Insufferable Proximity (51 page)

“But you won‘t refuse me.”

“I definitely will.”

“I know how to change your mind.”

“You don’t have that power.” she said but was secretly afraid that he did.

“We shall see.” he grinned leading her inside as she rolled her eyes dramatically.

***

Ayden sat on the long, black couch in his office with Fritz, both of them frowning at the lack of information they were able to find about Julian’s saboteur.

“At this point I have done an impromptu interview with every employee, from the attorneys to the janitors.” Fritz said, a frown etched on his face. “I have found that almost every secretary as well as a fellow attorney is infatuated with your son. The security guards, a lawyer and a few of the janitors are personal friends of his and he had given them a good recommendation for their jobs. They were all nervous and most of the women were fidgety, which triggered my suspicion for every one of them, they all had different stories but there was one common thread amongst them.”

“Which is?”

“They all believe Julian is a womanizer and think it is one of the many scorned women in his past out for revenge. When pressed to see who they suspected was the culprit, most of them believed the only one at the firm capable of such malice was Heaven Deville herself.”

“They suspect Ms. Deville?” Ayden asked in astonishment.

“I don‘t know if they necessarily suspect her, it could be that most of them are very confused about her and your sons relationship. From what I gather, most of the women dislike her. Then again, it could be the culprit’s way of throwing me off their track. They also suspect Lila Strain.”

“Interesting.”

“There is something else I would like to look into with one of the secretaries and I will be checking in with you soon.” he rose from the couch then walked towards the door.

“Thank you, Fritz.” Ayden said with a deep appreciation.

“My pleasure.” he nodded then left the office. Ayden leaned back on the couch and took a deep breath, praying Fritz would be able to find something. This was getting out of hand and Ayden needed to put an end to it now. He had a bad feeling deep in his gut, his instincts were on alert and urging him to end this situation before something bad happened.

***

It was another bright and beautiful day, the sun was vivid enough to illuminate the deepest of hiding spots and the earth’s darkest shadows. Julian had decided to take Heaven out for brunch, there was a restaurant about a mile down the road that prepared the most amazing authentic Hawaiian dishes. He knew she would appreciate the time and talent put into their food and was excited to take her there.

“What does it say?” Heaven asked as she and Julian stood before the amber colored restaurant looking up at the sign, the words ‘E hele mai ’ai’ painted on a surfboard that was caught between a set of large shark teeth.

“Come eat.” he smiled.

“That’s the name of the restaurant?” she asked then chuckled softly when he nodded his head, “I love it and the teeth are the perfect touch.” she chuckled.

“Wait until you try the food, it is amazing.” he laughed, taking her hand as he led her through the deep mahogany doors. Heaven stepped into what looked like a swanky boat dock, the sky colored walls covered in fishing awards, pictures of various sized sea creatures and thousands of signatures. “Today is their deep-sea-creature eating contest.” he pointed to the long table at the other side of the room.

“Yuck! What is a deep-sea creature eating contest?” she asked looking at some of the most horrific looking sea monster inspired dishes spread over the table.

“The contest consists of the most foul tasting creatures from the sea, all cooked in equally horrid dishes and whoever eats the most wins.”

“That’s disgusting! What do they win?”

“They get to sign the wall and their picture gets put up on the wall of fame.”

“That’s it? You have to be kidding me, they’re eating foods that look like they would cause a massive stomach infection, just to sign a wall? It would have to be a big cash money prize for me to even think about doing something like that.” she frowned.

“They do it for the fun of it.”

“Eating disgusting foods is fun?”

“No but the actual contest is, and being able to sign the wall is a privilege. Look at them they’re having the time of their lives, some people would pay big money to have that much fun, with or without the nasty food.” he finished and she thought about it for a moment, seeing the enjoyment on their faces and she suddenly understood.

“I don’t believe it, Julian King!” he heard the familiar voice and turned to see his friend Bane.

“Bane!”

 “I had this crazy feeling I was going to see you soon.” he walked over and the two men hugged. “How have you been?”

“Good, how have you been?”

“I have been very blessed,” he grinned then turned and they all watched a beautiful woman, holding a tiny infant walking towards them. “You remember Mya.”

“Of course.”

“We finally got married.” Mya smiled sweetly then turned to Heaven, “hi, I’m Mya.”

“I’m Sev- Heaven.” she corrected herself and Mya smiled.

“What a beautiful name, I wish I had of met you three months ago before I decided on our daughters name. I would have loved to name her Heaven.”

“So what did you name her?”

“Nalani.”

“That’s a beautiful name, I like it much more than Heaven!”

“Thank you!” the woman carefully turned the baby to the side and gave Heaven a hug.

“Don’t tell me you finally settled down?” Bane asked Julian in astonishment, he had known Julian off and on for most of their lives, he had seen him interact with many different women, but never once had he looked at anyone the way he was looking at this woman.

“Oh, are you two married?” Mya asked in excitement.

“No!” Heaven quickly shook her head.

“She’s just my girlfriend.”

“Well that’s a big deal by itself.” Bane grinned knowing how his friend was with the opposite sex, he had never had a girlfriend and even though he had on occasion slept with the same girl more than once, it was never exclusive.

“Julian King!” they all turned to see the large woman stomping down the hall. “Where have you been?” the woman asked as Julian hugged her, “We haven’t seen you since your grandfather passed, we have been very worried.”

“It was hard to come back.” Julian admitted. Bane’s mother Halia had been very good friends with Julian’s grandfather and had been like a surrogate mother to him when he was in Hawaii.

“This island is filled with good memories and friends who love you, you should have come back at least to visit. Promise me you won’t stay away so long next time.”

“I won’t, Halia.” he smiled, forgetting how much he had missed them. “This is Heaven, Heaven this is Bane’s mother.”

“Nice to meet you.” she offered her hand but Halia scoffed at the extended limb and grabbed her for a big hug.

“It is our pleasure to meet you, my dearest.” she spoke with a sincere candor that was refreshing to Heaven and she found herself immediately liking the aggressive woman. “You must be very special if Julian has brought you here.” she winked, “You must meet my sister.”

Heaven was introduced to almost every person in the restaurant before they were finally able to sit down and eat. Bane’s family had joined them for the meal and Heaven listened to Halia’s endless tales of Julian and Bane’s adventures when they were youngsters. Heaven loved the place, everyone was friendly, and seemed to genuinely care for each other, she was almost sad to leave.

“Sorry about that.” Julian said as they finally left the restaurant. After they had finished eating, they had been mobbed by Halia again before they were able to escape. “I’m sorry they mobbed you.” he chuckled.

“I’m used to that, I was raised in a brothel remember.” she giggled thinking about Halia.

“Sometimes I forget.” he started the car and they made their way back to the house.

After such a delicious meal, they decided to lounge on the gazebo by the pool, cuddling together on the thick taupe colored mattress. They had dozed off for an hour before Heaven finally opened her eyes, she sat up and lazily stretched. Julian, sensing her movement opened his eyes and watched her for a moment before leaning back on the chocolate and cinnamon colored cushions.

“It’s hot as hell.” she said rising to her knees then sliding her sundress over her head. She was wearing one of the more scandalous bikinis he had bought her underneath the dress and Julian felt his erection increase tenfold. This particular bikini was stark white and the breezy, netted material was almost sheer, the cups so slim they barely covered her breasts and the thong sat so low on her hips, he was waiting for it to roll down. She scooted closer to him before sitting back down and unbuttoning his short sleeve khaki shirt then helping him slide it off. “Let’s make tropical drinks.” she jumped off the gazebo bed and grabbed his arm. He stood up and followed behind her over to the large bar, watching her curvy butt sway back and forth with each step she took.

“Damn I’m glad I found that bikini shop.” he said sitting at the bar stool as Heaven went behind the bar. He relaxed as he watched her mix together two large strawberry margaritas. “For someone who doesn’t drink you sure make a mean margarita.” he said after taking a sip.

“My mother loves fruity drinks especially margaritas,” she shrugged, “every celebration or special occasion she would make large batches and force me to help her.”

“She let you drink?”

“She tried to get me to take a sip here and there, but I never did.”

“I would have loved it if my father let me drink when I was a teenager.”

“You might change your mind if it ever really happened.” she said and he nodded, fully understanding.

“Your mother means well.”

“She does, but sometimes I think she loves being the Madame of the brothel just as much as she loves being a mother.”

“She sounds a lot like my father.”

“Really?”

“Don’t get me wrong, he was a damn good father and an even better provider. He was there if I got in trouble, but until I decided to join the same profession we rarely spoke.”

“That’s horrible!” she cried walking around the bar to stand beside him.

“No it’s not, I was able to spend more time with my grandfather that way, trust me it worked out for the best.” he said pulling her closer to him.

“Your grandfather sounds like a good man.”

“He was.” he smiled, happy to hear her refer to him that way, but he needed to change the subject. He was not used to talking about his personal feelings or his family and he felt like he had said more than enough. “Now it’s time for me to make you a drink.” he said and walked behind the bar, grabbing two large cups. He blended the strawberries, oranges and raspberries along with a few other key ingredients as well as a ton of liquor then poured the concoction in the two cups.

“What is it?”

“It’s called garbage juice.”

“Garbage juice?”

“Yeah, we used to make it in college, it has a little bit of everything in it.”

“Yum,” she grinned after taking a sip, “you can’t even taste the liquor.”

“That’s the tricky part about it, you can’t taste it so you end up drinking too much and feel like garbage in the morning.”

“Come on let’s sit closer to the water.” she grabbed the wide pitcher and headed over towards one of the tables closer to the pool. He followed behind her still hypnotized by her swaying ass, he grabbed her hips then bent his head and kissed the top of her behind before sitting down at the round table. “I absolutely love this old jukebox.” she smiled, flipping through the songs listed on the mini jukebox in the middle of the table.

“My grandfather was big on the reinvention of the jukebox.”

“I wish someone would bring it back in style, there’s nothing better than a jukebox.“ she gasped, seeing the diverse selection of music, “And he has all the hits, from rhythm and blues to classic rock, your grandfather really had amazing taste Julian.”

“He would love to hear you say that.” he grinned from ear to ear, filled with happy memories, “there was nothing he loved more than a beautiful women with good taste in music and gave him compliments.” he chuckled.

“He sounds like a real cool cat.” she said thinking of all the stories he had told her, “I wish I could have met him.”

“He would have loved you.” he said thinking of his grandfather’s love of women, but he had a special weakness when it came to temperamental women and especially loved the little spitfires like Heaven. “Come here.” he murmured and she walked over to him then elegantly plopped down on his lap as she took another sip of the garbage juice. Julian wrapped his arms around her hips and kissed her shoulder as she reached for the pitcher to re-fill her glass, “You better take it easy on that stuff it’s strong.”

“Let’s go swimming!” she said looking out at the crystal-clear pool. The swimming pool did not look like it belonged in any backyard, its design created to resemble a tropical pond, complete with lily pads in the water and a tall coconut tree off to the side.