Renaissance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 5) (26 page)

Janie and Ayanna went back toward the food just as Tiffany watched Luke and her parents step through the door.  She waved to them and walked over.

“Nice,” Luke said, looking at her dress.  He twirled her and inspected the fabric, ever the fashion icon.

“
Hola, mija
.  You look beautiful,” her mother said and leaned up to kiss her, then stood there speechless as she looked around at the incredible decor.  “I don’t know where to look first.  At your dress or this
paraíso
.”

“You can look at me any time,” she laughed.  “Enjoy looking at paradise for a while.”  They did, completely dumbfounded.  Once they looked back at her, she said, “You both look great.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen you at a black tie event,” Tiffany smiled.  

“It was nice to put on the old digs again,” her dad said.  “Your mother and I are a little excited, can you tell?  This is unbelievable,” he said with such admiration in his voice.  “There’s so much to look at it.”  Then he turned abruptly back to her and held her face tenderly.  “Welcome back,” he whispered.

She blinked her eyes furiously.  “I just touched up my makeup, Dad.  Don’t make me cry,” she sobbed out a laugh.

He just shook his head and hugged her.  “I knew once you left him, you would take off and fly.  I can barely keep it together myself.”

“It’s my turn,” her mom said, and squeezed in.  Her mother’s eyes swam with tears.  “I can’t talk yet,” she choked out and just held her daughter.  They stayed that way for a moment until Tiffany finally broke away.

“Okay, people.  No more tears.  Tonight is a celebration, in more ways than one.”

“Amen,” Luke said, his own emotion showing on his usually unreadable expression.  He was dressed to the nines in his tailored navy blue tux. “I’m going to go hit up my woman for some champagne.  Ah, there she is.”  Janie arrived to the group with Ayanna and like a magnet, was attached to Luke’s side one moment later.

“This is a new dress,” Luke stated, giving his fiancé the once over appreciatively.

“You like?” Janie asked, twirling.  “And I picked it out without your help, Lukey.  Just like a big girl,” she said sarcastically.

They all chuckled at Luke’s expense, who was known to be a bit opinionated about fashion.  He reached for Janie and pulled her close to whisper into her ear causing her to blush to the roots of her hair at whatever he’d said. 

Luke smirked at her and they all said their hellos as champagne appeared from out of nowhere for their first drink of the evening.

“To the girls of Harlem.  May they all take off and fly together,” her dad said.

“
Salud
,” they all said, and drank happily before dispersing, Ayanna, Luke, and Janie off to look at the place.  Tiffany took her parents aside to speak to them about what she’d been dying to tell them for months.

“I’d like you to meet someone tonight,” she began.  They both waited expectedly.  “You’ve heard me talk about Drew Huntington, the doctor?”

“Yes, the one who will be volunteering here?” her mom asked.

“He does the mentoring program with the guys on Friday afternoons at the high school,” her dad added.  “We’ve heard all of you talk about him from time to time.  He’s coming tonight?”

“Yeah, and,” she couldn’t help but smile.  “He and I have been friends for a while.”

“You went to the New Year’s party with him for the hospital.  I remember,” her mom said, already giving her a knowing look.  “
Y tu hermano
dice que es un caballero.
”

Tiffany couldn’t help but smile.  Her mother’s Spanish always came out whenever she was emotional.  And she couldn’t agree more with her twin’s assessment.  Drew was indeed a gentleman.

“Well, I would like you to meet him tonight because,” she paused, watching them both smiling, “we’re dating.”

Her mom jumped up and bounced on her toes. 

“Don’t get all crazy,
Mami
,” Tiffany began, smiling.

Her mother just sighed romantically while her father’s eyes sparkled with happiness.  She would allow them some leeway on their reactions.  They’d seen her go through the thick of it with ‘Hewitt the Horrible’ so their happiness was understandable now that she was finally dating a great guy after all of this time. 

They both gave her a squeeze. 

“Sweetie, we’ve always wanted you to be happy and to find a partner in life.  Someone that wouldn’t hold you down, but would let you pursue your passions and live fully.  There were times I would see glimpses of the old Tiffany and I just prayed that you would come back.  And now you have.”

“I know, Dad.  I’ve always known that.”

“Tell us about him,
mija
,” her mom said, trying to temper her excitement.  “What’s he like?  He’s a doctor.  A surgeon, yes?  He operated on Ryann.”

“Yeah, that’s how we all met him.  He specializes in gunshot wounds.”  They nodded for Tiffany to continue.  She did, filling them in on the quick details of his family and character.  “He’s gentle and humble and intelligent, and he’s looking forward to meeting you both.  He should be here soon.  He was hoping to get here a little early,” Tiffany said, looking toward the entrance and seeing the reporter she had invited for the exclusive coverage of the event.  “Oh, I need to –”

“Just go do your thing,” her dad said.  “We’ll be checking out the place, but give a yell if we can do something.”

“Thanks,” Tiffany said, and walked toward the door.  The reporter she’d secured was chosen meticulously and was one of the few during Tiffany’s mess of a divorce who treated her and her situation with dignity and respect.  The journalist, Lillian Beaumont, had a quiet intelligence about her that appealed to Tiffany immediately.  She’d been the one to put out the press release for Tiffany the week before.

“Lillian,” Tiffany said, after thanking the security guard for letting her in.  It was still cold outside on this last evening in March and a tented and heated ‘red’ carpet area was set up outside the entrance for the press to get their fix of the New York big wigs in attendance.

“Tiffany, you look great,” the petite and stylish African American woman said.  Her glasses made her look like a studious Kerry Washington.  “How are you?”

“I’m awesome.  Come in and take a look at the finished product.”

She did and like everyone else, couldn’t take it all in with one glance.  She’d been there at the beginning of the week but hadn’t seen it all glammed up.  Before she walked around she said, “I’ll have Johnny take some shots of the guests and the inside throughout the night.  I already have the speech and the preliminary stuff from this week so we’re good to go.”

“Perfect.  Eat, drink and be merry, and I’ll see you later.”

“You bet. And hey,” Lillian said before Tiffany could walk away.  “You’re still good with me using all of the social media outlets tonight?”

“Absolutely.”

“And speaking personally, not as a journalist of course,” she smiled mischievously, “I’m looking forward to your success getting out there for all to see.”

Tiffany winked, knowing Lillian was referring to Richard hearing of it.  Once a look passed between them, Tiffany turned and walked toward her brother.  She’d left her phone in the lounge room and wondered if Drew had texted again.  She’d have to get it for her speech, but until then she noticed Ryann, Jeremy, and Jonathan arriving and she called them over to where they were all gathering.  It took them a while to make it over since they were all agog at the decor.  This was the first time the men had seen it, and it had been a couple of weeks since Ryann had seen it all completed.

Once they were all together and they had showered Tiffany with compliments, Jem asked, “Where’s Drew?”

“He’s on his way.  He said there was traffic,” Tiffany answered.

Jem pulled her in for a side hug, sensing her nerves.  “He’ll be here, Tiff.”

“I know.”  She couldn’t wait for him to arrive.

“Mom’s painting looks good,” Jem said of Tabitha’s picture set up in the corner.

“It does, doesn’t it?  I have no doubt it will bring in a pretty penny for the foundation.”

“Brings back some sweet memories, doesn’t it, baby?” Jem smiled at Ryann, his eyes twinkling.

Ryann chuckled, moving into his side while he wrapped his arm around her.  “Memories of chocolate, for sure.”

Ayanna barked out a laugh, and everyone smiled, knowing that this very painting, entitled
Release
, was first seen by Ryann at a Tabitha Lowe showing.  That showing was also where Ryann and Jeremy had first met, leading to their explosive attraction. 

Chocolate was their euphemism for sex.

“Hey.  Keep it clean, you two,” Tiffany scolded. 

“That’s no fun,” grumbled Jem.

Tiffany tsked.  “You sound like Ayanna.”

“Yikes.  That bad?”

“I heard that,” yelled the woman in question.

“Love you,” Jem sang out.

“Yeah, yeah,” was the comeback.

Just then, Emily and Michael arrived and everyone was hugging and laughing again for the next several minutes.  Tiffany hid her nerves well in these situations, having many years of practice working the floor at events such as these, but she had to admit she was anxious for Drew to arrive.  She finally made her way to the door where she spoke with the security guard one last time, then looked up at the clock on the wall.  It was almost seven.  She took a deep breath and looked back at the group of people she loved most in this world.

It was only missing one person, and he was fast becoming the most important.

“Yowza.  That dress is out of this world.”

She turned to see Todd standing there, and smiled.

“Hey there.”

“Hey,” he said affectionately and gave her a hug.  “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you.  You look great too. 
And
a lot of people are complimenting your work, Mr. Nielson.”

“Which all began with your vision,” he said graciously.

“I hope you have cards ready,” she smiled.  “The bar is open if you’re thirsty.”

He nodded.  “How are you?  Was your week crazy?”

“A little, but nothing I didn’t expect.” 
Well, except for Drew.  He was unexpected.

“The place looks great.”  He paused, then, “You’re ready.”

“Yes.  I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too.  Can I get you a drink?”

“Not yet.  I should probably start mingling.”  She looked toward the entrance as people began to arrive, and her heart sped up.

Because there was Drew, walking toward her with his predatory gaze sizing her up.  He looked over to Todd then back to Tiffany and raised his eyebrow.

Todd directed his eyes to where she was looking, then muttered, “I’ll go get that drink.”

“Hi Todd.  Good to see you again,” Drew said as he arrived, shaking his hand.

“Same here.  I’ll leave you two to it,” Todd said knowingly, then smiled at Tiffany and left.

An electric charge arced between them as their eyes connected.  He stood there, decked out in all his glory in a gorgeous deep blue tux.  Her world had finally righted itself again. 

“Just out of curiosity, how many red dresses do you own?”

Arousal coursed beautifully through her body, warming her immediately.  “Why do you ask?”

“You should buy more.”  His eyes moved down her body then back up as if he’d swallowed her whole.  He took a step closer then leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips.

She kissed him back, her heartbeat skipping happily and her palms sweating.  She leaned back.  “I already have quite a few,” she said playfully.

He nodded.  “Maybe we can find you,” he paused, “other articles of clothing in red.”

“Because?”  Her lids were heavy with desire.  If she didn’t watch herself, she might climb all over the man in front of everyone.

“Because I see you in that color and I can’t keep more than one thought in my mind.”

“What’s the one thought?”

“Crazy,” he said quietly.

“I look crazy in red?”

“The red dresses make me crazy.  Thinking of what you look like
under
them makes me crazy.  Thinking about what I want to do to you makes me crazy. 
You
make me crazy.” 

A flutter went through her and she bit down into her lower lip, looking at him.  “I’ve never seen you go crazy.  For months now you’ve been so…patient and steady.”  It made her crazy as well.  But in a fantastic, completely sexed out good way, if she was going to be honest.  The man was a machine in the bedroom.  Watching him lose it the night before had been an indescribable experience.  She wanted to see him lose it again, and often.

He cocked his head and clenched his jaw, his voice sounding soft and sensual as he said, “As a surgeon, I can be very steady when I need to be.  Slow.  Precise.  Exacting.”  His eyes bumped to hers.  “When I’m patient.”

She pictured him patiently loving her and couldn’t get the visual out her mind.  But…  “What are you like when you’re not patient?”  Her tongue touched her lip.  She’d seen the beginnings of it, but she wanted to push him a little more.