Page 73 of Vicious Souls

Stella the lifesaver (add another tick to her growing list of skills), offers to ride with Kingsley and talk her off the ledge as we head back to our hotel. We’ve proclaimed a temporary ceasefire, but my sacrifice to engage in said ceasefire is to tell Kingsley everything about how and why I came to be in her life. Full disclosure. I agree on one condition. That we go home and she showers before we talk over dinner. I will tell her anything and everything she wants to know, but I will not do it in the current frame of mind she’s in. She understands and accepts, and we drive to the hotel in separate cars to put some distance between us for perspective.

“I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you!” Stella hisses, stabbing a finger into my chest.

If I had been lucky enough to be blessed with a sister, I think she pretty much would have been exactly like Stella. She loves me to death like any older sister would, but she definitely knows when and how to make me feel like shit.

“Stella…” Clay shoots her a warning, but I hold up a hand and let her say what she needs to say.

She huffs, straightens to her full length, then engages her shoulders like a bull about to charge. I kid you not. When Stella is mad, she is capable of murder.

“You two have been dancing around each other for weeks. I get that Kingsley is out of her element here, butyou,” she stabs my chest again “are” another stab “not”. And then a final soul jarring stab that almost knocks me over. Did I mention that Stella has some pretty kickass moves for a girl? She hadn’t been known as the Brazilian Beauty for nothing during her modelling career.

“Don’t hurt her like this,” she begs me, lowering her voice as she looks at me helplessly. “Any fool can see you’re madly in love with her, Dante. Don’t screw this up.”

There’s a long pause as I look at Stella. She’s a hopeless romantic who believes that everyone should be as happy as she is. We’d become fast friends after meeting, and she knew every sordid detail of my past the way that only an older sister would. That’s why she took things to a whole new level any time she thought I was about to step out of line… and she is always quick to push me back into that line.

I knew her before Claymore did. In fact, I had been the one to introduce her to him at the Grand Opening for one of our hotels after she’d done the shoot for us. For them, it had been instant chemistry, and they’d married three months later in the grand ballroom of the very hotel where they’d first laid eyes on each other.

“I don’t feel like going out,” Kingsley says, coming into the room wearing high rise black pants with a white shirt tucked in. It is yet another different style to what I have become accustomed to her wearing, but boy does it stir things up inside my belly.

When I don’t answer her, she stops fiddling with her belt and looks up, her face lighting up when she sees Stella and Clay. She claps her hands together in delight and demands they stay for dinner. Stella reaches a hand up to Clay’s chest and smiles at her husband as he weaves a possessive arm around her waist.

“Clay promised me a romantic date tonight,” she says, smiling back at Kingsley. “But how about we all get together tomorrow morning for breakfast?”

Stella looks at me pointedly, daring me to say no, and we all agree to meet up in the morning. After they are gone, I turn my focus to Kingsley and ask her what she’d like to eat, opting to order in. We settle on pizza and I call room service to order. She has settled on one end the sofa when I look back at her, her legs folded under one thigh, an arm casually leaning against the back of the sofa. And she looks beautiful.

“You know,” she starts thoughtfully, analyzing her nails, “We never did get through to those three questions you promised me.”

“I’m an open book, Kingsley.”

She gives me a look that tells me she thinks I’m quite the opposite, then sits up on the balls of her feet and suggests we play cards, excitement filling her eyes.

“How about we do that after we eat?” I ask her. She nods her agreement. “You want to talk about what happened today?” I ask her. She fixes me with a sad look. Like she is almost afraid to hear what I have to say. “I’ll tell you exactly what happened, like it happened. But I have to start at the beginning for perspective.” Again, she nods and I take a deep breath, preparing myself.

“Wait,” she says, breaking into my thoughts even before I’ve had a chance to begin. “Maybe we should do this after dinner – pizza is my happy place.”

Kingsley.My bag of contradictions.

When our pizzas arrive, Kingsley insists we eat on the sofa and so we settle in, side by side, and start to eat. I’ll never understand people’s fascination with shrimp on their pizza, but like I said, Kingsley continues to surprise me at every turn.

She swallows a bite of her pizza and follows it with a sip of sparkling water, then reaches over me for some garlic bread. Her arm brushes against mine, causing her to pull back quickly; I’m certain she felt the same surge of heat that I felt when our hands collided. I move the loaf of garlic bread until it sits between us and continue eating my food, looking up at her in between bites. Kingsley has a healthy appetite for food, and I more than enjoy watching her neck work as her food slides down her throat.

“You said we have a big day ahead tomorrow?” she reminds me, seeking more information. I swallow and sip my wine. I did say that.

“I’m taking you to your offices tomorrow. You can meet your team there and then give me your input on furnishings. We’ll have you up and running within a week.”

We’d been extremely lucky, managing to hire all the staff she needed on her advisory board straight off recommendations from Claymore and Stella. Her in-house stylists – yes, she now has a team of them – will also reside in the building, so there is that convenience taken care of. I don’t want Kingsley concerning herself with shopping when she has other things to think about. Her team of lawyers are also set, although there are a couple that couldn’t make the move, so we decided to keep them onboard to conduct business with them via teleconference. These two were strong choices from Claymore that we couldn’t afford to pass up.

“So much to do,” she mutters, shaking her head.

“You’re also interviewing for a PA tomorrow. It’s a good thing Stella is here; she’s shortlisted a few and can help make the process easier for you.”

“Thank God for Stella!” she grins. I can see that she has really taken a liking to the woman and I’m glad for the blooming friendship between them.

“You’ll have to do a lot more hiring, Kingsley.” I want to give her a head’s up so she can prepare herself mentally. Maddog Murray had an investment portfolio that would make a king green with envy. He had his fingers in everything from hotels to shopping malls, logistics, and manufacturing. His assets were so diversified, there was no way we could gauge the magnitude until her advisors finished going over all the paperwork Saul had literally dumped in her lap. And by dumped, I mean dumped. Right before he retired. He would tie up loose ends for all his clients by the end of the year when he officially went into retirement, but he saw this as his golden opportunity to hand off a lot of the legal work associated with Maddog’s estate now since Kingsley had already retained her own team.

64

DANTE

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