Read Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) Online

Authors: Tina Martin

Tags: #suspense, #reflection, #true love, #unrequited love, #jealousy, #stalker, #fiction romance

Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) (8 page)

“This is so exciting,”
Lalita said, fixing her hair, gathering the loose strands and using
her fingers to rake them back behind a silver headband.

“I didn’t think Tyson was
going to let go of your hand this morning, Gabrielle. He was
holding you so tight, it’s a wonder you had blood circulation in
your fingers.” Padma chuckled.

“Yeah, it was hard for
him, even though he tried to pretend to be okay. Shoot, it was hard
for me too. I haven’t been away from my hubby for an extended
period of time.”

“Oh, stop it,” Lalita said
in her thick, Indian accent. “You newlyweds make me sick. Just wait
until you’re years into it...you’ll be glad to push him out the
door. I’m happy just to get out of the house alone to check the
mailbox.”

The women laughed
together.

“Tyson will be fine
anyway,” Padma said. “He stays just as busy as I do.”

“That’s true,” Gabrielle
said.

Padma headed to the front
desk of the ritzy place with Gabrielle and Lalita in tow. She
checked in, handed them their keycards and waved the bellhop to the
elevator, as if they couldn’t carry their own overnight bags to
their rooms. They took the elevator up to the eleventh floor. When
they arrived, Padma said, “Okay, I’m in 1151 and you ladies are in
1172.”

“Okay, 1151 is right down
here,” the bellhop said.

Once at the room, Padma
showed him which bag was hers. After giving the gentleman a tip, he
headed to the room where Gabrielle and Lalita would temporarily
call home.

“I’ll come get you ladies
for dinner,” Padma shouted at the women as they walked down a long
hallway. “We’re going to go to The Blue Room
downstairs.”

“Okay,” Gabrielle
said.

Turning the corner, they
found their room. Lalita smiled when she opened the door to reveal
their double-queen beds. Her face lit up like she was on a
Booking.com commercial.
Gabrielle gave the
bellhop a tip and looked around. The hotel room had a living room
complete with a couch, loveseat and coffee table. Off the living
room was a balcony big enough to comfortably seat ten people. There
was a refrigerator, microwave, a flat screen TV mounted on the wall
and cool room décor that made the place a comfortable
retreat.
Lalita came out of the
bathroom and said, “OMG, Gabrielle. There’s a Jacuzzi in
there.”
Gabrielle smiled. She
wondered why Lalita was so excited to see the elegance of this
place when she lived in a four bedroom home furnished by designers.
Her ensuite bathroom was as big as the master bedroom. She had a
walk-in closet that could be an extra bedroom if that’s what they
wanted.
Gabrielle walked to the
bathroom, quickly looked around and said, “Padma certainly knows
how to travel in style.” She rolled her bag to the bed closest to
the windows. Then she sat on the bed, took out her phone and called
Tyson.

“You there?” he
answered.

“Yes, I’m
here.”

Tyson blew a sigh of
relief. “Good. Are you all checked-in at the hotel?”

“Yep...in the room now,
sitting on the bed.”

“Wish I was there. We’d
have to boot Lalita.”

“Tyson...” Gabrielle
blushed as if Lalita could hear what Tyson was saying. There’s no
way she could since he wasn’t on speakerphone. Still, she felt her
cheeks become red as they always did when Tyson talked to her that
way. She would never get used to it.

“What? You know I love me
some Gabrielle Alexander.”

She smiled. “I love me
some Tyson Alexander.”

“You better stop that,
girl. I’ll fly out there tonight.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Don’t test
me.”

“Tyson, stop it. I’ll be
back Sunday. You have to pack for Atlanta anyway.”

“Looks like I’m going to
be packing for Chicago. We can get a room with a Jacuzzi
and...mmm...”

“Tyson...”

“That’s one thing I miss
about our home...we don’t have a Jacuzzi, but looks like I’m going
to have to get one very soon.”

“Tyson...”

“Like yesterday
soon.”

Gabrielle
laughed.

“Anyway, listen baby, call
me before you go to bed, okay?”

“I will.”

“Have you eaten?” he
asked.

“Not yet...Padma should be
here any sec now to get us.”

“Is she taking y’all to
The Blue Room?”

“Yes. Have you eaten
there?”

“A few times when I stayed
there a few years ago. The food is phenomenal.”

“Nothing is more
phenomenal than your cooking, my love.”

“Okay, you’re
really
making me want to
come up there right this instant.”

“Oh, Tyson.” Just then,
Gabrielle heard a knock at the door. “Tyson, I think Padma’s
here.”

“Okay, baby. Love you.
Have fun.”

“Love you too.
Bye.”

“Bye,
sweetheart.”

* * *

The women stepped in The
Blue Room, a snazzy, five-star restaurant on the first floor of the
hotel there. Blue, fiber-optic lights hung from the ceiling over
every table and floor standing water fountains, with steady flows
of trickling water, divided the restaurant from one side to
another. It was an elegant restaurant for sure with candles on
every table.
After the hostess showed
them to their table, one right beside the water fountain, the women
took a seat and were each studying a menu.

“Everything looks
delicious,” Padma said. “Think I’ll stick to something light,
though. Eating a big meal this late will have me up all
night.”

“I’m with you, Padma,”
Gabrielle said. “I’ll give the zucchini spaghetti a
try.”

“Ummm...” Lalita said, her
eyes still rolling over the menu, trying to make a quick decision.
“I’m going to order the black bean garden salad.”

Once they ordered their
food, Padma gave them a brief rundown of what the expo would entail
– that they would discuss food protection, marketing, getting
started with a restaurant business and a website overview of
everything a restaurant’s website should contain.
When the food arrived,
they were busy discussing their meals. Lalita talked about her kids
and Padma went on and on about work, but out of the blue, she
stopped mid-sentence with an opened mouth and big, wide
eyes.

“Padma, are you okay?”
Gabrielle asked.

Before she could speak, a
male voice from behind Gabrielle and Lalita said, “Good evening,
ladies.”
Gabrielle frowned. She
knew the owner of that voice – Dilvan Alexander. She watched him
walk around the table and sit directly in front of her. He was
dressed impeccably, as always and his presence owned the room. He
was sure to cause women to rubberneck wherever he went.

“Dilvan, what are you
doing here?” Padma asked.

“I told you I had a shoot
here this weekend.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong,
but I thought you turned it down.”

“Changed my mind,” he
said, looking at Gabrielle.

Gabrielle held his gaze,
trying to understand him. Was he a mental case? He couldn’t have
come here solely for the purpose of seeing her, could he? Would he
go that far? Accept a photo shoot that he hadn’t wanted to do, only
so he would have an excuse to come to Chicago?
While she gazed upon him,
she noticed his enchanting gray eyes, and thick, black eyebrows.
His face was freshly shaven. His silky hair was longer than she
remembered and he rocked a thin mustache.
Gabrielle could admit
that Dilvan was a handsome man, but appearance really didn’t mean
much when you had an attitude that sucked.

“Hey, Gabrielle. Lalita,”
he said cordially.

“Hi, Dilvan,” Lalita
responded.

Gabrielle didn’t say a
word. She glanced at Padma, then wiped her mouth with a napkin. Her
appetite had vanished, and though she wasn’t looking at Dilvan, she
could feel his intense stares beaming against her face from across
the table.

“So what shoot are you
doing tomorrow?” Padma asked solely with the purpose of taking his
attention away from Gabrielle.

“Casual attire for Ross
& Company.”

“Where are you staying,
son?”

“Here. Eleventh
floor.”

“Oh.”

“The shoot is only three
blocks away so I figured this would be the best hotel to lay my
head.”

Gabrielle frowned. This
was no coincidence. Dilvan was slick, coming here without telling
anyone, finding out what hotel they were staying at and that their
rooms were on the eleventh floor. Then he booked the same hotel,
made sure his room was also on the eleventh floor and invited
himself to dinner.

“And, Mother, I’ll have
you know that Heshan reached out to me...said we should meet to
discuss things, so I’m looking forward to repairing my relationship
with my brothers. You were right. It’s long overdue.”

“That’s excellent news,
Dilvan. Hey, are you eating, or—”

“No. I already ate...had
some edamame. I was actually sitting over there in the corner, on
the phone with my manager when I saw three beautiful ladies walk
in.”

Padma smiled.
Lalita
smirked.
Gabrielle rolled her
eyes.

“We didn’t see you at
all,” Lalita said.

“Yeah, it’s a big place,”
Dilvan said. He looked at Gabrielle with more intense stares. If
his goal was to make her uncomfortable, he’d accomplished that and
then some.

No matter how tough
Gabrielle tried to be around him, there was always that feeling of
power and control he once had over her coming to the surface yet
again. And then she could no longer handle the negative energy that
came with his presence.
Gabrielle stood up and
said, “Padma I’m going to go up to the room.” She stuck her hand in
the front pocket of her pants and pulled out a twenty dollar
bill.

“Oh, no, honey,” Padma
said. “I got the food.”

“No,” Dilvan spoke up. “I
got the food.”

“Okay, well, I’m heading
up. Thanks for dinner, Dilvan.”

He smiled. Just the sound
of her saying his name made him want her. “My pleasure,” he
responded then watched her walk away until she was no longer in
sight.
Lalita left a few minutes
after Gabrielle did.
Now that they were at the
table alone, Padma turned to Dilvan and asked, “Why are you
bothering her?”

“Bothering
who?”

“Oh, come on, Dilvan.
Don’t play dumb. Now why are you bothering her?”

“I’m not...I—”

“You are. Are you trying
to insult my intelligence, son?”

“Mother, I—”

“First, you tell me you
weren’t going to do the shoot, then you suddenly change your mind,
end up at
this
hotel and on the eleventh floor...is that why you came here?
You found out she was coming?”

“Mother, I’m not here to
stalk Gabrielle if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Then leave her alone. You
put her through enough, don’t you think?”

Dilvan sighed. “I’ve
apologized to her, to you and to the family for that, but somehow,
you can’t seem to forget it.”

“
I
can’t seem to forget it? I’m more
worried about Gabrielle than I am about myself. Do you think she’s
over what you did to her?”

Dilvan shrugged. “Don’t
know. I haven’t had a chance to have a real sit-down with
her.”

“You haven’t, because if I
recall correctly, she went to Hatteras Island with you before she
and Tyson were married. You mean to tell me you didn’t have a
chance to talk to her then?”

Dilvan sighed, wondering
how his family knew all of his business. He couldn’t recall telling
his mother about taking Gabrielle to Hatteras Island. That was back
before she married Tyson. He thought the time alone might win her
back. But Gabrielle had already fallen in love with Tyson, and
nothing Dilvan said would change her mind.

“Actually, no, I didn’t
have a chance to talk to her like I wanted to because she left
early.”

“So what’s your plan? To
get her alone again?”

“I don’t have a plan. I’m
here on business.”

Padma
grumbled.

“I’m here for a shoot,”
Dilvan repeated.

“I hope you are, because
if you bother her, you know Tyson will be at your throat. This
time, it’s going to be more than a bloody nose.”

Dilvan looked confused.
How had she known about the fight between himself and Tyson? Then
it dawned on him – his big mouth brothers.

“Don’t look surprised,
Dilvan. I know everything, and I’m telling you for your own
good...leave Gabrielle alone.”

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