Westmoreland Desires: Riding the Storm / Jared's Counterfeit Fiancée / The Chase Is On. Brenda Jackson
Tara shook her head smiling, finally getting the picture. “Well, I’m sure there will be plenty of single women there since eleven of the men who posed for the calendar are still single. Thorn is the only one who has gotten married since those photos were taken.”
Something suddenly pulled at Storm’s memory. He remembered Jayla mentioning that she would be meeting Tara for lunch the Tuesday after returning to work. Unless those plans had changed, that meant the two of them would be meeting tomorrow. There was no way he could ask Tara about it without her wondering how he’d known. But if they were to meet tomorrow for lunch and if he knew where, he could unexpectedly drop by and pretend that he’d been in the area. For some reason he wanted to see Jayla again and if they accidentally ran into each other, she wouldn’t think he had intentionally sought her out…although in essence, he would be doing just that.
“So, Tara, how about if I took you, Madison and Shelly to lunch tomorrow?” he suggested. He knew Dare’s wife Shelly hadn’t returned from visiting her parents in Florida, Stone’s wife Madison would be leaving with Stone tomorrow on a book-signing trip to Kansas City, and if Tara had made other plans for lunch then he would find out soon enough.
“Thanks, Storm, that’s really sweet of you, but Shelly and Madison will be out of town and besides I already have a lunch date. I’m meeting with a woman who’s working with me on the charity benefit. Her company has agreed to pick up the tab for all the food and drinks that night.”
Bingo. He was suddenly beginning to feel pretty good now. Confident. Cocky. Smug. He straightened from leaning against the post. “Oh, that’s too bad. Where are you going?”
Tara lifted a brow. “Excuse me?”
He inhaled slowly, knowing he couldn’t appear too inquisitive. The last thing he needed was for Tara to get suspicious of anything. “I asked where are you going for lunch? It might be a place where I’ve eaten before. Perhaps I can tell you whether the food and service are good.”
Tara smiled. “Trust me, I know you’ve eaten at this place plenty of times and can definitely vouch for the food and service being the best. My lunch date left it up to me to select a place and although I haven’t told her yet, I’m going to suggest that we have lunch at Chase’s Place.”
His heart suddenly did a back flip and his mouth curved into a huge smile. Things couldn’t have worked out better if he was planning things himself. Tara was taking Jayla to his brother’s restaurant, a place where he ate lunch on a regular basis, so it wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary if he showed up there tomorrow. “I think that’s a wonderful choice.”
She shook her head smiling and before she could say anything, Thorn’s loud voice roared through the air. “Storm, get back in here if you’re in this game, and you better not be out there kissing my wife.”
Storm laughed. “He’s a jealous kind of fellow, isn’t he?” he asked, taking Tara’s hand as they walked back inside
She grinned and he could see her entire face light up with absolute love for his brother. “Yes, but I wouldn’t have him any other way.”
“Chase’s Place?” Jayla asked, making sure she had heard correctly.
“Yes,” Tara said brightly on the other end of the phone. “It’s a soul-food restaurant that’s owned by my brother-in-law Chase Westmoreland, and the food there is wonderful.”
Jayla rose from behind her desk, no longer able to sit. She knew the food there was wonderful but at the moment that wasn’t what was bothering her. She recalled Storm saying that he routinely ate at his brother’s restaurant. She was tempted to suggest they go someplace else but quickly remembered that she had been the one to suggest that Tara select the place for lunch. She sighed deeply. “I’ve eaten there before and you’re right the food is wonderful.” “And he’s promised to take good care of us.” Jayla raised a dark brow. “Who?” She heard Tara chuckle on the other end before answering. “Chase. He’s good at taking care of people.” “Oh.” It was on the tip of Jayla’s tongue to say it must run in the family because Chase wasn’t the only Westmoreland who was good at taking care of people. She vividly remembered the way Storm had taken care of her, fulfilling and satisfying her every need.
She tried forcing the memories to the back of her mind. “What time do you want us to meet?”
“What about around one-thirty? That way the noonday lunch crowd won’t bombard us. But if you think you’ll be hungry before then we can—”
“No, one-thirty is fine and I’ll meet you there.” After ending the call, Jayla sat back at her desk. If she saw Storm again, what was the correct protocol to handle the situation? Women and men had affairs all the time and she was sure that at some point they ran into each other again. Did they act casually as if nothing had ever happened between them and they were meeting for the first time? Or were they savvy enough to accept that they had shared something intimate with no regrets, moved on and didn’t make a big deal about it? She decided the latter would work. It wasn’t as if they had been total strangers.
She glanced at her watch. One-thirty was less than five hours away. Although Atlanta was a big town, she and Storm were bound to run into each other soon or later, but part of her had been hoping it was later. She had expected to see him at the charity benefit, but had figured she would be prepared to see him by then. It was more than a week since they had been together, nine days, if you were counting, and unfortunately, she was.
She closed her eyes and exhaled a deep breath. If she saw him, she would play it cool, take the savvy approach and hope and pray that it worked.
“Is there a reason why you’re hanging around here?”
Storm shrugged and shot his twin a beguiling smile. “I like this place.”
The expression he read on Chase’s face said he knew better, since he only dropped by to eat and rarely hung around to socialize. He usually was too busy pursuing women to visit with his brother for very long. His answering machine had maxed out while he’d been out of town and his phone hadn’t stopped ringing since he’d been back. But for some reason, he wasn’t interested in returning any of those women’s calls.
“Well, if you don’t have anything better to do with your time, how about waiting tables?” Chase said, interrupting his thoughts. “One of my waitresses called in sick and we’re shorthanded.”
Storm glanced at his watch while shaking his head. “Sorry. I like you, Chase, but not that much.” He turned and glanced at the entrance to his brother’s restaurant and wondered if perhaps Tara and Jayla had changed their minds and decided to go someplace else since it was past lunchtime. No sooner had that possibility crossed his mind, than the door swung open and the two women entered.
His breath caught at the sight of Jayla. Because he was sitting at the far end of the counter, he knew she wouldn’t be able to see him but he could definitely see her. She was dressed differently than she’d been in New Orleans. Today, Jayla was Miss Professional in her chic navy blue power suit. She still looked stunning and as sexy as sin. Storm could feel his libido going bonkers. He swung around to Chase. “Hey, I’ve changed my mind. I will help you out after all.”
Chase raised a suspicious brow. “Why the change of heart?”
“Because if a man can’t depend on his twin brother in a time of need, then who can he depend on?” Storm asked, giving Chase a boyish grin.
Chase cast a speculative glance over Storm’s shoulder and said dryly, “I hope the person you’re all fired up at seeing is the woman with Tara and not Tara. I would hate for Thorn to kill you.”
Storm chuckled. “Relax. I got over Tara a long time ago. I just like getting a rise out of Thorn.”
He leaned over the counter and snagged a pencil from Chase’s shirt pocket and tucked it behind his ear. He then picked up a pad off the counter. “Who’s working the table where they’re sitting?”