by Anise Storm
Oh, she caught her drift all right. Lania didn’t know why her friends always assumed that she needed to get laid. Was it that obvious? Groaning, she shook her head and then looked down at the towel in her hand. “I was about to go on the roof and hang out in the hot tub. Do you want to join me?”
The blonde seemed to consider it before finally shaking her head. “I planned to check on you and then go home and watch television. The restaurant was packed tonight and I’m beat.”
She watched Olivia yawn and had another idea. “Why don’t you go shower while I cut us both a slice of cheesecake? We can watch television together as we eat it.”
She smiled and then set her things on the couch before heading to the guest bathroom. Lania went in the opposite direction, opening the refrigerator and pulling out the plate that had a few slices of blueberry cheesecake on it. There were only three slices, and after her stomach growled, she realized she hadn’t eaten anything at her parents’ house. Grabbing some forks and what was left of the wine from Thursday night, she brought them into her bedroom.
Olivia would be out of the shower soon, and knowing she’d need something to wear, Lania grabbed a long T-shirt and walked across the condo to set it on the sink. Then, she went back to her own bedroom and changed out of her bikini and into a sleep shirt of her own. She had just turned on the television when her friend entered the room.
Olivia was the proverbial girl next door with legs that went on for miles. Lania considered herself as fairly tall, but Liv had all of her friends beaten on height, except maybe Kimara. Both women were stunningly gorgeous, and while her Puerto-Rican friend could easily be mistaken as a supermodel, the one climbing into bed could be too.
She flashed one of her infectious smiles at Lania. “That cheesecake looks delish. So what are we watching tonight?” Olivia asked as she dipped her fork into the dessert.
“Whatever you want to watch is fine,” she told her as she got a forkful of the cheesecake for herself. “I should probably tell you what happened tonight.”
“Of course you should,” she exclaimed in a voice that made Lania smack her with the remote. “So was he there?”
Lania sighed. Was he ever? “Yes, and he is still just as much of a jerk as ever.” The sound of Sophia’s sarcastic mouth interrupted her briefly, and she smiled. She and her friends liked so many of the same things. It really was uncanny. Finally, she saw Olivia looking at her with an arched brow, so she continued. “I saw him, and for the record, wine isn’t the only thing that gets better with age.”
“Did you kiss him?” she asked and then gasped. “Oh, I bet you did more.”
Lania felt the blush spreading across her cheeks. Her friend squealed, causing her to roll her eyes. “It wasn’t like that.” She drew out the last word for emphasis.
“Then how was it?” Olivia asked as she took another bite of the cheesecake.
“The first time I saw him, he was talking to my father, so I slipped out onto a terrace and was trying to get my bearings about me when he showed up outside. We had our usual war of words and then I sort of felt him up, making sure to let him know I had the upper hand.”
Olivia clapped her hands together. “I see Niles has been rubbing off on you.”
“Oh, that was only half of it.” Lania grabbed the wine. She normally wouldn’t tell anyone what happened afterward except one of her girls. She also knew she would need to make sure to retell the events exactly as they happened because she’d have to repeat this entire story Thursday night.
“Soooo,” she asked, dramatically, “what happened next?”
“He was angry about what I did to his balls is my guess. He should have been glad that I didn’t kick him there instead.”
“Ouch,” her friend said, becoming more amused by the minute.
“And we argued some more until he pinned me against the wall and kissed me.” Lania could feel her body becoming heated once again as memories came rushing back. “And that’s all I can recall.”
Olivia smacked her arm this time. “You’re such a liar. Spill it, Barone!”
“Okay, okay,” she said while rubbing her arm. “Has anyone ever told you that all you need is a whip and a boy toy and you could easily pass as a Dominatrix?” Olivia giggled, and Lania continued. “Well, he seemed to share the same opinion. He said as much and then slipped his hand between my legs.”
Her friend was all ears at this point, moving the wine and cheesecake to the nightstand on her side so she could sit up and get all the sordid details. Olivia would be disappointed to know that there weren’t going to be too many of those.
“He fingered me for a bit, and as much as I tried to resist him, I couldn’t. Mario knew it too, so all of a sudden, he stopped and then called me names. He was angry at me, throwing out words like ‘dick tease’ and ‘beg’ before he left me standing there.”
As much as she didn’t want to show her how much that hurt her, Lania felt a few tears slipping unchecked down her cheek. Olivia noticed them too and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Oh, Lania, I’m so sorry.”
She squeezed the other woman for a few minutes and then remembered something else. “Oh, I might have been down, but I wasn’t out.”
The blonde’s brow quirked. “Do tell…”
“After he left me standing there all hot and bothered, I locked the door, got myself off, and then removed my panties, sticking them in his pocket on my way out.”
“Oh my God,” she replied. “What did he do next?”
“He came out on the porch at just the right time to see me burn rubber on my way out of there. From there, the rest is history. I came home and then you showed up.”
“Whoa! So he didn’t follow you or anything?” Olivia seemed perplexed by that, and Lania almost felt the need to remind her friend about what kind of dog they were discussing but changed her mind. She had told her friends over and over that Mario De Palma was a player. It didn’t need to be repeated again right now.
“He left some time after me because he called and left a message, referencing the traffic. He…” She was about to continue when Olivia picked up Lania’s nearby phone. “What are you doing?”
“I want to hear the voice of this wolf in sheep’s clothing. You’ve shown us some pictures of him, but I want to finally connect every dot.”
“I erased the message,” she lied and then grabbed her phone out of her friend’s hands. Going to her voice mail, she appeased her friend’s curiosity by showing that there were zero messages in there.
Olivia didn’t need to know that he called her home number instead of her cell phone one. She set the iPhone back onto the table and lay back against the pillow. Lania looked up at the television but not even a rerun of her favorite show could erase the mortification she felt all over again as she relived the evening for a second time.
Her friend sensed her disappointment and turned off the television, pulling Lania into her arms. She snuggled against Olivia before sighing. “I’m beat. Are you ready for bed?”
“Yep,” she answered. “Good night, Lania. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she murmured before closing her eyes.
Chapter 7
A FEW DAYS HAD passed since her trip back home and thankfully, there had been no more calls from Mario De Palma. Maybe, Lania thought to herself more than once, I can finally put that whole night past me. But alas, it wasn’t so easy. Each day, she was reminded that he would soon be a more permanent fixture in her life. Every time she passed the resort, it looked closer to be completed. The front floor of the building where his restaurant would be located was completely covered, so she couldn’t actually see what had been done there yet. If she knew him as well as she used to, it wouldn’t be a surprise if most of it was already finished.
Lania had other things to focus on, such as her own business. She had to trust that regardless of how much competition there was, her food would speak for itself. That wasn’t the part that bothered her the most, though. It was kno
wing that she’d be in such close proximity to him that did. Already she could barely think of little else just hearing his name. By the time she saw him on a regular basis, it would be epically bad.
Pulling into the parking lot, she found a parking place close to the building. The skies above were gray and weather forecasts called for a round of thunderstorms later in the day. With the way her luck had been lately, Lania felt like she was batting a hundred. She slipped her sunglasses into their holder and grabbed the plate of lemon ricotta cookies she’d made that morning.
From time to time, she liked to bring her staff cookies and other small desserts that they couldn’t get at Basilico. It was her way of thanking them for going the extra mile. With the sweets in hand, she hurried inside and brought them to the break room. Today was going to be a busy day. She not only had to put in this meat and produce orders, but she also had to review and approve payroll. Removing the plastic wrap from the top of the plate, she grabbed a few of the light, airy cookies and looked up just in time to see Olivia.
“Hey, Liv.”
Her friend waved before locking her purse up in a locker. “Hey, Lania.” The blonde moved closer and sniffed the air. “What did you bring us today?”
“I made some ricotta cookies. Help yourself to them.” Lania didn’t have to tell her twice because she already had her hands in the plate, grabbing about five or six of them. Lania wondered at times where Olivia put the calories because she ate more than she did most of the time. You couldn’t tell by looking at the leggy female.
“These are delicious,” she remarked between bites. “I think you should definitely make these for Thursday.”
“Oh,” Lania said as she remembered the text message she got this morning. “Niles has to work for a few hours on Thursday night, so we’re all going to meet at Delirium instead.”
Occasionally, something would come up with one of the girls’ schedules, but everyone always improvised. They had some of their best girls’ night ins at Delirium, Basilico, and once they even met in Key West at a vacant house that Jade was showing. Nothing stood in the way of their female bonding. It had been that way as long as she could remember. Having spurned the whole sorority scene, they made their own.
“That’s cool. We didn’t get to go last Saturday like we planned,” she said and then her voice trailed off.
“I should have just gone there instead. We live and learn, though, right?” Lania said, refusing to think about that disaster of an evening. “I better go get something done. I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Olivia said, making Lania smile. It felt funny for one of her best friends to call her that, even though it was true.
Lania knew why she called her that while here at Basilico. When Olivia was hired on as a waitress, she was adamant about not wanting any favoritism just because they were close friends. She wouldn’t have done that anyway, but it was admirable nonetheless.
Eventually her friend would move onto bigger and better things and Lania couldn’t be happier for her. All of their group was successful in their own right. She knew when it came time for the youngest one in the squad to spread her wings that she would have any and all support needed from her, Rachaela, Arielle, Jade, Kimara, and Niles.
Grabbing a few more cookies, she brought them into her office. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the view outside, which at times made it hard to concentrate. She would much rather be outside sipping a fruity alcoholic concoction while lying on the beach. Who wouldn’t enjoy sunbathing on the renowned shores of what was known as “America’s Riviera”. Miami Beach, Florida, was a destination in itself and a place she’d always dreamed of living in. Finally, she shut the plantation style blinds so she wouldn’t be distracted any more than she already was and powered on her laptop.
She tried to pull up the payroll application but received an error message. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said out loud as she attempted to open it and got the same error. This entire week had sucked so far and it didn’t look to be improving.
Pulling out her cell phone, she scrolled through her contacts until she found the one she was looking for. Hitting call, she tapped her fingers on the top of her desk. When a familiar male voice sounded on the other line, Lania smiled. “Luka, I need you.”
“Say no more, beautiful,” the male voice replied. “But I would’ve thought we would’ve gotten dinner or something first.”
Lania giggled. “I do need you, handsome, or let me rephrase, my laptop does.”
“I suppose that’s better than nothing. Give me about a half hour and then I’m all yours,” Luka told her and then added, “Where are you?”
“I’m at Basilico, so just stop by here,” she responded. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
He chuckled. “You’ll be dressed in something sexy for me, won’t you?”
She snorted. “Would an apron be sexy enough?”
“Hell yeah,” he replied. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Then, he hung up, and she did the same.
Luka Perez was not only a friend that she met while in school at the University of Miami, but he was also a computer programmer who designed the software program she used to handle payroll. A true bad boy, he was six foot two inches of muscle and ink. The two enjoyed a slight flirtation but had never taken it much further than a few kisses.
It wasn’t for lack of trying on his part. Lania had even thought once about taking him up on one of his many offers, but for whatever reason she never did. It wasn’t because she didn’t find him attractive. The man was sex on a stick. It just never seemed like the right time.
It had been a while since she last saw him, at least a few months, so Lania was looking forward to his visit. Hopefully whatever was wrong with the application wouldn’t be something that would take a long time to fix. She already felt like she was behind and couldn’t afford any additional delays. Deciding to get some other work done while waiting, she pulled up the invoices and started to calculate the weekly food costs.
Crunching numbers wasn’t a fun task for her. Lania hated this type of work and had often thought about hiring an accountant to help, but somehow she’d never really gotten around to doing so. Now she knew why her professors had always preached the evils of procrastination. This was another live and learn moment. Scrunching up her nose, she realized she had more of her fair share of those. Grabbing her pen, she began circling figures from the various invoices and then stuck the pen between her lips while she entered the numbers into the calculator to double check her math.
“A pen isn’t what I imagined seeing between those lush lips of yours,” Luka said from the doorway.
She blushed and let the pen fall onto the desk. Getting up, she hugged her friend and then playfully swatted his arm. “I’m sure you have a list of things, huh?”
Luka smirked, and Lania sighed. “You know it, beautiful, and anytime you want to go over that list…”
When he paused, she took that as her cue to cut him off. “I love watching a man work with his hands. If you want to turn me on, my laptop is on the desk.”
Luka growled, and she winked.
“What kind of pasta are you in the mood for today, handsome?”
His attention was on her laptop, but at the mention of food he looked up from the screen and grinned. “I haven’t had your lasagna in a while. I’ll take a plate of that, Lania.”
“I’ll have it ready for you soon,” she told him before exiting her office.
Lania suspected that his great rates included a friendly discount, but he would never say for sure. That was just one of the reasons why she always gave him free food too. After all, she was the owner. The other reason was that she always made sure her friends were well fed when around her. Luka was no different. He was every bit a friend to her as any of her girl squad was.
Walking into the kitchen, she spotted Benny and smiled at him. He’d worked here for the last two years and knew she wanted a special order. “What
can I get for you, Miss Barone?”
“A good friend of mine is here and I’d like the baked lasagna with a side of Italian sausage,” she told him while grabbing a plastic to-go container. “I’ll make his salad and bread, so if you could please have Olivia bring the entrée to my office when completed.”
Benny nodded before starting the order, so she walked over to the cooler where the salad greens were located. Lania decided on a simple Caesar salad, so she filled the container with Romaine lettuce and then added a generous amount of dressing on it before walking back into the prep area. She shredded some fresh parmesan reggiano cheese on top and then closed the container.
There were some fresh baked breadsticks in the warmer, so she snagged a few, putting them into the to-go sleeve so they would stay hot, and then returned to her office. Luka’s hands were flying over the keys as she entered the room, but didn’t dare ask whether that was a good sign or not. Usually she tended to stay out of the way when professionals were working, so she looked out of the other window. The sky was even darker than it was when she first arrived at work this morning.
Florida was notorious for pop up thunderstorms, which was one of the most annoying things about living here, but other than somewhere in Italy, there was nowhere else she’d ever want to live.
“I think I’ve figured out what happened, beautiful,” he told her, and she turned her attention from the window to him. “You didn’t install the most recent update. I’m doing that for you now and then we’ll see if it fixed the log in issue.”
Lania was about to thank him when she heard a knock on the door. She was still standing nearby, so she opened the door and motioned for Olivia to enter. Her friend opened her mouth to speak but then saw Luke and blushed.
“Hello, gorgeous. It’s been a while, Miss Anders,” he said as he looked over at the blonde.
“It has been, Luka. How have things been going?” she asked.
Lania grabbed the bag and did a double check on the order and then set the container of salad along with the breadstick sleeve into the bag. There seemed to be something between the two of them, and she wondered whether this tension had always been there.
