Cynical Heart (Heart Series)

by Lee, Vivian Rose

  “I’d like that,” Dana said smiling.

  “Okay,” Duke said as he looked around the table at his family. He left a stern warning for all his siblings before he and Cat left to mingle with the other guest. “Don’t embarrass us!”

  Dana returned to her seat, and when the music started up a slow jazz number filled the room. Cab leaned over to her. “Dance with me,” he whispered.

  Dana turned and met his eyes. They were so close right now that if she tipped her head just a little, their lips would touch. Cab stood and extended his hand, and with both of them still looking into each other’s eyes, the entire table watched the pair move hand in hand to the dance floor. They then watched as Cab turned her and then gently pulled her into his arms.

  Dumbfounded from shock, they looked at each other in amazement, and then back at the couple out on the dance floor.

  “Who is that man dancing with Dana?” Satch asked. They all knew for a fact Cab didn’t dance. They all knew he could dance, but it was just that he never danced, especially not at a public function.

  “Do you see how they are looking at each other?” Zoey asked in wonder.

  “Oh yeah. I think the two of them know each other very well,” Jelly commented with a chuckle.

  As if they had nothing better to do, they continued to watch their brother with the exceptionally pretty Dana Whalen. Cab leaned down and whispered something into her ear, and when she looked up and replied, the strangest thing happened. Cabel Howard’s head fell back, and he laughed. Everyone’s mouth fell open. Just then, Duke rushed over to the table, and he too had his mouth open.

  “Who is that man laughing and dancing with Dana?” He asked as now even people sitting at other tables were staring at the couple.

  Cat waddled over a few seconds later. “Do you see Cab on the dance floor with Dana? I thought that he didn’t dance?” She said with a smile. When no one took it upon themselves to respond to her question, she looked at them with a frown.

  “What are you guys staring at?” She asked curiously.

  “Baby, Cab is dancing… and laughing,” a stunned Duke replied.

  “So he’s having a good time,” she answered reasonably.

  “No baby, I don’t think you don’t understand. Cab never dances, and you already know that he never laughs,” Duke explained.

  “Well I can see why. Dana’s a beautiful woman. Who wouldn’t want to dance with her?”

  “But Cab never dances,” Diz repeated, equally dumbfounded.

  Cat grunted and rolled her eyes. Despite their disbelief, she for one was happy to see Cab so relaxed and happy.

  When the music stopped, Cab and Dana made their way back to the table, and his siblings continued to stare at him. He helped Dana to her seat and then walked over to kiss his new sister. Sitting there in total silence, his family continued to stare at him, and seeing this, Cab frowned.

  “What wrong with them?” He asked Cat.

  “Mentally challenged,” Cat answered. She grabbed Duke’s hand and pulled him along with her.

  Cab looked around the table. “What?” He snapped before he took a seat beside Dana.

  His brother looked at him oddly. “You laughed,” Satch replied in shock.

  “And smiled,” Jelly added.

  “You were dancing,” Diz said, added his two cents worth.

  “Leave him alone morons! Personally, I am glad to see it,” Zoey commented.

  “That’s odd. The last time we saw one another we laughed and danced most of the night…,” Dana said before realizing what she had just done. The words faded away, but the cat was already out of the bag. Oops.

  Every eyebrow around the table rose as all eyes focused on the two of them. She knew that she had just put her foot in her mouth, and she immediately felt the heat rush up her neck and settle on her face. She glanced at Cab to see his reaction to her statement. It was obvious that his family didn’t know about her, and the ferocious expression on his face and the sullen glare in his eyes told her that she should have never said anything. This was yet another mistake that she made in her now soap operatic life. Apparently, what they had shared meant absolutely nothing to him, and why in the world did she really think that it would?

  “Excuse me,” she said, rushing from the table. She groaned. My God! She just humiliated herself in front of Cab Howard’s entire family!

  As he watched her quickly exit the room, Cab stood up and followed behind her. “Dana!”

  Chapter 3

  As she swiftly moved through the overcrowded room, Dana couldn’t believe that she had blurted something personal out like that. She wished that the earth would open up and swallow her whole because of her big blunder, and yet as bad as her little faux pas was, the expression on Cab’s face made it a hundred times worse.

  “Oh God,” she moaned. She should have known that things weren’t going to work out the way she wanted when she woke up this morning and stubbed her toe.

  Her plan was to make a brief appearance at the wedding to pay her respects to Duke, tell Cab that she’s pregnant, and return to LA, but oh no. What does she do instead? First she gets caught hovering behind a potted plant by Cab, the very man she was trying to avoid because she got cold feet and decided not to tell him, and then she gets comfortable with the family, dances with Cab, which was an enormous no-no, then puts her taupe colored shoe, foot included, in her big mouth. Tears of frustration pricked at her eyes, and just as she reached the safe confines of the ladies room, a hand reached out and spun her around. It was the ever-scowling Cab, but right now, she simply didn’t have the will to fight off a confrontation.

  “Please let me go Cab,” she said as she pulled away.

  Cab could clearly see that she was upset, and if the glare in those topaz eyes was an indication that he’d done something wrong to upset her, he could be in a lot of trouble, but regardless of whether he was in trouble or not, he couldn’t just stand by and let her leave… not again.

  “No. You will not run from me this time Dana,” he stated firmly.

  She looked at Cab as if he’d just lost his mind, and when she spoke her words came out in one long sentence.

  “If you think for one second that I am going to stay here after I made a complete ass of myself in front of your entire family, you have another thing coming, and while I am at it let me set the record straight and say that I didn’t come here to enjoy myself, I came here to let you know that our one night stand has turned into a lifetime commitment, so if you will excuse me, I going to return to my hotel.”

  This time it was Cab looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. She spoke so fast that her words barely made any sense period. Lifetime commitment? What the hell does that even mean?

  Dana quickly moved past him, and this time she didn’t simply walk swiftly, she scurried to the lobby exit. She opened the door to a taxicab waiting outside and slid inside before shutting the door, and giving the driver her destination. When she looked out through the back window, she saw a stunned Cab standing there with his mouth open, watching as the cab merged into traffic.

  Helpless to do anything about it, Cab watched as Dana sped away in the taxicab. “Damn it,” he swore to himself. She had done it to him again.

  He took a second to collect himself before returning to the reception, and when he sat down, he didn’t say a word.

  “Where’s Dana?” Zoey asked, wondering why Cab came back alone.

  “Gone!” He growled.

  “Gone? Why Cab? What did you do this time?” Zoey’s asked as her eyes narrowed into slits.

  “Why is it always my fault whenever some damn woman is involved?” He snapped.

  “Because usually it is,” Diz answered.

  Cab had heard enough. First Dana takes off, and now he has to suffer through a family interrogation. What is this, pick on Cab day?

  “I’m leaving,” he announced calmly as he rose from the table.

  “Yeah, you might as well,” Zoey mumbled with a roll o
f her eyes.

  Cab ignored her, and when he stopped by Duke and Cat’s table, he kissed Cat softly on the cheek.

  “Congratulations you two. I’m happy for the both of you, but right now I’m leaving. I’ll see you at Sunday dinner.”

  “Hey wait a minute, why are you leaving? I thought that you were having a good time with Dana?” Duke asked in confusion.

  “She ran out again,” Cab snapped. “And I’m leaving right now because I am not in a good mood and don’t want to ruin your party.”

  “Alright Cab, what did you do this time?” Duke asked in a tone ripe with accusation.

  Cab shook his head in frustration. “Goodnight!”

  He turned and left a stunned Cat and Duke sitting there.

  “What’s got into him?” Duke asked.

  Cab opened the door to his penthouse and tossed his keys onto the coffee table. Damn if she didn’t run from him again. He’d hate to admit it, but it looks like his previous assessment of Dana was right; she was no different than any of the other women he’d ever dealt with. But then again, when they danced, she had him out on the dance floor laughing and enjoying himself before he knew what hit him, and when she said, “You’re still just as beautiful as I remember,” hell, he might have even blushed a little.

  He snatched the tie from his the shirt and tossed it on the sofa as he made his way to the kitchen for a beer. Opening the bottle and turning it up, he drained it in three large swallows before bringing it back down again. What was it about Dana Whalen that made him forget all about the man that he had chosen to become? The man that didn’t trust women as far as he could throw them? He had been attracted to her from the very first moment that he’d met her a couple of months ago. It was startling how they connected so perfectly together physically, and it was even more confusing now because the attraction was just as strong, if not stronger, than the last time he had saw her. To say that he was pissed when he woke up the next morning and found out that she had skipped out on him, would be an understatement. No woman alive did that him, ever! That’s was his job damn it!

  Cab tossed the empty bottle into the trash receptacle when something that Dana had said in the lobby suddenly came to mind. Just what the hell did she mean by, their one night stand had turned into a lifetime commitment? The woman was an insane paradox. Did she run off this time because she let it slip that they were together all night or was it because she was embarrassed? But if she was embarrassed, what was she embarrassed by? The fact that she let news of their little rendezvous slip out? Or was it because she had been with him? Jumping to all kinds of conclusions, Cab snatched his jacket off and threw it on the couch.

  “Yeah, well you weren’t all that embarrassed when I had you screaming my name, now were you little Dana?” He sneered, allowing his own thoughts to get the better of him. His cell phone rang. “Yeah!” He barked into the phone.

  “Are you okay,” Duke asked.

  “I’m fine,” he snapped.

  “What happened with Dana?”

  “I don’t know. One minute she’s here having a good time, and the next thing I know she’s rushing from the room. Hey? Why are you calling me? Shouldn’t you be honeymooning right about now?”

  Duke chuckled. “My bride is seven months pregnant. I won’t be doing too much honeymooning until after the triplets are born. Oh well, as long as you’re alright, night Bruh.”

  “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Cab sighed, disconnecting the connection.

  When he saw Dana in the chapel, he knew for sure that he would finally have the woman that he had been dreaming and fantasizing nonstop about for the past two months. Seeing her again got his body all tensed up and right now he needed to release. He had not been with another woman since he made love to that crazy woman, and he was going to be with one now.

  He snatched up his phone and scrolled down his contacts. Shelly? No. If he got with her again, she would think that they were engaged. He scrolled down and came to Chantel. No. She is much too clingy. He continued to scroll down his list, going from name to name and finding an excuse not to be with any of them, until he finally said the hell with it and sat the phone down. There was only one woman who could put him out of him misery, and she, unfortunately, was certifiably insane. Cab slowly brushed his hand down his face. It looked like he’d be going to bed all alone again.

  Lost in deep thought, a barefoot Dana fretfully paced the plush carpeting of her hotel suite. Today was a day where nothing went right, and after blurting out that she had spent all night with Cab Howard, she had once again resorted to hiding like a child. She stopped pacing long enough to flop down on the sofa. What is she going to do now? Cab had a right to know he was going to be a father, didn’t he? Stressed and restless, she lay down on her stomach and buried her face into her folded arms. Sleeping with Cab had been the only impulsive thing she had ever done in her life and look where it had gotten her. Normally, she was very outspoken, severely blunt, and right to the point in her dealings with people, but the idea of telling Cab scared her senseless. She rolled onto her back and sighed.

  “You have to tell him,” she said aloud. She got up from the sofa, ready to call it a night, and her cell phone rang. Grabbing her purse, she reached inside and0 grabbed it, and when she checked the caller ID to see who it was, she rolled her eyes up and took a deep breath. “Hi Dell.”

  “Hey Sweet Pea. How was the wedding?”

  “Very nice,” she lied. Well it sounded nice anyway.

  “Did you see Duke?” Dell asked.

  She sucked her teeth. “Of course I saw Duke! He was the groom!” She snapped.

  “What wrong Pud? Did someone bother you?”

  “Oh Dell no, and yes I did get a chance to talk to Duke. He was very surprised and happy to see me. I’m just tired, that’s all.”

  “Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m fine. When will you be home?”

  “Wednesday, and yes I did sign Gio Luciano,” he replied happily. “However, I’m pressed for time so we will talk more about that and about my niece or nephew when I get home. Goodnight Pud.”

  “Night Dell.”

  She disconnected and exhaled slowly. Playtime was now over. She had to finish this business with Cab and get back to LA. Once she got there she’d make an appointment with her GYN to see just how pregnant she was, then she’d get her career back on line, and finally she’d prepare herself for the new little life she would be her solely responsible for. Letting out a surprisingly satisfying yawn, she unzipped her dress and made her way to the bedroom.

  “Caitlin! Caitlin!” Duke shouted after he rolled over and didn’t find his wife in the bed beside him. She should be thankful for her pregnancy, or else he’d tan that beautiful butt of hers.

  Getting out of the bed, Duke put on his robe. He could smell collards cooking and bread baking as he went down the stairs, and when he found his wife sitting at the table with her grandmother peeling potatoes, he shook his head.

  “Good Afternoon Duke,” Catherine greeted.

  Duke came into the kitchen and kissed Grandmother on the cheek. “Afternoon,” he greeted as he glared at his wife.

  Caitlin smiled at him. “Good afternoon husband,” she smiled as he kissed her lips.

  “Good afternoon wife and why are you in here cooking? The doctor said…”

  “For you information husband, Grandmother is cooking. I’m just telling her how to prepare it. You know the family will be over in a few hours for dinner, and Grammy came over to help out before she and Gramps fly out tonight.”

  Trying to discern if there was any truth in her words, Duke looked from his wife to his grandmother and back to his wife again. So it’s like that…

  “Okay wife, but don’t let me catch you doing anything that will take you out of that chair,” he warned before leaving the kitchen.

  “He’s cute isn’t he?” Cat and Catherine giggled.

  Duke quickly ran upstairs to get dressed so he could monitor his hardhe
aded wife, when his cell rang.

  “Duke Howard,” he answered.

  “Hello, Duke? It’s Dana,” she said nervously in the phone. Dell had always told her that if she was ever frightened or in trouble and she couldn’t get in touch with him, she could always call Uncle Duke.

  “Hi Sweet Pea… please tell me that you’re still in Philly?”

  “Yes I am. I was wondering if I could see you before I leave.”

  “Of course! I’ll send a car to get you, and you can have dinner with us before you leave.”

  “Thanks Duke.”

  Dana told him where she was staying and promised to be ready when the car arrived.

  When she stepped over the threshold to the Howard residence, Duke pulled Dana into his arms with a big bear hug, and then led her to the den where Cat sat with her feet up on a hassock.

  “Oh Dana hello again,” Cat smiled. “I am so glad that you could join us for dinner before you return to LA. Ellington has told me many wonderful things about you and how you and Cab saved the merger. Come sit beside me.”

  “I’m sure Duke exaggerates just like Dell,” Dana said modestly.

  “Oh no I don’t. You know you’re a genius with figures,” Duke boasted.

  “Please,” she blushed.

  “Can I get you something to drink while we wait for the rest of the family?” Duke offered.

  “Family?” Dana repeated, stunned by his last comment.

  “Hey, we’re here!”

  Dana heard the sounds of boisterous laughter and ribbing coming from the foyer, and a second later Satch, Diz, and Jelly filed into the room.

  “Hey knuckleheads, act like you got some manners! We have a guest,” Duke shouted.

  All three men came to a sudden stop, each with a wide grin on their handsome faces.

  “You all remember Dana,” Cat said, re-introducing her to them with a smile. She looked at each of her grinning brothers-in-law and thought how nice it would be if one of them fell in love with the beautiful woman.