“Look guys, this is too much fuss…” Theresa protested. “Why don’t we just head back to my house and have a nice dinner or something?”
“Too late now, Sunshine, we’re here, so you’re going to have to deal with it.” Rick grinned, before dropping a kiss on her cheek and then reaching over to taking Lily’s carrier from her. “Happy birthday, Theresa, you look ravishing.”
Right, the knee-length silk slip dress was a little too low and made her swollen breasts look slightly too voluptuous for her liking. She felt a little uncomfortable in it but Lisa had chosen it, saying that the ice green colour did wonderful things for her hair and eyes.
“I mean, did you guys even think to make reservations?”
“Theresa, with your dad and husband being who they are, do you really think getting into any restaurant you want is ever going to be a problem?” Lisa scoffed and Theresa wrinkled her nose, conceding the point. Lisa flounced through the door and Rick stood aside to let Theresa in.
The maître‘d smiled and led her through without question. Surprised, she followed him with a little frown on her face. He led her through double glass doors. The place was packed with people and for some reason no-one was sitting down. She squirmed uncomfortably when everyone turned to stare at her, not quite sure what on earth was going on.
“Surprise!” She nearly jumped out of her skin at the collective shout and then finally realised that she recognised most of the faces in the room. Rick, who had stood outside of the room until after surprise, in case it scared Lily, moved to stand beside her.
“What’s going on?” She whispered in panicked confusion.
“It’s a surprise birthday party, you ditz,” he teased, dropping another fond kiss on her cheek before heading off to find his wife in the throng. People were milling around her, kissing her and shaking her hand. She recognised Gabe Braddock and all of Sandro’s Friday night buddies along with their significant others, Rick’s brother Bryce came up and gave her an unceremonious pat on her back and a gruff “happy birthday” before disappearing back into the woodwork. The man hated crowds, she could imagine this scene wasn’t really to his taste but he was here and she was so utterly confused by that. Why was he here, why were any of them here? How did Lisa even know to invite Gabe Braddock and that lot?
“Happy birthday, my love,” a familiar pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and she was tugged back against a broad chest. Sandro dropped a kiss in her neck. She turned in his arms and stared up at him in bemusement.
“You did this?” She asked in disbelief. “But I thought you didn’t…”
“Cara,” he interrupted with infinite patience. “I’m not a stupid man, I wasn’t about to repeat my past mistakes. I love you and I wanted to show you how much.”
“How long have you been planning this?” She asked.
“God, since before my father died… the plans were put on hold until after I returned and then with Lily’s birth they stalled a bit but I wanted to do something special to make up for all the times your birthday was neglected or forgotten over the years.” She knew he meant by her father as well as himself and was helplessly touched by the gesture.
“Thank you,” she smiled and stood up on her toes kiss him. He cupped her face and kissed her hungrily.
“You look beautiful,” he told her.
“You don’t look too bad yourself,” she said, stepping back to take in his tailor-made tuxedo.
“Hey, break it up you two,” a brash male voice intruded into their intimate little cocoon and they both turned to see Gabriel Braddock’s smiling face. “Sandro, it’s like every time I see you with this gorgeous thing, you have your hands all over her. Share the wealth, bro.” He stepped forward to envelope Theresa in a warm hug.
“Happy birthday, gorgeous. We’ve missed you…” considering how they’d met her only once, months ago, Theresa initially doubted the veracity of that statement but the sincerity in his face, led her to believe that he actually meant his words.
“Thank you,” she smiled. “I’m sorry I never came to any of your other soccer nights.”
“You had a difficult pregnancy, perfectly understandable,” he dismissed with a careless flick of the hand. “And congratulations on your beautiful daughter, by the way. Sandro’s been flashing pictures of her at us for weeks. It’ll be nice to see her in the flesh. Where is the little darling?”
“My cousin’s husband has her,” she glanced around for Rick and saw him showing Lily off to his brother, Bryce and Bryce’s business partner Pierre de Coursey. The little group was soon joined by Rick’s business partner, Vuyo and by Pierre’s wife. Everybody was cooing over the still-sleeping baby.
“Looks like she’s not wanting for attention, so I’ll take her beautiful mother out for a spin on the dance floor in the meantime,” he whisked a laughing Theresa away from Sandro before the other man could protest and twirled her around to some upbeat music.
He’d had her for barely two minutes before someone cut in, after that she was passed from partner to partner for the next half an hour before Sandro finally claimed her.
“Think you can spare some time to flirt with your husband, cara?” He asked grumpily and she blinked up at him uncertainly until she realised that he was a little jealous. The fact boosted her confidence and brought a delighted smile to her face.
“I have a few minutes to spare between dances,” she nodded after a considering pause and he growled before dragging her closer and tucking her head onto his shoulder. They swayed together slowly and he started nuzzling her neck. She sighed and melted into his hard body, enjoying the warm, spicy scent of him. They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn’t notice anybody standing beside them until a voice penetrated the fog of desire.