A Taste of Temptation (Love Spectrum Romance) (20 page)

That night after getting Tim’s goodnight call, her mind returned to her missing paper, and the fact that she wasn’t curled up in Tim’s bed. She knew it would be days before she saw him again. She knew him well; he would hibernate and punish himself for not being on top of things at Niagara Falls. She hoped nothing would push her to the back of his mind.

CHAPTER 20

Brandi’s twenty-first birthday was proving to be a drag. Tiffany, a few other friends, and her parents were having dinner at the Excelsior. There were presents, balloons, her favorite food, shrimp—everything that should have made a birthday great. But one thing was missing—Tim.

Her mind stayed on him until the waitress approached her with a big bouquet of pink peonies. She didn’t know what to think and looked around as the chatter stopped. Tiffany was the first one to break the sudden silence. “Well?”

“I don’t know who sent them yet, Tiffany, so hold your horses.”

“You know who they’re from, just read the note.”

Brandi pulled the note from the middle of the bouquet and read silently:
You’ve made me want to live again…a hard thing for a mere mortal to do. Then again, you’re not mortal, you’re my favorite fairy tale. All my love, Tim. Hope to see you tomorrow night? I have plans for you.

Again, Tiffany was the first to speak. “Are they from Tim or not?”

“Of course they are.”

Her mother reached for the bouquet. “Umm, these smell so wonderful. He must love you to send this big a bouquet.” He eyed her husband. “Size does matter, despite what anyone thinks.”

“I get your hint, honey. Your bouquet will be larger next time,

I promise.”

Brandi smiled. Tim was fine, and she would be in his arms soon.

Brandi wanted to thank Tim over and over for the flowers. Of all of the gifts she had received last night at her party, his flowers meant the most!

He picked her up that evening for dinner. They then went to the place where he had begun to fall in love for the first time,

The Entrapment.

They reached his house at 12:30. He took her inside and sat her down on his bed. She smiled, knowing he was trying to make everything perfect. He put on a jazz CD, poured her a glass of wine, then came to her with his hands behind his back. “Tim, what are you doing?”

“Making everything perfect.”

“Everything is already perfect. Come and join me on the bed so I can make everything incredibly perfect.”

“Not yet, I have something else to do. May second is a special day, Brandi. It’s the day the Lord sent you to me. True, I was only nine years old when you were born, but you were destined to be mine. Don’t you agree?”

“Sure, but where is all this going?”

He knelt between her thighs and handed her a small silver box with a white bow attached.

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Depends on what you think it is?”

She quickly opened the box and saw a platinum wedding band with diamonds. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m not kidding. Here, let me slip it on you.”

She watched as he slid the band on her waiting finger; she stared at it, barely able to speak. “Tim…this…this is the second most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“The second? What was the first?”

She leaned over and kissed him. “You. The minute I saw you, I had to have you, Tim.”

“I’ve only done this once before, and I pretty much botched it up. It’s different this time because I feel this in my heart, Brandi. I know this is right. Okay, here goes; I…I want you to be my wife. Will you? Please save me, save my life, and become half of it.”

She had waited to hear him say those words for what seemed like an eternity. “Yes, God yes, I’ll be your wife.”

“You will? You don’t want to think about it?”

“What’s there to think about? I’m miserable without you.”

“Me, too, but you know that I’m not the proverbial man next door with an apple tree in his yard. I fight, drink, I…”

“I’m in love with you, Tim. I know you’re not perfect. Maybe that’s why I love you. You’re different, exciting, everything I want and need.”

He didn’t say a word, just kissed her as if the world were about to end.

She soon broke the kiss. “When?”

“You decide.”

“Tonight?”

“Brandi!”

“I’m just kidding. I have always wanted to be a June bride, and it’s only a month away.”

“That’s perfect!”

Later that evening, Brandi pressed her ear against her parent’s bedroom door. Hearing her father’s snore, she quietly pushed open the door and went to their bed and shook her mother’s shoulder. “Mom, wake up, I’ve got to tell you something.”

A sleepy Mrs. Miles rolled over and looked at the clock. “Brandi, it’s 3:30 in the morning. Can’t this wait?”

“No. I can’t hold it in any longer. Look.” She held her ringed finger in front of her mother’s face. “Tim gave this to me. We’re getting married.”

Mrs. Miles immediately sat up. “What did you say?”

“I said Tim and I are getting married. Look at my ring.”

Her mother stared at the ring; tears filled her eyes. “Tim proposed to you?”

“Yeah, we’re getting married in June.”

“Jeff, wake up. Our baby is getting married.” She looked at the ring again as Jeff stirred awake. “This is gorgeous, Brandi. When did this happen?”

“A couple of hours ago.” Mr. Miles sat up in the bed. “Dad, Tim and I are getting married.”

He shook his head until he was fully awake. “This must be some kind of a nightmare. I thought you said you were getting married.”

“Dad! I am getting married. Look at the ring Tim gave me.”

He took her hand and stared at the sparkling ring. “Brandi, isn’t this a little soon? Shouldn’t you think about it?”

Before Brandi could answer her mother cut in. “Jeff, she’s in love. Did anyone tell you to think about it?”

“No, but.…”

Her mother squealed, returning to Brandi. “My baby is getting married.” She and Brandi hugged as her father pretended to be happy.

A fidgety and nervous Brandi could hardly sleep that night.

The next week she, Tiffany, Mrs. Miles, and, at times, Tim, made arrangements for a June wedding. Tim left the planning and decorations to his soon-to-be-wife, and gave her all the money she needed to take care of everything. He booked the honeymoon, though.

Brandi had no classes on Monday, it was her only day to sleep in, but the doorbell woke her. It rang three times before she realized her parents had gone to work. She looked from her window and saw the FedEx truck, and she knew that the wedding dress she had ordered had arrived. With just a robe on, she ran to the door.

She opened the door and smiled at the face of the courier standing there with the box. “You have a delivery for me?”

The driver quickly scanned the FedEx letter. “Are you Brandi E. Miles?”

“Yes.”

She signed the ledger and he handed her the item.

She looked down at it, disappointed. “Is this it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You don’t have a bigger one in your truck for this address?”

“Sorry, this is it.”

After she dressed, Brandi sat on the bed staring at the box. She picked it up then out it down; picked it up again, put it down. Finally, she tore the side off and pulled out a stack of folders. “What the hell is this stuff?”

The first manila file had a note attached to it:
This is the real deal on your boy wonder, Brandi. You’d better read this before you get too happy about that diamond sitting on your pretty finger. Happy reading!

She looked at the outer package again. “Who is this? No one knows I’m engaged to him, other than my family and a few friends. They wouldn’t send me anything like this.” She read the contents of the first folder.
November. The minor Timothy Edward Polaris J
r. was placed into Chandler Home for Boys for excessive fighting and aggression towards classmates. Lagging grades despite his exceptional ability. Returned home five months later. December of the following year, the above mentioned minor ran away from home and broke into Fitzers Party Store a week later; returned to Chandler for a period of 6 months—returned home in July.

Brandi looked up from the file. “What is going on here? This is not Tim. Someone’s making up lies.” She stopped reading, but felt compelled to continue. Her first thought was of Eric, who had been acting like a total ass of late. Then she remembered Tim saying someone had broken into his doctor’s office. Even Eric wouldn’t do that.

She dismissed the files. His youthful escapades were not news to her. Tim had told her about them. He and his brother had a terrible childhood, but he had come clean about that, so why was someone sending her crap she already knew? They were about to be married; she trusted everything he said and did.

Still, the file beckoned her, she began reading page after page, describing altercations Tim had been involved in since he was nine years old. She hadn’t know there were so many. He had mentioned several things, but nothing as extensive as what was in the files. Her first instinct was not to believe any of it, but the documents didn’t seem to be bogus. “What is going on here? What else is this nut trying to pin on Tim?”

Finally, the last file.
Timothy Edward Polaris Jr. returned to Chandler for aggravated assault on his brother…killed another youth in an altercation.
She threw the folder down. “Oh, my God; no way! No way did he do these things. He would have told me.” Then she thought about it; why would he tell her? If true, he would never admit it; it would have been too hard to admit to. She jammed everything back into the envelope. Tim was the only one who could make sense of this crap.

She was up to 85 mph before she realized she was speeding. Nothing in that envelope was worth getting a ticket, or worse, killing someone, so she slowed down. She was on the Long Island Expressway, wondering how Tim would react to this, if he would try to find out who had sent the files to her. She didn’t know anything, but she did know that Tim would get to the bottom of it. So these were the files that had caused him to flipped out after the break-in at Claire’s office. Still, nothing made sense; Tim was not a murderer.

Tim had back-to-back classes that day, but she had to show him what was going on.

His freshman comp class was just letting out, and she sat outside of his door impatiently waiting for his last student to leave.

Tim smiled at her as she rushed in. “I was just thinking about you. Come in and lock the door. I’ve got about twenty minutes before I have to be across campus.”

She closed the door but didn’t lock it. “I was thinking about you, too. I really do have to talk to you.”

“Let’s go in back, where it’s more private.”

“Maybe we had better.” She followed him and waited until the back door was closed. His lips met hers; he felt warm and exciting. She hated disturbing the moment, but she had no choice. She ended the kiss.

“Come on, you know I don’t have much time today.”

“You and I need to talk.”

“Sure, but later.” He tried moving back into her arms but she sidestepped him.

“Tim, stop. I’m serious. Something has come up, and you need to know what it is before everything gets blown out of proportion.”

“Is it something about the wedding?”

“I wish.”

His eyes searched hers. “What’s going on?”

She held up the folder. “This, this is what’s going on. Someone FedExed this thing to me this morning.” She placed it in his hands.

He could feel his body heat rising, feel the anxiety stirring in the pit of his stomach. “I knew it would show up soon.”

“
What
is that crap
, Tim? Help me understand.”

“These are the files that were taken from Claire’s office. Did you read any of this?”

“Yes. That’s why I’m here. Tim, I know you and Greg had a terrible life as kids, but there are things in there that don’t make sense.”

He leaned against the wall. “Then you know about the number of foster homes I was in?”

“Yes, but that’s not the problem. You told me about those, although I had no idea there had been so many. Look, Tim, I know things were bad for you, and that there are things that you haven’t told me. I understand. Who would want to talk about such things? But you could have tried trusting me.”

“What do you know that I didn’t tell you, other than that petty robbery rap?”

“Maybe you should tell me.”

“I don’t know what to say, Brandi! Things happened! My life was not a smooth road. I was a kid when everything happened. I hope you realize that.”

“I know one thing that happened. I was hoping you’d admit it now that everything is in the open, but I suppose you won’t…can’t.”

“I know what you’re getting at. Paul died of a blow to the head. I did it. Is that what you’re searching for?”

“That’s the one!”

“I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t know if you…well, if you would walk away from me. Brandi, Paul used me as his whipping boy. He and Greg were best friends. He knew I was part of the reason Greg’s life was hell. I couldn’t get this boy off my back. Every chance he got, he was nailing me. I got tired of it one day and hit back! He died, and my brother has hated me ever since.”

“Why would your brother take his side against yours? You were his brother, not Paul.”

“He was reaching for straws as I was, Brandi. He was a kid, a hurting, mixed-up kid. What do you expect?”

“I expected you to tell me about this before I found out from anonymous troublemakers. You’ve known me long enough. You could have come to me about this. I understand how kids are, Tim. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t trust me enough to let me into your life; even the ugly stuff, Tim. Everyone has some.”

“Didn’t I just say I didn’t know how to tell you?”

“What else don’t you know to tell me? What else are you possibly hiding from me?”

“Nothing!”

“Tim, you and I are to be married soon! You can’t trust me, and you’re about to marry me? Haven’t I had enough of men holding back on me? Look at what Eric did to me.”

“I’m not Eric.”

“Then who are you, because I don’t think that I know anymore.”

“You can’t be serious, Brandi.”

“I am serious. You withheld information about your life the entire time we’ve been dating. I have told you everything about me: embarrassing stuff, all the things that hurt me. I even told you about a man sleeping around on me. If that’s not embarrassing or humiliating enough, then I don’t know what is.”