The scraping sound of a chair being dragged back, had me looking up to the elegant man with perfect shaped brows and wide plump lips, that smiled down at me. “Hey, sweetie.” He handed me a pair of sneakers. “So, why do you look like you’re carrying the world on your shoulders?” he asked after I’d slipped them on. “Wait.” He lifted his hands up, palms out. “Don’t answer that. Was my mother being her usual bitchy self again?” He sighed, signaling the barman for our beers. Unable to stand his mother’s psychotic behavior over his sexual preference, he’d moved out a year ago, preferring to crash with two friends in their tiny two-bedroom apartment.
“Well, among other things.”
“I’m sorry for leaving you to face her shit alone, Sia. As soon as I hit the lottery, you and me, we’re going to get a place we can call home.” My cousin’s immaculately manicured hands reached over and gave mine a light squeeze.
“I’ll drink to that.” I picked up the beer the barman set down in front of us, clinked it against Ruvash’s, and took a long swig.
“I know my mother is the evil stepmother incarnate, but why does she hate you so much?”
“Because she was the girl, my father’s family took him to see. Arranged marriage and all that. Then he saw my mom and told his mother he wanted to marry her.”
“And naturally, my mother hated your mother for the rest of her miserable life.” He finished for me. I grinned nodding. “I’m pretty sure you mentioned flying to Boston today?”
“I missed my flight.” I grimaced.
His brow shot up. “Intentionally?” Ruvash was aware of my reluctance to travel with my boss.
“It’s been one of those days.” I took another long swig. “My rust bucket of a car refused to start this morning. Your mother moaned at me as usual before I left, not to mention I had to fork out money for a taxi to the airport.” My aunt leased five bedrooms to college students or young professionals who tended to cause plenty of bathroom issues.
“Geez, Sia, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry. It got worse until a pleasant distraction forced me to forget my flight.”
Ruvash wiggled his eyebrows. “Oh, do tell.”
I uttered a low laugh. “You remember those Jimmy Choos my dad gave me before he died.” My father had saved money for almost a year to buy my high-school graduation present. Little did the two of us know it would be the last present he’d give me. He died a month later.
Ruvash nodded. “Yeah.”
“The heel broke.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yep. Distraught, I sat there, refusing to move. Guess I had enough.”
“You didn’t? I mean in the middle of a busy airport terminal,” he said, eyes widening in shock.
“Oh, yeah.” I chuckled. “I just sat there crying and then...” I closed my eyes as an image of those distracting gray orbs swathed my memory. “The most beautiful man I’ve ever met stopped to help me up. God, Ru, he was gorgeous. I’m talking the drop-dead kind. You know those suit model types. I don’t think he’s a model though, more like a businessman—”
“You’re blabbering, sweetie,” Ruvash interrupted my descent into euphoria.
“Anyway, instead of thanking him like any normal person, I kissed him—”
“You what?” my cousin shrieked, spilling his sip of beer in the process. Then, noting the other patron's shocked looks, he lowered his voice while mopping up the mess. “You kissed him?”
Slowly, I nodded. “Don’t ask me what came over me.” Ruvash was usually the airy-fairy flirt when we went out and me. The straightforward serious type. I didn’t do unconventional easily. Everything was always measured, practical, and well thought out. He even called me a bore at times.
“Damn. Sianna Saxena. Little Miss Perfect kissed a total stranger?” He sat back in his seat, stunned by my boldness.
I wrinkled my nose at his usual insinuations. “He was older, distinguished, and someone I wouldn’t normally look at, and certainly not someone I would kiss.”
“And that’s a problem, how exactly?” he scoffed. “Age is just a freaking number. It’s all in the way you handle the package. If the man’s dynamite in bed, who cares.” Ruvash smirked.
“Well, pity I’ll never know, right?
“My poor baby.” He chuckled. “Was it good, at least?”
“Out of this freaking world.” With my elbows on the table, I linked my fingers and rested my chin in the cradle. “God, Ru, I’ve been kissed before. You know, the sloppy ones filled with pools of drool and probing tongues. But I’ve never been kissed like that—never experienced that kind of intimacy created with just a mouth.” I sighed, my tone wistful. It was one of those kisses I’d remember for the rest of my life, one I might—no, strike that—one I would compare to all future kisses.
Ruvash grinned. “Did you at least try to get his number?”
“What? No, I turned tail and ran.” I dragged a hand down my face to cover my flushed skin. “Left my shoes behind and missed my flight.”
“Well, that’s a waste.” Ruvash rolled his eyes. “At least you have one kiss you can mention to your grandkids,” he mocked, picking on my lack of a social life again. “So, those beautiful shoes are gone?”
I lifted my shoulders in a deflated shrug. “The last present from my dad and I left them. If I’m lucky, someone will put them with the lost and found.”
“Jimmy Choos? I doubt that.” Ruvash smirked. “Did you call your boss?”
“Oh, that’s the other addition to my less than colorful day. He fired me.” I took a long drink from my beer, wondering what I was going to do about money, let alone my aunt’s bickering, which would undoubtedly worsen. “While I needed the money, I think him firing me would’ve happened sooner or later. I barely managed to keep from throwing up every time he came near me.”
“Shit, Sia.”
“I have to find another job stat, or your mother’s going to kick me out on my ass.”
“I’ll give my friend Jenna a call. She works for a recruitment agency. I’ll ask her if she can help you out. No promises, though.” He gave my hand a light squeeze. “Being fired might hamper your chances.”
“I know. Thanks, Ru. That will be awesome.” As I downed the rest of my drink, I suffered the mildest trepidation. I wasn’t a quitter, but considering my options right now, which weren’t many, I was in for a rough ride.
Drake
TAMARA STROLLED INTO my office and set a pair of gold sandals on my table. “Since when do you get women’s shoes delivered?”
Grinning, I glanced up at my sister. “Let’s say I ran into Cinderella at the airport two weeks back. While it was one of the strangest encounters I’d experienced, the woman piqued my curiosity.” Heading for the departure gate to Boston, a woman zipped past me. I figured she was hurrying to catch her flight. Unfortunately, her ankle twisted under her and she went down face first, hitting the tiles hard. What caught my attention, though, was the distraught look on her face when she sat up. Any other woman would have picked herself up, giggling with embarrassment. That woman just sat there, her brilliant blue eyes brimming with tears.