Attraction (6 page)

Vera Wang. Heron had her flown up from Los Angeles in his private jet. She only has a few
hours before she has to fly to New York to fit Donald Trump’s wife for a dress. So, we must
dash.”
As the limousine swept them through the San Francisco traffic, Roberta reflected that she
was getting better at losing these small skirmishes with Hildegard.
Still, a few days later, while having dinner at the revolving restaurant atop the Hilton
Hotel with Heron, she tried to broach the subject of the growing extravagance of the wedding.
“I mean, Heron, it’s going be a beautiful dress that Vera will make for me, but the
price…”
Heron was buttering his bread. “Why are you concerned about the price?”
“It’s a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar dress. And I’m only going to wear it one
day. Don’t you think that’s excessive?”
He smiled down at her with amusement. “That’s what first attracted me about you. You
forget about the money.”
“But, I’m not forgetting about the money. How can I, when the budget of this wedding is
reaching the proportion of some dictatorship of a minor Latin country.”
“You’re not going to break the bank. Believe me.”
“But do we really need to spend so much money? On everything. I mean, I was perfectly
happy with wearing my mother’s wedding dress. But Hildegard said that wouldn’t do at all.”
“She’s right.”
Roberta’s face deflated a little. “She is?”
“This wedding is important to a lot of people, especially to me and my family, my
relatives, my friends. A lot is going to be expected from this wedding. There’s going to be a lot
of publicity surrounding it. There already is. It’s the talk of the town. What do you think all these
people are going to think when the photographers snap you in a dress that was your mother’s,
which she wore to her own wedding a few decades ago?”
“I would think that most people would think it romantic, as I do.”
“I’m afraid most people aren’t like you, at least to those who will be watching closely.
They’re going to think a lot of things, and a lot of it not good.”
“Is it really important to you what others think of us?”
Heron gave a smile that was half tolerant, half amusing. “When you’re in my position,
and when you’re from a family like mine, I’m afraid we have to be careful, especially when
we’re in the public eye.” He put a large hand over hers. “Come on, darling. It’ll be over soon.”
Roberta forced a smile and nodded, then reached for her red wine and gulped.
A few days later, around five-thirty in the evening, Tanner happened to be walking past
her office, its door open, when he stopped. Roberta’s head was resting on top of her arms which
were folded on the desk.
“Hey, pretty lady, go home and sleep. You’re going to get a crick in your neck if you fall
asleep like that.”
She lifted her face, which was very pale with exhaustion, and her sunny blond hair was
coming loose from its chignon, making her look unusually disheveled, emphasizing the desperate
look on her face. Tanner became alarmed when he saw the paleness of her face and the fear
lurking in the blue depths of her heavy eyes and her trembling lips.
He quickly stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. “Hey, hey, hey, are
you alright? What happened?”
Roberta shook her head and started to babble. “I can’t take this anymore, Tan. I can’t take
it anymore. It’s all too much. And that woman, she’s making me a nervous wreck. And
sometimes I think she’s doing it on purpose.”
Even more concerned when he heard her voice break, Tanner went around the desk and
pulled her to her feet. He sat on the desk and pulled her into his arms. “Shhh, shhhhhh,” he
crooned, stroking her bright blond hair and began to rock her. “Come one, Robbie, tell big
brother all about it. Tell me what’s happened. Okay? It’ll make you feel better, if you do.”
Her thin shoulders began to shake as she started to cry. “We…we just came from the
florist, you know to pick the flowers for the wedding. It was awful, Tanner. I never knew looking
at flowers could be a nightmare. But she had me looked at thousands of pages of arrangements.
And, I swear, they all looked the same.” She lifted a teary eye to him. “They did, they did. And I
had to choose one. And I didn’t know which one to choose, because I was so afraid that I might
choose the wrong one, and then I would embarrass Heron and you and your parents, and all your
friends and family, and then my parents and sister and friends would be embarrassed for
me…Oh, God, Tan, it was just horrible. Just horrible.” She hid her face in Tanner’s shoulders
and sobbed for a moment, before she could continue. “And then she…”
“Who’s she?” Tanner asked.
“Hildegard, the Nazi…the wedding planner. She and the owner argued for five hours
about this shade of red and that shade of red, and if we should have hollies with roses or
poinsettias, or white roses or white gardenias, and if baby’s breath would be too weak to make a
statement. And I have no idea what that statement is. And when the florist suggested that white
carnations would be elegant with red roses, Hildegard slapped her with a clipboard, and now the
florist is suing her for injury…And before the florist, we interviewed bands for the wedding. And
you know what they all played? Polkas. Polkas. Now, how did Hildegard ever get the idea that I
wanted polkas being played at my wedding reception? Perhaps it’s because she knew that Heron
has fondness for polkas. Do you know if your brother is harboring a secret passion for polkas?
Because I don’t.”
Tanner couldn’t prevent the laughter that escaped his lips. “No, I don’t believe that my
brother is hiding such a secrete.” He pulled Roberta closer, who started to shiver. “Shhhh, shhhh.
There, there, now. It’s all over.”
She lifted blue eyes that were drenched with distress up to him again. “But, that’s just it,
Tanner. It’s not over. It’ll start up all over again, tomorrow. Hildegard is going to come down
here, at nine o’clock in the morning.”
“You’ll be in a meeting with marketing, then.”
“That doesn’t matter to her. Nothing stands in the way of Hildegard. She’ll just come
barging into the meeting and escort me out into the limousine. And I can’t go with her tomorrow,
Tanner. I can’t. I can’t. I have all these reports that I need to get done. And I have to meet with
your father tomorrow afternoon…And I need to rest. Did you know I haven’t been able to sleep
in two weeks. I don’t think I’ve closed my eyes for longer than five minutes since then. And I
can’t seem to eat anymore.”
“Okay, honey. Everything’s going to be alright.” While crooning soothing words, and
keeping one arm around Roberta’s shaking shoulders, Tanner grabbed her jacket and purse. “I
know what you need, darling. And I’m going to take you there, right now, okay?”
Feeling infinitely comforted by the strong arms and the warm male body, Roberta let
Tanner lead out of her office. “Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere where it’s safe and warm, and where people love you and aren’t expecting
you to perform colossal feats.”
“You promise,” Roberta begged pitifully.
“I promise.”
Three hours later, Roberta was sitting at the bar in her sister’s bar, digging hungrily into a
plate of seafood linguini in lemon and white wine sauce, while her parents sat next to her,
watching her with concern. Tanner was sitting on the other side of her, enjoying his own plate of
brined pork medallions with chili, apple, and pear chutney, herbed rice pilaf,, and butter and
garlic sautéed baby vegetables.
Riley was behind the bar, pouring wine to her family and Tanner. It was close to nine
o’clock at night, past the dinner hour so there were only a few diners, and a straggle of regular
patrons at around the bar who had dropped in for drinks after work.
Besides a bar and dance club with the impromptu a sex club on the side, Riley’s
establishment was also an excellent restaurant, one that served food that rivaled any five-star
restaurant. This aspect of the bar was not well known to the public for a couple of reasons. The
first was that Riley didn’t bother to advertise on any aspect of her place, and two, the chef wasn’t
even a trained chef, and was barely in his twenties, tattooed all over his body except for his neck
and head, sported a Mohawk that was currently died a shocking blue. He had little interest or
ambition to further his job into a more flamboyant career of a professional chef. But he poured
over cookbook after cookbook and liked to use the small kitchen behind the bar as his own
laboratory. Mostly he cooked by instinct, having a natural affinity for food.
Caroline rubbed Roberta’s shoulders, relieved that the frightening ashen color was gone
from her face. “Are you feeling better, honey?”
Roberta pushed her empty bowl away and patted her full stomach, looking and feeling
well fed, well satisfied. “Oh, much better. That was so good, Riles. Thank you. And, thank you,
for bringing me here. You were so right. It was just what I needed.” This she said to Tanner,
planting a kiss on his cheek.
Tanner smiled. “Well, I had to do something, perform this miracle triage, before we lost
you completely.”
Roberta stretched like an elegant cat in her bar stool. “Well, it worked. And, now, I’m
energized, enervated, revived, and I’m ready to go back and face the battle, again.”
“Why don’t you stay over at the house tonight, honey,” Lawrence offered, still
remembering the pale, frightened look on her face when he first saw her tonight.
“Thanks, Dad, but I have a meeting tomorrow morning, and then I have to meet the
wedding nazi at noon about the tables and chairs for the reception.”
“I think it might be a good idea if you took a few days off, Robbie,” Tanner said, sipping
his wine.
Caroline nodded. “He’s right, Robbie. This whole wedding has obviously taken quite a
toll on you. And, remember, I’ve witnessed at first hand, your wedding Nazi…Uh, planner, that
is. So, I know exactly what you’re going through.”
“You need to tell Heron that you want to cut the wedding down to half its size,” Tanner
said.
“I agree,” Lawrence said emphatically. “Having a thousand guests is ridiculous. Who
knows a thousand people in one lifetime, for God’s sake?”
“I can’t do that. This is too important to Heron.”
Tanner pointed out, “Well, is he marrying you or those one thousand people?”
Caroline said fretfully, “I think what you really need, darling, is a few days of rest. Come
back to the house and stay with us for awhile. Then you can sleep until noon, and I’ll make you
your favorite for breakfast, blueberry pancakes.”
“Thanks, Mom. But I can’t do that. You know I can’t do that.”
Lawrence said, “Yes, you can. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to stay a few
days with your parents”
“It’s not that, Dad,” Roberta said. “It’s just there are so many things to do for this
wedding, and if I let even one day go by, it’s going to throw the whole schedule off.”
Her father said with a bit more vehemence, “What schedule? The world isn’t going to
come crashing down if you go off the schedule?”
“Dad, you don’t understand…”
Tanner put in, “Come on, Robbie. You’re exhausted. Your parents are right. You need to
rest for a few days.”
Caroline gave nod. “Thank you, Tanner. See, Robbie? Now, there’s a boy who knows the
wisdom of listening to your parents.”
“Mom, you know I can’t hide at my parents house for a few days from my wedding.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I have to face all the flowers, the polkas, the cakes, the tables and chairs
sometime.”
“Why don’t you call off the wedding?”
Lawrence’s face brightened. “Yeah, why don’t you call off the wedding…Who said
that?”
“Dad!” Roberta burst out, outraged. “I can’t call off the wedding.”
“I didn’t say that,” her father said hastily.
“Then, who did?”
“I did,” Riley said from behind the bar. “Call off the wedding, Robbie.”
“Now there’s an idea,” Tanner said reflectively.
“How…How can you say that, Riles? You’re my own sister, and you’re ruining my
wedding, already.”
“I’m trying to save you from a nervous breakdown.”
“I can’t call off the wedding. Do you know how much is at stake?”
“Yes, Robbie, I do. It’s your sanity that’s at stake.”
Roberta got to her feet and grabbed her purse. “Tanner, please take me home. I’m ready
to go. Now, thank you, Riles, for the delicious dinner.” She kissed her parents’ cheeks. “And
thank you for the offer of my bedroom. But I have to go back and face the music. I can’t run
away from it, because if I do, it only gets worse. Goodbye, everyone. And you’ll be getting our
invitation in a few weeks.”
One morning, Riley received a call that she had least expected to get. It had been nine
o’clock in the morning when the phone rang. At first she was going to let the answering machine
get it, but then she decided that it might be her mother or Roberta. Putting a hand out from under
the covers, she reached for the phone.
“Hello?” She croaked sleepily.
A low, growly voice tinged with amusement said on the other end, “Did I wake you?”
Still immersed in her haze of sleep, Riley had at first thought it was Danny Moore, trying
to sound seductive. In the past few months, Riley had finally acquiesced and had let him take her
to bed. Her first instinct about his sexual prowess had been right. Danny proved himself not be a
very exciting lover. But he did try and was not adverse to taking some directions from her.
Lately, she had been feeling twitchy, and last night, Riley had considered giving him
another chance. If she did, then she would have to change tactics if there was any hope of getting
any pleasure out of it. May be a little role play. And one role that men seemed to like to play
was that of a little boy being seduced by a mother or aunt figure.
A little aroused at the hope that she might be able to get her itch satisfied, Riley stretched
her naked body beneath the covers. She said into the phone, her voice low and throaty, “You
woke me up, but I’m so glad you called, Danny. I’ve been lately having this empty feeling deep
in my pussy. Maybe you can do something about it, tonight. Would you like that, big boy?.”
Riley let one hand wonder up her stomach and close over one her breast and felt her hard nipple
stabbing at her palm. She closed her eyes and imagined a man standing behind her with large,
very strong hands and long fingers, and using those strong hands to close over her breasts and
squeezing and pulling them while murmuring sexually taunting words in her ears, making her