Billionaire Blaze, page 20
Was this where the rich and famous went to eat?
Heads turned to look at me, and I knew that I was being scrutinized. If I had been able to go shopping before I left the UK, I might have bought something of high enough quality and fashion to look good among this crowd. But as it stood currently, I could tell I was underdressed.
If I had felt awkward before, my lack of good clothing only made me feel worse now. This was my worst nightmare.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Lukas
I’d never known how I truly felt about Lorenzo’s, and today was no different. I hurried inside, always admitted without hesitation. I’d once shown up without any direct invitation to be with any particular group of people, and they had still let me in.
When you had a certain level of money, no one stopped you from doing anything. Of course, the bill at Lorenzo’s was not a small one, and I thought it was bold of Sarai to be picking up the tab somewhere like this so soon in the project, but it was still pretty much on time, and it was clear she was spending money on the best for a reason.
Not that it made me any more comfortable. And to make matters worse, our table was near the back of the room, which meant I had to walk through the minefield of people to get to where I wanted to be. More than a few women looked my way.
Another part of Lorenzo’s I didn’t like. The single women who came here looking to secure dates with men like me. I didn’t like it, and I always dressed down as much as I thought I could get away with to try and help avoid having so many of them come my way. I didn’t make much of an effort.
I finally spotted Kit, sandwiched between two talking women, her back almost completely pressed against the wall and a look on her face that said that she wasn’t that interested in what was being said, but she was trying to follow and look as if it mattered. To the untrained eye, she might pass off as listening with no intent to say anything.
I could tell she was uncomfortable, however. Not wanting to be interrupted by anyone else, I fixed my eyes on her and hurried over that way. As her eyes met mine, her mouth parted a fraction, and she shifted. It was a hopeful expression. At least, I wanted to think she was that pleased to see me.
As I got closer, however, I was thwarted. Sarai brought some more people over to me to talk. I didn’t like to talk about work outside of work, but these were two men interested in doing something similar to Sarai, and given she was making the introduction, I knew that I couldn’t be too rude.
I shook hands and listened to their proposal, but it wasn’t a project that had gotten very far yet. After being polite for just long enough, I pulled out a card and handed it over to them. “Thank you, gentlemen. I look forward to hearing from you both. It sounds like a fascinating project. Let me know when you’re ready for me to be involved, and we’ll discuss what that might look like. If you’ll excuse me, I said I’d help someone else as well, and I don’t know how much longer they will be here.”
Although it was a slight lie, from how awkward Kit looked and how she wasn’t really involved in any of the conversations around her, I knew there was a chance it could end up being true.
The men didn’t look as if they appreciated me walking away so soon, but they could hardly stop me and not look rude themselves. I took the opportunity to hurry over to Kit, but I was going to have to join the conversation group she was in to get to her.
“Ladies,” I said as I got closer, looking at Kit first and smiling at her as warmly as I could. I acknowledged the other two women as well, not wanting to snub anyone, but I focused more on Kit.
She had put on a simple but elegantly tailored sun dress. The pattern was pretty enough, and her jewelry was very simple, but she wasn’t as well dressed as the women on each side of her. I was relieved to find she had also dressed down compared to the usual dress code and appreciated that we looked like we should be here together.
“Lukas!” the woman on the left exclaimed, sounding as if she knew me, although I couldn’t place her. If we had met, it was been a long time ago and not on this project.
“Good evening,” I replied. “How have you been?”
It was a simple enough response when I thought I should know someone I was talking to. Her face lit up, and I could have sworn she glanced at her friend as if she was the cat who’d got the cream. I didn’t like it and immediately looked at Kit, then the third woman before me.
“In fact, how are all of you? And Kit, sweetness, I hope you saved me a seat beside you?”
“Oh, I haven’t claimed a seat yet,” Kit spoke rapidly and looked toward the tables as if she should have picked one out. The other two women were looking between us at this point, none of them actually answering the question. I hadn’t given them much of a chance.
“Let me get two for us, then,” I replied, going in the direction of another table before anyone could stop me. Although I didn’t know if Kit would get the hint and follow me, she showed enough presence of mind to do exactly that. It was almost as if she had been as grateful to get away from the two women as I had been.
Neither of us made it as far as the table before other people came up to talk to us. They were old friends from the past and only stopped us briefly, but then there was a commotion by the door, and everyone’s heads turned.
In walked several football players and their partners. I got the impression none of them had made a reservation from the way the staff scrambled to rearrange some of the tables. They didn’t get very far before it was clear that they couldn’t add much more, and certainly not enough for the people who had walked in.
When I spotted Daniel at the back of the group, I called out to him. He hurried over to me, explaining something to the waiter nearest him as he did.
“Is there space at our table?” I asked, saying it loudly enough to get Sarai or Richard’s attention. The latter held his thumb up, and the quarterback looked relieved, as did the waiter.
“I don’t know how you do that,” Daniel said, grinning as he came close enough to slap me on the back.
“Do what?” I replied, shifting so Kit was included in our little group again.
“Anticipate a problem and solve it from a distance. We just created a headache for the staff. Too many of us and not a big enough table left. If I can sit with you and your friends, I can stop the poor waiter over there trying to break the laws of physics to do his job the way he feels he ought to.”
Kit smiled at this description but didn’t say anything as Daniel stopped talking and looked at her. The smile on his face grew even more broad.
“Forgive me,” I hastily said. “This is Kit, the interior designer on the project I’m currently working on. And Daniel, one of the best quarterbacks the Chicago Bears has ever seen, if not the entire sport.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I think Lukas told me about you and a real estate problem you were having. I hope you managed to make your decision and have found it to be a good solution.”
“I have, I have. And I was looking forward to the opportunity to meet you. Thank you for your advice. Lukas can be a great help when it comes to many aspects, but it sounds as if this is one area where your expertise was even more useful.” Daniel offered to shake Kit’s hand, and she smiled, finally looking more comfortable.
It helped break the ice and tension of the awkward conversations as Daniel went into social mode and talked to Kit about herself. He asked questions that even I hadn’t thought to talk to her about, and before long, the three of us were sitting down to our starters, one of us on either side of Kit.
Sarai and Richard soon joined us, and then an array of other people at the restaurant. It was something that I’d never liked about this sort of place. No one really stayed where they were put. It was another excuse for networking. Thankfully, having Daniel around and the three of us talking a lot allowed me to ignore a lot of other people. At least while we ate.
“Oh, Kit, darling, you need to come with me and meet this person,” Sarai said as she stood and held her hand out to Kit. It interrupted the conversation we were having, but Daniel immediately backed up and shifted to help her pull out her chair and respond. And for a while, at least, I had to let her go.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
By the time I had been through dinner, retrieving Kit each time a course arrived, I hoped that the rest of the patrons and people around us, Sarai included, would leave us be and let us talk, but in the gap between the main course and dessert, yet again, we were bombarded with people.
This time, they came up to Daniel and me—three women and a man I vaguely recognized with them.
“Lukas, tell me you remember us from the Christmas party on the Alexis project,” the first woman, a tall blonde, said. She had enormous heels on and was holding onto the arm of the woman next to her almost as if she couldn’t walk without aid.
“I remember,” I replied, not entirely sure I wanted to. The Alexis project had been fun, but these had been hangers-on in the client’s life, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to give them the opportunity to become the same in mine.
“Wasn’t that the project where you won a bunch of awards?” Daniel asked, getting up to acknowledge them. It forced Kit and me to do the same, and I pulled her chair out for her, hoping it would send a clear message to any of the women getting any ideas. I had to admit that having Kit around, even if she was long-term after something similar, helped to keep the other sharks at bay.
If any of them thought she would be mine, none of them acted as if she was even there, although the third woman smiled up at Daniel, nearer to him than anyone else.
“I did win a few if I remember correctly,” I replied, everyone looking to me for an answer.
“You’re far too modest.” Daniel grinned at me, almost as if he was enjoying making me uncomfortable.
“Are you working on anything new and exciting?” The nearest woman came even closer, and for a moment, I feared that she would take my arm instead of her friend’s.
“He is,” Daniel continued to answer for me. “And it’s an amazing project. I’ve been promised a tour of it as soon as it’s done, but this lovely lady here, Kit, is the interior designer. She’s been telling me all about it. They’ve been doing the—”
“The interior designer?” the middle woman interjected, staring at Kit as if she couldn’t believe Kit was able to fulfill that role. The tension in the air grew rapidly.
“Yes,” Kit replied, but the hesitation was clear in her voice. “I was asked to come on board by Sarai after she saw my UK work.”
There was a brief silence after she spoke where I hoped we would move on. I opened my mouth to ask what the women were up to and take the focus back off Kit. I knew Daniel had been trying to be kind, but Kit was shy, and these women were not the nicest.
“I’m surprised she took you on...” the woman spoke before I could, then very obviously looked Kit up and down. “You either have strange tastes in the UK, or you’re not exactly the sort of designer that understands our circles.”
It was so obviously catty and unkind that even the other two women didn’t know what to say.
“I assure you that Sarai is very happy with my work, and it speaks for itself,” Kit replied, lifting her chin, but the hurt was clear in her eyes, already welling up at the insult.
It only made the woman smile even more. Anger filled me, but again, I wasn’t the first to act.
“Excuse me. I think I’ve had enough of the company in here.” Kit walked off, almost pushing between Daniel and the third of the trio. It was easy to see her go, the majority of the rest of the customers finding their seats while she walked toward the door.
“Bernice, that was a little harsh, don’t you think?” the woman by Daniel said. “She might be new to our circles and not know the standards we have yet. You normally love a project.”
“That wasn’t a project. That was a train wreck.” She rolled her eyes, and I grew even angrier. As the woman beside me let go of Bernice and went to reach for my arm instead, I pulled out of the way and put my drink down.
“I think I need to be excused as well. If Kit is leaving this dinner, there is nothing keeping me here either.” I also stalked off, patting Daniel’s shoulder on the way past to let him know that I wasn’t angry at him at all. I strode through the center of the restaurant, drawing even more looks than Kit had, but I didn’t care.
I thought I heard my name being called a few times, but I ignored both and made my way outside, the doorman looking baffled as yet another person left early. I smiled and nodded at them, also not wanting the establishment to think they had done anything wrong. The cattiness of women was something I would never understand, but I had experienced it often enough to know that in these sorts of circles, it could spiral out of control.
Kit was just outside the door, her cell phone in her shaking hands as she tried to either call or message someone. Her head was down, and it was clear from her shoulders and the goosebumps across her skin that she was cold and crying.
Although I felt the nip in the air as well, I swept my jacket off in a hurry and slipped it around her shoulders from behind. She jumped at first, not having noticed me join her, but she soon turned her teary face away and tried to wipe the evidence of her upset away.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to hide your emotions from me,” I said. “I would have been hurt by that sort of comment, too. Sadly, I live a much more privileged life simply because of my gender and wealth, and no one would dare say that to me.”
Kit paused, still looking away from me but no longer trying to wipe the tears away so hurriedly.
I encouraged her to wrap my jacket around her a little better, noticing she was still shivering.
“Thank you,” she said. “Do you have a number for a taxi service? I’d like to leave, but my phone isn’t working out here, and I don’t have a car.”
“Do you definitely want to go home?” I asked as I gently encouraged her to lean into me for warmth as well.
She finally looked up at me, and I saw she was barely holding it together, her breathing ragged. I pulled her in close for a hug, as well as to warm her up.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
At first, she didn’t reply, burying her head in my chest for a while. Her breathing continued to be erratic, and I was fairly sure that I felt the damp of more tears. I gently rubbed a hand along her back, trying to soothe and calm her. This wasn’t my first experience comforting a woman, but it was the first time I worried that she would pass out or wouldn’t be able to breathe.
Slowly, Kit calmed in my arms, however. It was clear she was exhausted afterward, and I continued to hold her for some time.
“I’m so sorry,” she said as she tried to pull back a little and support herself again.
“There is absolutely nothing to be sorry for. It’s Sarai and myself who should be apologizing to you. You have trusted both of us to take care of you while you are here, and tonight, we both failed you. Bernice is mean and catty, and we should never have exposed you to her.”
Kit shook her head as if she didn’t agree. “She was right, though. I’m not dressed as well as everyone else here tonight. I should have known that I would be ridiculed.”
I frowned, looking down at her dress. While she had a point that it wasn’t the right sort of attire for somewhere this famous, the dress looked good on her and hugged her figure in all the right places.
“I think you look wonderful, but yes, perhaps it would be wise to wear something a little more...” I trailed off, not sure how to phrase it without being offensive.
“Expensive,” she finished for me. “I should have gone shopping before I got on the plane, but I didn’t get a chance. I...”
Suddenly, the predicament that she must have been in dawned on me. “It’s okay,” I said, thinking fast. “You don’t need to worry. I understand. Just like Jack, when he met Juno, had to understand that she didn’t have the same level of wealth. I understand that you don’t either.”
I wasn’t sure that the words were coming out right, but I had to try to make her feel better. None of this was her fault.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Kit
Although I knew Lukas was just trying to make me feel better, part of me wished that he wouldn’t. I knew that I just didn’t look good enough for the situation I was in. He was being the perfect gentleman.
I was mortified that I had cried on him and not been able to calm myself down properly for ages. And to make matters worse, I was so cold that I needed to wear his jacket. I’d known that I wouldn’t be warm enough or look good enough, yet I had come out anyway.
It was time to figure out what to do now. I had already asked Lukas once if he knew where I could get a cab, but he wasn’t letting me know, and I wasn’t sure if I should ask again.
“Do you want to go back inside?” Lukas asked as I tried to sort through the jumble of thoughts in my head.
I shook my head. That was one thing I definitely didn’t want to do.
He frowned and looked between the doorman and the road. Although the restaurant doorman wasn’t close, it was clear that he had seen and heard enough, and I felt mortified all over again.
“Why don’t we go somewhere else?” Lukas took my hand in his, stroking his fingers down the back of it and not letting me go. “I don’t think I want to be here anymore either. I’d like to be somewhere just the two of us and to do something more…romantic, more than spend our evening with our work colleagues.”
I nodded, relieved and eager to spend more time with just Lukas. He was far kinder, and maybe I wouldn’t be so underdressed if the people around us were holding their customers to a lower standard.
Everything about Lukas was always wonderful, and I had enjoyed meeting his friend. But even Sarai had made everything harder on me by trying to introduce me to so many other people while I was here. Not all of them had been friendly, and many had looked down on me and my clothes.
