Sweet Persuasions

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.”

“But…but why did you major in drama if you wanted to be a pastry chef?”

“At the time I didn’t know that acting wasn’t for me.”

What she didn’t tell Xavier was that she was a pastry chef with chocolate as her specialty. She prayed Xavier hadn’t watched daytime soap operas or he would’ve recognized her even without the makeup and designer clothes. After she’d graduated, she’d auditioned for a small part on a soap opera and was hired on the spot. Her acting credits included commercials, a made-for-television movie and work in several films. The seven-episode role on the soap opera was expanded, and she was signed to a one-year contract and became a recurring character.

Ratings for the show escalated. Her workdays began at five in the morning and didn’t end until ten at night. After memorizing fifty to sixty-page scripts, she barely had time for socializing. But after about a year and a half she began going out with Derrick Perry.

He’d been the most attentive man she’d ever known, but when his attentiveness bordered on obsession, Selena knew they had to stop seeing so much of each other. It was as if she were being smothered. He’d become unreasonable when she’d told him that she wasn’t able to see him every day, and that they could get together on weekends. He’d fly into a rage, and then resort to a crying jag. She didn’t see Derrick for several weeks, and when he reappeared it was as if nothing had happened. Selena didn’t ask where he’d been and he hadn’t been forthcoming about his disappearance. They’d resumed their weekends-only dating for a month when he disappeared again. This time it was for three months. When he’d shown up at her apartment late one Sunday night she didn’t recognize the man with whom she’d been involved. He’d lost weight, his eyes were sunken, he’d grown a beard and his hair was fashioned into twists. When she’d asked where he’d been, his response was he’d gone away to try and find himself. It was then that he began stalking her and unbeknownst to her, planning to kill her.

“Selena?”

Xavier’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Yes?”

“How often do you do that?”

“Do what?” she asked.

“Zone out.”

Droplets of heat pricked her face. “I’m sorry. What else do you need to know about me?”

“How long have you lived in Charleston?”

“About a year and a half. I opened Sweet Persuasions six months ago. I’ve never been married and you already know I’m not involved with anyone.”