Serenity (Inevitable Book 5)

by Janet Nissenson

  Enzo had winked then, toasting Matthew with his nearly empty glass of a very expensive Cuban rum, before downing the rest in a quick gulp.

  Enzo sauntered out of the bathroom lazily, his hands in the pockets of his tailored black trousers, whistling cheerfully. He slipped an arm around Katya’s waist, and made a big show out of planting a sloppy kiss on her cheek. She, in turn, merely glared at him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that a temporary truce might have been called between them, but that the war was far from over.

  After several glasses of a very expensive French champagne, however, Katya was in a much better mood, and actually laughed and smiled throughout dinner. At Sasha’s gentle urgings, Katya even ate heartily of her food, which she admitted was delicious.

  “You have good taste, Mathieu,” Katya acknowledged, pronouncing his name in the French manner, more like mat-tue. “Aleksandra told me the dress and shoes she is wearing this evening were a gift from you. A big improvement from what I usually see her in. She looks beautiful tonight, truly lovely.”

  Enzo reached across the table and picked up Sasha’s hand, bringing it to his lips. “You mean more beautiful than usual, Katya,” he corrected. “Because our daughter is always lovely, no matter what she’s wearing. Though I must agree with your mother, bebé. That dress is quite spectacular. Excellent choice, Matthew.”

  Matthew merely acknowledged Enzo’s compliment with a smile and toast of his champagne flute. Not for anything would he admit to having enlisted the help of Tessa Gregson in choosing an outfit for Sasha this evening, given the fact that he knew absolutely nothing about women’s clothing. At least, he consoled himself, he’d asked one of Sasha’s closest friends for assistance, instead of relying on a sales clerk or personal shopper. And after initially protesting that he had spent far too much on her, and that she was perfectly capable of buying her own things, Sasha hadn’t been able to resist the gorgeous sage green silk gown. It had a halter neck and was cut low in the back, with a satin waistband and close fitting skirt. But what she had loved the most about the dress had been the subtle butterfly print patterned into the delicate silk fabric, and in the end hadn’t been able to resist wearing it tonight.

  He caressed the nape of her neck now, a nape that had been bared by the almost careless way she’d pinned her curls up this evening, holding them in place with a pair of clips adorned with green dragonflies. She’d kept her makeup minimal, but had done something subtle with her eyes and lips, and her pale gold skin glowed beneath the recessed lightning over their table.

  Sasha smiled up at him, her hand covering his where it still rested on the back of her neck. “Pretty good massage technique there,” she teased. “Maybe I should start teaching you a few things. That way you can return the favor and give me a massage once in awhile.”

  Matthew pressed a kiss to her temple. “Anytime, sweetheart. Though there’s no possible way I could ever return all of the favors you’ve done me.”

  She flicked the diamond and emerald drop earrings that had been another birthday present. “I’d say these are a pretty expensive form of payback.”

  He waved a hand in dismissal. “I’m not talking about gifts or money, Sasha. What you’ve done for me has no monetary value, can’t be bought or paid for. You gave me my dignity back, my self-worth, and gave me a reason to wake up and look forward to the day ahead - something I hadn’t done for a long time. So a few small material things are no comparison to the things you’ve given me.”

  Tears shimmered in her eyes as she cupped his cheek in her hand, pulling his face towards hers until their lips met in a brief, tender kiss. Across the table, Enzo cleared his throat until Matthew glanced up at him a bit guiltily.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Couldn’t help myself. As you said, she looks lovely this evening, more so than usual.”

  Sasha gave her father a look of disbelief. “Honestly, Papa? You of all people are objecting to one tiny kiss in public? It’s a wonder I wasn’t warped for life watching you and Mama go at it almost every time we were out somewhere.”

  Enzo grinned wickedly. “We were very naughty, weren’t we, Katya? Ah, do you recall the time we almost got kicked out of that club in Madrid? Or when the waiter at that café in Brussels told us we were making the other diners uncomfortable? And then of course there was that incident in Mexico City when - ”

  Katya clamped a hand over his mouth before he could finish his sentence. “Enough, Enzo,” she commanded in a tone that made Matthew sit up a little straighter. “Yes, I’m sure Mathieu gets the message that you and I were silly, romantic fools in our youth. Fortunately, we’ve finally grown up. Well, at least I have.” She bolted down the rest of her champagne, smiling her thanks when Matthew refilled it. “Good God, I’m going to be fifty next year. And Sasha will be thirty a year from today. We’re all getting old, I’m afraid.”

  “Speak for yourself,” retorted Enzo, topping off his own flute. “You are as young as you feel, meu amor. And you look fantastic for your age, much prettier and in much better shape than a girl half your age. Hotter, too.”

  He nuzzled her neck then, and made to slide his hand up under her dress until Katya very firmly removed it, and gave him another of those icy glares.

  Matthew frowned as he did some quick calculations in his head, and realized uneasily that he was actually closer in age to Katya than he was to Sasha. At forty-one, he was nine years younger than the mother, but eleven years older than the daughter. He’d never thought about the difference in age between himself and Sasha before, largely because she was so mature and composed for her age, something of an old soul. And eleven years really wasn’t all that much, he reasoned. After all, there was a full fifteen years between Ian and Tessa, and he’d never met a couple who were crazier about each other than the two of them.

  As dinner drew to a close, it quickly became apparent that for Enzo at least the evening was really just beginning. Sasha had warned Matthew that her father could turn into a real party animal at times, and evidently celebrating his daughter’s twenty-ninth birthday was one of those occasions. Fortunately, Matthew had arranged for a driver this evening, having already witnessed the previous night how much Enzo could drink, and fearing that there would be pressure to keep up with him tonight. Sasha had arranged for a substitute to teach her Sunday morning yoga class, wanting to spend as much time as possible with her parents during their brief visit, so she somewhat reluctantly went along with Enzo’s suggestion to go dancing.

  Once inside the exclusive dance club - a place that would have been otherwise impossible to gain entrance to had Matthew not given the doorman a very sizeable tip - Enzo wasted little time in pulling Katya out on the dance floor. As they waited for their drinks to be served, Matthew let out a low whistle of admiration as he watched Sasha’s parents more than keep up with the throngs of much younger couples out there dancing.

  “Well, it’s obvious that your mother’s a pro at this,” he commented. “But your father isn’t half bad himself.”

  Sasha smiled. “Papa has more enthusiasm than actual skill, but he loves to dance and party. My mother has taught him some steps over the years, enough so that he can twirl her around the floor, but he prefers to let the music take him over and improvise. And of course that drives her crazy, which typically results in another argument.”

  Matthew shrugged. “As much as they bicker, it’s pretty damned obvious that they’re crazy about each other. But I get why they would have major issues living together for more than a few days.”

  She gave a delicate little shudder. “More like hours than days, I’m afraid. And it’s definitely a case with those two of ‘can’t live with you, can’t live without you’. I just hope that one of these days they’ll finally find a way to cohabitate peacefully. As Mama said earlier, neither one of them is getting any younger.”

  Their drinks arrived then - a white Russian for Matthew, and a small glass of sherry for Sasha. They clinked glasses in a sil
ent toast before each taking a sip.

  “Thank you for arranging all this,” she told him earnestly, taking his hand in hers. “Flying my parents into town, setting them up at the hotel, taking us all out to these wonderful meals. And of course for all the beautiful gifts, which once again were far, far too much.”

  He interlaced their fingers, resting their hands on her thigh. “It was my pleasure,” he assured her. “You deserved to have a fabulous birthday. And even though I would have preferred to spend it alone with you, I’m happy to have shared this time with your parents. Even if your mom keeps giving me the evil eye. Have you told her exactly who I am, by the way? More specifically, how much money I have?”

  “God, no.” Sasha shook her head emphatically. “First of all, even if I explained it to her in three different languages, she would have zero idea of what it is you do for a living. Believe it or not, she’s even more inept at technology than I am, can’t even figure out how to use an ATM. But she would definitely understand money. And if she knew exactly how rich you were, she’d be nagging me every single day to - well, you know.”

  Matthew grinned teasingly. “What? Make a commitment to you? Move in with me? Or convince me to make an honest woman out of you?”

  She paused before replying, taking another small sip of her sherry. “All three, I suppose,” she said reluctantly. “She tells me all the time that I’m getting older, that I should settle down and get serious about my future, that teaching yoga and doing massage isn’t a real career, blah, blah, blah. I can’t tell you how many quote unquote ‘nice Russian boys’ she’s wanted to set me up with over the years. Of course, the fact that she’s never felt the urge to get married and settle down is immaterial.”

  He had grown quiet at her words. “And what is it that you want, Sasha? Do you want to get married someday, maybe have children? We’ve never really discussed a future together, you know. And yes, I realize that I’m not exactly in the ideal position to do so at the moment, given that my obnoxious ex is still refusing to sign those divorce papers. But I do want to make a commitment to you, I do want to continue having you in my life. And while I can’t offer you marriage right now, I’d love nothing better than to have you move in with me.”

  Sasha stiffened, and her hand suddenly grew slack in his. “Matthew - I’m not ready for something like that. It’s too soon.”

  “We’ve been together for four months,” he chided gently.

  “Yes, and that’s the longest any relationship I’ve ever been in has lasted until now,” she declared. “I’ve never lived with anyone, never made a commitment of any sort to anyone, and have never really considered getting married. So, please. Believe me when I say it’s too soon to talk about any of that stuff. Can’t we just go on the way we’ve been doing?”

  Matthew picked up her hand in his and studied it carefully, tracing a finger along her lifeline. “Do you care for me, Sasha?” he murmured.

  “Of course I do,” she replied immediately. She cupped his face between her palms, starting intently into his eyes. “I care for you very deeply, Matthew. As a friend, a lover, a person.”

  He smiled a bit sadly. “You don’t mention love. Is that because you don’t love me, or because you don’t believe in such things?”

  His question visibly took her aback, and she stared at him in silence for long seconds. “I - I don’t know,” admitted Sasha. “I mean, I believe that love exists between partners, have seen it with my own eyes - Tessa and Ian, Julia and Nathan, Julio and Chad. Even my parents, though theirs is much more of a love-hate relationship. As for myself, I’m just not sure I know what it feels like. Romantic love, that is. Of course, I love my parents, my Aunt Linda, my family. But what I feel for you is much different, Matthew. Maybe it’s love, but maybe it’s just affection. How do you know the difference?”

  Matthew lowered his lips to hers. “Like this,” he whispered, just before taking her mouth in a lingering, blistering kiss.

  When he lifted his head a considerable amount of time later, it was to find Sasha staring at him with wide-eyed wonder, her lips swollen and trembling from his passionate kiss.

  “That,” he told her, “felt like a hell of a lot more than just affection, didn’t it? And for me at least, I know exactly how I feel. I’ve been in love with you for a long time now, Sasha. I haven’t said anything until now, since I know how skittish you are about relationships and all. But I’m crazy about you, want to spend every minute I can with you, and I’m going to keep trying to convince you to move in with me. And one of these days you’re going to agree.”

  “M-maybe,” she whispered tremulously, reaching almost blindly for her glass of sherry.

  Matthew was prevented from pursuing the subject further by the return of Enzo and Katya at that moment, but he couldn’t help the very satisfied grin that he flashed Sasha’s way, letting her know in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t give up until she eventually agreed.

  “He’s a nice boy, isn’t he? Well mannered, respectful, smart. And apparently he likes animals, too. That alone would give him high marks in my book.”

  Sasha grinned at her aunt. “Are you referring to Casey or Matthew? Because that could describe both of them. Especially at the moment.”

  The two women laughed as they watched Matthew and his son playing an enthusiastic game of fetch with the three dogs currently residing with Linda. OJ the cat was curled up contentedly on Sasha’s lap, while at least three other cats prowled through the cottage.

  Sasha, Matthew, and Casey had made the drive to Stinson Beach in time to join Linda for a delicious lunch of homemade green chilé cheese enchiladas, Mexican rice, and a salad. Linda was Mexican by birth, but had emigrated to New Mexico as an infant and had grown up in the Taos area. After college, she had set off to explore much of Central and South American, looking for inspiration for her art, and it had been during a trip to Brazil that she had met Joaquim Fonseca. Theirs had been a passionate but relatively short-lived marriage, given that Joaquim was very much a ladies man and hadn’t let a little thing like wedding vows stand in his way. Linda had returned to the States after the divorce, and eventually found her way to Marin County. She rarely traveled these days, claiming that it was just too much of a hassle, and too difficult to find someone to take care of all of her animals. But Sasha suspected that Linda’s broken heart had never really mended after the bitter divorce, and that she’d retreated to this corner of the world to lick her wounds.

  And Stinson Beach was an ideal place to retreat from the world, with its pristine beaches, funky beach town vibes, and peaceful, laidback attitude. Weekends in the summertime were something of a challenge, given the large crowds who flocked to town, but Linda typically just shrugged them off and kept close to home on those days.

  “I see you survived last weekend with your parents,” remarked Linda.

  Sasha nodded. “They were both on their best behavior, actually. I think some of that had to do with the royal treatment Matthew arranged for them - a five star hotel suite, meals out at some of the top restaurants in town, spa treatments, pretty much the works. It would have been in bad taste on their part to have one of their epic fights, very ungrateful of them under the circumstances.”

  “And how did they like Matthew?”

  “Well, you know my father,” replied Sasha drily. “I doubt there’s too many people in this world he doesn’t like, and especially not when there’s free booze around. And of course it’s just the opposite with Mama - there are very few people that she actually likes. But she was relatively gracious with Matthew, and I think at least that he impressed her. With my mother, that’s about the best you can hope for.”

  “Hmm.” Linda took a sip of the tea that she had just brewed for them a few minutes ago. “So Katya doesn’t know just how rich Matthew is?”

  “No. I mean, it had to be pretty obvious to both of them that he’s wealthy, given everything he did for them last weekend. But I don’t think eithe
r of my parents have a clue that Matthew is one of the forty richest men in this country. And as far as I’m concerned that’s not necessarily information they need to know.”

  “I agree,” replied Linda. “Especially Katya. Good Lord, she’d be pestering you three times a day to marry the man. Or at least move in with him.”

  Sasha grew pensive as she continued to watch Matthew and Casey toss tennis balls to the three dogs. “He’s asked me to do that, you know,” she said solemnly. “Move in with him, that is.”

  “Ah, I wondered when that might happen. And I’ll just assume from the look on your face that you haven’t said yes.”

  Sasha shook her head. “I told him it was way too soon to discuss something like that. I’m happy with our relationship the way it is right now, no need to rush into anything.”

  “And of course, because he’s crazy in love with you, he isn’t pushing you,” observed Linda. “He won’t want to risk scaring you off. But you won’t be able to keep him at an arm’s distance forever, niná. Sooner than later he’s going to want more from you, and you’ll have to make a decision.”

  “I know.” Sasha sighed, stroking the marmalade cat’s fur until he purred. “And I won’t even ask how you know that Matthew’s in love with me. He told me for the first time last weekend.”

  Linda gave a careless wave of her hand. “It’s completely obvious, Sasha, in the way he looks at you, the tone of his voice, how he treats you like a lady. He’s a good man, niná, hard to imagine you’d ever find one better. And judging from the way he gets along with that boy, he’s a good father, too.”

  “The best,” agreed Sasha. “He and Casey have a wonderful relationship, and Matthew is so proud of him. I just wish things weren’t so difficult with his daughter.”