Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (31 page)

Of course she realized over the course of their friendship that there were some things Kyle couldn’t tell her, but still, she wouldn’t be able to tolerate being brushed off like a child every time she asked him a question he didn’t want to answer. If there were a subject that he didn’t want pressed, she preferred he took the small amount of time it would take to at least tell her.

But she wouldn’t dwell on that right now. That was a talk for later.

Right now, she was too fascinated with his home to think about anything else. She also adored how charming Kyle was being while he gave a tour through his latest purchase.

“So what do you think?” he asked, taking her hand as they continued to make their way down the long hallway.

Reanna admired the stunning art covering the high walls. “Your house is incredible, Kyle. Really.” She looked back in his direction with a smile. “You did an amazing job.”

“It’s only a hobby, but I’m pretty pleased of the work I’ve done here.” He flashed her a proud smile that made her chuckle.

He was so perfect.

“I bought this place a couple of years ago, and this is the first chance I’ve gotten to visit it since the renovations were complete.”

“This is your first time staying here?”

He nodded his head, chuckling softly. “Sofia has school, and I’ve been working everyday of the week for the past few months. Between work and fatherhood, I barely have enough time to sleep, much less take a trip.”

“I know what you mean,” Reanna sighed. “The work part at least.” Not so much on the fatherhood thing. “I can’t remember the last time I had a vacation …”

“Well, I’m happy to be the one you end that dry spell with.”

Her brows rose.
Very interesting choice of words
. She had ended more than one ‘dry spell’ with Kyle Valente over the past day and a half.

Chuckling softly to herself, Reanna looked behind her when she heard the loud banging of kitchen cabinets being shut.

“What are they doing in there?” she asked curiously.

She remembered that some of his men had entered the house with them when they arrived. They’d carried in their bags, then she heard them rustling around as if they were searching for something.

“Just standard security rounds, and putting away a few items we needed. I had a shopper grab us some food to fill the kitchen,” he answered, never ceasing their progress. “Since we’re staying for the next couple of days, I knew we’d need a few things.”

“There’s a grocery store out here?”

He nodded. “There’s a little town, not too far from here. Near the ski lodge.”

Umm
,
awesome
. Reanna hadn’t known they were close to a freaking ski lodge. Learning to ski was at the top of her bucket list.

“Come on, baby,” he pulled her along, “there’s one last room I need to show you.”

Reanna stumbled along, pretty positive that he just sped up their pace.
Sheesh!
He seemed so eager to get to wherever they were going, Reanna could barely keep up with him. She held tightly to his hand as she took quicker steps in an effort to keep up with his long strides.

“Kyle,” she laughed, finding his sudden eagerness amusing, “where are you taking—” Her words cut off with a gasp as a possibility popped into her head. “Is it a room full of chocolate?” It was honestly the only reason she could think of that would possibly explain his behavior. She moaned in delight at the thought of a room full of chocolate. “
Oh, Kyle
. You know how much I love chocolate …”

It would be the greatest surprise.

Chocolate was everything beautiful about this world in Reanna’s opinion. She ate it both not enough, and more than she should. But to balance things and keep her size fourteen figure right, she always made extra effort at the gym she visited a couple of times a week. You know, when she had time. Okay, she barely made it to the gym …

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts of her cardio failures, Reanna re-focused on the situation at hand—keeping up with Kyle.

“Kyle,” she whined, her voice bouncing as she jogged along. “Where are we going, honey? This is too much running. I’m not in shape enough for this.”

Her body didn’t even know what running was. She hadn’t done it since high school, and she hadn’t even been in high school since she was fifteen years old! She was a walker. Even on those days when she made it to the gym, she still refused to run. Only walking.

“Valente, slow down …” But the remaining words of her sentence trailed off just as they made it too their destination.

Kyle led her in first, then he followed after her, closing the door behind them.

A bedroom.

Not just any bedroom, either; Reanna’s freaking dream bedroom.

It was huge! The beautiful red wood, the huge windows lining the far walls, the view!
Oh God
, the view outside of those windows. Reanna would have been afraid that someone could see in, but it was pretty much impossible. The window was too high up, and everything behind the cabin was downhill. The scene was gorgeous; Reanna couldn’t wait to spend some time at the window with her camera. Pulling her gaze from the window, she admired the art covering the walls, the furnishings—couches and chairs placed beautifully throughout the room—and the bed … The freaking bed was stunning. A king-sized monster of a bed was covered in a black, insanely expensive looking comforter set.

Okay, Reanna was beginning to wonder just how rich Kyle was.

Above the bed there was a mirror. Yes, a mirror. Positioned on the lower ceiling right over the bed. Reanna stared up at it in awe. Who the hell put a mirror over their bed? She’d never seen anything like it before.

She saved the best room for last because, come on, it was definitely the one she wanted to see the most. The bathroom. And it was everything she’d dreamed it’d be. It was nearly as big as her bedroom back home, and Reanna had a very nice sized bedroom. Black marble everywhere, and the tub made hers at home look like a bitch.

Yep, Reanna was officially jealous.

This place was amazing. This bedroom. Amazing. Everything was just …

“Amazing,” she sighed walking out of the bathroom, turning off the lights behind her. She smiled, seeing that Kyle had made his way to the bed while she’d done her exploring. “Don’t you want to see? This is your first time here, too.” She walked over to him, taking his hand when he reached out for her.

He pulled her forward to stand between his long legs, lacing his fingers between hers. “Just seeing that you like it is enough for me, baby.”

Bringing her hand to his lips, he looked up into her eyes as he gave her a soft kiss.

Reanna bit down on her bottom lip, her cheeks—as well as a few other places on her body—warming in response to the feel of his lips on her skin. “Like is an understatement, Kyle,” she said softly. “This home is a dream. Sofia would love it here.”

“I agree.” He smiled. “We should bring her.”

Reanna’s brows lifted slightly in surprise.
We?

Releasing her hands, he rested his hands at her hips, giving them a gentle squeeze. “How about Christmas?” he asked, his eyes genuine. “We go see our families beforehand, my parents, your sister and the male—”

“Ronaldo.”

“And my brothers,” he continued. “Then make our way up here for the rest of the holiday, just the three of us?” His eyes fell for a moment as he looked forward at her shirt, an unreadable expression flashing across his face before he lifted his eyes back to hers. “Assuming you’d be interested in spending the holidays with us.”

Was he seriously asking? Of course she would!

“I’d love to.” She couldn’t believe he asked. Christmas was forever from now, which meant … “So this,” she said softly, staring in to his eyes, “this is really happening, isn’t it? Us …” She had to be honest, she’d been a bit doubtful in the car, but only because she still was unsure of Kyle’s feelings for her in comparison to the feelings he had for Aniyah.

“Is that what you want?” he asked, his hand moving up her hips, slipping beneath her long sweater to rest at her waist. “Us.”

She took in a slow, deep breath when his cool hands touched her warm skin. Nodding her head, she raked her teeth over her bottom lip. “Yes,” she whispered, deciding it was best to tell the truth.

She’d already let him make love to her, kiss her multiple times, and whisk her away for the weekend. Was there really any reason to lie to him now? After all of that? No.

“What do you want?” she asked timidly, her voice barely audible.

“The same,” he answered confidently, and without hesitation. “I want you, us … this.” He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her belly, then he looked up at her. “If I’m being completely honest with you, with myself, I want you to be mine, forever.”

Forever? Like … forever ever?

Yes
… The word was a sigh in her head as she brought her hand up to gently caress his face. “I want that, too,” she confessed, slipping her fingers into his hair. “But what about …” Her words trailed off as her eyes lowered. She hated bringing this up because she’d rather not think about it, but she had to. “Aniyah,” she whispered. “Technically, we’re sort of having an affair, Kyle.”

“We’re not,” he replied softly, taking her hand in his and kissing it gently. “The phone call. I was arranging a few things with my assistant.”

Reanna’s eyes widened slightly. “And …”

“And, one of the tasks I bestowed upon her was delivering a message to Ms. Clark.” He kissed her hand once more, then looked up into her eyes. “I apologized to her for my lack of communication for the past couple of weeks, for my lack of presence in our relationship period, and that sadly, I must end things between us. I sent flowers, and informed her that after today, I would no longer be contacting her … because my heart belongs to another.”

“Another,” she repeated, even as her heart began to beat rapidly in her chest. “You broke up with her.”

“Because I had to, colomba. This,” he hooked his arm around her, bringing her against him, “is not an affair. It’s not a fling, or something that we must keep secret, because we are not doing anything wrong. I’ve wanted you for so long, baby.”

You have?

“And I don’t want my fear of my feelings for you holding us back anymore.”

“You were afraid,” she whispered, feeling her eyes fill with tears. “Why?”

“Because I love you. And I’m …” He sighed. “I’ve never been good at loving, without hurting. And I can’t stand the thought of hurting you, baby.”

So many words. So many words were said, but Reanna could only hear the first four playing on repeat in her head.
‘Because I love you.’
He’d said he loved her.

“You love me,” she cried softly, tears spilling from her eyes. “Did you say …”

“Yes, baby.” Reaching up, he wiped her tear-stained cheeks.

Reanna shook her head, still feeling disbelief. She couldn’t process this. Everything was happening so fast, and he loved her. She just …
Oh my God.

“Kyle,” she cried, unable to contain her happiness, “you love me.”

Kyle chuckled. “Aww, baby. Why are you crying?” He wiped her eyes again. “Here, sit down with me.”

Reanna moved forward to straddle his lap just as he lifted her and scooted them back on to the bed. She tried to wipe her falling tears, but nothing was working. She was too overcome with emotion to stop. It was all just too unbelievable. He’d been scared … of his feelings for her.

“Reanna, baby.” He kissed her tears in effort to calm her, just as she remembered him doing the night before after his dreaming had frightened her. It was so sweet, it only made her cry more. “Reanna … please, honey. This isn’t the reaction I thought I’d get after telling you how I felt. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Aww.” Shaking her head, Reanna sniffled as she took his face in her palms.
Silly man.
“You didn’t upset me, Kyle. These are happy tears.”

He frowned in confusion. “Happy tears?”

Reanna nodded. “Yes,” she murmured, leaning forward to gently kiss his lips. Closing her eyes, Reanna reveled in the feeling of being close to him, connected to him, and finally, after so long, on the same page with him.

He’d only said a few words about how he’d felt, but with them, he’d given her all of the answers she’d been searching for since their friendship began. She felt free from the confusion that once frustrated the hell out of her, and now everything made so much sense.
He
made so much sense.

Pulling back from his mouth with a smile dancing on her lips, Reanna stared into Kyle Valente’s eyes and finally said the words she’d been longing to say since she first became aware of her feelings for him.

“I love you.”

And Lord in heaven did it feel so freaking good.

“I love you, Kyle,” she cried. “I love you so much.”

Kyle actually looked stunned, like he hadn’t expected her to say it. Or maybe he hadn’t expected her to feel the same way at all …

“You love me,” he repeated, shaking his head. “I thought you’d be upset with me. For loving you this long … and for being stupid.”