The Sweetest Thing Read online

  Confusion washed over her face. “But why . . . I don’t . . .” she stammered.

  “Because you are still considering the sale. You really need to be completely sure one way or the other and right now you aren’t. Let him try to convince you, get all your questions answered, then come home so I can tell you why he’s wrong.” Quentin turned back and tossed Dwayne a look.

  There was a moment of quiet in the room, no one saying anything.

  Harper broke the silence as she tossed up a hand in frustration. “Okay,” she said, her gaze still connected with Quentin’s. She directed her next comment at Dwayne. “I guess I will meet you for dinner tomorrow.”

  “Great! I’ll send my car for you!”

  Dwayne extended his hand to shake hers. He tossed her a wink of his eye and then he turned toward Quentin. “Thank you,” he said. “I really appreciate the opportunity.”

  Quentin shook his head. “Let’s not get this twisted,” he responded, his tone harsh. “This has absolutely nothing at all to do with you. You know better than anyone that Pop was all about a man’s integrity and you have none. I would rather see the business go under before I see it in your hands. However, it’s not my business or my decision to make. So, if you think you can give Harper a convincing argument why she should sell it to you, give it your best shot.”

  Dwayne bristled and just as quickly pulled a smile back onto his face. He turned his attention away from Quentin. “Thank you, Harper. I look forward to seeing you soon,” he said and then he did an about-face and walked out of the room.

  As soon as the door was closed behind the man, Harper tossed her hands in the air. “What was that all about?”

  “What?”

  “Don’t do that. You know what. Why did you say I would have dinner with Dwayne?”

  “Because you still want to sell the business.”

  “You don’t know that,” Harper said, her voice rising ever so slightly.

  “Don’t I? Are you saying I’m wrong? Do you want to keep your father’s business?”

  She was suddenly annoyed and it was written all over her face. She wore her frustration like badly applied makeup. “What I want is to do what’s right for all of us, not just myself.”

  “Don’t put me in this,” Quentin snapped. “I don’t want you to think that you have to keep the bakery because of me when it’s not what you really want to do.”

  “How can you say that? How can I not consider you in my decision? If it weren’t for you, there would be no decision for me to have to make. If it weren’t for you I’d be back in Baton Rouge, back to my own life right now!”

  Quentin bristled. “So being here with me isn’t what you want for your own life?”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

  “What I know is that you’re still conflicted about what to do. If it is still in your head to sell, and clearly it is, then you need to be as informed as you can possibly be. Dwayne made you a very nice offer. That day you arrived in Memphis you would have taken it, no questions asked. But now you have questions and you need them answered. So do that or if that’s too much for you, just sell it. I’m sure that will make Dwayne very happy!”

  Harper shook her head, her arms crossed over her chest. “Why do I suddenly feel like I’m in the middle of a cockfight with you and Dwayne trying to see who has the bigger one?”

  Quentin shrugged. “Clearly, I don’t know you well enough to know anything about what you feel,” he said and then he turned, leaving her standing there alone.

  Amusement blanketed Troy’s expression as he shook his head from side to side. “So Harper got to see that pretty, pleasing side to your sweet disposition?” he said, the sarcastic comment hitting a nerve with his little brother.

  Quentin glared, still irritated by the afternoon’s events. He didn’t bother to respond.

  “If you don’t want her to sell the business then why don’t you just tell her?”

  “I shouldn’t have to,” he finally responded. “She should know.”

  “Because you both have been acquainted with each other for so long that she can read your mind, is that right?”

  “She knows me.”

  “You keep telling her that you don’t care what she does. That it’s her decision to make. Then you get mad and pout because she’s weighing her options to do just that. And this makes sense to you because . . . ?”

  “She knows me,” Quentin said between gritted teeth.

  “And maybe she doesn’t,” Troy offered. “Maybe you should have waited like we all told you so that she could get to know you. You crossed that line with Harper and now you feel like things are going south, you don’t like it and your feelings are hurt. Instead of manning up and just telling her that, you want to pout.”

  The two men exchanged gazes as Troy dropped down onto one of the kitchen stools.

  Quentin shook his head. “No, I don’t like it and yes, my feelings are hurt,” he finally muttered.

  The two brothers sat together in a moment of silence. From the front of the bakery they could hear a customer laughing with Linda and Kitty, the two women manning the counters. Quentin and Harper had only been back a short while when Troy had realized neither was speaking to the other, a thick blanket of tension spread between them. When he had questioned what the problem was Harper had pointed at his brother then had disappeared up to her room. Quentin had been bemoaning his Harper issues ever since.

  Troy shook his head. “You two need to sit down and talk. And you need to be open with her. If you don’t want her to sell the bakery to Dwayne, tell her that. But Quentin, you can’t expect her to hold on to and maintain a business she has no passion for, in a city where she didn’t choose to live. Why not make her an offer and buy it from her yourself if that’s what you want. But Harper can’t read your mind and you can’t expect her to.”

  Quentin nodded. “I can’t pay what Dwayne is offering, you know that.”

  “I don’t know that there is anyone who is willing to pay that kind of money for the bakery. But no one says you have to. You don’t know what Harper’s willing to accept because you haven’t asked her. You’ve been too busy worrying about Dwayne and what he’s up to instead of doing what you need to be doing,” Troy admonished.

  Quentin was about to respond to his brother’s comments when Betty suddenly poked her head into the space, calling his name.

  “We have a woman here who wants to speak with you about ordering cupcakes for a party. I tried to help her but she insists on speaking with you directly,” she said.

  He gave her a quick wave of his hand. “Thanks, Betty. I’ll be right there,” he said as he rose from the seat he was occupying. He tossed his brother a quick look.

  “Talk to Harper,” Troy admonished one last time. “And let your guard down. She truly cares about you. I don’t know why but something tells me you’re starting to question and doubt what she’s feeling for you. But for me, it’s not hard to see that Harper is nothing like Rachel. Bottom line though, if you don’t think you can trust her then you don’t need to be with her.”

  Rachel was breathing heavy. “Yes, there’s something between them!” she gasped. Dwayne eased the tension he had on her arm, the appendage twisted at an awkward angle behind her back.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he snapped. “I thought you said you had Quentin wrapped around your finger, isn’t that what you told me?” He twisted her arm a second time.

  “Stop, Dwayne!” Rachel yelped. “You’re hurting me!”

  He dropped the hold he had on her as she turned to stare at him. Tears misted her eyes as she rubbed the hurt from her elbow. “Things were good with me and Quentin,” she said. “Then Mr. Everett died and Harper showed up. But his seeing you definitely hasn’t helped my case,” she said.

  Dwayne shook his head. “You’ve disappointed me, Rachel. I don’t like to be disappointed,” he chastised.

  “She’s almost ready to sell. I can feel it,” the woman
gushed.

  “You just haven’t been a good girl,” he replied as he reached for her hand. He pulled her to him, then before she could respond he turned her over his lap, saying, “I think you deserve a spanking for that!”

  Rachel’s eyes widened. He held her tightly with one hand as he hiked up her linen skirt and slowly brushed his hand over the silk fabric of her bikini panties.

  “Don’t, Dwayne!” she squealed, her voice a loud whisper. “Please!”

  He continued to let his fingers tease her ass cheeks, slowly caressing the fleshy tissue. “That’s right, beg me!” he said, his breathing beginning to rise. He leaned to whisper into her ear. “Beg me to spank you!”

  Rachel’s anxiety rose, the fierce sensation sweeping from the center of her core. “Please . . . Dwayne, please,” she groaned.

  He caressed her one more time before raising his hand and bringing it down with a loud smack. Her body jumped at the infraction. He smacked one cheek and then the other, the slaps hard and methodical. She could hear his breath become ragged as he slipped his fingers under the elastic of her panties to pull them down, tearing them from her. He lifted the silk fabric to his nose and inhaled her scent before tossing them to the floor. Dwayne parted her legs and spanked her some more.

  He spanked her ass and her thighs until the flesh was crimson, burning brightly from the violation. With each slap Rachel’s temperature rose and her crotch throbbed for release. She begged him to continue, moaning his name. “Oh, yes . . . punish me . . .” she cried over and over again. “Please!”

  Dwayne brought his fingers to her feminine lips, lightly grazing the delicate folds. He felt her wetness as Rachel clenched and tightened the muscles. With each smack she’d been hopeful that he would finally finger her to relief. She was grinding against his leg and it was on the tip of her tongue to beg him hard. Only Dwayne had ever been able to make her this hot, her wanting so intense that it was consuming.

  His fingers lingered for just a few brief moments before he suddenly smacked her hard between her legs. He resumed his strokes, lightly at first and then harder and harder. Rachel cried out from the hurt of it as she squirmed against his lap, the mix of pain and exquisite pleasure making her desperate for relief. She suddenly imagined that if she didn’t come soon she would definitely go completely insane.

  And then, as if he could sense that she was near her breaking point, he stopped. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she fought to catch her breath. Above her back she could hear him reaching for something. Ice tinkled in the glass he’d been drinking from and she wanted to ask for just a sip of the water he was drinking to quench her thirst.

  Her bottom throbbed and she tried not to grind against his leg, wanting to keep him from smacking her again. She suddenly felt his cold hand against her heated flesh and she gasped. Without saying a word Dwayne plunged an ice cube between her spread legs. The offending chill against her hot core sent her convulsing right over the edge. Rachel screamed as the floodgates opened, the mind-blowing orgasm moving her to thrash uncontrollably against his lap.

  As wave after wave of pleasure consumed her Dwayne pushed her to the floor as he exposed himself, pulling his hardened shaft from his opened pants. Without fanfare he spread her legs wide and pushed himself into her, plunging his member deep inside of her until his own orgasm rocked the tension from his groin, spinning her into a second wave of sexual abandon.

  Satiated, Dwayne dropped himself down against her, his body still tied to hers. He held her tight in his arms, his labored breathing slowly easing. Minutes passed as he slowly palmed her backside, gently caressing the last fringes of burn away. When his breathing was normal, his erection a fraction of what it had been, the flaccid tissue finally falling from her, he pulled himself onto his knees and leaned to kiss her cheek.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said. “Be in my bed when I get back.”

  “Where are you going?” Rachel questioned, lifting her torso just enough to peer up at him.

  “Harper called and we’re going to dinner.”

  “I thought you were doing that tomorrow? I thought we were spending tonight together!”

  He shrugged. “She called and said she wants to talk tonight. I’m meeting her in an hour.”

  “I should go with you.”

  He gave her a harsh look. “I don’t remember inviting you,” he snapped.

  Rachel took a deep breath, unable to hide the hurt feelings from her eyes. “Fine. When will you be home?”

  He pressed his hand around her face, his fingers pushed hard against her cheeks. “When I feel like it. You just be waiting for me if you know what’s good for you.” He kissed her mouth then tossed her head back against the carpeted floor before he moved onto his feet and headed into the bathroom.

  Pulling her skirt back down Rachel stood up and moved to the bed. Lying across the covers, she listened as he showered in the other room. She shook her head, hating that she would be right there waiting whenever he came back to her.

  16

  Troy was still going through his long list of things Quentin had gotten wrong when Harper eased back into the room. Both men fell silent, mouths open, when they caught sight of her. Harper looked from one to the other, her gaze coming to a quick halt when she met Quentin’s eyes. He looked her up and down, words caught in his throat at the sight of her.

  Harper donned a simple white blouse and a short, tan, baby-doll skirt with two layers of ruffles that flared out and stopped mere inches below the peak of her crotch. Her long legs extended a mile past the skirt’s hem and she stood in five-inch pumps with a platform base. She was stunning and Troy said so.

  “Girl, look at you all dressed up! Where are you off to?” he questioned as he followed her out into the storefront. Quentin followed on his brother’s heels.

  She smiled. “Thank you, Troy. I’m going to dinner with Dwayne Porter.”

  Quentin bristled, the lines of his face falling into a deep frown. He met her gaze but said nothing. Harper continued to speak.

  “I figured the sooner he and I talked the better. And since Quentin was so keen on my going to dinner with the man I figured why not just do it. No point in passing up a free meal.”

  Troy gave his brother a quick glance. “That’s what Quentin said he wanted, huh?”

  She smiled as she gave Quentin her own cold stare. “Personally, I didn’t think it was necessary but . . .”

  Before she could finish her statement, Quentin turned abruptly, stomping back into the kitchen. They suddenly heard the crash of glass shattering. Troy held up a hand to stop her from rushing into the room behind him to see what had happened. He moved to her side, pressing both palms to her shoulders as he kissed her cheek. He gestured out the window to the street.

  “Your ride’s here,” Troy said, pointing to the black limo that had pulled up in front of the building. “Quentin will be okay. You can talk to him when you get back.”

  Biting down on her bottom lip Harper shook her head from side to side. “He won’t talk to me,” Harper whispered. “And I don’t understand why he’s shutting me out.”

  Troy patted her shoulders a second time as he tried to reassure her. “Trust me, he doesn’t know either. But he’ll be okay. Just go have a good time!”

  Minutes later, after Harper was long gone, Troy made his way back into the kitchen. Quentin was standing with his hands on his hips, his breathing coming in quick gasps. Rage painted his expression. Fragments of a broken bowl and fresh strawberries were splattered at his feet. Troy shook his head.

  “You love her. So tell her. You love this business and you don’t want to lose it. Tell her that, too. Then figure out how the two of you are going to make it work,” he said. “Now, clean up this mess and go get changed. You and I are going out.”

  Once again Dwayne was controlling the conversation. But Harper didn’t mind. Dwayne had her laughing heartily. For the first time that day she was actually relaxed. Not only was she enjoying the ambiance of the rest
aurant, but she was captivated by the stories Dwayne was sharing about his friendship with Quentin. Apparently the two had been a handful back in the day, causing much havoc in good old Memphis.

  “Pop gave both of us a beating for that!” Dwayne exclaimed, swiping at the moisture that teased his lashes.

  Harper laughed with him. “Although, it sounds like you two got away with just as much as you got caught doing.”

  He nodded. “In all honesty we probably got away with more but that’s only because when he was at my house we didn’t have as many people watching us. Troy would tattle in a heartbeat. My sister, Dara, knew better!”

  “I think it’s sad that you two aren’t friends anymore. My best friend, Jasmine, and I grew up together. We joke that we’ve been friends since the crib and we’re not too far off. I would hate if something came between us like that.”

  Dwayne shrugged. “It didn’t have to happen the way it did. Rachel manipulated a lot of what happened between me and Quentin.”

  “They were dating first, is that right?”

  “No!” he answered emphatically. “Rachel and I had history well before her and Quentin. I should have been the one to have the issue about their being together. And when he did date her he fell in love but Rachel didn’t love anyone but herself. I tried to point that out to him but he wouldn’t hear it.” He shrugged his shoulders, his posture indifferent.

  “Well, I don’t know her that well so I can’t comment.”

  “Can’t or won’t? I know how you women can be now!” He smiled sweetly.

  Harper smiled. “Let’s change the subject.”

  “What would you like to talk about?”

  Harper sat forward in her seat and took a deep breath. She folded her hands together on the table. “I’ve made a decision about the bakery. In fact, I think I’ve known for a few weeks now, which is why I called and asked if we could meet today instead of tomorrow. There was no point in waiting.

  “I’m not ready to sell and if and when I do, Quentin and Troy have the first right of refusal. They built that business with my father and it means something to them. There’s no way I’d sell it out from under them unless I knew without a doubt that it was what they wanted. Right now none of us are ready to let it go.”