“Fine. We have a no-strings affair. No questions. No promises. No problems. And you can reserve the right to change your mind if you feel the need. But—”

He cut her off with a kiss so potent it left her breathless. His tongue was almost acrobatic in its mission. It twirled and flipped and spun in her mouth as if it were the star attraction in the greatest show on earth.

She couldn’t be outdone so early in the game, so she moved her tongue slowly in and out of his mouth, interrupting his pace, slowing it down but keeping the heat of the kiss. She arched her back and moved her hips, swiveling them and rocking them against the hard press of his masculinity.

He let her slide down off the wall. His eyes were hooded in desire as he gazed at her. He lifted the hem of her sundress, his hand inching up her thigh in a slow seductive manner until he reached the part of her inner thigh closest to her core.

“Just relax and enjoy the ride,” he whispered.

GWYNETH BOLTON

was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. She currently lives in central New York with her husband, Cedric. When she was twelve years old, she became an avid reader of romance by sneaking books from her mother’s stash of Harlequin and Silhouette novels. In the ’90s she was introduced to African-American and multicultural romance novels and her life hasn’t been the same since. She has a B.A. and an M.A. in English/creative writing and a Ph.D. in English/composition and rhetoric. She teaches college-level classes in writing and women’s studies. She has won several awards for her romance novels, including five Emma Awards and a Romance in Color Reviewers’ Choice Award for new author of the year.

When Gwyneth is not teaching or working on her own romance novels, she is curled up with a cup of herbal tea, a warm quilt and a good book. She can be reached via email at gwynethbolton@prodigy.net. And readers can visit her website at www.gwynethbolton.com.

Rivals in Paradise
Gwyneth Bolton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This novel is dedicated to all my sistah-authors, for writing the amazing books that keep the genre of Black Romance alive. Nikki Giovanni told us that black love is black wealth and I know it’s true every time I read your books. Keep on writing and making this a genre that I am so proud to be a part of….

Dear Reader,

There is something about the rivals-to-lovers story that never gets old for me. Most of my favorite television couples have some element of rivals to lovers in their stories.

Who can forget A Different World, when Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert traded barbs in the early days of the show when he thought he was head over heels in love with Denise Huxtable? We all know how that turned out—with the famous wedding-crasher show and Dwayne begging… “Whitley, I love you! Please, baby, please!”

And then there is my all-time favorite couple, Maxine Shaw and Kyle Barker from Living Single. They took the “I hate you! I love you!” push and pull of rivals to lovers to passionate new heights.

These couples made crossing that thin line between love and hate oh so much fun! And if you enjoy journeys to love that are just a little vexed but also a whole lot of fun, then you are going to enjoy Cicely “Cee Cee” Stevens and Chase “The Wolf” Yearwood’s trip down love’s rocky road immensely.

From the minute Cicely stepped on the scene in If Only You Knew, I knew she’d have a wonderful story to tell one day. This younger sister was spicy and sassy and I knew I had to find just the right hero for her. It took me a minute, but I found him. You’re going to love Chase. He’s smooth, funny, 100 percent alpha male, every bit of fine and he loves Cicely to distraction (even if it takes him a minute to realize it). I hope you enjoy Cicely and Chase’s story. Be sure to look for my April 2011 release, At First Kiss!

Much love and peace,

Gwyneth

Acknowledgments

I want to acknowledge my family, because without their support I wouldn’t know what love is or be able to write about it. Special thanks to my husband, Cedric Bolton, my mom, Donna Pough, my sisters, Jennifer, Cassandra, Michelle and Tashina, my nieces Ashlee and Zaria and my nephew Michael.

To all the readers, thanks so much for all your emails and notes. Hearing from all you smart and savvy readers always makes my day!

Thanks to all the book clubs who have read my novels, especially SistahFriend, Sexy Ebony BBW African American Book Club, Sistas’ Thoughts from Coast to Coast and the Prominent Women of Color Book Club.

I also want to thank the ladies of the Live, Love, Laugh and Books Yahoo Group. The readers, writers and aspiring writers in this group, along with my fellow host authors—Shelia Goss, Michelle Monkou and Celeste Norfleet—are one amazing group of people.

Finally, I want to send an extra-special dose of love and appreciation to the Shelfari Black Romance Reading Group. I have so much fun talking about black romance novels with you all. I’m sure my local bookstore thanks you, too, because we are all so willing to enable each other’s book-buying addictions!

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 1

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Oh. My. God! Harder. Harder. Harder!”

Cicely “Cee Cee” Stevens walked toward the master bedroom of her condo with her eyes and mouth wide open. There was no way she could possibly be hearing what she thought she was hearing.

Not in her house.

Not in her bedroom.

No damn way was this happening to her after the day she’d just had at work!

But the squeaking of the bedsprings and the bang, clunk, bang, clunk, bang of the headboard didn’t lie. Isaac was cheating on her….

That lowlife had another woman in her bedroom. In her bed! And he had better be thankful that she didn’t own a firearm. The old adage that God protected babies and fools was obviously true, because if she’d had a gun…heaven help the fool!

At one time not all that long ago, Cicely’s job had been all-important to her. She had known that she was damn good at it. As an executive in the corporate finance department of the huge media firm Mainstay, she was well-known all across Miami for her business acumen and savvy. She’d had a style and flair for business that made money appear with such ease folks had hardly realized that money was moving.

Now, however, her new passive-aggressive, anal-retentive division leader, Leonard Stone, barely gave her breathing room, and the workplace had become a hostile environment.

Her new division leader had graduated from FAMU, as she had, and she’d tried on numerous occasions to build a better working relationship with the insufferable man. But he wouldn’t budge, and she was starting to think that she might need to start pounding the pavement, looking for another position.

She’d had hopes of moving up the corporate ladder. She’d hoped to try her hand at corporate development so that she could work in mergers and acquisitions and really make deals, not just get the money to make the deals happen. She’d thought she was a shoo-in to get the division leader position in the corporate development department when it opened up. But she had no such luck.

The promotion should have been hers. It would have gotten her away from the division leader from hell and in charge of her own department. Instead, she’d just found out, it was going to some interloper who was more than likely a friend of Leonard “The Evil One”—as she had grown fond of calling him—Stone.

Home sweet home was usually her space of refuge, a place to wind down and relax. But now she had come home after a particularly hard day at work to find her nice, quiet, nerdy, handpicked-because-he-would-never-hurt-her boyfriend Isaac in the bed with another woman.

Can a sista catch a break? Seriously?

He was supposed to be waiting for her so that they could celebrate the promotion she’d thought was hers when she came back from celebrating with her girls. Thirty-year-old Cicely had just given the cheater a key to her place after a year and a half of being a couple. It seemed like the logical next step, since her biological clock was ticking loudly. It was starting to sound like a hurricane warning tone on full blast. And he had seemed like the perfect candidate for a future husband. Nice. Safe. Sweet. A little bookish…okay, maybe totally nerdish…but sweet…definitely sweet…

And he wasn’t supposed to hurt her like this!

She took a deep breath as she reached the door. His cheating just proved her original beliefs, the ones she’d had almost all her life… No man is safe when it comes to matters of the heart.

The only person who can protect your heart is you.

It’s better not to fall in love.

She’d decided a long time ago that she would never get caught slipping and falling in love. But she did have deep feelings for Isaac, the kind of camaraderie they could have built a nice, strong, sturdy lifetime on…

She was certain that if she was really in love with Isaac, the lying, cheating, humping-another-woman-in-her-bed jerk, she wouldn’t be able to open the door and calmly do what needed to be done.

That’s why love was a problem. If she loved him she might have thought twice about kicking his faithless behind to the curb!

She opened the door and saw exactly what she thought she would see. Isaac was screwing some floozy.

She slammed the door behind her and cleared her throat.

The startled lovebirds broke apart, each grabbing for the cover.

Cicely frowned because she had purchased those 500-count ecru Egyptian cotton sheets just a few weeks ago and now she would have to burn them or at least throw them in the trash. Because there was no way in hell she would ever sleep on them again. She glanced around at her recently remodeled—so it wouldn’t look so girlish and make the cheating boyfriend she had just given a key to uncomfortable—bedroom. Everything from the chocolate duvet to the ecru sheets would have to go.

“Sorry to interrupt. But since this is my bedroom in my condo and all…I’d appreciate it if you both get your nasty asses out. Now!” Cicely put one hand on her hip and pointed toward the door with the other.

Isaac grabbed his glasses off of the mahogany-and-nickel nightstand and the sheet dropped. The woman pulled more of the sheet over herself, and Cicely wondered when they were going to get their nasty behinds off of her platform bed.

Yuck. Just. Yuck. Would she have to get a new bed, too?

She rolled her eyes as Isaac struggled with the woman for the sheet and tried to explain himself at the same time.

“Baby, I can explain…. She means nothing to me…. It was just a one-night thing…. She’s been throwing herself at me for months…. I’m just a man…. Baby, please…” Isaac’s words started to jumble together as he leapt from the bed and pulled on his trousers.

Once the other woman resigned herself to getting out of the bed, she at least had the good taste to get dressed quickly and quietly. Cicely did notice that the woman cut Isaac more than a few nasty looks while he was rambling out his apologies and explanations.

The woman was pretty if you liked tall, slim model types with perfect chocolate skin, big doe eyes and cute, pixie-style haircuts. Once clothed, she wore a rather nice purple pantsuit and killer matching shoes. Cicely had to give it to Isaac; at least he picked a really attractive woman to cheat with.

The woman walked over to the bedroom door where Cicely was firmly posted. With her arms folded across her chest, Cicely gave the woman the once-over and, with one scathing look, dared her to say anything out of line.

The woman took a deep breath and bit her lip.

Cicely arched an eyebrow.

“Look. I don’t want any trouble. He misrepresented his situation to me. And for what it’s worth, I apologize for my part in this. I’d just like to leave now. I didn’t mean you any harm, Cicely.” She turned to Isaac and spat out, “You’re a jerk!”

Shocked that the woman knew her name, Cicely gave her a more thorough once-over. She realized she knew the woman. She was the lobby receptionist in the office building that both she and Isaac worked in.

The accounting firm that Isaac worked for was on the ninth floor of the building, and the company Cicely worked for was on the fifteenth floor. Cicely couldn’t help rolling her eyes then.

If Isaac and she had initially hooked up by meeting in the elevator of that building, then why not Isaac and the lobby girl? With so many other companies and employees located in the high-rise office building, who really knew how many other women this geek-nerd-jerk of a man had been with or was still sleeping with?

As if he could tell where she was going, Isaac began pleading his case again. “This was the first time. I have never… I would never, ever do something like this to you. You gotta believe me, baby. I love you…. I just started to get cold feet, that’s all…. Things were starting to get real serious between us, with us exchanging keys and all…it’s a big step…”

Both Cicely and the lobby woman sucked their teeth at the same time.

Cicely stared at the woman again.

Pam!

Her name was Pam. Cicely now remembered that she had always thought that Pam’s smiles and greetings were a bit false whenever the woman would say hello as she signed into the building in the morning.

Now she knew why.

Cicely stepped aside and let Pam leave. Hearing the front door close, Cicely turned her attention back to the cheater.

Isaac’s usual toasted-cinnamon complexion was looking almost ruby-red. He ran his hand across his close-cropped hair several times. He always did that when he was thinking. Now Cicely thought it might be a sign that he was trying to think of a lie.

“I love you, Cicely. You gotta know that…” Isaac started. “I thought you were going out with your sister and girlfriends for happy hour?”

The mention of her canceled girls’ night out celebration focused her attention on yet another reason why this had to be the worst night ever. After finding out that she had been passed over for the promotion, she’d called her two best friends and her sister to cancel their impromptu celebration. She’d felt like curling up on the sofa with some Chunky Monkey ice cream, her favorite torn sweatpants and FAMU T-shirt, a blanket and her boyfriend, feeling sorry for herself.

Is that really too much to ask for? Seriously?

Instead, she came home to her boyfriend in her bed with another woman.

Isaac reached out and touched her shoulder, trying to pull her closer to him.

“Uh-uh. No. Don’t you ever touch me again! And I want you out of my condo. Give me your key and get the hell out. Take anything of yours here because you will never be coming back!” She turned and walked out of the master bedroom.

She couldn’t stay in the condo tonight. Finding him in her bed with another woman had left her feeling almost violated. He had tarnished the sacred space of her home. She had to get out of there. At least for a little while….

He followed her with his pants half-zipped. Ironic.

“Baby, please don’t do this. Please don’t go. Where are you going? Are you going to your sister’s place?”

“It’s none of your business where I’m going. And why are you still here? Give me my keys and get the hell out.” She hissed out her words with all the venom she felt for him.

“I don’t want to go. I don’t want our relationship to end. Can’t you give me another chance? Can’t we work this out?” He gave her a pleading look and a nervous grin. “I made a mistake. But if you love me, we can get past this.”

If she loved him…

She cared about him deeply. She had committed herself to building a life with him because he was supposed to be a safe bet. But she didn’t love him in that way that always landed women in trouble unless they existed in some make-believe romance novel or chick flick where everything always turned out perfectly and everyone always lived happily ever after.

That’s why she had thought she would be safe. She knew enough not to believe that fairy tales existed in the real world. That’s why she’d picked Isaac. He wasn’t the fairy-tale type, far from it. But he was her shot at a nice, staid, secure and somewhat happily-ever-after life.

Was this her fault for settling into a relationship she thought was safe?

She shook her head.

No.

This wasn’t her fault.

It was his sorry, no-good, trifling fault. She went to her closet and started packing a bag. She was normally a nonviolent, peaceful person. But she had to get out of there before she caught a case.

Isaac reached out and touched her shoulder. She turned and glared at him, giving her eyes just enough squint to show that she meant business.

“If you want to keep that hand, I suggest you keep it off of me. And get out!” Speaking through clenched teeth, she counted to ten in her head.

Woosah…Woosah…

He pulled his arm back quickly and she continued packing in silence.

She had no idea where she was going to go. She just knew she had to get the hell out of there. She thought about going to her sister, Latonya’s, house. But then she’d have to put up with her older sister feeling like she had to fix things for her baby sister. And her brother-in-law, Carlton, would probably make it his business to put Isaac in his place.

And if she went to Gran’s house, her grandmother would probably put a hurting on Isaac worse than anything Carlton or Latonya could ever do. Even in her eighties, Gran wasn’t anyone to mess with and she didn’t tolerate people messing over her girls.

No, it was best that she go to a hotel for the night. Yes, a luxury hotel with lots of amenities and a top-of-the-line snack bar to raid would be the perfect place for her to lick her wounds. She would pamper herself for the night, or maybe even the weekend, and come back as good as new to her now-defiled condo. She would be ready to face it then. Maybe buy some new sheets and a new duvet on the way home from the hotel.

I can do it, she told herself.

She pulled up the handle on her small rolling suitcase, cut a sneer at the now sniveling idiot sitting on her bed and walked over to him with her hand out.

“Key, please.”

He reached in his pants pocket and took her key off his key ring.

“Finish getting dressed and get to stepping.”

She watched as he slowly finished dressing, then walked him to the door, barely resisting the urge to kick him in his backside as he exited her condo.

She waited for him to be good and gone before she exited, too. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew she was getting the hell out of there.

Chase “The Wolf” Yearwood took a sip of his drink after toasting to the good old days and brand-new beginnings with his college buddy, Leonard Stone. Chase’s taking the job as the head of the corporate development division at Mainstay Media where Leonard was the head of the finance department was the reason for their little happy-hour celebration.

At thirty-three years old, Chase had made more than a name for himself in the business world. Chase had made his former employer lots of money by relying on his keen kill-or-be-killed instincts. His instincts helped him in his personal life as well, especially in his relationships with the opposite sex. His law-of-the-jungle approach to dealing with the selfish, money-grabbing women he had become used to reinforced his nickname of “The Wolf,” in both the bedroom and the boardroom.

But in the boardroom, his former superiors had started to second-guess him and question his actions in unproductive ways. Chase refused to be stifled. So, he landed a sweet new position based on a tip from his old college buddy, Leonard Stone. He planned to start the new job just as soon as he took a trip to Dahinda, the island he’d been born on and the place he still called home.

His narrow focus on work and only work had caused him to miss the chance to be at his grandmother’s bedside when she’d passed away. He felt more than a little guilty about missing her passing and missing the chance to tell her how much she had meant to him. He planned to use the trip home to reevaluate his priorities and reconnect with what was important. He wouldn’t let work keep him away from the rest of his relatives, especially his mother, Margie.

The job at Mainstay was slightly different from Chase’s former job. He would still be in charge of mergers and acquisitions. However, the “corporate raider” aspect of his former job would be missing. He would be more hands-on in development instead of swooping in and gobbling up struggling companies so that they could be taken apart and sold off piece by piece. He would be building things now.

“You’re going to love it at Mainstay, Yearwood!” Leonard slapped him on the back and let out a chuckle.

Leonard hadn’t changed all that much in the years since college. He was tall and still somewhat lanky. He had what some would call a swimmer’s build. His formerly thick, wavy hair was now making a slow creep away from his forehead, but he hadn’t gone the shave-it-all-off route that most men went when faced with balding. He had a weird comb-it-all-to-the-front thing going on that really did nothing to hide the fact that he was going bald. His hazel eyes were still astute and focused and didn’t give anything away about the man behind them.

“And I’m going to love the fact that everyone knows I was instrumental in bringing you to Mainstay. It gave me major points with the boss, and as long as you do your thing the way you’ve done it in your previous job, I’m sure we’ll both be moving on up to the vice president slots soon.”

Chase squinted a little. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Leonard lumping their possible future promotions together like that. He had always been a man who went by his own merit, played by his own rules and made his own way. When he’d pledged Omega as an undergraduate, he’d earned the line name “The Lone Wolf” because he’d pledged solo with no line brothers, just himself. He had been an only child. He always had been, and always would be, his own man.

He hadn’t needed Leonard to get the job, and he certainly wasn’t going to allow Leonard to ride his coattails to a promotion. Leonard telling him about the position was not equivalent to his hard work and preparation giving him the experience and tools he needed to get hired into the position. He didn’t like at all what Leonard was insinuating.

But rather than spoil the celebratory mood, Chase just made a mental note to watch Leonard.

“It’ll be great, man. Just like old times when we ran the student government at FAMU,” Leonard added.

Chase frowned. “I’m looking forward to the new job and developing my strengths in other areas. The change will be nice, and it will keep me sharp, help me keep my edge.”

“There aren’t many men sharper than you, Yearwood, that’s for sure. Aside from that unfortunate election for president of the student government back at FAMU, you’ve pretty much accomplished everything you ever went after.” Leonard chuckled.

Chase felt the veins in his neck pulse just a little as he arched his left eyebrow.

Leonard laughed. “Hey, we all have to lose sometimes. You’d been on top all through undergrad. And you’re making big moves all throughout the business world now. Who cares about something as insignificant as the student government race from our undergraduate days? Although…” Leonard opened his mouth and closed it.

Chase’s nostrils flared. Now he knew Leonard was trying to start something with him. Everyone who knew him back in college and still had the privilege of being in his inner circle of associates knew he did not talk about the student government association election that took place at the end of his junior year.

Ever.

It wasn’t just that he had lost the election.

It was so much more than that.

So. Much. More.

It was personal, very personal. And he didn’t like anyone bringing it up.

Rather than tell off an old friend he was now going to have to work with, Chase opted to change the subject. “So, Leonard, what can you tell me about Mainstay and the day-to-day work environment?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find it interesting. In fact, I’m betting you’ll find it more than interesting.” Leonard took a swig of his beer. “With the two of us there now, having each other’s back, it’ll be a lot like old times. A lot like old times…”

“Our college days are over. We’re grown men now. Those days are long behind us.” Chase heard the slight edge in his own voice and wondered yet again if he was doing the wrong thing by joining a company where his old friend was also employed. Corporate politics could be complicated enough without bringing in the extra drama or building alliances before he even got a chance to learn the lay of the land.

Friend or no friend, Chase wasn’t about to let Leonard pull him into any mess. “Well, I’m a quick study. I’m sure I’ll be able to assess the situation once I start in two weeks.”

“Must be nice to be able to take a vacation,” Leonard said with a smirk.

Chase paused because he thought he detected a slight shade of snide and a small dose of snark in Leonard’s voice.

“I haven’t taken a proper vacation in so many years I almost don’t remember what a vacation is, and I haven’t been home to Dahinda for a visit in so long my mother has threatened on numerous occasions to disown me and find herself another son. I think two weeks on my home island is just what I need before starting a new job with a whole new set of demands.”

Leonard rolled his eyes. “I’ll hold down the fort until you come on board. Once you’re there, I’ll fill you in on all the dirt and all the stuff you really need to know. But for now, it’s good to be working with you again, my friend.”

Chase simply nodded and hoped that he wouldn’t walk into Mainstay in two weeks and find that he had made a huge mistake by taking this job offer instead of one of the countless others that had been offered to him when the business world got wind that The Wolf was ready to make a move.

Cicely placed the pillow over her head and tried to block out the noise. Someone kept playing the same six bars of a song over and over again. It took her a couple of minutes to realize that it was her cell phone’s ring tone that was disturbing her sleep.

She was at the Wyndham Hotel by Miami International Airport because that was the only hotel with a vacancy. The upcoming holiday and some teachers’ convention had the other local hotels filled to capacity.

The singer’s voice and the song that used to be one of her favorites blared out yet again, and Cicely grabbed the phone. If it was that cheating, no-good Isaac, she was going to lose the little bit of religion she had and give him the verbal blasting he so richly deserved.

“What?” Cicely snapped.

“Well, hello and good morning to you, too, Cee Cee.”

Cicely sat up at the sound of her older sister’s voice. This was the woman who had literally put her life on hold and made sacrifice after sacrifice so that Cicely could have all of the extras in life. Six years older than Cicely, Latonya had worked while she was in college to help keep a roof over their heads. Then she had literally covered everything that Cicely’s scholarships didn’t so that Cicely could attend FAMU and not have to worry about working. And when she had married a very rich and successful businessman, he had stepped in and helped take care of his new wife’s little sister and grandmother to take the load off of his wife.

Although Latonya Stevens-Harrington would be the last person to expect any kind of gratitude for the things she’d done to help Cicely through the years, Cicely felt the weight of her indebtedness to her sister. She would never be able to repay Latonya for all that she had done for her.

However…all that indebtedness didn’t take away from the fact that it was super early on a Saturday morning, and all Cicely wanted to do was sleep.

“Morning, Peanut.” She called her older sister by her family nickname still, and she was probably the only person in the world that Latonya allowed to do so. “Can I call you back at a decent hour, say noon or so?” Cicely flopped back down on the bed and curled into the fluffy down comforter.

“Sorry, no can do. Gran and I have been calling you all morning. We were worried sick about you. Gran said she called your condo numerous times. I finally found Isaac’s number and called him. He wasn’t answering. Then I called his cell after I didn’t get an answer on your cell. He said you broke up with him. He sounds horrible, by the way, really distraught. But you must have a good reason for breaking up with him, and I would never tell you to second-guess yourself. But do you want to talk about it at all? What happened? Why did the two of you break up so suddenly?”

“She should have left that guy a long time ago! I never liked him. She should let me introduce her to someone worthy.” Carlton Harrington III’s big booming voice could be heard in the background. He must have been sitting, or, knowing the two of them, lying down in the bed right next to Latonya.

Latonya shushed him.

Cicely stretched out her legs and curled them back up. “Tell my darling brother-in-law that, although I love him to death, the I-love-me-some-alpha-jerk-reformed-playboys gene skipped me. I can’t fathom having anything in common with anyone he would introduce me to.”

Latonya echoed Cicely word for word, and Carlton could be heard gruffly mumbling that his wife didn’t have any complaints. There was more giggling from Latonya, and Cicely didn’t even want to think what Carlton must have been doing to her sister to warrant all those girlish giggles. It was TMI too dang early in the morning.

“That’s cold, Cee Cee. I thought we were better than that,” Carlton joked in the background.

“Smooches.” Cicely made a kissing sound. “Now, if that’s all, I really—”

“Oh, no, that’s not all. Gran and I have been thinking of what we can do to lift your spirits since you just lost that promotion… And now with everything that is going on with Isaac… You still haven’t told me exactly what happened, by the way…” Latonya let her words hang suggestively.

And I’m still not going to, at least not yet.

“Neither of which would be a problem if she would just come and work for Harrington Enterprise and let me hook her up with a real man instead of these Steve Urkel wannabes she keeps dating.” Carlton added his two cents, clearly getting Cicely back for her previous dig.

“Carlton!” Latonya let out an exasperated sigh.

Cicely laughed. Even if she really thought she had hurt her brother-in-law’s feelings with her comment about the alpha-jerk-reformed-playboys, she still would have laughed. Because rich, stunningly handsome control freaks like him needed to be taken down a peg whenever possible, and her sister was too crazy in love to do a proper job of it.

She knew she could have easily taken a job at her brother-in-law’s company, Harrington Enterprise. But she was serious about making a mark on her own. She had her sister to thank for all the sacrifices she’d made to ensure that Cicely became the woman she was. But she drew the line at nepotism and relying on family connections to get ahead in the business world.

“Anyway, Cee Cee, Gran and I figured we’d take a little shopping trip to New York City. We haven’t been to the penthouse there in forever, and the kids might even get to see some snow. You have the week off from work. It would be great. “

“Huh?”

“Thanksgiving in New York City. Macy’s Parade. Kids happy. Your mind off of the stress in your life, shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving…in New York City…” Latonya let her words trail in an enticing manner.

Cicely thought about it. She truly loved her niece and nephews. Carlton IV was eleven and Terrence was eight. They looked like their father but had their mother’s calm and loving personality. Her little niece, Evelyn “Evie” Harrington, was the spitting image of Latonya, but she had Carlton’s over-the-top, sometimes overbearing personality. Cicely sometimes called her little niece the five-year-old terror. But she loved those kids. She loved the family her sister had been able to create. She just wondered when she was going to be able to start a family of her own.

She really wasn’t in the holiday spirit. She would have been a killjoy for everyone. It was best if she stayed behind.

“Nah. You all can go without me. I’m not going.” Cicely sat up.

She had pretty much decided that she was going to spend the week away from people she knew. She’d do some self-reflection. Maybe a little wallowing in self-pity—just a little…. Then she would pick herself up and put the pieces back together again.

She had already started to psychoanalyze herself, and she had pretty much decided that even though her daddy issues hadn’t surfaced in the same ways as her older sister’s had, and she’d always thought she didn’t have any daddy issues at all, she clearly had them and then some to spare.

Gran, their father’s mother, raised Cicely and Latonya after their own mother died. Their father had left the family years before that and never looked back. They didn’t know if he was dead or alive now. Even with all the love their grandmother poured into them as she raised them on her limited resources, the telltale signs of little girls neglected by their father followed both women into adulthood.

Latonya’s daddy issues had made her believe that love wasn’t a possibility in her life. Even though she had married one of the richest men in the country, she spent the first part of their marriage waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop, waiting for Carlton to get tired of her and leave. That’s why when their marriage was tested by interference from Carlton’s meddling grandfather, Latonya gave up without a fight. It took years for them to rebuild their marriage and learn to trust in their love.

Cicely didn’t know if she trusted love or not. But she liked to think that she was wiser because she never chose men that could possibly break her heart the way her father did. Even though she was very young when her father turned his back on their family, she had vivid memories of his larger than life, ladies’ man persona. What he lacked in money, he made up for in charisma. And whenever he was around, it hardly mattered what their mother wanted. He was the man. He ruled. Cicely made it her business to stay away from those kinds of men. She picked nice quiet guys because she couldn’t trust men like her father to love her.

Daddy issues? Yes, she had them, too.

However, all she needed to do was spend the week digging into her psyche and hit the church after she’d done the heavy lifting in order to top off the self-therapy with some Jesus and she’d be fine. She was her grandmother’s child, after all, and that side of the family didn’t believe in paying for therapy when a little tough love and taking it to the Lord would do just fine. Isaac’s betrayal had thrown her off track, but she could fix this and then she’d be good as new. That’s why she really needed this time away.

“I’m sorry, Peanut, but I’m not going to spend Thanksgiving with the family this year. I’m not going to New York with you all.”

“Now, Cee Cee, you know we have to celebrate Thanksgiving as a family. Gran is getting up in years, and who knows how much longer we’ll have her around to celebrate the holidays with? We should be there for Gran if nothing else.”

“Sorry, I have to pass this time, Peanut. With everything that happened since yesterday, I really can’t be around people right now. I love you and Gran, but I need you guys to respect my wishes on this one….”

“Aww, come on, Cee Cee…. Please consider it….” Latonya’s pleading voice was almost enough to make Cicely reconsider.

Latonya had spent three years away from the family when a misunderstanding caused Carlton to make her leave their home and their child. Latonya had been pregnant with their second child at the time and no one knew it. Those three years had made Latonya want to hold her family even closer once she came back. Usually, Cicely was willing to indulge her older sister because she owed her so much. But she just couldn’t work up the energy it would take to not be a drain on the family’s holiday celebration.

“I’d be a drag and I’d ruin the fun and celebration for everyone. Plus, I’m boycotting Thanksgiving this year. I mean, seriously, what would I be most thankful for, my cheating man or the fact that my jerk of a boss fixed it so that I wouldn’t be promoted out of his division? Finding Isaac banging another woman in my bed because he thought I was out celebrating…” Cicely let out a slow hiss of disgust.

“Oh, Cee Cee, I’m so sorry that happened to you, sweetie. You don’t deserve that. If he is the kind of man who can do something like that then he doesn’t deserve you, Cee Cee. I really hate to channel Gran right now, but you could be thankful that you’re alive, in good health, have a family that loves you and that God saw fit to get that lying, cheating sack of trash out of your way so that you can find a good man.”

Cicely sighed.

I am thankful for that. I just want a minute to myself to be in a funk. Is that too much to ask?

“I’m going to be out of the country anyway, so I can’t go.”

“Stop lying. Where are you going the week of Thanksgiving?”

“I’m taking an island vacation for a week to have some me-time and to get my groove back. Sorry, I can’t do the family thing this year.”

“Well, think about it before you just write it off. We’ll be flying out on the jet Monday morning…” Latonya’s voice trailed off. “Why would you want to be on some island by yourself when you could be with your family? Are you sure traveling by yourself in your state of mind is a good idea?”

“Yep, the best idea I’ve had in a long time. Tell Gran I love her and I wish I could be there with you all, but I just can’t.”

“Okay…” Latonya seemed to be searching for another argument that would compel Cicely to say yes.

“Anyway, Peanut, now that I’m up I have sooo many things to take care of before my trip. So many details…” Like actually planning a trip and booking one…. I’m going straight to hell for being a big ole liar. “I think an island getaway is just what I need right now.” Maybe an island fling really will help me get my groove back. “So, I’ll call you when I get back. I’ll have you all in my thoughts this week. You guys have a great Thanksgiving. Give my niece and nephews a big ole hug from Aunt Cee Cee and tell them I’ll see them when I get back.”

“But—”

“Thanks, Peanut! Love you. Bye.” Cicely hung up the phone and turned it off.

She could have just stayed in the hotel and licked her wounds for the week. But the more she thought about a trip, the better it sounded. All she had to do now was make her fictional island getaway a reality.

Chapter 2

“This must be my lucky day. If it isn’t Cicely Stevens,” came a deep, sexy and taunting male voice from above her.

Cicely stared at the passenger waiting for her to move so that he could sit in the seat next to hers, and her heart stopped. She looked him up and down. Tall, russet brown, built like nobody’s business with passionate, daring brown eyes and a mischievous dimpled smile—in a word, gorgeous.

Chase Yearwood.

It couldn’t be. Fate isn’t that unkind. The universe doesn’t have that sick a sense of humor. If it didn’t seem too totally melodramatic, she would have thrown her head to the sky and cried out, “Why?”

A weak half smile flickered across her face, and she knew it must have looked like a cross between a grimace and a sneer. Yet she couldn’t force her lips to give up a full, bright but very false form of greeting to save her life. The shock of seeing him of all people seemed too much.

There was no way that Cicely could endure a three-and-a-half-hour flight sitting next to her arch-nemesis from college after finding out that she didn’t get the promotion she’d wanted and finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman.

The timing of it all sucked. No way in hell was her biggest rival supposed to be a part of her get-away-from-it-all, soul-searching trip to Dahinda!

Granted, she probably should be on Carlton’s private jet with Latonya and Gran headed for the family’s Thanksgiving celebration in NYC instead of taking a solo island vacation and looking for a fling to help her get her groove back, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She only hoped that the family would understand that she had to get away. She needed some time alone to process and reevaluate everything in her life from her failed relationships to her stymied work life. She refused to believe that she had really and truly peaked in college and there was nothing left for her to excel in.

Judging by the fact that she’d ended up sitting next to Chase Yearwood—The Wolf, as he’d been called in college—the universe wasn’t very forgiving about her blowing off Thanksgiving with the family.

The universe is sooo freaking mean!

Chase Yearwood. Seriously? What, is Satan too busy to sit next to me on a plane to Dahinda? That was the only thing she could think of that would be worse than Chase, the devil himself.

She never thought she would see him in person again. Oh, she couldn’t help seeing him in print. From the business pages to the society pages, The Wolf was media fodder. Corporate takeovers. Love them and leave them. You name it, The Wolf did it. And the press wrote about it. As far as she could tell, she was the only person in the world who could actually say that she had beaten The Wolf at his own game.

That small victory had cost her a piece of her heart.

Shouldn’t have sprung for the first-class ticket, she thought as she eyed him wearily. The Wolf wouldn’t be caught dead in coach!

Cicely got up and let Chase get into his window seat. While standing, she glanced toward the back of the plane.

Packed. Full. No chance of changing seats.

Dang.

She sat back down and fastened her seat belt, mentally preparing herself for what could only be a very long flight.

“So, little Cicely Stevens, what have you been up to since FAMU?” The Wolf leaned back in his seat and glanced at her. A smug smirk spread across his face, showing more teeth than lip. And, oh, what perfect teeth they were.

Cicely thought about just ignoring him. Really, just because the flight was full and she couldn’t move to another seat, did not mean she had to talk to him.

She glanced at him sideways and expelled a deep breath to let him know that she was going through great pains to speak. “After finishing my undergraduate degree I went on to get an MBA in finance. I work in finance.” She crossed her arms and twisted her lips.

He squinted and opened and closed his mouth quickly. Staring at her for a second, he finally spoke. “Interesting. I would have thought that you’d be somewhere running the city by now. You know, given the way you blew into FAMU, trying to run things.”

Doing a double take, she tilted her head and thought, Trying to run things? Whatever!

She pursed her lips a moment before responding. “Well, given the fact that I was elected student government president in the second semester of my sophomore year and I beat a guy who was going to be a senior—a fancy frat boy, sports star, and all-around Mr. Popular… Oh, wait…that was you, wasn’t it? Anyway, I think it’s safe to say that I didn’t try, I succeeded.”

He arched his eyebrow as he observed her. “Modesty has never been your strong point.”

“Yours, either.”

“Touché.” A predatory smile, which highlighted those perfect teeth, crossed his lips. The russet-brown complexioned man with almond-shaped eyes that made a woman long for the bedroom could be likened to a taller, finer Tyson Beckford.

“So what do you say,” he started and smiled at her before finishing, “we bury the proverbial hatchet and let bygones be bygones?”

Cicely pretended to consider his suggestion. There was no way she would do such a thing. Chase and his flunkies had run a horribly slanderous campaign and spread so many lies that people had still been whispering about her well into her senior year.

But the lies weren’t the reason why she’d vowed never to be nice to Chase again. It was the truth that he let creep out that firmly placed him on her hate-with-a-capital-H list.

This time she found herself able to manage at least a fake smile. “Burying the hatchet would be the mature thing to do, huh? I mean, why hold on to silly college grudges when we’re both adults.”

His smile didn’t appear genuine to Cicely, either. “Right. I for one am over the fact that you and your sorority sisters stole that election from me and ruined the legacy that I was going to leave for FAMU.” He took a deep breath, looking all magnanimous and pompous. “I’m ready to forgive you.”

Forgive me? Why, you arrogant, smug jerk! I’ll show you forgive me, she thought as her right eyebrow arched slightly.

“You know, you might be on to something. I think it would be wonderful and very big of me to forgive you and your trifling fraternity brothers for running such a slanderous campaign. Especially since, even with all the lies you told, you still lost. Forgiving you for your lies…is…” She let out a long, exaggerated sigh before finishing, “the very least I could do. Especially since my winning the election and becoming student government association president was the beginning of the very rich legacy of dynamic leadership I left to FAMU.”

Chase’s eyes narrowed and he stared at her a full minute before his face moved and the hint of a smirk appeared.

The close quarters of the small first-class cabin seemed to move in on her with that smile.

First class was supposed to be roomy. Wasn’t it? Chase and his overwhelmingly sexy, larger-than-life persona took up all the dang room. She steeled herself to his magnetism by remembering who and what he really was. An arrogant, self-serving wolf!

Cicely sighed, making strategic use of the stylized attitude that sistahs had perfected across the ages with just enough huff and a slight roll of the eyes for good measure.

“Well, I’m glad we can agree to let the past be the past. Forgive and forget,” he said.

Forgive? The jury’s still out. Forget? Not even on a bet.

She offered a fake laugh, a “hahahahaha” that was movie-ready. “Yes. It was a silly college rivalry, after all. Life goes on. People change.”

Except for people like you. I will never forgive you for tricking me into thinking that you liked me, all the while scheming to get a picture of me kissing you to use as part of your smear campaign. “See, even opponent Cee Cee Stevens has the hots for Chase Yearwood. Cast your vote for the candidate everyone wants!”

Clearing his throat, he asked, “So, Cicely, have you been to Dahinda before?”

Cicely glanced at him. For a brief second she considered not responding.

Why are you still talking to me?

“Just briefly. I took my grandmother on a Caribbean cruise, and Dahinda was one of the islands we visited. It was so beautiful that I always wanted to come back and spend a little more time there. So, I figured I would spend a week getting to know the island.”

“Well, it’s my home. I was born and raised there.” Chase gave her a smile that she was sure he meant to charm with. It was all teeth. “So, please allow me to be your host and tour guide, for old times’ sake.”

“Yeah, right.” She sucked her teeth and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’d like to find my way around on my own. I’m sure you have plenty of family and friends here to keep you busy.”

He leaned in close, nostrils slightly flared and eyes darkened considerably. If she didn’t know any better, she would think that he was on the prowl. “Yes, but it’s not often I get a chance to catch up with an old friend such as yourself. What kind of frat brother would I be if I let one of my Delta sisters roam around my island home all alone?”

She rolled her eyes then. The brother was truly reaching, trying to play the Delta and Omega connection.

“Now, you know during the years we were at FAMU the Deltas and the Omegas hardly bought into that brother-sister thing. The entire time I was there we called the Kappas our brothers. Most of my sorors couldn’t stand y’all.”

Nationally, the Deltas and Omegas may have had an unofficial brother and sister bond, but at FAMU during her freshman and sophomore years and part of her junior year, the FAMU chapters of those organizations might as well have been mortal enemies. The beef between the Deltas and the Omegas was so intense the year she pledged that she wasn’t required to greet members of the fraternity. In fact, she and her line sisters were expressly forbidden to greet any members of Omega Psi Phi. That year, the “Que Dogs” were on FAMU’s chapter of Delta Sigma Theta’s do-not-greet list. That had led to some very awkward moments for her, since she had several classes with Omegas and had to see them and not acknowledge them as fellow Greeks on the yard.

As she remembered, she realized Chase had been in one of her classes. She remembered how he would sometimes stand in her way in an effort to make her acknowledge and greet him. She would simply walk around him and not say a word.

Cicely had actually worked on building peace with the Omegas during her junior year. But Chase and his group of frat brothers had been long gone by then. The two chapters actually had a much better relationship now due to the work she had done to make peace. But she wasn’t about to tell The Wolf that. It would just give him more reason to pursue what ever evil plot he had hatching in his big ole sexy head.

The smirk that came across his face let her know he wouldn’t be giving up anytime soon. “Yes. But historically our organizations have an unwritten brother-and-sister bond that I feel obligated to uphold. I just refuse to have one of my sorors wandering around Dahinda alone when I’m here to show her around.”

“I’ll tell you what. If I feel the need for a tour guide, I’ll let you suggest the name of a good one. But I really think the time we are spending on the flight right now is enough to last us a lifetime.”

Just then, the flight attendant announced that passengers could now turn on authorized electronics, and Cicely made a show of pulling out her iPod, hoping that Chase would get the hint. She figured some of the girl-power singing groups would get her though the trip and deal with Chase’s annoying presence.

Cicely let out a sigh of release as she sang along with the girl groups playing on her iPod. This should make the three-and-a-half hour trip a little more bearable.

Chase watched the words coming out of Cicely’s lips, but he didn’t believe them for a minute. The woman wouldn’t know the truth if it jumped up and bit her in the behind. He smiled at the image briefly, and then frowned when the image turned into one of him softly nipping at her shapely derriere.

She was a lying, conniving woman who had cheated him out of his chance to be student government association president and finish his undergraduate career with a bang. She messed up his rightful place in the school’s history. There was no way he could possibly still be attracted to her.

He had always been an overachiever. He was used to obtaining everything he tried for, getting everything he wanted. He had earned his nickname, The Wolf. And he wore it proudly. He hadn’t been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, far from it. He knew the meaning of hard work, and he played to win. Losing the election to that sweet, sexy little sophomore was a sore point in an otherwise stellar record.

Cicely Stevens owed him, he figured, as he stared at her lying lips—her soft, luscious, lying lips. It must have been his lucky day to end up sitting next to the lovely Cicely.

Cicely had pulled out an iPod and was bobbing her head to some little melody. That was fine with him. It gave him some time to study her and come up with a game plan.

“Would you like a beverage?” the curvy and jovial blonde flight attendant asked, breaking him out of his contemplation for a moment.

He tapped Cicely, who looked at the flight attendant and shook her head.

“I’ll take a vodka tonic,” he responded.

Vacationing in Dahinda allowed him to squeeze in a visit with family, the first since his grandmother’s funeral and one of many he hoped to have in the future. Having Cicely Stevens on the same island was an unforeseen bonus.

He’d recently missed being at his grandmother’s bedside with the rest of the family when she passed away. He’d had work related commitments and couldn’t make it back to Dahinda in time. Leaving his job as a corporate raider, taking the job at Mainstay and his guilt about his grandmother made him consider the possibilities of changing his ways.

Chase had loved his old job. He’d loved the thrill of sniffing out companies ripe for corporate takeovers. His instincts had made for a quick rise in the business world. Although his devotion to his job had meant that he hadn’t been able to make it home often. He had a spacious home that he’d built for when he visited the island, and he barely used it.

He seldom had time for a social life. But he had managed to find time for other recreational activities. He hadn’t been hard-pressed to find company of the female persuasion. Fortunately, the demands of his former job meant he hadn’t had the time to forge long-lasting relationships. He didn’t have any intention of giving up his bachelor status any time in the near future.

Yes, women usually came and went at his command, all except for one.

He turned to Cicely, still bobbing her head and pretending to ignore him.

That she would be sitting next to him all high and mighty was a sunny side to his vacation that he hadn’t expected but certainly welcomed. It was time to pay little Miss Cee Cee back for her lies and games.

This time she wouldn’t get away until he was quite done with her.

She had fooled him once with her sweet idealism. He had admired her spunk in running for SGA president at the end of her sophomore year. Every time he had spoken with her, even during their heated public debates, he’d found himself liking her more and more. He hadn’t intended to let her win, of course. But he could have seen her doing great things for the university in the future.

He had even considered telling his fraternity brothers to calm down on the campaign tactics, especially when she came to see him and he’d ended up kissing her. He hadn’t known until later that it had been a setup.

She had paid someone to get pictures of the kiss.

Luckily, one of his fraternity brothers had been able to get a copy of the picture and their camp had used it first. It hadn’t made a difference, however. What she had come back with using the same picture of them kissing was what he felt cost him the election.

Do you really want a president who can’t stop sniffing behind women long enough to properly run a campaign, let alone run the student government? Cicely “Cee Cee” Stevens will go to great lengths for FAMU, even if it means kissing a fool to get at the truth! Vote for Cee Cee and leave The Wolf to his pitiful prowl.

The truth.

That was exactly what Chase was going to devote his vacation to finding out. Cicely obviously wasn’t the sweet girl he’d thought her to be. And the one kiss they’d shared had cost him the election and had haunted him for years. It was time to put all those old feelings to bed, literally.

He glanced at her.

She was still beautiful. Her flawless nutmeg complexion was radiant. Even that fake smile she’d given him as she lied through her teeth had an exuberance about it that pulled him in. She wore her long, dark brown hair in soft ringlet curls that framed her face. Judging by what he was able to see when she stood up so that he could get to his seat, her body had matured in all the right ways and all the right places. He didn’t see the same sweet idealism in her soft brown eyes that he remembered, but they still made him want to gaze into them.

She wasn’t going to make it easy, that was for sure. But then, he never liked things too easy, anyway; it spoiled the fun of the chase. One thing was certain, he wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity that fate had sent him to get the one who got away and pay her back for all her devious treachery.

She would crack eventually. He’d see to it.

He tapped her again and she turned to face him just as the flight attendant came back with his drink.

Cicely made a show of turning off her iPod. “What?”

Clearly that nice, sweet girl he knew back at FAMU was just an act. The way the woman was giving off attitude, you would think it was her middle name.

Chase smiled. It would take more than a sistagirl-tude to scare him off. “It’s going to be a long flight. And even though I brought work with me, I’d much rather catch up with you. So, what brings you to Dahinda?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Despite how things ended up in the past, I’d like to think that we would’ve been friends if we hadn’t been running against one another.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “Please, you wouldn’t have even noticed me or known I was alive if I hadn’t stepped up to run against you.”

That certainly wasn’t true. He had noticed little Miss Cicely Stevens from the first day she stepped on campus during her freshman orientation, when he’d been an orientation leader for another group of freshmen. He’d also noticed that she seemed to gravitate toward the quiet, four-eyed, nerdy-type guys. And she had run through the nerds and over them like nobody’s business. He’d always thought that what she really needed was more of a challenge.

Not wanting to give her ego anything to feast on, he just let her comment about him not noticing her slide. “So, what are your plans once you land on my beautiful island?”

She paused and considered him carefully. Her eyes narrowed ever so briefly and he thought for a minute she wasn’t going to answer him.

Taking her iPod and placing it in her bag, she then turned to him. “Actually, I haven’t the slightest idea. This vacation was sort of spur-of-the-moment. I needed to get away from it all and needed someplace to clear my head. I figured I’d wing it.”

She opened her mouth as if she were considering adding something else and then shut it quickly.

Interesting.

“Well, that just won’t do, Cicely. You really have to try and make some time for me to show you the sights. How long will you be staying?”

“One week. And while I appreciate your quite insistent offer, I really don’t think I’m in the mood for any company. You know, part of the whole ‘space to clear my head’ thing?” She forced a fake smile and made a move to go for her iPod again.

Chase reached out and touched her hand before she could do so. An electric shock went through him, and he felt his heart skip.

Oh, shit, that was odd.

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open, but no words came out. She shut her mouth, but she stopped reaching for her iPod. Slowly, she removed her hand from his touch.

“I’m going to be on the island for two weeks. And I’m thinking I need to spend some of that time reacquainting myself with you, Cicely. I’m not one to beg, or to force my company on a woman. But I know that you would regret it if you allowed this moment to pass without taking the chance for us to get to know one another again.”

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