Daniel was beaming as he replied, “I thought you'd say that,” And he finally pulled up to the front doors of the Roosevelt Hotel.
As soon as he put the car in park, an elderly man with a killer mustache and a top hat pulled her door open. Reese nodded, plastering a thankful smile on her face, as she stepped into the frigid air and was ambushed by the sounds of New York at night. However, being 11 PM on New Year's Eve, there was a hell of a lot more people walking around in tight skirts and having loud, drunken conversations with each other, than would have been expected on any other Wednesday night. Their jubilant voices intertwined with the sound of wheels idly moving across the icy asphalt at the record slow pacing; with heels slapping against the pavement; with music and laughter leaking out of the opening and closing doors of nearby restaurants.
“Are you ready?” Daniel asked after he rounded the front of his car and tossed his keys at the valet.
Reese nodded eagerly and they scurried out of the cold, muttering quick, “thank yous,” to the doorman. Once inside, Reese paused to take off her jacket and scarf. “Do you want me to hold that until we get to the coat check?” Daniel asked. But as Reese looked up to hand it to him, she caught sight of the fantastical lobby. She sighed to herself at the ruby-red rug covered stairs that she was facing; at the mahogany bar just off to the right, adorned with stools that looked hand-made and at least tens of thousands of dollars each; at the grand front desk, manned by seven people who looked more like perfectly crafted dolls than actual human beings. They each stood at their own computers with stern looks on their faces as they either talked on the phone, or attended to guests.
“This is amazing.” Reese breathed as they approached the array of six gold-plated elevators. As a young curvy African American girl, with a modest upbringing, she always wanted to be a part of this world. And now she was here.
A bell hop pressed the button for them and held the door open as they stepped inside. About four seconds later, the doors swung open to reveal a grand ball room filled with people dressed exactly like Reese and Daniel. The air was a bit warmer and stuffier in the second floor ball room and people's sharp conversations seemed to simply linger around in the air, just barely audible over the “tasteful” music.
As Daniel went off to a table just off to the right in order to check their coats, a man in a white suit who carried a tray of what looked like white wine approached her, “Some Chardonnay?” He mumbled in a haughty voice.
Reese shrugged and took one. She found the idea of indulging in alcohol, if, for no other reason than to make this evening a bit less of a struggle for her. extremely appealing. She sipped the cool liquid, smiling at the taste: somewhat bitter, but somehow still sweet, as it trickled down her throat. The man nodded, but just as he was walking away, Reese placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him, and grabbed another glass for Daniel.
“So, what do you think?” Daniel asked as she offered him the glass of wine.
Reese shrugged. “Well, the wine is good.”
Daniel chuckled. “So it is.” He replied, just as an old man Reese vaguely recognized approached them.
“Good evening!” He greeted them in a jubilant voice. It was obvious from the thin film of sweat glistening on his forehead and the way his lips hung slightly open that he was way ahead of them in terms of drinks.
“Mark! How are you?” Daniel asked as they shook hands.
Reese stood a step behind Daniel, trying to sip her wine and be invisible without making it obvious that she was trying to be invisible. But there was no such luck.
“I'm great!” he exclaimed. “It's cold as tits out there...” he started, but as he made eye contact with Reese, he trailed off.
She took one last drag of her glass of wine and stared back into his gray eyes. Another man in a white suit came by and replaced her empty glass with a filled one. As she took one more sip of this, it all came back to her. This was his boss: that awfully rude man she waited on four months ago.
“But I see it's warm enough in here.” he finished as he continued to stare at her.
“Uh, this is my girlfriend, Reese Allen. Reese, this is Mark Ronson, the director of the board.” Daniel said.
Reese nodded slowly as she offered her hand to him, a guarded expression darkening his face. She hoped to God that her make-up was thick enough to make her unrecognizable. She tried her best not to grimace when Mark raised her hand to his lips and planted a wet kiss on it. However, her head was already starting to swim from all the wine she had consumed in such a short amount of time, so she wasn't sure if she had succeeded or not.
“Such a beautiful girl.” Mark murmured. He then shifted his gaze to Daniel, “You're lucky you have her all to yourself.”
Daniel nodded slowly. “That's the only way to have her.” He replied dryly.
Mark raised a bushy, white eyebrow. “Something's familiar about you...” He started.
Reese's fake smile dropped in an instant.
“That's strange...” Daniel murmured in such a way that made Reese think he didn't remember that his girlfriend waited on his boss.
He cocked his head to the side. “It's those eyes... I swear I've seen them before.”
“Oh.. you know... I have forgettable eyes. You're probably just confusing me with someone else honestly.” Reese replied hastily.
Daniel gave her a curious look, confused as to what was happening.
“That's just it,” Mark pressed, “They're not forgettable.”
Reese gave a theatrical shrug and took a generous swig of her wine. “Oh well-” She started, but just as she was about to initiated some topic of small talk, his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.
“You work at Per Se!” he exclaimed in the most unforgiving way.
Reese flinched at this and her heart started pounding as if he had just screamed, “imposter!” to everyone. She let out one long, deep sigh. “Yes. Yes I do actually. Do you eat there often?”
He shook his head, “Nope.” he then looked at Daniel, “But I did once, with him.”
Reese nodded. “That's... I'm happy for you. It's a good place.” Out of the corner of her eye, Reese could see Daniel's completely mortified facial expression.
“Daniel, you're dating a waitress?”
But before Daniel could come up with anything to say, Reese, the strong, curvy, confidant African American woman snapped, “No. He's dating a woman, who so happens to work at a restaurant.”
“Yeah.” Mark quipped. “You wait tables for a living.” He then turned to Daniel again, “I am surprised to say the least...” He shook his head in wonder, “You have really gone out of the box here.” He gestured at Reese, “I mean, a gorgeous waitress. Goodness, you're looking for an adventure.” He then placed one of his wandering hands on her shoulder, “I know how this must sound honey, but you should see his ex.”
Chapter 12
Reese turned her sharp gaze on Daniel, her brows furrowed in confusion. “His ex?”
Mark nodded nonchalantly, “Yeah, she's the daughter of the CEO of Coca Cola.”
Reese's jaw dropped and she could think of nothing to do, but to take another swig of wine. She felt completely out of her element.
“My ex,” Daniel started, as if someone suddenly flipped a switch in his head. “Was a woman who did nothing with her days but spend her father's money. Reese is a researcher at NYU.”
Reese bit her lips, her eyes going wide in the light of Daniel's defending her.
“Oh, is she?”
“Yes, and she spends her days culturing organs from scratch.” Daniel continued.
Mark turned his impressed eye on Reese. “You do?”
Reese was blushing in spite of herself. “Well, it's … I'm... well... I'm trying to get a grant to start a project that might lead to us being able to do that.”
Daniel took her hand in his and turned to Mark, “So, as you can see, the fact that she is a waitress is the least interesting thing about her.” He snapped. “If you'l
l excuse me, I would like to visit the bar.” Before Mark could say anything more, Daniel began to push through the crowd, dragged a stunned Reese behind him.
“Wait, there's a bar?” She called over the noise of the crowd.
“Yes,” Daniel replied, “There's always a bar.” As he said this, they came to a clearing in the back of the room that revealed a short marble table, behind which stood a man dressed in a black button down shirt and black slacks who alternated between filling glasses with an assortment of drinks from the massive collection sitting behind him and leaning over the counter to take orders from those waiting not-so-patiently.
Daniel took his place leaning against the bar counter and Reese copied his example. When the man finally attended to him, Daniel smiled, then screamed, “One Gin and tonic for me and a Vodka Cranberry for the lady!”
The man nodded, and set to work making his drinks.
“I'm really sorry about my boss.” Daniel sighed as the two of them waited for their drinks.
Even though it wasn't Daniel's fault that Mark was an asshole... and drunk, or Mark's fault that she had waited on him once, she couldn't help but nurse a serious urge to equally blame both of them for the scrutiny that she had endured. Even when she disguised herself as deeply as Chanel lipstick and louboutin heels would allow, she still carried around that sneaking suspicion that she stuck out like a sore thumb to all of his friends and basically everyone important in his life.
She worried about the fact that she was always having to defend who she was and the right she had to date him, even to her own friends, like Maria. Reese pursed her lips and refrained from answering out of a fear that her buzzed lips would say something now that her sober mind would regret later.
Eventually, the bartender came back with their drinks. She grabbed the glass full of red liquid and took a generous swig, her head swimming at the markedly stronger drink: she could feel the vodka burn as it slithered down her throat. Then, after taking another sip and smacking her lips, she looked up to Daniel and replied, “It's not your fault.” But even with all of her effort, her voice still came out short and in-genuine.
Daniel sighed. He cupped the back of her neck with his right hand and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then one on her cheek. With this, he whispered, “You know I admire you.”
Reese melted at the sound of this and could do nothing more than nod eagerly. As he pulled away, he checked his watch. “Now, we've got about fifteen minutes until midnight and then we can go do whatever you want.” he murmured with a wink.
“Okay.” Reese muttered. She faced the counter and continued to sip out of her glass of vodka and cranberry juice. As she drank, her mind started to wander back to the conversation they had had in the car on their way to the party. She drained her drink and asked for another as, in her excitement, she took a mental inventory of all the things she owned and how many boxes she could fit them in.
“Daniel?” She looked up to find Daniel leaning with his back to the bar, with a drink in his right hand and resting his right elbow on the counter. He surveyed the room with a calm expression on his face. Reese took note of the fact that, although everyone else seemed to cling to each other for the sake of conversation and networking, Daniel was in no hurry to be social.
“Yes?” He replied, turning his gaze on her.
Reese just grinned, “Nothing... I was just....” She shook her head.
He raised an eyebrow. “Thinking about moving in?”
Reese intertwined her arm with his. “I would go home and do it right now if I could.” She sighed, staring out into the homogenous crowd of people. “You said this party was going to be crazy.”
“I said people were going to be out of control and indulgent.” He replied.
Reese took another sip of her drink. “I think we have two very different understandings of, 'out of control and indulgent'”
Daniel chuckled at this, just as a younger man in a black dinner jacket with a thin gold tie walked up to Daniel. He smiled, an action that illuminated his hazel eyes, and extended a hand. “Hi! My name is Brad.”
Daniel narrowed his eyes, but then responded with, “Oh! Brad Gridders.”
Brad laughed. “We spoke on the phone a couple of days ago.”
Daniel nodded. “Yup. I sold you some stock.”
Brad shrugged. “You said they would go up and they did!”
“I'd be a really bad psychic if they didn't.” Daniel joked. As their laughter subsided, he turned to Reese and added, “This is my girlfriend, Reese Allen. Reese, this is Brad Gridders, a new client of mine.”
Brad glanced at Reese, shot her a quick smile, then swiftly returned his gaze to Daniel. “She's lovely. Uh... I actually would like to consult you on the possibility of more investments.”
Daniel nodded and the two of them launched into a jargon-charged conversation Reese couldn't hope to follow. With a sigh, she returned to her drink and sipped it down to the ice.
“Can I get you another one of those?” Reese looked up to find a tall, incredibly sleek looking man with blond hair and warm, brown eyes staring down at her.
Reese, feeling her face flush from all the vodka cranberries just laughed at him. “It's an open bar. You don't need to get me anything.”
He shrugged and rested his forearms on the counter next to her. At this close range, Reese could smell the Calvin Klein cologne emanating from his every pore. The scent made her want to swoon. “I know that. But it's the thought that counts.”
Reese, realizing what was going on, raised an eyebrow and replied, “Good sir, you're thoughts are going to get you trouble.”
The man cocked his head to one side. “Are they?” he ran his fingertips over her bare shoulder. “I could use a little trouble.”
Reese blinked twice. Something told her she needed to find a way to artfully hint at the fact that she was, in fact, taken, and not in the mood for any, 'trouble,' at all, but her mind was simply too foggy to think of anything in time. So she simply pointed a wavering finger at Daniel, who was still immersed in his conversation with Brad and replied with, “I've got all the trouble I need right there.”
As she said this, Reese could have sworn, she saw the man's face flush a slight pink color. He dropped his gaze to the damp, marble counter, but when he lifted it again, he seemed to be completely unphased. “Ah. Daniel Scott. He's a lucky man. He's got the job... and the girl.” He commented, gesturing at her.
Reese couldn't help but smile at this. Now that she had made it clear to him that trying anything was not a good idea, she found it easier to let her guard down. “You've clearly got the job too.”
The man shrugged. “You're too kind. What's your name?”
“Reese Allen.” Reese answered as she offered him a hand.
He nodded. “Ah, Reese.” he repeated, but when he shook her hand, his touch was a bit too tender for her comfort.
Reese opened her mouth to ask his name, but before the question could come out, there was a swelling roar in the crowd of people. She looked up to see that the waiter’s trays of Chardonnay had been replaced with Champagne. Mark and the other old man she recognized from Daniel's dinner at Per Se all those months ago stood on a raised platform with identical, unopened bottles of champagne in their hands.
Their faces were beat red and they were talking excitedly to the people that immediately surrounded them. Then, as if, on cue, the two of them raised their hands and screamed, “Ten!” In one syllable, the crowd had caught on and everyone was counting down.
As Reese joined in somewhere around “Seven!” She felt an arm wrap itself around her waist. When she looked up to find that it belonged to Daniel, her smile grew wider and she screamed the numbers with just as much gusto as everyone else.
And finally, at one, the crowd erupted into a heart, “Happy New Year!!!!” and more unintelligible screaming.
Daniel turned Reese and kissed her. Their lips met and began to dance with each other as a shock shot up her spine and her ski
n sizzled with desire. She wrapped her arms as tightly around his neck as she possibly could and he lifted her clean off the ground. Even when Daniel put her down, and her unforgiving louboutin heels slapped against the tile floor that surrounded the bar, and the two of them fell into uncontrollable laughter, Reese's heart still pounded, throbbing in her neck and ears. Each fine hair lying on her skin still stood on end, sprouting from her goose bumps and picking up every bit of Daniel. Each and every inch of her body still longed for more and more of him.
Chapter 13
Reese rolled over in Daniel's bed, groaning as she dragged his silk sheets up to her nose and burrowed her face in his shoulder. He adjusted to this by wrapping his arm around waist. He slowly ran his hands up and down her thigh, his fingertips leaving trails of goose bumps. At this, Reese pressed herself even closer to him, a peculiar warmth spreading in between her legs. She moaned at the sound of his heartbeat, slow, steady and hard, pounding against his rib cage and filling her ears. She clutched his satin night shirt with her fingers and planted a soft skin on his neck; rough with his morning scruff. He returned the favor, kissing her on her forehead and running the fingers of his free hand through her hair. She squeezed her eyes shut and began to suck on his neck, wrapping her leg around his waist. When he nudged her with his nose, she lifted her chin, offering her lips up to him.
Reese sighed as he kissed her hungrily, his lips finding her cheek, then her chin, then the tender spot of skin just underneath her earlobe. She could feel his bulge growing harder just inside of her lifted thigh. She massaged it with her leg, her excitement swelling with his. In one swift, powerful moment, he turned her onto her back and mounted her. Reese lifted her arms as he peeled her tank top off, then quickly unbuttoned his night shirt and slipped it off of her shoulders. A smile tickled the edges of her lips as the sensations of their bare bodies pressed against each other. He kissed every inch of her body, leaving short flashes of fire in his wake. She arched her back and ran her fingertips across the perfect contours of his chest and back, squeezing him and scratching him whenever... and wherever she pleased.
City Vibes - Complete Series (BWWM Interracial Billionaire Romance) Page 6