"I'd like that, maybe in a few days, I just need to take it slow I think."
"Totally, I understand, it's hard for me too Kiara," Troya told me.
I suddenly thought of how selfish and entitled I'd been all these years. Of course Troya was pained by what happened as well, I wish I had been more supportive instead of worried about myself.
"I'm sorry Troya," I told her, "I've been a total bitch about this, haven't I? God..."
"No you haven't Ki, grief affects us all in different ways. Don't sweat it, you're my girl, always, I get you sister."
"Thanks," I told her as we pulled up to the mall.
We got to the beauty salon and started our pampering by getting our hair washed and blown out, Troya had hers straightened while I got mine done into soft curls. We then got our nails done, choosing the same shade of pink so we could be twins. We looked hot and ready to get our party on at the barbecue later.
We went to an Italian restaurant to grab a quick lunch before we had to go back and get ready for the housewarming party. We sat down and Troya ordered an iced tea while I went for a glass of chardonnay.
"Okay, so I have to tell you something Ki and I need you to promise not to over react," Troya said as we sat opposite each other at the table.
"Well, I don't know if I can promise you that Troya, how bad is this thing you have to tell me?" I asked suspiciously as I sipped on my wine.
"It's not that bad, I'm just worried you're going to overreact, you won't like it, I know that much."
"Okay, just tell me Troya, you might be surprised," I said.
"Ahh, okay well Ramone texted me earlier at the salon..." she said before pausing.
"Go on," I said.
"He bumped into Thomas downtown and invited him to the party tonight," she said, watching me intently.
"Right..." I said cooly, taking a big, long gulp of the wine until there was almost none left in my glass. I signalled the waiter and pointed to the glass to order another.
"Shit, you're pissed aren't you?" Troya said in a panicked voice, "I'll call him and tell him we cancelled, okay? Damn, he probably wasn't going to come anyway..."
I didn't want Troya to stress so late in her pregnancy and she was right, Thomas most likely wouldn't show up for some small suburban barbecue, he was a billionaire after all, I'm sure he had better things to do with his free time.
"No...it's fine, like you said he probably won't come, right?"
"I doubt it. But at the very least Eric is in Italy apparently so you don't have to worry about the both of them turning up."
I tried my best not to act annoyed over the whole situation, it wasn't Troya's fault after all.
"Okay, don't worry about it. I'm a big girl anyway," I told her.
We finished our pasta meals and headed back to the house. I couldn't help but think of how I would react if Thomas did show up at the party tonight. I wondered if Eric had ever told him the truth about our night together and if he did, did he hate me? These thoughts stirred in my head as we rode in silence.
Once we arrived, we found Ramone had come home early from work and already set up a gazebo in the backyard. Troya and I got to the kitchen to prepare some salads and other snacks and I tried hard to had friendly with her and not show that I was uncomfortably anxious. Once we'd done prepping the food and everything was in order we went and got ourselves looking nice. I put on a tight, red body con dress that looked great against my coffee skin and some sexy black pumps. I admired ass in the mirror, it looked great in this dress and I praised myself for all the squats I'd done to get me into this shape.
I walked downstairs and some guests had already arrived. Troya and Ramone intruded me to their neighbours Cassidy and Jim and I politely made small talk with them. When the guests went outside I was left alone with Troya in the kitchen again.
"You look like a total hoochie in that dress Ki," she told me in a disapproving yet joking voice.
"Whatever, just because you're preggo, this is so exactly what you would wear if you had an ass like this," I joked.
"Girl, my ass is all class, always has been," Troya snapped back playfully.
"Women, no fighting please," Ramone said as he walked into the kitchen with a bottle of wine in his hand.
"Yes, I'll have one of those," I said snatching the bottle from his hands and pouring a glass.
"We're just playing baby, you know what sisters are like," Troya told him, "what did you come in here for?"
"Oh I just thought we'd start taking the food outside now,"
"Sure thing."
The three of us went outside and I sat there pretending to fit in to these people's family orientated lives. I felt totally out of place listening to them talking about the best pre-schools in the area and water births.
"I bet you can't wait to have kids of your own Kiara," Cassidy said to me as they were on the topic of Troya's pregnancy.
"Actually, the baby bug still hasn't got me," I said, trying to play it cool.
I found her comment annoyingly presumptuous, not every woman was baby crazy and it this point in my life I wasn't even sure if I'd ever want to even get married.
"Burgers are done!" Ramone called, waving a pair of tongs above his head.
Everyone started loading up there plates and I realised then that Thomas must not be coming. I don't know why but I felt a tinge of disappointment. An hour went by and still no sign of Thomas, I was itching for a cigaret so I snuck off to the side of the house to have one where no one could judge me.
I lit up and inhaled the smoke, instantly becoming a little less tense. I wash't really a smoker except for when I drank or was stressed out. I was both those things right now. I heard a rustling from the trees separating me from the rest of the party guests and I hid the cigarette behind me, peering over to see who was coming to my private spot.
My body registered before my eyes at the sight of him, my heart beating so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest. I dropped the cigarette and tried to compose myself. Eyeing up the man that stood in front of me, he was tall, fit looking, with glowing tanned skin and a crop of dark brown hair. His grey eyes pierced my skin as he looked at me. It was Thomas.
"You came," I said, the alcohol had toughened me up but even still I was trembling.
"Kiara," he said walking towards me, "holy crap, it's really you..."
I stared at him for a while and a million emotions began to take over my body. Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was being back in Chicago, whatever it was, I completely lost it when he said my name. I felt tears well up in my eyes and then I felt them falling down my cheeks. I let out a gasp and turned away.
"Hey...Ki..." Thomas said walking up behind me and placing his hand on my back.
His touch burned right through me.
"Ki, what's wrong?" Thomas asked with concern in his voice.
I turned to face him, feeling like a total idiot, why did I drink so much?
"Sorry, fuck, hey Tom," I said trying to gain composure, "sorry...I'm fine, really, I don't know what's wrong with me."
"I shouldn't have come, I'm sorry Kiara, this was really stupid of me."
I thought about what he was saying. It was so typical of him, he was the perfect gentlemen. I had abandoned him without and explanation and never bothered to give him any answers all these years yet still, he was the one apologising. It was time for me to woman-up and do the right thing.
"No, Tom," I looked up into his eyes, he had grown into the most handsome man, "I'm glad you're here, I don't know what it is but seeing you here..."
"It's emotional?"
"Yeah."
"Well you're not the only one," he said, "I've been thinking for years of what I would do if I ever saw you again, I kind of had a plan even, but now that you're here in front of me I'm scared as hell."
My breath caught and I wondered what he meant by that.
"What did you plan to do?" I asked.
"First I was going to kiss you..." he said steppi
ng forward and putting his arm around my back so we were almost pressed against each other.
His breath was warm on my face and I suddenly wanted to submit to his lips. I closed my eyes and waited for his kiss.
"Then I was going to scold you for running out on me and leaving me hanging all these years," he added, letting me go.
I felt the tension unravel inside me and I stared at him, his contradicting words had me confused.
"Lighten up Ki, I'm just playing," Thomas said, "tell me, how have you been?"
"Fine, good..." I told him, I was unsure exactly what to say to him, I was tongue-tied.
"You look good," he said eyeing me up, "really good."
"Thanks. So do you," I told him looking at the small bit of his bare chest that was revealed from his loosely buttoned shirt. He looked really good. When did he get so built?
We stared at each other for a moment, I could tell he wanted to say something so I kept quiet and waited for him to find his words.
"I can't stay, I have to get home for a conference call from China," he told me, "but Ramone told me you were back in Chicago and despite the sensible part of me saying it was a bad idea coming here tonight I decided that I had to come and see you."
I smiled at him, I was feeling sixteen again, sixteen and in love for the first time.
"Anyway, will you meet me tomorrow?" he asked, "just to catch up, it's been so long, I'd love to hear about what you've been doing these last ten years Ki...I really have no idea."
"Okay," I told him, agreeing to his offer.
Somehow seeing him in the flesh like this had caused me to throw my caution to the wind. I suddenly wanted back in to Thomas's life...and heart.
"Really?" he said grinning.
"Really," I smiled back, "where shall I meet you?"
"How about my place? I'd love to cook dinner for you," he said.
"I'd love that..."
"Great I'll text you the address."
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," I said watching him walk away.
"And Ki, please ditch the cigarettes, your skin is so beautiful, I'd hate to see you get wrinkles before your time," he winked at me.
I sunk back into the wall. I had just encountered Thomas for the first time in ten year and it was not the scary disaster I had thought it would be. In fact it was kind of nice.
Chapter Three
I had been playing it over in my mind all day, how exactly this dinner with Thomas would go. I was nervously excited by the possibilities of what could happen. I'd either realise that after all these years I still loved Tom and that the thing with Eric was just out of grief and confusion or I'd realise that too much time had passed and our flame had died out. Judging by last night I would say it was the first situation though. I had felt alive for the first time in ten years, I felt like my blood had finally began pulsing through my body freely again. I was no longer stuck on limbo or numb to emotions I was scared I'd never feel again.
I heard the cab honking in the driveway and I went out to get it. I was wearing a black lace evening dress and underneath it I had on my most sexy lingerie. I was hoping to get lucky with Tom, he had left me in quite a state last night and despite masturbating myself to sleep I was still horny as hell. The cab pulled up outside his downtown apartment building, I paid the driver and walked into the marble floored lobby. The doorman sent me up to the penthouse.
I stepped out of the elevator and knocked at the black varnished door. It swung open and Thomas stood there grinning at me with his perfect pearly white smile. I eyed him up, he was dressed casual but I could still tell that his clothes were expensive designer ones. He had on a loose light blue cotton shirt and white trousers that hugged at his groin. I quickly diverted my eyes from the area, hoping he didn't notice I was looking at it.
"Wow, you look stunning as ever Ki," Tom said as he beckoned me in the door.
"Thanks," I smiled, taking a look around the large, stylishly decorated living area.
"This place is amazing!" I gushed, walking towards the large windowed doors that led to a balcony.
"I'm glad you think so, although I can't take credit for the decorating, that was mostly Eric," Tom said.
"Right...you guys live together?"
"Yeah, we're mostly out of town anyway, this is just sort of our touch down home," he smiled, "come sit, I'm still in the process of cooking dinner."
I followed him over the the kitchen area, stroking the granite counter before I took a seat on a bar stool. Thomas placed a wine glass in front of me.
"Wow, you weren't joking about the cooking part," I teased, inhaling the rich smell of Italian herbs and tomato sauce.
Thomas poured me a glass of expensive red wine and I sipped at it, enjoying it's rich, bold flavour.
"Well that's just something you don't know about adult me Ki, I love to cook," he grinned, "cheers," he said raising his glass to mine.
"Cheers," I said blushing.
The lights were dimmed but the glow from the city lights surrounding us created the most romantic scene. Soft jazz played in the background and I stared at Thomas as he worked his way around the kitchen like a pro. It was very sexy watching a man cook for me, I thought to myself.
"It's so great to see you Ki," Thomas said, taking a break from cooking as he sipped on his wine and stared into my eyes.
"Yeah, it's good to see you again too," I said back smiling.
"Don't ever leave me like that again, please, can you promise me that?" he asked, his eyes sparkling.
"I promise, never again."
"Foods almost done," he said grinning.
"Great, what is it? It smells absolutely amazing!"
"Puttanesca! And there's a side salad of arugula and goats cheese plus some crusty bread I picked up at the bakery earlier today," he said enthusiastically.
My stomach rumbled at the sound of Thomas's delicious description, I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was starving.
"Do you mind setting the dining table?" Thomas asked me pointing to some table ware on the bench.
"Sure," I said taking the plates and cutlery over.
I smiled to myself noticing a single red rose in a vase in the middle of the small square table. There were two small crystal tea light holders with candles in them. I folded the linen napkins and set up the table, then lit the candles. Thomas came over carrying the dish of pasta.
"Sit," he told me, before going to the kitchen to grab the salad and bread.
Thomas sat opposite me and poured us another wine.
"To a great reunion," he said raising him glass, "now let's eat, I can tell you're hungry."
"How can you tell? It's true though, I've practically been salivating over this food since I stepped in to the apartment."
"Good. Eat then, I don't want you in any less than optimal working condition," Thomas said winking at me.
I filled my plate with plenty of pasta and salad then slathered a generous amount of butter on my bread before diving into my meal.
Between Two Billionaires (BWWM Menage Romance) Page 2
