by Christina OW
Something about that smile and the look in her eyes frightened Reno. Not even the fact that she was a knockout in that dress distracted him from the silent threat.
He turned to a snickering Riana. “What was that about? And what did she mean by so soon?”
“Cwazi Wowi?” Riana responded, mimicking Aurora voice with a raised brow.
Reno nodded with understanding and chuckled softly. It was after one of their video conversations when he’d said those words. Loraine had come up with a crazy idea to go to the resort and stay for a few days in disguise just to see how Riana was doing for herself because Riana had forbade her from leaving school to babysit her. Aurora had been eavesdropping and the next thing he knew, she was singing Cwazi Wowi up and down the resort.
“Hey, if the shoe fits…”
Riana chuckled, shaking her head. “Just kill each other after I’ve left for my honeymoon? I don’t want to be stuck here as a potential witness against whichever one of you survives. Why do you call her that anyway?”
He moved forward as the bride’s maids began their walk. “Really? You’ve been friends with her for almost six years and you’re asking me that?”
Riana shook her head. “Not to her face. The cwazi part is a huge deterrent.”
“Coward.” When the bridal march began, he leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Come on baby sis, let’s get you married.
* * * *
Loraine watched the couples’ first dance with mixed emotions. She was truly happy for them, but yet again she was envious. Riana stared up at her husband like a gold digger would stare at a fifteen carat diamond; like he was complete perfection and the best thing in the world. And Allan—this is where the envy came in—looked down at her like there was no one else in the world but her. Like she was his center and his life line and nothing else existed but her.
God, why can’t I find a guy who looks at me like that, with so much love?
This was one of the things that she always knew, wished she could teach her parents and grandparents: that true love and happiness didn’t come from money. Considering how fake and sad her grandparents’ marriages were, one would think it was self-explanatory.
She wrapped her arms around her mid, hugging herself tightly. Between the nightmares about the psycho and lacking that special someone since, she felt so alone. The feeling drowned her.
She chuckled to herself, watching Aurora try to imitate her parents’ dancing with Mark as her partner. Amy was cooing beside Loraine like a proud mother, sighing at the young love—eye roll—and Matthew just kept saying ‘my poor son’, but the silly smile on his face belied his words. They’d tried to get them off the dance floor a few times but Aurora would have none of that. Seconds of being carried away, she would drag Mark back to the dance floor. The third time someone went to remove them she clutched tightly to Allan’s pants leg and whined, loudly. And that’s all it took to get her to stay. Allan took a second away from staring into his wife’s eyes to shake his head no and Aurora, once again, got her way.
Allan could never say no to Aurora. The sucker better learn that two letter word fast if he doesn’t want to be turned into a bigger sucker and have Aurora run circles around him. Loraine thought with a laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
The husky whisper in her ear made her body slightly tremble, his hot breath touching her ear like a soft caress.
“Are you cold?”
She had to hold herself still when his breath touched her neck. “No,” she whispered back.
Loraine didn’t understand her reaction to him. Yes, she’d spoken to him a number of times on the phone, and even Skyped, but this was the first time in almost three years of their interaction they’d met face to face. But even then, during the skypes and the phone calls, the sound of his voice, of his laughter as he regaled her of Aurora’s frolics, his smile, even his sad expressions when he told her about Riana’s depression, always sent a flutter in her belly. She’d always chalked it up to him being the only man she was social with at the time, but that excuse was flimsy with him so close to her he was breathing on her neck. She had been a little stunned when she saw him walk into the restaurant and Aurora had tackled him before the ceremony.
He’d laughed at her antics, and Loraine remembered thinking he had the sexiest laugh she’d ever heard. And his smile—completely shivers down the spine worthy. He was a handsome man, with a clean shaven chiseled jaw, a slightly cleft chin and eyes that matched Riana’s—brown with flakes of green. In those few minutes that she’d seen him for the first time, she thought about running her fingers through the short curls that sat on top of his head, while the sides had a closer shave. And that was just his head.
The rest of his body, though enclosed in a black tux, was droll worthy. First, he looked hot in a tux. Not many men could carry it well, but he knocked it out of the park! His shoulders were broad and wide, hinting of a hardness that only came with athletes. His arms were equally large. When he flexed his arm, raising a glass of champagne to his come-kiss-me-lips, she thought the jacket would rip over the bicep. And how the jacket spread over his chest… Oh my! She just wished she could see the rest of his over six foot frame without the hindrance of the tux.
She felt his fingers run lightly up and down her arms and she had to swallow a shaky gasp. There was no way she was going to let him or anyone else see how much he affected her. But as far as him knowing, if her body kept trembling at his ministration, it was hopeless to try an act aloof.
“I thought you said you’re not cold?”
She heard the laugh in his voice and forced her body to stay completely still. The arrogant ass knew exactly what he was doing to her!
“What do you want, Reno?” She was proud her tone was dry and she sounded a little bored.
She felt him shuffle closer, his chest pressing into her back and his body heat hit her like she was in a sauna. What the hell is he doing to me?
“Right now, a dance would be great.”
“Sorry, but I dance with the best man only.”
His hands slowly slid down her arms until they reached hers, entwining their fingers. Loraine was glad he was behind her and couldn’t see her eyes flutter closed, but she was sure he felt her suck in a trembling breath.
“Actually, I convinced him to dance with his wife, which wasn’t difficult at all.”
“I bet,” she responded grabbing at the scrambled thoughts that floated through her hazy mind as Reno drew circles in her palms with his thumbs.
How is it, when her first high school boyfriend did that, the tickle annoyed her. But when Reno did it, she couldn’t think of anything else but pressing her hips back into his? How the hell had they gotten to that point anyway? Earlier on, she wanted to rip him a new one for teaching Aurora to call her ‘Cwazi Wowi’ and now she wanted nothing more than to rip his clothes off and have crazy sex with him. Something she had never felt in her life since she discovered raging hormones.
“So, may I have this dance… or do you wish to have another kind of dance entirely?” The huskiness of his voice deepened.
She took a deep breath. “Would there be a difference?”
He chuckled softly, leaning down to graze her shoulder with his lips and Loraine found herself turning her head to his.
He pressed a light kiss on her jaw before he moved to her ear to whisper, “Well, yes. We can’t do the other dance in front of over thirty people. I don’t think that’s the kind of entertainment they are expecting.”
“Yeah,” she swallowed hard, “but foreplay in public is just as scandalizing.”
He laughed hard, his body shaking with it. “Touché! I promise to keep my hands in the safe zone and put the appropriate space of half a foot between us.”
Loraine shook her head, trying to clear it. “I don’t even know you!” she said, more to herself and her misbehaving body than to him. Her panties were already drenched and he’d done nothing but caress her lightly and breathe into her ear.
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She felt him push her forward and her body obeyed as he directed her onto the dance floor. Matthew, Amy, Melody and the other groomsman she didn’t know had already joined the couple.
“You know me,” he began, turning her around to face him but Loraine kept her eyes down. “I’ve spoken to you over the past few years more than I have to anyone else.”
She looked up at him under her eyelashes, just enough to keep her head from being muddled. In other words, she just stared at his cleft chin. He took her hand in his, placing his other hand on her waist while her free one rose to rest on his shoulder.
Are you kidding me! She thought feeling the corded muscle under her hand. A resort owner should not be this buff! What reason does he have to keep his body so perfect!
“True, but the only reason for that was because we were both worried about Riana.”
His shoulder flexed under her hand and the grip on her hand tightened, swallowing her hand completely.
She held back a groan, from pure sexual agony. He keeps this up, and I’m going to be like a bitch in heat!
When he went silent, she gave in and looked up at him. He was staring to the side, a shy smile playing on his lips, and when she followed his gaze it was settled on Riana. She was cuddled in Allan’s arms, her head on his chest, her eyes closed and a sweet smile on her lips. She looked content and at peace, happy to be in his arms.
“She doesn’t resemble the lost girl she was two months ago.”
Reno grunted his response.
She looked back up at him and noticed the glisten in his eyes and her heart warmed. She moved the hand on his shoulder close enough to his face to caress his cheek with her thumb.
“It’s wonderful to see how much you love her. You did a great job with her and Aurora.”
He grunted again, the arm at her waist tightening as he pulled her closer to him until they touched from chest to knee. She went willingly, knowing there was nothing sexual about it. He needed the closeness, to be comforted. Reno looked like a boy who’d just had to give up his favorite toy to a kid who needed it more. He was sad about losing it and yet happy to give it up to someone who’d love it very much.
He’d had the same look on his face when he handed Riana over to Allan at the altar. He’d hugged her, a little longer than normal, before he stepped to stand behind Matthew. For a second, Loraine thought he was about to pick Riana up throw her over his shoulder and make a mad dash for the exit.
She couldn’t even imagine the pain he must have gone through, being forcefully separated from her when he was deported all those years ago. And it must have hurt even more those four years he couldn’t go back to the States to see her after he forced Riana to stay.
Loraine wrapped her arms around Reno’s waist as they swayed from side to side, pressing her head against his chest over his heart, loving the rhythm of the hard beat. His arms came around her, wrapping her tightly against him as he rested his chin on the crown of her head.
“This wasn’t exactly how I planned my seduction.”
She smiled. She had a feeling he was after sluty wedding sex when he hit on her. “What? Showing your soft side and letting me see you aren’t the Don Juan you want me to believe you are?”
He chuckled, and she loved the feel of his shaking chest against her cheek. “Yeah, something like that.”
She turned her head up to look at him, her eyes meeting his for a breathless second before she spoke. “Don’t worry. The night is young and you have time to try again. I promise to act like it was your first try and I haven’t seen the big teddy bear you are. I’ll even act like a bitch, with the eye roll and disgruntled sighing.”
His eyes sparkled, the little green in them, more visible as he chuckled, shaking his head. “You are crazy, Lori!”
She smiled at the warm feeling that filled her chest. “No one has ever called me that.”
“What, Crazy Lori? To your face? I think that brave soul would be Aurora.”
She punched him and liked the resistance she met in his corded chest. “No you ass! Lori. Everyone, including Riana calls me Loraine.”
A dark brow rose. “I’m sure your parents had a nickname for you when you were a child.”
She snorted, looking away for a moment. “Yeah, sure. That would be equivalent to living like hippies for the Larsons.”
“Why Loraine Larson, are you a rebellious little rich girl? You are probably the black sheep and the bane of your parents’ existence.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and his humorous gaze turned dark with desire.
“You know, that can be interpreted as an invitation,” he whispered huskily.
He stared at her lips for a long moment. Then his head lowered and Loraine’s lips fell open, her heart beating erratically with anticipation.
“Reno…” And like that the spell was broken.
Damn it! Loraine let out a frustrated breath and turned to face the intruder. It was the other groomsman who weirdly looked so much like Reno, which didn’t make sense because he was one of Allan’s friends. It must be true that everyone had a look-a-like somewhere in the world.
“Yeah, Ruiz?” Reno’s voice was tight. Loraine smiled slyly. Probably as tight as his tenting pants.
He looked between her and Reno before he spoke, unsure. “Now may be a good time to… ah…” He looked down at her again before he turned to Reno.
He was nervous, she noted and wondered why. It was a good time for what?
She turned to Ruiz with a smile. “Hi, I’m Loraine, Riana’s best friend. Why is it a good time, for what and why are you so nervous?”
Reno chuckled, his hand pinching the side of her waist. “Aren’t you direct!”
“She’s kind of like a bulldog that way.” Allan commented as he and Riana came to a stop beside them.
Reno gave her an incredulous look. “You let him call you a bulldog but threatened to break my leg because I call you Crazy Lori?”
“He didn’t teach his daughter his fond nickname for me,” she responded sarcastically before turning her attention to Ruiz. He looked even more nervous with Riana standing next to him. “Hey, are you going to pee or are you going to spill your guts? Which one is it, because you look like you’re in dire need of a toilet?”
“Loraine!” Riana exclaimed amid the laughter coming from Reno and Allan. Ruiz just looked even more nervous turning a light shade of red.
“I’m your brother!” he blurted out, looking at Riana, silencing the two men. Riana looked at him wide eyed in complete shock.
“Oh wow, I didn’t see that one coming,” Loraine whispered in the silence. She looked around to see if anyone not in their group had heard the revelation. Aside from Matthew and Amy who looked intently at them from across the dance floor, no one else seemed to have noticed the bomb that had just been dropped.
Then Riana spoke, worsening the silence. “But you’re white?”
Loraine gapped at her friend for a few seconds before a bubble of laughter escaped her. “He says he’s your brother and you return with ‘you’re white’!” She pressed her lips together fighting to hush the laughter, when they all turned to stare at her. “I’m sorry. I know there is nothing funny about this situation, but I wasn’t expecting that response.” She took a deep breath fighting the laughter harder. “You know, it tends to happen when you share a white father,” She shrugged with a chuckle. “I’m just saying.”
Reno pinched her hard and she jumped with a yelp. “What the hell!”
“Reno, our father was white?”
And that killed all the humor when Loraine realized that when Riana confessed that she knew nothing about her father, she really meant nothing. Ah hell!
* * * *
Reno was ready to kill Loraine for laughing but the confused stare Riana gave him had him frozen. What exactly could he say? ‘I didn’t want you to know him so I didn’t tell you his race?’
Reno knew Riana was only following his lead when he’d asked their mother neve
r to speak of that man. That day, he’d walked in on their mother trying to explain things to Riana and he heard the loving way she’d said his name and that was all it took for Reno to lose his temper and forbid their mother from ever mentioning him in their home again. She’d tried to reason with him, but Reno had just come from an all night shift at a textile factory and had only four hours before he had to be at his other weekend job. He was bone tired and his patience was shot worrying about everything, including wondering how he was going to finish high school, if the bills kept piling up. The last thing he needed to hear was the reason as to why he had to work to help keep a roof over their heads mentioned under said roof.
He’d yelled at his mother, demanding that she never tell Riana a thing about that man who was absent from their lives, like he was some lost hero, when truly, he’d picked the comforts of his new wife’s money over the family he had started even before he’d met her. And that was the last time Reno Ruiz Albury was discussed.
“Riana…” What exactly was he going to say? What could anyone say in this situation? Even Allan was at a loss for words. He didn’t have to wonder long because Loraine spoke up.
“Don’t question it, don’t get mad, and don’t get hurt. What’s done is done. No one meant to ambush you and I’m sure you weren’t meant to find out like that.” She glared up at him before she turned back to Riana. “The bastard hurt you, but he’s dead. The only good thing he ever did was procreate three really hot kids. So we are going to say, ‘thank you asshole have a nice life in hell’, then you are going to hug your new brother before he suffocates to death. He’s already turning blue from holding his breath.”
She pulled away from Reno and moved to Riana, hugging her. “After everything that’s happened we should be grateful you are gaining family and not losing them.” Then she pulled away and turned a sharp glare to Ruiz. “Unless he’s here for your money. Then I’ll gladly help you lose a sibling.”
She looked Ruiz up and down and from the expression on Ruiz’s face. Reno was sure he was wondering if she was measuring him for a wooden box coffin.
