Pink Ice (9 page)

             
“John, where is Jenny?” I was munching on chocolate cake, so I was in a fine place.

             
I noticed the conflict in his mind, deciding if I wanted to hear it or not. Mrs. Cherry who was with us, was equally worried. “Kiddo, don’t get mad.” He scratched the back of his head and continued. “She quit.” A sense of calm went through my body, my antagonist was gone.
Oh happy daaaayyy!
“She took some of the campaigns from us and told McQueen that she was the head behind them, so they hired her.” McQueen, as in our archenemy, principal competitor, McQueen. 

             
I knew why they were so nervous, they expected me to kill her with my own hands. But against all odds I was not angry, of course I hated the fact of her lying about our campaigns. But now I didn’t care that much, my work was still a priority, but huge ass accidents apparently bring clarity to things in life.
Go figure!

             
“Poor people at McQueen! And don’t worry John, they’ll notice soon she has as much talent as intelligence.”
MENTAL NOTE: Let McQueen’s people know they hired the stupidest liar on your team. Kudos to them!

             
They were shocked, both of them expected me to explode, but when I never did they relaxed and we enjoyed our cake in calm. I was supposed to start smoothly, but I had already been working from home, so I just needed to not over demand my body.

             
After my working day, it was time to meet my parents for the first time after two months and they deserved to see me at my best. But the first day thing distracted me and I lost track of the time in the office. So instead of meeting them at a restaurant, as we had planned, I asked them to arrive at my apartment, so we could order some food in.

             
Entering to the lobby of my apartment I noticed that even when I was running late, they were not waiting for me there, so I thought probably their flight was delayed. I ran to my door and when I opened it they were both seated on my couch. The two most important characters of my life.

             
“Princess!” My mom’s voice warmed every part of my body and they both were over me in a second. Daddy’s strong arms were taking my breath away and I was loving every second of it. “Let me see your wrist baby.” My worried mom took a look and I let her. I wanted her to focus on the wrist to miss my different appearance. “Oh darling, if you had called us we would have come back in a second, you know that.”

             
“You would have saved me from that trip, little princess.” My daddy was always avoiding social interaction, he was the opposite from my cheerful mom.

             
“You are so thin baby, and you need a new concealer, I can see those black circles under your eyes from here.”

             
I smiled, Mom was all about my face. “I lost some weight after the surgery, and I guess I have lost all my makeup during the work day.”I was truly happy, I didn’t even notice that I didn’t know how they got to my apartment. When I heard a noise coming from the kitchen I assumed it was Kevin, but of course that would have been way too easy, every nerve on my body was awaken when I felt a possessive hand over the small of my back.

             
“You are home, doll.”
I’m going to kick that sweet ass!
Guns, bombs, axes, every murderous thought crossed my mind. I was going to kill him. I had let him know that I needed to see my parents by myself. I needed to convince them I was fine, and I knew in the back of my head that it was too soon for my first ‘meet the parents’ gathering. But I couldn’t commit murder in front of my parents, they were too nice to lie to the police.

             
“What are you doing here?” Passive aggressive tone, murderous eyes, and tense muscles, yes, he got the message.
You’re so fucked Berkeley!

             
He kissed my forehead making it impossible for me to lie about our relationship. “I needed to bring you some stuff, and I found your parents in the lobby. I called Kevin, but he’s coming late, so I let them in.”

             
“He has been informing me about the Rangers’ games, so I’m glad he came.” My daddy was a simple man, hockey or food would make him happy. Of course there was no way that Dylan knew about the Rangers’ games since he had been playing nurse to me.

             
“Mom, Dad, this is Dylan Berkeley.” He was holding me closer to his body, there was no way out of this.
Fuck! You’re blushing, sweetheart.
“My boyfriend.”

             
“Princess, poor Dylan had to introduce himself downstairs, but it is nice to hear it from you.” The sparkle in Mom’s eyes made it clear she wanted to know it all, she loved a good gossip, and this was something she would share with her sisters. Mr. Hot Bastard just made me say it for fun, he had already told them he was my other half,
yes, sarcasm implied.
“Dylan, thank you for taking care of our princess while we were abroad, I can’t believe she didn’t tell us, so we could come back.”

             
“She is fine now Mrs. Bianchi, and I love to take care of her.”

             
Sweet talking asshole.
He had my mom in his pocket, and now she was literally drooling. Even my dad, who never seemed to have a soft expression in his face, was smiling. “Oh Dylan, call me Lauren.” Mom even pushed his shoulder softly,
mommy stop drooling!

             
“Lauren, how long will you be in the city?”

             
“We are heading back home tonight, we just came to see little Katie.” Yes, my parents still called me all my baby names in front of sexy billionaires. They knew no boundaries to their love. Dad was saying they were driving in the same highway where I had crashed my car just some weeks before and I tensed a little. Of course, the only one who noticed it was the blue eyed character who still had his hand in my back while we were awkwardly standing in the middle of the living room. 

             
“No, daddy, it’s too late. You can stay here, take my bed, I’ll sleep on the couch and you can go back home tomorrow.”

             
“Of course not baby. You are tired.”
Mommy’s language for ‘you look like shit’.
“And we could drive that highway with our eyes closed. We will pick up our car from the storage and get going.” She came to remove some hair from my face. “We just needed to see you. We missed you every second.” I let my face lay on her hand, I loved them so much that every time I was around them, I went back to being a little girl.

             
“Mr. Bianchi, I don’t feel comfortable letting you drive this late after a long flight. You can stay in my apartment. My driver will take you there and will drive you to the storage in the morning. I can crash in my friend’s apartment.” He was doing this for me, and for the first time I relaxed a little in his arms in front of my parents.

             
“Dylan we don’t want to bother you.”

             
“I am insisting. Please.”

             
Mom turned to see Dad who against all odds accepted. “Ok kid, but only because the storage is probably already closed.”

             
I jumped from Dylan’s arms to hug Mom and Dad before they left my apartment and walked them downstairs.

             
“Lauren I really want to see all the pictures of your trip.”
Charming son of a bitch!

             
“Kid, you don’t know what you are talking about, she took a million.”

Mom playfully kicked Daddy’s ribs. “I’ve told you, Dylan, I expect both of you to come home. You’ll stay there for a couple of days and we’ll show you the pictures.” I almost choked, my mom had officially adopted Dylan and I didn’t know why I was feeling so happy about it.

              They jumped into Joe’s SUV and I motioned him to open the window.

             
“Ms. Bianchi.”

             
“Big Guy, these two are the most precious things in my life. Take care of them.”

             
He smiled and winked at me. “Done.”

             
After the car left, we walked to my apartment in silence, I was busy thinking how to kick his balls for setting me up with my parents. It wasn’t until we entered the apartment when I started. “So where are you sleeping Berkeley? Marc and Spencer in town?”

             
He smiled at me in that powerful -I’m thinking about you naked- way. “You are my only friend in town Katherine. My girlfriend, as you have told your parents.”

  
              “I can’t believe you did this, we had talked about it.” Yeah I wanted to seem angry, but the big smile on my face was betraying me.

             
“I really wanted to meet them, I missed you since yesterday, and I was dying to remove those office clothes off of you.”

             
I had missed him too, like a crazy obsessed, stalker woman. But I needed to establish a precedent. “I think you are sleeping on the couch Berkeley.”

             
His long steps brought him in front of me in a couple of movements. His hands were around my waist holding me strongly. “No one will get me away from your bed, doll.” He kissed my jaw and my neck making my heart beat crazy. “Let’s get into your room before I get you naked here. God knows that if Kevin comes in, I’ll have to extract his eyes out.”

             
“Dirty talking Berkeley? A little crude for this blushing lady.” He spanked my ass, and carried me to my bedroom. Supposedly taking things slow, but touching all the right places, really slow.

             
The next morning I woke up with the sensation of something warm in the middle of my chest. I had been feeling that for days, but I had thought I was dreaming. When I opened my eyes, I found Blue Eyes’ hand over me. My voice was really low that early. “What are you doing?” He tried to move his hand and looked anywhere except in my direction. But it was too late, I pulled his hand back and covered it with my own.

             
“Go back to sleep Katherine.” For someone so absolutely pretentious, he was acting like a little child who was discovered lying by his mom. It just made me want to know about it even more.

             
I put my free hand in the middle of his chest, mimicking his hand. “What are we doing?”

             
He stared at the ceiling, took a deep breath and started to confess. “When you were in the hospital you were always cold; even cooler than usual. Your hands, your face, even your lips were freezing. I needed to know that you were still there. After days fighting with that I remembered that the spot in the middle of your chest was always hot. I touched it, and it was as warm as I remembered. So I clung to that spot. That was what reminded me you were still there. Now…I guess now I just like to touch it.” He scratched the back of his head meditatively. “It creeps you out, right?”

             
No, not a little.
I knew exactly what he was talking about. My stupid body reacts to him, even if I am not aware of it, apparently. “It’s your spot, you can touch it whenever you want.”

             
In a swift movement he was over me, pushing my legs apart with his knee. “Not only my spot, doll.” His finger traced my neck, my breast, my abdomen. “This is my body, and yes, I can touch it whenever I want to.” His fingers proving his point, entering me with no shame. It seemed, we were not taking things as slow as Dylan tried.
Thank you Lord! I will need to go to church to thank Him for those fingers!

              We were two weeks away from Spencer’s wedding, so I needed to get back to normal to face Michelle. Spencer and Marc had been best friends of Dylan since they were kids, and the only family he had.

             
Michelle had been in Chicago for so long, but I didn’t know how much longer she would have my bullshit. She was the last one on my list of lies, and I was dying to see her.  She would not only be at the wedding, she was part of it.

             
After only a couple of months in Chicago, she had become a bridesmaid, yeah, that’s how persuasive she is. Dylan was the best man and Marc an “almost” best man, as they called him. Everyone was part of the wedding, except for me, but Dylan made it clear that I needed to participate in every activity. Yeah, the rehearsal and the family lunch were part of those activities, of course, I was delighted, sarcasm implied.
I hate this wedding already!

             
I needed to talk to Michelle about my new relationship before our encounter, and that was scaring the hell out of me. Don’t get me wrong, Dylan and I were fine together, but the scrutiny of the public eye was a lot for me. Questions, feelings, and disgusting girl talk, were not my favorite things in the world. And with a best friend that could have been an FBI agent, I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. After avoiding the task for a couple of days, I decided to put on my big girl pants and go for it.