Sultry Nights

Two pair of doe-brown eyes settled on Dominique. She made a face.

“Jealous! Humph. You have got to be kidding? Look, you know me, I have more than I can handle. So, let’s not even go there,” she added, waving her finger back and forth.

“Me thinks thou doest protest too much,” Desiree said in a poor imitation from Shakespeare. She flashed a grin.

Dominique rolled her eyes.

“Mmm,” her sisters harmonized in disagreement.

“When you finally get the one that hits that spot…” Desiree closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. Her body quivered just a little.

Desiree and Lee Ann giggled some more and regaled over Desiree’s recent wedding and reception.

Dominique sat back, apart, letting her thoughts join the conversation but not her heart. So much had happened that day. She’d lost another sister to the magic of love and marriage, and her aunt Jacqueline, the woman whom she emulated, had thrown her a serious curve ball. As quiet as it was kept, the conversation had struck a nerve and she’d been unsettled ever since. The words still played havoc with her nonchalant attitude.

“So, Desi has finally gone and done it,” Jacqueline Lawson said, easing alongside Dominique.

The night air was filled with the scent of jasmine, expensive perfumes and colognes, and the tantalizing aromas of the massive spread that had fed the four-hundred guests. The sun was settling down across the horizon. The final rays spilled like overturned cans of paint across the lawn, the white tents and twinkling lights, bathing all in a wash of gold and orange. Laughter bubbled like the champagne in Dominique’s flute.

She inhaled a soft sigh. “That she has.” She turned toward her aunt. Jacqueline Lawson epitomized everything that Dominique envisioned for herself—brains, beauty, class, style and a fierce sense of independence and individuality.

“Anyone special in your life?” Jacqueline asked.

Dominique waved her hand as if to dismiss the question. “Oh, you know Aunt J, I’m not the settling down to one man kinda girl. It’s fine for Desi and Lee Ann, and Zoe, too. But I’m going to be just like you when I grow up,” she teased.

Jacqueline glanced away then. “I believed that fairy tale once upon a time.” She took a sip from her flute. Her gaze seemed to see beyond the horizon.

“Fairy tale?” Dominique almost choked. “You sure you haven’t had too much champagne, Auntie?” She laughed. Jacqueline didn’t. “You’re serious aren’t you?”

Jacqueline placed a delicate hand on Dominique’s bare shoulder. “Let’s simply say that I’ve been there and done that and doing it alone…is not all that it’s cracked up to be.” She looked directly at Dominique. “There will come a time in your life when having someone that means something to you, and you to them, will be the only thing that matters. What the shame is—” she finished off her champagne and deposited the empty flute atop the tray of a passing waiter “—is discovering at that crucial point that no one is there but you.”

Dominique frowned. It had been a lot of years since her aunt had set foot in the Lawson mansion. The rift between her and her brother, Branford, affected the whole family. But it didn’t stop Dominique from idolizing her aunt; that made what she said that much more unsettling.

“Aunt J, is there something you’re not saying? Is there some other reason why you came back after all this time?”

Jacqueline patted Dominique’s cheek. “Don’t mind me, sugah. One glass too many has made me all silly and nostalgic.” She flashed her famous smile and sauntered away, but Dominique wasn’t able to shake off the feeling that her aunt wasn’t telling her everything.

“Earth to Dom. Earth to Dom,” Lee Ann called out, waving her hand in front of Dominique’s face.

Dominique blinked away the images and tucked the conversation away, something she hadn’t shared with her sisters. “Sorry. What were you two waxing poetic about again?”

Desiree hopped down from the stool. “All wasted energy Lee, trying to change this girl’s mind.” She stretched her arms high above her head. “I’m going to take a long hot bath and turn in. Early flight in the morning,” she added, looking at Lee Ann.

Dominique stood between her sisters and wrapped her arms around them. “Now, if I tell you two something, I don’t want either of you to blow it out of proportion.” She glanced from one to the other. “I met someone.”

Desiree and Lee Ann’s eyes widened.

“You?” from Desiree. “But what else is new?”

“You mean another someone, right?” Lee Ann teased.

Dominique stepped out of the circle. “Laugh all you want.” She folded her arms.

“A minute ago you were the poster girl for independence. Now you want us to believe that you found someone that’s going to last beyond the thirty-day expiration date.”

“Fine! Laugh.” She snatched up her purse and was about to stomp away.

“Okay, okay, we’re sorry,” Dominique pleaded. “Don’t be like that. We were just teasing.”

Lee Ann took Dominique’s hand. “So…who is it?”

Dominique tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth for a moment before blurting out, “Trevor Jackson.”

Chapter 6

It had been more than a week since his meeting with Dominique Lawson. They hadn’t spoken since that day at her office until the phone rang.

“T. Jackson Contracting.”

“Good morning, this is Dominique Lawson. How are you Mr. Jackson?”

Hearing her voice was like a sudden shot of adrenaline that made him knock over his mug of coffee. Its contents splattered across the blueprint for a job that Max had just given him. Trevor blurted an expletive and jumped out of his seat.

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry. Not you.” He looked around frantically for some paper towels or napkins. “I’m fine, thanks.” He pulled open one of the drawers and grabbed a wad of napkins. He sopped up the mess the best he could while cradling the phone against his ear.

“Did I catch you at a bad time? I can call back. It sounds like you were in the middle of something.”

“No, not at all. A minor mishap.” He tossed the soggy napkins into the wastebasket.

“I have the contract ready for you to look over if you have the designs completed. Fair exchange?” She laughed lightly.

He looked at the mess he’d made and knew it would take him a few hours to redo the drawings. “Actually, they are. I was putting on the finishing touches.” He lowered himself into his seat.

“That’s good news. I’m tied up all day today but if you’re free, let’s meet for dinner. I can bring the contract. You can bring the designs. We can talk, relax… .We both have to eat right?”

“Tonight? Sure. That sounds fine. Do you have someplace in mind?”

“I was thinking of Blanche’s Chateau on Montgomery and 9th. Do you know the place?”

Did he know the place? Who didn’t know about the Chateau? The prices weren’t listed on the menu. You needed a reservation weeks in advance just to be lucky enough to get a seat by the kitchen. Everyone who was anyone ate there at some time or another. It was someplace that was not on his frequently visited list. Truth was, he’d never set foot in the place. He supposed this was Dominique’s way of reminding him of her name and money.

“Sure, I know where it is.”

“Perfect. I’ll call over and make sure that Charles gets us a good table.”

You do that. His jaw clenched.