Zaine smiled and took me in his arms. “I do have one more thing I need to tell you, Lan.” I froze. My God, what else was he hiding from me? He lifted my face and I looked into his beautiful blue eyes. “I love you, Landrey. I have never in my entire life been so in love with anyone and I cannot explain to you what you do to me. All I know is that if you hadn’t forgiven me it would have broken me. I would never be the same again.”
I gazed at him through teary eyes and I knew I loved him too. There really was no other man for me. I knew he was waiting to hear it back from me, but I couldn’t say anything. The reality of having someone actually love me for who I was overwhelmed me.
“You don’t have to say it back, Lan,” he said gently. “I understand. But I’m going to prove to you that you are my everything, I promise you.” I gave him a big hug and pulled him onto the bed. I could see the sunrise and I was beyond exhausted. I just wanted to hold him and nothing else.
“Zaine, will you do me a favor?” I asked sleepily.
“Sure, babe. What?”
“I would love it if you would act depressed for me when you get up.” He looked at me like I was crazy, but I had a good reason. I was going to mess with Tayla. Falling asleep in Zaine’s arms was the greatest feeling, especially knowing that when we woke up things would be even better than before.
The clock read 11:05 AM and my head was pounding. I needed water so badly. I slowly sat up, being careful not to wake Zaine, who was completely knocked out. Sliding out of bed, I walked to the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he said softly. He was looking at me through half-closed eyes and he was so damn sexy.
“I’m going to get some water. Do you want something?”
He smiled at me. “What I want is not in the kitchen.”
“Oh yeah, where is it then?” I asked flirtatiously. He got off the bed and walked to where I was standing. He kissed me with so much feeling, I shut the door.
“What I want is to make amazing love to you and show you just how sorry I am. If you still don’t believe I’m sorry after I’m done, then I’ll leave. So go get your water—you’ll need it,” he smirked.
“I thought you had a meeting today. Don’t you have things you need to take care of?”
“The only thing I have to take care of is right here,” he said. His hand wandered to my panties, which he pushed aside gently. He sunk his middle finger inside of me, and I backed up against the wall. With a small moan I looked into his eyes and said, “Fuck the water, I’ll be ok.” I’d been craving this man for weeks and I couldn’t wait anymore. I wanted him any way I could have him and I wanted him now.
I slipped out of my panties, and took off his boxers as well. His shaft was already hard. I took it in my hand and started stroking him. He let out a groan of pleasure, pushed me up against the wall, lifted my leg and plunged his cock into me. The feeling was long overdue. Nothing made me feel the way he did while he was deep inside me. With each thrust he looked in my eyes and I saw the love he had for me.
“God Lan, I missed you so much. I love the way you feel around me.” He picked up the pace, and I wordlessly let him love me up against the wall. When I climaxed I moaned his name with pleasure. “You are so fucking beautiful when you’re screaming my name.” He closed his eyes and I could feel the warmth of his release. He carried me back to my bed and enveloped me in his muscular arms. “Do I need to beg for forgiveness again?” he whispered softly into my neck.
I murmured my assent, and he moved my hand down to touch his shaft. It was still hard. He rolled me onto my back and was in me again. He slowly made love to me this time, and I loved the way our bodies were just entwined with each other. I matched his thrusts with my own, kissing his neck, then his ear, and finally meeting his mouth with a kiss. I looked up at him and smiled.
“Zaine, I love you,” I said with all my heart. “I always have and always will, no matter what happens.”
He stopped still inside me and smiled. “I love you too Landry, so much.”
We spent most of the afternoon doing just as he said, loving each other, sometimes slowly and gently, sometimes with more urgency. Eventually Zaine fell asleep. I was quietly slipping out of bed to go to the kitchen when I heard Tayla coming out of her room. I had almost forgotten that I still had to deal with her, but now it was more fun for me anyway.
I walked into the kitchen and put on some coffee. She was sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal. She got up and brought the bowl over to the sink, then stopped to look at me. “All right, let’s get this over with. I know you’re going to let me have it, so let’s get to it,” she said.
I just looked at her, rolled my eyes and sat down with my cup of coffee at our little breakfast nook. I knew that my silence would get to her more than any yelling would. She was always ready for a good fight, so I just ignored her and let it eat her up.
“Oh come on Landrey,” she said, “I know I should have told you we were here but I was afraid you wouldn’t come back to the apartment. Zaine really missed you, he needed to make things right.” I sat in silence. I heard the shower running and I knew Zaine was awake, but I could tell from Tayla’s face that she hadn’t heard it. She had no idea he was still here.
“Fine, be that way. I was just looking out for you, like I always do.” She was starting to get into her pouty tantrum stage, which drove me nuts. I couldn’t stand it when she acted like that. I finally started to talk to her.
“I can’t believe you tricked me like that,” I started in. “What were you thinking bringing him here? Maybe I wasn’t ready to see him yet—did you ever think of that? You should have told me!”
“I know. I’m sorry,” she said. “I just wanted you to be happy. You love that man and I … well I was happy for you for a minute. Where is he? Did you send him packing?”
I started to answer, but just then Zaine walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist. I had to snap my fingers in front of her face to bring her attention back to our conversation.
“Hellooo, Tayla? Are you with me?”
“Good God almighty, you get to fuck that?” she said under her breath. I followed her gaze to Zaine, and rolled my eyes.
“Yes, I get to fuck that, and I can’t wait to do it again,” I said, winking at Zaine.
“Hold on here... you guys are back together?” she said in disbelief. “You made me feel like shit for nothing? What the hell, Landrey? I was all ready to hug you and shit! You were messing with me this whole time?”
“Yes … I guess I was.” A big satisfied smile crossed my face and I stood up and kissed my sexy man. Tayla flipped us the bird and went to her room and shut the door. Zaine was laughing and I started to laugh too. I hadn’t laughed like that in a long time. I knew she will get over it.
“Hey, baby. Done messing with Tayla?” Zaine asked with a grin.
“I am. Did you hear me?” I replied proudly.
“Yes, I heard your Oscar-worthy performance of a woman scorned. Now it’s time for you to get dressed so I can take you out.”
“I don’t know, Zaine,” I said. “I really just want to stay in. Is that ok? I don’t feel very good. My stomach is really messed up lately, it hasn’t felt right for weeks. I guess my nerves got the best of me while we... well, you know... I was a mess for a while.”
“Babe, I’m sorry you had to go through that. I... I was probably just as bad as you. Aaron had to come to my house to drag me to business meetings, and I lived off Jim Beam most of the time. I finally convinced Aaron to bring Tayla to the house and talked her into letting me come here to see you.”
“Why did you need her?” I questioned.
“She told me she would rip my dick off if I even thought about coming near you. She’s very protective of you. It is very, very scary, to be honest. The girl literally made me take a quiz on how to apologize and how I was going to treat you when or if we got back together.”
Listening to Zaine’s description of Tayla, I had to lau
gh to myself. Tayla was really protective of me, unless she was trying to get me laid, and then she was ruthless. But I loved her. She was like a sister to me and I wouldn’t have made it without her. “Did she torment you the whole way here on the jet?” I asked.
“Yeah, about the jet... she pretty much took over everything; my room, the bar, the food. I sat in a chair to sleep and she gave me a sheet to cover up with. I told her I needed to use the bathroom; she told me to hold it,” he grimaced.
“Yeah, that’s my girl. Sorry,” I laughed.
“Well I learned my lesson, trust me.”
We stayed in the next day too, ordered take-out and watched movies. Tayla even got over her tantrum and hung out with us eventually.
“So how is the boutique and the show coming along, Tayla? Are you making me proud?” I asked her once she finally started talking to me again.
“I have to say, I like being in charge,” she said. “Who would of thunk it, me in charge? The boutique has been swamped since it opened last week and the show’s coming along with no problems.”
“Aaron tells me that Tayla has been kicking some ass!” Zaine reported. “They seem to work well together,” he added with surprise.
“Well, I can come back to work now that my emotional state should be on the mend,” I announced. “That is, if you still need me there.”
Tayla got off the couch and came over to me like a little girl getting ready to get her new dolly out of the box. “Does that mean you’re coming back to California with us?”
“I guess it does.” Both Zaine and Tayla screamed yes at the same time and started telling me to pack my things.
“Do we have to leave right now? I’m tired and it’s 10:30 at night. Besides, I want to show Zaine around a little. Can we leave the day after tomorrow?”
“Sorry babe,” Zaine said, “I’m just excited that you’re coming home with me. You’ll stay with me again, right?”
I hesitated, and decided to mess with him a little. “I think it’s best if I just stay at the condo for a while. I mean, we still need time to fix things, Zaine.” He had a lost look on his face and flopped back on the couch, so I quickly added, “Hey, I’m kidding! Of course I want to stay with you; I love you, remember?”
He leaned in and kissed me, “You’d better.”
“Yeah, you two are gross,” Tayla said. “I’m going to bed. What time do you want to get up to go sightseeing tomorrow?”
“Actually, I have a business meeting in the morning, so maybe around noon?” Zaine suggested. Tayla looked almost disappointed that we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. What is wrong with her? I thought.
I interjected, “Well that’s fine with me. I’m totally tired and can sleep in now that I won’t be interrupted in the morning by you, Mr. Brooks.”
“Maybe not the morning, but how about right now?” he suggested with a wink.
“Yeah, I’m out. Goodnight.” Tayla went to her room and shut the door.
Laughing, Zaine picked me up and carried me to the bedroom. I climbed into bed, and he crawled in next to me and pulled me in close to him. “I know you’re tired, so let’s just go to sleep. I just want to hold you, breathe you in and realize I have you next to me,” he said sweetly. I fell asleep with a smile on my face, knowing he was with me again.
We arrived in L.A. around three o’clock on Tuesday. Thank God we were finally back! I just wanted to go to sleep in a big bed that was on the ground, but I had to go to the boutique to check Tayla’s work and let everyone know I was back. Zaine went to his office while Tayla and I had Max drive us to the store. I couldn’t wait to see the finished product and how well she’d done on her own.
“Am I going to get a raise after you see this place, or what?” Tayla asked hopefully.
“You’re that sure of yourself, huh?” I teased. “You know I can’t give you a raise, but I can recommend to Johan that you do more projects, which means more money.”
“I know I made this place hot! Well, I did have help, but it was mostly me,” she pointed out. “It helped that Aaron was around to help with the fashion show. I don’t know that I could have handled both things on my own.”
“Oh yeah, Aaron,” I said slowly. “How is that work relationship going?”
Just as Tayla started to answer, we arrived at the shop and Max opened the door. She keeps getting out of telling me anything about their relationship, I thought. Making a note to myself to revisit the subject, I prepared to be amazed at her work.
When we walked into the store my jaw dropped in amazement. The place looked fantastic! The displays were exactly what Johan wanted and more, and I was so proud of my friend.
“Wow, this place is off the hook! You really did an amazing job!” I said appreciatively.
“What, you didn’t think I could handle it?” Tayla asked.
“Come on now, you and I both know that you tend to take the easy way out at times. It’s just the first time you’ve ever taken charge; I’m proud of you.”
Tayla got a big, cheesy grin on her face, “I know—I rock,” she said happily.
“Don’t push it,” I warned, joking. “We still have the fashion show in three weeks. We’ll see who rocks then.”
“I know, I can’t wait! I interviewed the models you had sent over. They were all right-looking, but they all needed to eat something. One girl was so skinny, I swore I could see a cracker digesting in her stomach,” Tayla said.
“You’re gross,” I laughed, “and I don’t even think that’s possible.”
“You know bitches get crazy, especially when they’re hungry.”
“And on that note... I’ll see you later.” I chuckled as I left the store and headed over to the condo to pick up some things for Zaine’s.
The night of the fashion show had finally arrived. The last three weeks had been a whirlwind of work and romance, and I felt relieved that the big night was here at last. I left the Design Center to start primping at around 3 in the afternoon; the show started at 7 sharp. Zaine was still at work so I would have the house to myself. Max dropped me off at the front door, and I let myself in with the key Zaine had given me when we returned from New York. Once inside, I found a box with a big red bow on the hallway table. The attached note read:
There was no signature, but I figured it must be from Zaine. Inside the box were huge chocolate-covered strawberries. “How sweet,” I said to myself. “I love strawberries! It was so nice of Zaine to remember that.” I retrieved my cell phone from my bag and sent him a quick text:
Thanks for the beautiful strawberries. I will enjoy every bite. Love ya
I was starving so I ate a berry and made my way upstairs to get dressed. I knew Zaine would be on his way home soon and wanted to be ready so we wouldn’t be late. Eating another yummy strawberry, I headed into the bathroom to take a shower. As I bent over to take off my shoes, I started feeling dizzy. I stood up slowly, thinking, I’ve been feeling off lately, but I have been stressed the last couple of weeks. This must be stress as well. I tried to get in the shower, but the dizzy spell was getting worse. I didn’t know if I would be able to make it to my phone. I started to sit down, but crumpled to the floor and hit my head on the toilet. The last thing I saw was black.
“We have a female, early 30s, unconscious.” I could hear the words as I struggled to open my eyes. I tried to lift my head but couldn’t. My vision was very blurry, but I could see Zaine talking to a paramedic. I was scared. Oh my God, what happened to me? Why are the paramedics here?
In a raspy voice I yelled for Zaine. He was at my side so fast.
“Baby, are you ok? You weren’t waking up for me. I found you on the floor in the bathroom. I couldn’t wake you up. Do you remember what happened?”
“All I remember is when I got here I opened your gift. I went to shower and...”
“Babe, I didn’t leave you any presents, what are you talking about?”
“I sent you a text to thank you, I remember doing that.”
“The strawberries... somebody left me a box of chocolate-covered strawberries with a note that said ‘Good luck tonight.’ I thought they were from you.”
“Where is the box, Lan? I need to tell the paramedics and talk to Max.” I told him where the box of strawberries was and he left my side for a moment to talk to the ambulance crew. My head was pounding and I felt like I was going to vomit. I tried to clear my head, but I felt as if everything was under water; fuzzy and vague. I struggled to stay awake but kept drifting in and out of consciousness.
“We’re going to take you to the hospital, Miss Steele,” a paramedic told me. “You have a pretty nasty bump on your head and we think you should get some blood work done just to see what might have caused you to black out.”
“I can’t go to the hospital, I have a show,” I protested. “I probably just passed out after hitting my head. I have somewhere I need to be.” I sat up and instantly felt as if a bomb had exploded in my brain. I held my head in my hands and took a deep breath. It hurt so badly, it actually brought tears to my eyes.
Zaine came running over to me, saying, “Lan, lay back down please.”
“Zaine, we have the show tonight, I’ll be fine. I’ll just take some aspirin and get ready to go.”
“Landrey, you need more than an aspirin. I didn’t leave those strawberries for you and Max said there were no deliveries at all today. I talked to Aaron, and he said he wasn’t here, and Tayla was with you all day. I don’t know who put those there, but whoever did got into this house undetected. I’ve called the police and they’re on their way now. You need to get looked at to make sure you’re out of the woods. I don’t want to hear another word about the show.”
His words were hard to process. Max hadn’t let anyone in and the only other people with keys were nowhere near here today? Was it possible that the strawberries were tainted somehow? If so, that meant I was singled out, that whoever left those strawberries wanted to hurt me. I have no enemies that I know of, so why would somebody want to harm me?
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