Chapter 7
Cassandra
“Steve, your phone pinged with a new message.” I held his phone in my hand, wishing he didn’t have it locked. I’d seen Slay’s name and was curious why he was texting my brother.
“Thanks. I’ll be down in a second,” he shouted from the attic. Since he seemed to be hanging around me a lot, I put him to work replacing air filters.
“Do you want me to see what Slay wanted? Just need your pin number.”
“Nope, I’m coming down right now.” He appeared and backed down onto the ladder. “It’s filthy up there. You should have someone come clean it out.”
“Why don’t you do it for me?” I gave him my sweetest sisterly grin. “I mean, it would help me out tremendously. After all, I am letting you camp out on my couch and eat my food.”
“It’s not nice to manipulate your brother.”
“Hey, nothing in life is free. Ya gotta pay your own way.” I handed over his phone.
“Hey, Cass.” Lucy appeared. “The Russian gentleman is asking for you. He brought flowers.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
I looked at Steve for a long beat, trying to recall what we were talking about, but my mind had gone blank at the mention of Alek.
“Hellooo? Earth to Cass. Do you want me to tell him you’re busy?” Lucy asked.
“Oh, sorry.” I placed my hand on my forehead and exhaled a breath. “No, I’m coming. Get back to work,” I told Steve and pointed up at the attic.
He groaned like most twenty-year-old brothers when asked to do a dirty job.
“Thank you!” I said in a sing-song voice and followed Lucy to the front of the café.
Sure enough, Alek was waiting at the bar with a massive flower arrangement. This thing was in a glass vase and could be seen from across the building.
Holy smokes! Talk about making a statement and drawing attention.
“Alek, it’s nice to see you.” It’d been a long time, almost a week since I last saw him. I’d wondered if he had returned to Russia without saying good-bye. If he had, I wouldn’t have been sad about it.
“Cassandra, these are for you.” He gave me his gift.
“Wow, they’re beautiful. What’s the occasion?” I acted pleasantly surprised and accepted the ginormous arrangement, which was also heavy.
He couldn’t have known when my birthday was, and it wasn’t Christmas. I could not imagine why he would give me such a large, and expensive gift.
“I felt a little bad to have disappeared without a word. This is my apology.”
“Oh. You really didn’t have to do this. No apology is necessary. Truly. You’re a busy man and don’t owe me anything.” I admired the flowers. They were lovely. The last time I’d received flowers was at my high school graduation and they were from my parents.
“I didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about you.” He leaned toward me and kissed my cheek. “Can I take you to out to a late dinner tonight?”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes.”
“Um.” I worried my bottom lip between my teeth, feeling pressured to say yes.
“I’ll be back at seven, when you close. We can leave from here.”
Wait. What? I hadn’t agreed to anything.
“But I’d need to change. Freshen up.” My head was spinning. What was happening? “Today isn’t a good day.”
“You’re perfect just as you are.” He kissed my cheek again, and I was so stunned that I let him. “See you later, Cassandra.” The way my name rolled off his tongue alluded to something more intimate than friendship.
“I guess you have a new boyfriend, right?” Lucy bounced over. “It’s so romantic how he took control and left you speechless. I’m so jelly!”
“What boyfriend?” Steve asked from behind me.
“Alek the Russian hottie,” Lucy replied, while I was still struggling to find my voice. “When a man spends hundreds of dollars on a bouquet of flowers, he’s a keeper.”
“Well, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard today.” Steve screwed up his face. “Do you know what I can do with the money he spent on that?”
“Rent a motel room instead of sleeping at Cass’s?” Lucy shrugged and went behind the counter. “That was just the first thing that popped into my mind.”
“Rude much?” Steve leaned against a barstool. “Is this kind of obscene spending something you like?”
“If it’s on me, yes!” Lucy giggled.
I looked around, feeling lightheaded and searched for spot to put the flowers.
No place was big enough. They’d be in the way, so I left the two children squabbling over whatever, and went to my office.
There was hardly any room in my office for the monstrous bouquet, but I’d make it work and set vase down on my desk. After all, Alek had spent a lot of money on me.
Me.
Why me?
I turned to face the mirror on my wall and studied my reflection. Some people thought I was pretty. I’d say I was attractive in a drinks Starbucks daily, book in her nose at night, always wearing black kind of way.
Surely, I couldn’t have been Alek Kozlov’s type. I brushed my wavy brown hair over my shoulders for a better look.
What did Alek see in me?
He was obviously well off. A businessman of some sort. I never asked what he did for a living. I wasn’t the prying type. Perhaps I should have asked more questions instead of letting him do all the talking.
In typical Cassandra fashion, I’d kept things surface level on my end.
Honestly, I never took his attention seriously or wondered why he came into the café so often.
I had plenty of regulars. I just figured Alek was a new regular. Not once had I considered the charming Russian was interested in me.
I smiled at my reflection. “You’ve been oblivious, girlfriend.”
Wait!
Alek asked me to dinner, and I hadn’t said no.
What was wrong with me? I didn’t want to have dinner with him. How could I after that kiss with Chris?
I walked in a tight circle in my small office trying to process the mess I was in.
How could I get out of dinner and being alone with Alek? I couldn’t even call him because I didn’t have his number.
“Geez, F my life!”
Plopping onto my leather office chair, I pulled my knees up to my chest and curled into a ball. I needed a moment to get my bearings before I freaked out.
And what better way to get my head clear than listening to BST. I reached into my back pocket, pulled out my cell phone and found my favorite Black Smoke Trigger playlist.
Pushing play, “Perfect Torture” bounced off the walls, and I closed my eyes to get lost in the music.
At least I had half the day to figure out how to get out of dinner with Alek.
I touched my cheek where he’d boldly kissed me.
Why would he kiss me?
Why me?