YOURS TRULY
Page 3
“I wish I could be,” Alyssa grumbled, looking around them again. “And there’s nothing here at all interesting.”
Diana chuckled again, jerking her head around at the sound of a man’s voice yelling, “Everybody listen up! We’ve got a birthday in the house!” She glared at Alyssa.
As a troop of waiters and waitresses scurried around tables to reach their booth, Diana tried to scooch down in the seat so they couldn’t see her. Alyssa clapped her hands and pointed with both at Diana. She screeched, “It’s her! Diana! My best friend!”
“Up in the seat, Diana!” a handsome waiter announced when the group reached their table. He helped Diana sit up, then stand and climb onto the seat of the booth.
“Want to wear the hat?” their waitress asked, brandishing a huge, furry alligator hat in neon green with red, flashing lights for eyes.
“Um, no. This is embarrassing enough as it is,” she replied, smiling broadly when they began serenading her with some weird version of “Happy Birthday.”
“Shake that ass!” Alyssa yelled, standing to record a video with her phone.
“I’m not that drunk!” Diana laughed, though after another second, she began dancing on her seat and laughing louder. “Too much fun!”
Travis heard the loud yelling of the waitstaff pronouncing the birthday of some unlucky patron who would be forced to embarrass herself. The name Diana caught his attention, and he jerked his head around to watch. A pillar blocked his view, so he stood and stepped to the other side of the table to see. His eyes widened when he saw her, laughing beautifully as her face reddened with slight embarrassment. When she started shaking her butt playfully, his groin heated with the lust he used to feel for the magnificent woman he had been married to.
The jeans she wore were tight and dark, probably what women called skinny jeans. Her figure, always slim, was willowy and a model’s dream. She wore a loose-fitting top, modest in its cut but so sexy on her he wondered if she’d had it specially made. Her face, also beautiful enough for a model, shone brilliantly with her laughter, and he stared at her as if she were a goddess deigning to visit the earth to bestow her beauty on their eyes.
As the song ended and she climbed down, he jerked back behind the pillar so she wouldn’t see him. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see or speak to her so suddenly. The woman had broken his heart as surely as he’d broken hers, and seeing her both hurt him and elated him. That’s the problem, he mused as he resumed his seat. She evoked such opposing feelings in him that he didn’t really know how he felt about her anymore. But the tug in his groin had been matched by a tug in his heart.
“Travis?” his business partner, Michael Stein, called, interrupting his thoughts. Travis’ head swung towards him, and Michael’s eyebrows were up in question. “The clients are leaving.”
“Oh!” Travis rose again, shaking his head. “My apologies, gentlemen. Got a little lost in thought.” He held his hand out and shook each man’s hand warmly. “We look forward to pursuing this business venture with you.”
“We’ve heard wonderful things about your company, gentlemen,” Dr. Cartwright commented, stepping back to let his partner speak.
Dr. Smith shook Travis’ hand. “So next week, right?”
“I’ll be at the site first thing Monday morning to look at the building and start preparing a list of construction that will need to be done to make it appropriate for a medical facility,” Travis assured the doctors, smiling brilliantly. He’d learned early in his life that his smile often won him his way.
Both doctors, older men with graying hair and jowls, returned his smile and took their leave, weaving carefully through the tables. Travis glanced again at the table with Diana now seated though still laughing. Alyssa sat across from her, and he frowned. The woman was poisonous, but Diana loved her, which had always shocked him.
“I think that went very well, don’t you?” Michael asked as he sat down again. Travis didn’t answer and remained standing with his head facing away from their table. “Why are you staring at that table?”
“Huh?” Travis murmured, shook himself, and said, “What? I’m not.” He sat down quickly and grabbed his bottle of beer to take a drink.
“You were,” Michael accused, drinking a long, slow drink, eyeing his friend. “Who are those women?”
Travis cleared his throat and downed his beer, avoiding Michael’s gaze. Michael leaned over and looked again, a smile crossing his face slowly, and Travis growled, “No one.”
“No one,” Michael repeated with a snort, leaning on the table and gesturing with his beer bottle at his friend. “I’m going to bet that one of those women is the lovely Diana, goddess of your heart after all these years.” He leaned over again and looked. “Let me guess which one.”
“The brunette,” Travis supplied reluctantly. “The other is her best friend.”
“Oh, that was bitter!” Michael laughed. “Don’t like the best friend?”
“I do not,” Travis answered. He had leaned forward, and his black ponytail fell over his shoulder. He’d let his hair grow long after he and Michael had established their company and it had become well-respected in the medical field. As the boss, his appearance was his decision rather than company policy. “She and I never got along.”
“That’s weird.”
“Why is that weird?”
“Because everyone likes you,” Michael informed him with a shrug. “Why didn’t she?”
“Now she hates me because of the divorce and because I rejected her afterwards when she hit on me,” Travis intoned.
“Holy shit!” Michael exclaimed, his eyes widening at the same time as his grin. “The best friend hits on you after the divorce. Jesus.”
“The ink was barely dry on the papers,” Travis added, his discomfort with the insane moment clear on his face.
“Details?”
Travis smirked. “Not really any to tell. She showed up at the apartment I’d rented, with wine, and told me she’d always wanted to fuck me.”
“Goddamn! That’s pretty hot, but also really shitty,” Michael commented, glancing around the pillar at Diana and Alyssa. “I’m assuming your ex doesn’t know about the Brutus she has as a best friend.”
“You know, I don’t think Alyssa really wanted to fuck me. I think she wanted to add to the rift between us,” Travis admitted. “She never liked me. Hated me, really.”
“What a bitch.”
“Diana would never be friends with her if she knew about that,” Travis assured him. “She thought I was having an affair while we were married.”
“Hmm, I remember,” Michael hummed, losing interest in the topic. “I think this venture is going to be our best yet. With Smith and Cartwright’s recommendation, we’ll win at least two more contracts from their group.”
“Yeah,” Travis agreed, his lack of interest perturbing his friend.
“Dude, if you’re going to brood over her, either go talk to her or let’s go to a different bar,” Michael suggested in a heated tone.
“I’m not brooding,” Travis argued, looking up at his friend, who stared and waited. “Okay, yes, I’m brooding.” He swung his head toward Diana’s table though he couldn’t see her and said quietly, “Today is her birthday.”
“Yes, I heard the announcement,” Michael replied sarcastically.
“And it’s also the day we decided to get a divorce,” Travis revealed, a sadness slipping into his voice.
“Jesus, man, you left her on her birthday?” Michael shook his head. “That’s cold.”
“The decision was mutual,” Travis defended, wishing the waiter would swing by and interrupt this uncomfortable conversation.
“Hey, why don’t you send her a drink? Kind of a ‘no hard feelings’ sort of thing,” Michael quipped, preparing to signal the waiter though he wasn’t visible.
“I haven’t seen her since our court date five years ago,” Travis said quickly, shaking his head. “I don’t think that would be appropriate.”
Travis glared at his buddy’s retreating back. The man had never been in a serious relationship, enjoying his good looks and the women who appreciated them since before Travis had met him. Michael had attempted to pull Travis into the same different-woman-every-weekend lifestyle when they’d begun working together four years ago, but Travis didn’t like trying to remember the names of the women he’d met and eventually dove head first into his work. He had no wife or girlfriend to complain about how much he worked anymore, and he used his freedom to build his company, of which he shared ownership with Michael. It was the most successful company of its sort in this part of Louisiana, having built several stand-alone ERs as well as two small hospitals in small, rural communities that had lacked local medical care.
Travis was incredibly proud of the business he and Michael had built, but in the last six months or so, he’d grown lonely. He wanted someone to come home to, even if he was only home an hour or two before he went to bed. He often wondered if, now that his business was more successful than he’d dreamed, he would be able to work less and actually enjoy life. His first million had been made the year before, and he was well on his way to making two this year, but he’d barely spent a dime.
Maybe it’s time to make a change in my life, he pondered, leaning forward to peek at Diana. Watching her laugh at something Alyssa said was a breath of fresh air. She was still so beautiful—more so, he’d bet. The five years apart had been good to her, and he admitted to himself that he still wanted her, as much as he had when they’d met. After their divorce, he’d dreamed of her for nearly six months before they’d tapered off. The fantasies had been unbelievably hot, and he’d awakened with a boner almost every time. Easing his need with his hand had been incredibly unsatisfying, but he’d had no other choice.
I can’t believe I still want her after all this time, he mused, shaking his head at himself. After what she’d put him through, he should hate her. Of course, if he was honest with himself, he had put her through hell too. He was slowly conquering his workaholism, and he wondered if she had kicked her gambling habit. With those two problems gone, they might be able to have a healthy, long-lasting relationship. And the problem of Alyssa, which was a barrier he wasn’t sure could be removed.
With an abrupt jerk, he said, “What the fuck?” out loud, startling the waiter, who had stopped beside the table.
“I’m sorry, sir?” the kid asked, wariness in his expression.
“My apologies,” Travis replied, remembering his manners after being lost in thought. Before he could think better of his decision, and thinking of Michael’s encouragement, he asked, “Could you bring us another round, and I’d like to buy the birthday girl a drink.” The waiter glanced at Diana’s table skeptically. “Don’t worry, we know each other.”
“Oh, that’s good! She didn’t see you here?”
“No, the pillar blocks me. I didn’t know she was here until the staff sang to her,” Travis said with a grin to further ease the waiter’s concern. “Please find out what she’s drinking and bring it to my table. I’d like to deliver it.”
“Will do,” the waiter answered with a grin.
Michael returned shortly after the waiter had disappeared, frowning when he noticed only their empty bottles. “Where’s the damn waiter?”
“I ordered another round. Calm down, titbag,” Travis jeered. He cleared his throat and said, “So I ordered Diana a drink.”
Michael’s eyebrows shot up as he spun his head around to look at him, removing his eyes from the hot blonde two tables over he’d been making eyes at throughout the meeting. “Did you now?”
“No harm in buying her a drink,” Travis growled, glaring at the table and wondering if, in fact, there was.
“You’re absolutely right,” Michael responded, returning his gaze to the blonde. He banged his fist quietly on the table and said, “As soon as my beer gets here, I’m going to talk to the hottie at table three.” He swiveled his head again to look at Travis. “While you go over there and talk to your ex.”
“Is that an order?” Travis asked, amusement on his face.
“Do you need it to be?”
As Travis opened his mouth to speak, the waiter reappeared with two beers and a mixed drink of some sort in a martini glass. “Your beers, and this is the drink for the lady.” He set all three on the table with a flourish.
“What is that?” Travis asked so he knew if she asked him.
“It’s a Cosmo. Very popular with the ladies,” the waiter explained. “Do y’all need anything else?”
“Not right now, thanks,” Travis said dismissively. He heard the tone in his voice and smiled so he didn’t come off as an asshole. However, now that he had the drink, his nerves had ratcheted up to a nearly unbearable level. He was completely unaware that Michael was watching him until the man thumped his arm.
“Dude, get off your ass and take that woman her drink. Say hello, chitchat if it feels right, then walk away,” Michael advised. “She’s not a stranger you’re trying to take home. You spent how many years with that woman?”
“Four,” Travis said in a hushed voice. He sat back as if surprised. “I can’t believe it’s been nine years since I met her.”
“And five since you divorced her,” Michael pointed out, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. “Do you regret the divorce?”
Travis frowned but didn’t answer right away. He hadn’t at first, though the sexy dreams had plagued him. Sometimes, randomly throughout the years, she had appeared in his mind and brought a smile to his face. But he remembered the fights during the last year of their marriage, the ugliness of her gambling that he did understand was caused, at least in part, by his work. Had she, like him, kicked the bad habit that had ruined their marriage? With a sigh, he realized there was only one was to find out.
“Earth to Travis!” Michael called loudly. “Man, I said your name three times.”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“You want to know what I think?” Michael asked with a grin.
“Not particularly.”
Michael scoffed. “You’re afraid to go over there because you do still feel something for her.”
Travis jerked as if Michael had slapped him across the face. He started shaking his head, looked at his pal, and sighed. “Yeah, maybe. She was great before the gambling issue.”
“And I’m sure you were great before the working issue,” Michael replied with a knowing look. “You told me everything. It won’t hurt a thing to go talk to her.”
Travis stared at his suddenly sensitive friend. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Michael chuckled. “That blonde has hypnotized me.” He hauled himself out of his chair and said, “Get up off your ass and take that drink to Diana before it gets warm.” He walked away before Travis could reply.
Travis mumbled under his breath, grabbed the drink, and stood, hurrying to Diana’s table before he could stop himself. She glanced in his direction while he was still fifteen feet away, and the look of shock that crossed her face nearly froze him. But he forced a smile on his face and made his feet keep moving towards her table.
Chapter 2
Alyssa made a dirty comment about one of the waiters who’d sung to her, something about being positive she could see the outline of his “very healthy cock” in his pants. Diana snorted out a laugh and tried not to choke on her drink as she guffawed loudly enough to turn heads. A minute or so later, when the young man walked by, Alyssa caught her looking at his crotch and called her out.
“I saw it! I swear I did!” Diana hissed, glancing over her shoulder at the man’s tight ass. “And he’s got an ass too!”
“I saw that the moment we walked in,” Alyssa chimed, her face slightly reddened from
the alcohol. “But he’s young. I don’t want to spend the night teaching a boy what I can get from a man.”
“You are so bad!” Diana exclaimed in a higher pitch than was normal. “I have no idea why we’re friends.”
“Don’t even play! You were sexually objectifying him as much as I was!” Alyssa countered.
“I may be bad, but I am never as bad as you are,” Diana argued, gazing at her friend, who narrowed her eyes, shrugged, and nodded her head in agreement.
“I’m a slut and damn proud of it!”
They were giggling uncontrollably when Diana saw a familiar figure walking towards their table with a martini glass in his hand. Her eyes widened as she recognized Travis, and her laughter ended so abruptly it was as if hands had choked it off. As she stared at him, her stomach lurched, and the delicious drinks and food she’d imbibed threatened to reappear. Anxiety spilled into her, causing sweaty palms and a dry mouth. She was frozen, couldn’t move, and watched as he continued to approach as if in slow motion.
He wore a pair of slacks the color of a storm cloud, and they were tight, as was the style in men’s professional wear. His cerulean polo created a contrast to his dark tan, which she knew was as much from genetics as from the sun, and his black hair was so black it was almost blue in the light. His chiseled features, a gift from his Native American heritage on his mother’s side, were honed even more sharply than they had been when the two of them had been together. Diana couldn’t stop staring.
He stepped up to the table with the drink in his hand, smiling at Diana, sparing not even a glance in Alyssa’s direction. “Hi, Diana. Happy birthday.” He offered the drink, and when she didn’t take it, he faltered, his smile slipping just a little. “I, um, asked the waiter to find out what you were drinking so I could buy you one for your birthday.”
“Are you sure it isn’t roofied?” Alyssa accused, and Diana jerked her head around to look at her friend.
“Alyssa!” She returned her gaze to Travis. “Sorry.”
Travis, who barely even glanced at Alyssa when she spoke, wore a bland expression. “No problem.”