Stormy Weather Read online

  Wait a minute!

  How could he condemn his colleagues when he was just as guilty? His hands were just as dirty as theirs. Hell, they might have gotten a little dirtier over the years. He hadn’t been lying when he told Rachelle he was thinking about a career change.

  Getting off the comfortable bed, Cash strolled restlessly around the beautifully furnished bedroom. He couldn’t help but wonder if Rachelle was still on the phone with her sisters. From what he could hear on her end, it seemed like Rachelle had a very close knit and loving relationship with her siblings.

  Most of the time, he had a good relationship with his brother. However, he wished that they were much closer. It was mostly his fault. Gerald hated what he did for a living.

  The last time his brother brought the topic up to him, they got into this huge fight and he stormed out of the room. They hadn’t spoken but a few times since then.

  Maybe he should swallow his damn pride and apologize for losing his temper because Gerald hadn’t done anything wrong, but was truthful. He needed to work through a lot of things concerning his future and his job. Yet, tonight his main focus was getting to know Rachelle better.

  “Well, I guess I need to go and see if she’s still on the phone.”

  Walking towards his bedroom door, Cash wondered if Rachelle wasn’t off the phone, would there at least be someone still inside the kitchen? He could maybe talk them into fixing him a quick snack. He was so hungry! Or maybe he could dig through the refrigerator himself if Rachelle wouldn’t care. All he wanted to do was get some food into his stomach.

  Cash went into the hallway and continued down the spiral staircase until he was standing at the bottom inside the lobby. As he made his way back to the front desk, he noticed the lights were starting to flicker in and out.

  “What in the world is going on?” he said. “I swear I’m beginning to think I have some kind of curse on me.” It just didn’t make any sense to him.

  “Rachelle, did you see that?” Cash yelled as he continued towards the front desk. “Why are the lights acting like that all of a sudden?” Suddenly, the lights flickered one more time and then everything went pitch black.

  “Shit!” Rachelle cursed from somewhere in front of him. “That greedy electrician lied to me when he promised he had fixed those stupid lights. I swear I’m going to call and threaten him with a lawsuit if he doesn’t bring his ass back here and get them working.”

  “Rachelle, do you need some help?” He moved in the direction of her voice.

  “Fuck,” he cursed when his knee hit the edge of something hard and unyielding.

  “Cash, don’t move,” she hollered at him from the darkness of the lobby. “I can come to you. Just stay where you are. Let me grab a flashlight from underneath the front desk.”

  “Are you sure?” He hated thinking Rachelle was going to be the one rescuing him again. She had already done it earlier. What kind of impression was he making on her? Not a good one…not at all. “I can try to find you instead.”

  “Please don’t get all macho on me, Cash. Now isn’t the time for you to have an ego trip. Let me find you,” she sighed, frustrated.

  Cash laughed. “Sorry, it’s a bad habit I have,” he apologized. “I’ll stay here and let you find me. I’m near the side of the wall towards a table. I think my knee just clipped the edge of it.”

  Hell yeah! Rachelle was outspoken. He found it hot and very sexy. Usually, an overly honest woman came as off bossy, which turned him off, but it only made him want Rachelle more. The need to protect her was very overwhelming and he barely knew her.

  Cash tried not to get too alarmed when he it felt like it was taking Rachelle way too long. She had been awful quiet for the past several minutes. Suddenly, he heard noises and then a bright light shined into his eyes. He held up his hand, blocking off some of the glare.

  “I see that you found me,” he told her.

  “Yes, I did. Are you sure that you can handle being rescued by a woman twice in one night?” Rachelle teased, moving the flashlight away from his face. “I don’t want to give you issues. I know how sensitive the male ego can be sometimes.”

  “Hell, I would be the biggest idiot in the world to turn down help from a beautiful woman,” Cash answered. “Now, do you think you’re up to finding us something to eat? I haven’t eaten since this morning and the bowl of Raisin Bran I had disappeared hours ago.”

  “I think the pantry is filled with different kinds of snacks. I also believe there are some cold cuts in the refrigerator as well. We usually keep some on hand just in case some kids want a snack during the day before dinner is served. We won’t be able to use the stove because of the lights,” she told him. “Why don’t you follow me and I can see what I can find us to eat?”

  “I will be right behind you. I’m not about to turn down a woman who is going to feed me,” Cash teased as he followed Rachelle to the kitchen.

  “Mr. Garon, I’m beginning to like you more and more,” she flirted back as she walked through the kitchen door. “Why don’t you tell me more about yourself? Didn’t you tell me earlier that you were a reporter? What kind are you? Have I read anything you might have written?”

  “My job isn’t that interesting,” he hedged. “How about you tell me more about you and your sisters?”

  He wasn’t ready to talk about his career with Rachelle yet, because it usually got two reactions from people. Either they were fascinated by what he did or appalled. Instead, he tried to take the conversation off him and place it back on Rachelle. He just hoped that she didn’t figure out what he was doing and call him on it.

  Spinning around, she shined the flashlight into his eyes. He held his hand back up and took a step back from her. “Hey, watch the light, sweetheart.”

  She gave him a small smile. “Nice try, but I don’t want to talk about myself. I want to hear more about you. Don’t try to get out of it. Tell me what makes you get out of bed every day. Has becoming a reporter always been a dream of yours, or did you just happen to fall into it without even trying?”

  “Fine, I’ll tell you,” he sighed, touching the flashlight. Cash moved it out of his face.

  “Good,” Rachelle said. Turning away from him, she focused her attention back of finding food of the two of them. “Where do you want to start?”

  “How about we grab our snacks first and then I’ll tell you?” Cash suggested.

  If he had any doubt he needed a career change, tonight proved that he did. When he got back home, he was going to quit his television job and find a better way to make a living. Cash kept walking behind Rachelle until she stopped in front of the refrigerator door. She pulled the handle and opened it.

  “Sounds good to me,” Rachelle said, glancing over her shoulder at him. “Can you hold the flashlight for me?”

  “Sure, I can hold it,” he answered, taking it from her soft hand. He held it steady so Rachelle could see inside.

  “We have to make it quick since I don’t want to hold this door open too long,” Rachelle said as she grabbed a variety of cold cuts and then a package of cheese off the middle shelf. “Okay, I think I have enough for the both of us.”

  He took another step back so he could give Rachelle enough room to move. She closed the door. “How about we fix some S’Mores as dessert? We can roast the marshmallows in front of the fireplace. I love S’Mores. I used to fix them all the time with my sisters when we were younger and went camping with my daddy and uncle.”

  Cash eyed the sophisticated woman in front of him. “Looking at you right, I find it very hard to believe you ever went camping as a little girl.”

  “Well, I did and I loved it. I haven’t been in years, but it’s something I wouldn’t mind doing again. I don’t mind becoming one with nature. It’s relaxes me to be out there without any problems in the world. Now, follow me to the pantry with that light,” she said, turning away from him.

  Walking behind Rachelle, he pointed the light in the direction she needed. “Are
you going to answer my question?” he asked, watching as she laid the food on the table.

  Rachelle opened a white door in front of them. She went inside and grabbed a box of Honey Graham Cracker squares, a bag of large marshmallows, two long bamboo sticks and a bar of Hershey’s milk chocolate bar off the second shelf.

  “It just goes to show you that looks can be deceiving. I slept in a tent more times that I can count. I’m also the proud winner of several science and nature contests. I won them from the age of eight years old until thirteen. I’m very insulted you judged me by my looks. I’ll have you know that I’m a very experienced camper. I know how to rough it with the best of them.”

  Well, Cash guessed the old saying was true. Never judge a book by its cover.

  “I’m very impressed. I have never dated a woman who wanted to go camping with me,” he admitted. Maybe, Rachelle would go with him one day if things turned out the way he wanted between them.

  If…

  Why was he thinking so negatively?

  Of course, something more important was going to happen between them. Rachelle was the woman he had been looking for. He just hadn’t been aware of it until now.

  “I guess you were dating the wrong women,” Rachelle exclaimed, looking back at him again. “I believe we have everything we need for a makeshift meal? Are you ready to get out of here? I forgot the sodas, so we can grab some from the refrigerator before we leave.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Cash replied. “Did you have anything we can place all of our goodies in, so we don’t have to carry it back to the fireplace? I can be responsible for it if you take the flashlight.”

  “Yes, I do,” Rachelle said as she took the flashlight from him. “There should be a basket underneath the table where you are standing.”

  Turning around, he glanced down under the table as Rachelle shined the light there for him. Spotting a white basket with two handles, he grabbed it and started placing everything inside of it.

  “How long do you think the lights are going to be out on us?” he asked. Honestly, he hoped that it would be for a while. He liked the semi-romantic setting it made for him and Rachelle.

  “I thought the backup generator would have kicked on by now,” Rachelle complained, brushing him. “I’ll check it after we eat. It’s in the basement.”

  Rachelle is crazy if she thinks I’m going to let her go down into a dark basement alone, Cash thought.

  “No, let me take care of it. The lights in my condo would do this to me at least four times a month. I know how to fix it pretty quickly; however, I think we should eat first. I always perform better when I don’t have any distractions.”

  Spinning around, Rachelle eyed him like she got the double meaning of his words. A cute little smile turned up the corner of her mouth, making a cute dimple pop out. “Well, I can’t let you stay hungry now, can I?

  “However, first thing tomorrow morning, I’m going to call that damn electrician. I paid him for a job that he didn’t do properly. I don’t have money to waste on him. He will come back here and fix whatever is going on. I should have listened to my sister more than I did. Sasha warned me he didn’t look trustworthy, but I thought she was worrying over nothing. Thank God, the people for the conferences haven’t arrived yet. It would be a lot more embarrassing if they were here instead the two of us.

  “We can get comfortable in the dining room by the fireplace, and after we eat our sandwiches I’ll fix our dessert. I love S’Mores.” Pivoting away from him, she moved back towards the refrigerator and grabbed two cans of sodas.

  After they left the kitchen, Cash decided not to say anything else as Rachelle used the flashlight to guide their way back into the lobby. She stopped a little way from the fireplace and sat down. “Sit right here next to me,” she said.

  He took a seat next to Rachelle on the carpet in front the fireplace and then spread all of their goodies out in front of them. “How many times have you eaten like this with a guy?” Cash asked as he began putting together a turkey and Swiss sandwich. He took a huge bite, quickly swallowing down his moan as his taste buds came alive.

  “I’ve only done it once with an ex-boyfriend,” she confessed as she started working on her own sandwich of roast beef and sharp cheddar cheese. “I did it with a guy I was dating at his house. He had this fire pit in his backyard. They were good, but not as delicious as fixing them in front of a campfire.”

  “I bet you were as gorgeous in college as you are now. You probably had a lot of guys dying to be your boyfriend,” Cash said.

  Rachelle’s hand paused and she gave him a stunned look. “I really didn’t date that much in college. I was too busy working to keep my grades up at Stamford. See, I was there on an academic scholarship, so I had to work harder than the other students. I think most of the students considered me a snob. I’m not quite sure where they got that idea from, but it was all the same. Truthfully, I didn’t care what they thought about me after a while.”

  She fixed her sandwich, picked it up and took a bite, then gazed into the fire. “Don’t just sit there and stare at me. Ask me something else or I’m going to start poking around in that head of yours. You haven’t told me much about yourself. I swear you are making me work hard to find out the simplest things about you.”

  “I told you there isn’t that much to tell. I lead a pretty boring life. Why would I want to even talk about me when you are so much more intriguing?” Cash said before taking another bite of his food.

  “Tell me more about yourself. From your phone call earlier, I’m guessing you are the oldest in your family. How was it growing up with three little sisters? It seems like it could have been a lot of fun.”

  ****

  Rachelle picked up a bamboo stick and worked on getting her S’Mores together. She slid two marshmallows on it before placing it towards the fire. She wondered how much she should tell Cash about her life. It wasn’t like that he had been so forthright about himself.

  What’s he trying to hide? She shoved her wandering thought to the very back of her mind. Cash could just be the kind of man who didn’t like talking about himself. Most of the time, she wasn’t so revealing, but something about Cash made her want to tell him more about her.

  She still couldn’t deny he was one of the sexiest men she had ever seen. How could he make eating a sandwich in front of a fireplace without any lights on so damn attractive?

  After he sat down next to her, Cash rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. Now, the dancing light coming from the flames in the fireplace were highlighting the light dusting of dark hair on his forearms. The simple sight was turning her on.

  Cash was asking her about Sasha, Akisha, and Genise, but all she could think about was how his firm lips would feel pressed against hers. Had she really been buried in work for so long that her body was this hungry for a man?

  No, that couldn’t be it.

  Yeah, it had been a while since he had a steady boyfriend in her bed, but she shouldn’t be this ready to jump on the first attraction man with a pulse.

  Since the grand opening of Luxury, she had been in the company of several handsome men and not one of them turned her on the way Cash Garon did. There was something about him. He had her dreaming about him stripping her naked and then making love to her right here in front of the fireplace for the rest of the night.

  “Fine, I’ll tell you more about me and then it’s your turn. No more pushing the conversation back towards me, deal?” she said, looking directly into his captivating gray eyes.

  “Deal,” he agreed.

  “While I was growing up, I hated being an only child because all of my friends had siblings at home to play with. I wanted the same thing as they did,” she confessed, removing her marshmallows from the fire. “So, I prayed that my mama would have another baby for me to play with. I think I did that for months and finally my dad told me I was going to be a big sister.

  “I was so excited and couldn’t wait until the baby came home from the hospi
tal. However, when my parents brought home three baby sisters, I changed my mind pretty quickly. I didn’t think it was so cool to be the oldest.”

  “Why not?” Cash asked her.

  “They got all of the attention from my parents and all I got to do was help out with them. In my mind, I never got to have any fun anymore with my mama because she constantly needed to see why they were crying.

  “My dad went back into the military when they were about six months old. My mama tried to show me attention the best she could, but it was never the same when it had been just the two of us.

  “I was mad at my parents for such a long time, because I wasn’t the center of their universe anymore. I had to share my time with three little sisters.

  “As Sasha, Akisha, and Genise got older, they followed me everywhere. I couldn’t get any peace from them. So, of course, when I was a teenager I hated them even more because I would have to babysit them while my mama went back to work. Well, there’s my story. See, I told you it wasn’t all that exciting,” Rachelle said as she worked on getting her S’Mores together.

  Breaking the chocolate apart, she placed it on top of the graham crackers and then added her gooey marshmallows. After everything was together, she gave it a good hard press before taking a huge bite. She savored how the melted marshmallow, chocolate, and graham crackers tasted. It was almost better than sex…almost.

  “God, this tastes so unbelievable,” she moaned. “I don’t know why I don’t fix them more often.”

  “Well, I can’t give my opinion since I haven’t eaten one yet.” Cash grinned, staring at her as he reached for the bag of marshmallows.

  Rachelle’s felt her face grow warmer from embarrassment. She couldn’t believe she just acted like that in front of Cash. God, this guy was so bad for her peace of mind.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Go ahead and fix yours. I should have waited for you. My mother would get on me for having such bad manners.”

  “Not a problem. I enjoyed watching the pleasure that crossed your beautiful face when you took a bite of the S’Mores.” Cash winked at her. He proceeded to put his S’Mores together, then took a bite. “Damn, you are right, this is very good.”