"Thanks for thinking of me," I told her. "Goodnight."
Sienna's face had the red tinge of a coming tantrum. I felt bad for the caterers waiting for the elevator. They shuffled off toward the service elevator and I locked the door behind them.
When I turned around, all I could see was Kya. Pale streaks of orange broke over the horizon and her silhouette was clear, standing alone to face the sunrise.
"Hell of a party, huh?" I asked.
Kya jolted against the balcony railing, surprised that I had joined her outside. She swiped at her cheeks and turned away from me.
"Are you crying?" I asked. "Are you okay?"
"Don't be stupid. I don't have anything to cry about. I came out here to celebrate. Business success and all that," she said.
I could not keep my hands from wrapping around her shoulders. She pulled against the railing, stiff from my touch, but I did not let go. I turned her slowly and pulled her against my chest. Kya fought me, but then gave in for one sweet moment. The sky brightened and she nestled her head under my chin.
"It's too early in the morning for business," I said.
"Then, I should go," Kya said. She pulled away and headed for the door.
"Is that all you can do? Run for the door? Because that's exactly what you did the other morning," I snapped.
Kya whirled to face me, her eyes flashing emerald in the early morning light. "Excuse me? Of course, I left. What did you expect me to do?"
"Me?" I asked. "I guess I was fooled by your reputation. I thought you'd have the decency to stick around. I didn't know you were one of those love 'em and leave 'em girls."
"Of course, you would confuse that with a woman that has some dignity," Kya said.
"Dignity? Is that what you call skipping down to the pool to flirt with your next potential client?" I asked. My hands throbbed as my fingers curled into fists. I should have iced them hours ago, but I welcomed the pain. It only made me angrier at Kya. "Excuse me, if I thought you moved on a little too fast."
“You think I'm the one that moved on fast? You're the one that invited a stripper to the suite. Let me see if I have the timeline right – we had sex in front of the fire, we ate omelets, you invited the stripper to come join you, we had sex again, and then you fucked a stripper in the room next to mine!"
I burst out laughing. Kya's faced bloomed with an angry blush and she whirled towards the door again. I lunged toward it and land the flat of my hand hard against. Kya tried, but she could not pry the door open with me leaning on it. I laughed even harder when my phone started ringing.
"What is wrong with you?" Kya asked. "Is that her? By all means, answer it. I'll get out of your way."
I pushed against the door, giving Kya no choice, but to retreat to the opposite end of the balcony. There was no other door.
"Hello, Sis? Yeah, thanks. Yeah, I'm in a good mood, but you'll never guess. You were right. About Kya. Yeah, that's exactly what she thought." I said. I held out the phone. "Dana Maria wants to talk to you."
"What?" Kya asked. She gave the railing a wild look. "Why would I want to talk to her?"
"Because she's my sister. My sister came over that morning and you met her at the door," I said. My phone beeped and I looked at the screen and laughed. "Here, she's sent a pic of her holding out her driver's license."
Kya crept toward me and glanced at the phone. "And, her middle finger,"
she said.
"That's my sister!" I tried to stop laughing, but it erupted out of me again as I hung up on Dana Maria.
"It's not funny," Kya said. She crossed her arms tight over her chest. "I thought, I mean, you know what I thought."
"Well, now that you know, what are you thinking?"
Kya covered her face with her hands. "I'm thinking that I screwed everything up by going out with Jackson. It really was just to sign him. I mean, he wanted a real date and I was mad but, well, you were there. Nothing happened."
"Yeah," I said. "I was there. And, I forgot to tell you thanks for not letting me get Tasered." I pulled her hands from her face and wrapped her arms around my waist. "Business or not, you're there when I need you."
"And, how about now?" Kya asked.