“So,” I said, breaking the sudden weirdness in the air. “Any classes opening soon?”
Janice turned her attention to the computer screen behind the desk. “Nope. The next one is scheduled to start in October. If we have enough sign-ups.”
“Shit,” I muttered.
Janice looked from me to Hil and back again. “But a new class started last week. I think John could be convinced to let you join.”
John was the gym’s owner. He was always around when the guys and I were working out, and he always talked to us. He was a nice guy in his late fifties. I was sure I could convince him to let Hilary join in the class.
“Nice,” I said. “I’ll talk to John. When is the next class?”
“Wednesday next week,” Janice said. She pulled out a clipboard and form from under the desk, and looked at Hilary. “If you could fill out this form, please, I’ll enter your name on the class roster.”
“Thanks,” Hilary said, taking the form.
She took a few steps back and sat down on one of the couches.
I sat beside her, careful not to be too close though. I knew how she could snap and feel crowded. Especially after yesterday.
As she filled out the form, I took my time and looked at her, really looked at her. And, Meu Deus, once more it hit me, taking away my breath, how beautiful she was. I had never seen a more beautiful woman in my entire life, and I had seen a lot of women.
But Hilary was special. She was above all others.
Her hair was pulled to one side, over her shoulder, and I just now noticed she was wearing a thin scarf around her neck. On a hot summer day.
Without thinking, I reached over and pulled the scarf down. I sucked in a sharp breath and rage flooded my body as I took in the red marks around her neck.
With wide eyes, Hilary pulled the scarf back up, and let her hair fall like a curtain between us as she continued filling out the form. Now her hands were shaking and she could barely write.
Feeling like a jerk, I grabbed her hand in mine, squeezing the pen between our palms, and with my other hand, brushed her hair back, so I could see her pretty face.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “About not being there sooner yesterday and—”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“—for pulling your scarf just now. I didn’t mean to spook you again.”
She looked at me, her green eyes shining with unshed tears. “It’s … it’ll be okay.”
Again with the “will be” okay. I hated that. I wanted her to be okay now.
I lifted her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles. “If you ever need help or … anything, you know where to find me.”
One corner of her lips curled up and she nodded. Then she pulled her hand from mine, wiped her unshed tears, and went back to the form.
While I started imagining all the ways I could break Mike if I ever found him again.
Chapter Fourteen
I did all I could to avoid going to lunch on Sunday at the club, but my mother threatened to disinherit me. At least Hannah was going too.
I met them at the usual balcony where we ate appetizers, had drinks, and talked. Before we moved on to the main dining room, my mother held on to my arm to keep me in place.
“What is it?” I asked.
Hannah sat back down, watching us.
“We’re having lunch out here today,” my mother said.
“Why is that?”
She didn’t need to answer me. Eloisa and Reese approached our table and took the seats across from us.
“So nice of you to join us for lunch,” my mother said.
“Our pleasure,” Eloisa said.
In a matter of seconds, my mother had involved Eloisa and Hannah in a conversation, purposely leaving Reese and me out. However, we didn’t stay quiet for long. Reese started a conversation with me too. How are you doing? How’s college? I heard you started the internship in town. How’s that going? And other mundane questions. Politely, I answered all his questions and asked a few too, so as not to look like I was snubbing him.
After lunch, I lied that I had errands to run. My mother protested it was Sunday, but I said I was busy during the week with work, so I had to use the weekends for errands.
As I stood and excused myself, Reese stood too.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” he said.
I wanted to tell him there was no need, but he had already walked around the table, offering me a bright smile. I didn’t want to be mean. Besides, the glare my mother shot my way told me I better not argue about this. Not right now.
Okay, she had won this round. Letting him walk me to my car didn’t have to mean anything. I hoped Reese got a hint of that soon.
Hannah shot me an I’m-sorry look when I waved goodbye.
“So.” Reese walked by my side, his hands on the pockets of his dress pants. “Busy week ahead of you?”
“A little busy, yes,” I lied. I only worked about thirty hours per week, and my plans this week were to meet my mother and Hannah to go over the wedding plans.
“Mine too.” He mentioned training and preparing for a tournament, plus some dinner with their sponsors. To be honest, I didn’t even know who the Knight House sponsor was.
We walked down the path to the parking lot while he still told me about his day and affairs. Apparently, he wanted to buy a new horse. “I need to ask your sister if she has any recently born foals, or if any of her mares are pregnant.”
“She would be glad to answer you,” I said, not really interested in the subject. A few more steps and I stopped in front of my car, which was thankfully parked right off the main path. “Here I am.”
Two car rows down, I saw Gui, Ri, and Pedro coming our way, walking from the back of the parking lot to the main building. They had their polo attire on for an afternoon match. Gui saw me first, then he stared at Reese, his eyes widening. Getting closer, Ri and Pedro saw me and waved. I waved back.
Reese glanced over his shoulder and greeted the guys before turning his attention to me.
“So,” he continued. “I was wondering if you would go out with me some time.”
My eyes glanced at Gui, long enough to see his step falter. But it could have been my imagination as he continued on, his jaw set, his hands clenched, and his steps sure.
“Hilary?”
I snapped my eyes back to Reese, my mind blank. What were we talking about? “Hm, oh, well. I am busy right now with work, and the new apartment and helping plan my sister’s wedding.”
He narrowed his eyes and nodded. “I understand.”
“I should go,” I said, reaching for my car door.
“Hilary?”
I stopped, my hand on the handle. “Yeah?”
A small smile appeared on Reese’s lips. “I won’t give up that easily.”
***
I had just left my bathtub, dried myself, put on pajamas shorts and a tee, and was walking into the kitchen to raid my freezer for ice cream when the doorbell rang.
I stared at the closed door, wondering who it could be. I spied through the magic eye and gasped. Gui? What was Gui doing here? At this hour of the night! And I was only in my flimsy shorts and tee.
The doorbell rang again and, confused, I opened the door.
“Hey, I—” Gui’s words died on his lips. His eyes traveled down and up my body. They grew wide, his mouth pressed into a thin line, and his jaw popped. When his gaze returned to mine, his pupils were dilated and the intensity of his stare robbed the air from my lungs.
“Hi,” I said, a little breathless, fighting the urge to cross my arms in front of myself. “Is there something wrong?”
He closed his eyes for a second and shook his head. “No, no.” He swallowed. “I just wanted to talk to you about the wedding stuff. You know, I’m the best man, you’re the maid of honor.”
“So?”
“I don’t know. Brazilian weddings are different. I don’t know what kind of crap I’m supposed to do. The guys and I
were talking about the bachelor party last night. I have no idea how Americans do bachelor parties.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I might need help.”
I stepped back and gestured for him to come in.
“Thanks,” he said as he walked by me.
I closed the door and went back to the kitchen. “I was going to dig into a tub of caramel ice cream. Want some?”
He sat down on an armchair. “I’m not much of an ice cream fan.”
I turned and stared at him, shocked. “What? I didn’t know people like you existed!”
He chuckled. “Yeah, well. If you have hot chocolate fudge, then I’ll have that, with half a scoop of ice cream. Otherwise, no ice cream for me.”
“Well, I have a bar of dark chocolate.”
He offered me a sly grin. “Now we’re talking.”
I grabbed the tub of ice cream from the fridge, the chocolate bar, and a bottle of coke, and brought it to the living room. Gui helped me set it all down on the coffee table.
I settled down on the couch across the coffee table, pulling my legs under me and holding the tub of ice cream for dear life.
I noticed Gui’s eyes wandering to my legs again. “So, about the bachelor party,” I started. His eyes snapped back to mine. “I guess you can do whatever you want. If you want to do a Brazilian bachelor party, go ahead.”
“That’s the thing. Even though people talk about bachelor parties in Brazil, most guys don’t have one. Nobody in my family ever had one.”
Slowly, I pulled an accent pillow to cover most of my legs, hoping Gui hadn’t linked my current action to his previous one. “Well, then again, I say do whatever you want. Take Leo and the guys bowling or clubbing or invite a respectful, bachelor party-experienced stripper to your apartment, drink until you guys pass out. Oh, wait, Leo doesn’t drink.”
“Nope, he doesn’t.” He sighed. “I guess I’ll just ask him what he wants to do, and I’ll try to go from there.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“I’m also helping him plan the honeymoon.”
“Oh, will you tell me where he’s taking Hannah?” So far, Leo had been mysterious about the destination.
A slow grin spread on Gui’s lips. “Only if you promise not to tell your sister.”
“I promise!”
He chuckled. “The first week he’s taking her to Brazil, to visit Rio and São Paulo. He’ll take her to the ranch he grew up on and where we used to practice. Then, he’ll take her to the Maldives.”
“Oh my gosh, she’s gonna love it!”
“I hope so.” He took one big bite of his chocolate bar and chewed it. After he swallowed, he asked, “Okay, what else am I supposed to do?”
“Ha, not much. My mother is going crazy over the wedding. She’ll take care of every detail. Don’t worry.” I paused, and then added, “Have you guys already been to a tailor to do your tuxes?”
“Hm, no.”
“No? Oh no. Most tailors need to be booked in advance by like months. You need to see to that ASAP.”
“Bom, guess I’ll be opening Google Maps and typing in tailors in the search box.”
“What? Oh no, that won’t do.” I picked up my phone from the side table. “Here, I’ll send you a text with some names. I just hope you’re not too late.”
He shrugged. “We can always rent.”
I gasped. “You did not just say that.”
He chuckled. “Relax. I was kidding.”
“God, I hope so.”
“Sort of.” The twinkling in his eyes told me he enjoyed teasing me.
I groaned and threw the pillow at him. With a wide smile, he caught it. Then his eyes fell on my legs again and his smile was gone. Damn it. I had thrown the pillow at him without thinking.
This feeling blooming inside my chest … it was new. Well, not exactly new. I had felt something like this plenty of times before the incident that changed my life, that changed me. But I hadn’t felt like this in three years. There were times when I thought I would never feel like this again.
Like a little satisfaction taking root in my gut for noticing that a guy was noticing me. For liking it. And the complete absence of fear.
However, this guy shouldn’t be noticing me, and I shouldn’t like it.
With a loud huff, Gui reached for the coke on the table and took a long swallow. Then, he shifted his gaze to me. “So, when are you going out with Reese?”
I snorted. “Never.”
“But I heard …” He tilted his head, examining me. “I heard him asking you out.”
“He did, and I said no.”
“Oh,” was all he said.
He kept staring at me, holding the bottle of coke tight.
Then, all of a sudden, he set the bottle on the coffee table and stood from the armchair. “Bom, it’s getting late and I have a workout early tomorrow morning.”
I stood too and walked behind him to the front door. Surprising me, he turned around and looked down at me. Taken aback by his height and intensity, I almost stepped back. Almost.
“Thank you,” he said, his tone gentle. “And I’m sorry for having disturbed you so late.”
I scrunched my nose. “You didn’t disturb me.”
“That means I can come raid your pantry for chocolate bars more often?” Mischief glinted in his eyes, followed by a cute smile.
The corners of my lips tugged up. “Only if you start bringing me some ice cream in turn.”
“All right. I’ll keep that in mind.” He reached behind him and turned the knob. Without breaking our stare, he exited my apartment. “Boa noite.”
“Boa noite,” I repeated. With the image of his surprised expression forever etched in my mind, I closed my door.
***
I arrived at my house—well, my parents’ house—at the agreed time on Monday, but Hannah was already there. I found my sister and my mother in the sunroom with lots of opened books and magazines and portfolios taking over every single table and seat.
“Good afternoon,” I said, entering the room.
When she saw me, Hannah shot me a help-me look. “Hi!” she squealed as if I were a breath of fresh air.
My mother didn’t even look up from the sheet of paper she had on her hands. “Hello, Hilary.”
I picked up a portfolio from an armchair, took its place, and set it on my lap. “I thought we agreed to meet here at five, so I had time to drive from Santa Barbara.”
“I called Hannah this morning and asked her to come earlier,” my mother explained. “We have too much to do.”
“Okay. And how is it going?” I asked them, looking around.
“We have to decide on the cake,” Hannah said, pointing to a pile on the coffee table. “The flower arrangements.” She gestured to some magazines on the loveseat. “The band.” She pointed to a pile of CDs on a side table—who the hell still had CDs around? Then she opened her arms wide, encompassing the entire room. “And many other little details.”
“I see.” I switched the portfolio on my lap for the pile of cake choices. “What do we have decided so far?” We had met once before, almost a month ago, to decide the big things, like venue, guests, date, and the invitation design, and to send out the save the date card. After that, I knew Hannah and our mother had met a few more times, and I hoped they had done a lot of the things on the to-do list.
“Well, we decided on the date, of course, the venue—here, we sent out invitations last week, and we also decided on the color yellow, the types of flowers in the arrangements, and my bouquet, and who is going to make my dress.” She shot me a sweet smile.
“You two haven’t done almost anything since we met a month ago. What the hell have you being doing?’
“Hilary!” my mother snapped. “Language!”
“Sorry,” I muttered, making a face at Hannah since my mother wasn’t looking at me.
Hannah rolled her eyes at me and grunted. “Mostly, we just argue.”
I shook my head. “Ugh, you
two.” I reached for the embossed to-do list my mother had done before our first meeting. “All right. We won’t leave this room until we cross the big things off this list. And if that means we won’t sleep all night, so be it.”
Hannah’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank you,” she mouthed.
***
I had been so absorbed in my work that, when the phone on my desk rang, I jumped from my seat, startled.
“Hilary speaking.”
“Your eleven o’clock appointment is here,” Sonya said.
I frowned and turned to the computer. “I have an appointment this morning?”
“Yes. He called about an hour ago and scheduled it.”
I had only checked my schedule when I arrived, right after nine this morning. Seeing nothing important for a Tuesday morning, I delved into my drawings, forgetting about the rest of the world.
“Oh-kay,” I said. “Where are you taking the client?”
“Conference room two.”
“Be right there. Thanks.”
I hung up and straightened my flowy skirt and fitted blouse. After making sure everything was in its place, I picked up my drawing pad and favorite pencil and went to conference room two.
As my hand touched the knob to open the door, I heard voices. Loud, male voices with a lilting accent.
Oh my …
I pushed the door open and stared at them, my jaw slack. Ri was sprawled on the white leather sofa, his feet on the coffee table. Pedro sat in an armchair, his nose in a magazine. Leo sat on the arm of the sofa, his foot fidgeting. Garrett stood in front of the window, but instead of looking out, he was messing with his phone. And Gui was seated in the other armchair, one of his feet draped over his knee.
“Hilary!” Gui said, standing up.
I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Surprise,” Leo said, sounding like he was ready to prank me. Or this was the prank.
Pedro lowered the magazine. “Gui said we needed tuxes, so here we are.”
I tilted my head at Gui. “But the names I gave you?”
Breaking Through (The Breaking Series Book 3) Page 14
