Scream My Name (8 page)

“No, you don’t have to. I mean, you can stick around.”

She’d also stood, and Brandan felt a sense of personal triumph when she obviously wanted him to stay, despite her friend’s obvious wish for him to go.

He took both of her hands in his, and pulled her closer.

“No, it’s late, and I know it’s been a long day for you. I’ll come by tomorrow…is that okay?” he asked, and when she nodded, a small smile on her full lips, it took everything in him not to reach down and kiss her. Everything not to pull her close in his arms and feel every delightful curve against his body.

He looked up and caught eyes with Hawk, saw his narrow as though he’d read Brandan’s thoughts. The two men exchanged looks, Hawk’s warning, Brandan’s challenging, staking a claim.

“Yes, sure…that would be okay,” she replied and Brandan looked away from Hawk and down at Leila. She’d taken off her shoes as they’d sat talking, and now she had to look up further into his eyes.

He reached a hand out and thumbed a caress down the soft line of her cheek. “Tomorrow,” he promised, and with that he turned around and left.

“Nobody of importance, Lee?” Hawk asked, and Leila turned to face him.

She opened her mouth to speak but promptly shut it when words escaped her. Taking a deep breath, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared after Brandan as the door swung close on his departure, wondering how he’d come to be important to her in such a short amount of time.

“H
ave you and Roberto talked any more about you buying his space?”

Leila looked away from the screen of her laptop and sighed. She removed her glasses and folded them, placing them on the small table near the pull-out sofa she was currently sitting on.

Unfolding her legs from beneath her, she winced. She’d been going over inventory as Hawk had been reconciling her books for her, and had sat in the same folded-up position for—she glanced at her clock—over an hour.

“God, I didn’t realize it was so late.”

She stood and stretched, and padded over barefoot to the desk where Hawk was crunching numbers for her.

“Well?” he asked, concern etched deeply in his brown eyes.

“No,” she sighed. “In fact, the last time I brought it up to him, it didn’t feel like he really wanted to talk about it. He kinda gave me the brush off,” she admitted.

“Probably because of the plans to buy out the block,” he stated the obvious, and grimaced when she punched him on the shoulder.

“Ya think? Yeah, but what really pisses me off is that he was ready to sell. All we needed was the financing, and then this happens.”

This time Hawk wisely refrained from stating what “this” was. Instead saying, “Yeah, well, Lee, you have to understand where he’s coming from. They’re offering five times what the property is worth now. He’s ready to retire, and with the amount of money they’re offering, he can do it in style.”

She turned away and began to massage the bridge of her nose. “I know, I know. But sometimes it’s not about the money, Hawk. Roberto and Aunt Sadie were friends for years, they were both the first tenants here. They always looked out for each other. You’d think that would mean
something
.”

“I know, Lee, I know.”

There was really nothing more to be said.

They both understood the reasons for the elderly man’s recent reticence in discussing Leila buying the business, why most of the other shop owners had recently stopped returning her calls: she had asked for their support in signing a petition to declare the area a historical landmark, therefore preventing Sanchez, Walters and Reed from buying the land and turning it over to the highest bidder.

It still didn’t ease the sense of betrayal Leila felt from those around her, many of whom she’d known most of her life and thought of as family.

“All done here, anything else you need from me, sweetie?”

Strong, lean fingers began to massage the back of her neck and she leaned her head to the side to give him better access.

“Ummm, no. Not unless you have a million dollars so I can buy out the block myself,” she laughed.

He leaned down and gently kissed her on the cheek. “If I had it, it would be yours,” he returned lightly.

Leila smiled and turned around, watching him pick up a colorful canvas bag, sling it over one shoulder, and smile back at her, his expression tinged with concern.

“Don’t worry, it’ll all work out.”

“I know it will, Hawk.”

Once again tears burned the back of her throat. She’d been so emotional lately that the least thing tended to do that to her.

“Have I told you lately how awesome you are and that I wouldn’t know what to do without you?” she asked.

“Who, me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“Couldn’t be.”

“Then who?” he finished the silly childish rhyme and they both laughed.

“Yeah, but I never get tired of hearing it, brat,” he said and walked out of the office after giving her a wink.

Leila followed him moments later, and after making sure everything was locked up, lights out, she was on her way out the door when she noticed a slip of paper tossed in the trash can.

“I thought I emptied that,” she groused and reached down to retrieve the lone sheet of paper. Her eyes scanned over the contents and within moments she balled up the sheet and tossed it back in the trash.

Quickly, she locked up, and with a determination in her step, hurried to her car and drove the short distance to one of the shops along the block.

After parking her truck, she quietly made her way to the back of the shop, opened the door, and eased inside.

“I hear what you all are saying, I do.” Brandan held up a stalling hand when Ms. Mayflower opened her mouth to speak. “Please, let me finish,” he said as gently as he could, not wanting to offend the elderly woman.

But if he allowed her to, she would again, in painstaking detail, illuminate all the reasons why she was ready to retire and how if it wasn’t for “
that girl,
” referring to Leila, they’d all be much richer and happier…and satisfied.

“She’s just like that old aunt of hers, God rest her soul,” she said, and quickly made the sign of the cross before continuing her diatribe, lips pinched, face twisted up. “Always telling us what was good for
us
. We are all grown here, we know what’s good for us, and what’s good for us—me, y’all,” she said, pointing a bony finger around the crowded room, “is to finally get what is due to us, so we can move on!”

A smattering of murmurs accompanied her comment, and although Brandan knew the majority of the occupants of the room loved Leila, they were clearly frustrated with her refusal to sell.

Unbeknownst to Leila, over the course of the last few weeks, he’d received emails and phone calls that clearly showed their growing ire.

And although he wanted—needed—to bring the sell to a close, a small part of him was angry with the way she was being treated.

Over the last couple of weeks, he had been frequenting the diner. Most of the times he made it in just before closing, and she would sit and talk to him for long stretches of time. A few times he’d gotten up earlier than usual and after his daily run, had made it through his daily routine in record time in order to come by the diner for breakfast.

After the first few times, he knew he was growing on her. When he would enter the café, within moments their eyes would meet, and although she tried to hide her pleasure at seeing him, he’d caught the flash of that sexy dimple in the corner of her lips before she could erase it.

They’d avoided talking about the sale of the café. He knew he should be trying to persuade her to sell, but whenever he saw her, the furthest thing on his mind had been trying to convince her to sign away her café.

One part of him didn’t want her to. She belonged right where she was; her passion for the café went beyond simply owning the business and catering to her loyal customers. Aunt Sadie’s was her link to her deceased great-aunt, one that he didn’t want to destroy.

The others in the room began to talk among themselves, their discontent with the situation clear.

He sighed.

The last time he’d come by Sadie’s had been several days ago, before he’d had to take a trip to Austin on business. Just walking into the inviting café, with it’s down-home good smells, familiar looking customers, ones he’d come to know were her regulars, had filled him with warm feelings he’d never experienced before, either growing up or as an adult.

Her regulars were like family to her. She smiled and told jokes and laughed with them. And not those fake tinkling laughs the women he knew gave, the ones that were either purposefully seductive, or polite little giggles.

No, she gave full-out laughs, the kind where the corners of her almond-shaped eyes would nearly close and her face would split wide in a smile. She had a full-out, honest laugh. One that was as appealing as she.

He had come in at breakfast, sneaking in early before the downtown traffic had become hell, and she’d been sitting with one of her customers, one he hadn’t seen before, but one he could tell was yet another devotee of Leila.

He’d laughed. Hell, at least this one was a woman, and he didn’t have to worry that it was another hapless male to add to her stable.

Not that she couldn’t have a woman after her.

There was only the two of them in the café, as it was five in the morning and she’d just opened the doors. But the pair weren’t giving off any sexual vibes that he could sense. Particularly as Leila looked so casual sitting there with the woman, her typical high heel shoes on the floor next to her, the two drinking coffee and laughing like two friends, not like lovers.

As soon as she’d seen him enter, she whispered something to the other woman, who looked at him and seemed to be fighting back a smile. She pulled Leila down and whispered something back in her ear that had both women giggling like schoolgirls, and Leila had pulled away and sauntered over to him.

He’d rewarded her saucy behavior by pulling her into his arms and kissing her fully on the mouth.

“Hmmm. What—what was that for?” she murmured, looking up at him, her eyes crinkling in the corner.

“Just because.”

“Just because…?”

“Just because I think it’s time we settled a few things between us.” He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her again, lightly pressing his tongue deep into her mouth and capturing her tongue with his.

He’d expected her to resist, pull back, but she didn’t. Instead she settled deeper into his embrace. Wrapping both arms around him, she ran her hands through the back of his hair, pulling him closer.

Brandan tightened his hold, placed one hand on the curve of her waist and the other into her head, wrapping several of her long dreads around his hands, and deepened the kiss.

When his shaft stirred to hot and immediate life, he almost forgot they weren’t alone, and pressed her closer. A cough…several coughs…from the lone customer brought them both out of their private little retreat.

Wild color filled her golden brown cheeks when she pulled away, just as several customers were entering the café.

“You are bad,” she admonished him, in a slightly breathless tone.

Brandan only smiled, and watched her sweet hips and long legs carry her away with that sexy walk of hers as she greeted her new customers.

He turned around and laughed out loud, shrugging when the woman she’d been talking with was staring at him, shaking her head with a deep smile on her pretty face.

“Look, I know you all want to sell, and I’m doing my best to make that happen.”

“Humph! If your best is hangin’ out at that café every day flirtin’ with that girl, then I think it’s ’bout time we come up with a different game plan,” Ms. Mayflower interjected, and Brandan penned the woman with a glance.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that, ma’am. Anything going on between
that
girl and myself is purely business. No need for you to worry. I’ll get her to agree, make no mistake,” he said out of anger.

The old woman was really starting to get on his nerves. This wasn’t the first of her sly innuendoes about his motivation in going to Aunt Sadie’s. In fact, he’d not told any of them about his regular visits because it really wasn’t anyone’s business. That was, until the old woman had made a comment earlier in the meeting about it, making sure everyone within earshot heard her.

Nosy bitch, he thought, and immediately felt bad for thinking of her like that, but out of all the tenants in this deal, this woman was the only one who disliked Leila, and he didn’t have a damn clue why.

“Can you promise us you’ll convince her to sign soon? We’re not getting any younger, you know.”

Brandan had had enough. It was time to go, and he wanted to go by Aunt Sadie’s before Leila left. He hadn’t been able to get to the café in several days, and like a kid with a crush, he was desperate to see her.

He glanced impatiently at the clock mounted in the far corner of the room, and just as he was opening his mouth to bring the meeting to a close, he spotted Leila.

The look on her stricken face tore into his gut like a tsunami, devastating and complete.

She turned and rushed out of the room before he could take two steps toward her.

A
ngry tears ran down Leila’s face, unchecked. She swiped them away with an angry balled-up fist as she put the keys into the ignition, revved the motor of her jeep, and peeled out of the small parking lot.

How dare he!

“Damn it, how fucking dare he!” she cried out and swerved, narrowly missing the curb as she angrily downshifted on the gear stick and swung out into the darkened street.

Listening to him as he told that old Ms. Mayflower how he was “handling” the situation, how he would make sure they all got theirs, filled her with so much anger she could barely see straight.

She should have known better.

“Stupid me! I thought he cared about me. All he cared about was trying to work me into agreeing to sell Aunt Sadie’s. And hey, maybe get a little pussy in the process. Damn his ass!” she cried and sniffed, before moving one hand from the death-grip hold she had on the steering wheel to feel around in the dark interior of her Jeep for a tissue.

She glanced behind her and narrowed her eyes after she noticed the bright lights of another vehicle following close behind her.

“That had better not be his ass following me,” she mumbled, and after several miles she knew without a doubt that it was.

“He can follow me ’til hell freezes over, for all the good it’s going to do him,” she murmured, continuing her one-sided diatribe with herself.

When she pulled into the driveway of her loft, she calmly turned off the ignition and jumped out of her Jeep, grabbing her purse, and walked toward her door.

He turned in behind her within moments of her arrival, and unfurled his long frame from behind the wheel of his low-slung sportscar.

“Leila…wait!”

Leila turned to face him after she’d unlocked the door.

“Baby, please—”

“
Baby
? I think not. What. Do. You.
Want
?”

After asking, she turned away from him, and looked out over the dark street. As hurt as she was, as angry as she was, she couldn’t stand to look at his face, and had to give herself a moment.

She turned back to face him and in the porch-lit night, she saw the fine tinge of red running along his cheeks. The fact that he called her baby seemed to register on him and he looked as surprised as she at the endearment.

“I can explain. It wasn’t what it looked like,” he said, and she laughed harshly.

“I
know
what I saw and heard, Brandan. I’m not stupid. Come on, now, give me a little more cred than that! But you know, in all actuality, you don’t owe me any explanations. You don’t owe me a damn thing. Now, I’m tired. It’s been a long day.”

She turned to leave.

He reached out and pulled her back around to face him.

“Please…”

“Please what? What can you possibly say?” she cried and pulled away from him.

“Can I come in? Do we have to discuss this outside?”

Leila bit her bottom lip and stared up at him, undecided.

“Please, just let me in,” he begged, his voice low.

She turned and opened the door. Once inside she made a motion with her hand for him to follow her. She ignored the flip in her stomach when she saw the look of relief flash across his handsome face, but backed away when he reached out to touch her.

His hand dropped away as she turned around and entered the loft, throwing her purse on the small sofa in the middle of the room, and she turned to him.

“So, you’ll take care of it? You’ll take care of me, huh?” she said, and crossed her arms over her chest.

When his cheeks flushed red, she quirked a brow and waited for his response.