“Are you okay?” Allan asked for the hundredth time that night as she crawled into bed next to him. She nodded, placing her hand on Aurora’s back as she slept on her father’s chest. God, she came so close to not having this… Riana took a deep breath to ward off another bout of crying. She had cried for what felt like hours, seeing Aurora and Allan go through her memory album. Allan laid his hand over hers on Aurora’s back. “I don’t think I’ll be able to thank you enough for what you did. Aurora would have known me if I had—” “Don’t say it,” she interrupted. “Let’s just treasure this moment with our daughter.” She placed her head on his shoulder, close to Aurora’s. “She looks so beautiful and innocent when she’s asleep you wouldn’t believe she is as destructive as a bulldozer!” Riana chuckled. “Well, I’m still not convinced,” Allan commented defensively. Riana smiled. He was going to defend Aurora no matter what. She loved him for that. Loraine had brought her laptop with ‘the
Riana Albury stood frozen at the doorway of her bedroom, stunned. She couldn’t move her legs let alone avert her eyes from the scene that played before her. The shock had her rooted to the floor. Her eyes bulged out and her mouth was ajar. There was a buzzing noise in her ears and dinner from her boyfriend’s favorite Thai restaurant that was two subway trains out of her way spilled onto the floor after slipping through her fingers.And yet, in all the chaos, only one thought filled her mind—a porn production studio would pay top dollar for the noises Claire was making. And not only for not only the noises she made but for the moves she made on Steve as well—evident by his horse-like grunts he made as she rode him like a professional horse rider.What did they call them…ah yes, jockeys, she thought.Riana turned around to the floor-to-ceiling mirror. Steve had insisted on her getting that room just because of it. Claire was leaning over him, one hand pressed to his chest and the other
Riana looked up at her one, true friend. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She shut her mouth then tried again, but this time a sob escaped. Riana covered her face with her hands and let the threatening tears flow.“Oh, no.” Loraine hugged her, back stepping into the apartment then she pushed the door shut. “You caught them in the act, didn’t you?”She nodded, keeping her shame filled face covered with her hands.Loraine rubbed her back. “Don’t cry. They don’t deserve your tears.”Riana broke away from her and stomped to the two-seatter couch. She dropped onto it, pulling her legs under her. “Just say it,” she sniffed. “I know you want to.”Loraine sat next to her, a gentle smile on her face. “Oh, honey.”Riana cried some more, relieved her friend didn’t…“I did tell you so.”“Really, Loraine, really?” she shrieked, jumping off the couch to pace in front of her. “You are supposed to be my best friend. The last friend I have at this point, actually. Or am I wrong abou
He chuckled again, standing to his full height to tower over her so that her head was on par with his chest, and dropped his hand from her chin. “I’m glad I provided a good distraction.”Riana whined inside at the loss of contact, which surprised her enough to bring her out of her daze. “What?”He lowered his head and Riana had to press against the wall to try and move away from him. He brought his hand up and placed it on the wall close to her ear and leaned even closer to her. Riana thought he was going to kiss her, and it oddly excited her. She wanted him to kiss her. A total stranger.Correction, a smoking hot total stranger.He let out a lusty sigh and stared deep into her eyes before shifting them to her lips. Riana swallowed audibly then ran the tip of her tongue over her dried lips.“I wouldn’t mind providing another kind of distraction. One that would leave you feeling very relieved for dumping your ass of a boyfriend, just for his shortcomings.”“Thanks, but no thanks.”Ria
Allan watched Riana’s back as she ran away. He chuckled. The bold, slight girl who’d barricaded the door to keep him out now ran like the devil was nipping at her heels.When he’d first seen her crying, he was ready to walk right past her. But the way she had forcefully wiped her face dry, a new determination mirroring on her face, he’d just had to go and congratulate her on being the first female he’d met who hadn’t acted like the world was over after catching her boyfriend cheating.And it was quite obvious she’d caught her boyfriend cheating on her. If it had been just an ordinary break up, she would have looked different. He’d watched his baby sister move from one break up to another, all for different reasons, and that made him an expert on ‘Breakup Body Language.’But when he’d seen her brown eyes, with faint strokes of green in them, staring up at him like he was a world wonder, he was hooked. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the color play in hers. And when she’d sighed it
Riana watched the huge double doors for Allan. She knew he was livid and hurt and she just wanted to give him the same comfort he’d given her. A distraction he’d called it. Well it had worked. It also opened her eyes.Riana found herself wondering if she ever did love Steve, because she shouldn’t have reacted so wantonly toward a man seconds after meeting him, right after her breakup. What she knew for sure was that the betrayal by two people she lived with and trusted was what cut her deep.“Riana, you’ve been staring at that door since you walked in,” Loraine said, pulling the empty tray of appetizers out of her hand and replacing it with a full one. “If the dragon lady sees you, she’ll fire you and you’ll have no money to pay me rent.”Riana rolled her eyes and walked alongside her friend as they made their rounds in the large ballroom. “I just want to know how Allan is.”Loraine sniggered, clearly an effort to keep from laughing out loud. “I would have loved to have seen them gett
“Half a million dollars! Really, Allan, if you don’t want to go with her just say no. You are allowed to. No one can force you otherwise.”Allan grabbed her hand and dragged her away without a word in response, but that didn’t stop Riana from rambling on. She had to run to keep up with his long strides.“Do you have any idea how much half a million dollars is? That’s too much! Let her pay. They can’t possibly force you to go if you don’t want to. What, is there a clause that says you’ll go to jail if you don’t agree to this?”Allan brought them to a quick halt then turned to Riana with his brows creased. “You babble a lot. You just go on and on and on without a single break to breathe. Do you know that?”Of course she knew that! The most Riana ever spoke was when she rambled and this situation deserved a babble! “Five hundred thousand dollars, Allan. That&rsquo
Allan’s lips parted in a sinister smile. “You are smart! If only your brain was working when you were fucking my girlfriend. Yes, I am firing you. And Theresa, if you haven’t caught on yet, it also means our relationship is over.”Theresa’s jaw dropped open, forming a large, deep red ‘O’. Riana heard the gasp from the crowd that seemed to have grown in number.Note number two, never cross Allan Sinclair. Riana squeezed his side, hoping he’d understand her. The embarrassment in front of all the people who mattered in society was enough punishment. If he cut them down another foot, they would never survive it.“Is there a problem here?”“Oh, damn!” Loraine groaned next to her. Riana couldn’t have said it any better. The dragon lady—known better as Mrs. Nicholas—had landed. Shit just got worse.“Yes, there is a problem.” Theresa pointed a pai
“Are you okay?” Allan asked for the hundredth time that night as she crawled into bed next to him. She nodded, placing her hand on Aurora’s back as she slept on her father’s chest. God, she came so close to not having this… Riana took a deep breath to ward off another bout of crying. She had cried for what felt like hours, seeing Aurora and Allan go through her memory album. Allan laid his hand over hers on Aurora’s back. “I don’t think I’ll be able to thank you enough for what you did. Aurora would have known me if I had—” “Don’t say it,” she interrupted. “Let’s just treasure this moment with our daughter.” She placed her head on his shoulder, close to Aurora’s. “She looks so beautiful and innocent when she’s asleep you wouldn’t believe she is as destructive as a bulldozer!” Riana chuckled. “Well, I’m still not convinced,” Allan commented defensively. Riana smiled. He was going to defend Aurora no matter what. She loved him for that. Loraine had brought her laptop with ‘the
Allan felt the familiar lump in his throat at her emotional whisper. Melody’s smile wobbled, tears running unrestricted down her cheeks.Allan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She pressed her face into his shoulder, her hand fisted in his shirt as she sobbed quietly.“I’m so sorry I put you through hell, Melody. I didn’t mean to. I just…life just didn’t seem worth living without Riana and Aurora and I know that’s selfish to you because it used to be you and me…but…God, Melody I don’t know how to explain it!”She pulled her head back, exposing her face. She smiled at him as she wiped her cheeks dry. “I understand. Remember dad?”Allan let out a shaky sigh. “Yeah. I finally understand.”Riana placed her hand over Melody’s on his chest. “Still. We are really sorry to have put you through…all of it. You too, Loraine.”Loraine waved the apology away and sat down on the carpeted floor across from them. “Hey, as long as my best friend isn’t depressed anymore, I’m co
The word fear wasn’t enough to describe the flood of terror that filled him when he saw her.He looked into the big brown eyes that stared up at him and listened to her shrilly giggles that filled him, pushing the fear out as she jumped up and down.“She’s beautiful,” he whispered as he watched her chant ‘daddy’ in a singsong voice as she danced around, her unruly, curly, black bob of hair moving with her.She seemed fascinated by how her hair moved around her head, covering her face when she paused, her head turned to the side. It reminded him of how Riana used to dance around, her hair flying all over her face until it completely blinded her. She would trip over her feet and Allan always had to stay alert to catch her before her ass touched the ground.She looked so much like Riana—happy and carefree.He was amazed by the instant love he felt for his daughter. Since the moment he’d known about her he’d loved her, but it stunned him how hard the emotion hit him when he saw her and he
Riana couldn’t stop laughing.“Will you quit it?”Riana knew he was getting irate with her but she just couldn’t stop laughing. Getting his hair cut and shaving his beard were understandable. In fact, they were a necessity. But what she didn’t get was his insistence to wear a suit and get all fashioned up like he was going to a business meeting and not to meet his daughter.It took a lot of convincing, but she got him to dress in jeans and a black T-shirt. After she warned him of Aurora messing up his suit with sticky fingers and food, he thought it best not to wear white.She borrowed some of Melody’s clothes, hoping that she really wouldn’t mind—as Allan had promised—and also stayed away from the whites.He looked even more anxious and pale standing at her door than on their trip to her apartment.The moment the sun was up they had left the hotel and went to his apartment. The first thi
“She’s the one who told me you were dead. She said it was my fault and I should be the one who died.”Allan felt his temper flare. “You mean to tell me that Theresa knew you were alive and said nothing about it!”Riana stopped crying. “Why would she think I was dead?”“Because before Dante corrected the media, the report was that there were two casualties in the yacht. You and me,” he bit out through clenched teeth.The moment he saw Theresa he was going to ring her neck!All this time, she could have ended his suffering. True, he’d asked Dante not to tell the media he was still alive until he felt he was ready to face the world—which was supposed to be never—but Matthew and Melody knew he was alive. And somehow Theresa had found out, too. She had tried to go to Italy to be with him just a month after the explosion and that’s when he bought a new yacht and sailed as far a
Allan hugged Riana closer to him. They had spent most of the night and into the early hours of the morning making love. Now they just laid together in companionable silence, each of them lost in their thoughts. But Allan could bet they were thinking of the same thing—each other and how lucky they were to have this second chance. Many people begged and prayed for a chance like this and never got it. He was never going to take her for granted ever again. Allan moved to hold Riana more comfortably against him as he battled sleep. He smiled at Riana’s declaration to never ever go to sleep again in fear he might disappear. Silly, yes, but he understood her perfectly. He loved the feel of her warm skin against his, her fingers trailing lazily on his chest as she made small content sighs and mumbled incoherent words under her breathe. Two and a half years he’d gone without this. He was learning to appreciate the saying ‘you don’t know what you have until you lose it’. He wasn’t going to l
She never got a chance to finish. Allan pressed his lips against hers in a hungry kiss, his hands moving the rest of the dress up to her torso.Riana arched up on instinct trying to get closer. He pulled away, yanked the dress over her head before he descended on her again, his hands everywhere, touching, groping, teasing hungrily like a man starved. Her body responded to his touch in a way she never thought possible again.Tired of feeling cloth against her skin, she quickly undid the buttons to his shirt. Having an active twenty month old required her to work fast, especially when dressing and undressing her.Once all the buttons were undone, Allan helped pull the shirt off, while Riana moved to his pants. That only took two seconds to undo and one more second to push it and his boxers down to his ankles so that he could kick them off.Allan pulled away and looked at her, stunned. “That was fast. Where did you—”“Aha
Allan laid Riana’s limp body on the bed, his eyes riveted on her face. She looked too peaceful, in fact. He had to press her chest against his on their way up to the suite just to feel her breathe and make sure she was unconscious and not dead.He took off her shoes, and then proceeded to take off his own including his jacket and tie before he joined her on the bed.He touched her face lightly, tracing its structure with his fingers. He wanted to make sure it really was her. Not a clone, or a look-alike, or a figment of his imagination. That Riana was really alive, here, lying in his arms, unconscious from the shock.Where had she been for the last two and a half years? What had she been up to? He knew why she thought he was dead but…how was it she was still alive?He pushed up on his elbow, supporting his head in his hand as he leaned down over Riana, moving so close he could make a perfect shade for her body.How did she escape A
Why this hotel?Riana ran her hands nervously down her dress as she did her labor breathing. It didn’t work any better than when she was having Aurora.Loraine grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Just relax, Riana. You’ll just speak to Melody and then we’ll leave.”Riana turned to her friend. The last time they were here they were in uniform, and now they were dressed like they belonged. Riana was dressed in the exact same way the first night she went to dinner with Allan, right down to how she styled her hair.Loraine borrowed the green, figure hugging, knee high dress Riana had worn to the restaurant at the beach when they were in Bari. They’d walked in the water that night, and it was the first time she’d convinced Allan to do something he would not normally do.He had taken off his shoes, jacket and tie, rolled up his pant legs, and wadded in the water with her. She couldn’t remember what