SOMETIMES LOVE...

Beautiful Lauren Hughes has worked hard to earn her reputation as the best in the renovation of New York's finest brownstones.  Now, with her thirtieth birthday just around the corner, she has only six months to complete her quest to travel around the world.  Ignoring her best friend's insistence that she is running from demons, Lauren is bent on making traveling plans....
until she gets the opportunity of a lifetime.

DOESN'T GO ACCORDING TO PLAN...

Ex-football pro Nicholas Randolph isn't one to turn down a challenge or a friend.  Yet having been asked to secretly hire Lauren to renovate his newly acquired brownstone, Nick signs on to a mission that will put him into close proximity to the one woman who has managed to get under his thick skin and put designs on his heart.

 

Chapter One

 

Nick Randolph waved at a fellow attorney, remembering all the times he’d greeted Saturday and Sunday mornings with a hangover at a friend’s place instead of at church. He heard the music and let his eyes rove over the dozens of beautiful women but the thrill was gone. There wasn’t a rush of adrenaline when he met a lady’s glance and saw her eyes darken with interest.

Maybe he was getting old, he mused. Nick hurriedly glanced into one of the mirrors on the wall of the club. Nope, just tired and ready to kick back after four years of eighty-hour weeks and cross country flights. He’d pushed hard to become partner at the law firm. After selling his one bedroom on the Upper East Side to move into the brownstone in Brooklyn, he was ready for a much needed break.

Now that he had the house, the career, and financial security, Nick only needed one more piece to be complete: her. The one he’d bring home to Momma, the girl he and his family could love. Best start by talking to Ami, he made a mental note to himself, she’ll know some nice women. His little sister could set-up a dinner with one of her friends.

“Hey Alan, how’s it going?” Nick shouted as he made his way through the crowd. He’d barely managed to get out of office before the cleaning women arrived. Having missed out on the bachelor party, he’d wanted to be on time for the engagement celebration.

“Everything’s cool. Just showing support for a brotha about to jump the broom. What about you?”

Nick grinned. “Same ole, same ole. Salary negotiations, licensing rights, and contracts.” He looked around for Alan’s latest girlfriend. The 5’11” runway model with a chocolate complexion that could give a man nice dreams. The woman was perfection itself until she opened her mouth. Kendra’s long speeches on why Versace was out of style and why 60’s fashion was en vogue made him want to pick up and run out the restaurant. “Where’s Kendra?”

His friend shrugged, “Probably on a plane to Miami to check out the latest nightclubs and spa treatments.”

“Sounds good to me,” Nick raised his drink. “I wish she’d taken Theresa with her.”

“What happened? Did the two of you get into a fight?” Alan asked.

Nick shook his head. “No, we haven’t been an item for months but she still feels like she has to know my every move.”

“That stuff must be in the air. Cassandra told me Lenox just broke up with some guy who wouldn’t leave her alone.”

His attention sharpened at Alan’s mention of Lenox’s name. “How’s she doing?” he asked trying to act cool.

Nick forced himself not to wince as he recalled the manner in which he’d treated her that night at the hospital. He’d hopped in a cab immediately after receiving the phone call that his pro-baseball client had been in a car accident. A friend first and attorney second, he had overreacted to the presence of the strange woman by Alan’s bedside. When he walked in on what he thought was an invasion of Alan’s privacy, he acted in Alan’s best interests by having the woman forcibly removed from the hospital room.

Alan’s tap on the shoulder brought him out of his reverie. “You can see for yourself. Lenox and Cass are sitting at one of the back tables.”

He almost succeeded in spilling his drink at Alan’s unexpected answer. Nick couldn’t keep from scanning the room until his eyes zeroed in on Lenox fifteen feet away. In a sea of elegant black, she sat looking cool, calm, and collected in a violet blue dress. The silky material clung to the woman in all the right places and showed off her vibrant mocha colored skin.

No matter how far away she was he could pick her out of a crowd. It was the way she held her head high and the easy going flow of energy that radiated from her relaxed body language. His eyes trailed downwards from her slender neck to her long legs.

He followed the way she shook her head at something Cassandra said. He couldn’t hear her laughter over the noise but he could imagine the husky sound. He’d seen her in old Polaroid pictures with Alan plenty of times. Even as a little girl, she’d had a beautiful smile. “Hey, you want to talk with the girls for a minute?”

He turned in time to see a flash of pain on Alan’s face. The knee. He’d forgotten about his friend’s injury.

“Sure, just don’t let Lenox get near me with a knife,” he joked.

“You two still not speaking?”

“No,” he shrugged. “I’m doing all the apologizing; she’s just not in the forgiving mood.”

“My girl seems to be going for a record, but don’t worry she’ll come round.”

The topic of their conversation took that moment to look up. Nick stared. Her warm gaze settled on Alan and her face lit up.

Maybe it was the way her full bronze colored lips curled upwards or the way her husky voice sounded as she laughed, but Nick felt like he’d run from the 30-yard line to score a touchdown. Yet, when those dark sparkling eyes focused on him, the evil glance Lenox threw Nick could have melted the North Pole. For a man used to getting nothing but admiring stares from young women and proud looks from the older ones, his broad smile disappeared as Lenox turned towards him. He’d tried everything from flowers to gourmet chocolate to persuade her to forgive him; nothing worked. The only results were to see his wallet a little emptier and to have his ears ringing from the sound of Lenox slamming the door in his face.

“Now what are the two of you up to now?”

Hearing Alan’s voice, Lenox turned away from Cassandra. The smile on her face dimmed the moment she locked eyes with Nick Randolph. She lifted the wine to her lips and finished the glass. The man had the nerve to grin at her like they were old friends.

He might have looked good in the dark blazer with the designer shirt, but she couldn’t forget what happened the first time they’d met. For that incident alone she disliked him more than cold grits on a Sunday morning.

“My what a suspicious mind you have Alan.” Lenox batted her eyelashes.

“That’s because I know you too well.” A smile played on Alan’s lips as he walked over and put an arm around her waist.

“Just like I know you’re only holding me because half the women in here are staring at you like you’re a piece of Junior’s cheesecake sitting in the middle of a Weight Watchers meeting,” Lenox murmured for his ears alone.

“That bad?” he glanced nervously around the room.

“Worse,” she patted his shoulder. “If looks could kill, I’d be shot full of holes.”

“Maybe we should check-out early?”

“And miss out on the fun of being the object of jealousy and envy,” she shook her head. “Oh-no, you blackmailed me into coming, so you just smile and grab some drinks.”

“Blackmail, Lenox?”

“You bet,” she graced him with a devilish smile. “Don’t tell me you forgot our little conversation? The one where you lied and told me that you were afraid that Pam, the man eating preying mantis, would jump on you if I wasn’t here to keep her away.”

Paying not the slightest attention to Alan’s discomfort, Lenox kept turning the screws. “Do the words, if you don’t come with me I might hurt my knee running away from Mariah ring a bell?”

“Wow,” Alan licked his lips. “I sure am thirsty,” he said loudly.

She raised a well-arched eyebrow.

Alan started, “You know how I feel about causing scenes, Lenox.”

She still wasn’t moved.

“And I really shouldn’t be standing too long.” Alan gave her that puppy dog look that’d always gotten them both into trouble as kids.

“All right,” Lenox said before turning towards Cassandra and Nick.

“I’m going to make a run to the bar for drinks. Any orders?”

“White wine for me,” Cass replied scooting over to sit next to Alan.

“I’ll help,” Nick volunteered. Lenox barely stopped herself from swearing. The man was the last person in the world she wanted to talk to.

“Be my guest.” She allowed him to escort her through the crowd.

Nick could barely stop himself from leaning in closer. Whatever she had on pulled him like a magnet. The lush sensual scent made him want to lean over and lick the stuff off her beautiful neck. That thought brought him back to reality. Alan hadn’t come out and said anything, but he wasn’t going to start anything with the girl his best friend was interested in. “Great party don’t you think?” he shouted over the music.

“Yes, it is,” her disinterested tone didn’t seem to bother the man one bit.

“Do you know the bride or the groom?” he asked as they neared the bar.

“Both,” she caught his look of surprise. “Alan introduced us months ago.” She didn’t add that she had put together the design for their loft renovation. “I take it you know the groom?”

“Bill and I sat for the BAR together.”

“How nice.” She tucked a tendril of hair behind her ears before turning to greet the cute young bartender who could definitely get Lenox’s confidence back. She couldn’t keep from returning his appreciative smile even as she saw Nick’s look of disapproval out the corner of her eye. She leaned over the bar. “I’d like white wine, an orange juice, and a French Martini, please.”

“Anything for the beautiful lady.” Lenox beamed hearing the bartender’s lyrical Caribbean accent.

“I’ll have a gin and tonic,” Nick ordered.

Lenox wanted to move away but the crowd made it next to impossible.

“Is it okay for Alan to be having a drink so close to his knee surgery?” Lenox blinked and cut him a look that read ‘you’re still here?’ but apparently the attorney needed glasses.

“I said...” Nick started.

“The French martini’s mine,” she enunciated slowly like she was speaking to a child.

“Come on Lenox. Can’t we all get along? I made an honest mistake.” Lenox looked at the ‘can sell ice to Eskimos’ smile on Nick’s face and her resolve came close to melting. However, the confident request for forgiveness wasn’t enough to forget the first time they’d met. All it did was harden her heart at the memory of his callous treatment. Angry at herself for even thinking about forgiving him, she added an even more impersonal tone to her voice. “Are you finished?”

Lenox gave Nick a cool glance before smiling at the bartender.

“You haven’t spoken one complete sentence since we met, Lenox. Are you going to be mad at me forever?”

She ticked her finger back and forth. Long time...forever...extremely long time...forever might be just enough time for her to forget the way he’d had her thrown out of the hospital, she mused.

She nodded, “For a lawyer it takes you a long time to catch on.”

Nick rubbed his head. “Alan said you had a stubborn streak a mile long. I didn’t believe him.” Lenox tipped the bartender and picked up two drinks. “Apparently you must make it a practice of disbelieving your friends.”

She stood up, “Now if you’re finished pointing out the obvious, I’d like to give Alan his drink before the ice melts.”

She turned away before he could see the grin on her face. In her mind she could see Yankee Stadium with it’s big scoreboard blinking:

Lenox Hughes: 1 Nick Randolph: 0

.