake smile she'd given him as she lied through her teeth had an exuberance about it that pulled him in. She wore her long, dark brown hair in soft ringlet curls that framed her face. Judging by what he was able to see when she stood up so that he could get to his seat, her body had matured in all the right ways and all the right places. He didn't see the same sweet idealism
in her soft brown eyes that he remembered, but they still made him want to gaze into them.

She wasn't going to make it easy, that was for sure. But then, he never liked things too easy, anyway; it spoiled the fun of the
chase.
One thing was certain, he wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity that fate had sent him to get the one who got away and pay her back for all her devious treachery.

She would crack eventually. He'd see to it.

He tapped her again and she turned to face him just as the flight attendant came back with his drink.

Cicely made a show of turning off her iPod. “What?”

Clearly that nice, sweet girl he knew back at FAMU was just an act. The way the woman was giving off attitude, you would think it was her middle name.

Chase smiled. It would take more than a
sistagirl-tude
to scare him off. “It's going to be a long flight. And even though I brought work with me, I'd much rather catch up with you. So, what brings you to Dahinda?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Despite how things ended up in the past, I'd like to think that we would've been friends if we hadn't been running against one another.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “Please, you
wouldn't have even noticed me or known I was alive if I hadn't stepped up to run against you.”

That certainly wasn't true. He had noticed little Miss Cicely Stevens from the first day she stepped on campus during her freshman orientation, when he'd been an orientation leader for another group of freshmen. He'd also noticed that she seemed to gravitate toward the quiet, four-eyed, nerdy-type guys. And she had run through the nerds and over them like nobody's business. He'd always thought that what she really needed was more of a challenge.

Not wanting to give her ego anything to feast on, he just let her comment about him not noticing her slide. “So, what are your plans once you land on my beautiful island?”

She paused and considered him carefully. Her eyes narrowed ever so briefly and he thought for a minute she wasn't going to answer him.

Taking her iPod and placing it in her bag, she then turned to him. “Actually, I haven't the slightest idea. This vacation was sort of spur-of-the-moment. I needed to get away from it all and needed someplace to clear my head. I figured I'd wing it.”

She opened her mouth as if she were considering adding something else and then shut it quickly.

Interesting
.

“Well, that just won't do, Cicely. You really have
to try and make some time for me to show you the sights. How long will you be staying?”

“One week. And while I appreciate your quite insistent offer, I really don't think I'm in the mood for any company. You know, part of the whole ‘space to clear my head' thing?” She forced a fake smile and made a move to go for her iPod again.

Chase reached out and touched her hand before she could do so. An electric shock went through him, and he felt his heart skip.

Oh, shit, that was odd.

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open, but no words came out. She shut her mouth, but she stopped reaching for her iPod. Slowly, she removed her hand from his touch.

“I'm going to be on the island for two weeks. And I'm thinking I need to spend some of that time reacquainting myself with you, Cicely. I'm not one to beg, or to force my company on a woman. But I know that you would regret it if you allowed this moment to pass without taking the chance for us to get to know one another again.”

“Oh, I don't know, Chase. I'm thinking I'll live.” She then quickly put the earphones back in her ears and turned on her iPod.

All Chase could do was smile at that. The trip home was already turning out to be so much more interesting than he'd thought it was going to be.

F
or the first time ever, the girl groups weren't doing it for her. Usually, a good girl-group anthem could get her going and get her hyped enough to deal with anything the world decided to throw at her. For some reason, sitting next to Chase, she was longing for some smooth R&B love songs, some male/female duets or something equally romantic.

What the hell is that about?

There was something about sitting so close to Chase with him not being able to buy a clue and realize that she had no desire to make conversation with him that made her feel vulnerable. It made her feel like there was no way she would get off of the
island of Dahinda without falling victim to The Wolf and his charms once again.

What to do? What to do?
she mused as she mindlessly hummed along with the up-tempo song playing on her iPod.

She really would be crazy if she thought for a minute she should even consider her foolish—apparently not just a weak moment of her past—attraction to Chase Yearwood. He was not her type.

She turned off the iPod but didn't bother to take off the earphones or put it away.

She needed to think.

The Wolf.

Not exactly the kind of man she normally went for. In fact, she made it her business to stay far away from men like him, even before he got close enough to wound her young and impressionable heart. She hadn't been joking when she told her sister and brother-in-law that the I-love-me-some-alpha-jerk-reformed-playboys gene had skipped her. And even if it hadn't
really
skipped her, she had actively resisted the trap for years and wasn't trying to get caught up now.

But why was her allergy turning into an itch that she wanted no one but Chase Yearwood to scratch?

He wasn't a safe bet by any stretch of the imagination.

However, dating safe guys hadn't proved to be all that conflict free. They lied and cheated, too, as Isaac had shown her all too clearly.

So maybe she could take a chance and have a hot island fling with a guy
like
The Wolf. That might allow her to exorcise a whole lot of demons. She had come to the island with the vague idea of doing something wild, spontaneous, impulsive and completely unlike herself. A fling would be totally wild.

A fling with a bad boy? Even wilder…

Not a fling with The Wolf himself, of course. She knew there was no way she was ready to take him on, and she had a small feeling her heart wouldn't survive that. But someone smooth and oh-so-fine like him? That might be something she could work with.

She chanced a glance at Chase. He arched his eyebrow and then winked. She swallowed and wished she'd gotten that drink when the flight attendant had come by the first time.

Isn't first class supposed to be roomier?

Chase Yearwood just took up entirely too much room. His presence seemed just that big. She cleared her throat and tried to think about something besides how good Chase looked or how manly he smelled.

A fling, yes, but not with Chase.

“Not with Chase” needed to become her new mantra, quick, fast and in a hurry.
Not with Chase.
Not with Chase.
She chanted the words in her head like she was channeling Angela Bassett's Tina Turner at her Buddhist altar.

Chase might just be the one to lead her to her island magic man, the one to help her get past her fear of bad boys once and for all. Wolves ran in packs, didn't they? And even though she wasn't about to go there with Chase, he might have a friend that she could take on. She thought about taking him up on his offer to give her a tour of the island.

Putting the iPod away, she turned to him. “You know what, Chase? Since you've offered your help, and have been so kind about introducing me to the island, I'd love to take you up on it if the offer still stands.”

“It does. I'd love to…show you the island.”

The slight pause he offered before finishing his sentence made her heart still for a second.

What was that about?

Shaking it off and plastering a smile on her face, she decided to forge ahead. “Great. I'd love to hit some of the hot spots. You know, the spots where I can meet lots of people.”

“Sounds good. I'd love the chance to get…reacquainted.” He did that weird pause thing again and then his eyebrow arched slightly. “And I was thinking, it's the least you could do after trying to kill me.”

Cicely groaned.

How did I know he was going to bring that up eventually?

“I didn't try to kill you. You were standing in front of my car and you wouldn't move.”

“I was waiting for you and your line sisters to greet me.” A smirk crossed his face. “You girls were pledging, and everyone knows that pledges are supposed to greet
all
Greeks on the yard. Even if you couldn't greet me as a big brother because of the strife between the sorors and the bros that year, you could have
still
greeted me.”

Cicely chanced a look at him and noted the playful gleam in his eyes. Good thing he wasn't holding a grudge about her almost running him over with her car all those years ago.

Her dean of pledges had taken them to a party at a neighboring school, and Chase was there with his fraternity brothers. When she and her pledge sisters had walked by without greeting the guys, Chase had followed them out. He'd stood in front of her car, and Cicely had panicked. Sheila, the big sister whose breakup with one of the Omegas had started the feud, was in the backseat, and she told Cicely to, quote, run Chase the hell over if he didn't move. Cicely had turned to the dean of pledges, Kathy, for advice, and Kathy concurred. So Cicely had slowly inched
forward in the bright red Jetta that her brother-in-law, Carlton, had purchased for her.

She remembered the wide-eyed, shocked look on Chase's face when the car started to move. And she also wouldn't forget the athletic leap he made onto the hood and the way his gleaming eyes narrowed in on her. He had jumped down from the car and she had sped off with her heart racing.

Shaking her head in hopes of shaking away the memory of his predator-like glare and all the promises of retribution his eyes held, she offered, “Like I said…er…I didn't try to kill you. You got in the way of my car.”

“Yeah, right. You listened to your crazy big sisters and you almost caught a case for vehicular manslaughter.” He chuckled.

Cicely decided to chance a giggle of her own since he was able to laugh about it. “Oh, I don't know. The people in my car were all ready to testify that you were crazed and must have had a death wish because you jumped in front of the vehicle like you were Superman.”

They both laughed at the memory and a warm feeling came over her. Could it be that she was really feeling at ease with The Wolf? That couldn't be good. Everyone knew that as soon as the three little pigs or Little Red Riding Hood let their guards down the
wolf pounced and ate them up. Still she couldn't make herself continue to hold him at arm's length.

She decided to continue their playful banter instead. “And you're lucky I didn't press charges. You dented my hood.”

“Yeah, I think it was either dent your hood or end up under your wheels.”

Cicely laughed. “Okay, maybe that's why I didn't press charges.”

“Hmm…ya think?” His eyebrow did that sexy half slant, half arch thing again, and her mouth went dry.

“Okay. I apologize for trying to—” she cleared her throat before continuing “—kill you. That was wrong. And as penance, I guess I'll suffer your hospitality a bit on the island and let you show me around.”

“Oh, you'll suffer my hospitality, will you?” He burst out into a low, sexy chuckle that sounded like a mix between a growl and a purr.

In any case, it was way too sexy for comfort.

“Yes. You're right. It's the least I can do.” Cicely smiled. The fact that Chase could joke about it showed that he might not be such a bad guy after all.

“Would you like the chicken or the fish?” The flight attendant came back with the lunch entrée for the trip.

“Chicken,” they answered in unison.

The flight attendant handed them both their plastic trays full of a pseudo haute-cuisine inspired chicken dish that had been microwaved to taste like plastic. She didn't even know why she bothered. She never ate airline food.

And wasn't first class supposed to have better food than this? The unappealing food was clearly another instance of the universe thumbing its nose at her.

Cutting into the rubbery chicken and overcooked veggies, she chanced another glance at Chase.

Yep, still fine.

“Now that you've apologized for trying to kill me, what do you say you add one for making me kiss you so that you could get that incriminating photo that cost me the election?” His nonchalant question had a cutting edge.

Shock caused the plastic cutlery she held to fall. Her jaw dropped. And, in a very unladylike gesture, a piece of the rubber chicken came tumbling out of her mouth and landed back in the little tray.

This was exactly why a girl should never let her guard down in the presence of a wolf!

Composing herself seemed like an unattainable goal at that moment. All she could manage was a startled, “Say what?”

 

Chase kept his gaze pinned on Cicely. He was finally going to get the truth about the scheming and plotting she must have done back then. He could
forgive the cute little pledge who had almost run him over with a car because her big sister told her to. It had been a stupid thing for her to do, but he hadn't gotten hurt. He couldn't forgive or forget, however, the young woman who had kissed him and put those scandalous pictures in the school paper. She hadn't been pledging a sorority then. She had done those deeds on her own for her own gain.

Judging from the way her jaw was hanging, he must have caught her off guard.

Pushing his nuked airport delicacy aside, he peered at her a moment more before repeating himself. And then he waited for the apology.

The look Cicely cut him instead as she folded her arms across her chest and arched her eyebrow made him think that the apology might be a long time coming.

“If anyone should be apologizing about that photo, it's you. You are the one who orchestrated the entire thing.” She let out her barrage in a heated hiss. And then a haughty indignant glare crossed her face as her shoulders crept higher and higher. “Playing on my naive emotions and catching me in a moment of weakness…. Did you and your frat brothers have a good laugh at my expense?”

“Would you like another drink, sir?” The flight attendant leaned down toward them, and he took his eyes off of the recalcitrant Cicely for a moment.

“I'll take another vodka tonic.”

“And you, ma'am?”

“Gin and tonic with lime, please.” Cicely smiled sweetly at the flight attendant and glared at him as soon as the woman walked off to get their drinks.

They each just stared at one another. Chase knew he was waiting for the flight attendant to return with the drinks and leave again to resume the conversation. He figured Cicely was trying to piece together her lies.

So he watched her. And she watched him.

He had to admit as he took his drink from the flight attendant and then the flight attendant handed Cicely hers, Cicely had the righteous indignation and incredulous haughty stance down. He could almost believe that she really felt that she'd been the wronged party.

Although he'd planned to use some of his time on the island to get the truth out of her, he figured he might as well get it out of her now. That way, they could get the past out and be done with it.

She was wrong and she needed to admit it.

“You're kidding, right?” Cicely asked the question between clenched teeth with her arms still firmly crossed. She hadn't even bothered to take a sip of her drink.

Chase picked up his vodka tonic, imbibing before he responded. “Do I look like I'm kidding? I mean,
come on, it was a long time ago, but it would still be nice to know why you did it. Well, besides wanting to win and knowing that there was no way you would have beaten me otherwise.”

She started laughing then, literally giggling out of control, holding her belly and everything.

The laughing fit went on for several minutes, and then she stopped and slowly wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. Turning, she glared at him and then put her earplugs back in and enjoyed her drink.

 

The nerve of him! What happened to letting bygones be bygones? Burying the hatchet? All that crap?

And then he had the nerve to try and continue his whole you-set-me-up spiel when he was the one who had set her up. He was the one who had played her and played on her feelings for him.

If it wasn't so funny it might have been sad. The man was either delusional or really thought if he put his own spin on the story long enough he could make anyone believe it, even the person who got hurt by his actions.

Oh, I'm sorry, girl. You broke your own heart. I didn't do that. And by the way, you should apologize because you hurt my little record while you were busy breaking your own heart.

The nerve!

His audacity was almost too much. Snatching off the earplugs, she turned and looked at him.

He watched her intently, his eyes studying her every move. It almost seemed like he was trying to read her, to see if she were lying.

“Why are you trying to blame me for something that you and your frat brothers cooked up? It's not my fault it backfired on you and you lost.”

Loser,
she thought. Even though The Wolf was anything but a loser. He might have lost that election to her, but it was probably the only thing he had ever lost in his entire life.

“Are you saying you really had nothing to do with the picture being taken?”