Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (7 page)

After a moment longer of silence, Kyle felt her soft fingertips run across his cheeks. He quietly fought against his body’s reaction to the simple touch, in effort to keep his attention on her words.

“Talk to me, Kyle,” she whispered, her smile still remaining. “There’s no reason to resist me when I’m here for you …”

Again with words that carried so much meaning. Why was Kyle resisting her, when she was sitting right in front of him … when she was
for him
? His.

If only he could, he would kiss her right now. He’d put the food aside, carry her to his bedroom, and make love to her far past the sunrise … but this he could never do. What he felt for Reanna Pierce went far past anything he’d ever felt for another woman, and this included Carterina, the woman he’d once sworn was the love of his life. His feelings for Reanna were … intense, complex, and too dangerous for exploration at this point in his life. Kyle couldn’t possibly be ready. He wouldn’t be able to give her what she needed, what she’d deserved.

So, as he’d been doing since the day he’d first met her, Kyle resisted revealing his true desire for her … but he did not, nor would he ever resist embracing her friendship, something he was pretty sure he couldn’t live without. He needed these moments with her, moments that he could show her with his actions, what he was unable to express to her with words at this time.

I care about you more than you’ll ever know, Reanna Pierce. You’re the only person on this earth that I will ever bare my soul to.

“I’m afraid that my past may be catching up with me,” he began. “I don’t quite understand why my mind is doing this to me now, but I think I may be remembering my past … remembering what my mother did to me.”

“You saw what she did to you in your dream?”

Kyle shook his head. “I think so, but I can’t be sure …” He released a long breath, feeling himself becoming uncomfortable. Talking about his—in her words—
inner demons’
so freely with another, with a woman, was still new territory for Kyle. But it pleased Reanna when he was open with her, not only that, but he always felt … closer to her when he talked to her like this, and he needed that closeness. It meant more to him than it should. “In the dream, I’m watching my mother torture Sofia. Cutting her. She called it ‘punishment’, said that I must learn.”

A sweet sadness immediately fell over Reanna’s face. “How long have you been having these dreams, Kyle … these memories?” she asked, reaching forward to take his hand.

Kyle held on to her hand tightly, accepting her support as he gazed into her eyes, his thoughts momentarily wandering back to the dream he’d had. It still didn’t make much sense to him; the mystery of it all bothered him. He had the visions of what may have happened, but no answers to any of the questions he had.

To answer her question, he’d started having the dream after Sofia’s fourth birthday. Before Sofia, Kyle had never dreamt about his mother. He barely possessed any memory of the woman. He remembered her face, but that was it. He remembered her smile, and maybe her laugh, but mostly just good things about her. Yet every morning he woke up he was faced with the scars covering his chest, and his back. Scars that were said to have been inflicted by the woman who birthed him. Kyle would give almost anything he had to know what happened to him in his childhood. To know what his mother had done to him, and why she had nearly murdered her own son. But he knew he probably would never know the truth.

All of this and more, he shared with Reanna, who now had tears running down her face.

Reaching up, Kyle wiped her tears. “Don’t cry for me, baby, please; there is no reason to. I’m fine now, I promise.” It was the truth. Now that he talked to her, he felt better. In fact, he even had a better understanding of his dream.

She sniffled softly, shaking her head. “I can cry if I want to, Kyle. That was a sad story, I’d have to be a monster if I didn’t cry.”

Kyle chuckled softly, as he pushed one of her wild curls back from her face. “And you are far from a monster,
il mio dolce colomba …”

The smile that appeared on her face made his heartbeat quicken. She was so beautiful.

“What does that mean?” she whispered.

Slowly, Kyle ran his thumb over her tear-stained face, outlining the gorgeous deep dimple on her left cheek. “You are my dove,” he whispered, then leaning forward, he kissed the dimple on her left cheek, then her right. “The dove symbolizes peace, purity.” Hope, devotion, grace, promise … love. Everything she was to him. His ‘
sweet little dove
’.

“I love it,” she murmured, staring into his eyes when he pressed his forehead to hers, and cupped one side of her face.

I love you.

Stunned by the sudden thought in his head, Kyle’s eyes widened slightly before he quickly wiped the look from his face.
What the fuck?
No. Nope. I didn’t just think that.
Move on, Kyle.

“It’s sweet, Kyle,” she said, regaining his attention.

Kyle smiled, a bit nervously, then quickly pulled himself together. “You’re sweet, Reanna,” he replied honestly, locking his eyes back to hers.

Her eyes were telling him to kiss her, begging him to. Reanna was so much better than him. Every feeling, every emotion she had, she wore it boldly on her pretty face. Kyle, on the other hand, kept his hidden, not only for his benefit, but for hers, too.

He resisted kissing her, and instead whispered, “Thank you,” then distanced himself from her just a bit, and he watched her eyes fall in disappointment—as they always did after they would share moments like these that went absolutely nowhere—and adjusted the plate in her lap.

She never pushed him in situations like these, never commented, and Kyle always figured it was her way of not pushing him to explain his feelings before he was ready. He appreciated her for that.

Picking up the plate on her lap, she sighed. “Well, you have definitely earned this plate of bliss, Kyle Valente.”

Kyle chuckled. “A plate of bliss, is it?”

She nodded, smiling brightly. “Mmmhmm. Yes, sir, it is.” She handed him the large plate. “Taste it, taste it!”

He laughed, finding her excitement both adorable and amusing. “You’re cute.”

She shrugged. “Although I much prefer
irresistibly sexy thick
, I’ll take cute since I’m looking a hot mess right now.”

“Mmm,” Kyle moaned, teasingly reaching forward and giving her side a gentle pinch. “You are very, very sexy, Ms. Pierce.”

Squealing, she smacked his hand away from her. “Uh, uh, Kyle,” she giggled. “Don’t flirt. You have a girlfriend, remember? Ahh!” she screamed through laughter when Kyle took the plate from her lap, and using his free arm, he pulled her over to the couch, tickling her sides.

“Kyle, stop! We’re going to wake up Sofia!”

Kyle had mercy on her, kissed her forehead, and pinned her closely to his side. He sat the large plate of food on his lap, looking down at it. “Well at least there’d be enough food here for her if she wakes up,” he chuckled, noting how big of a portion she’d saved him. “I don’t think I can eat all this alone, sweetheart.”

Reanna snorted. “You won’t be, doofus.” With a sly smile, she leaned forward, grabbing another fork from the decorative tray. “I saved you that much ’cause you’re sharing with me, duh …” She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, and she sunk her fork into the food on
their
plate.

Kyle laughed, watching as she took the first bite and let out the sexiest moan.

“Damn this is good,” she boasted. “So good. Eat it.”

She then proceeded to feed him a bite after every bite she took. Kyle always wondered why she even bothered bringing him a fork. Every time they ate together, it always ended up like this anyway; with her saving enough food for the both of them, then feeding him, as she ate some herself, and discussed random subjects. They laughed, ate, and laughed some more until they finished, and fell asleep on the couch wrapped in each other’s arms.

When the sunshine eventually woke him up, he spent what little time he’d had left with her, holding her, gazing at her as she slept.

The feelings he had for her were getting stronger … the pull. He could feel them and he couldn’t control, nor stop them like he’d been hoping he could. Especially now, with her lying on his chest the way she was. The words he dared never say were right there, on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t say them to her. He wanted to more than ever, but he just … couldn’t. And he despised himself for it.

He was going to lose her one day.

She would move on. That was just a sad, but inevitable fact that Kyle had to admit to himself … And on that day, when she’d inevitably leave him and Sofia to start a life, a family, he’d be forced to ask himself the question he’d never wanted to ask …

What the hell am I going to do without her?

“All right, everybody, let’s move!

The array of crew members rushed to complete their tasks while Reanna stood, tapping her foot, impatiently waiting to begin the photo shoot. It had been hours, and they were now five minutes behind schedule. With thirty crew members on staff, one set, and only five models to get ready, Reanna was finding it difficult to excuse their tardiness today.

“Hello!” she called to her crew. “I think you all have forgotten how busy my schedule is. This is not my only shoot.”

“Ten more minutes in hair, Reanna. Come on, love, please …”

Reanna whipped around, glaring at her hair stylist, and best friend in outrage. “Ten minutes!” she exclaimed. “Ronaldo, have you gone mad?”

“No, sweetie, I haven’t.” He motioned toward the model’s hair. “I’ve been inspired, boo. Look at this hair.”

Reluctantly, Reanna looked at the stylist’s creation.
Dammit
, she thought, stubbornly looking away,
it is really good
. She couldn’t deny how amazing the model would look in the pictures.

Releasing a long, frustrated sigh, she gave her friend what he wanted. “Take your ten minutes.”

“Thank you, love!”

“Not so fast,” she cut off his joyous show of gratitude. “Not a minute over, Ronaldo, I mean it. I don’t want to be a diva or anything, but we have another shoot after this, so I need you all to work with me please.”

“I got you, boo boo, no worries,” he assured. He gave her a wink and a dazzling smile. “You’re Reanna Pierce, baby. It don’t take that long for you to work your magic with that camera anyway. What do the rest of y’all think? Are we gonna get another cover today?
Vogue
baby!”

The answer was a resounding ‘Yes’ from the rest of the crew as they all continued rushing around her, and Reanna had no choice but to smile. They were all so sweet to her, even when she was in a sour mood.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love being here, this was her life, her love, her career. Being on the set of a photo-shoot, whether it be in an alley warehouse in New York or a sunny beach in the Caribbean, made her happy. Her sour mood hadn’t come from being here, it hadn’t even really come from the tardiness of hair and make-up.

No.

The person responsible for putting her in a seriously bad mood on this fine Thursday afternoon was none other than the gorgeous man—who Reanna just may have been in … strong like with—Kyle Valente.

Once again the man had called her, not to see how she was doing, not to ask her to maybe … hangout, and not to tell her exactly what all of his flirtatious advances, and ‘you’re so sexy’ comments meant either. No! He’d never do that! It’d be unthinkable, right? Instead of clearing up her confusion, he’d called to ask for a damn babysitter.

A babysitter? So he could take out Aniyah
again
!

God
she hated him; she swore
to
God she hated that man!

“Almost done, Reanna!” Ronaldo announced.

Reanna nodded. In all honesty, she didn’t care. They could take fifteen more minutes if they wanted to—she’d probably be done with the shoot in less than thirty minutes. That was just how good she was.

Still standing in the middle of her set, her thoughts, as always, drifted back to Kyle, regardless of whether she wanted them to or not.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like watching Sofia, because she did, immensely. It never even felt like she was babysitting the child. They were so close, Reanna just loved spending time with her. She loved her as if she were her own daughter … oddly, sometimes it felt like Sofia was her daughter. That was how close their relationship was. She had known her since she was a baby, and she’d seen Kyle a few times before their formal meeting as well. Of course he hadn’t remembered her, men like him—excessively gorgeous for no reason—never really did. She wasn’t a super flashy, super attractive model type that men like Kyle flocked to. Reanna was … plain to say the least. Full-figured, and very plain. So Kyle hadn’t really noticed her until Sofia was around two years old.

Ugh! This was stupid! Why was she thinking about him? It shouldn’t be bothering her this much; she did, after all, think about Kyle and her little baby Sofia more times throughout the day than she cared to admit. It was crippling, the connection she felt, not just to Kyle, but to both of them. She felt like they were hers to care for, like they needed her, and she’d felt this way ever since she’d met Sofia, and even more so when she’d finally gotten the chance to formally introduce herself to Kyle.