Knight in Shining Suit (33 page)

Now, I felt guilty! He
went out of his way to give me an expensive necklace so he could
see delight in my eyes? That’s too sweet! And I refused him that
reaction?

Honestly, I was delighted
with the necklace. I just didn’t know why Ryder had to give it to
me.

I stared up at him, and
sighed. He would have been the perfect fiancé. But he isn’t really
mine.

“
Thank you,” I whispered
quietly. Then I tiptoed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I smiled
beatifically at Ryder, because I
was
delighted. Because I knew that
deep inside my heart, I did want him… even though he was too
complicated for me.

***

We went to Sugu for
dinner. There were people lined up, all in cocktail dresses and
nice expensive suits. They didn’t look like ordinary people at
all.

Uncle Reynolds bumped into
a man about the same age. He was with his wife and a guy just about
Ryder’s age. He had dark blond hair and startling blue eyes. He was
eyeing me curiously and when I looked up, he smiled. I nodded and
gave him a slight smile.

“
I didn’t know you were
going to New York!” my uncle said, shaking the man’s
hand.

“
Only for the weekend,”
the man said.

“
Did you have dinner
already?”

“
We were hoping to. This
looks like a nice place, but I didn’t realize you needed to book
one month in advance,” the man said. “Are you going in? Did you
have a reservation?”

“
Yes, we’re going in.
We’ve made arrangements.”

“
You’re lucky! We’ll go
find some other place. Try the
Yakizakana
. This place is quite
famous for it,” the man said.

“
If I knew you were here
as well, we could have called earlier to make
arrangements.”

“
I don’t think you can do
that. Not in this place. I don’t think even celebrities can get a
table here at the last minute.”

“
Well, I’m sure we can
make last minute arrangements,” Ryder interrupted. He looked at my
uncle, as if asking him if he would like to invite his friends to
join us.

“
Of course,” Uncle
Reynolds said. “If it’s not too much to ask, Ryder.”

“
It’s fine, Sir,” Ryder
replied. He turned to the man. “There are three of you?”

The man nodded, and he
looked a little confused.

Ryder went ahead of us,
and the lady at the reception immediately smiled at him. “Good
evening, Boss.” She greeted warmly. “Your table is
ready.”

“
Can you please tell Jason
to add three more? I have three more guests.”

“
Certainly, Sir,” the lady
said and she immediately spoke to someone on her
headset.

The man turned to Uncle
Reynolds. “Wow.” He breathed. “You know some people.”

My uncle laughed. He
turned to introduce us to his friend, his wife and his son, who I
learned is named, Daniel.

“
Dan, for short,” he said
extending his hand to me. When I shook it, he gave it a
squeeze.

I heard somebody clear his
throat behind Dan. Dan turned towards Ryder.

“
Daniel Hughes,” he said
extending his hand to Ryder.

Ryder shook it, but the
expression on his face was cold. “Ryder Van Woodsen.”

I didn’t know what was
going on, but somehow, I was afraid of the cold look both men
exchanged with each other.

“
The table is ready,” he
said to my uncle.

“
Wonderful!”

Ryder turned to me and
took my hand in his. I saw Dan look at us before he followed his
parents inside.

We were seated in a
secluded VIP room. I sat between Ryder and my mother. Across the
table sat Dan who was eyeing me curiously. And somehow, I didn’t
know why I felt self-conscious. He was cute! Maybe not as cute as
Ryder, but definitely way better looking than Bryan.

Ryder was sitting quietly
beside me. When I think of him, I feel like I shouldn’t even be
looking at Dan, who was eyeing me with interest. I stared up at
Ryder and I could see he had an irritated look on his
face.

“
Are you okay?” I
whispered to him.

He wound an arm at the
back of my chair and I felt him trace circles on my shoulder, but
he didn’t answer. He was looking at me, and I couldn’t read the
expression on his face. He was fine before we stepped in the
restaurant, and now he looked a little pissed. Was it because of
Dan?

I smiled at him. I would
rather spend time comforting Ryder with whatever it was that made
him angry than make flirty eyes with Dan.

“
Thank you,” I whispered
to him. “Uncle Reynolds seemed very pleased.”

He smiled at me crookedly.
“You’re welcome.”

“
Is there something I can
do in return?” I asked. “You don’t look too pleased.”

He shook his head. “I’m
okay. I don’t know what has come over me,” he whispered against my
ear. “But I don’t think I like the way that guy is staring at
you.”

I laughed. I didn’t know
what to feel. Confused, excited, thrilled, scared. All emotions
enveloped me at once. But somehow, that made my heart jump in
delight. Was he jealous?

“
Are we playing the part
of jealous fiancé now?” I whispered to him.

“
If I am, will you do
something about it?” he asked evenly.

I smiled at him. “Yes.
Maybe I’ll play the part of comforting, loving, overly sweet
fiancée.”

His eyes finally glittered
and then he replied, “Then yes. Hell yes!”

I giggled. I inched closer
to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then I leaned my head on
his shoulder. I felt him put an around me and then he gave me a
kiss on the forehead.

“
So, Ryder, how did you
manage to squeeze us in at the last minute?” Mr. Hughes asked. “I
thought that was impossible.”

My uncle replied for him.
“It is impossible. But you know Chuck, he owns the place. So
nothing is impossible for him.”

Mr. Hughes was taken
aback. “Oh. Really? But you’re so… young!”

Ryder smiled. “Actually
Sir, my parents own this place. I will not take ownership until
next year.”

“
It’s the same thing!” Mr.
Hughes laughed. “How did you get to know Reynolds?”

“
I’m marrying his niece
here.” I think that reply was directed more to Dan than his
father.

“
Oh, you’re family now,”
Mr. Hughes said.

Ryder nodded. “More or
less. I’m working my way in.”

Dinner was nice. I could
understand why people actually lined up to dine here. The food was
absolutely superb! The servings were big compared to other fine
dining restaurants. The place was neat and cozy. The ambience was
lovely. The menu had lots of variety.

“
How do you find the
food?” Ryder asked me.

I smiled at him.
“Wonderful!” I said. “You have a Japanese cook?”

He nodded. “The best in
the city.”

“
I wonder how much you pay
him.”

When he gave me a ballpark
figure, I almost choked. His chef was being paid about five times
the salary that Adam gave me.

“
That much?”

“
Well, we’re generous with
our employees. Without them, our business would not be this
good.”

“
That’s a great business
practice,” Mr. Hughes said. “I wish all companies were like
that.”

“
No wonder everybody who
served our table looks genuinely happy!”

“
My great grandfather
started as a waiter. He taught my grandfather, who taught my
father, the value of the people who face your
customers.”

“
Then your business will
have a lot more years to go.”

“
That’s the plan.” Ryder
smiled.

Ryder would give me
occasional kisses and would constantly hold my hand. I enjoyed it.
He was sweet, as always, and I felt like I was stealing a few
moments of heaven.

My uncle asked for the
bill, and so did Mr. Hughes. Ryder shook his head. “No bill. My
treat.”

“
Come on, getting us
reservations is enough!” my uncle insisted.

Ryder chuckled. “It’s
okay, Sir. Astrid, or Astrid’s family and friends, don’t pay
here.”

“
Well, then thank
you.”

We parted ways with the
Hughes. Dan came up to me and shook my hand. “It was lovely meeting
you, Astrid. Not really… lovely to know you’re already
engaged.”

I giggled nervously. “It
was nice to meet you, too and your family.”

“
Well, take care. And tell
Van Woodsen to take care of you.”

“
Don’t worry, I will,”
Ryder said coming up behind me.

“
Thank you for dinner.”
Dan offered his hand to him and in spite of himself, Ryder shook
it.

When Dan walked away, I
stared up at Ryder.

“
With all due respect, you
play the part of jealous, possessive fiancé quite well,” I
teased.

He raised a brow. “And
you, my love, are not playing the part of comforting, loving,
overly sweet fiancée well enough.”

I pouted. “What? I was
being sweet,” I protested.

He shook his head. “Not
good enough. I’m still pissed. You promised to comfort me, ease my
anger.”

“
It’s not my fault if you
are so difficult to please!” I argued.

He shook his head. “On the
contrary, I am one of the easiest people to please… and you… can
please me the easiest.”

I looked up at him
nervously.

“
One kiss?” he
asked.

I tiptoed and gave him a
kiss on the lips.

He laughed. “Still not
good enough. You ought to give me a real kiss, love.”

I pouted and was about to
kiss him again when my uncle called us.

“
Shall we go back to the
hotel? We can rest now and have an early start tomorrow. I’m sure
Ryder needs his rest too.”

I stared at Ryder. “I
guess I was saved by the bell.”

He laughed. “That’s what
you think. But you ought to give me that kiss by the end of this
night.”

“
Ryder! Why are you doing
this?”

Before he could answer, my
aunt called us to go.

He laughed. “That is what
you call ‘
saved by the
bell
.’” Then he advanced towards where my
aunt and mother were. He led them to his car leaving me
dumbfounded, nervous, and excited all at the same time.

17.

CONTRACEPTION:

Part of the honeymoon
checklist, if the couple is not yet planning on having babies
immediately after the wedding.

W
e dropped off my family at the Waldorf Astoria. Then, Ryder
and I drove back to his apartment in silence.

We were playing a
dangerous game. In truth, no guy would put up with this. Why Ryder
was doing so, I didn’t know. And he was doing it so well, and so
nicely, it was getting more and more difficult for me not to feel
something for him.

Damn! Already physically
attracted to him; I didn’t want to wish this was all real. I
couldn’t take that risk.

When he closed the door of
his apartment, I turned to him nervously. He was smiling at me
mischievously.

“
Ryder, I can’t really
kiss you here. No one is here to see us. No need to put on a show,”
I said.

He stepped closer to me
and tilted my chin gently so he could look into my eyes. “Who said
I wanted it for the show?”

Without giving me a chance
or warning, he bent down and gave me a thorough kiss on the lips.
That kiss swept me off my feet. Once it started, it was so hard to
stop.

He ignited the fire that
had been threatening to light since this morning when I first saw
him. I kissed him back, with just the same passion. He nuzzled my
neck, and I pulled him to me.

“
Ryder, please stop!” I
begged him. “We shouldn’t be doing this.” I said, but I couldn’t
make the effort to push him away.

“
I know,” he whispered.
“But I can’t seem to help myself.”

He went back to my lips
and kissed me savagely. I couldn’t help responding the same way. I
was hungry for him. I wanted him with every bit of my feminine
being. At the back of my mind, I couldn’t help thinking how
complicated we were making things. We’d already slept with each
other on two separate occasions. Could we really afford to make it
a third?

He wound his arms around
my waist and lifted me off my feet. I clung to him, neither one of
us dared to break the kiss. I landed on his soft mattress. He
landed on top of me.

“
Ryder…” I took a deep
breath. “We have to stop…”