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Sweet Persuasions
He glanced at the wall clock. “You have fifteen minutes to copy the notes on the board.” The cadets opened their laptops, waited for them to boot, then began typing. Unlike some instructors, Xavier preferred his students not take notes during the lecture because it was a distraction. He wanted them to absorb as much information as possible before transferring it to their notes. Times truly had changed since he’d attended military school. Yes, there were computers, but not every cadet had their own laptop.
Xavier dismissed the class. He knew the cadets were anxious to start the weekend. Having the next two days off let them blow off some steam. Come Monday morning the rigorous military education would begin again. And it wasn’t the first time Xavier thought he was grateful he didn’t live on campus. Once he’d received his official discharge from the marines, he was a civilian now living the life of a civilian. He was well aware that the transition from almost three decades in a military to civilian life wasn’t going to be easy. But teaching at a military academy had made it easier.
A knock on the classroom door caught his attention. He looked up. “Have a good weekend, Major Eaton.”
Xavier nodded to an instructor who taught mathematics at Munroe. “Thank you, Captain Alston. You do the same.”
For Xavier, every weekend was good, because for the first time in his adult life he would be able to go home and do whatever it was he wanted to do. He was no longer Captain Xavier P. Eaton, a rank he’d held for years before his promotion to major. The promotion had come when he’d risked his life to save three of his men who’d been wounded when they tripped an improvised explosive device—or IED. He’d managed to save two of them. After a month in a military hospital, where he was awarded a purple heart and another medal for bravery, Xavier was promoted to the rank of major, followed by several weeks in a rehabilitation facility that led to his medical discharge.
There were days when the pain in his leg had been so intense it made walking difficult. But he managed to work through the discomfort in order to maintain a relatively normal lifestyle. He’d gone from wheelchair to walker and eventually to walking with a cane. It had been more than two months since he’d used the cane he’d stored in the trunk of his car. Although he knew it would be some time before he’d be able to jog or run laps around a track, his orthopedist had assured him that there would come a time when he’d forget that rods, pins and screws had replaced his shattered bones.
Xavier walked out of the classroom and into the office he shared with two other history instructors, unlocked the drawer to his desk and retrieved his cell phone. He had two voice mail messages: one from his mother and another from his sister. He listened to his voice mail, smiling when he heard Paulette Eaton’s message:
“Thanks so much for the incredible box of goodies. I shared them with Roberta who couldn’t stop talking about them. She’d asked me whether I’d made them, and I couldn’t lie. But I didn’t tell her where I’d gotten them from, which truly made my day. Call me when you get a free moment. Love you.”
Xavier shook his head as he scrolled through the directory for his sister’s number. He wanted to tell his mother to give up her pointless undeclared war with her sister-in-law. The sooner Denise made their mother a grandmother, the better.
He hit the speed dial for New Visions Childcare, identifying himself and requesting to be connected with Denise Eaton. Her voice came through the earpiece less than sixty seconds later.
“What’s up, brother love?”
A rich chuckle greeted her response. “I think it’s Rhett who’s brother love.”
“Now, don’t tell me you’re not seeing anyone?” asked the director of the D.C.-based childcare center.
Xavier sobered. “I’m not seeing anyone. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”
“For now,” Denise quipped. “What I can’t understand, Xavier, is that you’ve been involved with some really nice women.”
“Nice doesn’t translate into special, Denise.”
“How special is special?”
“I can’t explain it. But I’ll know when I meet her.”
“Does she exist?”
He smiled even though his sister couldn’t see his expression. “Of course she exists.”
“Yeah, right,” Denise drawled. “I want to thank you for the wonderful birthday gift. It was delivered minutes before this morning’s staff meeting, so I shared them with everyone. Preston and Chandra invited me and Rhett to hang out with them for a couple of days, so I want to order something from Sweet Persuasions and have it delivered directly to them.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” he told his sister.
“Will they deliver to the Brandywine Valley?”
“I suppose they will. It may be a little remote compared to Philly, but it is on the map.” His cousin Chandra had married award-winning playwright P.J. Tucker, who owned a condo in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square and a farmhouse in the historic Brandywine Valley.
“Can you please go to the shop and check it out for me, Xavier?”
“You have the telephone number. Why don’t you call?”
“I’ve been calling, but all I get is a busy signal.”
He smothered a groan. “When do you need to know?”
“Like yesterday. We’re leaving tonight, and plan to stay through Wednesday.”
His plans included going home and unwinding. “Give me the Brandywine address and telephone number.” Reaching for a pen, he wrote it down, repeating it to make doubly sure.
“I’ll send you a check if you order—”
“Don’t worry about sending me anything,” Xavier said, interrupting her.
“But I want—”
“I don’t want to discuss it, Denise. Save your money. Remember, you’re the one planning a wedding.”
“Have you forgotten your future brother-in-law is a multimillionaire?”
“And have you forgotten that it’s the bride’s family that usually pays for the wedding? So if you mention money to me again, I’m going to hang up on you.”
“Damn, brother. There’s no need to get hostile.”
Xavier ignored her. “What do you want me to order?”
“I’d like a brownie-fudge cheesecake and a pound of chocolate-and-peanut-butter pretzels. I found out from Preston that Chandra has been craving chocolate and cheesecake.”
“No comment.” He knew any reference to food and a woman’s weight was certain to set off an argument, so he made it a habit to remain silent on the subject. Chandra, who was due to deliver her first child a month after the wedding, had been chosen matron of honor. “I’m going to hang up because I want to go home and change before going into town. I’ll call you later.”
“Thank you, Xavier. You’re the best brother a girl could have.”
“Is it because I’m the only brother you have?”
“That, too,” she said, laughing.
He ended the call, and put his cell phone into the leather case along with his laptop and lesson plans. Going downtown to order and ship pastries wasn’t how he’d planned to begin his weekend. He managed to stave off his curiosity about the journals Charlotte Burke had given him until later. Once he sat down to read them, he didn’t want any interruptions. He planned to read the entries and also take notes. As a student of American military history, he would know if details of the battles were accurate or not. But first he had to stop by Sweet Persuasions and place another order for his sister. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Denise. Memories of her crying whenever he returned to school after spending the weekends with his family had remained with him for hours. It had been impossible to explain to a toddler that her older brother wasn’t deserting her, and that he would return home the following weekend to play with her.
It wasn’t until Denise enrolled in school herself that she understood what her brother did when he went away to school. The guilt had bothered him for years. Ever since then he was helpless upon seeing a woman cry. It was the reason he’d remained friends with some of his former girlfriends. If they called to ask whether he would escort them to a social event he always agreed. That’s what friends were for.
Returning to Charleston meant starting over for Xavier. It wasn’t about looking for a woman as much as it was discovering who he was. For years he’d been a cadet, a first and then second lieutenant, captain and eventually a major. In Charleston, and away from military school, he could be Xavier Eaton—someone not bound by rules and regulations.
He left Munroe through a side door, leading directly into the faculty parking lot. Ninety minutes after driving away from the academy he maneuvered onto a side street behind Sweet Persuasions. Crews and trucks from a utility company had blocked off King Street to cars. It was apparent they were there to restore telephone service to the area.
Xavier walked around the corner and when he approached the shop with the blue awning he saw Selena standing outside watching a workman scale a telephone pole. His penetrating gaze lingered on her hair pulled into a ponytail before it traveled downward to a white camp shirt she’d tucked into the waistband of a pair of skinny jeans. The outline of her breasts under the shirt and the roundness of her hips quietly shouted her obvious femininity.
He slowed his approach, studying her delicate profile as she tilted her chin to watch the man perched atop the pole. Xavier didn’t know what it was about Selena Yates, but there was something special about her. Xavier was less than a few feet from Selena when she turned and stared at him. Her expression of uncertainty gave way to recognition as her lips parted in a smile.
“Hello again, Xavier,” she said in greeting.
His eyebrows lifted. “So, you remembered my name.”
Selena’s smile grew wider. She wanted to tell Xavier Eaton that not only had she remembered his name but also his gorgeous face and magnificent body. The man was the walking, breathing personification of everything exquisite about the male species.
“I remember all of my regular customers.”
He took a few steps bringing them only inches apart. She had to tilt her head to meet his eyes. “What makes you think I’m going to be a regular customer?”
“Don’t play yourself, Mr. Eaton. You’re here two days in a row.”
Xavier felt his pulse quicken when she lowered her seductive voice. “Yes.”
Selena forced herself not to look below his neck. Today he’d worn a long-sleeved pale blue shirt with a pair of black tailored slacks. She’d noticed with his approach the corps insignia on the buckle on his black leather belt. It was apparent Xavier Eaton was a marine in every sense of the word. It was as if he’d taken the service motto, Once a Marine Always a Marine, quite seriously.
“Did your mother and sister like their gifts?”
Xavier nodded again. “That’s why I’m here. They both loved them. My sister tried calling you to place an order, but got a busy signal.”
Selena pointed to the man on the pole. “That’s why they’re here. My phone has been out all day. I can’t call out or receive incoming calls. Of course, the disruption also affects my internet service.”
“Can’t you access the internet on your cell?”
“No! Once I leave the shop I try and distance myself from business, if only for a few hours. Having internet access on my cell is a temptation I’m not willing to risk.”
“Are you still taking orders?”
“Sure. Please come inside.”
Xavier found himself watching the gentle sway of Selena’s hips as she turned and walked into the shop. She hadn’t worn a hint of makeup, and he found her natural beauty refreshing. He wasn’t into women who wore fake hair, nails and eyelashes because he didn’t know whether he could touch them or not.
He’d dated one woman who wore makeup to bed, and even after several washings the stains from the makeup were still visible on the pillowcase and sheets. Another wouldn’t let him touch her hair, and another one didn’t want him to touch her breasts. To say that those relationships ended before they began was putting it mildly. All of the women were intelligent and attractive, but they’d come with a boatload of issues. When he shared a bed with a woman, nothing was off-limits.
Selena stared over her shoulder at Xavier as he glanced around the patisserie. Her last customer had left fifteen minutes ago, and in another hour she would close the shop. She doubted whether she would get too many more customers with the street blocked off to traffic. She would’ve closed earlier, but she was waiting for someone to pick up an order for a restaurant.
“What time do you close?” Xavier asked.
Her smile was dazzling. He’d read her mind. “Normally at six, but with no phone and the street closed to traffic I’m going to close early. I’m waiting for a pickup and then I’m out of here.”
Xavier walked over to the table with the shipping slips, and retrieved his BlackBerry. He jotted down the Brandywine Valley address of the Tuckers in the delivery section. “I’d like to order a brownie-fudge cheesecake and a pound of chocolate-and-peanut-butter pretzels.”
“When do you need them and where are they being shipped to?”
Selena stared at Xavier; he met her curious gaze with a penetrating one of his own. It had been a long time since she’d found a man intriguing and was uncertain why she felt strangely connected to him. Maybe it had something to do with his being in the military service. She wasn’t superficial, so her attraction to him wasn’t simply because of his handsome appearance. That was something she’d done as a teenager. At twenty-six she wanted to believe she was beyond the goo-goo-eyes stage in the presence of an attractive man. Yet the man standing in her shop, Xavier Eaton, had proven her wrong.
“They’re to be shipped to…” Xavier’s words trailed off when the bell above the door chimed. He stood straighter, his eyes widening in surprise. “Bell?”
The tall dark-skinned man with a shaved pate, mustache and goatee stopped short. “Holy…” He swallowed the expletive at the last possible moment. “Eaton?”
Xavier took a step, finding himself in a bear hug that nearly crushed his ribs, and making it difficult for him to breathe. He pounded the broad back of the man he hadn’t seen since they’d graduated from The Citadel. He rarely read the alumna updates online and had lost contact with many of his former classmates.
Robert Bell pulled back, released Xavier and shook his head. “What the hell are you doing in Charleston? Wait, don’t tell me. You’re Selena’s mystery man.”
Chapter 3
Xavier stared at Bobby Bell as if he’d taken leave of his senses. What was he talking about? And why did Bobby believe he had a connection to Selena. Today was only the second time they’d been seen with each other. His gaze shifted to Selena, his instincts suddenly on alert. There was something in her eyes that wordlessly communicated not to say anything.
Selena breathed an inaudible sigh when Xavier clamped his jaw. “Did you think I really didn’t have someone, Robert Bell?” she drawled sarcastically.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Xavier asked.
Bobby crossed massive arms over a broad, deep chest. “I run a restaurant with my dad and uncles, and on Fridays we have date night with a live jazz combo. I’ve been asking Selena to come, but she says she doesn’t go anywhere without her boyfriend. Whenever I ask about her ‘boyfriend’ she always says he’s busy. So after a while I started calling him her mystery man.”
Bobby told Xavier more about Selena Yates in less than sixty seconds than he would’ve learned if he’d continued to come to her patisserie a dozen more times. She was single, wasn’t dating anyone and no doubt a very private person. He took several steps and put his arm around her waist.
“I hope you’re not calling my woman a liar, Bobby.”
“No, no, no, man,” Bobby countered, holding up his hands defensively. “It’s just that I didn’t know you were back in Charleston, that’s all. One of the guys from school told me about you saving three of your men after they’d driven over an IED and—”
“We’ll talk about that later,” Xavier interrupted when he felt Selena’s back go rigid against his arm. He didn’t know if Bobby knew that her brother had served, as well.
Bobby’s boyish round face softened when he winked at Selena. It was apparent Xavier didn’t want to talk about the war in front of her. “I’m going to have to pick up those trays and head back to the restaurant. The kid who usually does all the runs sprained his ankle playing football, so yours truly is standing in as temporary gofer. Am I going to see you two tonight?” he asked Selena.
Xavier stared at Selena, lifting his eyebrows questioningly. “I’ll come, that is if Selena isn’t busy.” He felt conflicting emotions. On the one hand he had hoped she’d be busy, since he’d never liked being manipulated into situations. But on the other hand, he’d hoped she wasn’t busy, and going out with her would satisfy his curiosity.
Selena felt the powerful arm around her waist. She also enjoyed the way Xavier’s body pressed against hers and the tantalizing scent of his cologne. She’d tired of Bobby Bell asking her to come to his family’s restaurant for date night, because there wasn’t any man she’d seen or met since moving to Charleston that she’d wanted to accompany her. It wasn’t that men hadn’t asked her out. But her involvement with a man who’d threatened her life if he couldn’t have her, made her overly cautious when it came to dating. However, there was something about Xavier Eaton that reminded her of her brothers, and there was never a time when they hadn’t protected her.
The boys in her West Virginia town knew if they messed with Selena Yates then they had to not only deal with her father but also her brothers. If their father hadn’t been sheriff, there was little doubt either one or both would’ve spent several nights in the local jail. They’d protected her at home, but they were unable to protect her once she’d moved away.
“What about it, Selena? Do you want to go?” Xavier said when she gave Bobby a blank stare.
“Yes,” she replied as if coming out of a trance. Her eyelids fluttered wildly when she realized what she’d agreed to.
Bobby’s head bobbed up and down. “Good.” He slapped Xavier’s shoulder. “Mama is going to lose it when she sees you.”
Xavier smiled. “Let your mother know that I’m looking forward to seeing her again.”
Selena plastered on a smile. “Bobby, your order is in the back.” She waited until Bobby made his way to the rear of the shop before rounding on Xavier. “Don’t you dare say anything until after he leaves,” she whispered.
Narrowing his eyes, Xavier pushed his face close to Selena’s. “You have a lot of explaining to do, Ms. Yates.”
Bobby emerged from the back, clutching four white shopping bags with Sweet Persuasions and the street address stamped on the sides. “Try to get there before seven, because Ma Bell’s gets real crowded around eight.”
“You named the restaurant Ma Bell’s?”
Bobby laughed, the sound coming from deep within his wide chest. “Ma is short for Emma. We were going to call it Bell’s, but my dad overruled his brothers. He said if his wife was going to cook alongside them, then the place would also bear her name. She cooks on Fridays and Saturdays, while they take over the kitchen from Sunday through Thursday.”
Xavier nodded. “Good choice.” He’d lost track of the number of times he’d sat at Emma Bell’s table devouring everything she’d put in front of him. She was one of the best, if not the best, cook in the low country. He took his arm from around Selena, and opened the door for Bobby. “We’ll see you later.” He closed and locked the door, turned over the sign to Closed in the shop window, then turned to face Selena. “Please tell me why Bobby thinks I’m your mystery man?”
Selena closed her eyes for several seconds. “You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to.”
He closed the distance between them, grasped her shoulders and steered her over to one of the bistro tables. He pulled out a chair for her, then rounded the small table and sat on the opposite side. “If there is one thing you should know about me, Selena, it’s that I’m not into playing head games. You tell Bobby you’re going with me, and now you say I don’t have to go. What’s it going to be?”
Selena’s hands tightened into fists, her nails biting into the tender flesh on her palms. She welcomed the pain rather than stare at the man glaring at her. “It’s complicated, Xavier.”
“How complicated can it be?” he countered. “Apparently you lied to Bobby about having a boyfriend, or do you really have a boyfriend stashed away somewhere?”
Her gaze swung back to his handsome face. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Xavier leaned over the table. “You don’t have a boyfriend, yet you told Bobby you did. Why?”
She breathed an audible sigh. “I got tired of him asking me to come to Ma Bell’s for date night, because he said if I didn’t have someone to go with then he would hook me up with someone.” Her delicate jaw tightened. “The last time someone hooked me up with a man it ended in disaster.” What she didn’t tell Xavier was that the relationship had almost cost her her life.
“I don’t like being set up, either,” Xavier said. “How long did you think you’d be able to string Bobby along without him becoming suspicious?”
Xavier’s query elicited a smile from Selena. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“It did until I became your date.”
“You didn’t have to go along with it.”
A hint of a smile tilted the corners of his mouth upward. “But I did because I was curious to see how it would all play out. Now that I have a girlfriend I didn’t know I had when I woke up this morning, perhaps you can tell me a little about yourself.”
Selena felt the invisible wall she’d put up whenever she discovered a man getting too close to her emotionally disappear. “There’s not much to tell.”
Propping his elbow on the table, Xavier rested his chin on the heel of his hand. “Let me be the judge of that.”
“Why are you going along with this, Xavier? I’m certain you’d rather take some other woman with you to Ma Bell’s.”
His impassive expression did not change. “Perhaps you weren’t listening when I told you that I didn’t have a girlfriend—that is until a few minutes ago. Now, baby, please tell me what I need to know about you so we can put on a winning performance for my old college buddy.”
Selena didn’t want to believe he’d called her “baby”. The endearment rolled off his tongue like watered silk. “I’m twenty-six.”
“When will you be twenty-seven?”
“October eighteenth.”
“Are you a native Charlestonian?”
Selena shook her head. “No. I’m originally from West Virginia.”
“Where in West Virginia?” he asked. Xavier had detected a slight accent, but he hadn’t been able to identify where she was from.
“Matewan.”
Lowering his arm, he stared at Selena as a shiver of excitement rushed over him. “I’ve never been to Matewan, although it has been on my list of must-see places.”
“There isn’t a whole lot to see,” Selena replied. “It’s a speck on the map.”
“It’s speck with a lot of history. Isn’t it referred to as ‘a peaceful place with a violent history’?”
Selena sat up straight. “How’d you know that?”
“I teach American history.”
“Where?”
“At the Christopher Munroe Military Academy in North Charleston.”
“Do you like teaching?” she asked, continuing with her questioning.
Xavier smiled, bringing her gaze to linger on his sexy mouth. “I love it. Now, tell me why you left Matewan.”
“I was offered a full academic scholarship to Stanford.”
The seconds ticked as he stared at Selena. Not only was his pretend girlfriend beautiful, but she was also very bright. “What was your major?”
“Drama.”
“You’re an actress?”
Slumping in the chair, Selena stared at a spot over Xavier’s shoulder. Answering his question would open a door to her past she didn’t want to reopen. “No,” she half lied after a pronounced pause. “I’m a pastry chef.”