by Ebony Olson
“Neither did I till last night. Luckily, I am in the beneficial position of having access to the guest list.” I winked.
Alex laughed holding up his wolf mask that would cover the upper two thirds of his face when he put it on. I held mine up. We wouldn’t wear them till we came back downstairs for the ball. Alex tilted his head.
“A black owl?”
“Yes. Also known as the greater sooty owl. They only reside along the east coast of Australia,” I educated. I always chose an Australian animal and would teach Alex a little more about Australia.
“Owl’s hunt mice and snakes correct?” Alex lifted a brow.
I smiled as he led me into the antechamber. “Most do yes. The greater sooty owl is a powerful hunter and prefers much larger prey.”
“Is that so?” Alex smiled. “You like to pick significant animals to your situation, don’t you?”
I tilted my head. “I’m not sure what you mean, Mr. Hark?”
Alex rolled his eyes and I chuckled. His smile grew. “Marshall is over there.”
I followed his gaze but grabbed his arm before he could step forward. “Wait. We can’t go over there yet.”
Alex frowned following my gaze and finally recognized Marshall was talking to Darius. “It is only your boss.”
I stepped us back a bit. “Yes. My boss, who knows we are siblings and that my father is a very powerful business man. Put us side by side and what do you think he’s going to see, Alex?”
Alex assessed me, noting the dark hair, pale skin and topaz eyes of my father. He swore under his breath. “Okay. I will get Tabitha’s eye and we will meet him in the room upstairs.”
I nodded. Alex moved us to the roped off staircase and showed the guard there a separate invitation. It was for the private event being held upstairs. The guard nodded opening the rope for us to step through. We walked up a few of the stairs and then Alex waved to Tabitha.
Tabitha spotted us almost immediately and, tucking a strand of her golden curls behind her ear, whispered to Marshall. Marshall looked in our direction and nodded once before returning to his conversation. Marshall gestured he was moving and Darius turned to walk with him. I watched Darius’s eyes seize upon the two black clad figures on the stairs and saw him falter in the conversation.
He’d seen me in my dress. I didn’t think he’d taken that much notice, but apparently, he had. Turning away from him I started up the stairs. “Damn it. He saw us.”
Alex put his arm on my lower back as we walked. “He is very observant, but with you he pays very special attention. I saw it the night on the terrace at his house.”
“He can’t figure me out. It bothers him,” I shrugged.
Alex smirked. “It bothers everyone, Mora. One day, you will have to let someone inside that fortress you have locked yourself away in.”
“I let you in.”
Alex rubbed my back. “I am inside the fortress, I am still locked out of the tower.”
We reached the top of the steps and Alex led us to a small room. There was a waiter there and he showed us to a table that held some finger foods and a beautifully decorated birthday cake.
“Do you like it?” Tabitha came in, a large smile on her face.
“I do.” I smiled back. “The company throwing this gig doesn’t know about this right?”
Tabitha shook her head as if I was being silly. “Of course not. I organized this with the function center myself.” She looked at her watch. “Marshall should be up in a second. He went through to the back steps to come up. There are not many people here yet, so you two were very conspicuous going up those stairs.”
The door opened and a laughing old couple came through the door. The elderly woman took one look at us and a grin burst across her face.
“There are my wonderful grandchildren.” Enid Blake swept forward and bundled me up in a hug. “Happy birthday, Mora.”
I hugged her back. “Thank you, Nanna.”
Enid stepped back and gave Alex a hug. Granddad Blake gave me a bear hug before shaking hands with Alex.
“Looks like I’m last as always.” Marshall came in, shutting the door. He walked straight to me and gave me the biggest hug. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
“Thanks, dad,” I murmured in his embrace.
***
“You have fun tonight,” Marshall murmured as we left the private function room. He turned toward the back of the building and disappeared with Tabitha.
Our grandparents walked with Alex and I. “Arthur and I just booked a three-month cruise on the Queen Mary Two over our winter. It will take us to Australia, Mora.” Enid smiled. “I was saying to Arthur, we should do a holiday in Australia one year and take you with us as our tour guide.”
I forced a smile. “That’s a lovely idea, Nanna, but I’ve barely seen any of Australia. Alex has probably seen more than me.”
“So you could see it with us,” Enid pressed.
“Maybe one year, Nanna.”
Enid shook her head. “You are just as bad as Alex. So keen to make your mark in the world, you miss out on all the fun of being young.”
“I’m quite happy to leave this world without anyone, but the people I love, knowing my name, Nanna. A career as a personal assistant does not generally lead to fame.”
“Unless you are diddling your high-profile boss and the media finds out about it. Right, Nanna?” Alex winked.
Enid blushed and I swear I’d missed some story there.
“Behind every great man is an even greater woman,” Arthur smirked.
I didn’t quite understand the jest. Arthur and Enid were working class for most of their lives, quite often barely making ends meet. My father was a self-made billionaire. One of those genius young entrepreneurs who take the world by storm. New money, as some would call him. With that new money, he’d raised his father’s simple engineering business to be a national name with government contracts. It set Arthur and Enid up for life.
“Who are you working for now, my dear?” Enid queried.
“I’m in the entertainment industry now, Nanna. Just a lowly personal assistant to the faceless man behind the talent,” I dodged.
Everyone put on their masks and we descended the stairs to join the much larger crowd filing into the function center. Alex took my arm.
“I’m going to steal the first dance with the birthday girl if you don’t mind.” Alex smiled before kissing our grandparents’ cheeks. We knew the drill. Family happened behind closed doors.
It was strange, because that wasn’t Marshall’s request. Alex wanted to make his own way in the business world without the stigma of being Marshall Blake’s son. I’d elected to fly under the radar because I preferred to remain anonymous.
Stealing me away into the crowd, Alex held my hand and took me out onto the dance floor. We stepped into each other and started waltzing with the rest of the dancers on the floor. We’d been each other’s dance partners at every one of our father’s events since I moved here. Alex learned to dance professionally growing up. Marshall insisted. I just followed Alex’s lead. By the fifth song we were both starting to sweat.
“I think we need drinks.” Alex chuckled when his grip on my hand slipped.
“Agreed.” I happily stopped dancing. “We should find Sophie and Dean.”
Alex hesitated. “Or we could not.”
I looked at Alex. “You knew she was my friend when you started screwing around with her, Alex. Just because your cake isn’t as sweet anymore isn’t my fault. It’s my birthday, suck it up.”
“Ouch.” Alex pulled away as if I’d bitten him. A huge smile on his face. “Fine, I will ‘suck it up’, just for you.” He winked.
I rolled my eyes. “Those details I don’t need to hear.”
Alex chuckled as we reached the bar. “Shots?”
“Just water for now. Unless you want to see me fall and break my neck tonight?”
“A water and a sco
tch.” Alex smiled at the barman before turning back to me. “Does your boss know he’s paying you twice over?”
I glared. “No. And with any luck, he won’t even know it’s me up there.” I tapped my face mask.
Alex smiled, then his smile dropped as strong arms wrapped around my waist and a scruffy mouth kissed my neck. “There you are,” Zander spoke in my ear.
I turned to face him. He wore a midnight blue mask with his navy-blue suit and silver shirt. Warren stood behind him in exactly the same outfit. They could have been twins.
Zander held up a small parcel. “Happy birthday, Mora.”
I took the present with a shy smile and unwrapped it. Inside was a gift card to the place Darius and the brothers regularly attended for massages. I raised an eyebrow. “Any chance they give happy endings?” Yes, I was definitely riled up after last night.
Zander’s head tilted surprised. “Not this place, but I know a few private masseuses who would definitely help you out there.”
I remembered they weren’t aware I wasn’t seeing Jasper anymore. I forced a wicked smile and winked. Zander relaxed and smiled back. I slipped the voucher into my clutch and left the wrapping on the bar.
Warren shoved his brother out of the way handing me an envelope with his charismatic smile. “You should have told us it was your birthday. Getting presents at the last minute means calling in favors.”
I opened the envelope to find a gift voucher for a high-end lingerie store. I swallowed my surprise. “Guys, this is too much.”
“Nonsense. We adore you,” Zander reassured.
“And while I am aware you have some nice lace scanties.” Warren winked using my own description from five months ago. “I figure buying something ultra-sexy and naughty for your birthday is a must do for women.”
Alex handed me my drink after I slipped the voucher in my clutch. “Considering your boss has declared her hands off, do you really think it is appropriate to be buying my little sister, who is more than ten years younger than you, sexy, naughty lingerie?” Alex queried with warning.
Warren gave Alex his naughty smile. “The boss said hands off. He never said I could not look or fantasize about her.” Warren stepped closer to me, his height towering over me. He had a few inches on Alex. “Have you seen your sister’s idea of sleepwear? I cannot tell you how many nights that has sent me off to bed with a smile.”
Warren slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me into a very open-mouthed kiss. I melted into him. He was surprised when I took the kiss a little further by adding tongue to it. When Warren stepped back the smile was gone and he looked somewhat flushed.
Warren cleared his throat. “Well—happy birthday, Mora.” He took two quick steps back from me.
“Thank you. And thank you for the lovely presents. I’ll be sure to show you what I buy,” I winked at Warren. He sucked in a deep breath.
“Cool it, Mora. I think Warren likes his job too much to risk losing it to relieve you of your monthlong dry spell,” Alex warned.
“Monthlong dry spell?” Zander queried.
“Jasper and my schedule hasn’t been syncing a lot of late,” I said.
Warren collected drinks from the bar for him and Zander. “And he’s not here this weekend again?”
“Nope,” I answered. I took Alex’s hand and looked at his watch. “I’ve got to go find Sophie. I’ll find you after.”
“Sure. Be safe and I want at least one more waltz before we bail.” Alex gave me a concerned look.
“I would like a dance too.” Zander stopped me walking off.
I smiled. “If you can find me, you can dance with me.” I winked and merged into the crowd.
I headed for the stage where the musicians were set up and then made my way around to the side and the backstage area. The security guard posted there stopped me, but let me through when I explained I was one of the performers. Sophie was already out the back changing when I walked in and removed my mask.
“There you are. I was about to send out a search party,” she teased, throwing a bag at me.
“Got held up with birthday wishes.”
“Well, you have to wait till later to get my present. It was too big to bring tonight. Dean has it in his car.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Birthday presents, while I loved them, made me uncomfortable.
Sophie gave me an ungracious look and continued to change into her glamorous leotard dress. It was a match to mine. Ocean blue in color, the top was designed to look like a formal dress, the skirt was sheer allowing the leotard to be visible beneath. It was elegant but still allowed for flowing movement, the splits up the side enabling us not to get our legs caught in the fabric.
I pulled on my skin-colored footless stockings and then the dress. Sophie’s hair was already braided so she quickly braided mine for me. I handed her the matching masks and we stood taking deep breaths to calm our nerves.
“You good?” I asked, squeezing her hand. Sophie was always very anxious before taking the stage.
Sophie laughed. “You have asked me the same thing for the last five years before every performance. Of course I’m good.”
A.K. knocked on the door. “When you are ready.”
Sophie opened the door. “We are ready.”
A.K. nodded and led the way, moving to signal the musicians as he did. The lights in the ballroom dimmed. Sophie and I took our places in front of the stage. An area cleared already by the event management. I gave Sophie’s hand one last squeeze and stepped away.
The music started and the lights gave a slight glow around us. We waited for the first lyrics of the song, then started our choreographed dance. A hush went over the guests. Sophie and I had been practicing this routine for nearly a year since Lynwood had contacted our aerial school for performers for tonight.
As the first verse ended, Sophie and I started climbing the silks hanging from the ceiling. We moved in perfect unison, using the beat of the music to keep us in time. We climbed and hung, wrapped and fell our way through the music. We flew, and as I did, I forgot about the crowd below. This was my freedom. When I was up in the silks the world stopped existing for me.
As the performance came to an end, I wrapped the silk around me as we’d practiced. The final chords of the music began to play and we fell, tumbling out of the heavens like falling angels. My mask hit the silk through the fall and it was knocked from my head. I finished hanging limp from the silk as planned, not concerned with the loss of mask.
Sophie and I returned to Earth and as the lights returned to normal. Darius stood front and center, his eyes trained on me. The look on his face was unreadable. I couldn’t tell if he was angry, or impressed. He was a stone carving, only his eyes moving, tracking me as I moved to the backstage area.
Sophie took my hand collecting my attention. “I think you are busted,” she whispered with a laugh.
I smiled. “I guess so.”
Sophie nudged me with her shoulder as we entered the change room. “Maybe he will put you over his knee.”
I gaped at Sophie. “He’s my boss.”
Sophie gave me a knowing look. “Uh-huh. And that stopped you last night. I get the shower first.”
I groaned and slapped my forehead. Sometimes confiding in your friends was not a good idea.
***
Sophie was dressed by the time I came out of the shower.
“Dean’s waiting outside the door.” Sophie smiled. “Alex is there too.”
Oh, I knew that smile. Without a doubt, Sophie planned to be going home with my brother tonight. I guess I wasn’t the only person needing a good...
There was a knock at the door. “I’m coming in,” Dean warned.
I was thankfully in my underwear when the door swung open and Sophie’s brother stepped into the room, followed closely by my brother. Dean’s brown eyes glanced over me and the smile on his face spread.
“Do I have timing or what
?” Dean pulled me into his arms and kissed me. It was chaste, just lips pressed to each other. “Happy birthday, baby.”
“That is my sister you are drooling on,” Alex grumbled.
“And my future wife,” Dean replied.
He’d been telling me since Sophie introduced us when I was eighteen we were going to marry one day, yet the most he’d ever done was kiss me. Not passionately. Just lips pressing. Dean turned to Alex. “Like you can talk, Hark. You’ve been boning my sister for nearly a year. When are you going to make an honest woman out of her?”
Alex and Sophie instantly became the uncomfortable couple in the room.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Dean growled. He turned those puppy-dog eyes back to me. “Get dressed, baby. I plan to get you drunk enough to marry me tonight.”
I shook my head with a smile and pulled my dress on. Dean zipped me up. I let my hair out, a slight wave through it from the braid. Sophie took her brother’s hand.
“We’ll meet you outside,” Sophie said. She gave Dean a feral look as they left. “I cannot believe you said that. You know he has a girlfriend.”
“I cannot believe you’d get involved with him, since you know he has a girlfriend,” Dean retorted.
“Says the guy with a girl in every port and making moves on another guy’s girl.” Sophie shut the door after them.
Alex shook his head, handing me my owl mask. “Please be careful with Dean tonight, Mora. I do not believe he is joking about marrying you.”
I laughed. “I know he is, Alex, and that is all that matters.”
“If you are sure.”
“Oh, trust me. I’ve been drunk in Dean’s house often enough that if he wanted to make a move, he would have done so by now.”
Alex raised an eyebrow at me, but left it alone as we moved out to the ballroom. Alex took my hand. “Last dance, then we can start your birthday party.”
Alex twirled me under his arm as we stepped onto the dance floor and moved us straight into a dance. I didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t a waltz. It was like walking in line, but changing who was walking backwards every couple of steps.
“You looked amazing up there,” Alex praised as we danced. “Dad was in awe watching you. I think he nearly ruined his pants when you let go and dropped to hang upside down like you did.”