A Malibu Kind of Romance
Page 17
A white BMW pulled up. Dante grinned and ran to the driver’s side. After wrenching the door open, he practically jerked his sister out.
“Hey, Dante, what’s going on?” Star squealed, scowling at him.
“No time, I need your car. Mine’s in valet.” He jumped in and put the car in gear. Ignoring the flash of the cameras, stunned looks and Star’s screams for an explanation, Dante tore away from the curb.
* * *
Julie parked in front of the hotel. A young valet attendant strolled to her door, but she made no move to get out. Her entire body felt numb, startled into shock with the realization that she’d once again been humiliated and heartbroken by a guy at the opening night of one of her clubs. What else should she have expected? Of course he would move on after she pushed him away.
The attendant bent over to peer into her window. She couldn’t sit there forever. Smiling weakly, she opened the door. He mumbled something about the night being good, and she wanted to tell the kid to get lost. She just wanted to go in, pack and go home. The club was open, and her part was done. Evette could handle the follow-up. Julie couldn’t bear to talk to Dante again.
Tires squealed behind her. Julie spun just as a white BMW swung into the hotel parking area and jumped onto the curb in a haphazard park. Julie hopped back even though the car was far from hitting her.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she yelled. She was ready to lash out at someone, and the crazy driver seemed like the perfect person.
The door opened, and Dante jumped out. Julie gasped, the hand over her racing heart fell to her side. “Dante?” Her voice was filled with all the longing that she’d denied herself. “What are you doing here?”
He stomped over to her. “Why did you run away?”
She frowned and shook her head. “What?”
“Why did you run away?” He towered above her, snatching her breath away and infusing her with the heat of his body. “If you don’t care about me. If you really want me to do whatever I choose, and you don’t want to give us a chance, then why did you run out of the club tonight?”
“Because...you and Missy. She said the song was for her.”
“Don’t be crazy, Julie. The song isn’t about her.”
“It’s not?”
He shook his head. “Julie, who else would the song be about but you? I was happily single. I was enjoying my life, thinking I’d never ever want to be with just one woman. Now I’m completely uninterested in another chance with Missy and can’t think of anyone but you. I need to know if what you told Raymond is true. That you really don’t feel anything for me and this thing between us was just a hookup. Because if that’s the case, I’ll turn around and go back to the concert.” He pointed in the direction he’d come. “It’ll hurt like hell, but I’ll find a way to forget you.”
Julie shook her head. “No. I don’t want you to forget me.” The words were out before she’d thought about them.
He didn’t smile, just took a deep breath and stared at her with dark, wary eyes. “Then what do you want?”
Go hard or go home. She couldn’t deny her feelings anymore. “I want you. Even though I know we may not be able to make this work.”
The tension left his body, and warm hands lifted to cup her face. “We’ll figure things out.”
“I don’t want you to feel like you’re in a relationship that you can’t really commit to.”
“I can and I want to commit to you. I love you, Julie.”
Joy, warmth and desire filled her heart. She smiled so hard her cheeks hurt. “I love you, too.” No negative voice of reason made her feel crazy for admitting her feelings.
Dante pulled her into his arms. His firm lips pressed against hers, and she opened her mouth so he could deepen the kiss. The weight of years of fear from the results of trusting her heart with a man lifted from her shoulders. She wanted Dante, no games, no rules. The only rule that mattered was the one that said she was doing the right thing.
Chapter 25
Julie lounged on one of the chairs next to Dante’s infinity pool, soaking up sun and drinking a margarita with Esha. Dante was having another one of the pool parties he was able to throw together within thirty minutes. Something that still boggled Julie’s mind.
“Do you think he’s really coming?” Esha said, grinning behind her glass.
Julie nodded. “In the ten months that I’ve dated Dante, he hasn’t disappointed me yet. I believe him when he says he’s coming.”
Esha shifted on the chair. “I know that Dante knows him but to actually meet the guy in person...” Esha placed the frosted glass against her forehead. “I might faint.”
Julie chuckled. “Better not let Terrance see that.”
“Terrance knows that Irvin Freeman is my weakness. I would throw myself at him like a horny teenager if I didn’t love Terrance, and if Irvin wasn’t in love with that nurse he met.”
“Well, good thing you love Terrance.”
“You’re awfully calm. Aren’t you the least bit interested in throwing yourself at him?”
“No. I’m not.” She sipped her margarita.
Julie was excited to meet the movie star, Irvin Freeman. The guy was one of Hollywood’s biggest leading men—the fantasy of women everywhere, even more so now since he’d met a small-town nurse during a promotional weekend the year before, fallen in love with her and given up his career in front of the camera to be with her. Or so the stories went. Excitement wasn’t enough to make her want to look at any guy other than Dante.
“Oh, my God,” Esha exclaimed and gripped Julie’s arm. “There they are.”
Julie looked in the direction Esha stared at. Dante walked out onto the patio with a tall, handsome guy and a cute woman with an open smile. Julie instantly recognized them from the newspaper articles. Hollywood’s current it couple were garnering a lot of attention from the other people at the party, but Julie only had eyes for Dante. His chest bare, a pair of red shorts sitting low on his hips and the sun shining down on all his sculpted perfection sent heat to her midsection.
She never would have thought she’d be so happy. When he’d asked her to stay on the West Coast after the club opened, she’d agreed. Surprisingly, Evette had encouraged her, even though Julie worried her friend would feel neglected. Julie was already working on another nightclub in LA while Evette oversaw redeeming Dominant Development’s name by opening a new place in Miami. They were a two-office operation now. Julie could barely believe it herself.
Dante strolled over with Irvin and his girlfriend, Faith. Esha gushed, and Julie did her own blushing. Irvin didn’t tempt her away from Dante, but she had to admit his smile up close was something to behold.
“Told you I know him,” Dante said after Irvin and Faith left to change into their bathing suits. He’d promised to introduce her to the movie star after Julie got excited when Irvin earned a nomination for best director.
They sat on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water. Raymond played water polo with the rest of S.A.F.
“Yes, you did. So what do I owe you again?” she asked.
“Hmm, I’ll have to think up something that involves you with a minimal amount of clothes.”
Julie laughed and leaned into his side. “I don’t consider that losing.”
He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in for a kiss. “Neither do I.” He sighed and stared at the group in the pool. “So I got a call from my dad today.”
“Really? What’s up?”
“He wants to sign S.A.F. to the label. The success of the nightclub proved to him that I knew what I was talking about.”
“That’s great, Dante.”
He shrugged. “We’re not taking the deal.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re not?”
“No. I put the
offer to the rest of the group, and they all decided we want to remain independent.”
“How did your dad take the news?”
“I haven’t told him yet. I’m good with the decision. I’ll still make music for the label and do a few collaborations like the one I did after they signed Antwan. I can’t let W.M. go completely. It’s my family legacy, but I want to keep this part of my music separate. I’m happy with the choice.”
“I’m proud of you.”
He grinned, then kissed her temple. “I heard more good news today, too.”
Julie sipped from her glass and laughed when Raymond was hit in the head by the volleyball. “What else?”
“Irvin let it slip that he’s going to propose to Faith. I think at the award show later this year.”
Julie’s eyes widened; her attention swung back to Dante. “That’s fantastic. They are such a fairy-tale ending.”
“Yeah, I can see that, but it kinda got me thinking that I want us to have our own fairy-tale ending.”
“Oh, really?” she asked with a raised brow.
He reached into the pocket of his shorts. “Really.” He pulled out his hand and held it up for Julie. A brilliant diamond ring sparkled on his pinkie.
Julie couldn’t breathe. Her eyes jerked from the ring to his face. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I know this is soon, but I also know what I feel. I love you, Julie. I’ve spent the past seventeen years chasing tail and having meaningless relationships.”
“So not the time for that reminder.”
“What I mean is, I know what’s out there, and I don’t want what’s out there. I want you. Forever. We’ll split our time between here and Atlanta. We’ll make things work. I’d just rather make things work with my wife. Not my girl or my lady. Will you marry me?”
No voice of doubt. No pessimism. Just joy and the thought of spending her life with the man she loved. “Yes!”
He kissed her, pulled back to put the ring on her finger, then kissed her again. “I’m going to love you for the rest of my life, Julie. That’s one rule I’ll never break.”
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781488003677
A Malibu Kind of Romance
Copyright © 2016 by Synithia R. Williams
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