CHAPTER FIVE
VELVETWOKEUPbright and early the next morning, immediately remembering what year it was and the fact that she was not in Phoenix but in Catalina Cove. Taking her thoughts down memory lane had been difficult, and she ended up drinking more wine than she’d intended. It was a good thing there was no school today. She enjoyed her weekends, especially those where she had nothing planned.
Then she quickly remembered she did have something planned today. A bridal meeting hosted by Sierra. She had asked Velvet to be one of her bridesmaids. Velvet felt honored to have been chosen and looked forward to the get-together at noon. She quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind that she was always a bridesmaid and never a bride. In June, she would be a bridesmaid in Ruthie’s wedding, too.
“Oh, well,” she muttered, getting out of bed. If anybody would have told her that she would be looking thirty really close in the face and still be single, she would not have believed them.
She’d been so convinced Jaye truly loved her and would realize it and make her his wife. She’d been crushed to discover he hadn’t loved her at all—just the sex. Heck, she’d loved the sex, too, but that was only a part of what their relationship had been about. Too bad he hadn’t known that.
Unfortunately, she had broken the promise she’d made to Ruthie. Her friend had asked her more than once not to let Jaye break her heart. She had promised Ruthie that she wouldn’t, but in the end she’d allowed him to do that very thing.
She heard a noise and knew it was coming from outside. Moving to the bedroom window, she nudged the curtain slightly aside and saw him. Jaye was whistling while busy painting the storage shed in the backyard. Although it was something Delisa had planned to have done at some point in the future, why was Jaye spending his Saturday morning doing it? It wasn’t like he owned the place. He was just a tenant like her. But then she knew that Jaye was a man who liked using his hands. Whether it was cooking, building or repairing things, or...using those hands on her.
She pushed the thought from her mind and recalled that Jaye’s paternal grandfather had owned a huge construction company in Phoenix, and while growing up, Jaye and his brothers had worked alongside their grandfather. That was the reason Jaye could build almost anything. She recalled one weekend he had installed new kitchen counters and he’d enlarged her patio deck one summer. The one thing she’d liked about Jaye was that he never let his wealth dictate any limitations. He always said that no job was beneath him if the work needed to be done or if he wanted to do it.
Velvet had felt the same way. She knew there would be some who would not understand why the Spencer’s restaurant heiress would want to teach instead of functioning as CEO of her mega corporation. She was asked that all the time while living in Seattle and she began her teaching career. She got tired of explaining herself to people, although she’d been tempted to tell them many times it really wasn’t any of their business.
That was one of the reasons she’d made the decision not to broadcast her connection to the restaurant chain when she relocated to Phoenix. She’d kept that same mindset when she’d moved to Catalina Cove. Those she wanted to know knew. She was never one to flaunt her wealth.
Velvet continued to watch Jaye work and was ready to drop the curtain back in place if he glanced toward the house. The last thing she wanted was for him to see her staring out the window at him. But dang, she was definitely enjoying the view as her eyes followed his every movement. His hands certainly knew how to handle a paintbrush.
If she recalled, his hands knew how to handle just about anything...
Sharp, intense, sensations flowed through her when she remembered how those same hands knew how to handle her. She would come apart under the ministrations of those very skillful and gifted hands. Just watching how they were stroking paint on that building reminded her of the feel of them stroking her the same way. The memories caused heat to flare within her. Two years had been a long time to go without being made love to when Jaye had made love to her every single night.
She was about to drop the curtain in place when he shifted positions. But instead of looking toward her window, he turned and she could now only see his back. When he stretched his tall frame to paint an area higher up, her eyes stretched with him. She always thought he had a nice physique and that hadn’t changed. January weather in the cove was comfortably cool, but forecasters said today would be in the seventies, so Jaye wasn’t wearing a jacket. She thought the way his T-shirt and jeans were fitting his body should be outlawed. Jeans that hugged his firm hips and strong thighs. She couldn’t help remembering the tight hold those same thighs would have on her while thrusting hard into her over and over again.
The memory set the area between her legs throbbing. That was the last thing she needed now. Just recalling their time together was filling her with an intense need that was nearly unbearable.
She would take a shower to cool off. Then she would get dressed and meet Sierra and the other bridesmaids for lunch at the Green Fig. Jaye had another side of the building to paint and, hopefully, by the time she returned, he would be finished and back inside. If past weekends were anything to go by, she wouldn’t be seeing him again today, which made her wonder how he spent his weekends. Then she recalled what Sierra had said about Jaye refusing to date any of the single women in town. But those had been the ones who’d thrown themselves at him. Would he eventually meet someone of his own choosing?
Velvet took another look at Jaye and that fine body of his before dropping the curtain in place and moving away from the window.
JAYEHADKNOWNthe exact moment Velvet began looking at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he’d seen the curtain move and had known she was there. The primitive evidence being the way his body had reacted...the way it always reacted whenever she looked at him in a certain way. He had been tempted to turn around so she would know he was fully aware of her presence but then decided against it. She’d once told him she enjoyed looking at him when he wasn’t aware she was doing so, so he decided to let her. He had plenty of time on his hands, which was one of the reasons he had decided to paint this storage shed.
The building wasn’t an eyesore. Far from it. In fact, he figured it had been painted just a few years ago and had done a good job of withstanding the Louisiana weather. However, while out jogging, he had wondered what he could do during the weekends to stay busy. He liked boating but he didn’t want to spend an entire day out on the water when the object of his attention, desire and affection would be here at this house on Blueberry Lane.
Last night, he’d tossed and turned for most of it. Eventually, he’d rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, remembering the day he and Velvet had met. He’d thought about that day a lot lately.
He knew from talking to Vaughn this week that Sierra had invited the women who were part of her wedding party to meet today at the Green Fig. That meant Velvet would be attending since she was a bridesmaid. By the time she returned, he would have the grill fired up and the meat cooking. He loved to grill and Velvet hadn’t been able to turn down any Colfax grilled barbeque ribs yet.
He recalled the first time she’d bit into one. The look on her face had totally turned him on. But then it hadn’t ever been difficult to get turned on by Velvet. They’d had a perfect sex life and he knew she assumed during the three years they’d been together that he’d only seen her as a sex partner. For a long time, he’d thought the same thing. The person who said you don’t miss your water until the well runs dry knew exactly what they were talking about.
The one thing Jaye knew was that the way Velvet had left—just picking up and leaving without so much as a goodbye—meant she didn’t believe he could change. She saw him as a hopeless case, that he would always be incapable of falling in love, settling down and marrying.
And he would be the first to admit that had been true. He recalled often seeing the pain in his father’s eyes, especially around the holidays. Pain that Jaye had felt for his father. It was years before his father opened himself up to love someone again. Jaye was glad when Arlene had come into not only his father’s life, but his three adult sons’ lives as well. He would admit they’d been cautious, but it didn’t take long to see that Arlene was just what Jack Colfax, Sr., had needed in his life. He was glad his father had been able to see it as well and hadn’t refused love like Jaye had done.
He knew that he had several people rooting for him—his father and brothers, and the entire Steele family who was like a second family to him. They’d tried to warn him of the mistake he’d been making by taking Velvet for granted and not admitting to himself what she’d come to mean to him. Losing her was his fault and he rightly took the blame. Just like he would do everything in his power to get her back.
He had started on the final side of the building when he saw Velvet walk out of the house to get into her car. He refused to pretend not to see her and when he glanced over at her—even at a distance of what had to be a good twenty feet—he could pick up on the sizzle between them when their gazes connected.
She looked good in a pair of slacks and a pretty blouse. Because it was January and the air was rather cool, she’d thrown a shawl around her shoulders. Shoulders he loved touching, kissing, caressing...
“Hello, Velvet,” he said. He had gone along with her formality BS yesterday, but he wouldn’t today.
Jaye could feel her slight hesitation before she said, “Hello, Jaye. You are busy this morning.”
He smiled. “Yes, I like working with my hands.” Of course, she knew that.
“Well, I’m sure Delisa will appreciate it.”
“I’m sure she will.”
“Well, have a nice day,” she said, getting in the car.
“You, too.”
He watched her drive away and swore even with the distance that had separated them, he could inhale her heated scent. He recalled other days when he had watched her leave and how he would wait anxiously for her to return.
Like he would be doing today.
“I LOVETHEway you’re wearing your hair today,” Ashley Sullivan complimented Velvet as she took the chair across from her at the table. The meeting had ended and now they were enjoying the desserts, compliments of LaFreda McEnroe who had moved to town almost a year ago and opened Catalina Cove Bake Shop.
Velvet smiled. “Thanks.” On most days, it was just easy to wear her hair pulled back in a tight bun. Of course, her wearing it down today had nothing to do with the fact that Jaye always liked it that way.
“I understand the hottie banker is your neighbor.”
This wouldn’t be the first time someone had mentioned that she and Jaye were neighbors. Nor was this the first time some woman, married or single, had referred to Jaye as the hottie banker. “Yes, but I rarely see him.”
“It still must be nice. I heard he’s turned a lot of the brazen women in town away, letting them know he was a man who didn’t like being chased.”
“That’s what I heard,” Velvet said. Ruthie swore that the reason Jaye had been so taken with her was because she hadn’t gone after him. He had gone after her.
Velvet decided to change the subject before the other women, who’d attended the meeting and were now gathered around the dessert cart, joined them. The last thing she wanted or needed was a continued discussion of Jaye. “How are the twins?” she asked. Ashley and her husband, Ray, had adorable twins, a boy and a girl.
“They are two-year-old busy beavers,” Ashley said with a huge grin on her face. “I can’t take my eyes off them for a second, but I’m loving every minute of motherhood.”
“Obviously,” Vashti Grisham said. She smiled, taking a seat next to Ashley. Vashti’s husband, Sawyer, was the cove’s sheriff. A man Velvet thought was a very likable guy.
When Ashley gave Vashti a Cheshire grin, Velvet felt like she was missing something. Evidently, she wasn’t the only one. Bryce Witherspoon Chambray joined them at the table and asked, “Okay, Ashley and Vashti, what gives?”
Before anyone could answer, Sierra, who approached the table with a plate of brownies, called out, “Wait, don’t leave me out.”
“We want to hear, too,” Sierra’s sister, Dani, said, as she, Donna Elloran and Vaughn’s sister, Zara, hurried over to the table. Dani and Zara had arrived in town for the weekend to attend Sierra’s bridal meeting.
Velvet scooted over to make room for them. When everyone was seated and looking at Ashley expectedly, she beamed and said, “Ray and I are having another baby.”
There were cheers, clapping and hugs. And because there had been an emotional catch in Ashley’s voice when she’d made the announcement, Velvet figured there was a lot more to Ray and Ashley increasing their family than Velvet was privy to. But it didn’t matter. She was happy for Ashley. Velvet pushed the thought from her mind that just like she would forever be a bridesmaid and not a bride, chances were she would never be a mother, either.
An hour or so later on the drive back home, Velvet gave herself a pep talk. At some point the conversation had shifted to the wonderful men the women were married to. It seemed that she and Zara were the only single ones in the group. Sierra didn’t count since she was engaged to marry Vaughn soon.
Velvet knew that she was the only person who controlled her destiny. She could understand not wanting to get involved with anyone when she’d first moved to the cove, but there was no reason she shouldn’t be dating now, was there? Like she constantly told Ruthie, she’d gotten over Jaye and there were a number of nice single guys in town. However, it seemed after being turned down several times, they no longer asked.
At least, none of them but Webb Crawford, who thought he was the hottest bachelor around. Granted, he wasn’t bad-looking, but Webb seemed to feel entitled to have any woman who suited his fancy. She believed the only reason for his persistence in wanting to date her was because he saw her as a challenge. He couldn’t figure out why any woman wouldn’t want to date one of the wealthiest men in town.
Pulling into the driveway, she noticed Jaye had finished painting the storage shed. Since his car was in the driveway that meant he was probably home, upstairs, tackling some other kind of handy work.
The moment she opened her car door the aroma hit her. She breathed in deep and licked her lips. There was nothing like the taste of Colfax barbeque ribs. It wasn’t just his family’s own special blend of ingredients that could get to you but knowing the ribs bathed in the sauce would practically fall off the bone.
As if in a trance, she followed the aroma and rounded the corner to the back of the house. Jaye was using the freestanding grill Delisa kept stored in the shack. He was standing in front of it, turning over the meat.
As if he sensed her presence, he turned around and smiled. “Hello, Velvet.”
The sound of her name off his lips made a stirring in the pit of her stomach. Instead of returning the greeting, she said, “You’re grilling?”
His smile widened. “Yes, I’m grilling. I also cooked corn, potatoes, and I made a salad.”
Velvet felt her mouth water. He was so wrong for this. So completely wrong. She of all people knew how well those Colfaxes—Daddy Jack, Jaye and his brothers, Dean and Franklin—could grill and prepare all the delicious side fixings. “It smells good.”
“It is good and, of course, you’re welcome to join me, Velvet.”