Nights Of Fantasy

Chapter 1

“Sorry I’m late,” Danni said as she rushed into Bare Sophistication Boutique and Studio minutes before close. “I ran into some traffic on my drive from Tampa to Miami.”

“No worries. How is your mom?” Summer asked as she finished ringing up the last customer.

“She’s doing well! She’s looking forward to the day when she’ll have all three of her children in the same place at the same time.”

“Does that mean your brothers haven’t visited in a while?”

“They’ve visited, but I’ve told you stories about how random their visits are. Dominic is still overseas, but we’re hoping he’ll get a leave soon. And Aaron is off chasing whatever his next adventure is. I swear, between the two of them, I can barely keep track of their schedules.”

“I can’t wait to meet your mom,” Summer said as she locked the front door of the shop and flipped over the open sign. “She seems like the type of mom I always wanted to have.”

Danni didn’t miss the sadness in her voice. It was no secret that Summer’s mom, Sonia Dupree, was as far from a motherly figure as you could get. Danni could still recall the horrible stories she’d heard from Summer and her older sisters, Winter and Autumn, about their mother.

Sometimes, Danni still worried that Sonia Dupree had affected her daughters in irreversible ways. However, all three Dupree sisters were married to wonderful men. Winter was married to Taheim Reed. Autumn was married to Taheim’s brother, Ajay Reed. And Summer and Aiden had been doing wonderfully ever since they tied the knot. All three couples were proving that true love existed and could happen when you least expected it.

“She’s looking forward to meeting you, too,” Danni said. “I told her I’d bring you down for a mini vacation one day.”

“Speaking of vacations, have you talked to Jaleen lately?”

“Um, no. Why do you ask?”

Summer straightened a few lingerie pieces on the rack. “No reason. Just wondering if you finally returned his calls.”

Ever since they’d almost kissed in the hotel room before Summer and Aiden’s wedding, Danni had been making a conscious effort to avoid Jaleen at any mutual parties they attended. Avoiding him had been easy since he lived in Chicago and she now lived in Miami. However, for the past four months Jaleen had been handling some work in Europe for his family’s real-estate business overseas and, for some reason, he’d been hell-bent on emailing, texting or calling her any chance he got.

At first she’d enjoyed communicating with Jaleen since they had, indeed, been friends for years. Yet the closer it got for him to return to the States, the less she returned his calls, texts or emails. He probably assumed that he’d done something wrong, when, in actuality, she was the person pushing him away. She had a good reason, but she doubted he would understand. Honestly, she doubted any of her friends would understand.

“Okay, I’m all set,” Summer said as she turned off the lights. “Are you ready to head to dinner?”

Danni froze. “You mean we’re still on for dinner?”

“Of course we are! Tonight we’re celebrating the fact that you are almost done with your master’s in fashion merchandising. Going back to school and working full-time is a huge deal. Especially since our Bare Sophistication store in Miami has only been open a little over a year. So we definitely have to celebrate. Nicole, Aaliyah and Aiden should already be at the restaurant.”

At least she didn’t mention what I thought she would.

In two months she’d be finished with her degree, which meant she would have to officially accept the partnership Summer and her sisters had offered her during the grand opening of the Miami store.

When they’d initially asked her to be a partner of the Bare Sophistication chain, Danni had been overcome with emotion considering the Dupree sisters had always dreamed of being in business together and Danni had just joined the team as store manager for both the Chicago and Miami locations. She’d never dreamed they’d give her such a huge opportunity. Her celebration was short-lived when she’d realized that despite how wonderful the opportunity was, she still had a major dilemma standing in her way of officially accepting the offer.

“Yeah, I’ll trail you in my car since I don’t want to leave it here overnight,” Danni said. Her iPhone rang just as Summer was locking up the store. She shuffled through her purse to try to catch the call.

Definitely not answering that.

“Who was it?”

“No one,” she said as she stuffed the phone back in her purse.

“Hmm, are you sure it wasn’t a certain friend of ours who’s been contacting you for months?”

“I’m not sure who you mean.” She took out her car keys as they made their way to the parking lot.

“You know exactly who I’m talking about, even if you don’t want to tell me what happened during my wedding—”

“Nothing happened,” she interrupted.

“Well, regardless of what did or didn’t happen, I think you should call him back. I just spoke with him a couple of days ago and he said you’re avoiding him. I’ve never known Jaleen to even care if a woman avoids him.”

Danni hated to admit that she was equally curious as to why he’d been reaching out to her these past few months. Yeah, they’d had a special moment in her hotel suite the day before Summer and Aiden’s wedding, but she didn’t see how that equated to him contacting her so much.

“Okay, fine. I’ll call him back after dinner.”

“Or maybe you should call him before dinner,” Summer suggested before getting into her car.

“Or maybe I’ll just keep avoiding him unless I head to Chicago for the semiannual sale Winter and Autumn are having at the Bare Sophistication Chicago location,” Danni said under her breath as she got into her car, as well.

Danni had enough on her plate and that didn’t include worrying about a certain handsome friend who just so happened to be the only guy she’d been thinking about for the past six months. Or try the past few years. It didn’t matter if she thought about him a lot or a little. She shouldn’t be thinking about him at all.

Maybe I should call him since I’ll have an excuse to get off the phone once I arrive at the restaurant for dinner. That way, he couldn’t convince her to stay on the phone any longer than five minutes since the restaurant was so close to the shop. She clicked the audio recognition feature of her car and called Jaleen.

He answered on the third ring. “Hey, beautiful.”

She momentarily soaked in the warmth in his voice. He’d always called her beautiful, but lately she was starting to believe he really meant it.

“Hey, Jaleen. Just a heads up, I have to meet the gang for dinner so I only have five minutes.”

“Duly noted,” he said with a laugh.

“How are you?”

“Much better now that you’ve finally called me back. What’s the deal? Screening my calls and messages?”

“Um, something like that. Why? Not used to women being so dismissive of your charm?” she said with a laugh.

“Not women who threw themselves at me one day then avoided me the next.”

“I did not avoid you. I had merely been fulfilling my bridesmaid’s duties. Besides, you haven’t even been in the States for the past four months.”

“Exactly. And we’ve been talking a lot while I was away, then you suddenly go cold turkey.”

“Aw, did I hurt your little feelings?” she said with a laugh.

Jaleen was silent for about five seconds.

“Let’s get one thing straight, Danni. There is nothing on me that is little, small, tiny or any other word used to describe the men you’ve been with in the past.”

Her breath caught. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. I was referring to you, not your male anatomy.”

“Whether you meant to or not, you just offered me a challenge. And you know there isn’t anything I love more than a challenge.”

She didn’t like the direction their conversation was heading. “Anyway, I have to go. I just arrived at the restaurant, so I’ll have to call you later.”

“Will you actually call me later?” he asked. She thought about all the times she’d avoided his calls recently, knowing she had no reason to justify ignoring him. At least, no reason she wanted to explain to him.

“Yes, I’ll call you later.”

“Great. Then I’ll talk to you soon.”

She hung up the phone, parked her car and then leaned her head back on her headrest. What is it about that man that has me so intrigued?

She’d dated her fair share of men in the past... Even some that reminded her a little of Jaleen. Yet he got under her skin and the more she thought about it, the more she was unsure if that was a good or bad thing. By the time she stepped out of the car, she was already beginning to regret her decision.

“At least he lives in Chicago,” she said as she reached to open the door to the restaurant.

“Let me guess,” someone said, catching the door ahead of her and holding it open. “You’re talking about me.”

Danni dropped her arm instantly and her eyes widened in surprise. “Ja-Jaleen! What are you...how are you...what are you doing here?” Oh, my goodness, am I stuttering? I never falter over my words.

“It’s nice to see you, too, beautiful.” His eyes sparkled with amusement, but she was having a difficult time finding anything funny about the situation.

Man, he looks good. True, it had been a while since she’d seen him in person, but they’d FaceTimed a couple of times. Tonight he looked extra sexy in his dark gray jeans and collared blue shirt that was unbuttoned to reveal his white tee. His gray-and-blue Nikes only added to his look. She’d never understood why, even in his casual clothing, he looked as if he were headed to a photo shoot.

When she finally made her way back to his eyes, he was smiling too hard for her liking.

“What are you doing here?” she asked again, walking through the restaurant door.

“I think a better question would be why didn’t I mention I was in Miami when we were on the phone a few minutes ago,” he said, following her into the restaurant. When she gave her name to the hostess, it dawned on her that one of their mutual friends must have mentioned the dinner to him.

“Who told you? Summer? Aiden?”

He shrugged. “Does it really matter?”

“You know I hate surprises,” she whispered as they neared the table where their friends were waiting.

“And you know that had you answered my calls earlier, you would have known I was in Miami.”

“I had good reason.”

“And what reason would that be?”

She tried to ignore how close he was to her ear when he whispered. His scent was already filling her nostrils to a less than comfortable level. “It’s a reason I’d rather not share right now.”

“Fine. Have it your way.”

They arrived at the table and greeted their friends. She was well aware that Summer’s, Nicole’s and Aaliyah’s eyes were all on her as she sat, with Jaleen sitting right across from her.

“Are you okay?” Nicole whispered. Instead of responding right away, Danni took a large sip of water, hoping to cool off from the hot stares Jaleen was already shooting her way.

Danni, originally born in Miami, had attended two years of high school with Nicole before Danni’s family had moved to Tampa. The two had kept in contact and, when Summer had moved to Miami, Danni had reached out to Nicole to meet up with Summer. The two had hit it off immediately and later met Aaliyah, who was one of the lead photographers at a beauty trade show a couple weeks after.

When Danni had arrived in Miami to help Summer open Bare Sophistication, the four women had immediately bonded and later agreed to go into business together. They were still building the Bare Sophistication Miami empire, but with Nicole as the lead makeup artist and hairstylist for their boudoir studio, Aaliyah as the boudoir beauty photographer and Summer and Danni running the lingerie boutique, things were looking promising for the group of friends.

“I’m not sure,” Danni finally whispered back. “Why do I get a feeling that I’ve just stepped into a bad horror movie?”

“That’s a bit extreme,” Nicole said with a laugh. “Jaleen is hardly a villain. You’ve known him for years.”

“Why is he here in Miami? I have a few theories... One, he wanted to catch me off guard with his presence. Mission accomplished. Two, he manipulated his way into my celebration dinner by contacting one of you to get the details. Once again, well done on his part. And three, he is being very cocky and suspicious. Do you see how he’s looking at me over his glass every time he takes a sip of water? All of those are characteristics of a villain.”

“I think you’re being a bit dramatic. Yes, he is all of those things, but I’m not sure that Jaleen’s sole purpose is to make you uncomfortable. I agree that he probably wants to spend some time with you, but you both have gotten pretty close these past few months. Even if it was long-distance.”

Danni stole another glance at him before turning back to Nicole. “I’m telling you, something is off about him tonight. He’s definitely up to no good.”

“Maybe you need to experience his type of no good,” Nicole said as she raised both her eyebrows. “Could be good for you.”

Danni was about to respond when Aiden began talking.

“Jaleen, I meant to ask. How long are you staying in Miami? You’re here for a business meeting, right?”

So he’s here for work. How hard would it have been for him to tell me that? “At least he’s only here for a meeting,” Danni whispered to Nicole.

“Actually, I just had my first of several meetings here in Miami this morning.”

Danni felt like she was holding her breath as she waited for him to continue. After another minute, she couldn’t wait any longer.

“So how long will you be in Miami?” she asked.

He glanced around at everyone sitting at the table before his eyes landed on Danni. “I’ll be in Miami for at least the next three months...possibly longer.”

She studied his eyes for any sign that he was joking and realized he wasn’t. “You’re serious?” she asked because she had to for her own sanity.

“Dead serious,” he said, not even breaking into a smirk as he held her gaze.

“I take back what I said,” Nicole whispered in her ear. “Maybe you did just step into your own horror movie because if he’s the villain, you’re definitely his main target.”

Danni shivered at the thought.

Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

When he winked, she looked away and focused on the others in the group. Hard to do since her mind was on the man sitting across from her.

I’m screwed.

Chapter 2

Jaleen would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t get a kick out of watching Danni squirm. In his defense, he’d tried to tell her about the contract he’d won in South Beach for weeks, but she hadn’t returned his phone calls. Once he’d realized that she was ignoring him, he’d reached out to Aiden and Summer to try to figure out why she was avoiding him.

Twenty minutes into dinner and she still hadn’t made eye contact with him again. Not that he could blame her. It was impossible not to feel the chemistry between them, despite how many months had passed since they’d last seen each other.

“I want to make a toast,” Summer said, raising her wineglass in the air. “To Danni, who has almost completed her master’s.” Everyone clinked glasses and offered their congrats.

“And a second toast that may be a bit premature but long overdue,” Summer continued. “Although my sisters couldn’t be here tonight, on behalf of myself, Winter and Autumn, we’d like to express our gratitude and excitement to Danni, who will soon be the newest partner of the Bare Sophistication enterprise.”

This time, even more congrats and cheers were offered, but Jaleen noticed that Danni’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. That’s strange. As hard as Danni worked, he’d expected her to look a little more excited about the offer. He’d noticed her initial excitement over a year ago when the Dupree sisters had made her the partnership offer after the grand opening of their Miami store. It may have made sense to the others that she said she wanted to wait until she finished her master’s—especially considering Summer, Winter and Autumn each had several degrees in the fashion industry—but it hadn’t made much sense to Jaleen.

“Thanks so much, guys,” Danni said as she took a sip of her wine. “I’m really excited to begin this new journey with the enterprise.”

“We couldn’t think of a more deserving person than you to be our partner,” Summer said, briefly standing from the table to give Danni a hug.

Jaleen watched the embrace, thinking for the first time tonight Danni’s response seemed genuine. Which further begged him to wonder why Danni was so tense regarding tonight’s dinner topics.

Man, who are you kidding? You’re probably the reason she’s so tense tonight.

After dinner ended and they were making their way to their cars, Jaleen took a moment to pull Danni aside.

“Can we talk for a minute?”

She looked at their friends, who had just made it to the parking lot. “Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

Jaleen glanced down the block in the opposite direction. “Come walk with me.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that your way of asking me to take a walk with you? Because it sounded more like a demand.”

He smiled at her defensive stance. This was the Danni he knew. The Danni who’d spent the past few years arguing with everything he’d said. Although he liked making her nervous, he liked her even more when she was fired up.

Tonight she had on a simple white tee tucked into a pair of high-waisted jeans. He may have loved to see her in dresses, but the woman could wear a pair of jeans unlike any other woman he knew. His eyes traveled farther down her body until they landed on her French-tipped toenails and peep-toe fringed boots. The outfit was perfect for the cooler seventy-degree March night.

When his eyes traveled back to her face, he admired the large brown curls adorning her smooth mahogany face and round dark ginger eyes. Despite all of her features that drove him crazy with desire if he allowed himself to think about her too long, it was her lips that always kept his gaze a little longer than they should. He’d never seen lips so rich and pouty, which was saying a lot because he’d seen his fair share of lips. Today her lips were decorated in a striking burgundy lipstick. A shade that only made him want to kiss her even more than usual. After a few seconds, her lips parted, causing him to take a step closer.

“How about we take that walk?” she said, placing a hand on his chest. He glanced down at her hand, trying to shake the visions of her lips softly kissing his body.

Once they began walking and he felt like he had a handle on his thoughts, he started the conversation.

“I wanted to apologize for surprising you by popping up in Miami. I suppose I could have left you a voice mail when you didn’t answer.”

“Yes, you could have,” she said with a laugh. “But I should have returned your calls. Sorry about that.”

“It’s no big deal. Although I’m curious why you’ve been avoiding me.”

She glanced at him before looking forward. “I’m sure you already know why, but in hindsight, I guess I’ve been acting childish. I’m a grown woman avoiding a sexy man all because we almost kissed. Seems pretty pathetic when you say it out loud.”

So she thinks I’m sexy? She probably hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but it didn’t stop him from enjoying the fact that she’d said it anyway.

“I guess I understand. But I thought that talking as much as we have these past four months while I was in Europe would have made you feel more at ease. I, for one, enjoyed our conversations.”

“I did, too,” she said, lightly touching his arm. Even though her touch was light, he still felt her warmth travel throughout his body. “I just have a lot going on right now and I’m afraid that you’re a distraction I can’t afford.”

“I never asked you for anything other than friendship.”

Danni gave him a look of disbelief. “Oh, come on, Jaleen. You and I both know that you don’t do friendships with the opposite sex.”

“We’ve been friends for years, right? Or do you deny it?”

“Yeah, but most of that time was spent arguing with one another. And I’m not sure if friends is the right word. Close associates may be more accurate since the only reason we communicated with each other was the fact that we shared so many mutual friends.”

He wanted to tell her that he suspected they knew each other more than she gave them credit for, but he knew when to leave the battle to fight another day.

“Tell you what. While I’m in Miami, how about we work on building a friendship?” That way, I can prove to you that it may be time to take this friendship to another level.

She shot him a look of skepticism before her lips curled into a smile. “Why do I have a feeling that you have an even bigger plan brewing in your mind?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” He feigned a look of innocence. “I’m just a guy asking a girl if she’ll embark on a new friendship journey with me.”

Danni rapidly blinked her eyes in surprise before she burst out in laughter. Soon, he was laughing right along with her. When their laughing began to die down, Danni spoke first.

“I’m curious as to what this friendship journey will entail and, although I want to say no, I’m too curious not to say yes.”

“Good decision,” he said as they walked in a comfortable stride. Jaleen really didn’t have a plan brewing like Danni had assumed. But now that she’d put the idea in his mind, a friendship plan with Danni was exactly what he would concoct.

* * *

As Jaleen glanced around the poor excuse for a rooftop terrace of the South Beach boutique hotel he’d be renovating over the course of the next few months, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed at the task before him. It was one of five hotels he had to flip and though he usually didn’t stress out over jobs, he was stressing over this one.

Although the family business his grandfather had started began as a small real-estate company, Jaleen’s father and uncle had grown Walker Realty Partner into a multimillion-dollar company. In the Walker family, your path was laid out for you from the time you were born. Both of Jaleen’s older brothers each had a key role in the business, and although flipping real estate was a huge part of their company, Jaleen’s specialty was flipping boutique resorts. It was something he’d started doing just to see if he could prove to his father that he could be an asset to the family business. Jael Walker was not a man who was easily impressed. Especially when he felt as though his youngest son wasn’t cutthroat enough to make the decisions needed to get far in the industry.

“Hey, boss, where do you want us to start?”

Jaleen glanced over at Jesse, the head of his construction team. “Rally up the team in the back of the restaurant on the lower level.”

“Will do.”

When his father had informed him that their company had won the bid for five boutique hotels scattered throughout the heart of South Beach, the only reason Jaleen had been willing to return to the States after being in Europe was the fact that he’d known Danni was in Miami. Yeah, it was nice to know he had other friends there, as well, but he’d promised himself he’d live at least a year in Europe working out of the small international Walker Realty Partner office. Considering that his cousin was currently managing all of their international projects, it had taken more than a little persuasion for his dad and uncle to agree to a one-year hiatus from their projects in the States. His dad hadn’t really agreed to the entire year, but his uncle’s blessing had been enough.