Feel The Fire (Unforgettable Series) (22 page)

Brian cast a calculating glance at Willy Bassett. He was seeing what she was seeing: a loud, aging playboy who would slip his head through a noose if there were a single woman in the jury box.

Even Marcel and Solomon looked nervous.

“I need a moment to confer with my clients,” Brian finally said, standing from his chair and fiddling with the buttons on his suit.

Marcel and Solomon stood likewise.

Toni glanced at Nora, sensing at long last that a settlement was on the horizon. “Sure. You boys take all the time you need.”

A train of black suits marched out the conference room. The only man who refused to budge was Willy Bassett. His wide devil-may-care grin disturbed her. Did the other men purposely leave them in a den with a starving lion?

“That tape got me thinking about old time, B-pie,” Willy reached into his jacket and removed a fat Cuban cigar. “Remember the time we played Lewinsky right here in this room?”

Nora blushed.

Toni blinked and bolted back from the desk, disgusted by the image of what might have happened on this very desk.

“Let’s wait in the break room down the hall?” Toni suggested, standing. For all she knew the walls were soundproof and no one would be able to hear them scream.

Nora looked like she might protest and Toni quickly snatched her client by the arm, more than ready to drag Nora out the conference by her hair if she had to.

Toni stopped walking and stared. “I’m going to forget you said that.” She started walking again. “I wonder why Mr. Hinton didn’t join us?” she asked as casually as she could. Despite Nora unemployment, she still seemed to know most of the inter workings of T&B.

“Oh, Marcel and Solomon bought him out. Guess he decided he didn’t want to be in the entertainment business, after all. Frankly, I think he’s finally gotten it through his thick skull that Ophelia was never going to crawl back to him.”

Toni’s heart plummeted and knocked around somewhere in her knees. She had forgotten all about Ophelia Bassett and the real reason Jonas had moved to Atlanta in the first place. How in the hell did she manage that?

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Somehow she managed to keep her self-disgust from cracking her professional calm, but what raged inside of her was another story altogether.

“Speaking of the devil,” Nora said as they stepped into the break room. “Good morning, Ophelia.”

Toni glanced up then felt the air rush out of her lungs when recognition surged through her brain.

Chapter 28

Ophelia was more beautiful than Toni had imagined. And no matter what she did, she couldn’t stop her jealous gaze from desperately seeking a flaw to verify that she was, indeed, human. She couldn’t find one.

The silence that stretched between the three women last so long, Toni worried that she had temporarily gone deaf. However, it was Nora who was the first to find her tongue.

“Come again?”

Toni’s forced a smile on her lips and calmly turned toward her client. “Would you give us a few minutes?”

The look on Nora’s face clearly said
hell, no
, which caused Toni to quickly add, “Please.”

After drawing in a couple of deep breaths and tossing a pointed look at Mrs. Bassett, Nora finally caved. “A few minutes,” she emphasized. “And then we need to talk about conflicts of interest.”

Toni nodded and then waited patiently for Nora to exit the room. “Mind if I closed the door?”

Ophelia hesitated, but then acquiesced with a slight nod.

The door closed with a soft click and when Toni turned to face Jonas’s ex, she honestly didn’t know what she was going to say and until it tumbled out of her mouth. “What I should have said was that I’m in love with Jonas Hinton, and though I don’t want to face it, I believe there’s a part of him that is still in love with you.”

Ophelia’s gaze dropped like a stone. “I don’t know what to tell you about that.” Her shoulders tugged slightly. “Only that it’s over between us. It has been for some time.”

“And yet, he bought interest in your husband’s company only to be near you.”

Ophelia’s head snapped back up. “Did he tell you that?”

“He didn’t need to,” Toni said, pulling out a chair. “Just like he didn’t need to tell you.” She sat down and made herself comfortable.

“Or my husband,” Ophelia tossed in, drawing out her own chair. After a few wild heartbeats the silence grew awkward, but then Ophelia confessed, “Jonas told Solomon about you.”

Toni lifted her chin, but she couldn’t mask her surprise.

A pleased smile touched Ophelia’s lips. “He may have bought his way into T&B Entertainment for me, but he most certainly sold it because of you.”

An unexpected wave of relief washed over Toni, but it quickly receded when her old fear returned.

“You said you loved him...so what happened?”

Toni blinked. She did admit that, didn’t she? What the hell was she thinking? Regardless, she couldn’t get herself to take the words back. Instead, she continued with her confession, “I don’t want to love him. Love is...tricky. Messy. Temporary.”

Ophelia’s expression twisted. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

“Don’t you?” Toni clamped her mouth shut and mentally berated herself for the careless admission.

“No. I don’t,” the golden beauty answered. “Love is the most beautiful gift you can give or receive from a person. Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.”

Despite being touched and even stirred by the short speech, Toni couldn’t banish her mother’s voice from her head.

Love is a woman’s greatest downfall.

Ophelia leaned across the table and covered Toni’s hand. “I certainly can’t tell you what to do and I don’t know the details of what’s happened between you two, but walking away from love doesn’t seem to have made you too happy. But I can guarantee you if you run towards it-your heart-your life will only be rewarded. Love in the moment and the energy of the moment.”

Tears burned the back of Toni’s eyes and she sandwiched Ophelia’s hand.

“It’s never too late,” Ophelia added. “Trust me. I know. If you love him, go get him.”

When Toni emerged from the break room, she was in a rush to reach a settlement with the partners of T&B so she could get home and develop a plan to win her man back. However, her mind was wiped clean when she opened the door to the conference room and found Nora and Willy making out on top of the conference table.

When it comes to women, keep your emotions out it, Jonas reminded himself as he clinked glasses with Patsy Nelson.

“I have to admit, I was a little surprised to hear from you today.” She glanced around Silk, her favorite Japanese restaurant, and then beamed her smile back at him. “It’s not my birthday so what’s the special occasion?”

“No special occasion,” Jonas assured. “After what happened at Club Secrets I figured I should make it up to you.”

A saucy smile slithered across Patsy’s face while her eyes lit with renewed interest. “Does this mean you’ll be coming back to my place after dinner?”

A soft rumble of laughter rolled inside Jonas’s chest. “No. That won’t be happening.”

Patsy’s face fell with disappointment.

“I was hoping you would come back to
my
place,” he said, watching her eyes reignite.

“It’s about time you came back to your senses,” she gloated, sipped her champagne and encouraged him to, “Eat up. You’re going to need the energy.”

After dinner, Jonas and Patsy started making out as soon as the door slid closed in the lobby of his penthouse building. Patsy’s lips were nice, even pleasant, but they failed to heat his blood or quicken his heart rate the way...

Keep your emotions out of it.

He tried his best to recreate the sparks he’d shared with Toni, but to no avail. The more he deepened the kiss, the emptier he felt.

Seconds later, the elevator delivered him to his floor. Patsy continued to kiss and tear at his clothes while he wrestled to reach for his keys.

“I’m going to give you a night you’ll never forget,” she promised, between gentle pecks while he fiddled with the door.

Upon opening it, the couple tumbled into the condominium laughing, kissing and pulling at each other’s clothes.

Don’t think. Keep your heart out of it, Jonas recited. He could do this. He had to do it in order to purge Toni from his mind and body.

But it wasn’t working.

Patsy broke the kiss to stare curiously up at him. “Is something wrong?”

Jonas coughed and cleared his throat. “No. No. Everything is fine.” He pulled her close and tried kissing her again. Again, nothing.

Patsy didn’t quiver like Toni.

She didn’t sigh like Toni.

And her strong perfume was nothing like the soft floral scent of...
Stop it.

He deepened the kiss, but soon realized that it was hopeless. “I’m sorry, Patsy,” he said, breaking away from her. “I can’t do this.”

Patsy heaved a frustrated sigh. Her beautiful face was now a mask of frustration and irritation. “Let me guess. You’re in love with another woman.”

Toni entered the lobby of Jonas’s building wearing a slick, silver raincoat, a matching pair of silver pumps and a smile. Underneath: she was stark naked. She was surprised that no one was manning the desk, but she still remembered Jonas’s elevator code and went straight up.

She didn’t have much of a plan. Only to show up, say she was sorry and open her coat. Past experience told her this would be enough to get back in the good graces of any man. As soon as that thought drifted across her brain, a voice in the back of her head reminded her that Jonas was no ordinary man.

“Don’t think about that now,” she coached herself. Her plan
had
to work. She wanted him back. She needed him.

Jonas felt like a complete ass. “I’m sorry, Patsy. Really I am.”

Patsy tried to remain angry with him, but it just wasn’t working. She exhaled a long sigh and gave a careless shrug. “It’s all right. I should have known this night was too good to be true.”

She headed back toward the door while Jonas followed silently behind her. When she crossed the threshold, she turned a final time to face him. “I think you should get a new attorney.”

Jonas opened his mouth to protest but she placed a silencing finger against his lips. “I insist.” She smiled. “Whoever she is, I hope she deserves you.” Leaning up on her toes, Patsy kissed him goodbye.

The Carolina Panthers’ first game of the season against The Atlanta Falcon in Charlotte was a tragedy to behold. The Hinton men moaned and groaned inside Jonas’s box seats like they were all experiencing one gigantic bellyache. By halftime, the score was 13-3 with the Falcons posting 159 rushing yards.

“I sure hope this isn’t an indication of how the whole season will pan out,” Q said, tossing back the rest of his beer. “If so, you’re looking at one looong season.”

Jonas viewed everything that was being played out on the field as an omen. This would be how the year would turn out, he decided. Why would this season be any different than the past three months since he’d last seen Toni?

The stricken look on her face was something he couldn’t banish from his thoughts or his dreams. Her eyes had been bright with unshed tears-her full lips trembled at the sight of him with Patsy.

At the time, pride forbade him to give chase; but now, he was certain he’d made yet another colossal mistake. His mind filled with so many wouldas, couldas, shouldas that it was impossible to think of anything else.

“Maybe you should look into replacing the coach,” Sterling commented after watching the team failed to execute yet another play. “I know Fox is a good man and all, but...”