Rivals in Paradise (9 page)

“This is nice, Chase.” Cicely finally trusted herself to say something.

“The food is good, too. Not as good as my mother's, but close.” Chase smiled at her.

“Thank you so much for taking the time away from your family and friends to spend time with me
and show me Dahinda. I really enjoyed today.” She took a deep breath. “I think I can find my way around for the rest of the week. So you can spend time with your folks. And tell Margie I'm going to try my best to make it back to the rum shack before I leave.”

It was for the best. She had to end this—whatever the hell was happening between her and Chase—before things got out of control.

Who was she kidding? Things were already out of control.

His eyes narrowed a little, and he just looked at her. He seemed to be processing something in his head. She really hoped that he was thinking things through and that he would come to the same conclusion that she had. Whatever was going on between them was a train wreck waiting to happen, and they needed their combined strength and resolve to stop it.

He nodded and took a sip of his drink, but he didn't respond to what she said. “You should try the conch fritters. We can get them as an appetizer. You have to have the curried coconut soup, too. All of the entrées are good. It's been a while since I've come here. But I'm sure the food is still excellent.”

The waiter came and took their order, and she somehow restrained herself from ordering one of everything on the menu. When her food came and she finished everything, she really regretted her restraint. Everything was delicious. But because it was more
upscale fare, the portions weren't nearly as big as those she'd had the night before at Margie's Rum Shack.

“That was delicious. But you're right, your mom's food is better. And she has better portions.”

Chase laughed. “Come and dance with me, Cicely?” He stood and held out his hand.

She stood and took his hand.

The steel drums were playing so melodically. She was almost mesmerized by the beat and the man standing in front of her. He held her close as they swayed to the delicate island rhythm the steel-drum band created. Every cell and membrane in her body seemed to be screaming,
Him, you silly girl, it's him.

But she blocked them out and told herself she'd just enjoy this one last night dancing in his arms, and she'd be able to get away before she had even more to lose.

He held her tight. “Tell me something, Cicely.”

She cleared her throat. “What do you want to know, Chase?”

“If you're so determined to have an island fling, why won't you consider having one with me?” His voice was firm and strong, and the sound of it alone made her heart sputter.

But what he'd said? That was enough to send her into cardiac arrest.

She laughed what she hoped was a playful, sexy little laugh and not the shrill, frightened sound she heard in her own ears. “Because—”

She couldn't think of one blasted reason.

She looked up into his sexy, daring eyes.

Big. Big. Mistake.

He was looking at her like he wanted her, like he would give her an island fling she would never forget. And there was something else in his gaze. Something that she would never be brave enough to speculate about.

“Because…?” he repeated and waited for her to finish.

His arms felt so right, so incredibly right that it had to be wrong.

“Because you don't like me, Yearwood. And I—”
I could so easily fall in love with you.
“I don't like you, either. Why mess up a good thing?” She laughed again, and he just pulled her closer. She could feel his desire for her pressing against her and calling her a liar.

She swallowed.

“Is it because I'm not a nerd that you can wrap around your little finger?” He leaned down and whispered his words against her ear.

Yes, and so much more than that.

She knew what she had to do. She had to scare him off. Unfortunately, that meant showing a little
bit of her vulnerability. But it would be worth it if it meant she could save herself from a broken heart.

Strategic honesty.

That was the way to go.

“It's because you're The Wolf, Chase, a bad boy…and you could probably break my heart and not miss a beat.” She let out a deep breath as she realized the truth of her words.

He smiled ruefully. “You really think your heart would be the only one at risk?” He shook his head. “Fine, Cicely, I hope you find someone that you feel is safer for you. I'm not going to pressure you about this. But I'm also not going to help you find some lucky SOB so that you can give him what I want.”

She felt that electric current racing through her even as a piece of her heart was already breaking. The pain let her know she was doing the right thing. So she just nodded as she continued to dance the night away in his arms.

C
hase sat at the bar in his mother's rum shack, feeling more than a little grumpy. He'd spent the entire day with his family, and it was wonderful, even if a huge part of him kept wondering what Cicely was doing and if she had found someone to have a fling with.

If he could have kicked his own ass for blowing things with her and not taking it slower, he would have. What was he thinking, asking her straight out why she didn't want to have a fling with him? It was the absolute wrong approach! Plus, he had sounded like a punk. He might as well have said,
Why don't you like me, Cicely? Please like me, Cicely. Please.

What a chump!

No wonder she had given him the brush-off….

But he could tell that she was feeling him. He could tell by the way she melted in his arms, her pulse racing and her eyes fluttering…

He knew she felt the electricity, the chemistry between them. She was just scared. And she didn't want to risk her heart.

At least one of them was thinking, because he was ready to risk it all. And that wasn't a smart move.

No, it wasn't smart to risk his heart. Not where Cicely was concerned.

“So how come you didn't bring my girl Cicely back with you tonight? Where'd you take her last night?” Margie leaned on the bar and studied him with keen interest.

Rather than tell his mother that the last person he wanted to talk about was the woman who had been on his mind all day, the person everyone at the rum shack seemed to be asking for all day, he just shrugged.

Margie hit him on the arm with her cloth. “What kind of answer is that, Chase? You wait all these years to bring a woman here. You finally bring one and we all like her. And you had to go and mess it up!”

“Ma, not that it's any of your business…” He glanced up from the vodka tonic he was nursing and noted the dark squint of his mother's eye.

She used the cloth in her hand to slap him upside the head. “What do you mean, it's none of my business? I spent all day in labor to bring you in this world, and you can sit there and tell me what's my business and what's not my business? You're my only child, and I want you happy! You'll never settle down if you keep dating the kind of women who let you run all over them. Cicely is a nice girl. You can do a whole lot worse—and, come to think of it, you have.”

“Your mother is right,” Mr. Frank concurred. “You have to know how to tell a good woman when you see one.”

“And she's cute, too. You two will make me some pretty grandbabies. She looks like that pretty little girl from
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,
all grown up. So sweet and innocent.” His mother smacked her cloth across his arm again. “Don't you hurt that sweet girl, Chase.”

Chase ruffled at that.

Why was everyone worried about him hurting Cicely? What about Cicely hurting him? She could very well hurt him, too!

In fact, if he was honest, he would admit her unwillingness to have her little island fling with him had hurt him a lot more than he would ever let on.

“She don't look like no Hilary Banks,” Mr. Frank grumbled.

“Not that one, the other one…Ashley,” Margie said before rolling her eyes at Mr. Frank. “And shut up and mind your business, old man. You can't see I'm trying to have a conversation with my son?”

“Woman, I'm trying to help you. I thought you were talking about the pretty airheaded girl on the show. That's probably what he's used to dating, anyway.”

Chase turned and stared at Mr. Frank, not sure if he should take the time to be insulted by the man's diss of his dating practices.

“Old man, shut up.” Margie shook her head. “Anyway, Chase, you're not getting any younger. You're knocking on forty's door.”

“I'm thirty-three, Ma.”

“Like I said, knocking on forty's door. And women as smart and pretty as Cicely won't be coming around as easily. Mark my words, you'll regret letting this one go.” Margie nodded in agreement with herself.

Chase sighed. “Okay, Ma, can we change the subject?”

“Sure.” Margie smiled. “So, are you going to bring Cicely by tomorrow evening?”

Chase rolled his eyes.

“Oh never mind!” His mother said excitedly. “There's my girl! Chase, why'd you let me go on and on if you knew she was going to stop by here?”
She hit him with her cloth again. “Hey, Cicely, girl! How you doing? Come in and take a load off!”

Chase turned toward the door and almost fell out of his seat. There she was in his mother's rum shack looking absolutely stunning in a white sundress with big sterling-silver hoop earrings and bangles.

He knew he was staring at her. He almost wanted to pinch himself to make sure that she was really there.

Cicely smiled and walked over to the bar. “Hey, Margie! Hey, everyone!” The woman practically glowed.

“Chase.” She nodded at him and quickly turned her attention back to the others.

He cleared his throat. “Cicely.”

He took a sip of his vodka tonic and got up. He took her arm and led her over to the dance floor.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Cicely screeched as she let him lead her away.

He pulled her into his arms and started to move to the smooth R&B song that was playing in the background. He had no idea what song was playing, and he didn't care. The only thing he cared about was that she had shown up.

He had been thinking about her all day. He thought that he'd blown his chance with her. But she had shown up.

And if she really didn't want him to pursue her,
then she really shouldn't have done that. He had tried to do the right thing and let her call the shots and stay cocooned in her fear. But that would only have worked if she had stayed away.

Now…Now? Well, all bets were off.

He gazed down at her. That clear shimmer gloss thing she had going on with her lips seemed like it would be tasty. He decided to taste and see.

When his lips connected with hers, it felt amazing, damn near surreal. She immediately opened to his kiss, and his tongue didn't waste any time diving in.

Damn, her mouth was addictive. He wrapped his arms around her and held her closer as he all but devoured her mouth. He let his arms roam all over her lush, delectable curves.

It took everything inside of him to pull his lips away from hers and end the kiss. It was only the sound of clapping in the background that made him finally let her go. And even then, he kept her close to him. He looked around and his mom and her crew were clapping and whistling.

Cicely's brown face had just a hint of red on the cheeks.

“Chase—” she started.

“No,” he interrupted her. “If you didn't want to be with me, Cicely, you should have stayed at your hotel where it was
safe.
” He put extra emphasis on
the word
safe,
since that was such a big deal for her. “I let you walk away from me last night, and I would have done the gentlemanly thing and respected your wishes. It would have killed me, but I really would have done it, Cicely.”

He bent down, taking in her scent, and placed his forehead on hers. “But you came back here. You walked in that door looking like an angel, and now there's no going back, Cicely. There's no way in hell I'm going to let you find some clown on this island to have a fling with. That's not going to happen. Sorry. When we leave here tonight, you're coming to my place. And you might as well get your things from the hotel and check out. We've wasted too much damn time already.”

“Are you finished?” Cicely twisted her lips to the side.

“Pretty much. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.”

“Cocky man! As I was going to say, before you interrupted me…” She paused with a saucy little grin on her face. “Chase, I want to take a risk and have a wildly passionate island fling with you. We'll just have some ground rules—namely, when I leave this island our fling will be over. No questions. No promises. No problems. These ground rules will help us keep things in prospective.”

Chase bristled. Normally he would have loved
having an automatic out-clause written into a relationship. But for some reason, with Cicely it wasn't appealing to him at all.

“We don't need any ground rules, Cicely. What happened to your wanting to be spontaneous and do something wild and unplanned? Coming up with ground rules kind of goes against all of that, doesn't it?”

She sighed. “This is a deal breaker, Chase. If we can't agree on the ground rules, then we can't do this. No questions. No promises. No problems.” She nibbled on her lip, and it made him want to kiss her again.

What was she so afraid of? They continued to sway with the music, but that question plagued him.

“Why do you feel like you need these ground rules so much? Are you afraid I'm going to turn into some kind of crazed stalker or something?” he joked as he spun her around. He gave her a peck on the lips when she faced him again. “I promise you, when you get tired of me I will respect your wishes and move on.
Of course
I'm going to try my best to make sure you don't get tired of me anytime soon. But—”

Cicely let out a deep, exasperated breath. It had been hard enough putting it all on the line, taking a cab over to the rum shack and admitting that she wanted to spend more time with him. She knew she was taking a huge chance with her heart. The ground
rules had to be in place because they would remind her not to fall in love with this man.

She glanced up at his handsome face. He gazed at her with such earnest longing that she had to catch her breath. She'd already told him the other night that she needed to protect herself from getting hurt. How much of her soul did he want her to bare in order to have this fling?

What more did he want? Blood?

“That's not it, Chase. I need the ground rules in place because I…”
I could so very easily fall in love with you.

She couldn't say that. No need to get carried away with the truth. “Because I think we need to be able to end things the way we started them, as friendly rivals.” She smiled. “What we're experiencing here in Dahinda might be a fluke. It might be the island magic that is making us want each other so much. And make no mistake about it, I do want you…. But this is the only way I'm willing to go into this with you.”

With his jaw set firmly, it appeared as if he were going to say no deal. Her nerves had her holding her breath. What would she do if he said no? She had already called on every ounce of strength and resolve she had in her to get dressed and take a cab from the hotel to Margie's. The entire ride over, she
had to darn near bite her tongue to stop herself from telling the cabdriver to take her back to the hotel.

If he said no, where would she get the resolve and strength she would need to laugh it off and then spend an hour or two partying at the rum shack as if it didn't matter that he didn't want to have a fling with her?

“I don't like this, Cicely,” he grumbled.

“We don't have to like it, Chase. We just have to respect the boundaries of it. That way, no one will get hurt and we can remain rivals-slash-friends.” She smiled at him. “Come on, Yearwood. You know you want to say yes. There's unfinished business between us that we can settle before we go our separate ways.”

“I don't want to place an expiration date on it, Cicely. We both live in Miami—”

“All the more reason for us to limit this. That way, neither one of us will have any expectations that we can simply bring what we start here back home.”

“Are you seeing someone back home? Is that it? You have a man at home that you're here cheating on or something? Damn! I should have asked you that earlier.” Chase shook his head in frustration.

“I don't have a man at home. I just broke up with my boyfriend. I had just given him a key to my place after dating him for a year, and I came home to find him in bed with another woman.”

Chase's eyes narrowed. “You just broke up with a cheating boyfriend and you want me to be your
rebound
fling?” He said the word rebound as if it were a dirty word.

“No. Not really. I mean. I don't know. I don't think you'd really be a rebound fling proper, since technically I knew you way before I ever met him. And in a way we are settling old business from our kiss in college. Taking things further—”

“As far as we can take them in, what, four days? What if we need more time to explore?” Chase rolled his eyes and sneered. “And what if I'm not comfortable being your
rebound
guy?”

“Four days is all we have. And you aren't my rebound, Chase.”

She placed her hand behind his neck and pulled his head down. Brushing her lips across his, she was surprised by how quickly he gave in to kissing her. Within seconds, he was devouring her mouth again. She figured her mouth would probably look like she'd had some kind of collagen injections by the time he was done with her. But it still pleased her that he seemed to want her so badly.

That had to be a good sign.

His hand trailed her arms and back, landing on her behind. He cupped her behind and squeezed.

Yes, that had to be a really good sign.

“Let's just say our goodbyes to your mom and talk about this at your place, if that's okay?”

“We'll see.” Chase took her hand and they headed back to the bar. When he sat down at the bar, she followed his lead and sat down, too.

“Oh, oh, what happened? My son has his ‘I didn't get my way' look on his face. Cicely from Miami, what did you do to my son when you all were over there dancing?” Margie had a big grin on her face, and it made Chase scowl even more.

Chase's reaction almost made Cicely reconsider her stance. It wasn't as if she thought she would ever get enough of Chase. That was the problem. She figured he would be tired of her long before she ever grew tired of him.