Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs) (2 page)

Riana giggled, and then it built up to a hysterical
laugh. “I was supposed to pay Claire’s half, too. She went on a shopping spree
and spent everything she had.”

Loraine laughed so hard she fell off the couch. “’
Ain’t
karma a bitch!”

* * * *

Riana caught the tears for the hundredth time that
night. She’d promised Loraine she wouldn’t cry, especially at work, because
their boss was a dragon lady. But she’d never felt so much anguish and
loneliness since her mother died.

The death of her mother was so unexpected. One moment
they were all together with her brother Reno, laughing and joking as they
toured NYU, and the next she was getting a phone call from the hospital. They
had gotten into a car crush and Reno was lucky to have survived. Everything
went downhill from there.

Immigrations discovered Reno was an illegal immigrant,
and after his two months’ recovery in hospital they deported him to Bahamas.
Riana was lucky. Their mother had come to America when she was pregnant and
Reno was four, so she became a citizen by birth. She wanted to go back with
Reno but he wouldn’t have it.

“You would be throwing away the chance of a lifetime,”
he’d said. “Everything Mom went through to give us this opportunity would have
been a waste. I’m finished with college, and besides, I wouldn’t be able to pay
for your tuition if you threw away the scholarship.”

And to top it all off, the man that drove their mother
out of New Providence, also known as her sire, had died and left his run down
hotel to Reno.

Apparently, it had been Reno’s plan to go back home
for the inheritance, but he hadn’t wanted to tell her in case the hotel
business was a flop and he ended up stuck there.

Reno had a point. Riana would have never agreed to
their mother being left alone and going back to save
that man’s
business, nonetheless. She may not have known her father,
but she despised him all the same.

She shook her head, even more disgusted with the male species.

How much time did a man, specifically her father, need
to admit that he was already married?

Riana’s mother had been in for the shock of her life
when she’d gone to see him at his hotel and a lady with the body and the air of
a super model had demanded to know what Riana’s mom wanted with her husband.

Just thinking about her mother’s pain made her want to
cry all over again.

“Hey.”

A gentle, deep baritone voice spoke behind her,
startling her. She quickly turned around, hurriedly wiping her cheeks dry with
the sleeves of her shirt. Getting fired tonight would just be the perfect
cherry on her disastrous day’s cake.

 
“I’m sorry,
sir. Would you like me to get you anything? A drink, an appetizer, or
directions to the auctioning…” She stopped abruptly when the sound of his deep
chuckle filled the hallway. She groaned, ducking her head. She was rambling.
She always rambled when she was nervous.

“I’m fine,” he said, amused.

Riana felt his warm fingers at her chin. He pushed her
head up and she didn’t resist. Riana found herself staring at a wide chest,
broad shoulders, and muscular arms perfectly encased in a clearly expensive
black suit jacket before her eyes trailed up, taking in his amused face and the
deepest brown eyes she’d ever seen.

“Hi,” Riana sighed.

He chuckled, giving his head a slight shake. “Hi,
yourself.”

He rubbed her chin with his thumb and Riana drew in a
quick breath, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth, her eyes still staring
into his.

“Are you alright?”

She nodded.

“No more crying, okay?”

She nodded.

“Good. Because he doesn’t deserve you or your tears.
You are too beautiful to be crying over a dirt bag.”

She nodded again, the edges of her lips rising to a
smile, her bottom lip still trapped between her teeth. She was too caught up in
the man’s mind melting looks to grasp what he was saying.

How is it
possible for a man to be this hot?
Her eyes did a slow perusal from his obviously designer shoes, to his thick
thighs, up his wide, jacketed upper body, and back to his Greek god face and raven
hair to match.
It should be illegal for a
guy to be this hot.

He chuckled again, standing to his full height to
tower over her so that her head was on par with his chest, and dropped his hand
from her chin. “I’m glad I provided a good distraction.”

Riana whined inside at the loss of contact, which
surprised her enough to bring her out of her daze. “What?”

He lowered his head and Riana had to press against the
wall to try and move away from him. He brought his hand up and placed it on the
wall close to her ear and leaned even closer to her. Riana thought he was going
to kiss her, and it oddly excited her. She
wanted
him to kiss her.

 
A total
stranger.

Correction, a
smoking
hot
total stranger.

He let out a lusty sigh and stared deep into her eyes
before shifting them to her lips. Riana swallowed audibly then ran the tip of
her tongue over her dried lips.

“I wouldn’t mind providing another kind of
distraction. One that would leave you feeling very relieved for dumping your
ass of a boyfriend, just for his shortcomings.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

Riana jumped and turned to face Loraine’s voice but
the hot guy remained as he was—apparently not at all bothered that they’d been
caught almost—
damn
—kissing. Loraine
stared at her with a raised brow, an exasperated look on her face. She shook
her head and Riana could read the action—
you
never learn Riana
.

He sighed and casually straightened, putting a very
large distance between them.

Riana felt her face heat and she quickly looked away
from her friend and definitely away from the hot guy who had, moments ago,
cornered her with his large body and towering height, like a cat to a mouse.

She bit her lips together to keep the smile hidden.
She liked being cornered by him.

“Sir, your girlfriend is looking for you.”

“Girlfriend!” Riana blurted out looking at Loraine.

With a pitying look, Loraine nodded. “Yes,
girlfriend.”

Riana turned to the man but he didn’t spare her a
glance. He just smiled that seductive, mind numbing smile and said ‘excuse me’
before he walked away confidently.

Riana slumped against the wall and groaned. “Do I have
stupid written on my forehead? Because if not, I think I should. Brand my
stupidity right here,” she said, and smacked her forehead with the palm of her
hand, “so that I will always be reminded by every guy who sees it right before
they hit on me.”

Loraine grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “You are
a waitress of a catering company and he is a billionaire entrepreneur. He
acquires businesses then tears them down and throws the pieces to the hyenas
for a quick buck. You do not want to be like one of those poor, unfortunate
businesses that he sets his eyes on. Allan Sinclair is a big no-no, Riana.”

Allan Sinclair? He didn’t look like an Allan. His name
should be big, imposing, and downright sexy to suit him.

Riana shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind for one night,” she
drawled the words out before even giving them a thought.

“What?” Loraine half-yelled.

Riana turned to look at the direction in which this
Allan Sinclair
had disappeared. She may
not have been conscious of it when she was with him—when his hot breath was on
her face, his lips inches away from hers, his body so close she could feel the
heat radiate from it—but now that she thought about it, it didn’t seem like a
bad idea. It would be one night of unadulterated, mind-blowing sex that would
put Claire and Steve’s affair to shame.

 
Yes
,
she decided,
that’s what I want
. To
finally be at the receiving end of great sex that would make her scream her
lungs out and fry her brains, not the ten seconds Steve always gave her. Well,
she now understood why. He was giving it all to Claire and Riana was just his
by-the-by. For once she wanted to come first, both by action and deed.

Loraine gently turned her face to the side. “You see
the super model dressed in hooker red going into the manager’s office? I don’t
think she’ll be all for the mind blowing sex with her boyfriend you are
conspiring in your dirty little mind.”

Boyfriend. Riana let out a tired sigh as she rubbed
her face with her palms. He had a girlfriend and after what she went through
that night, she wouldn’t do that to another human being. “I think I’m losing my
mind.”

Loraine chuckled. “Oh, no. You have the right idea,
just the wrong guy.”

“Loraine, Riana, I need one of you to get to the floor
now and the other to get the extra champagne from the manager’s office,” their
boss yelled right before she stepped back into the kitchen.

“I’ll go to the manager’s office,” Loraine offered.

Riana knew she was trying to protect her from the tall,
hot, and sexy girlfriend who had just crushed her fantasy, but Riana wasn’t
going to allow it. If she was to get those brown eyes out of her mind, she
needed to see the girlfriend. “No, I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?”

Riana smiled. “Yes, I am.”

Riana walked silently to the manager’s office, her
thoughts still deep in those brown eyes. She hadn’t realized she’d walked in
unannounced until she heard the familiar noises. She blinked repeatedly, just
to make sure she was really seeing the girlfriend bent over the desk, her hooker
dress bunched up at her waist, bearing her breasts, her thong around her knees
and an enthusiastic man, who was not Allan Sinclair, with his pants around his
ankles pumping into her like a rutting dog.

“Oh yes, fuck me, Michael. Harder, faster!” she screeched.

Riana quickly rushed out and shut the door. It was
like watching Claire and Steve all over again and her chest twisted in pain and
her eyes burned. She couldn’t watch another betrayal.

“Oh, no you don’t. Don’t you dare start crying again.”

Riana jumped and looked up. It was the hot guy again.
Allan Sinclair. She couldn’t let him see what she just did. It would rip him
apart like it was her. She placed herself in front of the door. “Don’t go in
there.”

He smiled. “Why?”

Why? Think
Riana, think
. “Just don’t.”

If he wasn’t looking at her, she would have smacked
her head.
Really, dangling a carrot?
Where is Loraine when I need her!

“
Ah-ha
,” he
responded slowly with a nod.

Riana yelped when he pulled her from the door, and
gathered her against his chest, one arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders.
She struggled to move but his grip on her was unyielding.

He swung the door open. “What are you hiding—”

“Don’t!” But even as she said it she knew it was too
late. She heard a gasp behind her and the woman’s voice cry, “Allan!” and the
man’s voice shout, “It’s not what you think.”

Riana shook her head then buried it in Allan’s hard
chest. Steve had said those same words to her and they slashed through her
chest like a knife. But this time the pain was for Allan, not for her.

“It never is,” Allan responded. His voice was so low
and cold that she felt a chilling fear rush through her.

She flinched when she felt his fingers under her chin
again. Not wanting to piss him off even more, Riana looked up at him. Even with
the smile he gave her, she could clearly see the storm brewing in his eyes.

“Thank you,” he whispered, then released her shoulders
and her chin. She knew she’d just been dismissed, but she didn’t want to leave
him alone with this. It wasn’t something a person should confront without
support; she knew that all too well.

He gave her another smile. “I’ll be fine,
Riana
.”

The way he said her name sent a shiver of another kind
through her body. Without thinking, she moved up on her toes and wrapped her
arms around his neck, squeezing him in a tight hug. She felt his hand rub her
back and she knew she needed to let go, as good as holding him might feel.

She drew in a breath, taking the scent of him in her
lungs. He smelled like a wet forest after a rainy day. Refreshing. Then, acting
without thinking, again, pressed a kiss to his neck.

“You’ll be alright because you deserve so much
better,” she whispered in his ear, then, with all her courage gone, she didn’t
waste any time high-tailing out of there, without a backward glance—champagne
be damned!

Chapter Two

Allan watched Riana’s back as she ran away. He
chuckled. The bold, slight girl who’d barricaded the door to keep him out now
ran like the devil was nipping at her heels.

When he’d first seen her crying, he was ready to walk
right past her. But the way she had forcefully wiped her face dry, a new
determination mirroring on her face, he’d just had to go and congratulate her
on being the first female he’d met who hadn’t acted like the world was over after
catching her boyfriend cheating.

And it was quite obvious she’d caught her boyfriend
cheating on her. If it had been just an ordinary break up, she would have
looked different. He’d watched his baby sister move from one break up to
another, all for different reasons, and that made him an expert on ‘Breakup
Body Language.’

But when he’d seen her brown eyes, with faint strokes
of green in them, staring up at him like he was a world wonder, he was hooked.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the color play in hers. And when she’d
sighed it took all he’d had not to laugh and press her against the wall with
his body.

Allan wasn’t vain but he’d seen the common effect of
his appearance on her face and if he wanted to capitalize on it, like he
occasionally did, it wouldn’t have been very difficult. Her breakup and her
obvious attraction to him would have made her easy prey.

But he wasn’t that much of an asshole to hurt
her
even more. Maybe another woman,
sure, but not her. So he’d dropped his hand from her chin and took a step back
to take a good look at her. She’d been about a foot shorter than he was; he
could see the crown of her head, covered in wavy black-brown hair held back
with a hair tie. He’d liked how her ponytail was border line unruly, thick,
big, and frizzy. That only reinforced his theory that she was half black and
half something else. Probably Caucasian. He’d dated women of all races and knew
all their secrets. Especially when it came to hair. He’d looked down at her
body. The waiter’s uniform had done him the biggest favor by wrapping her tight
in all the right places. She’d had curves that’d made his mouth water and a
specific part of his body tighten ready to be milked. He’d taken a step
forward, and she had responded by taking a step back, her back pressed against
the wall like he’d wanted to do before. If it wasn’t for the startled look in
her eyes, he would have acted on his desire to seduce her and pressed his body
against hers trapping her even more. He’d leaned down, just to tease her and he
spoke, though he wasn’t sure what he’d said. All his attention was on her lower
lip that slowly slid out of her mouth and the tip of her tongue that’d peeked
out, tempting him to catch it with his teeth.

Right before he could do just that, her friend had
appeared breaking the spell. He’d rushed off only to be tracked down by her
friend—Loraine. The threat she’d issued—‘Don’t play around with Riana or you’ll
deal with me’—had made him laugh and come to respect Loraine. Her loyalty,
aided by her last name, had made him take Loraine seriously. He’d promised to
stay away from her and asked if she’d seen his girlfriend Theresa.

He hadn’t understood why Theresa was hiding away when
she was the one who’d not only dragged him to the auction but had volunteered
him as one of the men to be auctioned off—him and a two week trip to Venice
paid by him. That he had minded. Donating money to the cancer foundation he
hadn’t minded at all. After losing his mother to breast cancer and his father
to pancreatic cancer, he was ready to give as much as he could in the fight to
finding a cure.

He hadn’t taken the test yet because he was afraid he
might have the cancer gene. Melody, his baby sister, had already taken the test
and she was in the clear. The doctor had said the odds were one to two or none
at all. Melody was clear which left him, the one out of the two.

“Allan…honey?”

Theresa’s voice brought him out of his thoughts and he
quickly turned to her. She’d fixed her clothes quicker than it usually took her
when she was bent over his desk, her ass in the air and her legs wide apart in
invitation. And if he remembered correctly, she never had to give him
directions on how to fuck her. Neither did she recover so quickly.

His eyes shifted to Michael. His new employee was just
fresh out of college. Working for Sinclair Enterprise was a ‘once in a life
time opportunity,’ as Michael had put it. Allan had appreciated his enthusiasm
and eagerness that he did one thing he never ever did—he employed an infant. He
was now fumbling with his pants as he hurried to zip them up. A young,
inexperienced graduate. What else did Theresa expect?

“Michael. Theresa.”

“Mr. Sinclair,” Michael squeaked.

Allan scoffed and shook his head. How could he have
been so wrong about this kid? He would never survive in his business. If
Michael couldn’t face him boldly with confidence even after he’d been caught
shagging the boss’s girlfriend by his boss, how was he going to survive the
takeover Allan had planned in Venice?

Allan had invited Michael to Venice to try him out
with a chain of hotel he wanted to take over. A good working experience for the
kid, and it also would have freed up more time for Theresa. She’d nagged him
long enough about his long work schedule and the month he needed to be in
Venice would have dealt with that.

But oh no, Michael was too busy attending to Theresa’s
needs to even think about how he was screwing himself over. And Theresa, well,
she no longer had a reason to nag him. Michael seemed to have stepped in for
him in his stud duties just fine.

Allan looked at them again, standing a few feet apart
from each other and strangely, he didn’t give a shit if they wanted to go at it
again once he closed the door. He had a few condoms in his wallet he could give
them if they’d run out already. That’s if they were using any.

Did they
even use any?

Allan cursed under his breath. Theresa was conniving
enough to plant a pregnancy on him if it meant getting him to the altar.

He pulled his wallet from the inside pocket of his
jacket. “I didn’t know Michael was in the auction, let alone that his package
included a rushed screw in the manager’s office.” He pulled out the five
condoms he kept handy in the instances where Theresa decided to jump him in
places that weren’t his home or office. He carried his own condoms to her house—he
never trusted the woman enough to use hers.

Allan chuckled. The woman was calculating. She had
more brains than he had ever given her credit for.

“Allan, honey—” Theresa began but he silenced her by
holding up his hand.

“Theresa, you know I don’t like to share, but this is
a charity event after all. We need to get the proceedings for the cancer
foundation any way we can.” He threw the condoms at her, “You might want to use
those from now on. The HIV/AIDS fundraiser is next month if I recollect
correctly. And I definitely don’t want to be trapped by any of his bastards.”

With that, he bowed out, closing the door because he
knew for certain Theresa was going back to bending over that desk despite
getting caught.

* * * *

Riana watched the huge double doors for Allan. She
knew he was livid and hurt and she just wanted to give him the same comfort
he’d given her. A distraction he’d called it. Well it had worked. It also
opened her eyes.

Riana found herself wondering if she ever did love Steve,
because she shouldn’t have reacted so wantonly toward a man seconds after
meeting him, right after her breakup. What she knew for sure was that the
betrayal by two people she lived with and trusted was what cut her deep.

“Riana, you’ve been staring at that door since you
walked in,” Loraine said, pulling the empty tray of appetizers out of her hand
and replacing it with a full one. “If the dragon lady sees you, she’ll fire you
and you’ll have no money to pay
me
rent.”

Riana rolled her eyes and walked alongside her friend
as they made their rounds in the large ballroom. “I just want to know how Allan
is.”

Loraine sniggered, clearly an effort to keep from
laughing out loud. “I would have loved to have seen them getting caught with
their pants down. Get it, pants down?”

Riana bumped her, shaking the glasses of champagne on
Loraine’s tray. “That’s not funny. There is nothing funny about seeing the
people you trust betray you.”

Loraine sighed. “Well look at the bright side. You are
free to jump each other’s bones now.”

“Loraine!”

“Riana.”

She spun around at the sound of her name. Her breath
hitched in her throat when she spotted Allan, smiling down at her.
Damn, the man is a hunk.

His smile widened as if he’d heard her thoughts.

She felt Loraine lean close to her side. Riana didn’t
turn to pay her any attention. She was too busy staring at her very own Greek
god.

“Honey, you said that out loud,” Loraine whispered.

“What?”

Loraine chuckled. “See you later,
hunk
. Don’t forget.”

He chuckled. “I won’t.”

Riana groaned covering her face with her free hand.
This was extremely and unequivocally the most embarrassing moment of her life.

Riana felt Allan lean down, like he was curving around
her body to whisper in her ear, “Don’t worry. I find you very attractive too
and I’d like to take you to Venice with me.”

Her hand dropped from her face. “What?”

“All you have to do is win the bid for me.” Then he
walked away without any further explanations.

“What about your girlfriend?” she called after him.

“What girlfriend?” he tossed over his shoulder with a
chuckled and Riana could barely restrain her smile.

Venice?
He wanted to take her to Venice and all she had to do
was win the bid for him… with money she did not have!

She stomped her foot. Damn!

Riana really wanted to go to Venice. She hadn’t been
anywhere except her home in Florida. Well, it hadn’t been her home for the last
three years since her mother died. She’d only gotten to experience New York
because of her scholarship and she really, double time really, wanted to go to
Venice with Allan.

What to do, what to do?

“Loraine!”

Riana bounced on her heels with a giddy cheer then
rushed toward Loraine. She pulled on Loraine’s waistcoat to get her attention
from the older couples.

“Excuse me please,” Loraine said to them politely
before she turned a stern look at Riana. “What!” she whispered harshly.

“Allan wants me to go to Venice with him but I have to
win him in the bid first.”

Loraine stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “Do
you want us to pool our savings and bid on a
billionaire
?” Her voice rose an octave. “I have five hundred
dollars in the bank and around ten dollars in pennies in my piggy bank. What
about you?”

“Don’t make fun of me Loraine. I’m not an idiot!”
Loraine raised a brow in response. Riana huffed. “Come on Loraine, help me out.
I really want to go!” she whined.

Loraine let out an exasperated sigh. “You just saw the
boy you love cheat on you with your roommate. Then, a few hours later, Allan’s
girlfriend takes it from behind from…whoever that guy was.” She harrumphed.
“What’s wrong with you two?”

Riana shuffled on her feet nervously. “I didn’t love
Steve and I just realized that. I wish I’d come upon that revelation before I
let him have my V-card—”

“And you think running off to Venice with a guy you
just met on a rebound affair is the better decision?” Loraine spoke, cutting
her off. “Two wrongs don’t make a right Riana.”

Riana sighed. Loraine had a point. Running off to
Venice with a guy she’d just met, and of course with no passport, was a little
daft. She had one more paper to write before she finally finished University,
and then she would head to the teacher’s training college that began in two
months’ time. She needed to stop chasing after love just because she was lonely
and concentrate instead on her future. She wanted to be an art teacher in a
high school and that was where her focus was staying. Maybe in another five
years she could try this whole love thing again.

“Loraine, you are—” she was cut short when Loraine hit
her elbow making her hand shoot up and a male voice boomed thirty thousand
dollars.

Riana rubbed her throbbing elbow. “What the hell
Loraine!”

“Allan’s up on the stage and he’s staring daggers at
you.”

“What?”

She grabbed the tray out of Riana’s hand and placed it
and her own on the nearest table. She then turned Riana full body to face the
stage. Allan stood there looking intently at her, the edges of his lips turned
up in a slight smile and his arms crossed over his chest. He looked like a king
staring down at his subjects.

She sucked in her lower lip, butterflies fluttering in
her chest. Yup, he was Greek god material.