The Billionaire Saved My Life (BWWM Billionaire Love Story Book 1) (2 page)

“What do you mean, ‘if'?  You are going to call him aren't you?” Mae asked.

“I'm not sure.”

“Not sure?” Both girls said together.

“Well, we're just so different. I don't even know what we'll have to talk about but...”

“But what?” Kaya said.

“I don't know; there's something about him I find really appealing.”

“It's called a bank account, girlfriend. And you can imagine how big that is!”

They all started laughing.

“Stop it, Kaya. It hurts when I laugh. I don't know if I'll call him. We'll see.”

*

It took Tanya several weeks to recover from her injuries. She took time away from her jobs –she juggled several. She was a fashion buyer for a boutique in Manhattan. It was a small place and her boss was generous with the time off she gave to Tanya, knowing she didn't want to lose a valuable employee. But the fashion buying side was only part time. Tanya also spread her talent to other work. She was a freelance window dresser as well as a personal shopper for a handful of exclusive customers who had more money than sense and too much time on their hands.

“It's good to see you back, Tanya,” her boss, Elena said. “I've missed you.”

In no time at all, she had settled back into a work routine, meeting her friends, Mae and Kaya for their regular lunch chats and cocktails every other Friday at Rafaelo's. The last time she met them, they talked non-stop about Kurtis Reed. Mae had been Googling him non-stop. Also, they kept asking when she was going to call him.

“I'm not sure.”

“Not sure?” Kaya said. “Girl, are you crazy? A guy sees you looking like you just did ten rounds with Mike Tyson and asks you to dinner and you're not
sure
?” She shook her head at Mae who was in agreement.

“I think he was feeling sorry for me when he saw me all banged up,” Tanya conceded. “Besides he must think I'm some kind of flake, a reckless driver or maybe he wants to take me out for the publicity. You know?” She made inverted commas with her fingers. “Reckless driver learns her lesson with support of music magnet Kurtis Reed. Or Kurtis Reed does charity work by dining loser driver.”

“I'm sure that's not the case,” Mae said. “You know he's single at the moment. You don't wanna wait any longer. It's been six weeks. His offer might run out.”

“Well if it does, it does, and then it wasn't meant to be.”

“There she goes with her fate thing again. Listen Tanya, sometimes we have to make our own fate. And if your fate means that you get to date Kurtis Reed and I come along to the parties he takes you to and I meet a celebrity of my own, then you better believe that's the kind of fate I want.” Kaya snapped her finger and the girls collapsed in fits of giggles.

“Listen, I better get back to work,” Tanya said, “It's late. I'll see you guys at Rafaelo's tomorrow night, okay?”

A round of hugs and kisses were exchanged before all the girls parted for different areas of the city.

When Tanya got back to work, her boss, Elena smiled at her.

“Am I late?” Tanya asked.

“Not at all. I just got off the phone. I think I've managed to get you another client who needs a personal shopper.”

“Really? That's great.”

“I hope you don't mind that I booked an appointment for you this afternoon. I know you said you needed the extra cash so you could find yourself a better apartment.”

“That's true. If you can do without me for a few hours, then I'll do it. What time and what's her name?”

“It's at five o'clock and this time it's a man.”

“Oh?”

“Yes but he's going by an alias. I'm guessing he must be a movie star or something. You know they have to keep these things hush-hush. He calls himself Gene Kelly.”

“Very funny. Let's see if he can dance?”

***

At five o'clock, Tanya showed up for her appointment with her client. She reported to security on the front desk of a tall apartment building and asked for Gene Kelly. They directed her to the top floor penthouse suite. The elevator opened straight into the suite. The place was tastefully decorated with modern art and expensive furniture. The color theme, white, played a large part in the décor, with sumptuous white leather sofas and porcelain statues on glass tables that might fall and break in a high wind.

Tanya looked around and couldn't see anyone but she heard a voice in another room, talking on the phone. She stood in the middle of an enormous living room, all windows were opened and just a hint of spring sun coming through. She held her purse in front of her legs and waited, still taking in the art pieces.

“I'm sorry to have kept you waiting,” a voice behind her said.

Tanya turned around.

“Kurtis!”

“You look surprised.”

“Well of course I am. I never expected...”

“I'm sorry,” he said, coming over to where she stood, open-mouthed. “I couldn't go on waiting for you to call, so I took the initiative. I hope you don't mind?”

“So, you don't actually need a personal shopper?”

“No, not exactly, but I know a lot artists I work with who do and I can get you lots of work.”

“Well, thanks, I guess. Look I'm sorry I didn't call but...”

“Please don't go, Tanya. I just couldn't stop thinking about you. All this time the feeling wouldn't go away.”

“So you decided to ambush me?”

“I know it was corny. I regretted it the minute I planned it but I really wanted to see you. Don't go.”

“I'm not going anywhere, Gene Kelly.” She smiled up at him now. “You promised me dinner and

I'm hungry so...”

He was inches away from her now. She remembered the scent of his cologne from the hospital visit. He was wearing the same one, subtle but beguiling. As though it were made just for him. For a second she thought she remembered the same scent on the night of the accident. Every now and again, she would get flashes of memory of that night but nothing clear. She wanted to remember, but she couldn't.

“I know the perfect place,” Kurtis said and she shook the flashback from her mind. Maybe he could tell her more.

“As long as it isn't sushi, I don't care where we eat.”

“Let's go then.”

Chapter2

“So Kurtis, apart from everything I know about you from the papers, what don't I know?”

“Well, Wikipedia practically says it all. My mother was Italian. She and my dad split up when I was five and she took me back to Milan. I used to fly back to the States to see Dad and sometimes he'd come to Italy.”

“So you got on well with your parents?”

“Yeah. In fact, my parents became really good friends after the divorce. Dad was at her bedside when she died.”

“I didn't know about your mother. Was that recent?”

“No it was twenty years ago. It was coming up for my 11th birthday. Mum was planning a party for me. I didn't want one. I saw how tired and weak she looked. But she never lived long enough.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't be. I got over it.”

“Well, you certainly did well for yourself.”

“I was lucky.”

“Do you believe in fate, Kurtis?”

“Fate?”

“Yes, my friends laugh at me when I say that things are just meant to happen and there's nothing we can do about it.”

Suddenly Tanya noticed a cold look in Kurtis's eyes. He began to stare off into the distance. He clenched his teeth together and let his cutlery fall to the table.

“Kurt? Is everything all right? Was it something I said?”

“Er, no.” He seemed to snap himself out of it. “I just remembered something.”

“You looked miles away just then.”

“It's nothing. I'll order us some more wine.”

The waiter came over after Kurtis waved a hand but Tanya was sure something had changed in him. For the rest of the evening he seemed attentive, he was open and chatted a lot but behind his eyes there was something. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she knew it was there.

Kurtis saw her home.

“Well, this is me.” She looked up at a dry cleaners shop that was closed because of the late hour.

“You live in a shop?” he said.

“I live above the shop. This is my door and this is my key. You know, not everyone can live in a penthouse.”

“I didn't mean...”

“Don't worry. I'm tired and I should get some sleep.” Before she could finish her sentence Kurtis held her face between his hands and kissed her. She responded, bending her body into his and sighing.

“Was it fate that I should kiss you?”

“Probably,” she whispered. “But it was fate that we should meet. You saved my life.”

“Then you owe me another date. What are you doing tomorrow night?”

“Nothing planned.”

“Be ready for eight. I'm taking you to a party.”

“Will there be any celebrities there?”

“It'll be wall-to-wall celebrities but a few very close friends of mine. See you here at eight?”

“I'll be waiting.”

Whatever lay behind those mysterious eyes of his, Tanya knew deep down that Kurtis was a good person. She had warmed to him from the moment they met and if she wasn't careful, she might just fall in love with him too.

She laughed as she opened the door, knowing what her girlfriends would say if they knew she just went out with
The
Kurtis Reed. And she was sure Kaya and Mae would go all out for an invite to this party he was taking her to.

Tanya decided it might be best to tell them both about the party after she had gone just so they didn't turn up at eight the next night, all dressed up and ready to go on her date with Kurtis. Then it hit her: she had planned to go out with Kurtis on their regular cocktail night at Rafaelo's.

***

“So you're blowing us off for a billionaire? I'm surprised and shocked,” Mae said.

“Really?” Tanya replied.

“Of course not. You go have yourself a good time and tell me everything!”

Kaya's response was slightly different.

“Bitch!” she said, and hung up the phone.

***

Kurtis arrived on the dot of eight o'clock. Tanya had been in a panic about what to wear to a party that would be filled with celebrities. Elena had come to her rescue and let her have a designer dress that a woman had returned because she wasn't happy once she got it home. It was very difficult for Elena to sell returned items when the sales were not on and when Tanya tried the dress it was if it were made for her. It had spaghetti sleeves and was low cut at the front showed off Tanya's voluptuous cleavage and tiny waist. It was red, the perfect color for her complexion.

“Are you sure I can just have this?” she said, looking in the shop floor mirror.

“Of course I am. It's not every day a girl gets asked out to a party with Kurtis Reed.”

“I'll never forget this, Elena.”

“You'd better not.”

Tanya heard the car pull up and turned off the light in her tiny apartment. As she closed the front door, Kurtis was waiting with a crooked arm, ready for Tanya to place her hand on it so he could walk her to the car. Kurtis's driver held open the back door and they stepped in.

“You look beautiful by the way, Tanya.”

“You sure I'll fit in at this party?”

“Well why wouldn't you? Mostly there'll be a bunch of nouveau riche snobs and would-bes and wanna-bes and people with more money than sense.”

“And which one are you?”

“Neither. I forgot to mention the nice people who'll be there. It's my good friend, Jeannie's party. You'll like Jeannie. Her father is in the wine business like my Dad. She's a great girl. There will be some other nice people. Don't look so worried.”

Kurtis kissed her cheek and smiled. He looked out the window as he held her hand and she viewed his profile. He was relaxed tonight. That look she remembered him having at their meal the night before had worried her but it was nowhere to be seen tonight. He seemed happy, like when she first met him. He was wearing that cologne.

It triggered another flashback of the accident. It was very hazy. In her mind, all she could see was the road. The rain beating down. The sound of Diana Ross on the radio. And then nothing.

“Here we are,” Kurtis said as they drove towards a large gate that led onto a gravel driveway.

“I am in the wrong business,” Tanya said as the driver pulled up at the main door at the end of the gravel drive. “Is this your friend's place or her parents?”

“Oh it's hers; her inheritance from the grandparents. But don't let the splendor fool you. Jeannie is the most down to earth person you could ever wish to meet.”

“Jeez, Kurtis. This place is a palace.”             

They stepped out onto the gravel path, which swallowed up half an inch of her high heels. The house was wide, lots of windows facing front and only some of them lit. The driveway was lined with expensive cars and chauffeurs waiting inside some of them. They walked up to the grand double doors, which were opened by two doormen without Kurtis having to ring the bell. They nodded at him.

“Mr Reed.”

“Hi Jerry, hi Sam.” Kurtis smiled and nodded to them both.

The doors opened up onto a large hallway, marble floors and a spiral staircase that wound its way up to a wide balcony. There were people on the balcony, tastefully dressed, professionally made up, laughing and chatting, holding glasses of spirits or champagne.

Just across the hallway and a room with doors that were slightly ajar, were two waitresses loading glasses of champagne on trays. From inside the door, Tanya could hear music blaring from the speakers, lots of laughter and people talking.

“Would you like some champagne?” Kurtis turned to her and asked.

“Kurtis!” A tall girl with jet lack hair that was cropped very short to her head ran towards Kurtis with her arms open. She had eyes as big as saucers, green, with lots of dark makeup around them and deep red lipstick. Her smile was bright and wide and the arms she threw around Kurtis were very long and slender.

“Hey, Jeannie,” Kurtis said, but she'd pushed him aside when she spotted Tanya.

“And who's this?”

“This is Tanya,” Kurtis said.

Jeannie hugged Tanya and splattered her with a kiss on each cheek.

“Welcome, Tanya. I'm Jeannie and I'm so glad to see Kurtis has finally done the right thing and gotten himself a girlfriend. I was really beginning to wonder.”

“You mean you thought he was gay?” Tanya was puzzled.

“No,” Jeannie laughed. “I meant I wondered if he'd ever see anyone again after Catherine.”

“Catherine?” Tanya asked.

“Er, Tanya doesn't know about Catherine,” Kurtis said, quickly handing Tanya a glass of champagne.

“But I thought you met Tanya ages ago.” Jeannie looked shocked.

“Yes, but we only just went out for the first time yesterday, Jeannie. Can you drop it? Who's here, anyway?”

Jeannie grabbed his hand and led Kurtis to the main room where all the music was coming from. Tanya followed behind with her champagne.

Kurtis and Jeannie took Tanya around the room and introduced her to several people but the music was so loud she could hardly hear their names and wouldn't have remembered them anyway. She counted at least five celebrities from music, two from television programs and at least six others that she'd seen in magazines or on the news.

She and Kurtis danced together and again she was getting that distance from Kurtis. Every now and then, there was a look misting his eyes over to the extent she felt shut out of what he was thinking. Then it occurred to her, it must have been to do with what Jeannie said. She had been worried about him since Catherine. Who was Catherine and was she going to bump into her tonight?

Tanya had been at the party for a couple of hours, but was becoming slightly tipsy and needed a break from the full-on party people. It was loud and hot and there didn't seem to be a window open that she could see. The closed drapes on the windows came to the floor and just in front of it was the DJ. He span tune after tune and knew how to get the crowd moving.

“I need some air,” Tanya said to Kurtis.

“Sure, I'll come with you.” Kurtis said.

“No, that's okay, you stay and chat with Jeannie, I won't be long.”

“Just don't get lost out there, it's a big place.”

Jeannie grabbed hold of Kurtis's arm and forced him to dance. Kurtis was right: Tanya did like Jeannie.

She walked into the large hallway and looked around for an exit. There was a crowd of people on the top landing. Several doors in a square on the upper level looked down over the main hallway.

She'd, of course, never been to a palace of any description but if anyone was to offer her one of her own, she'd want it to look like this. Jeannie couldn't have been much older than her and just look at what she'd acquired. Tanya wondered what it would be like to have so much money and then she began to wonder about Catherine.

She found the kitchen, where staff was busy washing glasses and preparing platters of food, and figured there must be a way out to the garden.

“You lost?” someone in a white apron asked her.

“I need some air.”

“Try that door.”

“Thank you.”

The door led her to a parkland. She thought about how this compared to her father's little patch of land with tomatoes and strawberries. This garden was a whole world away from that. There were no vegetables growing here, just flowers and trees coming into bloom. It was a warm spring night and instantly she began to feel better. More refreshed and alive. She decided to walk around a while before going back in.

Ahead, was a stone seat that surrounded a fountain without any water. She sat and heard laughter coming from behind an elaborate hedge design. She didn't mean to listen but she heard Kurtis's name being mentioned.

“Seems like he's back on the dating game.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he came in with some black girl. Pretty. Big busted, curvy, the way he likes his women.”

“Well it's about time. But I still can't help thinking about poor Catherine.”

That name again. Tanya left as quietly as she could. What was the story behind Catherine and why did that person say, “poor” Catherine? Had something happened to her? She wondered if it was too early in their relationship to question him.

“There you are!” Back in the hall, Tanya almost bumped into Kurtis. “I thought you'd run off and left me.”

“No, of course not.”

“Coming back in?”

“Actually I'd like to go now, Kurtis, if that's all right?”

“Absolutely. I'll just grab Jeannie and say our goodbyes.”

Jeannie was walking down the stairs at that moment. “You're not thinking of leaving?” she exclaimed from across the hall. “The night is only just beginning.”

“I'm sorry,” he said, “but we've got to go.”

“Well, if I were Tanya I'd be dragging you home to have you all to myself, too. You look after her, Kurtis, you hear me? This one's a good one.”

In the back of his chauffeur driven car, Tanya could not resist the question.