The Chronicles of Stella Rice: February Read online

  THE CHRONICLES OF STELLA RICE:

  FEBRUARY

  Ménage a what?

  by

  Adrienne Kama

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  THE STELLA RICE CHRONICLES: FEBRUARY

  Copyright (c) 2005 by Adrienne Kama

  Cover art and design (c) 2005 by Marianne LaCroix

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form without permission, except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law.

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  www.VenusPress.com

  Printed and bound in the United States of America.

  CHAPTER ONE

  2/1/05

  8:14 p.m.

  I miss Jake.

  Scratch that. I hate Jake.

  Jake is an arrogant ass.

  But I miss him.

  Argh!

  It’s all over between us and has been for over a week. Ann says it’s unhealthy to obsess over a man I only spent one night with, and I know she’s right, but it was one amazing night.

  He stopped calling last week, but I can’t say I’m pleased. Guess he got tired of talking to the answering machine.

  You tell me. Is finding out your lover is gay grounds enough for refusing to see him again? Wait. Don’t answer. Not only is Jake gay…bisexual, but his lover could very well be the sexiest man to ever walk the earth. Could I fault Jake for loving a man I found irresistible and sexy as hell?

  There’s the phone. Gotta run. I’m supposed to be meeting the girls at The Oak Room in about…Argh! I was supposed to be there ten minutes ago.

  10:32 p.m.

  “What you need is to go out with someone else, Ann.” Meagan lifted her wine glass and held it poised for a toast. For a moment, firelight danced across the shiny surface and reflected a rosy tinge onto her café au lait skin. Her golden brown curls fell in waves over her shoulders. “To new beginnings,” she said when Ann and I hefted our drinks.

  We sat at our favorite table in The Oak Room having cocktails, something we did often. There was a blazing fire in the hearth a few feet from the end of our table, and the glow of soft red light overhead, casting a welcoming ambiance over the lounge. The lulling sound of the conversations going on around us blended into the background with the smooth sax of Kim Waters, crooning to us from speakers positioned around the room. The Oak Room was like a second home to us. Of late, however, our usual group had dwindled to a threesome—Meagan, Ann, and myself. Occasionally, Ann’s on again, off again boyfriend, Gerard—the current object of derision—made an appearance. And Katarina was a no-show more times than not these days.

  Our bitch-fests simply weren’t the same without Katarina’s voice of reason to console and calm us. Without Katarina’s reassuring presence, our nights became a series of one bitch-fest after another.

  “Fuck new beginnings,” Ann slurred, obviously now feeling the affect of drinking four glasses of wine in an hour. “And where the hell is Katarina? She said she’d be here.”

  Meagan shrugged, and then took a sip from her glass. “Don’t ask me. As far as I know, she’s still coming.”

  “It’s that damn Jim, again. I just know it.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t have anymore to drink, Ann.”

  Ann rounded on Meagan, eyebrows furrowed. “What you talking ‘bout, Meagan?” Ann said, and then exploded with laughter.

  The Gary Coleman impersonation had been funny the first time she’d done it, mildly amusing the second and third time, but the joke had gone stale by the fourth. I love Ann, but when she drinks, she’s an absolute menace.

  Still grinning, she took another swallow of wine. “See there. I’m perfectly fine.” As if to mock her words, Ann’s brown hair flared wildly about her shoulders. Her neat, semi-bang had sometime in the night decided to stand on end. With her eyes rimmed in red and her usually smooth skin blotchy and pale, Ann looked anything but fine. “Who does she think she is anyway?” Ann continued, clearly warming to her theme. “Ditching us for that damn Jim. I’d never ditch you guys for a man.”

  “That’s ‘cause you don’t have a man,” I offered, then mentally kicked myself.

  Ann narrowed her eyes at me. “Fucker.”

  Meagan gave up any effort of toasting to new beginnings and glared in my direction.

  I sighed. “I’m sorry, Ann. I keep forgetting.”

  “Fucker!” Ann said again.

  Had I thought she was referring to me I might have been offended. Since I knew Gerard was the fucker in question, I took no offense.

  “It won’t last,” I said.

  “What does he see in her?” Ann wanted to know.

  “It won’t last.”

  “How could he have done this to me? I hate Gerard…and I love him. But I hate him more.”

  Meagan and I exchanged looks over the table. Ann had been like this since Gerard broke up with her a week ago and announced he was seeing someone else.

  Seeming at a loss for what else she could do to soothe Ann, Meagan placed her arm over Ann’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “It’s his loss, babe.”

  “I love him,” Ann blubbered again.

  This was one of the annoying things about having three best friends. There I was wounded from the Jake fiasco, and I had nobody to listen to me whine about my broken heart. I was in need of some serious comfort. Meanwhile, all Ann wanted to do was talk about her problems. She had been going on and on about Gerard for a good forty minutes. Okay, so Ann and Gerard had been together a lot longer than Jake and me, but at least Gerard ditched Ann for a woman. Besides, if Gerard hadn’t dumped Ann she would have dumped him. It’s what Ann did and what Gerard expected. He simply beat her to the punch this time.

  “I’m tired of talking about Gerard,” Ann declared. “Let’s talk about Katarina and how this is the second time she’s ditched us for that damn Jim.”

  This seemed to animate Meagan. “He’s not even all that cute.”

  “He obviously makes Katarina happy,” I said, hoping to bring the conversation around to me.

  “Who cares?” Ann said. “He doesn’t make us happy. Least she could do is to pick a man we like.”

  “I like Jim.”

  “Speak of the devil.” Meagan eased forward on the sofa and gestured toward the door.

  I had to twist around on my seat to see who she was talking about.

  Arms interlocked as though their lives depended on it, Katarina and Jim strolled into The Oak Room. She let her blonde locks fall loose down her back, a look Jim preferred.

  “They look like frigging Siamese twins,” Ann complained. “You think they’re attached at the hip, or is that the way they walk now?”

  With their matching heads of blonde hair, lithe figures, and pale complexions, they kind of looked related. “At least she didn’t ditch us again,” I said.

  “She didn’t have to bring him. I can’t believe she brought him.”

  I nearly pointed out that Gerard had often came to our “girls’ night out” get-togethers, but managed to stall the words before they slipped off my tongue.

  “Be nice,�
� I said in a low voice before Katarina and Jim reached our table.

  In stark contrast to my admonition, Ann rocked forward on the sofa and glowered at Katarina as soon as she reached our table. “How very nice of you to join us,” she slurred. “We’ve only been waiting two hours.”

  Knowing the signs, Katarina smiled at Ann as she settled on the sofa next to me. “They broke up again?” she whispered into my ear while simultaneously prodding me with a hip to move over and make room for Jim.

  “Gerard broke up with her this time,” I confided.

  Katarina raised her brows at this and pursed her lips. “I’m sorry I’m late,” she said to everyone at the table. “Jim and I had to stop by his parent’s house to—”

  “I don’t care,” Ann interrupted. “I’m having a nervous breakdown.”

  For the next thirty minutes we all listened while Ann described, in detail, all of Gerard’s bad qualities. When Katarina finally broke in to change the subject I was happy, until I realized her topic of choice was Jake and his refusal to stop billing her for her gym membership, even though she’d cancelled it.

  In retrospect, Katarina’s idea that we could meet our future husband’s by joining Baltimore’s most popular gym seemed extremely ridiculous now. Even if I hadn’t slept with Jake, the owner of the gym and our kickboxing instructor, I probably wouldn’t have met anyone I would want to marry. As it was, Jake was the only man I’d been remotely interested in. That probably wasn’t accurate. When Jake was in a room, other men ceased to exist.

  As far as Katarina and Jim—who met at the gym—we’d just have to see how long their relationship lasted.

  “He won’t stop billing me,” Katarina complained.

  “Did he actually say he wouldn’t stop billing you?”

  “Yes. I finally got him on the phone today.”

  I’d been getting billed too, but I hadn’t called the gym myself, yet. I’d been procrastinating, too, afraid I’d get Jake and be stuck having an awkward conversation with him. But maybe I should call anyway. Membership at Stay Fit wasn’t cheap.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Meagan said, pulling me from my thoughts.

  I looked up to see that everyone was staring at me. “What?”

  “You’re not calling that man. You’re just looking for an excuse to talk to him.”

  I shook my head and proceeded to lie through my teeth. “If I wanted to talk with Jake I would have done it all those times he called me.” In reality, the only reason I hadn’t picked up the phone when he called was because my ego was bruised.

  “Let Katarina handle this.”

  “I can’t,” Katarina said, “I’ve tried but he won’t budge.”

  “See,” I said. “And I might not have to deal to Jake. I’ll go to the general manager and see if he’ll help me.”

  Already a plan was forming in my mind. I’d go to the gym tomorrow and see what was going on.

  CHAPTER TWO

  2/2/05 6:57 a.m.

  I don’t know what it is about having people stay over night that makes me go all domestic. I simply don’t understand this phenomenon. Nevertheless, there I was, hot pink apron tied over my Tom and Jerry PJ’s, flipping pancakes and frying sausages. It wasn’t even seven yet and already I’d had a pot of French vanilla coffee brewed. Fox and Friends was on the television, the kitchen and family room were filled with the homey scent of coffee and food, and I was feeling no pain. It was uncanny.

  “I feel like shit.”

  I whirled around and gave Ann a bright smile. “Pretty much how you look. Bet you wish you’d listened to me now.”

  Shuffling to the breakfast bar, she collapsed onto a stool and moaned. “Why didn’t you stop me from doing those tequila shots?”

  “I tried.”

  “Not hard enough. My head feels like a train…like two trains are racing around inside.”

  I piled two fluffy pancakes and two sausages onto a plate and carried it to her. “You’ll feel better after you eat.”

  She frowned at the offering. “I cannot eat sausages. But I think I could do with some pancakes. Any tea?”

  “How about coffee? I brewed a pot for us.”

  Ann paled. “I couldn’t stomach coffee. Just give me some tea if you have it.”

  I filled the teakettle with water and placed it on the stove, turning the temperature to high.

  “So what’s the plan for today?” Ann asked after I set a steaming mug of chamomile before her.

  “Dr. Chester Taylor is coming at eight thirty to have a resume and cover letter done. It’s a rush job, he needs it done in a week, so we’ll make a nice chunk of change off him. After that I’m going to Stay Fit to see about getting the gym billing stopped.”

  “She works at Chevy Chase Bank. In Laurel.”

  I’d settled at the breakfast bar beside Ann, poised to eat. At her words I looked up from my plate and stared at her. “Gerard’s new girlfriend, I presume.”

  She nodded. “I just wanna see her. Just once.”

  “It won’t do you any good.”

  “I have to see her, Stella.”

  “Why. You wanna torture yourself?”

  “Hey, when you wanted to see Devlin, a.k.a. Cinder, I was right there beside you.”

  I sighed. Of course she was right. But somehow seeing my lover’s boyfriend and Ann seeing her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend didn’t seem quite the same.

  It hurt knowing the man I’d been hoping to start a relationship with was in love with another man while he was sleeping with me. But I sort of preferred Jake being in love with a man instead of a woman. This way it wasn’t a slight against me. Jake may sleep with women from time to time, however he’d chosen to share his life with a man.

  I nodded. “Okay. We’ll go after my eight-thirty leaves. But I have no idea what you’re gonna do once we get there.”

  “I only want to see her. Just once.”

  9:40 a.m.

  “You mentioned dive certifications earlier,” I said to the attractive man opposite my desk in my home office. “Can you name them for me now?”

  He gave me a slow smile, as though I’d offered him my body on a silver platter instead of asking for his certifications. I should have been offended, but I wasn’t. He’d been flirting with me for the last hour and I was enjoying the hell out of it.

  Dr. Chester Taylor was a good-looking man. A very good-looking man. Not at all what I expected. While he wasn’t drop dead gorgeous like Jake, he was pretty damn close. Dressed in gray slacks that hugged his long, muscular legs, and a black ribbed turtleneck sweater, which offset his tan skin, the Dr. was an incredibly sexy man. His hair was sun bleached blonde, something I knew since he’d just arrived in Maryland from a Scuba diving trip in Hawaii. He had the kind of California good looks that would make him stand out in any crowd.

  Still grinning at me, Chester said, “PADI Basic Open Water Scuba Diving, June 1999. PADI Advanced Open Water Scuba Diving, July 2000. PADI Rescue Diver, August 2000…”

  As he spoke, I typed his information into the Client Information Form on my desktop computer. “Was it the love of history, water, or adventure?” I asked when he finished, surprising myself by giving voice to what I’d been wondering from the moment this man started talking about himself.

  “Diving?” he asked, arching one bushy brow in question.

  I nodded.

  He eased back in the chair and crossed his legs, an ankle over one knee. With my desk between us I couldn’t see the actual movement of his legs, but I could see his knee come into view when he began to bob it up and down.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Nautical archaeology. You sound like an underwater Indiana Jones. It sounds dangerous…and exciting,” I finished, hoping desperately he hadn’t heard the Indiana Jones comment. Dear God, why couldn’t I shut myself up before stupid things like that slipped out?

  “All of the above,” he said with a shrug. “And I love animals. All kinds. Grew up on a farm so I’ve alwa
ys had them around me.” He paused to lick his bottom lip. “Cats, dogs, cows, pigs, horses, chickens, you name it. Even tried to tame a deer once when I was twelve.” He shook his head and laughed. “Don’t have to tell you what a disaster that was.”

  “The deer didn’t fancy the idea of being your pet?”

  “Not one bit. See, I was twelve but I’d done some roping before. Mostly calves, so I thought I could do the same with a deer. They have those big eyes and gentle faces. They seemed harmless.”

  The image of an over eager, twelve-year-old, Dr. Taylor trying to rope a deer had me chuckling. “Doesn’t sound like a very good idea to me.”

  “Well see, you’re a city girl. You’d be afraid to rope a calf. When you grow up in the country your view of animals is different. Not so much fear as appreciation.”

  Damn! Even as he spoke I could feel it happening. All the signs were there. Throbbing loins, a fluttering heart, and a ridiculous need to tilt my head to the left and sigh every time he did something I thought was cute. I tried to remind myself that I was taking a vacation from men. A long vacation, but somehow my mind couldn’t compute the information.

  Damn it to hell, I was falling in lust with Dr. Taylor…my client.

  I’d learned nothing from the Jake fiasco. Apparently I was still a glutton for punishment.

  I was unstoppable and uncontrollable!

  “As far as that deer goes,” the doctor continued, “I never got a chance to use the rope I’d carried with me into the forest. Soon as I got within twenty feet, the damn thing charged me. I nearly cracked a rib trying to get away from it.”

  I swallowed hard, smiled, then crossed my hands and settled them on my desk. This was my professional pose, my “let’s get down to business” pose. “Okay,” I said in my, “let’s get down to business” voice. “We’ve covered professional background, education, licenses, certifications, special skills, memberships, awards, publications, speaking engagements, references, and your objective. Is there anything else you’d like to add?”