Page 57 of Beautiful Broken Love

“I told you about using bad words around her!”

“Oh, shit. Sorry, Valdez.”

“You did it again!” he yelled, and Aleesa giggled louder, getting a real kick out of our exchange.

After dropping our bags off at the rental house Javier booked, we went to a high-end water-view restaurant called Wave 47.

The walls were painted black and accented with white vertical and horizontal zigzags. Green plants were threaded throughout the place, wrapping around the columns and clinging to the walls, and the round pendant lights were dim.

The hostess led us straight to the back, where she slid a curtain aside to reveal a private dining area with windows overlooking an endless ocean.

A woman with sable skin, black bangs, and a white pantsuit was already seated at the table. I assumed she was Kyla, the owner of the baby products company Javier had mentioned.

“Javier Valdez!” Kyla stood and rushed to him, her hand already stuck out for him to shake. “I’m so glad you could make it. This means so much to me to have you here.”

“Well, I am just happy to be here,” Javier said with hardly any enthusiasm.

I kept telling him he needed to work on his people skills. With that tone, he sounded like he’d have rather been anywhere else than at the restaurant. I knew that wasn’t the case, though. For a few weeks now, he’d been talking about this meeting and how good Kyla’s products were for Aleesa’s skin and hair.

“And is this little Aleesa?” Kyla cooed, her eyes melting into puddles as she focused on the little girl in Javier’s arms. Aleesa rested her head on his shoulder with a shy smile. “Oh, she’s so beautiful, Mr. Valdez.”

“Yes, she is,” he said, nodding in agreement. “And please, call me Javier.”

“Javier it is.” Kyla turned my way, pointing a knowing finger at me. “And you are the one and only Deke Bishop. How great it is to be in your presence.”

I took the hand she offered and shook it. “Nice to meet you, Kyla. Hope you don’t mind my presence. I’m just here to help out.”

“Well, that’s wonderful and kind of you,” she said. “Please, let’s have a seat. Javier, I mentioned to you that we have a few more people that will be joining us for lunch. I spoke to a potential collaborator on the phone last night and have really high hopes about this.”

“Yes. That is okay.”

Not long after settling into our seats, a familiar pasty man in a tailored suit walked in, and Kyla sprung right up to greet him like she had with us.

“Chester! Hi!” she sang. “It’s so great to see you again!”

Chester gave her a closed-lip smile. “Pleasure’s mine, Kyla.”

The name Chester sounded familiar. There weren’t any Chesters in my world, but I was almost positive that name was mentioned somewhere recently.

Just as the thought occurred, a curvy silhouette near the sliding curtain appeared in the corner of my eye. My heart dropped a notch when I saw who it was.

The drop wasn’t in a bad way. No, this was one I could recover from, like being on a roller coaster and reaching that adrenaline peak, only to hit a rapid descent and be brought back to level ground. It throttled me but also made me feel alive.

There she was. The woman I couldn’t get out of my damn mind. The woman who’d been ignoring my emails. The woman who looked sexy as fuck in a powder-blue dress, her hair in a curly afro and her almond skin bright and flawless, with full, glossed lips I wanted to do so many things to.

Davina.

I picked up my water and took a much-needed swallow.

When Davina caught me in the room, she stopped dead in her tracks, and her eyes widened like saucers. She’d been calm and collected when she first entered, but at the mere sight of me, she was flushed, her throat bobbing and her lips parting as she searched for words.

After lowering my glass, I smirked and said, “You’re blushing, D.”

THIRTY-ONE

DAVINA

This couldnotbe happening.

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