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Chapter 5 The Party

Nothing prepared him for the sight that stood before him, and also his reaction towards her. He had thought of what his reaction would be if he met Brenda Lewis again, after such a long time. He did not count for the double punch impact to his chest. His heart pumping fast in his chest, his emotion ran riot through his body, first was shock, then admiration and desire caroused through then a dull numbness probably associated with betrayal settled in the middle of his chest.

His gaze met and held hers. Dave was a master at hiding what he felt. He only allowed people see what he wanted them to see. But seeing Brenda had hit him hard, he felt it in his solar plexus. So he shaded his eyes with his long lashes, feigning indifference, so he could recover from the impact her presence had on his person. And by the time he lifted back his eyes to hers. They were cold steel which could freeze hell over. Unknowingly to Dave, the sneer on his beautiful lips did nothing to diminish from his manly attractiveness. Liquid brown eyes devour her from the top of her head to her silver sandal-clad feet. The pull between them was undeniable.

He knew because he moved gently towards her, one long stride after another like a predator gauging his prey s next move, his eyes devouring her beautiful face- the face that haunted his dreams for many years. He observed her slightly parted lips and the intense eyes devouring his face as his did hers. Dave could hear her breath caught in her throat, as he moved close enough to touch. He was not touching her, at least not with his hands, but his eyes touched every inch of her body, making the full air-conditioned space suddenly void of ventilation. He stood in front of him boring a hole into her with his oh so intense eyes. "Wow… who do we have here? If it aren t Daddy s cute little princess" his voice drips sarcasm.


Brenda watched him saunter towards her, and the whole crowd in the large room disappeared, living only the two of them lost in each other s eyes. She held his brooding eyes and was almost frightened enough to squirm… For a brief moment all the differences between them, stripped, leaving two individuals desperately in love. The heat emanating from his body assault her senses enough to rob her of any form of coherence. Brenda saw the need for her in his eyes for a briefest of moments, but it quickly disappeared. She must have been imagining things, and then his words shattered her romantic illusion. If he could feign indifference towards her, then two can play that game.

"Hey" she plastered a smile on her face, tilting her head to look at him. He was so much taller and muscular than she remembered. She didn t actually expect him to be the tall scrawny boy she knew all those years ago. "I never thought I would see you here" she gasped…. Even she could hear the breathlessness in her own voice. "Ahem" she attempted clearing her throat, but his penetrating gaze was doing nothing to calm her already rattled nerves. She saw the coldness crawl back into his eyes.

"Oh! You mean this party is too fancy for me to be a guest? He asked sarcastically, his snarl becoming more menacing.

He sure has a way of misinterpreting everything she said, but his bad if that was how he wanted to handle this. "You know that was not what I meant" she retorted irritated at him for making her feel like a snob.

"Do I really? Oh let me tell you what I do know, I know you are a spoilt little brat who looks down her aristocratic nose at the less fortunate." Dave threw the words at her between clenched teeth. His anger was burning, and almost at breaking point. He prided himself in keeping his cool, now just a few minutes in her company… and he was already loosing it. God! The girl sure knows how to get under his skin.

"Is everything alright here?" Greg moved closer to Brenda, slipping a hand to her waist, an action that was not lost on Dave. Greg was attending to some of the guest and had seen someone he wanted Brenda to meet. He searched the room with his eyes, and he had seen her in a heated conversation with a guy. He had excused himself and then found his way towards them.

"Yes, actually I was just thanking Mr.…" Brenda explained enthusiastically to Greg who just walked in on them.

"Dave…" He supplied, ignoring the man standing too close to her, his eyes never leaving Brenda s face.

"Yes… Dave here for taking out time to come for my welcome party." Her smile didn t quite reach her eyes; instead it looked like she was just baring her teeth in the fruitless attempt at a smile.

Greg directed his gaze to Dave, "have we met?"

Dave reluctantly allowed his eyes to leave Brenda s beautiful face and focus them on Greg. "I don t believe we have" he extended his hand, allowing a small smile pay around his lips. "Please do excuse my bad manners; I m Dave, a staff of the hotel. Unfortunately the Boss couldn t make it so I m representing him."

Greg took his proffered hand. "I m Greg Williams; Brenda s soon to be Fiancé. And I m glad the hotel is well represented." Greg could not explain why he added the Fiancé part but he felt the need to do so. It could be that he wanted to determine Brenda s opinion to the idea before making a public announcement, or maybe it was because of the handsome devil standing before him, whose eyes kept finding their way back to Brenda s face in a not so hotel employee kind of way. Whatever his reason, he knew he had to mark his territory.

Brenda looked shockingly at Greg, but smiled all the same- of course her plastic smile perfectly in place. She seemed to be doing a lot of that this evening and her facial muscle ache from the agonizing gesture. "Hmm…hmm" she nodded her acquiesce

Dave looked from one to the other, shocked but he quickly masked his expression with a plastic smile of his own, only his own smile was unintentionally more devastating, and wrecking more havoc to the nerves of a certain little princess with an aristocratic nose. "I see congratulations are in other"

"Thank you…" they chorused.

Oh! God, he felt like punching someone in the face. And that face sure looked like Richie-rich Greg s face. "I guess I should get back to work" he said to Greg, in the most pleasant tone he could manage. And then, Honing his eyes on Brenda, he stretched his hands towards her in gesture of handshake, taking her soft hands in his calloused ones, he whispered…"And I hope to see more of you soon….very soon Miss Brenda" he lifted her hands to his lips and dropped a feathery kiss to the back of her hand. He felt her shiver, and he knew she was not as immune to him as she pretended to be. "If you will excuse me" he said with a curt nod of his head and walked away from them.

He walked proudly out of the room leaving them gawking after him, both of them for different reasons.

One pair looked longingly, while the other looked on, confused.

"Did… he just …..Flirt with…. you?" Greg stammered.

"And was that the reason why you pulled the soon-to-be fiancé card?" her eyes reluctantly left Dave s proud posture as he walked away, now reverted on Greg and they were shooting daggers at him.

"Hey, about that, can you blame me though? Giving the way the guy was looking at you," he objected sheepishly.

"Really, he was looking at me, how?" she acted confused, wanting to know exactly how Dave looked at her from another person s point of view. She would be blind not to see those intent looks he gave her, but it definitely does not means he has any good interest in her; giving what transpired the last time they saw each other, if he was the same Dave she knew, emotions run deep for him, and that look Greg was talking about meant nothing. But she hoped he would let bygone be, and instead take her in his arms and give her a good kiss right in the middle of the ball room, not caring who was watching… Brenda allowed herself a dreamy expression… she would like that, in fact she would love that. She did not realize how much she missed him.

"Like you were the only cool glass of water left to quench his long time thirst" Greg responded dramatically.

Brenda s heart hammered in her chest at Greg s observation, but quickly waved it off "Come on, Greg don t be dramatic, he is probably… just being a guy she blew a raspberry, rolling her eyes unbelievably, which was exact opposite of how she felt… whatever that means"

"If you believe so, but I would watch out for that one" He pointed to Dave s retreating back.

The party moved on well after that. And Brenda really seemed to be in a good spirit. She did not even mind that her father could not make the party. His meeting apparently took longer than expected. And she convinced herself that her jolly mood had nothing to do with a certain tall dark and handsome hotel employee. She told her betraying heart for the thousandth time that evening.


The sun shone through her silk window blinds, basking her in its beautiful warm rays. Just eight days since her return to the country and already things are looking up. She got off the bed and moved to the window. Her old bedside clock reads seven minutes past seven o clock. She must have slept in because she got home so late from her party. She looked through her window into the distance at the cars that sped through on the overhead bridge curved over the lagoon. She always liked that she could watch from a good distance, the goings on the street right from her bedroom… suddenly, she was in another time over a decade ago…

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