I should.
“Where’s the bar?” Charlie asked tersely, apparently already tired of not being the center of attention.
“Come on, I’ll lead the way, then I need to go play hostess, so you’re going to have to find a way to amuse yourself,” I heard Anna say to Charlie as they trotted off in the direction of the bar.
“Would you like a drink? I’d be happy to get you something,” Daniel asked me.
“No, thank you. I’m fine. I had no idea you were going to be featured here today. Anna didn’t mention it. At all. Not a single word, actually.” I made a mental note to kick her ass later.
“Come to think of it, neither did you.” I tilted my head to the side when I looked to him for a response.
“It came up rather suddenly, I guess you could say. Would you like to see what I’ve done?” He changed the subject expertly.
“Of course. Your work has always fascinated me. You know that.”
His eyes glittered with excitement. “I think this may be my best to date.” We approached the display he’d been standing in front of when I arrived. The scarlet dress was breathtaking.
“This is amazing, Daniel. The color, I mean, it’s surreal. The red is so deep, like blood, almost black somehow? It’s as though my eye is tricking me. How does red get so deep it looks black?”
“The fabric has an iridescent quality to it. It plays with the light to, just like you said, trick your eye. When I designed the dress, I knew the cut had to be such that the light would be trapped in the folds when the woman moved. It’s magical, really, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely.” My answer seemed so lame compared to the grandeur of the dress itself.
“Now, look at this one.” We moved to the next dress, and so on. He had three actual dresses on display and three easels, each with a stunning pencil sketch of a woman in a different pose, wearing an original Daniel Miller creation.
“What do you think?” His voice was filled with apprehension, and when I quickly looked to him, I saw a lost teenage boy looking back at me. Confusion swam in my head. What was I missing? More people gathered around me, now pointing to the sketches, then pointing at me.
Looking closer at the sketch nearest to me, I sucked in a lungful of air. I quickly scanned the others. They were the pictures he had drawn just days ago. All of me, standing, sitting, and leaning up against the window in his hotel room.
The day I’d gone to see him.
The day he’d kissed me senseless.
The day I’d run out, swearing I’d never be dumb enough to find myself in that position again.
“Daniel, these sketches…”
“These are genius,” one of the women in the crowd interjected.
Another pushed to the front. “Are these for sale?”
“Will these be in the auction?”
“What is the lot number of this one? I want this one for sure.”
“This one is mine.”
Different voices, different comments. All adoring fans.
Daniel beamed. True satisfaction shone on his face and he’d never looked more handsome. He had every right to be proud of the work displayed around him, and while I was a little uncomfortable being featured in the drawings, I was second-handedly proud, too.
He leaned close to me, so only I could hear his words. “Do you like them? You haven’t said what you think. I’ve never been so anxious to unveil a collection as I have this one. You’ve given me back my purpose, Janvier. The inspiration to create beauty. The muse I’ve been lacking. God, say something.”
“I’m speechless. I don’t have words to do this justice.” I turned left, then right, trying to take it all in in one sweeping glance. “But I didn’t do this. This is your talent. Your creativity, your vision.”
“But you are the inspiration. Don’t you understand? In my eyes, you are the epitome of beauty.”
“Daniel.” I just looked at him, not knowing what to say. I didn’t want to spoil this amazing moment for him. So many people were waiting to talk to him. Members of the press were standing by to get quotes for their evening reports and blogs.
“Mr. Miller, can we get a picture? With your muse and the sketches? Would you mind?”
“Not at all.” He tugged me to his side before I could protest, and I instinctively smiled like the trained debutante I was raised to be. Cameras flashed all around us and out of my peripheral view I saw Katherine at the edge of the crowd, sneering from where she stood.
I pulled away quickly.
“What’s wrong? Where are you going?” he asked quickly.
“Katherine’s here and she’s shooting daggers from the back of the room. I’m not going to ruin Anna’s day, or yours. We can talk later.” And once again, I hurried away from the amazing man I still adored.
The auction went off without a hitch, and to my surprise, my mother behaved the entire afternoon.
By the time my alarm sounded the next morning, it was already nine o’clock. It was the day my father’s will would be read, and the next day I’d be back on a plane to California. I was anxious to get back to my own home, my own things, and my own life.
I just wasn’t sure what that even looked like anymore. The life I’d left behind was sad and lonely. The life I would return to held no promise of being any different. Something needed to change, and in a big way. While Daniel’s face immediately came to mind, he wasn’t the change I was looking for. He was my past, and he needed to stay there. I couldn’t afford to live through that kind of agony again. Taking a chance on loving him again brought too much risk of losing him again.
The reward would be amazing, but I wasn’t sure I would survive if things didn’t work out. Learning to live without him had almost killed me the first time. A second turn on that merry-go-round would be my undoing.
Friends and family would be gathering for the reading of my will next, and it would be proof once and for all that you truly could die from a broken heart.
Chapter 6
Daniel
The response from the auction was more than I expected. Local media attention snowballed into national coverage and my email and voicemail were bursting at the seams with incoming messages. Designers hoped for big breaks like this, and I had one person to thank for the inspiration.
I just couldn’t get her to answer my calls.
Or texts.
Or emails, for that matter.
She was infuriating me, and I’d had enough of the arm’s-length way she was handling the obvious feelings between us. I decided to pay her a visit on her turf. I’d be lucky if the staff didn’t call the police and have me dragged off the property.
Wouldn’t be the first time. I laughed to myself, though it was far from funny.
After the familiar butler was kind enough to allow me inside, I made my way through the home. It was a literal walk down memory lane. Not a pleasant stroll through a tree-lined grove, either. More like a painful limp with patches of thorns and sticker bushes I’d rather not get caught up in. This house was like a minefield for me. The only saving grace was Janvier and all the special moments we’d shared here.
So for that reason alone, I pressed on deeper into the residence, following the sound of voices coming from just down the hall. William’s study. I remembered sitting with him there while he worked. He’d taught me art history from the vast library he kept on the shelves. As long as I did my homework and chores, I was permitted to use his library as much as I wanted. When I was punished, it was the first thing that was taken away, and I was heartbroken.
When I reached the door to William’s study, regular conversational-toned voices could be heard. The meeting had ended, the door opened, people I didn’t recognize filing out through the open portal. When the parade ceased, I peeked my head around the corner to see the only three remaining people were Katherine, Janvier, and a stout, balding man in a three-piece suit. I assumed he was the Greensboros’ attorney.
I hung back and waited for them to finish their
business. Fortunately, Katherine and the attorney exited the study through another door on the far side of the room, so she never knew I was there at all. I quickly went inside and closed the door. Janvier looked up, surprised to see me standing there.
“Daniel. What are you doing here?”
“You’ve been saying that to me a lot lately. Have you noticed?” I teased dryly.
“Well, you keep showing up when I least expect it.”
“Because running away has become your superpower,” I challenged.
“I’ve had a lot to attend to. Wouldn’t you say?”
“Convenient excuses, I’d say.”
“I don’t think that’s a very fair thing to say. At all.”
I shrugged. “Maybe not.” I didn’t much care, if I was being honest. It was the truth. And it had been my experience, people didn’t want to hear the truth. Especially when they didn’t like what it said about them.
“Can I help you with something? I mean, why are you here?” she flung back.
“Well, you ran out of my hotel room the other day like there was a fire. You left the golf club yesterday without so much as a look over your shoulder. You let my calls go to voicemail. My texts are still showing unread. I figured if I didn’t come see you, you’d leave for California and it would be another ten years before I saw you again. That wasn’t a chance I was willing to take.”
“What do you want from me, Daniel?” She looked exhausted in that moment and I knew the emotions of the past few weeks were taking their toll on her. But I wasn’t about to go easy on her. Not a chance.
“I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you don’t feel the chemistry between us.” I closed the distance between us, making sure she understood how serious I was. “You can’t deny it’s still there. And it deserves to be explored. We deserve a chance, Janvier.”
“We can’t… I can’t…” she stammered.
“We can, and we should. What are you so afraid of? What’s holding you back? You are unattached. I’m unattached. Your parents don’t control you anymore. We live in the same fucking city just about. I know you’re attracted to me! I felt the way your body responded to mine the other day. I don’t understand the problem?”
Tears welled in her eyes, and when she started to speak, she abruptly stopped, only to start and then stop again.
“Tell me what it is. Tell me what you’re scared of.” I took her hands in both of mine and felt her trembling. Whatever was bothering her was bigger than I’d imagined.
She yanked her hands back from mine. “I can’t do this. I can’t love you again, Daniel. Don’t you understand that?”
“No, dammit! I don’t understand it at all.”
She wiped her cheeks with her palms and I reached for my handkerchief, half expecting her to reject the offer when I gave it to her. She took it and blotted her eyes before taking a deep breath. Exhaling, her whole body shuddered. She wasn’t even close to calming down but pressed on regardless. “I don’t know how to explain it so you will understand what I’m feeling. Or what I felt, I should say.” Fat tears ran down her cheeks and she started to turn away, but I grabbed her forearm.
“No. Don’t you dare run from me again. Tell me what this about. Make me understand,” I insisted.
She turned back and stared at me, chin wobbling as she peered at me with those navy-blue eyes that haunted my dreams.
“Loving you is the most extraordinary feeling. Complex and beautiful, like a tapestry. From discovering the smallest, most intricate details of the most minute part of you to standing back and soaking in the entirety of your charm or your passion or your enthusiasm for life as a whole, it’s a rich and colorful experience.
“But having that love taken away from me? Daniel,” she gasped and put both hands over her heart, as if guarding it physically from being hurt. “That was like a tattered old frock. One that is so worn, if pressed in the wrong way, it tears. There is no way to repair it at that point. There is no way to rejuvenate the fiber that was once rich with integrity. It’s gone. Barren. Threadbare.”
She looked up at me. One last tear rolled down her cheek. “That was me. Threadbare. I won’t survive it again.”
“So what then? You choose to never love again?”
“I’d rather never love again than feel the devastation of losing you again.”
“But you won’t lose me, Janvier. I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”
“You can’t promise that. You can’t guarantee life won’t take you away from me again.”
“No. You’re right. I can’t promise that. But how can you choose to live in misery when we could live together in happiness? It doesn’t make sense!”
“Maybe not to you, but it’s how it has to be.”
“You’ve become just like her.” I whispered the accusation after a few seconds.
“What?” She glared at me. “What does that mean?”
“Katherine.”
She stared at me, either trying to figure out what I meant or defying my assessment, but I knew if I didn’t push her, I would walk out of that house without her for the second time in my life. And she was right about one thing, surviving the loss a second time would be excruciating.
“Isn’t that what she’s done? Isn’t that how she goes about life? Heartless. Unfeeling. Controlling everyone and everything around her so all the outcomes are the perfect scenarios she can handle? I mean, that’s what you’re trying to do here, right? No chance for affairs of the heart, just predictable situations you play puppet master to the end result?”
“It’s not the same. Not the same thing at all,” she argued, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
“Really? How is it different?” I cocked my head to the side in defiance. A few seconds passed and she remained silent.
Finally, she went to speak but stopped herself. Tears filled her eyes again, but this time I made no move to comfort her. She needed to work through how she was sabotaging her own happiness.
Our happiness.
“You’re right.” She dropped her head, rubbing her temples with her fingertips.
“Don’t beat yourself up too hard. We learn from the examples put before us. She’s been that way as long as we’ve known her.” I softened my voice, no longer accusatory or demanding.
“How did this happen? I despise that about her. I always have. Swore I would never treat people that way. God, I’m a fool.” She dropped without grace onto the velvet sofa along the wall.
Sitting down beside her, I held my hands out, hoping she would place hers in mine. When she finally did, I felt like the smallest victory had been won. “Don’t be hard on yourself. It’s natural to want to guard your heart from being hurt again.”
“Why are you being kind all of a sudden?”
“I wasn’t being unkind before. I just didn’t understand why you wouldn’t admit you still love me. Now, at least it makes sense. Whether I agree with the method or not is a different matter entirely.” I smiled and stroked her hair back from her tear-streaked face.
She reached up and held on to my wrist and leaned into my palm when I cradled her face. “Do you think you can love me forever?”
“Forever and ever,” I whispered.
“And ever?” she asked.
“At least that long,” I promised before sealing my mouth over hers, making sure she understood how strong my commitment was. We had a lifetime ahead of us to prove to one another how deep and resilient our love truly was, and I planned on spending each day doing exactly that.
Not “the end,” our new beginning.
About Victoria Blue
Victoria Blue lives in her own portion of the galaxy known as Southern California, where she finds the love and life sustaining power of one amazing sun, two unique and awe-inspiring planets and three indifferent, yet comforting moons. Life is fantastic and challenging and every day brings new adventures to be discovered. She’s looking forward to seeing what's next!
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Chapter 1
New Position
Maxwell Knight
I walked into my office feeling brand-new. Finally, I had earned my father’s respect and the CEO position at his business, Knight Fashion.
My father built this company from the ground up. All the sweat, dedication, sleepless nights, and time away from home had paid off. Now he was passing the baton to me.
“Mr. Knight.”
I spun toward the voice and smiled. “Good morning, Mandy.”
Mandy had been promoted as my personal assistant as of that day.
Her cheeks flushed a bright pink as she smoothed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “Good morning, I meant. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Anything?”
She sounded nervous and I didn’t want her to be. I especially didn’t want her to get my coffee. She was not my errand girl. I knew some heads of departments who demanded coffee be at their desk at a specific time, but that wasn’t my style.
“No, but thank you for asking. I’ll be getting my own coffee. That’s not part of your job description.”
“Oh.” Her chestnut eyes widened, and she rewarded me with a bright smile. “If you need me—”
“I’ll give you a ring. Today is our first day. Take it easy. Get familiar with everything. I’ll need you to be familiar with our client list, too.”
“Yes. I’ll get working on that. Thank you.”
I shoved my hands in my front pockets. “You’re welcome. And thank you.”
After Mandy left and closed the door, I headed to the mesmerizing view of Los Angeles. The window practically took up the back wall.
I had so many things to do, but I wanted to stand here, soak up the sun, and be grateful for everything in my life. I glanced to the left and right and far off to the horizon, my spectacular twenty-eighth-floor view. Although I’d seen that view often in my dad’s office, it felt different from my own.
Alphas of Seduction Page 6
