Twenty Four

“Grace get up, there is something you should see.” I opened my eyes to stare right into his. He was so close to me, his eyes unblinking for a while, which was sort of creepy. If he were someone else, I would have probably kicked his ass off the bed.

“Hey there.” I threw him lazy smile.

“What were you thinking about?” His hand grazed my cheek.

“How I could have kicked you out of my bed.”

He frowned as he helped me sit up. “What?”

“Dude, you were staring right into my eyes. It was a bit creepy.”

“It is nice to know that I can be good looking yet creepy.”

Sticking out my tongue playfully at him, I finally sat up properly. “Why did you wake me up? I have not exactly gotten much sleep.”

“I know. And I am sorry I haven’t been around to help with Ruby.”

My eyes followed him as he reached for a strand of my hair and began to play with it. “Well, you are a busy man.”

A loud sigh escaped his lips. “Actually, that is it. I should learn to be appear a bit less at work and a little more here so I can be with my two favorite women more often. And… crazy enough, even though we have been in the same house for the past two days, I have been so absent and the fact that only you was taking care of Ruby makes me feel guilty.”

“Isn’t that what you are paying me to do?” I actually forget along the line that I am being paid to take care of her. As it is, I take care of her like it is a natural thing for me.

Dominic looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a while. “Now, that you mention it, you are right. But still, I should have been around to help regardless.”

“Where are you going with all of these?”

He reached for my right hand and planted a kiss on it. “I have a surprise for you.” Unresponsive, I stared back at him, awaiting his next words. “Did you hear me?”

“Yes. You said you have a surprise.”

“Aren’t you supposed to ask what it is?”

“I am meant to do that?” I must look confused. “Sorry, I am so tired, I am not really thinking straight.” His eyes narrowed and his lips scrunched as though he was in deep thought.
After what seemed like an eternity of silence , he jumped off the bed and grabbed my hand. “Hey! What are you doing?”

“Just come with me.” I kicked off the sheets around my legs and found my stance on the cold tile.

As we walked out of the semi-cold room, something flashed through my mind and that caused me to look up right at the back of his head. “Did you say- my two favourite women, earlier?”

“What are you talking about?” His legs walked down the stairs and I jogged along.

“Earlier, when you were giving your I need to be around more often speech. I heard you say- my two favourite women.”

The deepness of his voice came out with a low grunt and when he did not respond but opened the front door and led us out, ensuring to lock the door after, I made a little pout. “I am pretty sure I did not say anything like that,” he finally replied after we had entered the elevator and trusted it to take us to wherever it was he was taking me to.

“But…” He pointedly threw a dagger stare in my direction, so I just threw up my surrendering arms and pushed the question no further. “So… a surprise uh?”

The only response I got was from the elevator which tinged to throw us out of its metallic walls. Shoulders swinging with ease, a little smile on my face, he finally released his hold on my hand after a few steps forward. Feeling the sudden loss of his hold, my eyes flickered from his figure to wherever it was he had sashayed me to.

There is something about darkness and the way it makes things look a lot different in your eyes. It took a few seconds for me to realize I was at their upstairs swimming pool. Water looking blue, with streaks of white due to a tiny source of illumination, I took a step forward to admire how peaceful the cornered body looked at that moment.

I could tell that the water had shadowed upon us, so I put out my hands and began to play them in the air to allow the slowly moving waves transfer their beauty to my body. “Okay, what exactly are we doing here?”

Dominic slowly walked towards my smiling self, his hands pocketed into the top of his sleep wear. “Well, I woke you up,” A little remote appeared on his right hand and he pressed it. “,for this.” The whole room shone with dark blue lights, adding more beauty to the darkness of the room.
The pool had gotten darker in colour, but it appeared at peace still. Looking forward, I notice a set up at the other end of the pool.

With sleep gone and excitement setting in, I faced Dominic happily. “What is going on?”

“This,” He walked me towards the dinner like set up. “,is my way of making it up to you.”

Instantly a soft, mind relaxing song came on. “I like this. But don’t you think it is weird. I mean, it is past midnight and Ruby is downstairs, alone.”

“Grace, Ruby is fine. I have eyes watching her as we speak.” We finally made it to the end of the pool. At the center of the covered table was a tiny globe that illuminated the circumference of the table with its tiny lights.
The rotation of these lights that moved as gracefully as fireflies, made the wall facing the table look aesthetic.

“This is lovely Dominic.” His brows quirked momentarily in response, his hand playing with his ruffled hair after. “Did you do this alone?”

He shook his head in negative. “I had a little help. Come, have your seat.” He hurriedly shut me up before I could ask my next question.

Biting my lips to contain the excitement within me, I watched him as he took his seat opposite me. For some seconds, we sat in silence, his eyes boring into me making me feel a bit shy. After a while, I let out a worried sigh as a thought flashed through my mind. “Are you sure Ruby is fine all alone?”

“There are some perks to being a rich man Grace, and that includes being able to employ the services of very professional security men. So yes,” He shifted forward, a little lift on the side of his mouth, his eyes intense. “She is safe.”

“Huh. You know sometimes, I forget that you are a billionaire. You don’t act like one.”

“And how does a billionaire act ?”

“Exactly!” My hands swept off a strand of hair from my face as I grew comfortable with the atmosphere. ”A billionaire should not act in a particular way. All billionaires ought to act like they are normal people. Ordinary people. But some just have all their money going into their head and it makes them feel like they are really superior or something. They just never fail to flaunt their wealth, that too lackadaisically. It is just crazy.”

Dominic let out a hearty short laughter after my unexpected outburst. “I guess it is good that I don’t flaunt my wealth uh?” Feeling goofy all of a sudden, I threw him a smile.

“So… Why exactly are we having a late night dinner? With no food.”

“Well, one, there is food.” I watched him as his hands searched beyond the white table cover. When he came out with two boxes in his hands, I gasped happily.

“Pizza! And champagne! Wait, you didn’t bring cups?” He made a whoosh sound with his mouth which indicated that he had forgotten. “It is fine. Sharing the bottle will do.”

“Great. And the reason for this abrupt pizza dinner is due to the conversation we had two days ago. About me having flings and all.”

Pushing my hands to my face to guide his teasing glare away from me, I cried, “You don’t have to remind me of my silliness.”

He chuckled. “It just got me thinking. And I decided to do this so you can get to know me better.”

“So, like a getting to know Mr. Powers segment?”, I asked. He gave a brief nod. “Yay! This is so much better than forcing myself to sleep.”

“So, what do you want to know about me?”

“Anything I am not aware of.” Grabbing a slice of the barbecue chicken pizza, I settled for the tale ahead.

“Uh…” His deep voice boomed across the room as he tried to reason out an answer. “What do you know about me so far?”

“I am pretty sure I am meant to be the only one asking questions here.” I pointed out, but his persuasive look got me violating what was meant to be the drill of the segment in no time.
I downed another bite of the pizza and said, “I know you are Dominic Powers. A billionaire, a businessman and a father. You were once married and you had a girlfriend. Uh… you are a very serious looking man. And uh… I uh… guess I have reasons to believe that you like me,”

“I do like you.” He abruptly replied causing a shy smile to erupt on my lips.

“Well, I guess that is all.”

“I see.” After adjusting in his seat, he also reached for a slice of pizza and held it for a while before interrupting the silence between us.
“I grew up in the country side. My father is a farmer.” My jaw dropped. “And I have three siblings, two brothers and a sister. They are all older than me.”

“You grew up… your father is a farmer? Here I was thinking you probably took over your father’s business.” I finished the crust in my hand before saying, “Please continue.”

“Yes. My father is a farmer. And I could have walked in the path of his profession but I was not interested in driving a tractor. Not to toot my horn, but I was an exceptional child. I wanted more out of life.

No, I actually wanted to be great and being the best in school wasn’t great enough. So, at the age of thirteen,” He looked on thoughtfully for some seconds. “Yeah, thirteen. I began to visit the town’s library. It was there I came across some business related articles.”

As I grabbed another slice, he largely bit on the untouched pizza in his hand and he did not continue until he had chewed it down satisfactorily. “ I came across reputable businessmen and instantly I wanted to become one because it had the scent of greatness all over it. Immediately, I started to read introductory books related to the business world and God so helping me, it was so fun to read. I began to aim at getting a scholarship to a business college here in New York.

At the age of fifteen, I was already preparing to write the entrance exam. It happened so fast, but I was glad. My father knew from the onset that I had no interest in farming so he didn't stop me.”

I resumed my munching.

“At the age of sixteen, I was off to New York. A very young boy in college, schooling with a lot of older people. At first it was rough, but I soon learnt how to adjust.
I made friends that connected me to bigger, affluent friends and that did me a lot of favour after I graduated four and half years later. I got my first job immediately and I worked my way to the top gradually, making sure to imprint my name wherever I went and the rest they say is history.”

“Wow. That was…” In all truthfulness, I didn’t know what word to use. “That was very…” I threw my hands up in gesticulation, Dominic’s brows quirked. “At the age of thirteen, I was most probably digging my face into muffins and putting on embarrassing gowns. You, are phenomenal. Now I know where Ruby gets her studious lifestyle from.”

“I did miss out on having fun childhood though.”

“Well,” I sat up. “A little price to pay for salvation.” He hummed in response and we both took a moment to take in the words. “So, how did you meet Ruby’s mom?”

“I met her through Doctor Lumber.” A little questioning frown formed on my face. “I met Mark at some conference, we became friends from there.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I liked Diane. She was beautiful, free spirited, really fun, freakishly good at making cookies.” My face lit up with surprise. “Unfortunately and fortunately, after a year or so of dating, she got pregnant with Ruby and, since I was well to do and since I liked her, I decided we got married.”

“You liked her? You didn’t love her?”

“I… sort of loved her. I guess I held back when it came to showing her my love because I was starting to doubt if she did after we got married. Shortly after giving birth to Ruby, she filed for a divorce. She said she just married me because of the child. But she couldn’t do the marriage thing anymore.”

The manner with which Dominic was talking, you would think he was narrating a tale that happened to someone he knows. He showed no emotions that would make you want to pity him. He was so monotonous.

“ After some years, she came back. It was then I got to know that she filed for the divorce because of the fraction of money she would get from it. So, after four years of separation, I finally signed the divorce papers and she got her share.

One thing I don’t get is why she became intent on coming back into our lives. Though thanks to you, she is gone for a while.” I threw him a short grin.

He reached for my free hand that I had kept on the table and held it lovingly. “I am glad you are in our lives Grace, I really am.”

I waved his body warming statement playfully. “Well, it is not as if I am doing anything huge.” He released his hold and reached for the champagne.

After uncorking it, he raised the bottle slightly. “A toast,” I raised the slice in my hand abruptly in response causing the both of us to chuckle. “To you, Grace.” He softly said into the night. “I really do hope nothing and no one takes you away from us too soon.”

We jammed our toast materials together and downed them. As his fingers brushed mine while passing the bottle, I blushed and decided to enjoy the moment. Hence all approaching questions were pushed back.

I did not want to ruin the homely feeling I was having.