No Other Lover Will Do (24 page)

“What do you mean?” Myer asked as he pulled out his notebook.

“Few years ago, I was getting married,” he said, then pursed his lips when he saw the look of disbelief on the detective's face. “Look, I wasn't always the ladies man you think I am. Anyway, things fell apart and this waitress helped to get me out of the reception hall.”

“Chelsea?”

“Yeah. I had no idea she was so disturbed.”

Myer scribbled in his notebook. “Wow, I can't believe Mr. Page Six was going to get married.”

“Hey, what else do you need from me?” Solomon asked.

“I think that's it,” he said. “The district attorney will be contacting you when the trial comes up.”

“Knock, knock,” Kandace said as she walked into the room. She looked from Detective Myer to Solomon. “What's going on? She didn't escape, did she?”

“No, ma'am,” Detective Myer said. “I'm just collecting statements.”

Kandace released a sigh of relief and walked over to Solomon's bed. “Good,” she said.

“I do need to get your statement,” the detective said.

Kandace's face blanched. “Can we do this later?”

“Well, I kind of need to wrap up this part of the case,” Myer said. “I only have a few questions.”

Solomon took note of the pained look on Kandace's face and waved the detective off. “Can you give us a minute?” he asked as he rose from the bed and took Kandace in his arms.

“Sure.”

When they were alone in the room, Solomon lifted Kandace's chin. “Babe, what's wrong? You're shivering.”

“I just don't want to think about that night. Why do we need to say anything?” she asked as she held on to Solomon.

“It's just part of the police investigation. They need all the information they can get to make sure they can put Carmen away,” he said in a reassuring tone. He ran his finger down her cheek. “You don't have to be afraid, Kandace.”

“I just want this to end,” she said. “Had I known the detective was here, I might not have shipped my friends back to Charlotte.”

“Your girls might have gotten you arrested,” Solomon said with a low chuckle. “I'm here and it's going to be all right, okay?”

She nodded. “Then I guess I'd better get the detective.”

“You don't have to go right this minute. Let me do this first,” he said as he captured her lips and kissed her with a soft, but intense passion. Kandace lost herself in his kiss and forgot about the detective waiting outside the door or the fact that they were in a hospital room.

“Ahem,” Myer said when he walked into Solomon's room. “Sorry to interrupt. Miss Davis, are you ready to give your statement?”

Kandace turned and faced the detective. “Yes,” she said. Solomon stroked her shoulder as Detective Myer began his inquiry.

“Miss Davis, what happened when Chelsea came to the suite you were staying in?”

Kandace closed her eyes, going back to the moments she'd prayed she'd forget one day.

 

Kandace had lain back on the bed waiting for Solomon to return from his business downstairs. Her body had still tingled from the aftershocks of their lovemaking and she couldn't wait for his return. Just as she had been about to shrug out of her robe, she heard the suite door open.

“Solomon,” she'd called out. “That was quick.” Kandace had hopped off the bed and headed for the door with her robe open. “I was thinking that…It's you!” Kandace had quickly closed her robe when Carmen had pointed her gun in Kandace's face.

“So that's how you did it, you bitch? You parade around naked and let Solomon have his way with you? You're not the first woman he's done this with. You're nothing.”

“Carmen, wh-what are you doing here?” Kandace had asked as she tried to back away from Carmen.

“I could kill you right now, shoot you and let you die. No one would give a damn because Solomon loves me. He only lusts after you like all men lust after sluts,” Carmen had spat. She'd closed the space between her and Kandace, grabbing her face with her cold hands. “You know you're nothing but a slut. A damned slut who doesn't have much more than her looks to offer. Solomon will grow tired of you, just like he did with every other woman. Every other woman but me. He needs me and he loves me.” Carmen had pushed Kandace in the corner and pointed the gun at her chest. “Tell me, what am I going to have to do to get you to leave Solomon alone?”

“Shouldn't that be his choice?” Kandace had asked before thinking.

Carmen had slammed Kandace's head into the wall. “Shut up, bitch. Solomon is my man. He's mine and I'm not going to let you have him.”

Carmen had backed away from her, but kept the gun trained on her chest. “He's my man and you're not going to keep him away from me!”

 

“And then,” Kandace said, “Solomon burst into the suite.”

Detective Myer stopped writing and looked up at Kandace, who seemed to be reliving the terrifying night.

“Is that all that happened?” the detective asked.

Kandace's eyes grew wide. “What more do you want me to say? Do you know how scared I was as I stood there with that gun in my face?” Kandace's voice rose as she spoke. Solomon stroked her back softly.

“Calm down, babe. It's all right. She's gone now. Detective Myer, I think you have enough,” Solomon said.

“Yes, I do. Thanks, Miss Davis. Your statement is going to go a long way in convicting her in North Carolina and New York.”

Kandace fell into Solomon's embrace as she cried silently. Neither of them noticed when Detective Myer left the room.

Later that afternoon, Solomon was released from the hospital and he and Kandace headed back to the resort. When the car that the resort sent to the hospital to pick them up arrived at the resort, he could feel Kandace tense up. The driver got out of the car to open Solomon's door.

“You want to go home?” he asked her when she gripped his hand tightly.

“You don't think I should go in there and face my fears?” she asked as she looked up at the building.

“I think you should do whatever you feel comfortable with. I can have a porter bring your things down and we can head to Charlotte right now.”

“We?” Kandace asked. “What do you mean, ‘we'? You have to recover from your gunshot wound.”

“I can get quality health care anywhere. And the doctor referred me to the clinic the Carolina Panthers and other NFL teams use to help me heal my shoulder. Guess where this place is?”

“OrthoCarolina?” Kandace said, remembering Jade's brother-in-law, Maurice, having to go there after the football season ended to deal with an injury.

“That's the place,” he said. “But if you feel like you have to go in here and prove something to yourself, then I'm standing right beside you.”

She took another glance at the entrance of the resort. “Okay,” she said. “I'm a big girl, I can do this.”

Solomon got out of the car first, then he stood aside as Kandace slowly climbed out. He wrapped his good arm around her waist and led her inside the resort.

“Good morning, Mr. Crawford. Glad to see you back,” the front desk clerk said.

Solomon smiled and nodded at her as he and Kandace headed for the elevator. “Are you all right?” Solomon asked as they stepped on the elevator cart.

Kandace took a deep breath and squeezed Solomon's hand. “I'm fine,” she said. “So far, anyway.”

“That's good. Remember, I'm right here for you.” The elevator doors opened on the eighth floor and Kandace took another breath.

She could almost hear the officers and the gunshots as they walked to the door of the suite. Kandace's knees felt as if they were going to buckle underneath her. But she pressed on and walked in to the suite behind Solomon. Kandace half expected to see bloodstains on the floor, but she had to remind herself that nothing happened in Solomon's suite. Still, the specter of Carmen's insane actions floated around Kandace's mind and in every shadow at the resort. Blinking, she tried to clear her mind of the morbid thoughts.

Solomon tried to pull his garment bag from the closet, but he caught a sharp pain in his shoulder. “Damn,” he muttered, bringing Kandace out of her thoughts. She turned to him and crossed over to the closet.

“You have a staff that can do this for you,” she said as she lifted the bag out of the closet and tossed it on the bed.

“You know me. I had to see if I could do it myself first,” he said as he sat down and expelled a breath. “That really hurt.”

“I'm sure it did,” she said, thumping him on the forehead. “Knucklehead.”

“Hey, I already said I was in pain and you cause me more,” Solomon joked. “That's just wrong.”

Kandace winked at him as she picked up the phone and called the front desk. “Want me to kiss it and make it better?” she asked as the phone rang.

“Then let me tell you what else hurts,” he replied with a wily smile.

Slowly, Kandace found herself relaxing in the room. Her mind recalled all of the things she and Solomon did during her vacation—the kissing, the flirting, the lovemaking—things that far outweighed the terrifying moments when Carmen held that gun on her.

Kandace hung up the phone after making arrangements for the staff to come and take their things downstairs. “I have to tell you, my living situation in Charlotte doesn't come with a staff or a lot of space,” she said, thinking about the two-bedroom town house she'd been renting since moving to North Carolina.

“You're there, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then that is all I need to get on the road to recovery. Just make sure you keep your girl Serena away from me.”

“I think she should be back in Atlanta by the time we get to Charlotte,” Kandace said, remembering the cryptic conversation she and Serena had when she'd first arrived at Carolina Serenity.

“Good. She's scary.”

“No, she isn't. To know her is to love her,” Kandace said with a laugh.

“I'll take your word for it,” he said. Moments later there was a knock at the door and members of the resort's porter staff entered and began taking the couple's luggage downstairs.

“You can't drive, can you?” Kandace asked.

Solomon shook his head. “Doctors orders.”

“Good thing I have a driver's license and a car,” she said as he rose to his feet.

“Well, your driving isn't the only thing I need you for,” he said. “But you're going to have to take it easy on me when you get me into bed.”

“What did the doctor order about your other activities?” she asked.

Solomon wrapped his good arm around her waist. “I don't always follow doctor's orders,” he said before kissing her with a smoldering passion that caused her legs to quake.

“Is that so?” she asked when they broke the passionate kiss.

Solomon winked at her. “Yes, because I want you so bad right now, I don't give a damn about this shoulder.”

“We'd better get on the road,” she said as she placed her hand on his chest, stopping another kiss. “Or we're not going to make it out of here today.”

“Would that be such a bad thing?”

“Yes,” she said as she took a step back from him. “So, let's go. I'll even spring for dinner tonight.”

“Says the woman who owns a restaurant,” Solomon said as they headed out the door.

 

Carmen sat up in her hospital bed as best she could, straining to hear what the detectives outside her door were saying.

“New York has the more pressing charges,” she heard the NYPD detective say.

“But our district attorney has ordered that she gets evaluated in a mental hospital,” said the Avery County detective. “And she's still a suspect in a murder case in our jurisdiction.”

“She's a fugitive from New York,” the detective boomed.

“Well, if you'd done your job, she wouldn't be here and we wouldn't have a dead woman on our hands.”

The door to the room opened and a nurse walked in to check her vital signs. The woman looked as if she was nervous to be alone with her.

“I don't bite,” Carmen said. “This is all a misunderstanding between me and the man I thought loved me.”

“Okay,” the nurse said as she placed the blood pressure cuff on Carmen's arm.

“Have you ever loved someone and then they betrayed you? Told someone to hurt you?”

The nurse removed the cuff and wrote the reading on the chart. “I can't say that I have.”

“Well, I'm going to make them all pay,” Carmen said. She grabbed the nurse's hand. “I'm going to win.”

“Ugh, okay,” the nurse said as she pulled away from Carmen and dashed out of the room.

She heard the nurse tell the police that “the patient in there is crazy as a loon.” Carmen smiled. Her plan was working. If she could convince the North Carolina authorities that she belonged in a mental hospital, she could get to Solomon and that woman.
Then they will pay.

 

Solomon wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin at Hometown Delights, the restaurant that Kandace and her friends owned in Charlotte. Yes, the food was good, but he wasn't feeling the chef, who kept coming to their table to specifically check on Kandace. It was obvious to Solomon that Devon Harris had designs on his woman.

“How was dinner?” Kandace asked Solomon.

“Great. But next time, we're ordering takeout,” he said.

“Why?”

“That way we can eat without the interruptions,” Solomon said as he watched Devon walk over to their table again.

Kandace placed her hand on Solomon's thigh. “Are you jealous? You have nothing to be worried about.”

“Kandace,” Devon said when he stopped at the table, “how was the meal?”

“It was terrific, as usual,” she said.

Devon rocked back on his heels and smiled. “You were always my muse,” he said.

Solomon cleared his throat and said, “The chicken was a little dry.”

Devon glanced at Solomon. “Thought you had the steak?”

“I thought you were the chef and not the waiter,” Solomon said. “But here you are at the table again.”

“What's your problem, man?” Devon asked. “Kandace and I work together. And because of you she's been through hell.”

Kandace rose to her feet and said, “Hey, what's going on here?”

Solomon shook his head and sprung from his seat. “Ask your chef,” he said as he bolted out the door.

Kandace sighed with frustration and looked at Devon. “You have been overly attentive,” she said. “What gives?”

“Are you sure you should be with this guy?”

“That's rich coming from you.”

“That was a long time ago and I was young and made mistakes. I took this job hoping that we could reconnect,” he said.

“I don't go backward,” Kandace said as she grabbed her keys and purse. “But to answer your question, I am sure I should be with Solomon.” She sprinted out the door and found Solomon leaning against the wall. “Solomon,” she said, placing her hand on his chest, “why are you acting like a baby? And if this is how things go when we run into each other's exes, I'm guessing I need to wear track shoes when we go out in New York.”

“I know I overreacted, but I could see what that dude was doing. Besides, I remembered you telling me that you two had something going on, and he looks like he wants to get it started again.”

“It doesn't matter, because the only person I want to start something with is standing right here,” she said as she pressed her lips against his.

“Make sure he knows that,” Solomon said.

“You want some dessert?” she asked.

“What do you have in mind?”

Kandace grinned. “It involves a lot of licking. And it is packaged to go.”

“I'm in love with this idea,” he said as they headed to her car.

As they got in the car, Kandace caught a glimpse of Antonio Billups walking into the restaurant. She wondered briefly if he was there to meet Serena. Kandace really wanted to see those two work out the issues between them. She knew her friend was falling hard for Antonio, no matter how she tried to deny it.

“I have to make a quick call,” she told Solomon as she cranked up the car. Kandace grabbed her BlackBerry from her purse and dialed Serena's number.

“Hello?”

“Serena, there's a situation at the restaurant you need to take care of.”

“Are you working when your
boyfriend
is in town?” Serena asked.

“We had dinner there. Just get over here. I'll talk to you tomorrow.” Kandace ended the call, then turned her phone off.

“What are you up to?” Solomon asked.

“Just meddling in my friend's life,” she said. “The usual.”

Solomon shook his head and laughed. “You guys are too much,” he said.

“I'm going to show you too much,” she said with a smile.

Solomon leaned back in the passenger seat of her Lexus IS. “I would've never taken you for a sports car driver,” he said as they pulled up to Kandace's place. “I figured you as a practical SUV woman.”

“That was just a rental,” she said. “I have a need for speed.”

“Not always. There is one thing you do really slowly,” he said.

“And what would that be?” she asked as she shut the car off.

Solomon took her face in his hands. “You kiss me really slowly,” he said, then leaned into her and pressed his lips against hers. Kandace took Solomon's bottom lip between her teeth and ran her tongue across it. She slowly kissed him, her tongue swirling around his until they were both heady with desire and anticipation. Kandace pulled back from him, looking into his eyes. She saw desire, passion, and it spurred her own want.

“Can we quickly get out of the car?” she asked as he dropped his hand from her face.

“Yes,” he said as he opened his door. Kandace followed Solomon to the door of her town house and fumbled to find her house key. Once she opened the door, Solomon backed her against the wall and untied her trench coat. He loved the fact that winter in Charlotte didn't mean women had to dress in heavy layers. He removed her black sweater dress in one quick motion, but he left her black knee-high boots on.

“Damn, so sexy,” he said as he drank in her image. Solomon ran his hand down the center of her chest. Her skin was like the finest silk underneath his fingertips. “You're more than sexy, you're beautiful.”

“Solomon,” she moaned as she took his hand and kissed his fingertips. “I want you so badly.”

He slid his hand down to her lacy black panties, his fingers dancing around the waistband, and she trembled as he slipped his hand inside. “You have me, now and forever,” he said as his finger found its way to her wetness.

Kandace moaned as he parted her wet folds of flesh. He teased her sensitive bud with his finger, stroking her slowly and deliberately until she screamed out his name.

Her love rained down on him and he pulled his finger out, licking her sweetness as if it was the nectar from mythical Mount Olympus. Solomon doubted he could make it upstairs to Kandace's bedroom, because he wanted her now. Wanted to dive into her sticky sweetness. Taking her hand, he led her to the stairs and backed her against the third one from the bottom. He pulled her legs apart and planted himself between her thighs, licking desire until she shook from satisfaction. Kandace squirmed against him, lifting her hips into his kiss as he greedily licked and sucked her.