2X The Heat (2X The Pleasure 1)

“Where is mom?” He sat next to me.

“With your sister. Talking to Kit.” I arched a brow.

“Whoa, he’s here?”

When dad ordered a vodka rocks, I knew the answer was yes.

“Yep.”

“You don’t want to talk to him?” I know I don’t. I mean, I want to meet the man with my sister, but I’m not in the mood to play good cop-bad cop.

“I already did. He seems alright. But I needed a drink.” He chuckled.

I shook my head. Maybe I should just stay in here. Convince Emilia to have a private dinner with me instead. I want to do that stuff with her. Go out to dinner, take her home, rub her feet and listen to her day. I never did that with Vivian. Hell, the more I looked back on it, the more it felt like we weren’t even married in the first place.

“Got it. She seems happy though.” He nodded.

“Yeah. She does.” He smiled to himself. I ordered another scotch.

We had our drinks and caught up on all the boring stuff. Dad I never had very deep conversations. But I always felt I could talk to him, and he gave good advice. I guess I was lucky in that way.

“What do you think of me starting another business? This time keeping it.” I asked him he shot me a look.

“Bored already?” his thick brow arched.

“Maybe. But I figure if I did it again, I wouldn’t do it with the intention of selling it.” He pursed his lips.

“Understandable. What would it be?” He asked.

“Tech holding.”

“Damn, ambitious. I like it. You think you can handle it?” He smiled.

I shrugged, “Yeah.”

“Then go for it. You know we’ll support you.” I nodded. That was always a guarantee.

“What’s the first step?” He asked.

“Uh, buy an old startup. Decide to sell it for parts or rebuild and then keep doing that. I have to put a lot of my own money into it at first, but it will pay off soon.” Dad nodded.

“Makes sense. Is this something you’ve been thinking about?”

“Yeah. Since Vivian…I just need a change. A new goal.”

I could not tell him I also wanted something to keep me from Emilia. If she was going to focus on work, I wanted to do the same thing too. And I did not want to lose sight of my ambition. I could not sleep until noon and day trade for the rest of my life.

“You will do a great job, I know it. Come on, let’s join the party.” He dragged me, figuratively kicking and screaming, back to the reception hall.

The guests had piled in and taken their seats, but Emilia was nowhere to be found. I was sandwiched between mom and Natalie, with dad on mom’s side. And Kit.

He looked like a fucking screen model. Blonde hair, gray eyes. Maybe that’s why he can go out and sell a bunch of expensive medical equipment hospitals know they don’t need. He was taller that Nat, which rarely happened because she was almost six feet. She went to college on a volleyball scholarship. Naturally, I was inclined to dislike him. But the way he looked at my sister…that I like.

He tried to make conversation with me, and I was as polite as possible. Well, Natalie just kicked me under the table if I wasn’t being nice enough. But he was smart, in a way. He was five years older than her, but I guess it didn’t matter at her age. Thirty-seven and thirty-two are the same thing, apparently. Emilia was younger than me by three years and it didn’t seem like it. She was probably way smarter than I am. Well, when she wasn’t balancing a check book.

Anyway, the happy couple sat at the end of the table. Levi was giving Gab that look, and her the same. We made eyes a few times, and he nodded to the end of the table where Emilia sat, engaging in conversation with Sasha and her grandson. Her son was there too, he was my age. And it was obvious he was hitting on Emilia.

They sat next to each other. He was showing her photos on his phone, probably of his developments. He was involved in real estate too. Thinks his custom homes are the best of all. She was vaguely intrigued, but pretended well. I could tell. I stared at her, until she felt my eyes and she looked at me. I smiled softly, and she returned it before being pulled back into the conversation. It made my blood boil, seeing her with anyone else.