Page 3 of Billionaire's Sins
"One which you still don’t approve of, by the way," I mutter.
"Your mother and I wanted the best for you. And it’s true, when you said that you couldn’t pursue the medical profession, we were shattered. But that’s only because we wanted you to have a secure career."
"I have a secure career now."As a belly dancer, whose dance studio is struggling for funds.But I don’t say that aloud.
"I am proud of you, Ava."
"Are you?"
He nods. "You persisted in your dreams, never backed down. You went after what you wanted and made it happen.
"And me?" Raisa scowls at both of us. "What about me?"
"You’re the one I can always rely on to smooth over the cracks in the family."
"Don't do it, Dad." I plead, "Please, just because she asked you to do it, doesn’t mean you have to marry Lina. The least you can do is honor her memory by not replacing her in your life."
"I am honoring your mother’s memory. By living." He fixes his gaze on me. "Can’t you see that?"
"Oh Dad." I bite down on the inside of my cheek, "I know you have a right to be happy, and I want that for you, I do. But replacing Mum..."
"I am not replacing her, Ava." He walks over to me. "No one can. I am simply doing my best to keep going."
"I see." And I do, I really do. It's just, I can't get my head around another woman taking my mother's place in his life. And I don’t know if it’s better that it’s her best friend, or if that makes it worse. "It's just, I need some time to get my head around that. Is that okay?"
He peers into my eyes, then nods. "Okay." His lips quirk. "Okay, Ava."
I turn to leave and Dad calls out, "Wait. You'll come to the wedding, won't you?"
"I... I am not sure," I say without turning around. Then I walk out the door.
2
Two days later
"Each blossom still blooms in its field; each child still clutches your hand; each friend still lingers in your heart. And that…is where time goes."
I glance at the words I’ve scrawled out in my diary.
My heart stutters. The hair on my forearms rises. Time. Why am I so obsessed with time? I am only nineteen; I have my entire life in front of me. So why do I often ponder how fast time goes by? How it can all be over in a matter of minutes... Blink, and it’s gone. A mother playing with her son as an infant one second; the next, he’s all grown up and she’s shooting a movie with him as her subject. The son, who is the mirror image of her first and only love, the man she fell for, her soulmate...who turned out not to be. And now she has him… The son, who is the image of the father.Stop it…All these thoughts that meld and flow and turn my brain to mush. EvenTwilightwas more cheerful than this.
I hear a splash from the pool, and glance around from my perch on the chair in the far corner of the pool area. I am at my friend Summer’s townhouse in Primrose Hill. It’s February and freezing in London. Which is why I had grabbed my book and my blanket, then crawled over to the far end of the pool area. I’d hidden behind the wide trunk of the oak-tree, then settled down to write.
People hate the cold. Me? I thrive on it. Darkness is my friend, my companion. It clothes me, hides me from the sight of the world, like this blanket that I’ve wrapped around myself. If I look down, I can see the slope of Primrose Hill fall away below, the grass an undulating carpet that stretches down to the canal. This early in the day, it is quiet, except for a few joggers… And the man who’d dived into the pool and is now swimming laps.
From my hiding place, I can see his massive shoulders flex as he cuts through the water. He propels forward, leaving ripples in his wake. He’s moving so fast, he’s almost a blur as his powerful arms slice through the water. He hits one end of the swimming pool, then pushes away and begins to swim toward the other side. He zips forward, flings out an arm, thrusts the other back so his body shoots ahead. He lunges onward, keeps going until he hits the other edge of the pool, then turns back. I watch as he does five more laps of the pool… Hell, is he training for a triathlon or something? My entire body hurts, thinking of the punishment he’s putting himself through. What the hell is he trying to prove anyway?
He hits the edge of the pool, throws his arms over the rim and holds on. Then he presses his hands down on the ground, hauls himself up. He pitches his leg up and over. The corded muscles of his thigh tauten as he raises himself up and over the side. Water streams down from his sculpted chest, the cut planes of his back, and pours down the sides of his thighs. He raises his arms, throws back his head and stretches. For a second, he stands poised. The first rays of the sun hit his skin, and he seems to sparkle. My throat dries. All of my nerve endings pop. Moisture pools in my core. A shiver runs down my spine.
He turns, giving me a full-frontal view and I draw in a breath. I saw him at my friend Karina’s wedding, a few weeks ago. Only difference, he had more clothes on…and he wasn’t this wet.Nor was I—ha!Nor did he have his thick hair slicked back to outline the contours of his scalp. Nor did the hollows under his cheekbones seem this prominent. I trace my gaze down his hooked nose to his thin upper lip, made all the more pronounced by his full lower lip, which seems soft, pouty enough for me to sink my teeth into and suck. My belly clenches. My core softens. I squeeze my thighs together, watch as he moves toward the deckchair and picks up a towel. He drags it down his massive chest, across that ripped stomach, down the crotch of his black swimsuit, which outline what he’s packing. I bite down on the inside of my cheek. Is that man packing or what?
Is he some kind of athlete? He has that strength and confidence that comes with someone who works a physical profession. Or else, he trains a lot. As evidenced by this morning’s work out.
He loops the towel around his neck, straightens, then meets my gaze.
I pull back. "Shit, shit, shit."Did he see me? Of course, he spotted me.He seems like the kind of man who wouldn’t miss a thing in his surroundings.
Go on, get out there and wave at him or something. Tell him ‘Hi.’
