Alessandro (Members From Money Book 21) Read online

  He walked into the stunningly beautiful grey and cream bathroom and reached for a towel to dry himself off. It was a particularly humid night but he had turned up the air-conditioning all the way. Very soon he was feeling the goosebumps rising on his arms as he stripped out of the trunks he had donned for his swim. He stood unselfconsciously before the full length mirror and looked at himself. Ever since he was growing up he knew that he was beautiful. He had been able to attract women since he was a child. He had jet black hair which he had allowed to grow so that it came to his shoulders, inscrutable dark eyes, and a swarthy complexion. He had taken everything from his mother down to her straight nose and her determined chin. He was tall and muscular but not overly so as he detested bulging muscles. He was high on fashion and had the latest in clothes and shoes. His closet was almost as large as his room and he was meticulous when it came to dressing. He gave pleasure to women but always kept a part of himself aloof. He had seen too much and experienced too much to ever let his emotions get away from him. Women had tried to get under his skin but so far none had succeeded. He made love with a heat that was expected of him but never got too involved that he could not walk away. He stepped into the shower and allowed the water to run over him from head to toe before stepping out. He fancied going to the club and playing a round of golf. It was a beautiful summer evening and he was feeling restless. Maybe he would see someone who caught his glance while he was there. With that in mind he went into his closet to pick something out.

  *****

  “Do you think he is okay?” Katarina looped her long dark hair on top of her head and secured it with hair pins. They had gone to dinner with some friends and were now back in their rooms. Isabella had called and said she was out with friends and had told them not to wait up. Katarina worried about her children.

  “He will be.” Adam came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders. He had met her while on holiday in Italy and he had fallen for her instantly. She came from old money and her father had been reluctant to agree to the marriage but they had been in love. “Stop worrying.”

  “Easier said than done.” She leaned back against him. “I want them to find what we have.”

  “They will.” He bent and lifted her into his arms. “I need my wife,” he said softly.

  “You have her,” she murmured as she closed her arms around his neck.

  Chapter 2

  “Sorry to keep you waiting, Ms. Walker.” Isabella Rivera strode into the elegant living room, with her long black hair flying behind her. Jayda had seen numerous pictures of her alongside several celebrities and she had been called the chocolate heiress more than once. She was related to the famous clothing empire, the Romano’s, and that of course made her and her brother even more visible. Jayda admired the classic beauty and the way the girl wore her obviously expensive clothes with a certain flair.

  “I have been treated pretty well thank you so I don’t mind the wait.” Jayda got to her feet and held her hand out. “Please, call me Jayda.”

  “In that case I am Isabella. Most people call me Bella.” She shook the girl’s hand and admired her flawless complexion and her natural beauty. She had a quiet air about her and her smile revealed very cute dimples. “Love the hair.”

  “Thank you,” Jayda said without artifice. “I have brought some things over for you to look at and decide the flavor of your party. You are turning twenty-one?”

  “And she is not letting us forget it,” a soft melodious voice with a slight accent said from the doorway of the vast living room.

  “This is my mother, Katarina Rivera. Mother, I thought you went out to lunch with Melore?”

  “She cancelled at the last minute. Nice to meet you, my dear.” The petite woman came forward and took Jayda’s hand in hers. Jayda could not help but stare! Mother and daughter were spitting images of each other except for the height. “Jayda Walker,” she said with a smile as she greeted the attractive woman with the dark sultry coloring.

  “My daughter wants the whole works. Have she shown you the ballroom yet?” the woman asked as she sat across from them and crossed elegantly shod legs encased in light blue slacks.

  “I was thinking outdoors would be great,” Jayda answered. “Outside is warm and we are in the middle of summer. It could be a kind of pool party with a seventies theme. I read that you are particularly fond of that era, Isabella. There would be songs from that time, maybe a live band playing in the background. Your friends could dress the part, dig up bathing suits from that time and maybe dress as some of the performers. What do you think?”

  Mother and daughter stared at her for a moment and then Isabella clapped her hands enthusiastically. “I knew there was a reason I hired you. I love it! What do you think?” she asked turning to her mother.

  “I think I am sold,” Katarina said softly as she looked at the quietly beautiful girl opposite her. “Spend whatever you want, my dear.”

  “I already gave her the go ahead to do so,” Isabella said with a cheeky grin.

  “I hope I am not intruding.” His voice was deep and drew immediate attention to him. Jayda felt something slam inside her as she looked at the tall breathtakingly handsome man coming into the room! She had seen his photos in magazines and had looked at his images on the internet when she had done the research on the family but nothing had prepared her for the up close and personal look. He was dressed in a custom made pin striped grey and red suit with a pear grey tie and a strawberry red shirt. His jet black hair was brushed back from a high forehead and went a little past his shoulders. His eyes were dark and enigmatic as if they held secrets no one had ever tried to discover.

  “Alessandro! I had no idea you were coming over!” Isabella jumped to her feet and went into his arms. For a mad moment Jayda felt the urge to push her out of his arms! Taking a deep breath she did her best to steady her shaking body and her lack of composure.

  “I am on my way to the club and decided to stop by.” His eyes went over Jayda in an impersonal way and his eyebrows rose. “The party planner?”

  “Event coordinator,” Jayda corrected him automatically as she got to her feet.

  “She has a brilliant idea for my party,” Isabella told him hastily.

  “I am sure she does.” He dismissed her immediately and Jayda felt the sharp let down as he turned to look at his mother. “Dad will be a little late. He has some clients he is dealing with.”

  “Thanks, Cara. Are you staying for dinner?” Katarina asked her tall handsome son gently.

  “Not tonight.” He kissed his sister’s cheek and letting go of her bent to kiss his mother before moving away. “Nice to meet you.” He spared Jayda a look before walking out of the room.

  “Alessandro is not much on socializing,” Isabella said wryly as she watched her brother walk out of the room. There was such a look of adoration on her beautiful face that Jayda knew instinctively that she would do anything for him. “Where were we?”

  *****

  “I know that accounting does not seem like a lot of fun but there is more to it than just crunching numbers.” Winston meticulously cut into his tender roast beef before putting a small slice on his fork and putting it to his mouth. He chewed it down and swallowed before continuing. It was their usual Wednesday night dinner at the diner not far from where his accounting firm was and it was a standing date they had had for the past six months since they had been going out. Usually Jayda did not mind his little peculiarities but for the first time since she had known him it was getting on her nerves. It had been a week since she had been at the Rivera’s mansion and had met Alessandro Rivera and so far she was having a difficult time getting him out of her mind. His dark and mysterious beauty and the smoldering heat that emanated off him had touched something inside her that she could not quite put a finger on! She had spoken to Isabella over the phone so there was no need to go back to the mansion and she was thankful for that. “A single digit was missing in the amount I was crunching and it threw off everything I was do
ing. I almost went berserk when I could not tally.”

  “I am happy you were able to.” Jayda toyed with her vegetables absently. “I need to ask you something important.”

  “Go right ahead, my dear,” he said pompously.

  “Where do you see this relationship going?”

  He looked at her in surprise. “What brought that on?”

  She shrugged a little bit. “I know we have it in the back of our minds that we would probably get married someday but we actually take it for granted that it will happen.”

  “We will get married when the time is right!” He smiled at her for a moment. “You are the most beautiful young woman in the chapel, Jayda, and I am proud to have you as my girl.”

  “Your girl?” She looked at him with brows arched.

  “I did not mean it that way,” he apologized. “The point is that I think God has designed us to be with each other and we should be obedient to His leading.”

  “Do you actually believe that?”

  “I do.” He nodded his closely shaven head and peered at her. “What is it, Jayda? Are you having second thoughts about us?”

  “I am wondering if there is an ‘us,’ Winston.” She pushed away her plate and reached for the glass of wine. “You treat me like I am your little sister and I am not sure that that is what a relationship should be about.”

  He reached over and took her hand in his. “I want to make love to you when I put my ring on this little finger of yours. I am not going to be like most brothers who just want you for your body alone. I want the whole package, my dear.”

  Jayda nodded and pulled her hand away. “I am planning a birthday party for Isabella Rivera,” she said changing the subject.

  “Rivera Chocolates.” He nodded in approval. “Our company has been trying to get their accounts here in town but their entire operations are handled by the big wig accounting firm: Mayor and Mayor.” He sighed suddenly. “Now that is a firm I would like to drop into.”

  They finished dinner and he took her home where he pecked her on the cheek. Suddenly Jayda turned her face into his and took his lips with hers. He jumped back and stared at her for a moment, a frown on his fairly attractive face. “Are you okay, my dear?”

  “Just testing the waters.”

  “You are behaving very strangely today, my dear. I have a feeling it is the intense heat.” He patted her on the arm and continued. “Please lock up tight as soon as I am gone. I would hate for something to happen to you.”

  “Goodnight, Winston,” Jayda said with a forced smile as she went inside and closed the door behind her. She slid down the panel door and burst out laughing as she remembered the look on his face!

  *****

  “Don’t you want one or two of them?” Lorenzo asked his cousin as he looked at his twins frolicking in the warm blue water of their pool. Monique had gone out with some of the wives to a function in aid of homeless children and Lorenzo had been relegated to parent duty. He kept close watch on them, smiling slightly as Marco splashed water over his sister’s face. “Play nice, guys,” he called out to them.

  “You have gone soft on me, man,” Alessandro said cynically as he looked at the six-year-old twins. He had to admit that they were extremely beautiful children and his cousin seemed to be happy and relaxed. “I remember when you used to bed any woman as long as they were easy on the eyes.”

  “Now I only have eyes for Monique,” he said with a whimsical smile. “I fought the attraction for as long as I was able but then I could not fight it anymore. She is everything I need. I told her that she is the calm to my heat and it’s true.”

  “She even has you waxing poetic,” Alessandro said mockingly as he took a long swallow of his imported beer. It was Saturday and he had thought about going on to the club but he was feeling restless and bored. He had not been with a woman since he had been back and figured that was the problem. He was thinking of taking a run to Italy in the coming week to spend some time there but he had yet to decide. His mother worried about him and he did not like to see her unhappy. “I have seen the guys at the club with the same dopey look on their faces. Brad has been married for a hundred years and he still look at Leesa as if he just met her, not to mention Patrick and the others.”

  “When you find something wonderful you hold onto it.” He looked at his cousin. “I hope you find something like that.”

  Alessandro shrugged elegantly. “I am not looking.” He ran his palms up and down the bottle relishing the moisture there. It was late afternoon and yet the sun was bearing down mercilessly from the bright blue sky. “I am vice president of an empire that was not built by me and I am beginning to feel like a fraud.”

  “I felt the same way when I took over the running of Romano’s but I found my footing not to mention Monique.” His smile was tender as he mentioned his wife’s name. “She has taken over the running of the makeover department and turned it into something that is her own. You have to find that, Alessandro.”

  “I have been playing around with this idea.” He paused as the twins came running tired of the water games.

  “Daddy, we are starving!” Mia with her adorable face and the designated spokesperson for both of them came running over.

  “I bet you are.” Lorenzo wrapped the towel around her and nodded as a uniformed maid materialized out of nowhere to come and get them. “Go with Maria and get something to eat.”

  “Bye, Cousin Alessandro!” they said as they dashed off in the direction of the mansion. The walls were high and there were cameras all around the vast grounds. They were Romanos and had to be careful wherever they went.

  “You were saying?” Lorenzo handed him another beer and twisted off the cap of one for himself.

  “Build your own chocolate delight,” Alessandro murmured as he sipped the beer. “I have been playing around it in my mind and I am about to pitch it to the board.”

  “As in get the liquid and make whatever you want to make?”

  “Something like that.” Alessandro combed restless fingers through his shoulder length dark hair and settled back against the cushions in the lounge chair. “It could be anything from a bar of chocolate to say something as big as an elephant. Anything you want to do or make is entirely up to you.”

  “I think it is a great idea.”

  “I have taken my heritage for granted,” Alessandro said a little moodily. “I ran around doing things that I am not proud of now and almost lost it, man. I want to do the right thing by my parents and Isabella.”

  “I was there. Remember?”

  “Yeah.” Alessandro drank down the rest of the beer. “How about a round of basketball? I have a feeling being a husband and father has softened you and turned you into less than a pro.”

  “Try me,” Lorenzo said softly with a glint in his dark eyes as he got to his feet. “I will be wiping the courts with you.”

  *****

  “Hey sweetie! I thought you had left after service,” Pastor Barry Walker exclaimed as his daughter came into his office. The service had been finished and he usually sat in his office to unwind and to go over what he had imparted to the people under him.

  “I was caught up in the discussion with the women’s group about putting on a lemonade walk for the kids.” Jayda took off her hat and placed it on the scarred desk. Her hair was caught up in a tidy bun at the nape of her neck. She was wearing a minimal amount of makeup and her skin glowed healthily. “I think it is a good idea.”

  “What’s on your mind, kiddo?” her father asked her quietly. She was minus her usual smile and he had seen her looking distracted when the choir had gotten up to sing.

  “You know me so well.” She smiled a t him softly. “I am a planner and I like to think that everything should be in its place tidily.” She spread her hands and stared at the short buffed nails. “I make these plans and so far they are on target but something is off where Winston is concerned. Know what I mean?”

  Her father smiled slightly. “I always thought
that that young man was not man enough for you but I am never one to interfere.”

  “When you met Mama you knew she was the one?”

  “The moment I met her.” He nodded with a smile on his face. “She was the choir director at the church we went to and I was just starting out as a preacher, nervous like you, would never believe and wondering if I was doing the right thing. I came to the little place and saw her getting the choir to belt out the tune the way she wanted it and I stood there watching her, forgetting that I was nervous.”

  “When did you ask her out?” Jayda leaned forward in fascination. She had heard the story several times before but she never got tired of hearing it.

  “It took me three months to ask her out and I had to stand in front of the mirror and rehearse what I was going to say to her.” He laughed in memory. “Suddenly standing in front of a number of people seemed very easy.”

  “And she turned you down.”

  “She turned me down and told me that she was not interested in a relationship and I should concentrate on my preaching assignments.”