Chapter 7.

Kyra’s P O V.

Bipasha’s friend, who was also my date for the gala, Logan Miles, came to pick me up looking good in a black suit, his warm smile made me for a second wish I hadn’t met Sin, maybe I would’ve tried giving him a go at dating me.

The keyword being tried.

I got into his white BMW feeling nervous for God knows what reason.

“You’re alright?” He asked, looking concerned when I stared at my fingers for too long.

I released a deep breath I had no idea I was holding, “I’m alright. Thanks, sorry I zoned out. I don’t make a habit of that, I’m just feeling nervous about the gala.” He doesn’t need to know I’d very much prefer to be in the presence of kids all day than spend the night making small talk and being in the company of adults. It gulps my energy down always.

“Hey,” he turned to me, yet to start the car and took my hand in his, I let him. When I didn’t flinch or withdraw mine from his he squeezed my fingers in reassurance, “everything’s going to be okay.” A dimple dipped in as he smiled, I couldn’t resist smiling back and letting go of the nerves wreaking havoc with my mind as much as I could.

His touch was soothing and calm but it was nothing like what it felt like touching Sin. Now I’m comparing every man I meet to the one I’m not supposed to think of, ever. Well, ever feels too stretched, maybe unless I was in the confines of my own room. Alone.

I find this man charming but there were no flutters on my skin where he touched me and no humming in my blood when he looked at me unlike you-know-who who could literally have me buzzing with one look, lit my whole body in fire with one stare. I was fucked.

In other words, I know where me and Logan are ending already way before we’ve begun. Sin has raised the bar so high I wonder if it could ever be met by anyone else.

It wasn’t the first time I was invited to a gala but it was the first time I was invited to one that hosts people I only knew on tv or the tabloids.

When we reached our destination, Logan helped me out and took my hands into his, squeezed in reassurance like he did in the car earlier before smiling when I initiated another touch, I slipped my hand into his awaiting offered arm.

Releasing a deep breath, I let my eyes roam in search of my two friends, each clad in dresses of different colors, Lily was in a light gray dress that stopped at her knees while Bipasha wore a deep forest green dress that accentuated her curves and kissed the ground with every step she took.

Me? I was in a champagne gold dress that flamboyantly touched the ground and had a slit worth its price as well as a back that was left open. Bipasha insisted on it and I couldn’t resist it too because I was a goner the moment I tried it on. Safe to say, it was my choice, I wasn’t forced by the fashion guru among us.

My hair was styled in a low chignon and a few tendrils were left to roam freely on either sides of my face, framing it. I chose to wear light makeup but my lips were painted a fiery shade of red. Like they were when we went to the club last time.

It made me feel bold, the same way the heels I was sauntering on made me feel. Like I was the ice Queen from the Frozen cartoon.

“Kyra, you came!” Ana’s melodic voice came ringing through the air before she stopped a few steps away from me wearing a huge beam on her perfectly made face. Her blonde hair was curled around the edges and my brain decided pregnancy was definitely going to look good on her. Not like I know worth a dime about it, but come on, a pregnant woman that pulls off looking this hot must be a rarity.

“You look so amazing.” She pulled me into an embrace and aired each side of my face with kisses before she was introduced to Logan whose palm was now splayed over my back in a protective gesture.

“Anastasia Camaro, you must be Kyra’s date.”

His eyes glinted at her name, “and you’re the boss’s sister, I work here and yes I am the lucky guy.”

“That you are.” She raised the glass of wine in her hand in agreement with his words and let her eyes wander. “What about your friends? They’re here already?”

“Yes but I’m yet to see them, they must be somewhere around making small talk.” I smiled, feeling most of the tension that was previously cloaking me dissipating right into thin air.

Perfect. I don’t need nerves hovering at my neck every damn time.

So, because I’m here to have fun and not cower in the shadows I let Logan introduce me to some of his co-workers before my dear girls come gracing us with their oh-so-charming presence.

SIN

I saw her the moment she came gliding through the doors of my building looking enchanting on another man’s arms. She was in a dress the color of the drink in my hand that exposed a good portion of her shoulders and dipped low all the way down her lower back, I saw that when she turned slightly to the man holding her as if she belongs to him, her dress comes with a slit that made her legs seem endless and her faintly blonde streaked brunette hair was styled in a classy chignon at the nape of her neck with a few loose tendrils running down her chest. She seemed confident and definitely not out of place.

My hands tightened around the stem of the glass I was nurturing unable to take my eyes off the stunning beauty.

It wasn’t my thing to be lusting over a woman I’ve had unless if she was my lover for an agreed period of time and even then, not as much as I was pining over the chit I found at my friend’s bar in white. It annoyed me that her scent was all around my room. My whole apartment smelled of her because I don’t think there’s any part of it we haven’t christened.

Our weekend together fucked with my brain cells because not two days after she left did I begin my search for her. There was a hunger in me that wasn’t quenched, it needs only her to be sated. I know that because I tried taking other girls and none was able to get a rise from me. It vexed me when I had the last brunette taken home with her clothes intact, the same way she came.

I had to go on and search for her with the little information she shared about herself. I felt foolish for assuring her that we were only having a weekend, now it has backfired on me. To cut the story short there was no April that lived in the whole area she had my driver drop her off at and neither was there an April that fit her description, that was from my PI.

That realization didn’t sit well with me, she actually played the same game I played on her. I hid my identity from her and she hid hers from me. It was perfect, would’ve been perfect if the lower part of my body got the memo that her phase was over. But no, it didn’t, it’s pining over her as well as every other part of my body.

Without cause, I find myself thinking about how good she felt in my arms, how she took me with abandon. How she had to be the one to stick to my brain when she obviously wasn’t looking for more, like myself.

I’ve never been the go-to-guy for fun and friendly conversations in the office but getting no positive result from my search for her made me crankier and safe to say, everyone made it their mission to abandon me as though I was a fire breathing creature. I was fine with that.

When I was about to make my way over to them the couple were stopped by my dear sister, Anastasia Ivanov now Camaro, it was obvious that the two were acquainted especially as Ana bent to kiss both sides of April's face.

Things just got interesting.

A grin made its way over my face as I thought how pleasant the evening has become. The initial reason why I solitarily took refuge on the balcony of the third floor was because I wasn’t in the mood to mingle, wasn’t ready for it, coupled with thoughts of the woman that had me all revved up and knowing none of the women I’m meeting today will ever substitute. I know that by instinct.

Now, I feel like a Lion who was handed a whole buffalo on a silver platter, literally because April doesn’t know it yet but by walking through the doors of my building, she just signed an invitation to be mine until she gets out of my system.

An invitation with no decline option.

I want her and what I want, I get. Always.