by Kendra Riley
“Cozy place you got here,” he said, looking at her. He knew he had to control himself. Jumping into her panties was not the mark of a gentleman, but he knew he had to sleep with her soon, just so he could get it out of his system, the way the dress hugged her curves, the way her golden brown skin tone stood out under the exhibit’s lights…Dante continued toward her bedroom, seeing how it was half-open, with faint light coming from inside. What? She slept with a night light on?
She stepped in front of him. “I really think you should go home.” She looked insistent. He didn’t care.
“Why? You hiding someone here-“ he stopped, unable to take a step in further. There was someone on the bed, a little girl who was fast asleep. A hundred thoughts raced through his mind at one time. This was her daughter, wasn’t it? The little girl kind of looked like her, kind of, but Aniya had a darker complexion.
He wanted her to say something, finding that he couldn’t. Say something, say something, dammit.
“Quiet. You’ll wake her up,” she finally spoke.
He didn’t know what to feel, didn’t know what else to think- but his mind was solely fixated on the fact that the woman he was about to seduce had a child, sleeping on the bed where he had planned to enjoy the night. “My apologies, I was too loud,” he told her. “Excuse me, and I hope you’ll enjoy the food. You can heat that up if you want it for breakfast.”
It sounded lame, he knew, but what else could he say? He had assumed too much, and it made an ass out of him. Was she laughing internally this time? Serves me right for thinking about getting laid, huh? He needed a graceful exit out. “Good night, Miss Compton.”
He walked past her, determined not to let any semblance of annoyance show. He wasn’t even annoyed. He was shocked, to say the least. Estúpido. The more it sunk in, the more he realized it was wrong to have barged into her home. What had gotten into him? Did he want her so badly he resorted to that? It was the first time in his life that he had done something like this. Women usually threw themselves at him, and he only needed to reciprocate.
She had a daughter, she had a child! He didn’t do his background check well enough, he thought to himself. This was a spur of the moment decision, one he thought he wouldn’t regret at all- but it was a slap to the face. He regretted it all, big time. He knew it was her child, everything was said in her eyes, in the way she moved. It was awkward, almost shameful, that he had forced the situation on her, not knowing she was responsible for something bigger, responsible for a child- her child!
He got into his car, unable to start his engine right away. He had been overconfident, thinking it came natural to him. Reality begged to differ. He didn’t see the signs right away, did he? She had been adamant to get home, she had refused him, initially. Aniya wanted him, he knew it. He didn’t even need to try so much, but her daughter came first.
Dante had become the kind of guy he disliked immensely, a man without regard for the feelings of women. Sure, he had his needs, but he had always thought he wouldn’t become sex-starved. Seeing her earlier triggered something in him, and he thought he could assuage that need by coming over, and showing her how sincere he was in getting her laid.
As soon as he got home, he drank two shots of brandy, hoping to sleep, and sleep fast. But sleep didn’t come for him, not until the sun began to rise.
Chapter5
The date with Dante hadn’t materialized at all, and this she understood. In the world of certain people, a single mother was equivalent to damaged goods. She hated seeing Dante’s eyes like that, the way they had become dark. Isabella was the light of her life, and she wouldn’t let a single man’s opinion get in the way of her becoming the best mother possible.
She spent the day taking Isabella out for playtime in the park, all the while thinking about what had transpired last night. It left her unsettled, really, it did. He didn’t bother calling her, he didn’t even bother texting her when he already had her number. An apology would have been good at least.
They would do the groceries in a few, and they would go home and watch some cartoon, and maybe she would read Isabella a book. Isabella loved listening to her read aloud. She made sure her child understood both English and Spanish, but Spanish cartoons were fast becoming her thing.
Aniya found herself replaying the scenario last night, as Isabella slid down the slide in the playground, along with other kids her age. She sat three feet away from her child, knowing she wouldn’t have had it any other way. She was proud of her daughter, and had no qualms of letting people know she was hers. Dante found out in a weird way. He was there for other things that didn’t include pillow talk- if that still existed. She remembered the way he touched her…. Arggh! Again? Stop it, stop it. You can’t think about things like this at a children’s playground!
As she sat on the bench, staring at her child, she noticed someone else sit down beside her. She didn’t care at first, but then she looked down and saw that the brown oxfords looked familiar. She looked sideways to see Dante Santoro seated beside her, a good few inches away. What was this? An attempt at respecting her personal space? He didn’t have any last night when he barged into her home.
“Hello,” she finally said, not looking at him. “What brings you here?”
He was quiet for a moment. “I’d like to apologize for my behavior last night.”
Dante Santoro was apologizing. And here she thought that he didn’t have that bone in his body. Well, it wasn’t like she knew him that well, but it certainly felt like it.
“What for?” she found herself asking. What for meant a lot of things.
“For barging in on you, disturbing you when you had things to do, and for well- I didn’t want to wake the child up or anything. Forgive me.”
“It’s fine. She’s a good sleeper,” Aniya said, still not looking at him. “You come here often?”
“When I’m stressed,” he replied.
“So you’re stressed now?”
“More … uncomfortable,” he began. “It was rude of me. Unlike me.”
“But, you still did it.”
“I still did it.”
“Why?”
“I was desperate to see you,” he said simply. “I hope it makes you feel better.”
“It doesn’t,” she told him, “I know it’s supposed to make me feel better, but it doesn’t.” There was a few moments of silence, and it made her feel uncomfortable. “You don’t have to try and make it up to me, you know, your apology is already good.”
“I think I still lack in terms of a proper apology.”
“If you’re thinking of taking me out on a date, just to say you’re sorry, forget it,” she said to him flatly. “It’s a date for all the wrong reasons.”
“I’m trying to make it a right one.”
“I won’t go out on a date with you just because you want to apologize.”
“You’re asking me to say there was a connection between us last night?” he asked her, looking at the playground where four kids played, including Isabella.
She didn’t say anything. Was there? She wanted to believe there was, but who was she kidding? She was a single mother, he was a single multi-millionaire- billionaire even, who could have any woman he’d wanted, and do anything he wanted. This was a conversation he could forget in a heartbeat, and they would go their separate ways and pretend nothing happened between them, ‘cause nothing did, right?
“I’d like to think there was,” he replied.
“Until you found out I had a child?” She didn’t mean for her voice to sound bitter, but there was nothing she could do about it. Disappointment over it was evident, and maybe, she was hoping for too much. She certainly didn’t want a friend in him. He didn’t seem like a person who kept many friends.
“Until I found out you were a single, hard-working mother,” he said.
“You’re right. I do work hard,” she said. “I work hard for Isabella. Everything I do is for her.”
“It doesn’t mean you shou
ld set aside your own wants and needs.”
“Sex isn’t a need,” she found herself saying. Although, last night, it felt like it was a great need.
“It sure didn’t seem like you didn’t want yesterday,” he told her. “And I wasn’t talking about sex, mind you. I was talking about you having some good quality time for yourself.”
“I don’t have the money for that, and if I did, I wouldn’t have the time. She’s my whole life.”
“You should be proud of yourself.”
“What do you know?” she said to him. “You’ve never been a single parent, you’ve never dated a single mother, or a woman who has kids, I bet.”
He nodded. “True. Perspectives change, though.”
“I won’t ask why. That’s too personal.”
“Last night was personal. Well, we got personal,” he said to her. “I know you wanted it as much as I did, so I went to your place, hoping to surprise you with something random, and maybe some nice nightcap…”
“Well, you were the one who got surprised, huh?”
He nodded, looking at Isabella. “She’s adorable.”
“You should see her up close. I think I did an okay job so far.”
Would he ask her who the father was? She didn’t want him to ask at all. Maybe she knew him, or maybe he would try to find a way to know him. She hadn’t seen Jose Aguirre in a while, and hoped she would never see him again. Perhaps, Isabella could in the future, when she was all grown up and emotionally stable, far more stable than she was now.
“Maybe some other time. I came here to talk to you first,” he said.
“I think you’ve said all that was needed to be said. So what comes next?” she started. “We’ll just go on with our lives, pretending nothing like that ever happened between us?”
He took a breath. “I’m not quite sure. I’d like to consider people’s feelings, always.”
“You don’t have to consider mine,” she said off-handedly. “We didn’t sleep with each other.”
“Although we both wanted to,” he finished.
“I don’t think I can handle emotions as complex as that. The whole sleeping with someone and then no longer seeing that person… I can’t do that to myself. You can, though.”
“I was waiting for you to say how lucky I was,” he said. “I haven’t slept with anyone since my last date. Let’s just call it a date.”
“So is that why you want to take me out on a date?”
He smiled a little, looking at the leaves rustling above them. “I don’t like labelling the women I’ve taken out to dinner with as my girlfriends, no matter how long it’s been, unless I feel completely committed to it.”
“So you’ve never been committed since when?”
“Quite a while now. My last girlfriend was back in college. She’s now happily engaged, which I’m happy for as well.”
“If you’re looking for a good time, you may find it with me, but I’m just not like that.”
“That’s why I came over to apologize.”
“Wait,” she began. “How in the hell did you know that I was here? With my daughter?”
“I’m not a stalker, you know,” he said, sounding miffed. “Just so happened I was taking my afternoon stroll, you know, to clear my head from work for a moment. I’ve been walking in this park for a little over three years now. It’s close to the office. And of all the people I had to come across, yes, it had to be you. So I figured, I wanted to get this nagging concern out of my head.”
“I thought you were a jerk, you know,” she told him.
“And you still think I am?”
“A little. But you apologized. So… a little.”
“Well, thank you,” he said, his tone changing a little. It sounded kinder. “Thank you for listening to me.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. Aniya then took a deep breath, and she looked at her watch. It was to ease the strangeness of how it all felt, looking at time. “I have to go. We have to do groceries.”
“Of course. Weekly groceries. Where will you be off to?”
“Somewhere near,” she said, not wanting to give the place away. It was safe to assume that he wouldn’t be contacting her anytime soon, anyway. Like he’d care.
“Isabella!” she called out. “Come on, let’s go, vamonos.”
“So she speaks Spanish?” he asked her as Isabella dutifully ambled down from a mini slide.
“Fluently. Her English is a bit accented,” Aniya told him. She held out her hand to her daughter who took it as soon as she arrived in front of her. “Did you have fun?” she asked her little girl.
Isabella nodded. “Yes, mama.” Then Isabella noticed someone beside her. “¿Quién eres?” she asked, with her wide-eyed innocence evident.
Dante looked surprised that she spoke eloquently for her age. He looked up to Aniya for a moment, then he gave a small smile. He was clearly awkward with children. “I’m a friend of your mama.”
“Hello,” Isabella said with a wide grin. Her milk teeth flashed brilliantly at Dante, and Aniya looked to see Dante reciprocating that smile. “Hello, new friend.”
“Say goodbye to the friend now, Isabella,” Aniya told her, standing up and holding onto her daughter’s hand. She looked at Dante, almost wanting to memorize that face before she decided she would not see him again, if possible. She forced a quick smile, and a deep breath. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yes.”
She turned to walk the other way, her mind churning with a hundred other things she could have said. A part of her knew she was going to regret it. He did show some interest in her after all, and she had lied when she said everything was going to be alright. It was going to bother her for a while, but she would cope, like how she had coped before.
*
“It was rude of me. Unlike me.” Was it unlike him? He couldn’t shake off that nagging feeling. Was it guilt? Or he was just being morally proper this time?
“But, you still did it.” She just had to say it.
“I still did it,” he confirmed.
“Why?”
Ah, that dreaded question. He had prided himself in handling different situations- but this was on a whole new league of its own. “I was desperate to see you,” he said simply. “I hope it makes you feel better.”
It was that admittance, without even thinking twice, that made him reflect the situation through. I was desperate to see you spoke volumes, did it not? How would she react? She wouldn’t look at him, not after she had acknowledged his presence.
“I’d like to consider people’s feelings, always.” It was true, in a way. He knew he played nonchalance well, it was part of his persona, and it was part of the Santoro-del Prado dynasty, one that kept them in power and riches for years on end.
“You don’t have to consider mine,” she had said to him off-handedly. “We didn’t sleep with each other.”
“Although we both wanted to,” he finished. He didn’t want to interrupt her, but he felt like he had to. Of course he wanted to sleep with her, and she wanted to sleep with him. The moment he held her, her hormones went flying through the roof.
“I don’t think I can handle emotions as complex as that. The whole sleeping with someone and then no longer seeing that person… I can’t do that to myself. You can, though.”
It was a red flag of sorts, he thought. She couldn’t handle the stress of a few dates, and the stress of a few moments of intimacy. He wondered how she had ended up as a single mother, and what happened between her and the father of Isabella. Of course he could sleep with anyone he wanted to, which would also mean he’d lost all his morals. He only slept with women he exclusively dated, and suddenly, on that night, Aniya Compton had become an exception.
Seeing her in the park was nothing short of a total coincidence. Perhaps, the lack of sleep had loosened his tongue, and made him more vulnerable and that apologizing came easy to him that time.
“If you’re looking for a good time, you may find it with
me, but I’m just not like that,” Aniya continued later on.
He was looking for a good time, it was obvious in the way he lusted over her, but he had controlled it now. Children were such effective birth control methods, were they not?
“That’s why I came over to apologize,” he reasoned.
Now, meeting Isabella was something that caught him off-guard. He hadn’t expected she’d call her daughter over. He had thought he’d be leaving first, just to avoid the awkwardness. He was uncomfortable around children, and he felt himself stiffen as the little girl asked him who he was. He tried to smile, and he hoped the smile wouldn’t disappoint the child. Surprisingly, it didn’t. Isabella’s smile was warm, as warm as her mother’s, and it was lovely to look at.
It was strange to think of Aniya as a mother. It did not show at all. He no longer pried, glad that Aniya had said they had to leave to do groceries. The walk in the park gave him time to digest things. He had acted inappropriately, and the only good thing to come out of that was that she wanted him, too.
He watched as they walked away, hand in hand, and it made him smile to himself. He stopped upon realizing this. So the kid was cute, and the mother was a gorgeous woman, and she didn’t even know it.
Why in the hell was she so oblivious to that fact? She couldn’t have lacked for suitors despite being a single mom. And it was clear that she wasn’t ashamed of her daughter. He had never seen such a fierce love, or maybe it was because he hadn’t met too many single mothers- or maybe it was because he hadn’t been interested in a single mother ever since.
He sat for a few more minutes on the bench, leaning back comfortably, looking at the sunlight playing against the leaves. Now that that was over, shouldn’t he be feeling that sense of relief? Aniya seemed to be an honest person, and she did admit she still thought of him as a jerk, and that certainly wasn’t enough to warrant the feelings of unease.