A Taste Of Brazil_An Interracial Billionaire Romance

by Kendra Riley

  He giggled. “Ah, but you’ll see what’s going to happen – you’re going to finish yours and then look sadly at me when I still have a piece left.”

  “Ooh. Well played, sir. Well played.”

  And while they were talking and laughing and messing about, Hazel couldn’t stop thinking about Damien. She wished that Travis hadn’t asked about him and she hoped that he couldn’t see how lost in thought she was. She hoped that her smiles and her laughter didn’t come across as too fake. She really was having a good time. But there were moments when it was hard to concentrate. She hated that the mere mention of Damien had set her off like that. Now it was all she could think about and she even felt guilty for going out tonight with another man.

  Afterwards he dropped her off at home and walked her to her door. He was sweet and chivalrous and everything she needed in a man. And yet she couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of unease. She wondered how differently this night would’ve gone had Damien not come back into her life. Just a week ago, she’d been so ready to move on and forget about him. She had truly believed that it was something she was capable of doing. She wasn’t so sure now.

  “I had a lovely time, Hazel.”

  She realized that they were now standing awkwardly on her doorstep and that this was the moment that they kissed or decided on another date. And in that moment, with Travis standing so close to her she could think of only one thing – one name that kept screaming into her mind over and over again. Damien.

  “I’m so sorry, Travis. I just can’t.”

  Of course, these were not the words he was expecting her to say. He gave her a strange look. “What do you mean? Why are you sorry?”

  Hazel sighed. “I had a lovely time, Travis.”

  “But? It sounds like there’s going to be a big ‘but’ at the end of that sentence.”

  “But my head is just not in the right place. Ben’s father – Damien – well, he just came back into the picture. I’m not with him and I certainly don’t plan to be. But it’s messed me up just a little bit. And I know that I’m not ready for this. I had no idea it was going to mess with me this much. But it has. And it’s not fair to you or me if I pursue things here. I’m just way too confused right now. And it’s a pity, because I really did have a lovely time.”

  “Ah,” Travis looked defeated and then gave her a small smile, “These exes really do mess with our heads. It’s okay, Hazel. I understand. I’m certainly not going to push you into something that you are not ready for. I would never do that. I’m obviously very sad to hear this – because I think you’re just great, Hazel. In fact, I had one of the best nights I had in a long time and it’s going to be hard to just ignore that. But… I won’t push you. Promise me something though…”

  “Sure.”

  “Promise me that you’ll contact me if your head clears?”

  Hazel smiled sadly at him. He was so nice. She hoped that this was something that she wouldn’t regret. “Of course I will, Travis.”

  “And be good to yourself.”

  “I will.”

  “Well then, goodnight, lovely Hazel.”

  “Goodnight, Travis.”

  She closed the door and got out her phone before she changed her mind.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey Damien, it’s me. Uh… Hazel.”

  It was the first time that she had phoned him and she knew that he was probably just as confused at hearing her voice than she was of hearing his. But if she didn’t phone him now, despite the strange hour of the night, she knew she would lose her nerve.

  “Hazel?” He sounded surprised.

  “I… uh… I just wanted to say that I’d like you to meet Ben.”

  “Really?”

  “Well, if you want to, of course.”

  “Oh course I want to, Hazel. Of course!”

  “Okay then, well why don’t we go to the park tomorrow? He loves the park.”

  “The one by you?”

  “Yeah, 11am?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  She put the phone down and closed her eyes. What am I doing?

  Chapter7

  Damien

  Damien had been dreaming about this moment for two years but the moment it arrived he was scared. He’d always been quite good with children – probably due to the fact that he often still felt like a child himself – but suddenly he worried that Ben wouldn’t like him. And all of a sudden he couldn’t stop thinking about all his faults – listing each one of them over and over in his head. Despite the fact that they were only meeting at 11am, he was wide eyed at 4am and unable to go back to sleep. For at least an hour he just sat and stared at the darkened ceiling.

  At first, he thought about what he was going to say and what he was going to do when the meeting finally happened. He ran through scenarios and conversations even though he had no idea what to really expect. Eventually he had to force himself to stop thinking about something that he could not predict so he put the lamp on and tried to read. When that didn’t work he tried to watch TV. He switched between channels, never truly watching anything. Then he got up and made himself a cup of coffee.

  His small motel suddenly seemed even smaller and he felt as if the walls were closing in on him. He made himself a second cup and waited until it was early enough to go out for breakfast. There was a small café attached to the hotel that opened at 7am. He arrived at 6.55 and waited for them to open. When he got inside they were still getting the café ready and the waiters looked at him wearily. He knew that the last thing that they probably wanted was such an early customer. He found a booth and sat down. The waitress arrived a few minutes later.

  “Well, you’re early today,” she said. He’d met her before. She wasn’t nearly as chipper as she had been on his previous meet ups with her.

  “Uh… yeah. I couldn’t sleep. I’m sorry.” He suddenly felt bad for arriving so early.

  “Nah, don’t be sorry. We open at 7am so you have every right to be here. I just haven’t had a cup of coffee yet and I’m never quite the same without it. But don’t worry, when I come back here to deliver your food I’ll have had my cup and I’ll be back to my normal self. So, what can I get you?”

  Damien smiled at her. “I know what you mean. I’ve already had a cup, which is why I’m a fully functioning human being again. But I’ll have another please. I’ll look through the menu in the meantime while you go enjoy yours.”

  She poured him a cup and went off to have one of her own. When she returned, he ordered the breakfast waffle special – aware that Wesley would not approve of his choice. The thought made him smile.

  “Here we go,” the waitress said, and placed a huge plate in front of him.

  “Thank you. Ah, you look happier now,” he mentioned.

  “I am. I’m also about to have my second cup. So even more happiness coming my way. Enjoy your meal. You chose well with the waffle – it’s definitely one of the most popular items off the menu. You have a big day coming up or something? Normally when I can’t sleep it’s because I have something important on the next day. My mind always refuses to switch off.”

  “Yeah. Probably one of the biggest days of my life,” he said.

  “The waffle will help you. Good luck!”

  And Damien did actually feel better after the waffle. It was huge and was piled with layers of bacon. And being at the café also gave him something to do – a welcome distraction from his far too busy mind. People started filing in from about twenty past and he was sitting at the best vantage point to watch them. When he finally left the café it was 9am, which gave him only two hours until he was meant to meet with Hazel and Ben. He went back into his room and got himself ready. There was only so much that he could choose from to wear as his cupboard was still looking very bare after his jail sentence. He’d been to one shop since he’d gotten out and had bought himself two pairs of jeans, three t-shirts and some underwear. He still had his shoes and his jacket from before.

  He had contact
ed his previous landlord but he said after discovering that Damien was not going to be back for a few years he gave everything to charity. Damien wasn’t sure that he quite believed him but there was nothing that he could say. Anyway, it was a good chance for him to move on and to start afresh without a constant reminder of his old life. Thankfully, he remembered what he was wearing the last time he saw Hazel and made sure that he chose a different shirt. Not that she would even be thinking about his outfit but still, he wanted to give the best impression possible. He knew that if he were a girl at that moment he would’ve spent the next hour doing his makeup. But there was very little he could do other than to make sure his clothes were clean and ironed. Then, he took a deep breath and headed out the door.

  It took about half an hour to walk to the park. He looked at his watch and saw that he still had twenty minutes to wait. They had decided to meet at the bench near the sandpit. The plan was to walk around the park and then perhaps go for a drink at the café. But it was all very dependent on how the day actually went and how much Ben wanted to even be around him. Damien took his time and finally made it to the bench. While he waited he watched as the other families came past. They all seemed so normal and he wondered what normal actually felt like. He had never been more desperate for a normal existence in his whole life. He now couldn’t understand why he had always wanted to be so different from everyone else. It seemed so silly and pointless now.

  Damien spotted Hazel before she had seen him. She was walking towards him in the distance while a little boy was holding her hand. He was small but seemed determined to walk which meant they were taking a long time to get to him. Hazel was chatting to him and the boy was listening intently. He wondered what they were talking about. When they got close enough for him to see, Damien tried not to gasp. The little boy looked just like him. Hazel hadn’t been lying about that. And even though she had warned him, it still took him by complete surprise. It was in that moment when Hazel looked up and caught his eye. She smiled and walked towards him. Damien got up and tried to steady himself on the park bench. He could feel the whole world spinning around him.

  “Hazel,” he whispered when she got near. He had no idea if he should reach out and hug her, kiss her or just extend his hand for a shake. He did neither. He just stood and stared. His mind had gone completely blank.

  “Damien, thanks for coming. I’d like you to meet the loveliest boy on the planet. Damien, this is Ben. Ben, this is Damien. Say hello.”

  The little boy peered up at him, his eyes squinting in the light. He seemed to be assessing Damien. Then, seemingly satisfied, he smiled.

  “Hi.”

  The word hi had never been cuter. Ben tugged at Hazel’s jeans and pointed to the sandpit. She grinned at him.

  “Go on, you can go play. We are right here watching.”

  Ben ran to the sandpit and dived right in. He immediately began building something out of the sand around him and seemed transfixed by whatever he was doing. He quickly looked to see that his mom was still there and then he carried on. Hazel sat down on the bench and Damien joined her.

  “He’s beautiful, Hazel.”

  “He is,” she said, “and he looks just like you.”

  That was an indirect compliment but he didn’t want to say anything to ruin the moment.

  For a while, the two of them just sat and watched Ben playing. There was something very serene and beautiful about seeing him play in the sand – completely content with his life. A little boy joined him and the two started playing together, passing sand to one another and laughing at who knows what. It made Damien laugh too.

  “Man, I wish it was that easy for adults to make friends. We are all so wary of one another. Imagine just going up to someone and asking them to play with you. You’d probably be arrested.”

  Hazel laughed back. “Tell me about it. It’s hilarious to watch because they can’t even form full sentences and yet somehow they manage to have an entire conversation without a problem. Ben has become very talkative lately, though – I think he’s getting very excited about finally being able to comprehend things more and finally being able to say things to me that I understand. The full sentences are on their way for sure. He’s a clever kid.”

  “Takes after his mom.”

  Hazel didn’t respond and Damien suddenly felt incredibly awkward. He wanted this to run as smoothly as possible. He glanced at her. She was watching Ben with intensity but he wasn’t sure if it was because she was interested in what he was doing or because she didn’t want to look at him – probably a mixture of both.

  “Thanks for letting me meet him, Hazel. And for letting me see you again. I don’t want to get all serious on you now – but I want you to know just how much it means to me. I don’t take this lightly. I know how hard this must’ve been for you. But it means so much to me.”

  She was silent again but finally, without looking at him, she said, “It was important for me that you met him. And… I’m happy to see you again, too.”

  Then, she looked at him but it was so intense that she quickly looked away again. He wondered if she felt the same sort of chemistry that he felt every time he was near her. It was as if the two years apart had only served to strengthen it.

  “So tell me about Ben.” Ben, at least, was a safe topic.

  He saw her visibly relax next to him. “Well, he’s just turned two. He’s really no trouble at all. The whole terrible two thing just hasn’t happened to me. Maybe it’s still coming, but really, so far I’ve been lucky. Even when he was little he was good. He loves his sleep, too, which means I never got woken a million times in the night like some other parents do. It was like he always took me into consideration. I know that sounds crazy – but that’s what it felt like.

  "He’s a proper little boy though – he loves getting dirty and he loves being mischievous. I’m very lucky because he comes with me to school every day. We have some awesome ladies there who look after the very young kids so I’ve been very fortunate with that. I drop him off in the morning and collect him on my way home each day. And he has so much fun there with the other kids. When he’s old enough he’ll join my school, too. And the other teachers all love him so he gets a lot of very special attention. Ah… I’m going on… sorry. I always seem to talk forever when it’s about him.”

  “That’s why I’m here. I want to know everything. Two years is a long time to miss out.” Damien heard his voice catch the moment he said that and he quickly looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry – this is quite emotional for me.”

  “I think this would’ve been very different if you hadn’t known about Ben. I mean, imagine I had only told you about it for the first time when you got out.”

  “Yeah, that’s true. I’ve thought about that. I’ve had two years to process the whole thing. Hazel – I want you know that in those two years I never once thought about running away from it all. I knew from the moment that I found out that I wanted to be a part of Ben’s life. I knew, of course, that you might not let me, but that was always my plan. I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I know I cannot take back everything that happened. But you have to know that this is one mistake I’m glad I made. I have a child. And I have a child with a woman that I still love deeply. That’s a miracle right there.”

  “Thank you for saying that Damien. It means a lot. It doesn’t make it any easier, but it does mean a lot. I sometimes think the whole thing would’ve been easier if you wanted nothing to do with us. But I know that this is good for Ben. I don’t want him to think that his father ran out on him. I know that he needs this. He might be too young to comprehend it all right now but eventually it’s going to mean something. And I’m glad you’re out now because the questions are going to start coming as soon as he’s old enough.”

  “And what about us Hazel? I mean… would you have preferred it if I never came back? For you.”

  But before Hazel had the chance to respond to him Ben came running up to them. Damien could see that she s
eemed grateful for the interruption. Perhaps he had been too hasty in asking such a serious question so soon.

  “Mommy. I made friend,” Ben said.

  “I see that. What’s his name?”

  Ben just shrugged.

  “Oh well, not important. As long as you’re having fun. Do you want to go for a walk now with me and Damien? We can even go feed the ducks. I have the bread ready.”

  Ben smiled broadly. “Ducks, Ducks, Ducks!”

  It didn’t at all sound like he was saying Duck though and Damien tried not to laugh. He saw Hazel grinning.

  “I’ve been trying to get him to pronounce the D better but for some reason it always sounds like he’s swearing. It’s funny for me when we’re alone but when other people hear him they think that I must be teaching him some bad habits.” Then she looked at Ben, “Okay, go say goodbye to your new friend.” He just waved to his friend and that was it. Friendship over.

  They walked over to the duck pond and spent some time throwing pieces of bread into the pond and watching as the ducks came to fetch them. Each time a duck took a piece of bread Ben would burst into fits of giggles.

  “He has your laugh,” Damien noted.

  “Yeah. And he laughs at the silliest things and not at things are meant to be funny. Just like me.”

  Damien smiled at that. He had forgotten that about Hazel and it brought back so many emotions and memories that he suddenly found it hard to talk. Thankfully, Ben was talking enough for everyone so there were no awkward silences. When the bread was finished Hazel suggested that they all go to the café, an idea Ben was delighted with.

  “I drink coffee,” Ben announced as they sat down.

  “Really?” Damien asked and looked at Hazel for confirmation.

  She giggled. “Yeah, this is his favorite place to come because he gets to act like an adult. They actually bring a kids version out which is just warm milk with chocolate sprinkles on top. But they put it in the same cup that our coffees come in so it looks just the same. He loves it.”