Chapter Seven
Diego was kind enough to hold her hair out of the way as she leaned over the bowl and literally threw up everything that was in her stomach.
Liana was pretty sure she had been throwing up now for a good half hour, and she hadn’t eaten or drank enough in the last couple of days to justify this amount of vomit. It was gross.
Even though she did consume a fair amount of alcohol, it wasn’t enough to justify this. Not to mention the unfairness because her head was pounding. What was worse, the memories of last night were a little hazy.
She knew at some point she might have been on the table.
All her friends’ husbands arrived and tried to pry the near-empty third bottle of whiskey out of their hands.
They probably should have stopped at a glass, but three damn bottles.
Not to mention the never-ending vomit trail.
After another wave of vomit went into the toilet, she moved her head out of the way, reached up to push the flush button, and then groaned.
“Please, do not look.”
“Trust me, there is no reason for me to look.”
Another groan escaped her. “This is horrible! Why do you even drink that stuff?” Her stomach felt like it was twisting.
He stroked her head. “We’ll give it a couple of minutes, and then I’ll run you a bath.”
She turned her head so that she was looking at him. “Why are you being nice to me?”
“I don’t have any reason to not be nice to you.”
She sighed. “We had sex and then I went and drowned my sorrows.”
“Was the sex that bad? I felt you orgasm a couple of times.”
“You’re not helping. I’m exactly what you say I am. I’m a doormat.”
“Liana, you’re no doormat, so I think it is time you stop calling yourself that.”
“But you think that.”
Diego sighed. “No, I thought the woman you were acting as was a doormat, but you see, Liana, she wasn’t real.”
“It was still me.”
“Yeah, it was still you, but that wasn’t the real you,” he said. “It was a character you were playing.”
Liana sighed. “I didn’t know what to do. I was told to be good, to behave, and not make waves. So, I didn’t,” she said. “I don’t want to be a doormat.”
“You’re not a doormat,” he said.
“I hate that word.”
He smiled. “You’ve not been sick for a few minutes now. You think you’re ready for a bath, and maybe brush your teeth?”
“Yeah, I am.”
Her stomach, although not settled, was no longer making her feel she was going to vomit all over the place.
While Diego ran her a bath, she went to the sink and brushed her hair.
One glance at her reflection and she felt awful.
Her hair was matted and looked overly greasy.
Last night she didn’t have any time to wash off her makeup, so there were lovely brown smudges under her eyes, and she looked terrible.
She quickly brushed her teeth, hoping to get rid of the horrible taste of vomit, but it didn’t seem to matter because whatever she did, it was still there in her mouth.
She did the best she could. Then, Diego helped her into the warm bath that smelled like vanilla and cinnamon, and had lots of bubbles.
“Rest and relax, and I’ll be back in a minute,” he said.
She didn’t argue with him, but the scented bath smelled amazing. Leaning back in the water, she closed her eyes because her head was still pounding. Her head was so fuzzy.
Had she told him last night that she loved him? She couldn’t exactly be sure if she had told him that or not. This sucked.
Did she love him? Liana opened her eyes and didn’t want to think of the answer to that right now. She just wanted to soak and try not to move too fast.
Diego came back in, and he held a tray. She watched as he pushed the toilet seat down, then took two pills.
“These are for the headache.” He placed the pills in her hand, and she took them, grateful.
There was also a glass of water, which he handed to her, and she took the pills, hoping they would work instantly.
Next, he had a small plate and held the triangle side of a piece of toast against her lips. “Have a bite,” he said.
She looked at the toast and the truth was, she didn’t want any food, but she trusted Diego.
And that was something to make her pause.
She trusted Diego? Since when? Since he hadn’t actually done anything to hurt her or abuse her trust. He said she was boring, but in a way, she could also understand the fact that he was talking about the show she was putting on.
That was a pretty good show. She wanted to be a good wife, like her mom.
She didn’t think about just being herself.
She took a bite of the toast, then another and another, until her stomach began to settle. “That’s good,” she said.
“There is a chance you might throw up again, but it is a slim chance.”
“You’re not angry with me?”
“No, I’m not.”
“But I interrupted what you were doing.”
“I was playing golf with your brother, and I don’t know if you know this, but he sucks.”
This made her laugh, but then she stifled a groan, because her head was pounding. “Yeah, I know.”
“Do you play?” he asked.
“Yeah, I play, and no, I’m not any good. The only good golfer in the family is my dad.”
“Duly noted,” he said.
She smiled. “You’re trying to get to know my brother?”
“Your dad was busy, and besides, they’re your family, and I should make the effort. When we have kids, they’re going to want to see their grandpa and their uncle.”
“Diego, we’re going to get a divorce.”
“How about this, we don’t get the divorce, and we see if you’re pregnant?”
“Why don’t you want to get a divorce? Surely there is someone out there you will love, or want,” she said.
“I don’t want a divorce, and I know I said some bad shit. I was wrong,” he said.
“You’re admitting you were wrong?” she asked.
“I was, wasn’t I?”
She didn’t answer him.
“It hurt,” she said. “Hearing you say that.”
“I can imagine.” He reached out and pushed some of her hair out of the way. “Do you want me to wash your hair?”
“You’re offering?”
“Yeah, that is why I asked. Has the whiskey messed with your head?”
She couldn’t help but laugh, then it was pretty much stuck in her throat as Diego started to get undressed.
Liana pressed her lips together as her husband got naked, and he didn’t move in front of her to sit in the bath but actually moved behind her.
She leaned back against him, and Diego took hold of her hands, locking their fingers together.
Neither of them spoke, and for several minutes, they just laid together. It felt nice, especially as he held her hands and she felt the warmth of his body at her back. It was at that moment she realized she didn’t want this to end.
Diego, surrounding her, comforting her, felt amazing.
****
Business would keep him in the city for the next month.
There was no chance of him taking her back to his country home, so after going to a few random stores, he found that Halloween decorations were in full swing.
He had never celebrated Halloween. Certainly not while he lived alone.
When his parents were alive, there were a few occasions they did celebrate and there was candy. That was a long time ago.
His men helped him gather the few items up to the main penthouse suite. According to the updates he’d been getting from her guards, Liana had not left the penthouse in the last few days. She was still coping with the aftershocks of getting drunk.
Stepping into their penthouse, he carried everything to the sitting room.
“Diego?” Liana asked, stepping out of the kitchen and coming to a stop in the sitting room.
The guards he had placed with her had already left, so he stood in the center of the sitting room, complete with a fake black tinsel-covered tree, that had different sizes of pumpkins and ghosts and ghouls. There were fairy lights in Halloween colors.
“What is all this?” she asked.
“This is for you. We’re not going to get a chance to go back home for Halloween. I’ve got a lot of business to take care of here, and I thought you might like the chance to, you know, decorate.”
“You would be happy for me to decorate your place in fairy lights and pumpkins?” Liana asked.
She wore an apron around her waist, and her long blonde hair was pinned back. She was dressed in a pair of jeans that had seen much better days. Also, a sweatshirt on top.
“Yeah, I would. It might warm this place up a little, and you’re wrong.”
“About what?”
“This is not my place, Liana. This is our place, and you can decorate it however the fuck you like.”
Her arms were still folded across her chest. “Okay, if you want to.”
“Come,” he said. “See what I picked up, and if there is anything missing, we can head back to the store.”
She had her doubts, he saw that, but he had pretty much picked up everything that didn’t require a garden.
Liana came closer and started to rummage in the bags and lay them out on the coffee table. He had also gotten lots of candy as well. He wasn’t quite sure if there were kids that lived in the building, but children were everywhere. Surely the candy would come in handy.
“This is amazing,” Liana said.
He hadn’t expected the way she threw her arms around him and hugged him. All he had done was go shopping for a few items, it wasn’t that big of a deal. However, he would gladly do it again and again, to continue getting hugs like that.
“I just need to put the dinner into the oven. I’ll be right back.”
“What is for dinner?”
“It’s called Hunter’s Chicken. It is one of my mom’s recipes.”
“Love it,” he said.
Liana left to go into the kitchen, and Diego picked up some black and purple tinsel. Snapping the wrapper that came around it, he moved to where the mantle was and started to lay it across the shelf. She came back and started to help him, and together they began to make his home Halloween festive.