Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (47 page)

Kyle laughed, sitting back down in his seat.

Lucca picked up Kyle’s stapler and tossed it at him, hitting him on the arm. “I’m working against forces you couldn’t imagine, Valente. And I happen to be right on track in my pursuit of Ms. Delavigne, thank you. I will make her mine, and it won’t take me two fucking years to do it.”

Rubbing his arm, his laughter calmed. “Say what you want about my methods, but unlike you, I just spent the weekend with a beautiful woman that adores me.”

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “I was alone because I chose to be. I’ve taken a vow of celibacy until I marry Davina.”

“Marry her?” Kyle frowned. “Why until marriage?”

He smiled slightly. “Wouldn’t you like to know …”

Kyle’s brow rose in question. “I actually would.” Lucca was even more of a nympho than Kyle was. Celibacy was not a word Kyle would have ever thought he’d hear Lucca use. That was unless he’d said the words ‘I will never embrace …’ before it.

Of course Lucca didn’t explain anything to Kyle; he just shook his head, as he reached forward and tapped the edge of Kyle’s desk. “In the future, brother, if there’s an issue with Miss Davina, do me a favor and voice your disapproval in a calmer manner. I’m afraid I may not remember that you are my brother next time.” He looked up at Kyle. “Understand?”

Pressing his lips together to keep from smiling, Kyle nodded. “Fair enough,” he said. “I apologize.”

He’d known Lucca would bring up the interaction between him and Davina eventually, and he completely understood. Even though he was amused by how love seemed to have made Lucca even more homicidal than usual, Kyle knew from experience that walking in on a man raising his voice at the woman you love was fucking infuriating.

“I’ll be sure to mind my temper next time,” Kyle vowed.

Seeming pleased with Kyle’s response, Lucca nodded. “Very well. What’s on your agenda for the rest of the day?” he asked again as he mindlessly shuffled around the papers on Kyle’s desk.

Kyle’s phone vibrated, briefly stealing his attention. “Meeting with David,” he answered, pulling his cell from his pocket. When he saw the name on the screen he immediately frowned, turning his screen toward Lucca.

Lucca’s brows rose. “Aniyah?” He chuckled softly. “I thought you handled that.”

“I did.” And he’d prefer that it remained handled. “Why the fuck is she calling me?”

“Why does any ex call after a break-up?” Lucca shrugged. “She probably is not in complete agreement in regards to the ending of your relationship.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “I seriously don’t need this shit.” Promptly, Kyle declined the call. “I was kind, and I explained all that I was willing to in the message I sent her. What the fuck else could she possibly be expecting from me? I’m not going to sit down with her and explain my reasoning for ending things with her like she’s a fucking child. I said I was done, and that should be that.”

Lucca shook his head. “If only that were enough …”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He sighed, turning back to face Kyle completely. “It means that its not as easy as all that, brother, and you of all people should know that.”

Kyle blinked. “And why should I?”

Pressing his lips into a frustrated line, Lucca’s nostrils flared in annoyance. “What the fuck kind of question is that?”

“A reasonable one.” Kyle shrugged.

“You should know that because …” Lucca closed his eyes, seeming to calm himself, then opened them back up swiftly, narrowing them on Kyle. “You should know because, in your past, you are notoriously known for making women who are normally upstanding citizens in society, lose their fucking minds with rage whenever you decided—
in their opinion
—out of nowhere, that you no longer want anything to do with them.”

Kyle opened his mouth to say something, then quickly decided against it. The man had a valid point. The evidence was there in the many women he’d fucked around with in the past; Kyle really couldn’t argue against the claim.

Lucca shrugged, continuing to make his point. “All I’m saying is, although you may wish that shit would just move along smoothly now that you have everything you want, it’s probably not going to be that easy at first.” He frowned, a serious expression falling over his face. “There are bound to be a few bumps in the road, brother, that’s just life. Don’t expect your sudden ending of a near two-year … whatever the fuck you had with that woman to be over without a hitch. To expect something like that would be unrealistic, Kyle.”

And just as the man finished talking, Kyle’s phone began to ring once again.

Aniyah. Shit!

“You know how much I don’t like to say that I told you so, but—”

The man’s words cut off with deep laughter when Kyle picked up one of the folders on his desk and threw it at him.

Fucking asshole
.

Staring down at the screen Kyle groaned, running his hand over his face. “Fuck,” he muttered as he pressed the answer key, and brought the phone to his ear. “What the fuck do you want, Aniyah?”

Reanna had always dreamed of the moment when she’d tell her sister she was getting married, that she would finally be able to right the wrong of her past and do things the right way.

After her first marriage, her first attempt at loving had been with Braden, but that had failed and done absolutely nothing for her confidence. And this time, with Kyle, Reanna felt like she had gotten it right. She was marrying for love. She would finally have the wedding she’d always dreamed of having to a man who was far better than the man of her dreams.

She had hoped Tamara would be proud of her for that … but so far, it looked as if her sister was indifferent, which was okay. Reanna had never been one for backing down from a challenge. Even if it took her time, she was prepared to get her little sister on board with the idea of her and Kyle’s union. It was worth it to her.

Which was why she’d spent the last hour in one of the luxurious, pink waiting areas of Tamara’s Manhattan store, relaxing back on the plush white couch with Ronaldo and Tamara, telling her little sister how magical her weekend with Kyle had been.

“So, he took you to a luxury cabin in the mountain, where you two spent three days getting to know each other, confessing love, telling each other the truth, finally, and getting busy non-stop, huh?”

Reanna smiled slightly. Well, the words didn’t exactly capture the essence of the weekend, but that was fine. There was no possible way Reanna could actually capture how amazing her weekend with Kyle had been using mere words. It had been too profound, too incredible for that.

So, making the decision to not further push how amazing the weekend had been, Reanna nodded her head. “Yes,” she answered, slight laughter in her voice. “That sounds about right.”

“Hmm,” Tamara nodded in response, “sounds nice. So when did he …”

Reanna smiled as she reached into the pocket of her jeans and removed her ring. “He proposed yesterday morning, and it was … perfect.” Staring at the ring now made the widest, dorky grin spread across her face. “I was doing my hair, trying to look
‘morning sexy’
because he’d been in the kitchen cooking breakfast—”

“He cooked for you?” Ronaldo exclaimed.

Reanna laughed, nodding her head. “Every single meal we had while we were away.”

“I’m ’bout to faint, bubbles.
Damn
.”

“Shut up, Ron,” she chuckled. “Anyway, back to the story. As I was doing my hair, I noticed something huge—”

“As fuck,” Ronaldo sang. “Huge as fuck.”

“Huge A-F,” Reanna corrected herself. “On my ring finger, and I freaked. I ran to the kitchen and that was where he proposed, down on both knees.”

“Ooo,” Ronaldo sang yet again. “Two knees. This is serious, girl.”

Reanna placed her hand to her heart, nodding her head once again. “It was adorable,” she sighed, poking her lips out in a pout. “He said he’d been terrified that I’d say no, so he’d went ahead and put the ring on my finger in hopes that I’d like it so much, I wouldn’t want to take it off. But if I didn’t want to marry him, then I’d have to remove it.”

Ronaldo laughed. “That’s cute.”

“I told you …”

“And you said yes, Reanna?” Tamara’s rhetorical question caught her attention. “After three days, you two feel that you’re ready for this?”

“Yes,” Reanna answered her sister with absolutely no hesitation. “It’s crazy, because at first I thought we’d be one of those couples that dated for like … years before he proposed. We had discussed it the night before because he’d asked me to move in with him and Sofia.”

Tamara’s eyes shot wide. “Move in!”

“Right?” Reanna chuckled. “That was my exact reaction. Like, dude, have you lost it? That was when I told him I don’t live with my boyfriends, that I have to be engaged before I move in with a guy. His response had been so … silent, that I’d hadn’t expected it when he proposed.”

“Wow,” Tamara said, slight amusement in her voice. “I can’t believe he wanted you to move in so soon.”

Reanna shrugged. “It was sweet, though. He seemed so disappointed when I said no.” Actually that disappointment had nearly made Reanna rethink her decision. “I suppose I understand why he was upset that I’d said no at first. I hate being apart from him and Sofia, too—”

“Hold up,” Tamara cut her off, lifting her hand to silence Reanna. “At first?” She shook her head. “Reanna, tell me you aren’t actually considering it.”

Reanna shrugged once more as a breathy laugh fell from her lips. “I’m not considering, Tamara. I am.”

“You’re moving out!”

Leaning back, Reanna flinched at her sister’s sharp tone, watching her as she abruptly shot up from the couch and began pacing back and forth in front of her and Ronaldo, distress very evident in her features.

Reanna’s brows rose.
Okay, that was unexpected, and a little alarming
. She was angry … no, maybe not angry, but an intense anxiety was radiating off of her. It was obvious something Reanna had just said had struck a nerve.

“All right, Mara. Calm down now,” Ronaldo said.

He looked over to Reanna, a sad smile on his face as if to say he hadn’t wanted to be right about Tamara’s reaction to the news, and Reanna reached over and gave his hand a comforting squeeze. It wasn’t his fault. Tamara was a brat sometimes, not much of a fan of change. She should have known telling her that everything was about to be different wouldn’t be too easy.

Sighing, she looked back to her pacing younger sister. “Tamara—”

“You’re moving out of the house, Reanna!” she yelled as she came to an abrupt stop. “Of
our
house. What the hell, Rea?”

Reanna opened her mouth, then quickly closed it, unsure of what to say now.
Shit
. It was obvious that she’d taken a wrong turn, failed at her attempt to get Tamara on her side, but she wasn’t quite sure how to get things back on a less … emotional track.

“Tamara,” Reanna said softly, “I’m confused …”

“What is so confusing?”

She blinked, giving a light shake of her head. “Your whole reaction to this.”

“Reanna, you’re talking about moving out of our home. Our fucking house. The first place that has ever belonged to us. You’re leaving to move in with a man who just confessed his love to you only three damn days ago!”

“
But you knew
…” Reanna let her words trail off when she realized that she’d just raised her voice.

No. She didn’t want that. This was not a fight, or at least she wasn’t going to let it turn into one. She was just trying to ease whatever fear it was that was keeping her sister from understanding why she and Kyle’s relationship had progressed as quickly as it had.

So, calming herself, Reanna took a deep breath, and talked to her sister in a calmer tone.

“Tamara,” she began softly, “you knew how I felt about him before I did. You are the one that tried to convince me he felt the same.”

“I know that,” she argued angrily. “I wanted you to stop running away from who I knew your heart really wanted, and I was happy for you when you left with him because I knew you’d finally have him. I just …” She shook her head. “This is too much, Rea. I thought that you’d be dating him. Not moving out of the house and running to the altar all in a matter of days!”

Reanna frowned, shaking her head at her sister’s words. “Kyle and I have known each other much longer than a few days, Tamara,” she rationalized. “We’ve been in love for a long time.”

“I understand that,” she stated firmly. “But during the majority of that time, Kyle has been courting another fucking woman.”

Reanna rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say that he was courting Aniyah, Tamara.”

“Then what the hell do you call a near two-year relationship, Reanna?”

“They weren’t in a relationship.”

“Oh my God!” Tamara’s hand shot up to her face just as she released a frustrated grunt. “Are you serious, Reanna? Are you fucking serious right now?”

Though she was feeling a bit annoyed with her sister’s arguing, and the tone in which she was using to do it, Reanna kept her mouth shut and nodded her head in response.