Dressed in Yellow: BBW Contemporary Romance (6 page)

“If you don’t want this to go any further, I need to take you home. Now.”

The heat in his eyes, clenching of his jaw, saved Aiva’s feelings from hurt. She knew he wasn’t rejecting her- he was trying to save her from him. Sweet. She smiled, stepping away. If he really had saved himself for marriage, then she would honor that by holding out a little while longer- at least long enough for them to both respect themselves in the morning. Her smile widened into a grin at the thought.

Leon’s eyes narrowed when she began to chuckle. “What are you laughing at?”

She shook her head. “Girl joke. Come on, Mr. Sudano. Take me home.”

Chapter

6

“Are you ready to make me an offer I can’t refuse?” he asked her in the quiet of the car right before walking her to her door.

She looked into her lap, saying nothing. He brushed her hair with the tips of his fingers, studying the classic lines of her profile. Proud nose, curved jaw, full mouth. Curls tumbling around her shoulders. His hand nearly tightened into a fist, imagining what she would look like on his bed, golden brown skin, mysterious eyes, and nothing else.

“I don’t understand why you want me,” she said.

He studied her. “You’re a beautiful woman-“

Her head rose, dark eyes narrowed, full lips twisting. “I’m not stupid, Leon. Whatever you want from me, beauty is only the surface.”

Leon pulled away, considering her words with care. Considering the warmth of the home he’d spent a brief time in, enjoying pasta and the happy noise of her family.

“I want what you have,” he said quietly. “Your family.”

Her brow rose. “You want my family?”

His lips thinned. “Not everyone has what you have. Warmth, life, people to come home to.”

“You don’t want to marry my family, though.”

“No. I want you.” He smiled, humorless. “Do you know how long I’ve been watching you? For years, Aiva. I know you even if you don’t know me. And I know I want you.”

She hesitated, then unbuckled her seatbelt. Leon opened the door for her, walked her to her doors and waited until he heard the bolt of her lock before leaving, expression hardening as he slid into business mode. Aiva would be the only who ever saw his softer face. His wife deserved to have the gentlest side of him- but Daniel. He deserved another side.

He made a call while driving and soon had Daniel’s location, making a u-turn to swing back around towards a quieter side of town. Quieter because residents knew not to venture there at night. The businesses on those blocks catered to a less wholesome clientele.

Leon pulled up to a privately owned storage facility that asked no questions and didn’t make annoying phone calls to collect rent. If you didn’t pay on time, something else happened. Leon waved his men back into their car with a grimace. They insisted on following him everywhere he went, mostly because his head of security had also been his father’s head of security- and he was from the old school. Laughed whenever Leon reminded him they were legitimate now. One of the few men who could get away with laughing to Leon’s face; he’d earned the right.

They remained outside because it was beneath Leon’s dignity to bring a guard to confront a moron who would hit his on cousin, a woman who hadn’t harmed fly in her entire life.

Daniel rose when Leon entered his office. The man’s eyes glanced past Leon’s shoulders. Stupid, Leon thought emotionlessly. Did Daniel really not understand?

Leon shut the door quietly behind them, engaging the lock.

“Your men know to whom they owe their ultimate allegiance,” he said to Daniel. “I think, however,
you’ve
forgotten who rules business in this city. May I sit?”

Danny jerked a shrug and Leon took a seat, leaning back and crossing his ankle over his knee.

“What we have here,” Leon continued in a pleasant tone, “is a failure of communication. I will, this one time, blame myself. Out of a courtesy to your cousin who asked me to spare your life.”

Leon had to give it to him. Danny held his eyes. “You have no right to interfere between me and my cousin. She is my family, my business partner. You have no claim on her.”

“She will be my wife, as soon as she is comfortable with the idea. Did you think I was insincere?”

“She deserves better than a man like you.”

Leon laughed. “Says the petty thug to the less petty, reformed thug. Funny. Here’s the thing, Losito.” Leon leaned forward in the seat, uncrossing his legs. “She’s chosen to honor your contract, though I would be happy to nullify it for her. If you lay another hand on her, I will not indulge her womanly squeamishness a second time. Is my communication clear enough for you? Because all happy relationships are built on a foundation of clear communication.”

Daniel nodded, mouth tight.

“Good.” Leon rose, went to the door. “Oh, and don’t punish your men for their loyalty to me. If I hear you have...”

He held Daniel’s eyes one long moment, and when Leon was certain his point was made, left.

***

“Aiva? Come look.”

Alerted by the tone of Mandira’s voice, Aiva left the arrangement she was styling for the bride she had coming by later in the afternoon and joined Mandira at the door. She took in the scene for a flat ten seconds before charging outside, barreling into the first man, shoving him with two hands away from the activist he was harassing.

“What are you doing?” she yelled.

He looked... uncomfortable. The build of a football player, belly running to fat, hair fading to gray. A suit jacket even though it was a warm, sunny day.

“We have instructions to run these troublemakers off,” he said.

The city had already reached a deal with the BeeKeepers so they stopped blocking traffic, but continued to haunt the curb with signs and their foghorn, preaching to any who would listen, handing out flyers and collecting signatures. The activity was almost background noise to Aiva at this point- just another part of the scenery. The attention the group was getting was so successful they’d begun to conduct their chapter meetings in the space next door Aiva had leased and set up for catering and party rentals.

“You don’t touch a hair on anyone’s head!” she exclaimed, furious. “Whose instructions?” Like she didn’t know.

“Daniel, miss.”

Her eyes narrowed. The two other men were waiting on the outcome of the conversation between Aiva and their leader. The looks on their faces...

“Does Leon know about this?”

She wanted to laugh. She could see by the way his eyes shifted away from her. Aiva folded her arms.

“I didn’t think so. This is Leon’s territory, and I bet shaking down-”

“That’s not really the right term.”

“-innocent activists would really piss him off. As a matter of fact, let me go call him.”

The man sighed. “Look, I don’t want to get in the middle of this shit between Daniel and Leon, okay?”

“Then don’t. Leave. I’ll take responsibility for it with Daniel. He can’t argue if you were told by Leon to go home.”

“You should just take the loan from Leon,” Mandira said when Aiva came back inside.

“No. That would make me no better than the women they set up businesses for to get out of their hair during the day. Nail salons, boutiques for the ‘little women’ to play business manager in and keep them occupied.”

“And here you opened a flower shop,” Mandira replied with a straight face.

Aiva stuck her tongue out. “Whatever. I’m doing this on my own. No help from Leon.”

Mandira sighed. “I think you’re being stubborn, but okay. Tough it out.”

***

She made herself a sheath dress with a diamond neckline, using the sari fabric he’d given her, sending Leon a matching bowtie with the scraps, ridiculously pleased when he showed up for a date in slim slacks, a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and her bowtie. Hair windblown and rakish- bright sneakers on his feet instead of his usual sleek black shoes.

He smiled at her look. “A man is entitled to dress down every once in a while isn’t he?”

If that was his idea of dressing down, she didn’t want to see his idea of around the house weekend wear. But if any man could pull off the quirky look, it was him. Certainly, his men didn’t mind, obeying his cool looks and hand signals with the same stoicism as always.

They didn’t seem to mind that he commanded them. She thought about their loyalty, knowing she would have a hard time giving up such autonomy- even just on a job. Her parents loved her growing up, and her brothers, but the men of her family were overbearing, always insisting that a woman of the old country needed to marry young, produce babies, work hard and ask her husband for permission to pursue her dreams. Aiva didn’t want to ask permission- didn’t want to be just another good girl from a good family who did as she was told. Wanted to prove to her parents that they could count on her strength as much as they could her brothers- and not just as a domestic goddess.

Leon showered her with gifts, brought her mother a trio of pricey organic hothouse tomato plants for the small kitchen garden, slipping chocolate into the older woman’s apron with a kiss to her knuckles. If he was trying to charm Aiva, it was working. Especially since he’d managed to talk her parents out of the chaperones. Though Aiva wondered about that from the too blank expression on Andrew’s face. She’d have to make sure to watch over her shoulder to see if she was being tailed. Aiva envied Leon’s schedule that he seemed to be able to show up to escort her home and take her out so often. As much as she loved the eating out, plays, and movies, she wasn’t managing her workload well.

“I’m sorry, I need to work tonight,” she told him when he came to the shop one evening, nearly two weeks into their courtship.

He leaned on the counter, unperturbed. “Sure. I’ll help you.”

She shook her head. “It’s paperwork type stuff- I’ll do it from home. You wouldn’t know what-”

His frown silenced her. “Aiviana. I run a major international corporation. Do you really think any of the paperwork you have to do I couldn’t figure out?”

She glared at him. “Okay. Well, let me rephrase it. It’s
my
work. My responsibility.”

Leon sighed, straightening. “Alright. We’ll eat in tonight, I suppose it’s not a big deal. You can endure my cooking for one evening.”

Aiva stared at him in astonishment. He tugged her ponytail, laying artfully over one shoulder.

“What? I’ve been getting better. I can make pasta, at least. And salad.”

Well, she had really intended on working alone… but the temptation of watching him cook…

“Besides, Aiva, what better than a quiet, normal evening together to help us get to know what married life would be like?”

“You make it sound so reasonable. Fine. Meet me at my house.”

He kissed her. “I’ll stop at the store first, then be home soon after.”

His words jolted her heart. As he left the shop she stared after him. For some reason, it really began to sink in that the man wanted to marry her. A simple sentence, but packed with all the casual intimacy she’d witnessed so often between her parents over the years. She took a deep breath, shut down her shop, and went home.

***

They spent the next few days in falling into an after work routine so seamless Aiva had to remind herself they weren’t actually husband and wife. That and her bare ring finger. It… disturbed… her. If he wanted to marry her, why hadn’t he formally proposed? What was he waiting for- or was he one of those men who said they wanted to marry, but were really in no hurry to tie the knot? And he certainly wasn’t pushing her for sex. Oh, they had times when she just knew he struggled to pull away, to leave her. And there were times she damn near begged him to forget whatever code from the old country he thought he was honoring and just take her, damnit. But knowing how traditional he was underneath the flash of his modern clothes and causal personality, she hesitated. Because she didn’t want him to think less of her over something as silly as sex before marriage.

Friday evening he broke the routine, however, bringing a large white box with him when he came home from work.

“Another present?” she asked, wiping her hands on a towel. She’d just finished putting fresh rolls in the oven, and was about to start chopping vegetables to add to the curry sauce.

He stopped sniffing. “What’s that? That’s not-”

“I know, I know. Don’t tell my mother.” Aiva rolled her eyes. “We can eat food from other cultures, you know. It won’t kill us.”

“Is this a good time to mention I love Vietnamese?”

She put a hand on her hip, held titling. “Huh. Really?”

“Absolutely. If you can figure out how to do a good banh mi, I will put you on my board of directors.”

Her brow rose. “I wouldn’t hold you to that. Flowers and three employees are enough of a headache for me.”

“Well, if you change your mind. Here.”

She took the box, placing it on the table. Pulling off the lid and removing the tissue-

“Oh. Oh, my. Leon.”

The gown was a swath of rose gold satin, the skirt long and full, the bodice encrusted with hundreds of tiny beads. Cap sleeves and a collar clearly made it of vintage design, the neckline dipping in a low vee held together with genuine gold bows like brooches.

She looked at him. “What is this for?”

“The EarthDay Gala fundraiser. We have seats.”

Aiva sat down in a chair. Tickets to that Gala- at the low end- were a grand a plate.

“When?”

“Tuesday evening.”