“That’s excellent news.”
“It is,” Jamie agreed. “Just don’t forget the promise you made to me too if I delivered this deal to you,” he reminded the men around the table as his eyes narrowed slightly, but his smile stayed in place. “I have my eye on a sports car, and I think I’ll need to order it soon if I want to be driving it through town with the top down this summer.”
The other men around the table chuckled, then stood to shake Jamie’s hand as he prepared to leave. A few minutes later, Jamie was back outside, appreciating the late-afternoon spring sunshine while enjoying a few stops at his favorite haunts before making the long and, in his opinion, boring drive back to Larkin Bay. He grinned as he considered how quickly he had successfully gained the trust of these wealthy developers. Breathing in the slightly stale, smog-filled air of the busy city, his smile grew larger, and he quickened his step, happy to be back in the place that he loved and hoped to permanently return to live in very soon.
Scott sprang to his feet, roughly knocking Candy off his lap and pushing her onto the chair beside him.
“Candy? How the heck did you get here? What are you doing?” he asked in a strangled voice as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
The voluptuous woman stared up at him and then curled into the chair, not looking the least bit put out by his treatment of her. Swinging one leg back and forth over the armrest, she arranged her features in a girlish, full-lipped scowl. “I came to see you.” She pouted. “Max gave me your address, and since I was in the area, I thought I’d come by and see how you were.”
Scott grimaced and silently cursed his agent.
“I’ve missed you, Scottie,” Candy added in a high-pitched little girl’s voice.
Scott studied her quietly. There was no doubt that Candy was beautiful—almost exceptionally so. He was also confident that every straight male in the bar was probably checking her out right now while they all pretended not to be watching the drama playing out between him and his ex-fiancée.
Candy knew she was being watched too, and always one to play to an audience, she stretched back farther in the chair beside him, flipping her long hair to one side. At the same time, she arched her back to show off more of her perfect hourglass figure that stretched tantalizingly against her snug-fitting black catsuit. She batted her long lashes over her champagne-colored eyes and pouted her enhanced lips. Today Candy was showcasing all she had to its full advantage.
Scott wasn’t the least bit surprised when one of Mark’s younger male employees made his way over to them and asked Candy if she’d like to order a drink. It had always been this way. Men buzzed around Candy like bees did over pollen—it seemed they couldn’t help themselves. Scott watched in amusement as the server, who looked barely old enough to shave, never mind serve drinks in a pub, stammered as he stared down at her.
Pretending not to notice the young man’s gaze was locked on her ample cleavage, Candy gave him a high-voltage smile. “What do you recommend?” she purred.
“Um, a beer?” the young man suggested, blushing furiously. “Yeah, the beer’s good here,” he added.
Scott gave a sympathetic groan while watching the kid, remembering all too well when he, too, had been addlebrained by Candy’s looks.
No, addicted to them is probably closer to the truth.
Just a few years ago, he hadn’t been able to get enough of her and had foolishly thought she felt the same way about him. This was, of course, what she had told him until he had the surgery that lost him his major-league pitching deal. It was then that Candy had fled, rejecting his marriage proposal and leaving him with a bum arm, a broken heart, and a glaring appreciation for how foolish he had been to believe her words of adoration.
Scott shook his head. “So, what’s going on, Candy? The last time we talked you made it pretty clear there was nothing between us. What are you doing here now?” he asked, his expression cold once the young server had left to fetch her drink.
Candy studied Scott from under her long lashes for a drawn-out moment and then leaned over slightly to better display her cleavage. “I told you, Scottie. I missed you,” she said, still pouting but narrowing her eyes slightly as she gazed up at him.
Scott stared back at her in cold disbelief. After Candy had left him, it had only been a few weeks later that she had appeared in the local papers parading around with her new boyfriend—this time it was an up-and-coming basketball player. Candy was only interested in dating rich, famous professional athletes, and there was no way she was here to visit a small-town lawyer living in an apartment above his office. The younger version of himself might have believed that she had come to see him for old time’s sake, but that was a long time ago. He was now older and, he hoped, somewhat wiser too.
Candy met Scott’s skeptical gaze steadily. He sighed—Candy might not be telling him the truth, but she sure played her role well.
He took a sip of his beer and, for the first time in a long while, let himself think about his ex-fiancée. Her hair was thick and fell in gentle waves to her waist, and Scott knew from experience that it was as soft as a kitten’s fur. Her proportions were perfect, and she spent a lot of time exercising and eating right to make sure they stayed that way. Her golden eyes were framed by carefully made-up lashes, and her mouth—enhanced a bit by a procedure that had appeared on his Visa statement one month, curved provocatively around perfectly straightened and bleached teeth, another procedure he had paid for years ago.
As he looked at her, Scott couldn’t help but compare Candy to Kara. Slightly messy, sweet-smelling, salt-of-the-earth Kara. With her curly hair and makeup-free face, she seemed twice as attractive to Scott as Candy. Now that he was out of the whole sports and entertainment world, carefully made-up women like Candy left him cold.
Clearing his throat, Mark appeared beside him, placing a bowl of popcorn on a table near Candy. She beamed up at him, obviously already appreciating Mark’s rugged good looks. Once he handed over her beer, though, the smile he had been giving her disappeared as he looked over at Scott.
Scott understood instantly that the other man didn’t like him having another woman, especially a woman as provocatively dressed as Candy, flirting with him when he had just been out with Mark’s sister.
“Kara just left,” Mark said to Scott, his expression closed and unreadable.
“Kara was here? When was Kara here?” Scott asked, his eyes widening in surprise. He looked around the pub. “Why didn’t she come over and say hi?”
“I think she saw you welcoming your friend here to town and decided it might be best not to interrupt you,” replied Mark, raising one eyebrow.
“Oh.” Scott gulped hard as he realized Kara had seen Candy kissing him and had misunderstood the situation. Heck, how could she not? He didn’t even understand the situation.
“I have to go,” he said to both Mark and Candy, and leaned over to set his almost-full beer bottle down on the bar.
Mark smiled at him, but Candy blinked in alarm. “Go? What do you mean, go? I just got here,” she said. “I thought we could go somewhere and have a nice dinner and talk or something.”
“I’m sorry, Candy, we can catch up later maybe if you’re still in town, but right now I have something more important to do,” Scott said and pulled on his jacket. After tossing some money on the bar to cover both his and Candy’s drinks, he turned back to look questioningly at Mark.
“She’s probably gone home,” Mark replied to Scott’s unasked inquiry. “Knowing her, she’s most likely cleaning a bathroom or something. She cleans when she’s upset or confused.”
“I’ll head over there now and find her, then,” Scott replied.
“Take flowers,” interjected Candy.
Both men turned to look at her in surprise.
“What?” she asked them, batting her long lashes as she looked from one to the other. “Women like flowers. It’s a good idea.”
Scott nodded at her suggestion and headed out of the bar. As he left, he heard Candy ask Mark if he played any sports.
And Scott couldn’t help but chuckle.
Chapter Sixteen
