The Second Time Around by Angie Daniels Page A

making him feel both the mental and physical attachment he felt with Brenna. He still had every luscious curve of her body embedded in his mind. He had never forgotten the distinctive sound of her voice with the southern Delaware inflection, the graceful way she tilted her head whenever she looked up at him, and most of all he remembered her declaration that she would love him forever.
    Jabarie gave a bitter laugh then brought the mug to his lips, emptied it and dropped it down hard onto his desk. Even now he spent considerable time wondering if anything they had shared was true. After she had left him, he wondered if all they’d shared had been a lie.
    â€œI thought you were going to stop working on Saturdays?”
    Startled, he glanced up to find his mother standing in the doorway. Jessica Beaumont was one woman who always managed to look amazing so early in the morning. Her slender frame looked elegant in a peach Chanel suit. Her long salt-and-pepper hair was pulled up in a neat chignon that emphasized her round face and slanted dark brown eyes. A small Coach purse was tucked under her arm as she sashayed across the hunter green carpet toward his desk.
    â€œDidn’t get much sleep last night,” he confessed with a slight shrug of his shoulders beneath a black tailor-made suit.
    â€œI can tell.” He watched as his mother’s concern appeared in her eyes. “I can have my doctor prescribe you something.”
    Jabarie groaned inward. Pills were his mother’s answer to everything. “No, I’m fine.” He reached for his mug and took another sip and remembered it was already empty. “What brings you here this early?”
    â€œYour father and I are taking a tour of the new wing of the hotel and then having brunch with the Johnstons.”
    He nodded. His mother spent most of her day having lunch with her society friends and planning charity functions while his father traveled around to each of their two dozen hotels, insisting on seeing if they were being run properly. As if he didn’t trust his son to do his job. Roger Beaumont rarely held a conversation that included a topic other than work.
    â€œHow’s everything with the Las Vegas deal going?” His mother asked, breaking into his thoughts.
    â€œFabulous. We should be breaking ground some time next month.”
    She crossed her legs and looked pleased. “Your father and I are so proud of you.”
    â€œThank you.” His father had groomed his children to take over the family business since the moment they first started school. Roger Beaumont had taught his children they could have or do anything they wanted as long as it involved the Beaumont Corporation. Another career field was never an option. Luckily he never dreamed of doing anything else. Unlike his brother who was a disgrace according to his parents. Jabarie admired his brother Jaden because he had his own mind and was doing what he wanted to do, unlike Jace, who was in charge of hiring and recruitment for all of the hotels, but who’d rather have been an engineer.
    He stared down into his mug and thought again about managing the Las Vegas office. Maybe change was what he needed.
    â€œYou want to talk about it?” His mother asked, breaking into his thoughts again. Jabarie glanced across the desk at her impatient face. “Well, I’m waiting. I knew something was on your mind last night at dinner.”
    He stared down at the polished mahogany desktop before answering. “Brenna’s back in town.”
    He looked up in time to see his mother’s eyes grow large and round and a disapproving frown bunched her forehead. “And what does that have to do with you?”
    Every fiber in his body warned him not to even have this conversation. His mother had never made her feelings about Brenna a secret, but he’d always thought it was clearly unfair. She believed fruit didn’t fall far from the tree and that she was a