Blueprint for Love by Chanta Jefferson Rand Read Free Book Online Page B

Candace
asked.
    “ A hunk she showed up with
last night.”
    Marlowe’s mouth dropped open. “What? Why am
I just now finding out about this?”
    “ He’s just a guy who
dropped me at the hotel,” Ronnie explained.
    “ Just a guy?” Toye sucked
her teeth. “I would say he’s a helluva man. Bronzed skin. Green
eyes. And a body so fine, he should carry a drool tray with him for
all of the women who can’t wipe the slobber from their lips in
time!”
    All three women cracked up laughing. Ronnie
couldn’t help but smile. She pointed her finger at Toye. “Girl, you
are trippin’.”
    “ Why didn’t I meet him?”
Candace asked.
    “ You were too busy with
your speech,” Ronnie told her. “Like I said, he dropped me
off.”
    “ Okay, who is this guy,
and how did you meet him?”
    Ronnie gave her sisters an abbreviated
version, starting with the day Vic walked into her office and
ending with his subsequent rescue of her on the dark road.
    “ I’m so glad you’re hiring
him,” Candace said.
    “ I didn’t say that. In
fact, I had Olivia send his rejection letter a few days
ago.”
    “ Why the hell did you do
that?” Marlowe demanded.
    For some reason, Ronnie held back on
revealing Vic’s status as an ex-con. Maybe it was because he didn’t
seem dangerous. She didn’t even know what his crime was. She became
preoccupied with picking the onions from her omelet. “Um, I don’t
know,” she said. “Nothing concrete. He just came across as a male
chauvinist.”
    “ Ronnie, that’s not a good
reason.”
    “ Yeah,” Toye agreed.
“We’re in the construction business. Ninety-percent of the men in
this industry are chauvinists.”
    Candace nodded. “Do you think we’d get any
respect if we didn’t have the financial power of Sampson’s behind
our name? If I was still a real estate agent and Marlowe was still
working as a temp, we couldn’t compete with the big boys.”
    Her sister had a point. Thankfully, Gabe
owned all the Sampson’s chains, a do-it-yourself home improvement
warehouse. He was the one who gave them the money and the
encouragement to start Three Sisters Construction. People respected
Sampson’s.
    Marlow added, “Vic came to your aid when he
didn’t have to. He seems like a reliable guy. We need someone like
that.”
    “ Exactly,” Candace agreed.
“This new contract is our chance to really build our clientele. If
a male chauvinist is capable of leading the work crew, then so be
it.”
    Ronnie held her hands up for silence. “All
right, all right. Are you guys on the Vic Romano committee or
something?”
    “ Ooh,” Toye’s eyes lit up.
“His name sounds so macho. Vic Romano, the Italian
Stallion!”
    They all burst out laughing.
    “ Girl, you might end up
riding that stallion!”
    Images of her riding Vic was just too much
for her. Flushed with heat, Ronnie gulped her orange juice. She was
eager to change the subject. “How in the world are you going to
keep this party a secret from Gabe for the next two weeks?” Ronnie
asked Candace.
    Ronnie breathed a sigh of relief as her
sister launched into her latest plan. Crises avoided. She hated
having the spotlight on her. Yet, even as Candace babbled on,
Ronnie’s thoughts drifted once more to the man who’d rescued her.
Her family was right. She owed him a second chance.
     
     
    # # #
     
     
    Ronnie pulled up to the curb of an apartment
complex. This was the address on Vic’s application. She walked
around the seemingly vacant property.
    “ Hello?” she called
out.
    No answer.
    She wandered to the end of the building
where she noticed a sawhorse and planks set up. Several
two-by-fours were laid nearby. Someone was here working, but where?
Wearing high-heeled wedges, she carefully stepped around a red
toolbox with some tools neatly placed beside it. Someone was fixing
up the place.
    Finally, she spotted an open window in the
back on the first floor. She peeked her head through. An empty
kitchen with black appliances and