She blushed to the roots of her hair. “Nothing.”
They all smiled at each other and then Janie said, “I think you’re lying.”
“Think what you want, baby girl,” Emily said using the nickname Luke used for her at times. She knew Janie sometimes hated it and thought that would stop the questions. “There’s nothing to see here. And how’s Danny, by the way?” Emily gave her a look.
Janie looked disgruntled and let go of a deep sigh. “He’s fine.”
“Yes, he is fine, but how are things going with you two?”
“Just…fine.” Janie said.
There was a burst of laughter in the living room causing the girls to turn and see Luke Daniels walk in with a pretty redhead.
Luke was a tall man, equal in height to Jeremy and Mike’s 6’3” frames. Due to his mother’s Spanish coloring and his father’s British heritage, he and Tiffany had beautiful olive toned skin which only made their black hair and blue eyes that much more arresting. Emily always thought of a tall, darker version of Jonathan Rhys Meyers mixed with Matt Bomer when she saw him. He was impeccably dressed as always and considering he was the CEO of a huge fashion conglomerate in the City, it was expected. In his early thirties, he was the same age as Jeremy and was an old family friend.
“Who’s that with your brother? She looks familiar.” Emily said to Tiffany.
“I think her name’s Vanessa. They met at the art showing a few weeks ago.”
Emily looked over and noticed Ryann and Ayanna staring at Janie. Janie, however, was ignoring the scene in the living room all together and marinating the hell out of the steaks. If the meat hadn’t been dead already, it certainly was now, considering how she was stabbing it to death with the fork.
“Your parents are coming today, right Yan?” Emily asked, trying to move the subject further away from her.
“Yup. They’ll be here closer to six.”
“Have things been going okay?”
“Actually, they’ve been going better than okay. It’s almost eerie.” All the girls knew that Ayanna hadn’t grown up with the best of relationships with her parents. It was only in the last month that they’d begun to patch things up.
“My aunt and uncle are the easiest people in the world to get along with,” Emily said. “It doesn’t surprise me how well things are going.”
“They absolutely are the best. Everyone’s getting along great. It’s a little scary.”
“And when are your parents getting here, Ry?” Emily continued.
“Their train should’ve arrived a couple of minutes ago. Manny’s picking them up.” Ryann’s mom and stepdad lived in Connecticut and Manny was Jeremy’s driver.
“Well, it looks like the gang is almost all here, then. Who are we still waiting for?”
“Just Janie and Mike’s parents. Oh, and Dr. Drew. He’s coming too.”
There was a clatter as Tiffany dropped one of the utensils she was putting out on the counter.
They all smirked.
“You alright, Tiff?” Ryann asked.
“Yup, couldn’t be better. I just have butter fingers today. Sometimes when I’ve had too much coffee and not enough food in my stomach it makes me a little jittery. Does that ever happen to any of you? I’ve been thinking that maybe I’ll cut down on the caffeine a little,” she yammered on quickly, her hands fluttering. “Sometimes I feel like my heart’s racing and I’m going to have a heart attack or something. Maybe I’ll just have a couple of chips. I think I just need some carbs.”
Tiffany’s mouth was off and running, a natural occurrence when she was nervous. She babbled uncontrollably. And it usually happened whenever Dr. Drew Huntington was around. The crew of friends had gotten to know him after Ryann had been hurt as he had been her doctor. Probably in his mid to late-thirties, Lenny Kravitz with his sensual charisma had nothing on the good looking M.D. Tiffany had all kinds of physical reactions to the biracial doctor with a body that rivaled most NFL players.
“Do you mind if I just make myself a small plate, Ry? I know we haven’t started yet, but -” Tiffany took another breath to continue, but instead Ryann interrupted.
“Tiff.” Tiffany stopped and looked at Ryann who’d just spoken. “Take a breath, hon.”
“Right. Yeah. I’m good. On second thought, I just need to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” She made a beeline out of the kitchen.
“She’s so friggin’ adorable. And entertaining. I almost feel guilty because sometimes I wanna make her nervous just so I can watch her talk. It’s amazing,” Ayanna chuckled.
“You’re horrible.” Ryann was shaking her head at her best friend since grammar school.
“I know.” Yan turned to Emily. “And yet your cousin still loves me. Go figure.”
“Yes, he does. Speak of the devil,” Emily said, watching Jonathan enter the kitchen and walk over.
Jonathan White stood just over six feet and was dressed conservatively in his khaki shorts, loafers and button down shirt. His smart glasses highlighted his baby blue eyes and his close cut blonde hair was the complete antithesis to Ayanna’s Sri Lankan coloring. When one looked at them next to each other, one wondered how Ayanna’s natural flamboyance and Jonathan’s quiet and dry humor got together. But the two proved the old adage ‘opposites attract’.
“Hello ladies.”
“Hi baby,” Ayanna said. “How’s it going out there? Do we need to freshen the drinks yet?”
“Yeah, we need another bottle of red.” He walked over to her back and kissed Yan on the side of the neck.
“Okay,” she murmured with her eyes closed. She reached her leg back and wrapped it around his so he didn’t move away. “Do that one more time on the other side and I’ll get it for you.” She offered the other side of her neck and he obliged her taking a little nibble in the process.
“Mmm. You taste good,” he murmured under his breath, but loud enough for those in the kitchen to hear. He wound his arms around her waist.
“Can we get you a room, perhaps? Jeremy’s wood shop is just behind the kitchen. There’s a nice sturdy bench you can use in there,” Ryann said innocently, batting her eyelashes.
They actually looked like they might be contemplating it, with Jonathan pursing his lips.
“And how do you know that, you little nympho?” Ayanna asked.
Ryann just smiled brilliantly and bit her lip.
Ayanna turned to Jonathan. “What do you think, big boy?”
“Nah, we better wait till we’re home,” Jon mused aloud. “You can be a bit noisy.”
“Poor Mrs. Holland,” Ayanna said with a chuckle, referring to her elderly neighbor who’d had to live through both Ryann and Ayanna as next door neighbors. Ryann had bought the place first and had started her romance with Jeremy there. Once she moved in with Jeremy, she’d rented it to Ayanna who had been looking for an apartment. Their ‘love grotto’ was known to give an earful to the old woman.
“At least she’ll have a reprieve for a few nights with Jonathan’s parents staying there,” Ryann laughed. Ayanna was staying with Jonathan who happened to live in the same apartment complex a couple of floors up.
“I’m not so sure about that. I imagine April’s pretty raucous,” Ayanna said dryly.
Both Jonathan and Emily groaned simultaneously, not wanting to picture their older family members having sex.
“Alright, people. Out of the kitchen. Let Janie and I work our magic,” Ayanna continued. “We’ll yell when things are ready. Here’s the wine, champ,” she said, handing the bottle to Jonathan with a big smooch. “And Janie, you’re on grill duty, right?”
“Yeah. And everything will be good if you guys can keep Luke away from it. It’s like he’s offering a burnt sacrifice up to the gods every time he’s near that thing,” she muttered.
They all filtered out of the kitchen and began to mingle.
The next two hours brought in the rest of the parents due to arrive, along with Dr. Drew. Tiffany avoided the doctor
like the plague, constantly going in and out of the kitchen busying herself with one thing or another.
Emily filled the girls in on the mentoring program which most of them knew about due to their significant others filling them in first. They were completely supportive and loved the idea.
She said hi to Mike’s parents, having a great conversation with the senior Mr. Callahan who was very similar to his eldest son in temperament, always laughing and full of life. Mike’s mom was fun as well, but Emily could tell she was definitely the one who kept a straight head in the family.
She was finally able to grab Jeremy and Luke to nail them down on the mentoring program at the Academy. They agreed to help wholeheartedly. Now that she had Jonathan, Michael, Jeremy and Luke, she only needed to check with Dr. Drew and then she would ask around at work so she had a good group from which to choose.
In other news, Janie didn’t seem to be spending much time with Detective Danny Fernandez. Instead, she too made herself scarce, manning the grill. However, the detective did seem to find sympathy in the lonely hearts’ club corner where he was talking to Luke’s date Vanessa, who was often times missing from his date as well. The man in question was usually hovering outside near the grill, interestingly enough.
Once dinner had begun and people found their little groupings, the elder Callahans, Emily, and Emily’s aunt and uncle seemed to form a little dinner party off to the side of the living room. When Emily’s uncle Ethan had moved away to talk with another group, Mike swooped in and sat down next to April and Emily.
“Hello there, Detective,” April said in between bites.
“Hiya April,” he said draping his arm over April’s chair. “Hey, I wonder if you can help me out with something.”
The man was so natural with people. He talked to her aunt as if he’d known her for years. Given April had the same down to earth way about her, they were a natural fit with each other.
It made her nervous.
“Sure. You want me to catch some bad guys for ya?”
Mike chuckled and said, “You would’ve been a great cop.”
“Sometimes I think I am,” she commented dryly. “Have you ever met a kid in middle school?”
He laughed then leaned in closer to her. “I’ve been having this problem and I think you’re just the woman to help me.” He was speaking to April, but was zeroed in on Emily’s face.
Shit. Please don’t…
“Yeah?” April asked.
“I’m majorly crushin’ on your niece and she won’t give me the time of day. You have any suggestions on how I can go about changing that?” he continued, then removed his arm from around her and shoveled a forkful of pasta into his mouth.
All of the parents in earshot laughed. Heidi Callahan, Mike’s mom, had a gleeful smirk on her face and turned to pat Emily on the arm. “Atta girl. Make him work for it. It’s always been too easy for him.”
Emily swallowed hard and couldn’t believe the conversation that was about to unfold around her. She was seriously going to kill him.
“Yeah, I can see how you might need some help with that,” April smiled.
“Has she always been this difficult?” Michael asked around his food, his eyes laughing.
“Maybe you’re just gonna have to prove to her that you’re interested.”
“That’s all I’ve been doing for weeks now.” He said in a disgruntled tone.
“No, Detective. You don’t understand. Women know when a man is attracted. What I mean is prove that you’re interested in her. Only her. Get to know who she is.”
Her aunt nailed it on the head, but Emily kept her face expressionless, watching Mike’s reaction.
“Hmm,” he nodded. His eyes narrowed and stayed focused on hers. Emily just raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“Hey, Em. Do you have a sec?” Tiffany asked, approaching the group.
“Of course.” Thank you, God. “Gee. I’m so sorry to leave the conversation,” she said in a wry tone. “Good luck with your problem, Detective.” Emily gave him an innocent smile and walked away with Tiffany. “What’s up?”
“I had some ideas about a foundation and wanted to throw them by you. See if maybe you’d want to, I don’t know, maybe represent me?”
The friends had been encouraging Tiffany for weeks now to take her unused business degree and experience as a socialite/politician’s wife to focus her energies on creating a foundation or charity of some sort. Tiffany, who had been on the receiving end of an emotionally abusive husband had not only made out well in the divorce settlement but had money of her own from her father who was an American diplomat to Spain where her parents had met.
She had a huge heart, a brilliant mind, and knew how to charm a crowd. If she set her mind to it, she could make a lot of money for people who needed it.
“Tiff!” Emily exclaimed, so happy for her. “I would love to. I’m so glad you’ve been thinking about this. What did you have in mind?”
“Hey guys.”
Emily turned to see Dr. Drew Huntington approaching them with a bottle of water in his hand. She could almost hear Tiffany’s heart rate increase by her breathing. It was understandable. He was a handsome man, extremely built, and his eyes…well his eyes were like melted milk chocolate, and his sensual quality probably gave heart palpitations to most of his patients.
“Hey Drew. How’s it going?” Emily asked with a smile.
Drew smiled back. “I realized that I hadn’t said hi to either of you yet.” He turned toward Tiffany who had been silent since he walked over. She looked like she’d swallowed a lemon. “Tiffany. How are you?” His voice was so low Emily had to strain to hear it.
“Good. I’m good. We were actually just, Emily and I, I mean we were just going outside to talk. On the steps out front. On the front stoop? I’ll just let you guys talk and I’ll wait for you out there, Em. Okay?”
This poor girl could not get it together around the good doctor. Emily tried not to laugh, but it really was a sight.
Drew, gracious as ever, touched Tiffany’s arm to stop her from leaving. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you guys. I was just saying hello.”
“It’s okay, really,” Tiffany stammered. “I’ll just be outside, Em. Take your time.” Tiffany walked to the front door and went outside.
“What did I say this time?” Drew sighed. “That girl just does not like me. No matter what I say or how many times I’ve tried to make conversation with her.”
Emily chuckled. “Drew, I got news for ya. You don’t have to say a thing and she would still have that reaction around you.”
He looked at her stupidly. “I have no idea what I did,” he said, his wounded moving toward the front door.
“You make her nervous.”
“Why?”
“Drew.” He looked back at Emily. “Please tell me underneath all your book smarts you’re still able to put two and two together. You really can’t figure this one out?” Emily smiled with a knowing look.
He furrowed his brow and blinked at her. Then blinked some more and when the light bulb finally went off, his face broke into a huge grin. “Really?”
Emily just looked at him like duh.
He looked back at the door. “Huh.”
Emily smiled and then touched his arm. “Maybe if you could get her to stay put for more than a minute around you and then put a muzzle on her, you could, I don’t know, ask her out.”
Drew laughed. “Thank you, Miss White. I think I can take it from here.”
“Good. I was starting to worry about you, Doc. And may I say I’m extremely happy you didn’t bring your previous date with you today.” Emily gave him another knowing look.
When the group of friends had last gone out to dinner several weeks earlier, they had bumped into Drew at the restaurant where they had been eating. His date had been none other than Jonathan’s ex-fiancé, and seeing the horrible woman after several years had surprised the shit out of Emily, not to mention J
onathan.
“Yeah. Sorry about that,” he said with a wince.
Emily nodded. “It was such a surprise to see her that night. I’m sorry it was so awkward for you.”
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I obviously had no idea of the connection. She certainly didn’t mind making it awkward for everyone though, did she? You guys were nothing but kind and gracious. Suffice it to say, we haven’t seen each other since.” He casually looked back over to the front door. “Well, I don’t want to keep you. I know Tiffany’s waiting.”
“Right. We’ll talk more later, okay? I want your thoughts on my email.”
“I read it and I’m definitely interested,” he said referring to the mentoring program.
“Great! We’ll chat in a bit.”
He nodded and she went outside to the front steps. Along the tree lined sidewalk, people walked through the beautiful area, enjoying the boutiques down the street or the local coffee shop nearby. The contented peace they exuded was in complete contrast to Tiffany who was sitting on the top step with her head in her hands. She looked over at Emily who sat down next to her. Tiffany let out a miserable groan.
“How is it possible that I’m a 32 year old divorcee who’s also done my share of dating, and whenever that man is near me I turn into a blithering idiot? Honestly. I feel like my heart is gonna beat out of my chest. There’s just something about him. Ridiculous.”
Emily smirked and bumped shoulders with her. “You like him.”
“Ya think?”
“The only way you’ll know if he likes you back is if you stay in his presence long enough to have a conversation, you know.”
Tiffany groaned again. “I’m such a doofus.”
Emily chuckled. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Certain men have that effect on us occasionally.”
Her tone caused Tiffany to look at her a little more closely. “I suppose Mike can induce some doofus-like reactions, huh?” she smiled. “And let me just say this for whatever it’s worth, I’ve been around Mike for a long time and I’ve seen him with quite a few women on his arm at certain functions and what not. But he does seem to focus his attention on you quite a bit. Even at the art showing when he had a date with him. He was still always near you.”
Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) Page 9