Poetry Man. Melanie Schuster
She merely raised an eyebrow when Alexis informed her that the man, Jared, was going to need a ride home because he’d been given a painkiller that made it impossible for him to drive.
Sherri had also showed up at that point and after a short discussion, it was decided that Sherri and Alexis would take Jared to his rented loft and that Alana would meet them afterward at Alexis’s house. Alexis was all too keenly aware that Alana was killing herself not to laugh at the situation, especially after Jared grandly informed her that he was looking forward to having her as a sister-in-law. Sherri drove to Jared’s building and it took both her and Alexis to help him to the elevator and into the big, barely furnished loft. It would have been a clean escape for the two women had it not been for Jared’s kamikaze-like move that resulted in Alexis getting a good-night kiss from him.
“You saved my life,” he informed her with a goofy grin. “That means I belong to you now.”
“Jared, tomorrow morning, when the medication wears off, you’re going to have a totally different perspective on this.” Alexis was trying to be pragmatic and logical, but he looked so sweet and charming that it was difficult.
“Nope. I know what I know and I know that you’re mine.” And before she could utter another word, he planted a big, delicious kiss on her surprised lips.
“Jared, you must lay down. Your prescriptions are right next to the bed and I put a big glass of water there for you. If you get dizzy or nauseous, call the E.R. or call me. I left my number there, too,” Sherri said in her most professional doctor voice.
“I just need Alexis’s number. We’re getting married, you know.”
“So I’ve heard,” Sherri said cheerfully.
Alexis had reached her limit. She made her small hand into a gun and pointed the forefinger at her temple, silently mouthing the word BOOM. She took one of Jared’s long arms and Sherri took the other and they walked him over to his bed.
“Go to sleep or the engagement is off. Call me in the morning and I’ll come take you to your car. Where are your pajamas?” She looked around in vain for anything that resembled sleepwear.
“I sleep au naturel. Wanna see?”
“Sherri, what the hell did they give him? Is he ever going to recover or is he just crazy?”
Jared was finally lying across the bed and looked as if he was about to nod off. Sherri was biting her lip to keep the laughter that was building up inside her to a minimum.
“He’ll be fine. Some people just react very strongly to those kinds of meds. We’ll leave the light on for him and you can check on him tomorrow. Now, let’s get out of here and get you home. You got some serious splainin’ to do, sister.”
And that’s how Alexis found herself seated across the table from her sister and her best friend, recreating the evening’s events. They were deriving a great deal of enjoyment from her explanation and Alexis had to admit that it was pretty funny when she told them how it came to be.
“I left the book club and I was thinking about the book we’d discussed when I got a flat. The lightning and thunder didn’t bother me, but that nasty slap-slap-slap noise a flat makes scared the crap out of me. I called AAA, then I tried to call Alana, but I couldn’t get you. So I was ready to wait it out and I was wondering how a sane woman could get hooked up with a vampire and then Jared tapped at my window and I screamed ‘Vampire!’ because that’s the first thing that popped in my head.”
Alana couldn’t hold it in anymore. She started laughing and it didn’t look as if she was going to ever stop. All of the Sharp women looked somewhat alike; slender with perfect cocoa-colored complexions and beautiful teeth. Alana’s hair was longer than Alexis’s. It was shoulder length and she often wore it in a ponytail to keep auto paint, grease and other kinds of soil out of it. She not only owned Custom Creative, she worked there everyday. No one looked less like a mechanic than Alana, but no one was better at her craft.
“You called him a vampire? Oh, that’s too much!”
“He looked like a vamp, thank you very much! He was all wet and his eyes were all funny looking and he’s so pale he glowed in the dark! Yeah, I called him a vampire! We had just been discussing Dead to the World and it hit home, that’s all.”
Sherri had to get her two cents in at that point. “He didn’t look wet and drippy when I met him. He looked a little rumpled, but that man is really handsome! He couldn’t keep his eyes or his hands off you, Alexis. So are you going to date him or what?”
Alana laughed again and the sound was beginning to grate on Alexis’s nerves. “They don’t have to date, they’re engaged, remember? He kept calling her his fiancée and told me he couldn’t wait to be my brother-in-law,” she said with an evil grin.
“I told you, he said that so I could stay in the examining room with him. He wasn’t serious. It was just a little joke between us that got a little out of hand when that pain medicine kicked in. In any case, I’m going to call him in the morning and get him to his car, if necessary, and that’s that.”
Alexis left her seat and began taking off her nasty, bloody clothes right there in the kitchen. “I should send him the bill for dry cleaning this outfit, but he did change my tire so I’m going to let it slide. But no, we won’t be going out. He’s not my type.”
Alana’s phone went off and she answered it as she walked to the living room, leaving Sherri and Alexis alone. “How do you know he’s not your type?”
“I just do, that’s all. He’s not attractive to me,” she said firmly.
“You need to pull out the list and see how many of your desired characteristics match his personality. You might be surprised.”
Alexis ignored her and went to her bathroom to get the robe that was hanging from the hook on the door. “Sherri, I love you and I love my sister but you are both dead wrong about this. Jared VanBuren seems to be a nice man, but he’s not the one. Nope. Now, while you pick up Sydney from wherever you stashed her to come rescue me, I’m going to take a shower. And tell my big sister to go home and read Car and Driver or whatever she does at night. Thanks to both of you but I’ve had a hell of a day.”
Sherri wasn’t that easy to dismiss; she had to have the last word. “After you get out of the shower, make sure you take a look at your list before you decide Jared isn’t the man for you. That’s all I ask, just take a look.”
“Yeah, right, whatever. I’ll get right on it.”
Chapter 4
The morning after his adventure with Alexis, Jared woke in a great mood. His forearm still ached after getting the stitches, but as injuries went, it wasn’t too bad. He’d gotten many worse injuries in the restaurant business, other cuts and burns that required trips to the E.R., but none had resulted in meeting a woman like Alexis. He stretched lazily under the sheet that covered him and smiled. He was enjoying the feeling of his morning arousal as much as the memory of kissing her. She probably thought he was crazy, but that was okay. He’d exaggerated the effects of the painkiller slightly, but it was so he could get her guard down and make her feel at ease with him.
Alexis Sharp was gorgeous, funny and sexy, and he was going to get to know her better while he was in Columbia. He was going to be living here on and off for months, until his two newest restaurants were up and running and he saw no reason to go without companionship for the duration. The restaurant business could be grueling, especially if you were the executive chef and owner. He was lucky that he had good business partners. His brothers Lucas and Damon and his best friend, Roland, were excellent partners which is why their empire was growing so rapidly. They were aiming for steady, sustained growth as opposed to flooding the market with a bunch of quasi-gourmet-of-the-month franchise eateries. His dream was unfolding as he desired, but a lot of personal sacrifice was involved, as well occasional inconveniences.
He’d planned on opening a restaurant here months