Alessandro (Members From Money Book 21)

by Katie Dowe

  She waved at him and then turned to go back to her party determined to shake off the concern she had for him for now!

  Jayda made it to the end of the night. The party broke up at twelve and she was determined to concentrate on getting through it and doing her job. She was not going to think about his mouth on hers and his tongue touching hers! It had been too potent and too exciting! She had exchanged chaste kisses when she was in college and had decided that she would wait for the right moment. She had thought it would have happened with Winston but it had not and now she was very sure that Alessandro was the one! He was totally unsuitable and looked as if he was carrying a lot of baggage but she knew deep within her that he was going to be the one for her! With a rueful sigh she went to collect her things and have some parting words with the birthday girl!

  *****

  Alessandro prowled the length of the living room restlessly. Why had she kissed him? He ran his fingers through his hair and held on tight trying to make sense of the entire thing! She did not strike him as a gold digger and he remembered that she had told him she grew up in church. What the hell had she been playing at? She had felt inexperienced as she had touched her tongue to his tentatively but he realized that he had wanted to take it further! Swearing softly he strode into the kitchen and ignoring the rows of wine bottles on the shelves he went for the scotch and poured himself a generous amount. The last thing he wanted to do was to get involved with a churchgoing party planner!

  *****

  “I never expected to see you, honey.” Her mother greeted her with a hug as soon as the service was finished and they had gathered outside to meet and greet.

  “I never miss a service, remember?” Jayda linked her hand through her mother’s as they walked over to the house located on the church property. It was a brilliantly lovely Sunday with the sun high in the sky and the smell of tulips and dandelions wafting on the air.

  “You got in when?”

  “A little past one,” Jayda said with a smile as they entered the living room. “It was quite a success.”

  “Let me get the lemonade and cookies and you tell me all about it.”

  “Mama, how did you know you were in love with Dad?” Jayda asked as soon as they were munching on oatmeal cookies around the counter.

  Her mother looked at her for a moment before answering. “He was persistent. I fancied myself marrying some rich man and living in a mansion so when he approached I was all ready with the argument about how disinterested I was.”

  “What persuaded you?”

  “His arguments were stronger than mine!” she said with a laugh as she looked at her daughter. “I am happy he persisted, honey, I would have missed out on the love we share, the love that God intended for us to share.”

  “I met someone who is totally unsuitable,” Jayda said wryly as she made circles on the moisture on her glass. “He is beautiful and tortured and I am not his type.”

  “Sounds like quite a challenge,” her mother said quietly. “So I take it that Winston is no longer in the running?”

  “I am afraid not. Do you mind?” She peered at her mother anxiously.

  Jenny leaned forward and took her daughter’s hands in hers. “All I ever want for you is to be happy and I saw a long time ago that Winston was not the one for you. I was waiting for you to find that out.”

  Chapter 4

  “You sounded urgent over the phone. I hope everything is okay?” Winston said a little anxiously as he sat next to her on the park bench. It had been two weeks since she had put on the party for Isabella and her client list had increased tremendously! It was the first week of August and she had several events lined up but she was suffering from not seeing Alessandro and she was thinking of ways to see him!

  “I just needed to talk to you.”

  “We saw each other at choir practice just two nights ago,” he reminded her.

  Jayda stared out over at the children racing from one play area to another and the mothers and nannies keeping attentive eyes on them. She had planned her life out to a tee and now it was turned upside down! “I thought we were suitable because you fitted into my plans, the ones I have for my life. I figured that I should be with someone from my church because that is the way it is supposed to be.”

  “What are you saying, Jayda?” Winston demanded.

  She turned to face him. “I am saying that I want you to go on and find someone you can love. I am going to do likewise. I don’t love you, Winston, and I know you don’t love me either.”

  “You are breaking up with me?” His voice was stiff with disapproval as he looked at her.

  “Were we ever together?”

  “It has always been understood that we would one day get married and have children. Why are you doing this? Is there someone else?”

  She almost told him yes but decided to leave it alone. “No,” she told him quietly. “I have decided that I want to spend the rest of my life with someone I am in love with.”

  He got to his feet and stared down at her. “I hope you know what you are doing.” He glanced at his watch. “I am already late for work. Goodbye.” He turned and left her and she sat there and sighed. It had been way too easy for him to tell her goodbye!

  *****

  “I am here to see Mr. Rivera,” Jayda told the receptionist as she went towards the large wraparound desk where several exotic looking women were seated with earpieces attached to their ears.

  “Adam or Alessandro?” the woman closest to her asked her as she hung up from her call.

  “Alessandro.”

  “Do you have an appointment?” she asked politely.

  Jayda was silent for a moment as she considered. “Would you tell him it is Jayda Walker? I did a party for his sister two weeks ago.”

  “I was there,” the girl said with a smile. She made a call to what Jayda assumed was his secretary and then told her to take the private elevator up. She was swept away by the sheer luxury of the place! She had been telling herself all along that she was making a mistake but she had to see this through! She was ushered into a large cozy office with an elderly looking secretary with a neat grey bun pinned behind her head. She lifted her head and her light blue eyes held a smile. “Please come in. Alessandro is on the phone right now but as soon as he is off I will send you in.” She had gotten up from her desk and came forward. “My name is Alice Vernon.” She extended a lined hand for Jayda to take. “Would you like some refreshments while you wait? We have the rich Rivera chocolate cookies or maybe you prefer the mint chocolate ones? They are quite delicious.”

  “No, thank you,” she said with a smile.

  She went back around her desk and glanced at the phone. “He is off now so you can just go on in.”

  “Thank you.”

  Jayda took a deep breath and pushed the door open. He was sitting on the edge of his desk with his eyes on the door being opened. His dark eyes met hers and for a moment Jayda forget everything she wanted to say! Her throat felt tight and her skin felt hot, so there was no mistaking what she felt about him! He was definitely the one!

  “Ms. Walker? Something wrong?” His deep voice sent shivers up and down her spine.

  “I have a proposition and I want you to hear me out.” She clutched the pocketbook she had in her hands and took a seat on one of the chairs facing the desk. He was dressed in a slate grey suit but was minus the jacket which hung at the back of the chair. He had unbuttoned the two top buttons of his dark grey shirt and his tie was loose around his neck. His hair hung freely down to his shoulders.

  He stared at her for a moment startled and then nodded. “I am not much into birthday parties. I prefer to go to the club and hang out there drinking a few glasses of wine and then go home possibly with a willing woman.”

  “I want that woman to be me,” she told him calmly. Her heart had stopped hammering inside her chest and her knees had stopped shaking.

  “Excuse me?” He got off the desk and stood facing her.

  �
�I am attracted to you in a very big way. I have never felt this way before and I want us to be together.”

  “Are you out of your mind?” His face was tense as he looked down at her.

  “Maybe,” she said shakily. “I have feelings for you, Alessandro, and I cannot get past them. When we kissed at the party it kind of got worse. I had my life planned out until I saw you and I knew it had to be you.”

  “Ms. Walker-” He stopped as she got to her feet. She was wearing a red and white cotton dress with a flared skirt and a chic little jacket covering the top. Her hair was combed back from her face and caught into a chignon at the nape of her neck. Her makeup was just a soft shade of coral and highlighted her full bottom lip. She had small gold earrings in her lobes and she looked exquisite! He had known how exquisite she was and had been thinking about how her lips felt when he had kissed her.

  She walked over to him and stood there looking up at him, her eyes candid. “I grew up in church as I told you. I have always been a good little girl who thought that I would find a nice man in the church I attend and get married and have children.” He jumped a little as she placed her hands on his chest. “Then I met you and it all went through the window.”

  His body was tense and he was mesmerized by the look in her eyes. She was not as forward as some of the experienced women he knew but she was being so frank that it was making him uncomfortable.

  “Ms. Walker,” he tried again. “I am sure you will find someone whom you can achieve those goals with.” His tone was almost kindly as he looked down at her. “That person is not me. I have no inclination of going into a relationship and frankly you are not the kind of person I would think of taking to bed. I have no patience for inexperienced women.”

  “It has to be you! Don’t you see that?” She spread her palms over his chest. She went on the toes of her high heeled strappy sandals and touched her lips to his. He felt it again! The spark that shot through him at her touch and his arms came around to drag her to him as he deepened the kiss. Their tongues touched and something imploded inside him! He stifled the groan and put her away from him firmly, his eyes dark and turbulent.

  She moved away and reached across his desk for a pen and a piece of paper. “This is my number when you are ready.” She stepped back and gave him a gentle smile. “I will be waiting for your call.” He watched her walk out of his office and for several minutes he could not move!

  *****

  “You were right,” Millie admitted as she took a seat next to her friend on the sofa. It was late afternoon and Jayda had just come home from having dinner with her parents. It had been three days since she had left her number with Alessandro and he had not contacted her. But she was not worried, he would call her soon.

  “About what?” Jayda handed her the glass of lemonade. It was a mercilessly hot evening and she had left the doors wide open to let in some breeze.

  “About Boyd.” Millie sighed disconsolately. She was a preschool teacher who had lived in the shadows of her best friend for years and was struggling to come out of it with little success. “He told me that he is not ready for a relationship and that even if he was it would not be me.” She ran her fingers up and down the moisture of the glass restlessly. “I think I am trying too hard and I need to stop and spend the time trying to find myself. It’s just that I am the wallflower type and I am getting older with the prospect of a husband and children slowly slipping away.”

  Jayda put away her drink and took the half empty glass from her friend’s hands. “Listen to me,” she said firmly forcing the girl to look at her. “You are the sweetest person I know and you deserve the best. God will provide someone for you and you know that. You are not thirty yet, Millie, so what is your hurry?”

  Millie looked at her best friend and could not help the stab of envy. Jayda was exquisite in every way! All the single males at church wanted to be with her. She had been popular in high school without even trying. Guys had become friends with Millie just so they could get Jayda to notice them. She was now wearing an old t-shirt and shorts with her hair in a big plait at the nape of her neck and still managed to look like she should be on the cover of a magazine. She had grown up with loving parents who doted on her while Millie had been brought up by a single mother who never stopped talking about the mistake she had made getting pregnant with her!

  “You are right,” she said with a forced smile. “Now tell me about your day.”

  *****

  Alessandro picked at his food moodily. He had been in a rotten mood ever since she had left his office. It was three days later and his mood had not improved at all.

  “Isn’t the food to your liking?” his mother asked him mildly. He looked over at her and smiled slightly. His dad had gone to some function and Isabella was out as usual. Katarina had called him and demanded that he come and have dinner with her.

  “I am not very hungry.” He reached for his wine glass and sipped the rich red liquid. “No reflection on Vale’s cooking,” he said referring to the live in chef.

  “Work?”

  “Something like that,” he said with a shrug.

  “You can always talk to me, Cara.” Katarina nodded to the maid who materialized and came to clear the table. “Just coffee please, Hyacinth.”

  “Yes, ma’am. And for you, sir?” She could not help the blush that covered her face as she looked at Alessandro but he scarcely noticed her.

  “Yes. Thanks.”

  “No woman is safe where you are concerned,” his mother said teasingly and when he did not respond she reached for his hand across the table. “You are home now, Alessandro, and this is where you belong. I know things happened in Italy that you are not proud of but you are here now, Alessandro, and it is time you let go of the past. I understand that the idea you put forward went down well and is taking off. You are getting your feet in there. Very soon the company will belong to you and your sister with you at the head. You have to decide what you want to do.”

  “I miss Italy.” He turned his hands over and clasped hers. “I feel as if I belong there more than I do here. In spite of what happened there and what I almost got into I liked it there, Mother, and I keep wondering if somehow I should have stayed there.”

  “And you would have died!” she said grimly as she pulled her hands away from his. “That was what you were leading to. That side of my family is shadier than a dirty lamp and they would have brought you down with them. What part of that can’t you understand?”

  “I know.” His tone was soothing and he felt guilty at upsetting her. The truth was he was restless and it had nothing to do with him wanting to return to Italy. It had everything to do with the girl who had declared that she wanted to be with him! The old him would have taken what she had to offer and gone without a backward glance but he could not do that to her. He did not have the stomach for it. “I am doing my best, Mother.”

  “Is it a woman?” she asked intuitively.

  He looked at her startled. “No,” he said slowly.

  “You have been running around all over the place. You managed to get your pictures in the papers even when you were in Italy. The press followed you around and you were photographed with all different women, Alessandro. I hated it, but I had to acknowledge that you are a beautiful man and that is expected. I expect better from you, Cara, and I am looking forward for the new chapter in your life. We can allow our impulses to lead us for so much and no more. You are an adult with responsibilities and I expect you to behave accordingly. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said with a rakish grin. “When I was a little boy growing up I was more afraid of you than I was of Dad and over the years I started to realize why. You are tiny but you are a force.”

  “You better believe that,” she said with a gentle smile. “How about adjourning to the pool? I feel the need to splash a little in the water.”

  “I would love to.”

  *****

  “Ms. Walker, this is bordering on stalking,” he
told her coldly as soon as she came into his office.

  “I am not here about our personal thing. I just need your company’s help in raising some money for the church,” she told him with a calm smile as she took her seat and crossed her legs. It had been three weeks since she had come to his office and he still had not called her. She had gotten tired of waiting and had thought of a way to get him to see her. She had suggested a chocolate drive at church to get some help for children to go back to school and had called up his company. They had put her on to him. “I sent a proposal for help in assisting some of our young people. You give us the produce and they go door to door to sell them and pocket the money. I know you do not need the PR but it is also a great way to introduce your chocolates to people who would like to buy them but think it is too expensive.”

  He looked at her, his expression inscrutable. “Is that really why you are here?”

  “It is really why I am here.” She smiled at him serenely. “I have already laid my cards on the table, Alessandro, and I am just waiting for you to realize that we belong together.”

  “What game are you playing?” he asked her softly, his tone menacing.

  “I don’t play games.”

  “Do you know what you are doing, little girl?” he asked her coldly.

  “I am at this moment asking for your company’s help in getting some of our young people to further their education.” Her eyes were clear and innocent. “I stopped being a little girl when I reached puberty.” She leaned forward and he was caught by the calm expression on her exquisite face. “I am attracted to you and I have a feeling that given time it will grow into something much more powerful. I am a very patient person and I am willing to wait but right now I am here for a different reason and I want to know if you will help.”

  He stared at her for a moment and Jayda almost smiled as she could just imagine what was going through his mind. “How much?” he asked her gruffly as he responded at last.