Rivals in Paradise

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.”