Here I Am (Arabesque) - By Rochelle Alers Page 0,73
but I learned to play the game. There are times I smile when I don’t feel like smiling, because once you become a so-called celebrity, everybody wants a piece of you. And you can’t preen on the red carpet one night then beat up a photographer the next day. You forfeit what you crave most: privacy.
“I could’ve bought a condo anywhere in the city, but chose the building where I live because it’s the most secure Wainwright property in the city. The elevator you take to get to the penthouse only stops at certain floors, because those tenants want to remain anonymous to everyone but the security staff. All of the doormen and security personnel have to go through extensive background checks, and then sign a confidentiality clause not to disclose what goes on in the building. You said you lived in a doorman building, so you know New York doormen are notorious gossips.”
“So that little orgy I witnessed was the exception rather than the norm?”
“It wasn’t an orgy, Ciara,” Brandt spat out angrily. “I thought we’d settled that little misunderstanding. I had no idea Stubbs was bringing his crew with him when he asked to visit.”
“Crew? The girls looked more like rump-shaking backup dancers.”
“I wouldn’t know what they looked like, because I wasn’t interested. And if I had been, what was I going to do sitting in a wheelchair?”
Lowering her arm, Ciara gave him an incredulous look. “I know you didn’t ask me that when you know exactly what we did with you sitting in a wheelchair.”
Grinning and flashing straight white teeth, Brandt winked at Ciara. “We did some pretty incredible things in that chair. I’ll never forget your lap dance as long as I live.”
Thankfully she did not have to respond—a waiter set a basket of warm bread and two goblets of water on the table. She picked up the menu and perused the selections, feeling the heat of Brandt’s gaze on her.
“Were you jealous?”
She glanced up. “Jealous of whom or what?”
A beat passed. “Were you jealous of the woman sitting on my chair?”
Ciara knew the time had come for her to stop lying to Brandt and to herself. “Yes,” she whispered. “I was jealous and angry enough to pull the heifer’s bleached blond hair out from her black roots.”
If Ciara’s admission hadn’t been so critical to their relationship, Brandt would’ve laughed. But he didn’t, because he knew that if she was jealous, then her feelings for him went beyond casual sex. Suddenly he was sure of himself and what he had to do to win Ciara over completely.
“You’ll never have to worry about me and another woman as long as we are together. Now have you thought of where you’d like to go?” Ciara shook her head. “Would you mind if I make a suggestion?”
“Please.”
“Do you get seasick?”
A slight frown line appeared between Ciara’s eyes when she pondered his question. She hoped he wasn’t thinking of embarking on a cruise. She and her mother had taken a weeklong cruise down to the Caribbean one year and the ship was so large that it took them three days to figure out the shortest route to their cabin. “No. Why?”
“I’d like to charter a yacht and sail down to the Caribbean. We can use the boat as our hotel when visiting some of the islands.”
“It will be just us?”
He smiled. “Yes. Do you want to invite someone else?”
“Oh, no,” she said quickly. “I love the idea.”
“Good. I’ll call and make arrangements tomorrow.”
“How long do you anticipate we’ll be gone?”
“A week to ten days. Why?”
“I’ll have to contact my mother and let her know I’ll be out of the country. I also need to stop at my apartment to pick up clothes and my passport.”
“Don’t worry too much about clothes. We can go shopping when we dock in Miami. I’ll have Ibrahim take you home so you can pick up whatever else you’ll need before we sail.”
Ciara wanted to ask Brandt how many times he’d taken a woman with him yachting to exotic places, but decided what he’d done with other women was none of her business or concern. She would take Sofia’s advice and enjoy the ride, then when it was time to get off she would be left with her memories.
“It sounds as if we’re going have some fun,” she said instead.
“If I can’t promise anything else, I can promise you fun.”
Chapter 18
Ciara activated the speaker feature on her cell as she folded clothes, storing them neatly in