The Billionaire Saved My Life - PART 2 (3 page)

“I would’ve been furious.”

“So,” she continued. “He got out his phone and started snapping pictures of me and I begged him not to spoil this. He said he was only joking. Told me to smile for the camera for a laugh and then he'd delete it. He kept snapping and snapping my picture until I agreed to smile.”

“And you did. In a ring that didn't belong to you.”

“I never knew that then. Then, I thought you wanted to marry me.” Catherine looked at Tanya. “What were you waiting for, Kurtis? Why didn't you propose to me with that ring?”

Kurtis went to stand by Tanya. “Because I had to find the right woman to propose to with that ring.”

“Kurtis, please. How did that photograph even end up here?” Catherine asked. “I watched him delete every last one of the snaps he took of me. I watched him do it.”

“Well I guess he was holding back. Just like James, storing up ammunition that he can use again later. I don't know how the picture ended up in the desk, though,” Kurtis said. “He must have planted it there at some stage and then used it to make Tanya think that I still loved you.”

“You're argument told me that something was wrong in paradise,” Catherine said. “So, Tanya didn't trust you. She believed what James told her.”

Kurtis turned to look at Tanya.

“James is very persuasive,” Kurtis said. “It wasn't Tanya's fault.”

“If she had any doubts about you, then is she the right person to marry?” Catherine glared at Tanya. Tanya raised both hands.

“Will you two stop talking for me? I'm right here. And, you know what? I don't even know what I'm doing here. Until you get Catherine out of your life once and for all, you and I don't have a future.” Tanya slipped the ring into Kurtis's pocket and headed for the elevator.

“No, Tanya, no.” Kurtis followed her. “We were just working this out. You know the truth about the photograph now. Can't we start over?”

The elevator doors slid open.

“Not until I know
this
is over.” The doors closed.

Kurtis turned to Catherine. “Catherine, I don't want you to get me wrong. When we were together what we had was special. I did love you. I loved you with all my heart. Maybe in time we could have been married, but it just wasn't meant to be. Surely you see that now.”

“All I see, is you having a bad time with her. She doesn't trust you. I always trusted you, Kurtis, and I always will.”

“I keep trying to tell you, Catherine. Things have changed. This, me and Tanya, that's what I want more than anything now. I want to be with Tanya. I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry about the accident, I'm sorry about your amnesia and the hard time you had. But I can't go back. I can't go back to the way things were. I've moved on.”

“No, Kurtis you don't mean that. You can't.” She held his face between her hands, pressed her lips against his, trying to thrust her tongue into his mouth.

“Catherine, no! You can't do this. Not to us and not to yourself.”

“I hate you!” She shouted the words into his face. “How could you do this? You nearly killed me because of your terrible driving of the boat. You'd been drinking. I never told anyone that. It was your fault I nearly died and you just move on and leave me out in the cold. I came back here to be with you. Kurtis – please.”

Kurtis shook his head and backed away from her. She lurched at his chest and grabbed the front of his shirt. He tried to pull her hands out of the vice-like  grip she had on him.

“Don't do this, Catherine. Please, just go.”

“I fought for you to believe me when I told you that James and I were not having an affair. I know how to fight, Kurtis. And I will fight this. I want you back and I'll get you.”

“Then you just please yourself.” Kurtis called the elevator.

“Where are you going?”

“I'm going after Tanya. I need to make sure it's not too late for me and her. I'm going to tell her that there is nothing more that you and I need to say to each other. I want you gone. I'll make sure you no longer have security clearance, if that's what it's going to take. But you can never come back here and you can never have anything more to do with me and Tanya.” He got into the elevator and let the doors close. He was turning his back on Catherine for Tanya and he never wanted to look back.

Chapter3

“Tanya!”

Kurtis ran out of his apartment building. He looked up and down the busy street. It was almost dark now. He couldn't believe he'd let Tanya walk away. How could he have been so stupid? He knew what he wanted. He wanted her.

He knew Tanya would be on foot and that she could only be less than half a block away, if he ran he could catch up with her, speak to her and have her back in his arms once again. He chose to rush off in the direction of her apartment and hoped to God that that was where she intended to go.

As he began to run he thought he recognized the red sweater she had been wearing and the slinky black shoulder-length hair, her purse on a long strap over her shoulder. Yes, that was her. He'd recognize the way she walked anywhere. But she had gotten to the end of his block, crossed the road and was about to turn a corner.

He ran out into the middle of the road so that he could cut out a fair stretch of the block and didn't want to lose sight of her in amongst the people making their way home from work. It was early evening, but the traffic was still quite busy. Kurtis didn't even think about the oncoming traffic and was half way across before he noticed the car horns sounding loudly as drivers swerved to avoid him. A man driving a red Volvo tooted his horn, prolonging the sound by keeping his fist on it and sneering at Kurtis.

“You idiot! Why don't you look where you're going?” He continued to curse as Kurtis picked up his feet and made a dash for the corner. He was right; it was Tanya he saw. Luckily, she had stopped to look into a shop window so he could easily gain on her if he ran faster. At the moment of spotting her, she was on the next block, which meant he had another road to cross. This time he had a bit more patience and stood waiting, like the other pedestrians, for the lights to change and for it to be safe for him to walk across the road.

The lights were taking too long in his opinion and Tanya might move on at any second. He thought to call her. Make her stop.

“Tanya!” He shouted at the top of his voice but his timing was all wrong. Just as he said her name, a large truck drove across him so that if Tanya did look round she wouldn't see who it was calling and she might not hear anyway, above the sound of the large, rumbling truck. When the truck passed him he saw that Tanya had gathered herself and she continued walking in the direction of her apartment.

Kurtis got impatient waiting for the traffic to stop and ran out once again to give chase. This time, he wasn't so lucky. He collided with the bonnet of a Volkswagon Beetle. The woman driving screamed and hit the brakes. The sound of Kurtis's body hitting the car was loud enough to cause everyone watching to gasp. Car horns tooted loudly, brakes skidded and the traffic on that road came to an immediate standstill.

Kurtis lay on his back in the middle of the road. He was dazed and put his hand on his head. It hurt but there was no blood on his hand. He went to stand up. A crowd of people had gathered around him and impatient drivers who hadn't seen the accident but were being held up began sounding their car horns until there was an almighty cacophony swirling around Kurtis.

“No you don't, fella,” a voice said to him. “Don't try to move. You might have concussion.”

“No,” Kurtis said, easing up onto one elbow. “I have to catch someone.”

“Did someone snatch your wallet, Mister?” another voice by his ear said.

“No not my wallet.” He tried again to move but the woman who had been driving the Beetle held his shoulder very firmly and forced him to lay down again.

“You must lie still,” she instructed. “You just ran out in the road like a mad person. I couldn't stop in time. But don't worry I've called the police. Would you like me to put my jacket under your head?”

“No,” Kurtis said in a whisper. “I have to catch her.”

“Who? Did someone steal your briefcase?”

“No.” Kurtis shook his head but could feel the pain. “My heart, she stole my heart.” He closed his eyes and lay his head back on the ground.

“Someone stole your heart?” Another voice said. “Who?”

“Tanya,” he managed to say.

“Yes, Kurtis, I'm here.”

There stood Tanya right above him. She had heard the brakes skidding on the road behind her and saw that there had been an accident.

“You came back,” he said, now managing to sit up. Tanya knelt beside him.

“Shh-shh. Easy,” she said, gently taking his shoulders and trying to get him to lie down again. “Yes, I came back. I heard a bang and I saw the commotion. I don't know, something drew me back here. I just had a gut feeling that I had to come back.”

“Thank you,” he said.

There was a tussle in the crowd as two police officers made their way through to the center of the circle of people.

“Who called us?” they looked around at the concerned faces. Everyone either shrugged or shook their heads.

“That would be me, officer,” the woman driving the Beetle said. “This man, well he just ran out into the middle of the road, I couldn't stop in time and he went over and my God I hope he's all right.”

“Ma'am, if you were concerned you should have called an ambulance – not the police. Sir, are you okay?” One officer said kneeling alongside Tanya but Kurtis got to his feet. He faltered a little and Tanya hooked an arm around his waist and he held himself up against her with his arm around her shoulder.

“Er, me?” Kurtis grimaced with a pain in his back. “I'm fine, officer. Really. I'm sorry you were called. I was in a hurry, you see. It was my fault, but no broken bones.”

“You sure?” The other officer said. “What day is it?”

“Monday,” Kurtis said. “I promise. I'm fine. I just need to get home.”

The policemen shrugged, glanced at the woman and started herding the people away.

“All right, all right.” Both police officers started waving their arms. “Party's over, everyone. Let's get this traffic moving. Clear the road. Let's go home, folks!”

Kurtis and Tanya walked in the direction of her apartment with their arms around each other.

“What were you doing, Kurtis?” she said.

“I was chasing you. I saw you, called your name and the next minute I was up in the air.” He tried to laugh.

“You're crazy.”

“I know. But I couldn't let you leave like that. I've told Catherine she has to back off, leave us alone. There's no going back for me. You're all I want and I'll do whatever it takes to prove that to you.”

“By trying to kill yourself?” she said.

“If that's what it takes.” He attempted to laugh but his ribs hurt.

“Are you sure about this, Kurtis,” Tanya looked up at him with wide eyes. “What if you change your mind about Cath...”

“I won't.” He stopped suddenly and lifted her chin to his. He placed a soft kiss onto her lips.

“Kurtis, are you sure you don't need to go to a hospital or anything?” Her eyes were still half shut as she smiled at him.

“There's only one thing I need.”

Back at Tanya's apartment there was barely time to put on a light. All they managed to do as they stumbled into the apartment was to close the front door. Straight after that, layers of their clothing stared flying across the entrance hall, making a trail of discarded garments from the front door to the bedroom. Shoes, a shirt, a sweater, some pants, a skirt, all were strewn in a line. At the bedroom door they stopped, briefly, for Kurtis to undo Tanya's bra and pull off her panties.

He carried her over to the bed. The only light in the room was the mild street lighting that filtered through. Their naked bodies were shadows. The bedroom was warm after a day of sun shining into it, the window having been closed all day.

Kurtis lay Tanya down and began to kiss her, deep and passionate kisses, as she moaned in response, clinging to his body as though she had come close to losing him. He bit her neck, her upper torso, her breasts, all in a state of desperation that made it seem like they had not seen each other in a year.

He traced a line down towards her navel with his lips, teeth and tongue, devouring her and she responded with the ripple of movement in her body. She arched and jerked as his face sank between her legs feeling his tongue bringing her to a point of ecstasy that caused wave after wave of pleasure. She called out.

“I want you inside me.”

Their bodies moved to a new rhythm, both impatient to reach complete satisfaction. Their union was loud and passionate. They shone with perspiration that neither could see, but could only feel as they lay in a warm embrace, their breath returning to normal. They inhaled and exhaled in perfect unison, lulling themselves to a state of complete pleasure and fell asleep in each other's arms.

When Tanya awoke it was close to eleven at night. She opened her eyes to see Kurtis lying on his side, staring down at her with a smile on his face.

“Wow, I didn't expect to fall asleep,” she said.

“I think the evening took its toll on us. You must admit it has been very dramatic.”

“You're telling me.” Tanya sat up. Kurtis gently pushed her down again and began to stroke the soft skin on her body. He ran his fingers up her arm, across her chest and cupped the firm mounds of her full breasts. He lowered his head to them, sucking and pulling at her nipples until she was feeling turned on again.

She reached for him and found he was fully aroused, too, and pulled him onto her body, parting her legs so that he could enter her. Their bodies were locked together and remained so until, again, they lay satisfied and panting, beads of sweat forming on Kurtis's brow and Tanya almost in tears from the sheer pleasure.

Tanya smiled and looked up at Kurtis. “I don't know about you but I'm starving.”

“Do you want to go out or shall we order in?”

“Let's order in. I fancy Chinese. You?”

“Chinese is good for me.”

They made small talk while they ordered the food, took a shower together and waited for the meal to be delivered. When it did, they sat in Tanya's kitchen with boxes and plates in front of them but Tanya couldn’t help but bring up the subject of Catherine as they began to eat.

“So,” she said. “After I left, what was exactly said between you two?”

“I told you already,” Kurtis said. “She knows it's over between us.”

“I guess,” Tanya continued, not looking at Kurtis, “what I'm concerned about is whether or not she got the message.”

“Oh she got the message.” Kurtis's expression changed. “She's not the same person I knew before. Catherine has changed.”

“Oh?”

“Well, I know she was a pretty ambitious woman. She worked hard and she wanted a lot of things. But she was never so prickly and so hard faced as she was today.”

“She wants you back, Kurtis. Maybe she's like that because she's desperate.”

“Well, I can't help that.”

“I'm worried,” Tanya said after a pause.

Kurtis stopped eating and looked over at her. “Worried,” he said. “About me?”

“No, not you. Her. I just know she hasn't gotten the message. I feel it. I know she'll be back and I know she'll try again to get you back. This time she'll wait until she knows I won't be around. You won't go feeling sorry for her will you?”

“Tanya, stop this,” Kurtis said. “You have to stop doubting how I feel about you. There is nothing on this earth that can break us up. Nothing.”

“You sound so sure. Maybe no external thing could break us but what if one of us did something wrong?” Tanya put more food onto Kurtis's plate.

He was thoughtful for a moment. I can't stand lies,” he said. “Lying and cheating. Ever since I told you the complete truth about Catherine. I've always ever been honest and that's all I want from you. Never to lie to me. Catherine and I got into problems when I thought she was cheating on me with James. Infidelity is something I could not go back from and I would never cheat on you or lie to you, Tanya.”

“I know that, Kurtis and I believe you.”

“I know I can trust you, Tanya,” Kurtis smiled and kept on eating. “I think my biggest problem was that Catherine could have gone behind my back with James McConnagh. I mean – him of all people. I hate that guy and everything he has done. I mean I know in the end that it wasn't true. That he'd fabricated the whole thing to get at me, and it nearly worked. But, you know, I'd go crazy if I knew you were anywhere with him and you didn't tell me. I couldn't handle that.”

“As if I'd meet up with him for any reason.” Tanya put her head down. She remembered the day she met James and he'd told her about the picture. Tanya had said to Kurtis that she ran in to him that day. She never mentioned anything about him tricking her into meeting him at his mother's apartment. She continued to chew slowly. This was the time to admit it, but with Kurtis so adamant he hated lies and he hated James, she could not bring herself to tell all.

The more she saw how happy Kurtis was now that they had gotten back together again properly, she couldn't find it within her to tell the absolute truth. She would have to hope that, like Catherine, James would also know to stay away.