by E A Hunt
Nia hated to tell Deni he was right, so she hadn’t. She’d only continued with her work week until Deni had shown up at her front door with this outfit, skin-tight black jeans, a beautiful black billowy high collared top and black stiletto boots her feet were hurting in but gave her more height than she’d ever had. He’d even provided her with the red and gold mask she now had on her. Deni had volunteered to babysit while rushing her into the shower. He’d done her hair, added some dark eyeliner to go with the mask and called her an Uber so she wouldn’t be late the an even she was positive the people invited would be out of her league.
And she’d been right. Some of the conversations she’d heard were from people who were doctors, lawyers, dentists and finance men and women. She helped run a trucking company. That was not high on some of the desired professional lists.
Nia looked at the bartender when curiously when another glass of wine appeared before her and her empty glass was removed. “I didn’t –”
“I did,” a voice interrupted. She finally looked at the man who’d stepped so close to her you’d think they were together. He had to be the most intriguing man she’d ever seen. As he moved closer to her, she got a better look. She’d wanted to look at him in the mirror earlier like he’d done to her. But her mother had told her staring was rude, so she hadn’t. Though she’d admired him and his body from the corner of her eye. The way he filled out his suit. The size of his hands and the pure, unadulterated masculinity which rolled off him in waves. She inhaled his spiced scent. It was odd but his scent and his size reminded her of a warm, comforting oak in the midday sun.
“Thank you but I can’t accept this,” Nia replied, pushing the glass closer to him. Though she positive another glass would calm her nerves.
It had been years since she’d been on a date. Six years to be exact. That had been with her daughter’s father. He’d been charming. Attentive. And she’d drank it all up. Being a curvier girl, or BBW (Big Beautiful Woman) as they were called now, dating hadn’t been easy. She wasn’t sure sometimes if a man wanted to be with her because of some fetish or a bet with friends.
Jonah, her daughter’s father, had seemed to like her for her. He’d held her hand in public. Kissed her and took her out to dinner. Everything had been going so well for the year they’d been dating. Until she’d become pregnant. Jonah had stuck around for four months after she told him but then he bolted. No call. No email. No text. She’d gone to the doctor to see what they were having, and when she’d came back he’d moved out of the small apartment they shared.
She’d tried to contact him, but he’d changed his number and blocked her from every form of social media that he had. It had been heartbreaking, and she’d retreated completely into being the best mother her daughter could have. Which was great but it left her love life in shambles.
“Sprite, I think you need this,” he replied, pushing the glass back towards her. He could see she was nervous. “It will help,” he added while waving off the bartender who’d stayed to see if he was going to have to dump the drink.
Nia relaxed some. “Thank you,” she said, giving in and pulling the glass closer to her. She was horrible at small talk.
“Not much of a small talker?” he asked.
“That obvious?” Nia questioned, taking a sip of her drink. “I’m at a singles event and I can’t seem to talk to a single person! Which,” she sighed, “is the whole point of the event. To meet someone and get to know them. Get those first date jitters out of the way. How can I do that if I can’t even have a conversation with the nice guy who’s bought me a drink?” She was feeling a little hopeless.
He liked her nerves. They were adorable.
“Let me give you a little tip,” he said, leaning towards her. Normally, Nia would have backed up as a stranger entered her personal space, but this stranger made her feel safe. His scent and his stance gave her a sense that if he was hers, he would let no one and nothing hurt her.
“Many of these professionals will talk about themselves, their professions or achievements or problems given half a prompting.”
She smiled at his scrunched-up face, “Have experience with something like that?”
“More than you know,” he replied, his hand inching closer to hers. “Even without prompting they’ll still talk about themselves all night – wanting to impress you but not caring an iota about you or your achievements.” He ran his index finger lightly over the back of her hand.
Nia felt a tingle at the back of her neck at his touch and baritone voice. “But you’re not like them?” she asked.
“Nothing, Sprite.” He countered. “I’m nothing like them.”
“I’m –”
“Gideon?”
He wanted to strangle Sabine when she slid between him and his Sprite. Moving the woman whose alto voice and soft skin had him wanting to place her over his shoulder and remove her from this bar. He’d seen the looks she was getting from the men around them. His Sprite was the talk of the event and she didn’t even know it.
“Yes?” He replied, keeping his eyes on his Sprite who’d move back a little to give Sabine the room she was not entitled to.
“I need you,” Sabine replied, placing a hand on his chest. She’d been talking to one of the waitstaff when she’d noticed Gideon talking to the woman behind her. She’d thought nothing of it until she’d got closer, heard the woman’s little laugh and saw Gideon touching her. She, Sabine, knew then she needed to step in. To stake her claim. She was not about to let some little frump take what she’d been after for months.
Gideon looked at her hand. It was not the one he wanted on his person. Removing it, he placed it back at her side. “Give me a minute,” he told her, stepping back. He knew they were about to start and because he was a co-sponsor, he needed to thank everyone for coming but before he did that, he needed to know his Sprite’s name. Then he needed to get her out of here. She didn’t need a numbered table she only needed him.
Looking over Sabine’s head, he was about to tell his Sprite he would be right back and not to move when he saw she wasn’t there. Giving the room a quick scan Gideon didn’t see his Sprite. He saw several women with red masks but none of them belonged to his Sprite. Damn it! How had she gotten away from him so fast?
Coward! Nia reprimanded herself as she stood in the dark alcove. Removing her mask, she chanced a glance outside the alcove. Gideon – a name that totally fit the man – was scanning the bar once more. Was he looking for her? Nia shook her head. Why would he be looking for her when the woman who’d looked like a lighter version of Kim Kardashian was vying for his attention?
Stepping back quickly before he could even look towards the alcove, she pressed her back against the wall, thanking Deni for dressing her in all black. He’d told her she would look like a sleek, chic cat. She just knew black would hide the roll in the middle of her stomach she couldn’t quite get rid of, no matter how many sit-ups she did.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” called the announcer.
Nia stepped closer to the alcove’s entrance when she saw everyone’s attention being drawn to the front of the room. She needed to get out of here without Gideon seeing her. She knew if he saw her, he would come to her to explain but there was nothing to explain. The woman who’d breathed ‘I need you’ and blocked Nia’s access to him did all the explaining. She looked at the front of the bar. Gideon and his girlfriend were standing tall and proud in his-and-hers masks.
This was a mistake. She shouldn’t have come. She was uncomfortable. Out of her element. And the one person who made her feel comfortable was taken. ‘Good men are either married or gay,’ she chuckled at the saying. Placing her mask back on her face, Nia turned and headed towards the sign which read ‘Restrooms.’ She would see if that led to the back door of this place. Once she was out on the street, she’d find a nice restaurant, have dinner and Uber home. She’d tell Deni and her sister she had a nice time and couldn’t wait to see how many responses she got.
N
ia took one last look at Gideon. He looked so in control at the front of the crowd. Controlled and comfortable while she would have been fidgeting and moving from one foot to the other. She was not comfortable in front of a group of people. With all their eyes on her. No thank you. Nia sighed. She’d had a five-minute conversation with the man. A conversation that was comfortable and enjoyable, where she wasn’t tripping over herself to find the right words to say. It had been easy. But Gideon wasn’t hers. He couldn’t even be considered an option because the woman he belonged to was standing next to him, her hand in his, talking to the crowd with supreme confidence, before standing on tiptoes and kissing his chin.
Turning away from the happy couple, Nia made her escape.
He wanted to rub off her kiss. Wanted to step away from her so his Sprite wouldn’t think Sabine was who he wanted. But he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t embarrass her at this event. But once they were done going over the rules and the event was well on its way, he was going to put Sabine in her place. Then he was going to find out what table his Sprite was at. While the other women at the event had numbers on their shirts or bags, his Sprite didn’t. Which meant he would have to go through all the tables to find her.
“Good luck!” Sabine finished her address to the crowd. Once everyone was walking away, Gideon stepped away from her, needing to get as much space as he could from the woman.
“I hope these people are just as lucky as we –”
“There is no ‘we’ Sabine,” Gideon said. She’d fed the crowd some bull about them meeting while planning this event. More lies. He hated lies and liars.
“There could be,” Sabine replied, stepping towards him. “We,” she stressed, “can give these people the hope they need in order to find true love.”
She placed her hand on his chest and looked up at him. She couldn’t wait to run her hands over his naked chest. She knew he wanted to run off and find the woman he’d been talking to, but Sabine wasn’t about to let him. No, Gideon Price was a big fish and she was going to land him.
Reigning in his temper, Gideon grasped her wrist. It looked like he needed to be an ass in order to get his point of non-interest across. “I –” he started.
“Sabine?”
Gideon growled at Valerie’s interruption. He needed to set Sabine straight before he found Sprite and got the hell out of here.
“Valerie,” Sabine replied, annoyed. ‘You’d think me reaming her out the last time she interrupted me and Gideon would have been enough for her,’ she thought. She looked over her shoulder at her assistant
“Sorry to interrupt,” Valerie said, stepping tentatively towards her boss. She knew she was in for another tongue-lashing once Sabine was finished with Gideon. Valerie had been told many times not to interrupt Sabine for anything when it came to her time with Gideon. She continued before Sabine’s scowl could get any deeper, “The photographer wants to take some pictures with you and Gideon for our website and GidMaron’s. He’s asked that you two poses before the Sable/GidMaron banner.”
“Perfect,” Sabine glowed. She could also paste the picture on all her personal social media accounts. She turned to Gideon, “Something to remember the night,” she said as she stepped closer to the man. “I love keepsakes.”
“Sabine this –” Gideon stopped when his cell rang. He pulled the machine from his pocket. It was Sax. “Excuse me, ladies,” he stepped away from them. He needed Sax here now! Sax was more of a people person and could run interference with Sabine so he could leave with his Sprite. She was more important at the moment. He’d deal with Sabine after he had his Sprite’s name and her tucked nicely into his life.
“Sax –”
“I’m coming to relieve you,” Sax interrupted his brother. He’d planned on coming to the event after he’d finished his meeting at a local restaurant that wanted to carry their wines. He knew Gideon hadn’t wanted to come to the singles event but the restaurant had five locales throughout Georgia, with Atlanta being their crown jewel. Sax had been working on the owner for the last six months. He’d needed to close this deal and that had meant leaving Gideon to that viper Sabine.
He knew his brother wasn’t into the woman, but she kept coming at him. Getting bolder and bolder. Sax had tried to run interference as much as he could, but Sabine was relentless, no matter how subtly firm Gideon had been, whilst trying not to embarrass her.
“Why?” Gideon questioned, knowing Sax was at an important meeting. That was the reason he’d come to the event in the first place. He’d griped at first because he hadn’t wanted to be bothered with Sabine but now that he’d met his Sprite, he was glad he’d come. He’d be even happier when he had his Sprite by his side. Smiling at him. Talking to him in that voice of hers.
“You need to go to Grady Memorial,” Sax advised, passing his car to the valet, a block away from the event.
“Why am I going to the hospital?” Gideon queried. He would normally only head to the hospital if someone he loved was injured and needed him. Sax was on the phone, but… “Is Sookie…?”
“Sookie is fine, but Valencia …” Sax sighed. He didn’t like mentioning his brother’s ex. But this was a necessary evil, especially with what he’d learned.
“I’m not going to the hospital to see Valencia,” Gideon replied. Though he wished no ill will towards his ex, he was not going to go see her at the hospital.
“Go to the hospital,” Sax insisted, as he opened the door to the event, looking for his brother. Once he located him, he continued “Ask for the social worker handling Esme Price’s case.”
Chapter Two
“We can’t be late Daddy!”
Gideon smiled at Esme as she bounced in her booster seat at the back of his SUV. He turned into the parking lot of Great Dance studios. Finding a place to park, he got out of the car and headed to the back door. He opened it, all the time smiling at five-year-old Esme who was dressed in her pink dance leotard. Her light brown hair was in a dance bun that he’d watched three YouTube videos five times to get right. And she had the brightest smile on her light tanned face. Unbuckling his daughter, he lifted her from her seat while grasping her bag on the floor. Closing the door, he headed towards the front of the studio, loving the fact that his daughter’s arms were around his neck and her face was buried there also.
He tightened his arms around her as they crossed the parking lot towards the studio. His daughter was in his arms and she was safe. Safe from what her mother had put her through. Safe from the horrors in which social services had found his child six months ago. Walking into the studio, he nodded to the woman behind the front desk, before walking over to the bank of chairs and sitting his daughter down in one of them. When he’d arrived at the hospital six months prior, he’d found Esme lying in the hospital bed, looking like she hadn’t eaten in months. His daughter was all skin and bones, with matted hair and a dim light in her auburn eyes. He’d taken one look at the little girl and known he needed to protect her.
Known that no matter what any DNA test said – social services insisted on running one before they entrusted him with the little girl – he was going to be her Daddy because she needed someone. He could tell she needed someone and that someone was going to be him.
He thanked whatever Higher Power he needed to everyday for the neighbor who’d called the cops about the smell coming from the apartment next door and said they’d seen a little girl coming in and out but there was no adult with her. When the cops had arrived, Esme dressed in dirty clothes and smelling of urine and feces had answered the door. She’d given them her name while eating a meal the responding officer had given her. Once they’d that, they’d called social services who’d dug into Esme’s life and learned his name from Esme’s birth records, even though he wasn’t listed on her birth certificate.
Changing his daughter’s shoes from gym shoes to her tap shoes, he smiled at his little girl. Once the DNA test had come back, he’d been granted custody of Esme; his named added to her birth certificate, while the po
lice looked for Valencia to charge her with child abandonment. He, on the other hand, was looking for Valencia through a P.I. he’d hired so he could have her sign away her parental rights. He didn’t want the woman anywhere near his child. Not after what he’d learned. His Esme had been left alone more times than he could imagine. According to his daughter, she would wake in the morning for breakfast and her mother wouldn’t be home. Or her mother would be home but in her room with the door locked, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Gideon could only imagine what Valencia was screaming. Especially when Esme told him that a man would be in her mother’s room with her. Since her mother wasn’t available, Esme would get herself dressed and eat whatever she could find which wasn’t much of anything. After Esme’s solemn confession he’d held his daughter and told her she was safe. That she would always be safe with him, Sax and Sookie.
His surrogate mother had doted on the little girl once he’d brought her to the Peony. Sookie had taken one look at the little waif he’d had in his arms and smiled. She’d taken Esme in her arms, walked into the Peony and spent the first month Esme had been in his custody feeding her. Rocking her in one of the rocking chairs on the porch and spoiling her rotten.
Sookie had also been there when the nightmares started. Holding Esme when she called out for him. Thinking he’d left her never to return. He’d taken his daughter in his arms rubbed her back as she cried into his chest, letting her know everything would be all right. That no one was going to hurt her. No one was going to abandon her. She was in a family full of love.
“Daddy you gotta hurry, class is gonna start soon!” Esme told him, sitting on one of the chairs, waiting for her Daddy to finish putting on her tap shoes.
