“What about Dominic? Can I tell him, at least?” Kyra looked like she had an itch she was dying to scratch.
Solie gave her a wide-eyed glare. “Are you crazy? Definitely not him. Nobody.” She emphasized the last word, thrusting her face forward as she did, making sure Kyra got it.
Apparently, she did. Her shoulders slumped and she set her lips in a pout. “All right, I won’t tell anyone.” She threw a sullen glance in Solie's direction. “Killjoy.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Solie waved her off. “Live with it.”
It wasn’t until several hours later that Solie got a few free minutes where she could actually think about what she’d shared earlier with Kyra. Ransom had invited her out and she couldn’t have been more thrilled.
Well, actually, she could have been a lot more thrilled if she didn’t still have Raul to worry about. Since the day he’d shown up on her doorstep he’d called her so many times. Each time she’d hurried him off the phone, giving him some lame excuse or other. She was at work, she couldn’t talk, she’d told him once. Another time she’d said she was on an overseas call. Each time she’d chosen the coward’s way out, lying to him instead of blasting him and telling him to get the hell off her phone.
Now, though, with things looking like they could begin to get serious with Ransom she could hide from her bugbear no longer. Like it or not, she would have to confront him head on.
Because, how could she jeopardize what was meant to be? How could she let anything get in the way of her budding relationship with Ransom? She’d accepted his invitation to dinner at 3030 Ocean on Saturday night and, before then, she wanted to set things right. She had four days to get her house in order.
That evening as soon as she’d showered and climbed into bed Solie placed the phone on the bed right next to her, hoping desperately that this was one of those nights when he would call. She was in luck.
As soon as she answered the phone and he began to speak she broke in. "Raul, we need to talk. Can I see you tomorrow?”
“Ah ha. Finally coming to your senses.” She could just imagine his face as he gloated. “I knew you’d come around.”
Solie didn’t bother to make him any wiser. “Can you meet me at Grand Forno tomorrow around seven o’clock? I’ll head there straight from work.”
“That anxious, are you?” He chuckled into the phone. “You want yourself some Raul candy real bad.” Then he paused as if a thought struck him. “So what made you come around? You’ve been avoiding me all this time.”
“N…nothing in particular. I just need to talk.” Solie chose her words carefully, not wanting him to get suspicious. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him off. “So, can you come?”
He gave another laugh, a relaxed sound that made her almost sigh in relief. “How can I resist, mi amor, when you plead like that?”
By the time the call ended their rendezvous was confirmed for seven o’clock on Thursday. If all went well she would be free of Raul a whole two days before her date. All she could do now was keep her fingers crossed that she didn’t blow it.
Next evening, dressed in a simple black skirt and white blouse, Solie entered the coffee shop and selected a deserted table close to the rest rooms. It wasn’t that she liked being in that location but the patrons tended to chose other, more pleasant areas before looking in this direction. That was exactly what she wanted, whatever little privacy the restaurant could provide. And for what she was about to do she wanted quiet, too.
By the time Raul arrived she was ready. Waving him over to the table she directed him to his chair, making sure he was positioned just right. Then she placed her purse on the table between them – she’d made sure to select a small one this morning – and leaned forward with a smile designed to put him at ease. “Glad you could make it,” she said, keeping her face pleasant when all she wanted to do at that moment was slap the smirk off his face. He was looking too pleased for her liking.
“Hola, mi amor.” That annoying endearment again. “You’re looking good today. Good enough to eat.” He gave Solie a suggestive smile that made her shudder inside.
Time to get his dirty mind off that track. “What can I get you? It’s my treat.”
Raul gazed at her for a full ten seconds, just leering, not saying a word. Then he shrugged. “Surprise me. You’re good at that.”
She was good at surprises, all right, and boy, was he in for a big one. She got up from the table and went to place an order for iced tea, iced coffee, a panini and a salad. Within minutes she was back, tray in hand, and when he reached out and shifted her handbag her heart jerked. Shoot. What if his hand touched the button?
"Here you go, Raul,” she said, a super-bright smile on her face. “Go ahead and help yourself while I go powder my nose.” She grabbed the purse from the table and rushed past him to hide herself away in the ladies’ room where she could do a quick check of her device. Satisfied, she headed back out to slide onto the chair across from him.
Shifting her meal to one side she made sure to deposit her purse close to him and then she began to speak.
She hardly ate, preferring to let him blab away in his good old Raul Escobar way. Then, when he was good and comfortable, she decided it was time to take control of the conversation.
“Raul, we have to talk.” She leaned forward and looked him straight in the eyes.
“But of course, mi amor. That is what I love to do, to talk to you…among other things.” He gave her a cheeky grin and leaned forward, too, so close that they looked ready to share a kiss.
Solie’s immediate impulse was to pull back but she fought the urge. She needed him close and if this was the way to get that, then so be it.
“Raul,” she said, “I want you to tell me why you’ve been stalking me.”
Raul tilted his head and gave her what he must have thought was a seductive smile. It wasn’t. “Oh, my love, is that what you call it?”
“Yes,” she said fiercely, “that’s what I call it. For the past five weeks you’ve been harassing me, calling me at all hours of the night, then you show up at my home and invite yourself in and then, to top it all off, you threaten me.”