Riana couldn’t stop laughing.
“Will you quit it?”
Riana knew he was getting irate with her but she just couldn’t stop laughing. Getting his hair cut and shaving his beard were understandable. In fact, they were a necessity. But what she didn’t get was his insistence to wear a suit and get all fashioned up like he was going to a business meeting and not to meet his daughter.
It took a lot of convincing, but she got him to dress in jeans and a black T-shirt. After she warned him of Aurora messing up his suit with sticky fingers and food, he thought it best not to wear white.
She borrowed some of Melody’s clothes, hoping that she really wouldn’t mind—as Allan had promised—and also stayed away from the whites.
He looked even more anxious and pale standing at her door than on their trip to her apartment.
The moment the sun was up they had left the hotel and went to his apartment. The first thi
The word fear wasn’t enough to describe the flood of terror that filled him when he saw her.He looked into the big brown eyes that stared up at him and listened to her shrilly giggles that filled him, pushing the fear out as she jumped up and down.“She’s beautiful,” he whispered as he watched her chant ‘daddy’ in a singsong voice as she danced around, her unruly, curly, black bob of hair moving with her.She seemed fascinated by how her hair moved around her head, covering her face when she paused, her head turned to the side. It reminded him of how Riana used to dance around, her hair flying all over her face until it completely blinded her. She would trip over her feet and Allan always had to stay alert to catch her before her ass touched the ground.She looked so much like Riana—happy and carefree.He was amazed by the instant love he felt for his daughter. Since the moment he’d known about her he’d loved her, but it stunned him how hard the emotion hit him when he saw her and he
Allan felt the familiar lump in his throat at her emotional whisper. Melody’s smile wobbled, tears running unrestricted down her cheeks.Allan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She pressed her face into his shoulder, her hand fisted in his shirt as she sobbed quietly.“I’m so sorry I put you through hell, Melody. I didn’t mean to. I just…life just didn’t seem worth living without Riana and Aurora and I know that’s selfish to you because it used to be you and me…but…God, Melody I don’t know how to explain it!”She pulled her head back, exposing her face. She smiled at him as she wiped her cheeks dry. “I understand. Remember dad?”Allan let out a shaky sigh. “Yeah. I finally understand.”Riana placed her hand over Melody’s on his chest. “Still. We are really sorry to have put you through…all of it. You too, Loraine.”Loraine waved the apology away and sat down on the carpeted floor across from them. “Hey, as long as my best friend isn’t depressed anymore, I’m co
“Are you okay?” Allan asked for the hundredth time that night as she crawled into bed next to him. She nodded, placing her hand on Aurora’s back as she slept on her father’s chest. God, she came so close to not having this… Riana took a deep breath to ward off another bout of crying. She had cried for what felt like hours, seeing Aurora and Allan go through her memory album. Allan laid his hand over hers on Aurora’s back. “I don’t think I’ll be able to thank you enough for what you did. Aurora would have known me if I had—” “Don’t say it,” she interrupted. “Let’s just treasure this moment with our daughter.” She placed her head on his shoulder, close to Aurora’s. “She looks so beautiful and innocent when she’s asleep you wouldn’t believe she is as destructive as a bulldozer!” Riana chuckled. “Well, I’m still not convinced,” Allan commented defensively. Riana smiled. He was going to defend Aurora no matter what. She loved him for that. Loraine had brought her laptop with ‘the
Riana Albury stood frozen at the doorway of her bedroom, stunned. She couldn’t move her legs let alone avert her eyes from the scene that played before her. The shock had her rooted to the floor. Her eyes bulged out and her mouth was ajar. There was a buzzing noise in her ears and dinner from her boyfriend’s favorite Thai restaurant that was two subway trains out of her way spilled onto the floor after slipping through her fingers.And yet, in all the chaos, only one thought filled her mind—a porn production studio would pay top dollar for the noises Claire was making. And not only for not only the noises she made but for the moves she made on Steve as well—evident by his horse-like grunts he made as she rode him like a professional horse rider.What did they call them…ah yes, jockeys, she thought.Riana turned around to the floor-to-ceiling mirror. Steve had insisted on her getting that room just because of it. Claire was leaning over him, one hand pressed to his chest and the other
Riana looked up at her one, true friend. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She shut her mouth then tried again, but this time a sob escaped. Riana covered her face with her hands and let the threatening tears flow.“Oh, no.” Loraine hugged her, back stepping into the apartment then she pushed the door shut. “You caught them in the act, didn’t you?”She nodded, keeping her shame filled face covered with her hands.Loraine rubbed her back. “Don’t cry. They don’t deserve your tears.”Riana broke away from her and stomped to the two-seatter couch. She dropped onto it, pulling her legs under her. “Just say it,” she sniffed. “I know you want to.”Loraine sat next to her, a gentle smile on her face. “Oh, honey.”Riana cried some more, relieved her friend didn’t…“I did tell you so.”“Really, Loraine, really?” she shrieked, jumping off the couch to pace in front of her. “You are supposed to be my best friend. The last friend I have at this point, actually. Or am I wrong abou
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.”Ria
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
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 gett