My eyes flutter open. Was that the doorbell? I sit up quickly. Wait... what time is it? I look over at the clock on my night stand. It’s seven a.m. I realize then that the spot next to me is empty. He’s gone…of course he is. My heart sinks. I can’t believe I slept with him. I barely even know the man. He must think I’m such a tramp. No wonder he snuck out.
“I’m a freaking idiot,” I mutter out loud.
Again, the doorbell rings. Seriously? I put on the robe hanging on the back of my bedroom door, my irritation growing as I stalk to the front door. I just know that it is Jill who, once again, must have forgotten her keys. I yank the door open without even looking through the peephole to see who is standing outside my door.
“Damn it, Jillybean!” I bark roughly.
A pair of big brown eyes look back at me. I feel bad when I see that the girl in front of me has a look of pure terror on her face.
“M…m…Ms. Ray?” she stutters.
Well shoot, now I really feel bad. “Oh, I’m sorry…” I muster up the biggest smile I can manage as I assess the woman in front of me. I can’t help but admire her beautiful auburn hair which she has pulled back in a beautiful French braid.
“Yes, that’s me, can I help you?”
“My name is Megan Knight. I’m here to cook and serve you breakfast, courtesy of Mr. Kingsley.”
She manages to smile sweetly at me despite the unsure look that paints her pretty face.
What in Hades’ name is going on? Is this guy for real?
“Can I come in?”
I look at the girl and I notice that she is holding several grocery bags. Well, what can I do? I am not sure how I feel about this, but since I’ve already been rude to the poor girl once I smile and step aside.
“Please, come in. The kitchen is the last door on the left.”
I’m about to shut my door when I see a van pull into my driveway. What now? I watch as a stocky man jumps out and walks toward me with a humongous bouquet of flowers.
“What in the world?” I mumble to myself.
“Ms. Ray?”
“That would be me.”
The man hands me the flowers—a beautiful bunch of lavender and pink roses—tips his hat, and walks off. He didn’t even wait for a tip? I pluck the card from the gorgeous arrangement.
Good morning Sweet Pea,
I’m sorry, I had to leave this morning to take care
of some business. You were sleeping so peacefully,
and looking so incredibly delectable…
I didn’t have the heart to wake you up.
And if I stayed…well…I wouldn’t have been able to leave if you were awake.
Enjoy your breakfast.
X Mika
What? Who does this? I can’t deny that this man is seriously getting to me. This crap happens in movies. It doesn’t happen to girls like me. I let out a heavy sigh as I close the door and lean up against it. I feel like I’ve been on a rollercoaster since the moment I’ve met this man. My emotions are all over the place and for some reason, I’ve lost the ability to think and act like the responsible adult that I always strive to be. It’s like all logic and reason goes out the window the second he enters a room. I stand here, just for a moment, and try to catch up with my thoughts and emotions. I decide to go and take a shower before breakfast. As I step away from the door it swings open. I swiftly turn and am face to face with Jill. I have not seen her in days as we have been like ships crossing in the night lately.
“Girl, where is the morning paper? Serenity is featured in an article and we are not even open yet!” my friend exclaims enthusiastically.
She stops for a moment, giving me a highly dramatic once-over.
“Dang Rae, you look like shit. Did you have a party and forget to invite your bestie?”
I burst out laughing. “Well lovely to see you too, Jillybean. And um, I don’t know, wasn’t the paper on the porch?”
“I didn’t see it so I assumed you brought it in. Oh well, I’ll show you later. Whoa, those flowers are gorgeous.”
Her eyes snap up to meet mine and she raises a brow.
“We have some catching up to do, huh?”
“Oh darling, you have no idea,” I say, amusement lacing my tone as I lead her into the kitchen.
“And who is this?” Jill asks as she notes Megan, who is already cooking up a storm.
“Let me fill you in while we eat. Would you like some breakfast?”
* * *
“You did what?!?!”
Jill stares at me in disbelief.
“Who is this guy? This guy must be something else. So? What’s his name? Was he any good? Is he hot? Details please!”
I shake my head and a girlish giggle escapes my lips. Jill is bombarding me with questions, firing one after the other without giving me a chance to answer. I look over at the huge bouquet of flowers that was delivered here less than an hour ago and I can’t help but smile.
“There really isn’t too much to say,” I reply coyly.
“Don’t you dare hold out on me now, missy,” Jill says as she mock glares at me.
She takes a bite of the fabulous fruit salad that Megan, the chef who Mika sent over, just served us.
“Sweet baby Jesus, this is delish,” she grumbles with her mouth full.
“That’s freaking disgusting. Don’t talk with your mouth full,” I scold her.
The look she throws me is highly amusing and I can’t help but crack up.
“Don’t change the subject, Rae.”
I am about to fill her in when the doorbell rings once more. I shrug apologetically and head to my front door. I am surprised to find Sean on the other end. He smiles brightly as he greets me.
“Good morning, Ms. Ray.”
I return his smile. “Good morning, Sean.”
“I just wanted to let you know that I have returned your car,” he says as he holds out my keys for me.
I am about to thank him when I note the car parked in my driveway. I look from the car to Sean and back to the car again. “Um…Sean? That is not my car.”
“I assure you, Ms. Ray, that this is most definitely your vehicle,” Sean says, grinning widely.
“Mr. Kingsley’s mechanic has given it the once-over and fixed a few minor electrical issues, replaced the brakes and tires, and took care of some of the cosmetic issues.”
What? I just stand there for a second or two, perplexed. What am I supposed to make of this?
“He had my car fixed?” I say, stating the obvious. “Minor issues? I’m pretty sure the thing was very nearly a death trap. This is... this is too much. I can’t accept this. I have to reimburse Mr. Kingsley.”
Sean throws an amused look my way.
“Good luck with getting him to accept a reimbursement. Besides, believe me when I say that the cost of fixing your car is, quite literally, nothing to him. Mr. Kingsley was adamant that we make sure your car is roadworthy which, if you don’t mind me saying, was far from that when I picked it up.”
What do you say to something like that? I can’t argue that my car was a far cry from being roadworthy or even safe, but this is just a little too much. Right? I decide that arguing with Sean is pointless and, if I want to get anywhere with this conversation, I should bring it up with his bat shit crazy employer. I instead thank Sean graciously for returning my vehicle to me. I must have been taking too long because Jill appears behind me.
“Well, well. So is the guy who is responsible for that idiotic grin you’ve had on your face since I got here this morning, Rae?”
I turn and face her and she silently mouths to me, “Oh my god! He’s hot!”
I shoot her my best ‘shut the hell up’ look, which of course has no effect on her at all.
“What? Am I lying?” she retorts, clearly amused.
Embarrassed, I flash my eyes over to the man in my doorway. Sean winks at me as he answers Jill before I even get a chance to open my mouth.
“Unfortunately for me, my employer met her first, so I missed my chance,” he says, flashing his pearly whites at Jill.
“Speaking of my employer, I have to go and do what I am paid to do.”
He turns to me and says, “Oh, and he will be pleased to hear about the idiotic grin thing.”
I feel my cheeks heat up in mortification. Both Jill and Sean are grinning widely, clearly enjoying my embarrassment. We both tell Sean goodbye and start to turn to go back into the house.
“Hey, when did you get a new car Rae?” Jill inquires as she notes my brand new looking vehicle.
I sigh heavily and fill her in as I lead her into the living room.
“Shit, he's a little over-the-top, isn't he?”
I can’t help but laugh at her very accurate assessment of Mika. “Oh Jillybean, you have no idea.”
We sit down in the living room, Jill huddled up on the couch and me in my regular spot in front of her, leaning against the couch with my back. Jill starts braiding my hair as she always does before we pow-wow about what is bothering me.
“So, you have this insanely rich guy vying for your attention and you are not jumping on this because…?” Jill pulls my head backward by my hair and looks at me, eyebrow raised.
“What does his money have to do with anything? And what even makes you think he has any money at all?”
She laughs.
“Girl, for all I know he looks like a Frankenstein monster. What I do know is that the man is working hard to sweep you of your feet and quite obviously dropping quite a few dimes doing so. And it looks to me like you are dragging your feet. Why?”
“Jillybean, guys like Mika Kingsley do not go for girls like me. Especially not for more than a night. And he had his fun, so that is that.”
“So the breakfast, the flowers, and the car were just an expensive kiss goodbye?” she says in a voice laced with sarcasm.
I sigh.
“I don’t think that I will be seeing him again. Even if he does want to see me again, which I highly doubt. I won’t put myself through another Ethan or Austin. I don’t think I could take that again.”
“I FLOVE you Rae but shut the fuck up. You can’t seriously be comparing this guy to dickweed and limp dick. You cannot go through live comparing every guy you meet to them. Not all guys are automatically assholes because they are interested in you. Seems to me that he has already treated you better than any of those pricks.”
I groan.
“You know that I have terrible taste in men; they always end up breaking my heart. The last time I gave someone a shot, he left me right after he slept with me, and that was after he told me for months that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. And Mika is…If you saw him, Jillybean, you would understand what I mean when I tell you that I am nowhere near his league. I’m not even in the same game.”
Jill snorts.
“Oh please. We are not having this conversation again, are we?” she says as she stands abruptly. “Get up!” she barks.
I look up at my best friend. She holds out her hand to me, looking at me expectantly. I take it and she helps me to my feet. She continues to drag me through the hall and into her bedroom and stops in front of the full-length mirror that’s in the far corner of the room next to her small walk-in closet.
“Look,” she says.
Our eyes meet in the reflection of the mirror.
“Look, Rae,” she says more sternly this time. “Tell me what you see,” she demands.
I look at my reflection in the mirror and I don’t understand what she wants me to say.
“I know what I look like, Jill,” I say, annoyed.
She scoffs.
“I’m pretty sure that you have no fucking clue what you look like,” she bites back. “Look at those eyes,” she continues. “Look at those lashes. You don’t have a lick of makeup on and your skin is flawless. If I didn’t love you this much, I would hate your guts. I would kill to have a head of hair like yours!”
Now it’s my turn to scoff.
“Hush,” she warns. “How can you look at yourself and never see the beautiful woman that I see, that everyone else sees?”
I start thinking about how I felt last night as I was giving myself one last look before walking out the door before my date with Mika, or how I felt when he literally worshipped every inch of my body. This last thought causes my cheeks to heat up. I feel the smile spreading across my face before I look up and notice it in my reflection.
“Mika…last night he made me feel beautiful…”
I meet Jill’s gaze in the mirror and I watch her smirk at me. I smile back at her.
“See honey, that right there, that look on your face, makes me Kingsley’s biggest fan. I don’t think I remember you ever saying anything close to the words that just rolled out of your mouth.”
I think about that for a moment and the truth of that statement hits me like a ton of bricks. Maybe that is the problem. I don’t think that I expected him to slither in this far already.
“When something seems too good to be true, Jill…” I say as I turn to face her. “I just have to step back and stay away from him. I have to protect my heart.”
Jill pulls me into a hug.
“There is a difference between protecting your heart and completely shutting someone out, Raeva. Besides, nobody is telling you to marry the guy. Get to know him, let him get to know you. For the love of God girl, have some damn fun.”
As always, she manages to break through my sour mood and for a moment I let myself believe that I can do it. That maybe, just maybe, I can actually let him in.