Tender to His Touch. Adrianne Byrd

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      “Doing good. Just landed a morning spot on CNN and—” she flashed her diamond ring “—married to Damon Woods. Eight years and still going strong.” She laughed and batted her long faux lashes. But it was how her voice squeaked and skipped that finally made Beverly clue in to whom she was speaking with. Darcy Knight—which meant that the three women flanking her were Kitty Kirkland, Natalie Coles and Keri Evans.

      Instantly, a few inches were shaved off Beverly’s smile. She and Darcy had an unspoken rivalry back in college and high school. It was nothing that was perpetuated on Beverly’s end, but Darcy lost both homecoming queen titles to Beverly, as well as placing second in the Ms. Georgia Teen and Ms. Georgia pageants. When they weren’t competing, Darcy chased after David like a bitch in heat and she was constantly biting Beverly’s look from hairstyles to clothes.

      Unfortunately, it didn’t look as if the past ten years had been particularly easy on her. At a cursory glance, Darcy’s yaki weave didn’t exactly match her unrelaxed crown, plus she had on way too much makeup and she’d easily gained fifty pounds. And her happy clique suffered the same fate.

      “Is this one of your creations? I heard you were a fashion designer now,” Darcy asked, acid dripping from her voice.

      “Why, yes. It is. Do you like it?”

      “It’s…cute,” Darcy drawled. “You know I thought about going into the fashion biz, too, but I much prefer to work in something a little more serious.”

      Beverly blinked, but before she had the chance to respond to that backhand slap, Darcy changed the subject. “So how’s David?” Darcy asked, casting a curious look over at Lucius. “Word is you two tied the knot right after college.”

      “We did,” she confirmed. “And now we’re divorced.”

      Darcy and her gang’s faces collapsed in mock sympathy. “Oh, I’m sooo sorry to hear that,” Darcy said. “Of course, I always thought that you two were an odd fit.”

      Her girls bobbed their heads in agreement.

      Beverly tensed, but then to her surprise, Lucius wrapped a supporting arm around her waist. She looked up into his smoldering hazel eyes while he smiled down at her.

      “David’s loss is my gain,” he told the women without breaking eye contact with Beverly.

      She smiled. Talk about a knight in shining armor.

      Kitty, Natalie and Keri sighed while Beverly swore her body was slowly melting in Lucius’s arms. This was the closest they had been tonight; it was almost like being wrapped in a cocoon where she detected the faint scent of his aftershave mixed with his sinfully sexy cologne.

      “Aren’t you Lucius Gray?” Darcy asked, stepping closer.

      “Guilty,” he said, finally turning to look at Darcy. “And you are?”

      “Darcy Woods—well, it used to be Knight.” Her smile was suddenly bright enough to rival the sun. “We met once at a, um…frat party.” She twirled a few strands of her hair around her fingers.

      Beverly tensed as jealousy pricked her skin. Had Lucius and Darcy had a fling back in the day? One look and she could tell he was wondering the same thing.

      “Well, I did attend my fair share of those,” he admitted.

      “Mmm-hmm.” Darcy smiled like a sly cat with a secret. “At this particular party you had quite a bit to drink and I seem to remember you losing a bet to Terrence Franklin and you and Thomas Barrett had to shave your heads and streak through the center of campus.”

      “Hey,” Beverly said, turning. “I remember that!” Her eyes widened, mainly because that night one of the boys shocked the crowd by being extremely well-endowed.

      Lucius’s face darkened to a deep cranberry. “Ah. That night. Not exactly one of my most sober decisions.”

      “Well,” Darcy said, swinging her gaze back to Beverly with contempt clearly written on every inch of her face, “looks like your lucky streak continues.”

      Lucky? Beverly almost laughed in the woman’s face. There were plenty of ways to describe her, especially since she’d left college, and lucky wasn’t one of them. “I’d thank you not to presume you know anything about my life.”

      “Hmmph. Well,” Darcy said as if she was suddenly bored, “it was good seeing you again. I’m sure that we’ll have time to play catch-up later.” She blew Beverly a quick air kiss and then ushered her three-ring circus away.

      Beverly shook her head, stunned by how the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

      “That was…interesting,” Lucius said, glancing back down at her. “How come I get the feeling that you two weren’t really friends?”

      “Picked up on that, did you?”

      He chuckled. “How about I get us a drink? You look as if you could use one.”

      She could, actually. “Thanks.”

      “Be right back.” He winked.

      The moment his arm fell from her waist, Beverly’s body ached for its return. Again, a strange response to a man she hardly knew.

      “There you are!” Kyra threaded her way through a throng of people and then popped up in front of Beverly and wrapped her in a brief hug. “You came.”

      “As promised,” Beverly said, smiling.

      “Good.” Krya looped her arm through Beverly’s. “Please tell me you’re having a good time.”

      “So far so good.” She bobbed her head. “Except when I ran into Darcy Knight.”

      “Oh!” Krya rolled her eyes. “I was hoping her invitation got lost in the mail.”

      “It’s all right. We kept the claws in…kind of.”

      Kyra’s smile exploded. “See. I knew that you could handle yourself. By the way, I love the new haircut and color.”

      Beverly beamed. “Thanks, I had Clarence hook me up. I swear the man has magic hands when it comes to my hair.”

      “Well, I think you look beautiful. In fact, you look like you’re positively glowing.”

      Beverly’s gaze skittered across the room to the bar, where Lucius scanned a wine menu. “Can I ask you a question?”

      “Sure.”

      “Do you remember a Lucius Gray?” The minute she asked the question she noted a visible change in her friend’s face.

      “I, uh, yeah…used to play on the football team, I believe. Why?”

      Beverly took another cursory glance toward the bar, but noticed Lucius was gone.

      “And here we go,” Lucius said, suddenly appearing at her side and handing her a glass of red wine. “I hope you like pinot noir,” he added, chuckling СКАЧАТЬ