The Lunam Ceremony (Book One), page 8
“Hey Mom.” Dillan greets a tall blonde woman with a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Mom, this is Kalysia.”
I step forward and hold out my hand, but Dillan’s mom pulls me into her arms. She is stunning. “It’s so wonderful to meet you.” She squeezes me the way a child hugs a teddy bear. “Are you hungry?”
“Let her get a chance to settle in before force feeding her.” Dillan takes my hand and pulls me into his arms. “Where’s Dad?” Before Dillan’s mother can respond, I sense someone standing behind us. Dillan spins around quickly, and his grip tightens on my shoulders.
“Adel, why didn’t you tell me they were here?” He crosses the veranda and stands beside his wife.
“We just walked in the door, Dad,” Dillan tells him.
“You must be Kalysia. We’ve heard so much about you,” he says, ignoring Dillan’s lukewarm greeting. “I’m Lowell.” He extends a hand to me. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
I’m relieved he’s not a hugger. “Nice to meet you,” I say and shake his hand. I’ve known Dillan less than forty-eight hours; I wonder how he knows anything about me.
We stand awkwardly for a minute before Adel offers us drinks. Dillan asks for a beer, while I opt for a diet soda. We sit at the large round table on the veranda, and Adel places two platters in front of us filled with cheese and fruit. I pluck a strawberry from the tray and stare at the rows of grapes that stretch out for miles. “I didn’t know you literally lived on a vineyard,” I say to Dillan.
He smirks as if it’s no big deal. I can’t imagine what it’s like to wake up every morning and look out your window to this. My window faced the back of a Quickie Mart, and you didn’t want to look out that window. “You’re so lucky.”
“Yeah, I know.” He squeezes my leg under the table. I jump slightly at his touch then recover quickly. I place my napkin in my lap and allow his hand to remain.
“I remember my Lunam,” Adel says wistfully. Her cheeks flush as she sips her red wine. Dillan makes a gag noise beside me and I slap his arm. “It was all so exciting. I couldn’t wait for my life to begin. This is a very special time for the two of you. Appreciate every moment of it.” She looks at Lowell, who is staring at his phone.
“Thank you, we will.” I smile at Dillan and he leans in for a kiss. I turn my head at the last minute so he kisses my cheek. He smiles at the coy look on my face and moves his fingers higher up my inner thigh. I inadvertently squeak.
Dillan raises an eyebrow at me as if the noise I made is code for something. “Mom, I promised Kalysia a tour of the grounds,” he says as he stands, pulling me up with him.
Adel smiles and tells us dinner will be at six sharp. “Don’t be late, Dillan.”
He gives her a sly smile and we excuse ourselves. Lowell stands and tells Adel he’ll be in his office. I feel like a really horrible guest as we leave Adel alone of the patio.
“She’ll be fine,” Dillan whispers and whisks me through his childhood home.
Dillan’s idea of a tour consists of the stairs and hallway that lead to his bedroom. “I thought you were going to show me the property?” I fold my hands over my chest and stand in the doorway.
Dillan plops down on his king-size bed. “You’ve seen one vineyard; you’ve seen them all.” He holds his arms out to me. “Come here.”
“I’ve never seen a vineyard.” I glare at him and try to pretend I don’t want to spend the entire day in bed with him.
Dillan pulls off his black t-shirt, exposing a six-pack only nature could mold. “I promise to give you a tour later.” He crosses his heart with his fingers. If he didn’t look so damn sexy, I may have protested longer, but my animalistic urges take over.
I step in the room and lock the door. Dillan bites his lower lip as I pull the straps on my sundress down over my shoulders. “Do you want me?” I say as my dress falls away revealing my naked body.
He jumps off the bed and kneels in front of me. He kisses me softly on my stomach, making circles with his tongue around my belly button. I moan when his hand slides up my inner thigh. When he doesn’t stop, my knees buckle and I lean into him for support.
Dillan must sense my needs, because he moves me to the bed. I lie down, and he lowers himself on top of me. “I’ve never wanted anything or anyone the way I want you. It scares me how much I need you already.” His words are heavy with emotion. I feel everything he is saying.
I don’t know how to reply. There are no words. I love the fact that he wants me. Needs me. “You have me, Dillan.” He does. I am his and he is mine. If this is what my forever looks like, feels like, then I am the luckiest girl in the world. I try to stay quiet, knowing Dillan’s parents are nearby, but it’s difficult not to get lost in him. We’ve spent the last two days in bed, yet everything still feels brand new. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of him.
“Was everything ok? I mean, were you satisfied?” he asks when we finish.
“Of course, can’t you tell?” I can sense his pleasure. I assumed he could do the same.
“Yes, but you were…quieter than before.”
I roll onto my stomach and rest my head on his chest. “Your parents.”
Dillan rolls his eyes. “We’re post Lunam. They know what’s up.”
“I know, but it still feels weird.” I kiss the space above his heart. “Don’t worry, when we get to our own place, I’ll be so loud the entire pack will need ear plugs.”
Dillan pulls me into his arms and kisses me. “Look, I know you’re confused about your feelings for me.” I start to protest, but he stops me. “Don’t say anything, ok. I’m not asking for reassurance; you will never have to say it to me. I can feel it, sense it.” Dillan touches his forehead to mine and looks into my eyes. “Don’t doubt my feelings for you, ever. Ok?”
All I can do is nod. There is nothing for me to say. I do feel Dillan’s love for me. I feel it in his touch. I taste it in his kiss. I sense it in the way he loses himself in me when we make love. My body, my heart, and my mind are telling me that Dillan Dukes loves me. He also knows I don’t feel the same way. Not yet. I never thought he sensed my feelings the way I do his. He feels my apprehension, my doubt. I climb onto his lap and he moans. I want to love him the way he deserves to be loved. I let myself go and let out a little howl. I will fall in love with Dillan Dukes or I will die trying.
At five o’clock I force myself out of Dillan’s bed. After a quick shower we head downstairs. Monte and Layla are already there. We barely have time to say hello before Adel ushers us into the dining room for dinner. I sit between Dillan and his father. Monte and Layla sit across from us. Two more people sit at the end of the table near Adel. They are associates of Lowell’s, human business partners. Todd and Elliot are partners in every sense of the word.
“I hear congratulations are in order.” Elliot holds up his wine glass and points it towards me and Dillan. I look back, confused.
“Oh,” Adel giggles. “I told Elliot you two were honeymooning upstairs.”
“Dillan’s window was open,” Layla whispers across the table, doing a poor job hiding a smile. “We had to move inside.”
I feel my face turn ten shades of red. “It’s not what you, it was the tele—” I stammer. Dillan places his hand over mine and stops me from making a bigger fool of myself.
He raises his glass to Elliot and the rest of the table follows. “Thank you, Elliot. We couldn’t be happier.” Dillan clinks his glass with my mine and gulps down his wine.
“Lucky girl.” Elliot raises his wine glass and winks at me.
I blush at the attention and take a sip from my water to hide the ridiculous smile on my face.
“Your father tells me you are leaving tomorrow,” Todd interjects, and the conversation turns to business just as our dinner arrives. “Have you seen the camp yet?”
“Camp?” I whisper to Dillan.
A maid places a plate in front of me with a small round piece of meat sitting in the center. It’s surrounded by roasted vegetables. I want to devour it, but I know I have to wait until the rest of the table has been served. Table manners and etiquette I picked up when Mom was with Miles. Dining in five-star restaurants was the thing I missed most about Miles. Once Layla dumped him, it was back to crappy chains and fast food.
“Yes, the new branch will take residence near Meyers. The camp is rustic, but quite nice,” Lowell tells me. I look at Dillan; he doesn’t look the least bit surprised. He must know about the camp already.
“We’re taking it back to, how do you say it, old school, right Lowell?” Monte laughs and sips his wine.
“I wouldn’t call it old school. They have heat and running water,” Adel chimes in.
“They better, or we won’t have a new branch for long,” Layla interjects and the table laughs.
I wonder if Todd and Elliot are following the conversation better than I am. From the look on their faces, I’d say they know more about pack life than I do.
“Everyone, please eat,” Adel says from the end of the table.
You don’t have to tell me twice. I dive in and try to keep up with the table conversation. Dillan tells Todd he hasn’t seen the camp, but he’s excited to get up there and start making money for the pack. I thought our existence was secret. I wonder if they are beta or somehow connected to the pack. Lowell and Monte chime in with details about distribution and sales analysis. Their words are foreign to me so I focus on my dinner.
“What will you do, Kalysia?” Elliot asks as I’m forking the last piece of meat into my mouth.
I try to chew quickly, but the bite was huge. Elliot smiles at me from the other end of the table and I shrug.
“She’ll be learning the business as well. Kalysia has a great aptitude for numbers. She’ll do well handling financials,” Layla says to Elliot. Her words catch the attention of the entire table. Monte smiles sheepishly beside her.
Lowell looks at Layla like he wants to rip her head off then his face suddenly goes blank. It happens so fast I don’t think anyone noticed, except me. He slices into his meat and glares in Adel’s direction. She offers a nervous smile as she pours herself another glass of wine. Dillan remains silent. I want to strangle Layla and then hug her. I hate the attention she’s drawn to me, but I also understand why she did it. I am smart and strong. I can do more for the pack than shoot babies out of my uterus. The fact that her comment has caused this much tension tells me that having Cassie move to our pack is a better idea than I even thought. A woman’s worth should have nothing to do with her ability to breed. I can only imagine what is happening to her right now. Are people whispering behind her back? Calling her a failure. That won’t happen in our branch. With my protection, she can live however she chooses. She can go to college, fall in love, and have children on her own terms.
The chatter turns to Lowell’s main business, grapes. I find out that the Sierra pack made their living as field hands for a winery in Napa. In the early seventies, Lowell Duke Sr. convinced his branch to pool their money together and buy a small vineyard. The business evolved from one vineyard to ten. Now they broker grapes for wineries all over the country. At some point Lowell’s senior bought out his partners and took over the business. The Duke family has a lot of power over the Sierras because it was their business that started the Sierra pack’s success. The Duke family has the controlling interest in Sierra-Duke Brokerage, LLC. The pack and the elder’s council each get a percentage of the business, and the Duke family keeps the rest. From the look of this house, I’d say the rest is a lot.
All the money in the world couldn’t buy the Dukes’ leadership. Monte’s family, the Taillac’s, are still the Sierra pack leaders. As one of Monte’s children, I am heir to the pack.
Monte lifts his nearly empty wine glass and the table follows his lead. “To Dillan and Kalysia. The two of you will finally make this partnership a true family.”
“To family,” Layla adds.
The table repeats her, and I smile at my mother, feeling so grateful that she brought me here, to this life, and gave me the family I’ve always wanted.
Adel rings a small bell, and three women rush in to remove our plates. It’s like a scene from a movie. They return just as quickly with dessert. Adel says it is chocolate cake with a raspberry merlot sauce. My plate is set in front of me and I dig right in. I don’t look up until my plate is clean. Layla catches my eye and points to her chin. I know she’s alerting me to the fact that I probably have raspberry sauce dribbling down my face. I dab my mouth with the napkin in my lap and peek at Dillan. He hasn’t touched his cake. I really want to eat his, but I’m afraid Layla will stab my hand with a fork if I make a move for it.
After dessert the table disperses into pockets of conversation in the sitting room. They actually call it that. My mother and Adel discuss the impressive art collection the Dukes have amassed over the years. Adel points out a small painting from a French artist and tells Layla that Dillan sent it to her for her birthday last summer. Apparently, Dillan was just in Europe touring wineries in Paris and Italy, before spending a few months with a brew master in Germany.
Dillan and I are standing in front of the oak bar that stretches along the wall. Elliot is on the other side pouring drinks for everyone. He tells me he worked as a bartender to pay his way through college. Now he owns six restaurants in the bay area and is partnering with Lowell to open three more.
“You sound very busy,” I say.
He places a soda in front of me and drops a cherry inside with a wink. “Lowell is a very passionate man when it comes to business,” Elliot says as he pours Dillan a beer from the tap. He hands it to Dillan then starts on another drink.
Dillan looks like something is bothering him. He’s been quiet since we left the dinner table. I try to strike up a conversation. “I didn’t know you traveled,” I say and sip my soda.
“I didn’t know you had an aptitude for numbers,” Dillan spits back.
I’m startled by the edge in his voice and a little bit pissed. I can’t tell if it’s the alcohol, he had three glasses of wine during dinner, or if Layla’s comment really upset him. I glance at Elliot, who is pretending not to listen. “That was just Layla being Layla.”
Dillan leans against the bar and looks me in the eye. “So, you don’t want to learn the business?”
I start to say no then think otherwise. I don’t need to lie to Dillan, ever. If he loves me the way he says he does, he’ll accept me as I am. No apologies. “Of course I want to learn the business, but that’s just how I am. I’m naturally curious. It doesn’t mean I want to run the company one day.” That’s the truth. I don’t know what I want or where my life is heading.
Dillan’s shoulders relax. He even smiles a little. “Ok,” he says. “I don’t see any problems with you learning the industry. Let’s start with this.” He hands me his beer. “You gotta learn your product.”
I take a swig. “We’re selling Aunt Jessie’s beer?”
“It isn’t just hers, it’s a pack recipe.” Dillan starts to tell me a little about how we will be in charge of brewing and distribution.
“So, we won’t be part of the grape business?” I’m a little disappointed that I won’t get to travel around the world visiting wineries.
“Nope, we will run a new division of Sierra-Drake,” Dillan says with a huge smile. “We’re going to make our own mark in this world.” His eyes glance towards his father across the room. His disdain for Lowell is apparent.
“Can I get a whiskey sour.” Monte knocks on the bar and prompts Elliot to make his drink. He does it in a way that isn’t pretentious at all. Monte has sort of an Alec Baldwin thing going on. He’s authoritative in a down-to-earth sort of way. People, like Elliot, are happy to oblige him. Dillan excuses himself to use the restroom and leaves me alone with my father. Elliot hands Monte his drink then joins Todd and Lowell on the veranda for a cigar.
“So, how are you adjusting?” Monte asks. He taps his pinky finger on the side of the glass in a nervous tick sort of way.
“I’m fine,” I say and sip Dillan’s beer. I look around as we stand in an awkward silence. I can only think of one thing to say to my father and I’m not sure it’s going to come out right. I take a big gulp from the glass before I speak. “I didn’t know you had another kid.”
Monte looks taken aback. “Yes, I do.”
“Is that why my mother left you?” I feel my skin grow warm, and I don’t know if it’s the alcohol or anger.
“No, you have it all wrong, Kalysia.” Monte puts his hand on my shoulder. “Layla knew—”
“Is everything ok?” Dillan appears out of nowhere and pulls me close. Monte jerks his hand back, as if Dillan is going to bite it off.
“Everything is fine.” I flash a fake smile at Monte. “Excuse me.” I hand Dillan the now empty glass and walk out of the room. I follow Dillan’s scent to find his bedroom. I fall onto his bed and scream into his pillows.
When Dillan strokes my back to wake me, it’s dark outside. I turn over and clear tangled hair out of my face. “What time is it?” My voice is hoarse from sleep.
“A little past midnight.” Dillan hands me a bottle of water. It’s a fancy square glass bottle. “Are you feeling better?”
Layla must have made up some excuse for why I left. She’s always one step ahead. I nod and drain half the bottle. “Did everyone leave?”
“Layla and Monte are in the guesthouse. What did he say that upset you?”
I don’t really want to talk about it, but I don’t want Dillan to think I’m shutting him out. “I asked him about his other child.”
“Oh.” Dillan takes the bottle from me. “What did he tell you?” He seems very curious for some reason. Dillan snooping into every aspect of my life is something else I’ll have to get used to.
“I asked him if Layla knew he cheated and if that was why she left. He tried to say she knew about the other kid and then you interrupted us.” I stroke his arm.
