No Other Lover Will Do (7 page)

“Excuse me,” the waiter said, causing them to break their embrace. Solomon thought about firing the young man, but he was only doing his job. It wasn't his fault that his timing was off. “I—I have dessert.”

He placed the flaming dishes on the table and scurried away. “Bananas foster?” Kandace said. “How could you possibly know this is my favorite dessert?”

“It was just a guess. It used to be my favorite dessert too,” he said.

“Used to be?”

“The more I kiss you, the more your lips become the sweet treat I need,” he said in a husky whisper.

“Solomon,” she whispered, “I had a really nice time with you and the dress is lovely, but I can't give you what you want.”

“What we both want,” he said. “Kandace, I'm not trying to fall in love with you, but I know you feel the heat between us.”

“And I told you, I don't settle. What happens after we have sex? I still don't know the real you and I'm not jumping into bed with you, no matter how much I want to,” she said. Kandace rose to her feet and nodded toward Solomon. “I'm going on a nature hike in the morning. I guess I'll see you there.”

“What?” he asked.

“You've showed up everywhere else I've been,” she said. “Good night, Solomon.”

He swore under his breath as he watched Kandace walk out of the restaurant. This was not the ending he'd planned for tonight. Had he been honest with himself, he would've realized Kandace was worth the work she was forcing him to do. Solomon leapt from the table and followed her. He touched her elbow when he caught up with her.

“Listen,” he said. “You're right, I do want to sleep with you and we both know that's going to happen before you leave this resort, but it doesn't have to happen tonight. I don't want you to walk away because you think that I can't control my hormones. I'm willing to wait until you're ready to give yourself to me, without reservation.”

“You certainly are full of yourself. What happens if I decide that I don't want to sleep with you?” Kandace asked.

Solomon stroked her cheek and smiled. “Then I guess you will end up in the
Guinness World Records,
” he joked. “The woman who said no.”

Kandace laughed. “So, I'd be the first?”

“In history. But it's a sad record to aspire to,” he said. “Why don't we go skiing in the morning, instead of taking a hike?”

“No way! I don't ski and I have no desire to learn,” she exclaimed.

“Come on, how can you come to the mountains and not even try it? I tell you what, we'll stay on the kiddie slope and I won't let you fall unless I'm underneath you,” he said.

“I don't think so.”

Solomon leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “We'll discuss it in the morning. Have a good night's sleep. Dream of me,” he said before patting her gently on her bottom.

Kandace shook her head, then left. As Solomon watched her walk away, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much fun with a woman. Kandace Davis was definitely something special and worth the wait. But that wait had better not be a really long one.

Kandace nearly floated to her room, her thoughts centered on Solomon and the brief look at the real man inside that she'd seen tonight.
So, the playboy has a soul,
she thought as she kicked off her shoes.
Tonight was really nice, but if he thinks I'm getting on some skis, he has lost his mind.

Kandace stripped out of her dress and lay across the bed. As she closed her eyes, she thought about the kiss and how he made her feel when he touched her, the shivers that went up and down her spine when their lips met. How much longer would she torture herself? She knew she wanted him and she couldn't fool herself into thinking that anything that happened with Solomon would be more than a vacation fling. Sitting up in the bed, she thought about calling his room, but decided against it. If she was going to prove a point, then she had to see it through. But the more time she spent around Solomon, the harder it was going to be to keep her own desires under wraps.

 

It was after midnight when Carmen and Danny left Jimmy Walker's. While Carmen's mind had been filled with thoughts of Solomon and what he was doing in North Carolina, Danny couldn't wait to get away from her so that he could run a check on her. Their conversation over drinks had raised his suspicion level to high alert. She was cagey with details about her past, not telling him anything more than what was on the company's Web site about her. She wouldn't say anything about her family or where she was born.

“I had a wonderful time,” Carmen said as they reached the subway entrance. “Are you sure you don't want to come over for a nightcap?”

“No, I have to get up early in the morning. We'll talk at the office tomorrow,” he said.

Carmen grabbed his hand. “Are you sure you don't want one more drink?” she asked with a seductive lilt to her voice.

“Another night,” he said, seeing right though her smoke screen. She nodded and headed into the subway. Danny turned up the street and headed back toward the office. He was determined to find out what she was hiding.

 

Solomon was nearly asleep when his cell phone rang. His first inclination was to ignore the ringing and roll over, but he figured if someone was calling him this late, then it must be an emergency.

“Yeah,” he said when he picked up the phone.

“Solomon, it's Danny.”

“What is it? Do you know what time it is?” he growled.

“Man, I wouldn't call you if it wasn't something serious. What do you really know about Carmen?”

“Look, I'm tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow?”

“Solomon, something isn't right about Carmen,” Danny said.

“She turned you down or something? I cannot deal with this right now.”

“All right. Listen to me. Carmen De La Croix is dead, has been dead for fifteen years.”

Solomon sat up in the bed. “What?”

“I thought Carmen was too weird about me doing background checks on the employees, so I came back to the office tonight and ran her name and social security number though the system.”

“Maybe you made a mistake,” he said as he ran his hand across his face.

Danny sighed. “That's what I thought, but I ran it again. Same information came up. I think your girl assumed the identity of this dead woman.”

“Why would she do that?” Solomon asked as he scratched his head. “This makes no sense.”

“How do you want to handle this?” Danny asked. “Right now, I have her face running through a face recognition program to see who she really is.”

“This is crazy,” Solomon said. “Let me know what you find out and don't let anyone know what you're doing.”

“There's one more thing,” Danny said.

“What is it? Danny?” Solomon asked. He looked at his phone and saw that the call had been disconnected. He dialed Danny back. Solomon didn't like what was going on. He had a strange feeling about his friend and their disconnected call.

“Yeah,” Danny said.

“What happened?”

“Ah, I was wrong,” he said. “You were right, I made a mistake on that identification. Everything is all right, I'm sorry I disturbed you.”

“D, are you sure? I mean, you sounded really…”

“I called the software manufacture and there was a bug in the software…and it's late. I think I typed her last name in wrong. You go back to sleep,” Danny said.

“I'm turning the phone off,” Solomon said. “So, if you have anything else to tell me, do it now.”

“We're good, bro.”

“All right,” Solomon said, then disconnected the call. As he closed his eyes, Solomon had an uneasy feeling flow through his body. This wasn't like Danny. When he found out information, he was usually dead on with it. Solomon looked at his clock and saw it was after two. Maybe his friend was too tired to look at things properly. Deciding to push the call out of his mind, Solomon drifted to sleep with thoughts of Kandace dancing in his mind.

 

The gun was trained on Danny's chest and sweat beaded up on his brow. “I knew you were going to be trouble,” she growled as she walked closer to his chair. “You are not going to stop me from getting what I want.”

“Bitch, you're crazy, and if you kill me, you're not going to get away with it,” Danny said.

“This is New York. People die every day.”

“Carmen! You think Solomon is going to love the woman who killed his best friend?”

“He'll never know.” She pointed the gun at Danny's computer and shot the monitor. He jerked at the sound of gunshot. “See, Solomon has a lot of enemies. He'll never know who did this to his friend.” Carmen closed the space between them and placed the barrel of the gun in the center of Danny's chest. “Besides, I've never liked you. You wanted to be Solomon, but you couldn't. You don't have what it takes.”

“You need help,” he said. “There's something seriously wrong with you.”

“All I need is Solomon, and you will not stand in my way. Bye-bye Danny.” She squeezed the trigger. Blood splattered on her cheek and Carmen calmly wiped it away. “Stupid bastard.”

After she watched the last gasps of air flow from Danny's body, Carmen began ransacking his office, trying to make the scene look like a robbery. She removed Danny's wallet from his pocket, took his briefcase and his laptop. Then she went into her own office and kicked over furniture and turned her desk over. Next, Carmen headed out of the office building through the fire escape. Her plan was to come in early and pretend to be shocked that Danny was dead. Maybe his death would bring Solomon back to New York so that he could protect her from the killer on the loose. Then he'd realize that she was the woman he'd been looking for and they would be able to begin their life together. Out of this tragedy, Solomon would find his true love. Carmen smiled as she headed into the subway tunnel. When no one was looking she tossed the gun on the tracks. Then she set Danny's things on a bench and walked away. Now, she and someone else could benefit from his death.

There is no one who can come in between Solomon and me now. He's going to need help getting over the tragic death of his best friend and I'm going to be there for him and show him how much he needs me,
she thought as she got on the train.
Yes, he's going to come back and that's when I'm going to tell him how I feel about him.

 

The next morning, Kandace woke up with a smile on her face. She was looking forward to her hike with Solomon. Their dinner last night had been more revealing than she'd expected it to be, though she'd been surprised that Solomon hadn't done more than kiss her. Part of her expected to wake up in his suite with no panties on and a throbbing between her legs, but she wasn't disappointed that he didn't press the issue of them sleeping together immediately. Still, she yearned for him and that gave her pause. Other than the physical, what was it that she knew about him that sparked such desire and yearning inside her? Could it be that Solomon was unlike any other man she'd ever dealt with? He didn't intimidate easily. Kandace knew she was the kind of woman that men didn't know how to take. She was focused on her career and she demanded to be respected. When she had been with Robert, she'd been willing to settle because she'd been lonely, but her relationship with him was just like being alone. Though she doubted she'd ever have a serious relationship with Solomon Crawford, she could let go and have fun. Then she thought back to the trip she and her friends had taken to Las Vegas.

Jade had been lucky enough to turn a vacation fling into a lifetime of the real thing, but there was no way lightning would strike twice. Besides, James Goings was no Solomon Crawford. He wanted love and didn't have the baggage or the list of broken hearts that Solomon had. Kandace hopped out of bed and decided that today was about fun and she didn't have to think about a future or anything beyond the end of her vacation.

What's stopping you from letting go and giving him what both of you want?
she asked herself as she picked out a form-fitting snow suit to wear on her hike.

“Yeah, what is stopping me?” Kandace said aloud.

After hopping in the shower, Kandace decided to stop fighting what she was feeling about sleeping with Solomon and to let it happen if the opportunity presented itself to her again.

 

As Solomon pulled his skull cap down on his head, he tossed his cell phone on the bed, deciding that he wasn't dealing with any phone calls today. Since Danny had reassured him that everything was all right last night, he could spend the day focused on Kandace.

Little did she know, he was going to get her on a pair of skis if it killed him. There was no way that she could come to the mountains and not even try to ski. Solomon was a master skier, having spent time in Vail at several celebrity events. The last time he'd been skiing, he and Richmond raced down a hill and his brother was left with a broken leg while Solomon zoomed off with two snow bunnies. At the time, he hadn't known that his brother was seriously hurt, but Richmond had never allowed him to forget it. Sometimes, Solomon wondered if his brother had secret wishes to get rid of him permanently. Pushing thoughts of his brother out of his mind, Solomon laced his boots and headed to the lobby to wait for Kandace.

When he stepped off the elevator, he saw her standing there dressed in a form-fitting black and pink snow suit. Very cute and chic, but Solomon didn't know how warm she'd be once they got on the slope.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he said as he crossed over to her. “I hope you have layers on underneath that.”

“I do,” she replied with a smile. “Are you ready for this hike?”

Solomon placed his hand on the small of Kandace's back. “I have another idea, and if you're up for the hike afterward, then sure.”

She turned and looked up at him. “What other ideas do you have, Crawford?” she asked suspiciously.

“You'll see. For right now, you're going to need those layers,” he said as he led her out the front door.

Kandace smiled as he draped his arm around her shoulder. “It's been really good weather these last few days,” Solomon said. “Mother Nature has been making all the snow and saving us millions.”

“Always the businessman, huh?” Kandace asked.

“I have to be,” he said. “Let's stop right here.”

She looked up and saw they were at the ski lift. “Why?”

“Because, I'm teaching you a lesson today. You can't come to Sugar Mountain and not go down the slopes. That's like going to Vegas and skipping the slot machines.”

“I am not skiing,” she said adamantly.

“It's just a lesson. If you don't like it, then we will take the hike,” he said as he hopped on to the lift. “Why are you afraid to try something new?”

“Because I'm not a risk taker,” she said. “And I don't plan on spending my vacation in a cast.”

“I'm not going to let anything happen to those legs or any other part of your gorgeous body,” he said as he brushed his lips against her cheek. Kandace playfully swatted him away.

“Solomon, you're going to make me hurt you,” Kandace said. “And you better make sure nothing happens to me.”

“Don't worry, if any part of you gets bruised or scratched, I'll kiss every injury you get.”

Solomon walked over to the ski rental unit and grabbed a pair of skies for himself and Kandace. She frowned at him as he walked over to the lift with the skis.

“Then you don't plan on kissing me at all because I'm not falling or skiing,” Kandace said as the lift dropped them on the top of the mountain.

“Stop complaining,” he said as he dropped the skis at her feet. “You have to at least try it before deciding that you hate it.”

“Right now I'm hating you and I didn't have to try anything to figure that one out,” she muttered as he fastened the skis to her feet.

Solomon nudged her with his elbow. “So beautiful, yet so evil.”

As they approached the ski guide, Kandace picked up a handful of snow and made a ball. “Solomon,” she called out.

He turned around and Kandace tossed the snowball in his face. Kandace broke out into laughter as Solomon wiped the snow from his face. “Oh, it is on now,” he said as he scooped up his own handful of snow. Kandace tried to avoid him, but Solomon caught her on the hip with his snowball.

“You're in for it now,” she shot back as she made another snowball. Solomon grabbed her around the waist and swung her around until she dropped the snowball.

“Oh, you're cheating,” Kandace exclaimed as she pressed her hands against his chest.

“I never said I played fair,” he quipped.

A resort employee walked over to them with a stern look on her face. “Excuse me,” she said. “There is no horseplay on the mountain.”

Solomon put Kandace down. “I apologize, Jean,” he said after reading the woman's name tag. She looked up at him and her eyes widened as she realized who he was.