This was day two of wedding planning. We had cake tasting to do and as usual we left early.
Marissa came to get me from the penthouse because Stella had somewhere else to be. She was parked in front of the hotel.
"Hi Marissa" I bade.
"Hey bride to be, hop in." She beckoned with a slight grin.
"You look good." She complimented, eyeing my new beige mono strap body con dress.
"Thank you." I blushed.
"You're not looking bad yourself." I said trying to keep cool. My words did no justice, her outfit was just too classy.
"I try." She said playfully. I chuckled.
She drove for a while before she noticed the black Mercedes Maybach behind us.
"Why do I feel like we are being followed?" She asked with a bit of panic in her tone.
"Relax. Those are Damien's men."
He had his guards follow me around more often now that I had moved to Los Angeles.
I still hadn't set my eyes on him since I arrived, he had not even messaged me. Not even once.
I sighed. How were we supposed to keep up the act if he was missing in action?
"Oh that's a relief." She sighed.
****
As walked into the awesome cakery, my taste buds began to anticipate the tasting part of the day. The aroma coming from this place would have you salivating and if you have a sweet tooth like mine, you might drool. I did not drool though, if that's what you're thinking.
I shook hands with the baker who would be handling our wedding cake. From what I learned, Stella had requested for the best of the best and she(the baker) was the best choice for our wedding. I just hoped she would not let us down.
I took a seat at the table she led us too. Soon, we had platters of different flavors of cake placed in front of us.
In front of us were the usual flavors that we all loved; Lemon, Red velvet(my absolute favorite.),Victoria Sponge, Chocolate fudge, Raspberry and white chocolate, Coconut and lime and finally, Fruit cake.
I tried all of them one after the other, taking my time and wiping my tongue after each taste. All of them tasted really good.
I was confused and could not make a choice at the end of it. I turned to Marissa for help.
"I truly wish we could have all of them but that's too much for one cake." I pouted.
She was just as confused as I was.
"Why don't you call Damien to you know, seek his opinion?" She suggested.
I reluctantly picked up my phone after pondering for a second. Still not wanting to raise suspicions, I dialed his number, hoping he would not pick up so I would not have to talk to him. It rang out for a while before he picked up. The line was silent for a while so I spoke first.
"Damien?" I said.
"Speak."
Now that was rude. I gave a fake smile to Marissa when I noticed she was staring at me. I still had to keep up the act.
"I'm out for the cake tasting and I can't seem to pick a flavor so I called to ask for your opinion, babe." The endearment left a bitter taste in my mouth as soon as it came out. As we all know, that was for the public to fawn over. I saw the dreamy smiles on the baker's face, I was so sure she was wishing to be in my shoes just like a lot of girls out there. They counted me as the lucky one, when in reality, I was far from it.
I was sure he got the message because his words came out less clipped and rude afterwards.
"Sure thing. What are the flavors?"
I called the flavors out to him one after the other. He hummed after a while.
"What do you want?" He questioned.
"I don't know, that's why I called to ask you." I said in a duh tone.
"Pick all of them." He stated. I sucked in a breath at his unexpected answer.
"But that's too much." I reasoned.
"Well, guests would be allowed to pick the flavor that they want." He countered, beginning to sound impatient.
"That's too extravagant." I whined.
"I'm paying for it, not you." He deadpanned. My jaw dropped.
See, this is why I hated having conversations with him. I ignored his statement.
"And what about the cake we're supposed to cut as the couple?"
"Pick your favorite." He said quickly.
"Are we done? I have work to do."He said coldly and somewhat impatiently.
"Yeah we-" I was saying when he hung up before I could finish.
I relayed the information to Marissa. She wolf whistled.
"Your man is sure going all out on this one." She commented.
We settled things with the baker and added some pastries to the food list before leaving for the caterers.
We settled things with the caterers very briefly because Marissa already had a recommended menu, so, in no time we were done.
She soon dropped me off at the hotel, where I was met with a plethora of outfits to try on for a possible engagement party.
I called Stella immediately, I felt she was kind off taking things too far. I did not want an engagement party, the world already knew that we were engaged, there was nothing left to do. And engagement would only be a waste of time and money. I did not want the extra stress.
I voiced all my thoughts and she agreed without hesitation but insisted I keep the dresses in case I had to escort Damien somewhere. I conceded because she had a point.
****
Damien's POV;
I immersed myself deeply in work the last few days. I could not count on my fingers how many times my mother had called to complain about me not helping with the planning of the wedding and how much of a workaholic I was.
If I did not become a workaholic, my empire would just be wishful thinking. I thought to myself.
I also wanted to avoid seeing Ariana. I was sticking to my plan of giving her the cold shoulder cause she deserved it.
I was only going to be nice to her in front of other people. My mind was made up on that.
When she called, I was really busy and I did not need the distraction. But then again, I thought it could be an emergency so I picked up.
I gave her clipped replies because she was simply my employee and I did not owe her any niceties. The only difference between her and my other employees was her job description.
I was so busy on my laptop, I did not notice when Aiden came in. Aiden has been my best friend from childhood and we were so alike people thought of us as brothers.
"Hey bridegroom." He teased with a sly smirk, he had been calling me that ever since I got engaged to Ariana. The teasing further increased when I called my graphics designer to start working on the wedding invitations, Aiden wouldn't let me be.
He was well aware of the deal and still couldn't understand why I was tying myself down to one woman.
"What do you want?" I muttered indifferently.
"I came here to see the one man who's leaving the bachelor's crew in a few weeks." He picked up a pen from my table and swirled it with his fingers.
"You do know this marriage means nothing to me right?" I asked rhetorically.
"Don't be so sure. She's actually a hottie." He hummed. I glared at him.
"You're not allowed to say such words regarding my fiancé" I spat.
"Whoa!" He raised his hands in mock surrender.
"I thought you just said that she doesn't mean anything to you?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as he leaned over my office table.
I ignored him and continued looking through the file placed in front of me.
"So she's Spanish you say..." He hummed, feigning a thoughtful pose.
"Don't you have work to do?" I questioned exasperatedly.
"Grumpy as always, I see. I suppose I should not step on the lion's. I'll take my leave." He said sarcastically, feigning obeisance before turning around to leave my office.
I shook my head as soon as he left. How did I become friends with this dude? Aiden was one of the few people that could cope with my attitude though.
I checked the time and it was just past two in the afternoon. I needed to sleep but I just could not. Not with the work I had on my hands.
I took a break from working just as my mind went to a certain Latina woman. I just wanted to pull her soft luscious hair and run my hands through them. There was a stirring in my groin as I thought about it. I put a halt to my wandering mind at that point, there was no way I was going to start fantasizing about her. It was absolutely uncalled for. Even with her curvaceous body that could make any man go crazy, hips that would fit perfectly around my...
I shut my eyes and shook my head vehemently to rid it of those thoughts. This was business and Damien Kingston never mixed business with pleasure.