It Must Be Love

“What are you doing these days?” Harper asked him.

Jewel wished they would cut the small talk so he could walk away and allow her to breathe. Neither of them caught her drift when she fell silent. Dominique and Harper continued to engage Sterling, yet his eyes were glued to her. Jewel grew hot under the collar even though she had on a strapless dress.

She remained silent as the rest of them swapped stories about life since high school. Though she didn’t partake verbally, she absorbed every word that fell from Sterling’s full lips. He listened as much as he talked and Jewel liked that. Even when he spoke of his success, it didn’t sound like bragging. He wasn’t trying to impress them. Sterling was being himself—cool, confident.

Jewel shook her head. Why was she summing him up? She wasn’t interested in this man. She continued to listen but couldn’t help her muscles from tightening when Sterling pulled out pictures of his precious six-year-old daughter and spoke about his ex now living in Chicago with her. It was obvious that he was smitten by the pretty little lady with the adorable mess of curls on top of her head. Everything he’d just said made what she was feeling come crashing to an abrupt halt when he uttered the words my daughter and ex-wife. Jewel looked at the picture, offered a cordial smile and sat back, unfastening herself from Sterling’s intangible draw.

She cleared her throat, which captured their attention. “Excuse me.” She put the glass back down on the table.

“What about you, Jewel? What have you been up to?” Sterling’s grin made her pulse quicken and she wanted to excuse herself again.

What was happening here? “Working the family business,” she said as if it was no big deal that she was heir to a billion-dollar food empire.

“I see.” His response felt compressed. There was so much more behind those two words. Jewel could feel it.

“Hey, ladies!” Noah stepped up, bringing a fresh wind of excitement. His voice boomed, reaching their ears clearly over the hum of the crowd.

“Noah Hamilton!” At first, Harper parked her hands on her hips and then opened her arms for a hug.

“Long time no see, but you’re all still gorgeous.” He passed out hugs and kisses to each one of them.

“How’s it going, Noah?” Dominique asked after their embrace.

“I can’t complain. My dad always said that no one even listens anyway!

“Jewel!” Noah raised his brow. “Life’s been good to you.”

“Yes. Thank you, Noah. You look great!”

“You ladies wouldn’t mind if I stole Sterling for a moment would you?”

“Not at all,” Jewel offered up quickly.

Harper widened her eyes at Jewel. Dominique closed hers for a brief moment and sighed before chuckling. Sterling grinned.

“See you around, ladies.” Sterling lifted his glass before walking off with Noah.

The second he left, Dominique and Harper looked sharply at Jewel who flopped back in her chair.

“Did you see how he looked at you?” Dominique’s hand flew to her chest.

“What. Was. That. About?” Harper sat and fanned herself.

“I don’t know,” Jewel said.

“He wouldn’t take his eyes off you, Jewel. I must say.” Dominique picked up a glass of water. “Sterling Bishop has certainly grown into one fine specimen. I could see you two together,” Dominique added. “He’s gorgeous. You’re beautiful. If the two of you walked down the street together, you’d give people whiplash from trying to look too hard. Ha!” Tickled by her own comment, Dominique actually slapped her knee.

“Sterling Bishop and I could never be an item. Did you forget he just proudly showed us pictures of his little girl and said the word ex-wife?” Jewel shuddered dramatically, generating another round of laughter.

“You are so theatrical,” Dominique waved her hand dismissively.

“No one said you had to marry him.” Harper shrugged.

“Nope. And I don’t believe he’s an Ivy League man, either. We’re not compatible at all!” Jewel lifted her chin punctuating her summation as if the discussion was over.

Dominique twisted her lips at Jewel. “Even you don’t believe that!”

Harper cackled.

“At the very least, I’d say he’s great for a few dates. It doesn’t have to be anything serious if you know what I mean?” Dominique winked.

“You’re so bad!” Harper rolled her eyes in jest.

Jewel hadn’t noticed the music playing until it was lowered and Emily took to the podium to welcome everyone and announced what was to come for the remainder of the evening.

“I bet he’s the type of man that gets all into your system before you even realize you’re smitten.” Dominique went right back to their conversation the moment Emily walked away from the microphone.

Jewel sniffed. “I am not that gullible.”

“Then go out with him. I dare you. He’s obviously interested. You have nothing to lose,” Dominique challenged.

Jewel bit her bottom lip and glanced across the floor to where Sterling was bent over laughing next to Noah. “I imagine he’d be incredible in bed.” The three of them giggled like they were back in high school.

After a scrumptious dinner of lobster and chateaubriand, the organizers began the program starting with an icebreaker activity. A half hour later, it was time to party.

The band played a popular song from their high school years and almost everyone hit the dance floor. Jewel, Dominique and Harper danced together in their own circle. The three weren’t strangers to a party scene.

A tap on her shoulder startled Jewel. She turned around and was swallowed up by Sterling’s piercing hazel eyes.

“Can I join you?”

Jewel’s pulse quickened. She wanted to say no. She couldn’t control this effect he had on her. Despite that, she said yes. Sterling eased his fingers between hers and they swayed to the music together. Jewel felt as if she were back in school. Sterling had never been the object of her affection then, but she felt something brewing now.

Jewel physically shook her head to shake off whatever that feeling was. She stepped back, adding space between Sterling and her, then moved in time with the lively beat. Sterling matched her step for step and before long they were engrossed in a playful battle, stirring up memories of old popular dances. Next, a song came on from their senior year. A certain dance was known to accompany the rhythm. Jewel and Sterling joined the rest of those on the floor moving along with the crowd in unison. They danced, laughed and danced more. Other songs began and ended and the two were still dancing some time later. Dominique and Harper had found partners, too, and were no longer beside Jewel and Sterling. Sweat was beginning to trickle down the center of Jewel’s back. Her body had warmed from all the movement.

“Whew! I need a break.” Jewel panted, threw her head back and laughed. She hadn’t danced that hard in years. She felt free. “That was fun.”

“Let’s get a drink.” Taking her by the hand, Sterling led her off the dance floor and headed to the bar. He asked for two waters and handed one to Jewel. “Want to get some air?”

“Sure.” Jewel took the ice-cold water Sterling had just handed to her. She moaned after a long sip. “I needed this.”

Sterling took her hand again and led them to the terrace. Jewel was hyperaware of his touch as they snaked through the crowd, but didn’t pull away. She liked the way his strong, masculine hand felt wrapped around hers.

Once they hit the terrace, the cool air against her warm sweat-moistened skin caused a slight shiver. They maneuvered past people gathered in groups of two or three until they reached the far end of the terrace, which was lit mostly by the silver light of the moon. Jewel placed her hand on the marble parapet and slowly swept her gaze over the sprawling greenery of the country club and what she could see of the rolling hills on the golf course. Closing her eyes, she breathed in the fresh air, exhaling as slowly as she inhaled.

Sterling stood beside her. “Perfect night, huh?”

“Yes. It’s beautiful. If my mother were here she would scrutinize every crevice of this place.” Jewel turned to face Sterling and chuckled. “She’s so competitive.”

“So you’ve gotten it honestly.”

“What?” Her brows creased. “Me? No.”

Sterling wagged his finger. “I remember you on the girls’ lacrosse team. Unbeatable. Let’s not forget the swim team,” Sterling added. “Didn’t you make all-county and weren’t you named the scholar-athlete of the year?”

Jewel blushed. She’d forgotten all of that. “Well. Yes, there’s that.”

The two laughed and then eased into a sultry silence. Jewel and Sterling studied each other for a moment. The moonlight sparkled in his eyes. Jewel looked away first, turning her attention back to the lush gardens.

“Are you still as active?” Sterling asked after a while. His voice was slightly lower than the moments before.

“In the gym. Other than that, just some occasional horseback riding.”

Sterling nodded. A few more moments of silence passed. “I had such a crush on you in school.”

“Really?” Jewel was genuinely surprised.

“Yep. I was going to ask you to the prom, but Storm Wellington beat me to it.”

“Ha! Storm.” Jewel shook her head and smiled. “I haven’t seen him in years.”

“What ever happened to you two?”

“We dated that summer, went off to college, reconnected a few more summers and then everything just fizzled. He’s in Germany now. He went there for grad school and never came back. We spoke a couple of times. He’s doing well from what I understand.

“And you went to the prom with...” Jewel snapped her fingers and narrowed her eyes. “Angel?”

“Raven.”

“Yes. Raven. I don’t see her here tonight. What ever happened to her?”

“I married her.”

“Oh.” Jewel stood still, unsure of why that bit of information affected her. He’d mentioned his ex-wife inside, but hadn’t said her name. The picture of the little girl with the mess of curls came to mind and she remembered Raven’s face.

“She was pregnant.”

“What?” Jewel was still trapped in her own thoughts.

“The summer before our senior year of college. We got pregnant. So I married her after graduation. I wanted to do the right thing.”

Jewel simply raised her brows and tilted her head sideways, taking note of the fact that he’d said “we.” He was a gentleman.

“It didn’t last a year, but we have our beautiful Kylee. A few years ago Raven got a job offer in Chicago that offered her the opportunity to return to school and pursue her master’s. Our daughter spends summers and school breaks with me until she’s done with school.”

“Oh. That’s nice.” For once Jewel didn’t have much to say. She was ready to head back inside to the party, but not because she didn’t enjoy being alone with him. It just didn’t make sense to entertain his company any longer when she was sure it wouldn’t go anywhere. “Where did you go to school?” she had to ask.

His response was all the confirmation she needed. Sterling’s undergrad degree nor his MBA were earned at an Ivy League school. Jewel was far from judgmental. She still thought fondly of Sterling. He just couldn’t be the one for her. She was certain that there would be areas in life where they wouldn’t be able to relate. The one thing she listened to her mother about was being mindful of dating people you are compatible with. Jewel’s parents were a shining example of how successful a relationship could be when two were equally yoked.

“We should head back inside. The girls are probably looking for me.”

“Yeah. Noah’s probably looking for me, too.” Instead of moving, Sterling retrieved his wallet and pulled out a card. “I’d love to see you again. Perhaps over dinner.”

Jewel hesitated just a moment, smiled and took the card from him. “Sure.” She tucked it in her evening bag without looking it over.

Sterling had taken her hand again. She let him. Pulling away now would make things awkward. Their road ended there anyway. When she got home, she’d toss the card and forget about how piercing his eyes were and how his touch made her skin tingle because there was no way she could ever be with Sterling Bishop.

Chapter 6

Sterling drove to work with Jewel occupying his mind just like he had for the past few mornings. He was glad he listened to Stephan and decided to go the reunion. Seeing Jewel made it worthwhile. Sterling had also had a few inquiries about his technology service offerings since the reunion. Two meetings had already been set up as a result. His only regret was not taking Jewel’s card. He’d left his with her, but she hadn’t called. Sterling knew how women felt about being the first to call, but assumed Jewel was different. From what he remembered, she was a go-getter and Sterling couldn’t imagine her losing that zeal. He wasn’t concerned. Somehow, he’d find a way to get in front of Jewel. He had to.

Sterling couldn’t pinpoint it specifically, but there was something about seeing Jewel that piqued his interest in several ways and he was determined to satisfy his curiosities about her. One night out for dinner would do it. He’d be able to determine if his interest in her was from a lingering childhood crush, or something genuinely fresh and new.

“Mr. Bishop!” The panic in his secretary Ann’s voice snatched him from his thoughts of Jewel. She stood, alarming him with the speed in which she moved. “We have a situation.”

“Good morning, Ann. Please continue,” Sterling urged as he moved past her into his office.

“My apologies, sir. Good morning. I tried to call you and Mr. Stephan, but neither of you answered. There’s a problem at our east end server farm.”

Sterling pulled his phone from his belt and found that he had missed several calls, as well as text and email notifications. He wondered why he hadn’t heard them. “How long ago did this happen?” His jaw clenched when he realized he still had his phone on silent from the board meeting the previous night. It was obvious that he had forgotten to turn the sound back on.

“Only about ten minutes ago. For some reason one of the backup servers seems to be shorting out. It kicks on but won’t stay on.”

Sterling rubbed the back of his neck. “Thank you, Ann. Let me get Stephan on the phone.”

The first ring hadn’t completed before his brother picked up the phone. “I know. I just finished speaking to Phil at the server farm. There was some kind of major outage in the area that was caused by a fire. They’re working on getting the backups running smoothly. It keeps kicking off.”

Sterling washed his hands down his face. “Steph—”

“I know.” Stephan’s huff was audible. “I just pulled up. I’ll be inside in a sec.”

Within the next few minutes every employee on deck had hands in the mix trying to get the situation rectified. Stephan kept in touch with their staff managing the server farm. Sterling was in touch with the utility company regarding the fire that caused electrical transformers to blow and affect their equipment, which housed scores of data from the customers they served. They guaranteed that services would be back up within hours.

At the server farm, maintenance staff worked hard to keep the backup servers running to avoid any major catastrophes.

Stephan walked to Sterling’s office and paced. “This is all over the news.”

“I know.” Sterling pointed at his computer where he was watching the latest report and turned up the volume. Not one, but two major transformers had blown, causing electrical fires to light up electric lines in the area. Homes, businesses and schools in the surrounding area were all out of service. The utility company and local public service authorities were investigating to determine the cause of the problem. Stephan stopped pacing long enough to hear a few moments of the report. Sterling looked at his watch.

An hour had passed and every second counted. Their backup server was still shorting out. The team struggled to keep it up and running. Customers had the lines clogged, reporting issues with their IT systems. The entire office was in crisis management mode. Outside of Sterling’s door a frenzy of people moved to and fro with an urgent pace.

“We should cancel our meetings with prospective clients today.” Stephan returned to Sterling’s office with his suggestion.

“No! We need to go. We’ll work through this. I trust that Phil has the farm covered and he’ll keep us posted. We can deal with any concerns that may come up from our prospective clients. Besides, it’s important for them to know that we are able to manage a crisis and still get business done.” Sterling believed in always moving forward.

“If you say so.” Stephan released a heavy sigh.

Just then, Sterling’s phone rang. He hesitated before answering since he didn’t know the number, but picked up anyway. “Sterling Bishop speaking.”

“Ah. Mr. Bishop. Bobby Dale Chandler of Chandler Food Corp here. How are you?”

“Fine, Mr. Chandler, and yourself?” Sterling stretched his eyes at Stephan. “How can I assist you?”

“A good friend of mine, Don Kota, referred me to you. You know Don, right? Kota Enterprises.”

Sterling put a smile in his voice. “I certainly do. Mr. Kota is a great friend and client.”

“That I know. I was speaking to him about help I was looking for and he said I should call you.”

“I’m happy to be of service. Would you mind if I add my partner to the call?”

“Of course not.”

Stephan eased into the chair on the opposite side of Sterling’s chair. He put Bobby Dale on speaker and after introductions, they listened to him speak about the services he sought. Chandler Food Corp was looking to overhaul their entire IT system and hire his company for ongoing IT maintenance of their network.

“We can certainly do that. The first thing we’d need to do is come by to take a look at what you have in place, get a few more details and we can draw up a proposal for you,” Stephan said, sounding much more cheerful than he had minutes before.

“Sounds like a plan. When can we meet?”

“If you don’t mind holding for one moment, we can check our schedules.” The brothers took a few seconds to pull up their calendars and agree on a date that worked for everyone.

“Wonderful! I’ll see you then. Looking forward to working with you gentlemen.”

Once the call ended, Sterling and Stephan slapped a high five.

“See! Despite setbacks we have to continue moving forward.”

“I’ll call Phil to see if there’s any progress at the farm.” Stephan stood and headed for the door.

“I’ll see what’s happening with the utility company and check in to see about our customers who are being affected.”

Despite being in the middle of their current crisis, Sterling felt better. They had a promising prospect to meet with today and now a major new prospect that also happened to be the company of the woman who recently infiltrated his curiosities. Sterling made a note to call Don, who was also his mentor, and thank him for the referral. It looked like fate was helping him get a little closer to Jewel after all.

With his brother at his side, Sterling jumped headlong back into the situation, striving to lead the company out of the problem they were facing. They ended their day with a visit to their sever farm to make sure their systems would continue working through the night. Damage to the electrical lines and transformers were still being repaired at nightfall, even though their company originally estimated it to be a few hours. News cameras captured every angle while reporters updated the public on all developments. As frustrating as the situation was for the brothers, Sterling excelled under pressure, feeding off the energy it generated. By the time he made it to bed some time in the wee hours of the morning, he felt exhausted, but also accomplished and excited about the upcoming meeting with Chandler Food Corp.

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