Chapter 35
AVA
Sunlight edged in through the sides of the heavy curtains around Desmond’s room, reminding us that the world was up and about even if we weren’t.
Desmond and I lay in bed, our feet tangled in one another’s.
He pushed himself up on his elbows and leaned over me, straddling my legs between his before he bent down for an early morning kiss.
“I thought I’d never get to wake up like this again,” he said in between kisses. He pinned me down and kissed me like he was kissing the freaking daylights out of me, seductive, hungry kisses against luxury linen bedsheets.
I could feel his hardness against my stomach while his mouth teased mine open. I inhaled a deep breath when he came for air before he kissed me slowly this time, languorously. I knew this kiss. He was getting ready to make love again, and darn it if my traitorous body wasn’t responding to him.
“We can’t,” I said, remembering what we had planned for today.
His kisses moved down my neck, and he used his fingers to pull the strap of my camisole down, exposing my right breast and releasing one perky, rosy nipple.
He looked up at me, a wolfish grin forming on his lips. “Are you sure?” he asked, keeping his eyes on me while his tongue played with the nipple.
I groaned. I wished I didn’t have to be the practical one. “The leadership conference starts in an hour,” I said, and Desmond froze. “And you’re giving your keynote speech today.”
“Darn.”
He smiled at me while I slipped the strap back on. “Can I still see you this evening? And many more evenings?”
I shook my head. “Sorry,” I said, reaching up to give him a kiss. I grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around myself before he could reach for my arm. “I’m meeting Rishi for dinner tonight.”
He groaned. “Well, stay over here this weekend then. I demand it,” he said as I got up. “I need to see you tonight anyhow. Can you?”
“Tonight and many more nights,” I said with a laugh just as I made for the bathroom door.
A few hours later, I popped into Employees Only, an upscale bar on Hudson Street, for a drink with Rishi. It had been ages since we’d met, and I’d missed him.
I sat at a table close to the bar and sipped my beer while I waited for Rishi to show up.
The bar seemed to attract a good mix of the carefree, young crowd and also older businessmen.
The kind who seemed a trifle weary at the end of the day.
I wondered if Desmond would look like that in a few years.
I’d been journaling off and on, and I was slowly learning to accept a new sense of normalcy. The reality of losing a mom I’d loved deeply. A mom who, while she’d loved me, also kept things from me. It was gradual, but I was on my way to admitting that it was what it was.
A server in a black shirt and pants walked past me with a tray of drinks. I looked at his back absently for a while before I registered that something about him seemed familiar.
Eerily familiar. He brought back memories of the scandal, of the morning when I had come into work to realize all of my restaurant’s business purchases wouldn’t go through because my account had been wiped out.
There was no way that could be Kyle. He was in Austin, from Misty’s account, so while I looked at the server walking away from me, I forced myself to relax.
Someone coughed, and I glanced up to see Rishi standing there. Rishi was looking fresh, happy, and thriving at the end of his workday. Also not the kind of man who could get jaded with the world.
“The hostess said she saw a pretty woman at this table, so I figured you must be here,” he said to me in his trademark flirty voice, giving me a wink as he sat down.
“Rishi!” I said, forgetting my troubles for a moment.
He represented a different world. One where I didn’t have to walk a narrow line between flirting with my boss and also making sure I said appropriate workplace things.
One where I could say scandalous things, and the worst thing was that he’d top them with one of his.
One where I could forget about seeing Kyle everywhere—for a while at least.
He took a seat across from me, but his eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“No, nothing’s wrong …” I said, turning around to catch another glimpse of the server, but he had disappeared to the kitchen.
I saw someone who eerily resembles Kyle.
I tore my gaze away and looked at Rishi, feeling reassured by his presence. “It’s nothing,” I said, determined not to get worried.
“So, what’d I miss in the time that we haven’t met?” I asked Rishi asked as a busy waitress came up to take our orders.
When she left, I crossed my legs and leveled Rishi with a spill it look. “I know you’ve got something on your mind. I recognize that look.”
Rishi grinned. “I know you’ll disapprove, but I have been toying with the idea of gate-crashing my ex’s party later this weekend.” He looked into the distance and then winked at me. “I hear the dress code is Birds of Paradise. So, make sure you dress appropriately this Sunday.”
“Ha-ha! You think I’d join you?”
“Have I not mentioned enough how much of a social outcast I am? And that I must be really, really alone and desperate if I’m asking you to accompany me?”
“Thanks. It means everything to have your faith in me,” I said.
“You’re welcome. Don’t expect it to last, of course.”
“You’ll dump me for the next pretty face you see?”
He grinned just as our waitress came back with his martini and my cosmo. A wicked smile took over Rishi’s face. He took a sip before he set it down.
“Speaking of pretty faces, a little birdie tells me that you’ve been seeing a lot of a special someone.”
“I have no idea who you mean,” I muttered.
Rishi grinned. “So, what are you guys? Passionate lovers? Brooding enemies? Friends with benefits?”
I groaned and took a large sip. The cosmo was just the right amount of sweet and refreshing with a subtle hint of lime.
Rishi was looking at me over the rim of his glass. “Just for the record,” he said, not taking his eyes off me, “I’m betting on passionate lovers.”
I aimed a kick at his legs just under the table, and he dodged it just as his phone rang.
“Darn. It’s work,” he muttered, getting up. “I’ll be right back,” he said.
While Rishi stepped out, I looked around for a restroom and found the hallway that would lead to it off to the right.
When I was done, I walked back down the hallway to the table when I heard a voice a few feet to my left, saying, “Excuse me,” and the sound of an oof as two people bumped into each other. One of them stumbled to the ground with a tray full of drinks.
The server was sprawled on the ground with five drink glasses oozing liquid on the floor, some of them shattered, while the nearest ten restaurant patrons gasped and drew back from the steadily growing mess on the floor.
I saw the server, whose back was to me, groan while the other man got up and leaned against a nearby table, his hand on his chest. The server tried to get up, bracing himself against the floor, palms going dangerously close to shards of glass.
I walked up to him and held my hand out, which he took.
I helped him stand up, slipping just a little on the messy floor as he put his weight on my palm.
Another server rushed up to us, instructing the guests to step back while they cleaned up the glass and liquid off the floor.
“Are you okay?” I asked with a quick glance at the broken pieces of glass on the floor.
I picked up the tray, just as he straightened and patted down his suit. He looked up at me, and I saw cold blue eyes. Familiar eyes.
I stiffened as I registered that Kyle Whitby was here.
Not in Texas. Very much here in New York.
From the thin line of his lips, he wasn’t happy to see me either.
“I read about the change of ownership at The Galley,” he said with a backward glance to where Rishi was making his way to us in the crowd. “And about Mr. McKinley,” Kyle said. “If you know what’s good for you, Ava, don’t bring up the past. Let it stay buried.”
Just as another server came up with a bowl to pick up the glass shards, Kyle grabbed the tray from me and walked away.
Rishi reached my side. “Are you okay?” he asked, a frown on his face as led me away from the spot.
I drew in a deep breath and nodded, my heart thudding. I’d seen Kyle, and he was determined to silence me.
I met Rishi’s gaze and stepped aside to let a few guests pass on their way to their tables.
“I saw Kyle,” I said, my voice breaking as the deeply held memory resurfaced for a breath of air. Like a piece of molten lava rock rising to the surface of the ocean after years. “The man who embezzled from my mom’s restaurant. I saw him now.”
Rishi cursed under his breath. His eyes widened at that, and for a moment, I believed I saw through to another Rishi. One who, beneath his flippant and flamboyant side, cared. Would feel for you and feel vulnerable if you were hurt.
I couldn’t handle that. I didn’t want another person in my life who I could get attached to or who could get attached to me.
“I’ll speak to the host,” he said. Dropping me off at our table, he disappeared.
He came back in ten minutes, looking disgruntled. “Kyle’s disappeared,” he said, sounding regretful. “He abandoned his shift right away. But don’t worry, Ava. We’ll call the cops. I’ll take care of you.”
I nodded, feeling weak. I’d wanted to find Kyle, but now that he was close, I was starting to believe I needed to get as far away from him as I could.