The Miami Millionaire (21 page)

Victoria looked at the screen with Mark’s number on it.  She still hadn’t called him to tell him she had cancelled all the wedding arrangements.  Oh she was sure he knew by now that everything was cancelled, someone from the wedding invitation list she had e-mailed with their cancellation apology would probably have called him to ask what was going on, but she had not actually spoken to Mark herself.  She needed this closure, she needed to tell Mark that the wedding was off for good and that was the end of it.  When she went back to London she would move in with a friend for a while until she found a new place to rent, and once the sale of the house went through then she would never have to hear from Mark again.  Victoria pushed the button on her phone and she heard the familiar ring in her ear.  She bit her lip knowing it was late in London, just after midnight, but she didn’t care - the time to make this call was now.

“Victoria?”  Mark’s voice came through the phone and even though she was expecting it, it still made her jump a little - no matter whether she was still in love with Mark or not, they had spent a long time together and he had betrayed her deeply.  As soon as she heard him say her name all those hurtful feelings came flooding back.

“Hello Mark.  I am sorry to call you so late but I am really busy in the daytime.”

“That’s okay Victoria.  How are you?”  Mark asked sounding concerned.

Victoria cringed slightly, she didn’t want Mark’s concern, she didn’t want anything from him.

“I’m fine, I just thought we needed to have full closure on everything, and finish this mess in a clean and neat way.”

“Don’t be so hasty Victoria.  Just take a bit of time and we can talk about things when you get home.”

Victoria paused not knowing is she was understanding Mark correctly or not.

“When are you coming back Victoria?” 

“Back where?”  She asked cautiously.

“Home.  Here.”  Mark said as if she was asking a ridiculous question.

“I’ll be back in England in a week or two, I am not sure exactly when yet, but I won’t be coming back to our old house Mark.  You have put it on the market with the estate agent haven’t you?”

“Let’s not be too hasty Victoria.  Why don’t you wait until you get back here and we can talk about things.  You know I’m not with Chantelle anymore.  I finished it, it’s all over.”

Victoria took a deep breath and let out a sad sigh.  It didn’t matter to her if he was still with Chantelle or not, he had totally destroyed her trust in him, and pretty much men in general.  Besides, she wasn’t in love with him anymore.

“You know what Mark, I think this was probably long overdue, it is just that neither of us knew it.”

“What does that mean?”  He asked, his voice sounding harder than his original concern.

“It doesn’t matter.  I’m not calling to discuss anything, I just wanted to give you a courtesy call to tell you I have cancelled everything for the wedding and we will get some of the deposit money back, but not much because it is so last minute.”

“What do you mean you have cancelled it?”  He blurted down the phone.

Victoria sat back surprised, he knew the wedding was off!

“I cancelled everything just as I told you I would.  I am sure you know I cancelled it!”

“Yes well Erick and Jenny did call me to see why they had received an e-mail from you telling them not to go to the wedding because it had been cancelled, but I assured them it was just a hitch and it would sort itself out.”

“You said what?”  Victoria spluttered down the phone not believing her ears. 

“I know I screwed up and I am truly sorry.  I really love you and I won’t do it again, I promise I learnt my lesson.  Don’t do this to us Victoria.”  Mark sounded genuinely upset.

“I didn’t do this to us Mark, you did.”  This is not how Victoria had imagined the conversation to go, in fact she hadn’t wanted to talk to Mark at all, it was just to tell him their plans had been cancelled.  She took a deep breath and steadied her voice.  “Mark, I don’t even want to talk about it.  The wedding is off, and you and I are finished.  We both know that so there is no more left to say.  As far as the house is concerned either put it on the market to sell it or buy me out of my share.  Goodbye Mark.”  She said and then disconnected the call.

Lifting her diet coke can she realised it was empty so she picked up her rubbish and threw it in the bin as she headed off along the promenade.  The sunset was dimming now with the evening night sky finally making its way inland and Victoria stopped off to buy her favourite frozen yoghurt.  She walked along the promenade back towards her hotel and smiled to herself as her hair blew back in the soft evening breeze.  Yes she still hurt, but she was okay, really okay.  For the first time since her world came crashing down she realised that this new feeling had nothing to do with anyone else, but she was going to be more than okay.

Victoria woke up with the light streaming through the slit in the curtains and she stretched.  She smiled feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders - her bruised heart would heal in time but at least it wasn’t broken anymore.  She realised now that even though she had loved Mark, he was not the love of her life, and with that realisation she didn’t seem to hurt so much anymore.  Victoria looked across at the clock and jumped out of bed heading into the shower. Today she was going to the huge Dolphin Shopping Mall to oversee a small promotional event.  As the warm water washed over Victoria’s skin she let her mind wander and looked forward to seeing Jake later tonight.  But before she headed off she would make a few calls into her boss’s office in London updating them on her progress with gaining CT Holding’s account.

Jake’s deep purple car pulled up just as Victoria stepped out of her hotel.  She finally felt like things were falling into place; work had gone well today - they were tying up a few loose ends with the products to launch in the UK and Victoria was feeling confident it would all go nice and smoothly.  She smiled at Jake as she didn’t wait for him to get out and open the car door for her, but opened it herself and jumped inside, planting a quick kiss on his lips.

“Hi you.  You look very pleased with yourself.”  Jake said thinking Victoria looked the happiest, and prettiest, he had seen her yet.

“I am feeling it.”

“Any particular reason why?” He waited for her to fasten her seatbelt before he drove off, using the time to admire her long slender legs as they stretched out from the seat next to him.

Victoria didn’t want to discuss Mark or what she had or hadn’t felt for him, she wanted to move on from that.  And she wasn’t sure she was quite ready to tell Jake that she had been excited all day knowing she was going to see him tonight for dinner, so she swiftly deflected the conversation.  “So where are you taking me tonight?”

Jake knew when someone was avoiding his questions, and he knew Victoria was.  But he didn’t mind, he could see she was happy and that was all that mattered – Victoria was happy, and she was with him tonight. 

Jake pulled out into the traffic, “I’m taking you for a barbeque.”

“A barbeque?”  Victoria asked not quite convinced - his crisp black shirt with little white buttons trailing down his chest and white jeans said something smarter than a back garden barbeque.

“Yes, we are going to one of my favourite restaurants.  They do the most amazing food; smoky barbeque ribs, and those ridiculously large burgers you like.”

Victoria laughed.

“But my favourite there is their Argentinian Steak, barbequed to perfection.”

“That sounds wonderful.  I can’t wait.”  Her mouth watered at the mere thought of it.

Jake pulled his car up to the front of the restaurant and handed the keys to a valet as another opened the door for Victoria.  Jake took Victoria’s hand as they walked past the outside dining area and through the restaurant’s wide tinted glass doors.

“Good evening Mr Cumberland, your table is ready for you.”  A pretty waitress stepped forward and took them to a discrete table in the far corner of the restaurant, away from prying eyes.

Victoria looked around the busy dining room taking in the sounds of cheerful chatter over the Latino music, whilst its incredible mix of aromas teased her taste-buds.

“Can I get you some drinks?”

“I will have my usual red please,” Jake paused for a moment, “What would you like Vicky, a cocktail or some wine?”

“Red wine is good for me too.”

“Make that a bottle of red please, and can we have a plate of your bread and cheeses with olives while we’re deciding what to have?”

“Of course, I’ll be right back.”

Jake turned his attention to Victoria who was already looking at the menu, he didn’t need to look at the menu to know what he was having.

After a moment Victoria looked up and met Jake’s eyes.  She put down the menu, it was good but looking at Jake was far more appealing.

“Do you know what you are having?”

Victoria thought for a moment, “I’ll go for the steak too.  I haven’t tried Argentinian steak before but I have heard people talk about it.”

“Good choice.”  Jake said as a plate of delicious smelling bread and cheeses arrived on the table along with their bottle of wine.

“We’re ready to order now.”  Jake said as the waitress poured their wine into the two glasses.

“Certainly Sir.”

“Starter?”  He asked Victoria realising he hadn’t asked her yet.

“No thank you, this will be enough.”  She said indicating to the food which had just arrived.

Jake nodded and proceeded to order two Argentinian steaks with sides and salad.  As the waitress walked away he wasted no time in taking hold of Victoria’s hand and rubbed his thumb against her soft skin.  With his other hand he took his glass of wine and held it up to Victoria’s, “To a good night.”

Victoria picked up her glass of wine and watched as the thick dark red liquid left a momentary film on the inside of the glass as it slid down the sides.  She clinked it against Jake’s glass, “To a perfect evening.”

Jake smiled and took a sip of his wine.

Victoria and Jake ate their steaks and drank the wine as they passed the evening with conversation after conversation.  No one interrupted them as they sat discretely in the corner of the restaurant, and as Jake paid the bill Victoria thought she had never had a better dinner than tonight.  She didn’t want the night to end.

“Where to now?” Jake said putting his wallet away.

“How about a walk along the beachfront and then back to my hotel.”  She said feeling not quite as brave as it sounded to her ears.

Jake’s glass stopped halfway to his lips, he was about to take his last sip of wine but he wasn’t sure he had heard Victoria correctly.

She laughed gently and blushed, she had obviously surprised him.

Jake took his sip of wine and then put the glass back on the table.  “Well if I seem to remember correctly you did tell me that my bed was more comfortable than yours.”

“That is very true.”  Her eyes sparkled at the memory of the two of them in Jake’s bed.

“So why don’t we go back to my place instead?” 

“That sounds like a lovely idea.”  Victoria agreed.

As they left the restaurant Jake’s car was ready and waiting for them.  He drove them out towards the coastline heading towards Ocean Drive, trying to keep his eyes on the road and away from Victoria sitting in the seat next to him.  He was sure her skirt was a few inches higher than it had been when they were in the car before, exposing the soft skin of her inner thighs as she sat with her legs crossed.  Victoria turned sideways in her seat and watched Jake obviously trying to keep his attention on the road, and she giggled.  She undid the top button of her blouse knowing full well from Jake’s angle he would be able to see the black lace frill on her pink bra and she smiled inwardly when she saw him make a quick look.

Jake cleared his throat, “Are you too warm, do you want me to turn the air conditioning up?”

“No, I’m fine thank you.”  Victoria said turning a little more in her seat allowing her skirt to slide even higher. 

Jake pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned to face Victoria, he could feel the chemistry in the air and he needed to see if he was reading this right.  As he turned, Victoria leaned across the seat and kissed him full on the lips with intention.  Jake’s momentary surprise turned to lust and he let his tongue play with her lips, her mouth and explore her warmth.  His hands slid from Victoria’s neck, down inside her shirt and cupped one breast.  He felt her press hard up against his hand and he ached to have both hands inside her bra and on her bare skin.  He pulled back and looked at Victoria’s flushed face with her dark brown eyes sparkling.

“Are you sure you want to go for that walk along the beach.”

She shook her head.

“Shall we go straight back to mine then?”

“Definitely.”

Jake sat back in his seat and pulled the car out into the traffic.  He skipped across one lane and then another to make a U-turn at the next traffic lights and drove as fast as the traffic would allow, he needed to get home as quickly as possible because Victoria was not letting up with her teasing and now she was stretching out on the seat next to him, eyeing him up like a cat about to eat its cream.