View Park. Angela Winters

He had a smooth way about him, not as abrasive, so she was told. She had never met him, but everyone knew everything about the Chase boys. Carter was the smooth character; laid back. Even the way he walked across the street, ignoring traffic as if he was sure nothing could ever happen to him, seemed to be in slow motion.

      “I can’t believe he’s still single.” Verona Dellis’s hand spread over her heart.

      Calabra Velasquez huffed. “I heard he’s single because he’s a big player.”

      “I could make him stay home.” Lisa Tyson snapped her fingers. “But I like the younger one. Michael.”

      “He’s married to that model thing.” Calabra rolled her eyes.

      “She trapped him,” Lisa said. “Got pregnant and made him marry her.”

      Avery had heard enough. The black community’s obsession with the Chase family was nauseating. “Okay, ladies. He may look good, but he’s not worth letting your process burn through your head.”

      They returned to their places, but never took their eyes off Carter when he entered the store. Avery had no love for any Chase at this point. Not after the last few months of Michael, and she wasn’t about to give Carter a chance either.

      Carter flashed a winning smile for the woman standing in front of him, but she didn’t seem impressed. Impossible. She was incredibly attractive in that suburban girl type of way, but this was about business so that didn’t matter either way. Over the last few days, he had let his father’s brooding looks and biting words get to him and he wanted to close this deal even if it meant being an ass. He didn’t like it, but he was just as good at it as anyone. Better. “Can I speak with—?”

      “No.” Avery, hands on hips, was ready for him. With her current mood, a good-looking man meant nothing.

      “Excuse me, but I need to speak with Avery—”

      “That’s me and the answer is no. You can leave now, Mr. Chase.”

      As she turned and began walking away, Carter started after her. “I was warned about your stubbornness, but I wasn’t aware you were also unprofessional.”

      Avery swung around. “Unprofessional? What you and your brother are doing is what’s unprofessional. Trying to push everyone around.” She reached her office, planning to slam the door for effect, but Carter caught the door just before it closed. “I didn’t invite you in.”

      “I don’t push people around. Look, Ms. Jackson. If you would take a second, I can tell you why you should reconsider.”

      Avery sat down at her desk, eyeing Carter. Something about him was definitely different than Michael. Even though Michael was meaner, something told her Carter would be harder to fight. “I’m not selling my shops. Your obsession with me is a waste of time.”

      “Obsession?” Carter laughed for a second before becoming completely serious. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

      “Am I going to have to get a restraining order against your whole family?”

      “My brother can be a little—”

      “Your brother isn’t a little anything.”

      Carter knew now why Michael had been unsuccessful with this woman. She was too smart and Michael tended to underestimate women. He wouldn’t make the same mistake, and he didn’t need to make excuses for Michael. “I’m not my brother, but I’m prepared to offer you twenty-five grand more than his last offer.”

      Avery looked him dead in the eye. “No sale.”

      “You didn’t even think about it.”

      “I don’t need to. Unlike you, money isn’t the deciding factor in why I do what I do.”

      Carter helped himself to the chair across from her, never once taking his eyes off her. “You don’t know me well enough to pass judgment, so I suggest you watch your mouth before you put your foot in it.”

      Avery paused, her lips forming into a beautifully wicked smile as she thought of where she would like to put her foot. “Your charm is just wooing me off my feet, Mr. Chase. Listen, why don’t I make a deal with you?”

      Carter knew he was walking into it, but he would indulge her. “Let’s hear it.”

      Avery leaned forward. “I’ll watch my mouth if you get the hell out of my office.”

      Carter allowed her to lean back with an accomplished look on her face. She didn’t know who she was dealing with. “That’s a stupid move.”

      “There is just no end to your flattery, Mr. Chase.”

      “Call me Carter.”

      “Mr. Chase, like I told your brother the last four times he tried to buy me out, Essentials is my baby and it’s not for sale.”

      “Everything is for sale, Avery. Even you.”

      The intensity of his light eyes caught Avery for a second and she couldn’t think of the best comeback. “I already use all of your products. I’ve made enough of a contribution to the Chase wealth machine.”

      “You use Chase products because they’re the best out there. Everything we do is the best. And when we take over Essentials—”

      “Not gonna happen. Now I have two shops to run. I don’t have time for back and forth with Steven Chase’s little boys.”

      Carter gritted his teeth. That one got through, but he wouldn’t let it show. Casually, calmly, he reached into his tailored coat jacket, pulled a contract out of the breast pocket and tossed it on her desk. “At least look at it. It’s much better than anything you’ve been offered. It’s more money than your shop made any of the five years you’ve been open.”

      “How do you know how much my shops make?”

      Carter ran down her revenue for the past three years, smiling at the sight of her unintentional blink. She was a privately owned business with carefully protected financial information. It was a guilty pleasure, seeing the look on someone’s face when they realized they were dealing with a Chase. Nothing was that protected when it came to his last name.

      “I also know,” he added, “that Chase Beauty is going to own this shop as well as that other little joint you run and we’re gonna make it bigger and better than anything you could have dreamed of making it.”

      Avery was digging her nails into her palms under the desk. He was different than Michael, all right. He was better. “So now you claim to know my dreams?”

      “It’s not about what I know,” he explained. “You know that you could never do for Essentials what we can. And if you learned anything from that state college education you have…”

      Avery couldn’t stop her mouth from opening wide. She had lost her footing with him and she needed an out before he got any farther.

      “You’ll know,” he continued, “when it’s time to cash in and move on.”

      Unsure of how to verbally respond with words, Avery snatched the papers he had given her and ripped them into several pieces before tossing them into the garbage next to her desk. Carter showed no emotion and that un-hinged her even more.

      “That was a mistake, Avery.”

      “Are you threatening me?”

      Carter smiled innocently, showing a genetically inherited smugness. “The police chief’s little girl? I would never.”

      “If you’re suggesting I need to hide behind my father to fight you, you’re mistaken. I can handle you by myself. Now get the hell out of my shop.”

      Carter stood up. That was enough for now. Winning the big ones took patience, something Michael didn’t have. When he was finished with Avery, she would beg him to take Essentials just to get him out of her life.