Dreams Do Come True (4 page)

Dennis turned around as John walked over to where he was. “Man, what was that all about?” he asked him softly. He was the only one who had noticed the heated conversation between him and Nico. Dennis hesitated because he knew that the guys often got on him about his critical ways. When he still didn’t say anything, John gave him a look that told him to tread lightly. He didn’t want this to be an issue with him and Nico. Dennis was a mother hen, and they all knew it. He was the worst of them all when it came to the ladies. John was always being the peacemaker, so he turned back to Dennis to give him a little warning.

“Dennis, if this is about what I think it is…whatever Nico told you…you may want to take heed. It’s a battle you don’t want to fight. Nico hasn’t dated a woman in years, and it doesn’t matter if Tina so happened to be here. If he is showing interest in Shontell, let him. You don’t have a right or a reason to try and stop him from getting to know her,” he told him, patting him on the shoulder.

John left him there with his thoughts.

“Humph, if you knew what I know,”
Dennis mumbled, putting his hands in his pockets. He was glad that no one heard him. 

Dennis wanted to be mad, but he couldn’t. He walked over to the table and sat back down, trying to pay attention to what was going on around him. Everyone was making plans for the evening. Dennis knew how much they were a unit. They were more than just a group. They have become more like brothers than lifelong friends. Maybe he was wrong about them, but he just couldn’t help it. He just had a gut feeling. He decided to stop focusing on it and joined the others in talking. They made plans for the rest of the day, but he watched the elevator doors in spite of himself.  

Shontell pulled her sweater from the back of the chair and put it around her shoulders. It was a nice afternoon, but the wind from the water was making her feel chilled. She could hear people talking, and she was getting a little restless. She didn’t know what time it was. Sighing, she wondered if she should call Sandy. Sometimes she just needed to hear a voice of reason. She hated that Jesse took away her trust because this was so unlike her character; she always gave people the benefit of the doubt. She made up her mind to call Sandy. Standing up, Shontell’s sweater fell to the floor. She reached down and picked it up. She was about to turn around when she was startled by someone touching her shoulder.

“How…how did you get in here?” she asked Nico, surprised to see him standing there.

“You left the door slightly open. Guess you didn’t close it all the way. I knocked, but you didn’t answer. I apologize for scaring you.”

She twisted her hair, which was one of the bad habits she used to overcome her shyness. Realizing what she was doing, she stopped. 

“I saw you head up here, and I thought we needed to talk.”

“Talk? Because of what, Nico? You don’t owe me an explanation for anything. I am not your girl. You have the right to talk to anyone you want,” she said, not looking at him.

Nico put his hand under her chin and made her look at him. She tried to turn, but he held her firm.

“Shontell, that woman is not anyone I would want to be with…at least not anymore. That was my ex, Tina. We broke up nearly four years ago. I haven’t seen her since she left. She claimed she just saw me this morning and didn’t know we were staying here.”

“Do you believe her?”

“I don’t know yet. But the thing you need to understand is that I don’t care. She’s in my past. I don’t go backwards…ever,” he told her, never breaking the eye contact they shared.

Shontell didn’t say anything, but inside she let the breath go that she was holding. Her insides were doing flips. Shontell watched his expression. At that moment, it was a little amusing. Maybe he could see her turning inside out. She shifted her weight to her other foot. She was completely caught off guard by what happened next. Nico leaned in toward her and kissed her slowly at first. Shontell felt his tongue part her lips and she stepped in closer to him; they kissed deeply. Shontell was the first to break the kiss and move away. She needed to regain her thoughts quickly.

“I’m not so sure you should have done that...,” she said, looking at him, “...as good as it felt.” She touched her lips with the back of her hand.
Nico laughed, and she wanted to fall through the floor because she knew he heard what she said. 

“Listen, I don’t know what it is about you that has me so drawn to you. I would like to find out if you will let me. Please don’t let what happened earlier stop that. I can more than guarantee that Tina will never be an issue. Just hear me out first. Even when you did the meet and greets, I wanted to say something. I didn’t want you to think I wanted you as the fan of the night. I still have every last one of your cards. I always wished you had left a number or something. The words in your cards told me that you weren’t that type of person. I know this might be a lot to take in, so I will give you some time to give me an answer. I’ll see you at dinner,” Nico said. He walked the few steps that separated them and kissed her softly on the forehead. He then left her room.

Once again, Shontell was left floored by his actions. She could still feel the imprint of his lips on hers. She wanted to jump up and down for joy. This had never happened to her before; it had never been even close with Jesse. She twirled around the room and landed on her bed. She pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She had to tell Sandy. She grabbed her phone, sending her friend a video message instead of a long text. Her hands were still shaking from the excitement.

Nico closed the door behind him and leaned against it. He chuckled at his bravado. This woman had him spinning, and her kiss was just like he thought it would be. It was soft, sweet, and mind blowing. He took a deep breath and knew that everything was in her hands now. He went to his room to get his gym bag and head to the work-out room for a bit, but he was sidetracked by David. It looked like he had been waiting on him. He wasn’t surprised when he wanted to talk. He got him through those days after his break up with Tina.

“Hey, man, got a minute?” David asked. 

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to come check on you. That scene with Tina blew my mind. I didn’t think she would be bold enough to even speak.”

“Yeah, I am still trying to understand that for real. I know she is up to something, but I don’t even care. Shontell is the total opposite of what I had with Tina.”

“Speaking of Shontell, Dennis told me he saw you coming out of her room this morning. That’s not usually your style.”

“Glad to know I am the water cooler topic. Is something so wrong with me wanting to get to know her?” He wasn’t upset, but he was unsure where all this concern was coming from. David gave him a condescending
you know better than that
look, but he continued with what he was saying. “But I will tell you this, I am not going to entertain whatever it is Tina has cooking. I don’t trust her as long as that short ass dress she was wearing.”

They both laughed at his joke. He wanted to change the subject on her, anyway. She didn’t deserve the attention they were giving her. Besides, he had been wanting to get David alone so that he could tell him what he had learned about Shontell.

“Do you remember the cards we always got with the poems? I told you how the words had always hit me. It was her…Shontell. She was the one who gave those to us. Now that I have found her and have been able to have conversations with her, I am not ready to just let it go that easy.”

“I hear you…believe me, I do. I just want you to know I got your back. You know I can put myself in your shoes. You haven’t been with anyone in a long time. Just take it slow. If she’s the one, it won’t matter.”

“Okay, bro. I needed to hear that. Thank you for understanding.” He looked at his watch and saw he wouldn’t have time for a workout. They had been talking longer than he thought, and now they were late for their meeting. He patted David on the back, closing the room door behind him. “Come on, let’s get to this meeting before Martin sends the guards out for us.”

Both men laughed again as they headed to Martin’s room. 

Shontell finished her message and lay her head on the pillow, looking at the ceiling. She wished she hadn’t broken the kiss. She closed her eyes to reminisce. She could still feel him holding her. The smell of him lingered. It was like his cologne was on her clothes, the scent was so strong. Maybe it was just in her mind, but she still loved it. She sat up and looked around her room. She still had a few minutes before she had to call Ebony. They were to discuss new clients, in addition to the paperwork she needed to finalize. She grabbed her tablet and hit the meeting conference app. The tablet beeped, and she was in the virtual conference room waiting on Ebony. They always did virtual face meetings when she had out of town business. She was lucky to have met Ebony at a networking event two years ago.

Her business had been in trouble. She was losing capital due to a bad supplier, and she was deep in the red. If it were not for Ebony offering to be a partner and putting up some capital, she would have had to close her business. But after merging their resources, they were making more than projected. They were actually making so much that she had been thinking she had enough of her own money to buy Ebony out and continue comfortably. 

Ebony was a bright young woman, but she didn’t understand the vision for PTE. She would go days, and sometimes weeks, without coming into the office. Shontell still did more than half of the networking for new business and worked eighty percent of the events. She had her assistant place an ad for two managers. She would need the help when she made the changes. She pulled herself out of her thoughts as Ebony’s face appeared on her screen. They greeted one another. 

“Good afternoon, Ebony. Are you working at the office or home?” she asked her. They normally didn’t hold Saturday hours, but sometimes the workload of clients called for it. Ebony looked a little distracted and took some time before she answered. She thought maybe she couldn’t hear her. “Ebony, can you hear me?”

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry. I was in the middle of something when the tablet beeped. I guess the time just got away from me. How are things going there?”

“Everything here is going good. Are you ready to go over the new client list? Dez sent me the contracts and I looked them over,” Shontell said. She began to flip through the paperwork. She made sure her tone was professional so that Ebony would know this was strictly about their business projects.

“Yes, I looked them over too. I see that everything is in order. Are we still having a staff roundup tomorrow? I can sign these tonight and then bring them with me.” Ebony grabbed her pen and made a note on the document she had in front of her.

“Yes, I think we need to cover the upcoming schedule of events and parties,” she told her. She was just about to say something else when she heard a man’s voice. It sounded familiar, she thought, but how could that be? She didn’t even know Ebony was seeing anyone…guess that would explain her lack of appearance at the office and store. She crossed her legs and set her tablet on the stand, hitting the volume button so that she could hear her background more. “Oh, I didn’t know you had company. We can finish this tomorrow,” she told her.

Ebony’s eyes got big at her comment, and Shontell wondered why. Suddenly the screen went black, but she could hear muffled voices. A few seconds went by, and then Ebony’s face came back onto the screen. She looked upset.

“Everything okay?”

“Oh, yes. Okay, I will see you tomorrow,” she told her hurriedly and ended the call before Shontell could say anything else. Closing the conference call app, Shontell hit the side button to turn the tablet screen off. She thought about how odd that was. She dismissed it as she checked her watch and saw she had some time to kill. She decided to listen to some music to gather her thoughts. She thought about Nico’s visit and smiled. She hoped she was making the right choice because she knew her last relationship ended badly. She had been single for close to two and a half years now. She told herself that the next time it would be with a normal guy.  She caught herself from laughing out loud. Voicing her thought to the empty room,
“Hell who determines what a normal guy is these days.”
Industry men, as she called them, were normal too; she just happened to fall for one back then that wasn’t.

She took her iPod out of her purse and then set it in the radio. She let the music take over her. She was asleep before she knew it. She dreamt of her and Nico as they were on the cruise, watching the sunset together. They were just holding one another. Then she heard ringing in the distance, and she slowly opened her eyes. She realized her cell phone was ringing. She reached over and accidentally knocked the phone off the nightstand. She picked it up and spoke softly, “Hello.”

“Girl, that video was something else. What were you doing? I know you aren’t sleeping when you have all those fine men around you…especially the one that kissed your behind,” Sandy rattled off non-stop.

Shontell took the phone from her ear, still listening to Sandy ramble on. She was a bit confused and looked around, halfway thinking Nico would be lying next to her. The dream had seemed so real. “What time is it?” she asked her friend, hoping she would just answer and stop what she was saying.

“It’s 4:45,” Sandy told her.

Shontell jumped up, looking around for her shoes. She dropped the phone again. Yelling, she told Sandy to hold on. She picked her phone up and put her on speaker. Shontell went around the room, getting her clothes while she continued their conversation. “Damn, I didn’t realize I fell asleep and especially not for this long. I was only trying to power nap...Dinner is supposed to be served in fifteen minutes, and I am not even ready. I’ll call you back when I come back to the room. They have a free night so, depending on what they want to do, it may be late.” They said goodbyes and ended the call.

Shontell quickly took a shower and then put on a flowing dress and heels. She did her makeup and glanced at the clock. She was fifteen minutes late as she headed out the door. She stopped at the front desk to make sure that everyone was set to be checked out in the morning and that the luggage would be brought down with no issues. She didn’t know what made her look over at the bar-lounge. When she did, she saw Tina surrounded by three men. She was definitely the center of attention. The woman was model beautiful with her Halle Berry cut and red lipstick. She could see how Nico fell for her. What man wouldn't want her? She was just about to turn her attention to the desk when their eyes met. Tina nodded and smirked. Shontell nodded in return and continued her conversation. She let the young lady know she would clear the bill in the morning at breakfast.

She headed into the suite and found that everyone was there. They were all milling around and talking. Shontell shifted her mood. She was not going to let that woman get under her skin. She knew how to handle her kind. She stopped one of the servers and quickly spoke with him about starting dinner now and gave instructions on the early breakfast. 

“Sorry I'm late, everyone. Dinner is going to be served in a few minutes, but I wanted to make a small toast,” she told them. On cue, she was handed a wine glass and waited until everyone had a glass. Once everyone was ready, she proceeded.

“Thank you all for allowing Precious Timing Events to take care of you for your album release party. I hope we left a good impression. This has truly been a dream come true for me. I am not only a representative of my company but also a huge fan of the group. Your music has gotten me through some rough times in my life. I just want to thank you for blessing me and the rest of the world with your music. Happy twenty-fifth anniversary, guys. You deserve it and much more!”

Everyone in the room clapped, and it was filled with the sound of clinking glasses. Shontell walked toward the bar area and set her glass down. She noticed Nico’s eyes on her and tried not to look at him. She also heard Dennis say,
“I told you that was her.”
Soon after, they were all seated for dinner. Nico sat on her left while John sat on her right.

“So, I made a bet with Dennis and lost,” John said to her.

“Oh really, and what exactly did you bet on?” she asked, turning in his direction. She was giving him her full attention as she took her a sip from her wine glass.

“Well, Dennis said that it was you that always came to the meet and greets when we came here, but I told him that he was wrong. Your speech proved he was right, so I lost.” He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. He went into his pocket and then handed some money over to Dennis. She looked at Dennis, who she noticed was already staring at her. She didn’t understand his look and quickly looked back at John to finish their conversation.

“Yeah, it’s me. I haven’t missed a concert here in fifteen years. I’ve even traveled to see you guys a few times. I absolutely love your music and what you all represent to the community. I am a lifelong fan,” Shontell admitted.

“Wow, that’s deep,” replied Dennis, out of the blue. Even though she felt uneasy because of his tone, the comment made her blush. She tried to steer the conversation away from her, but didn’t have much luck. She noticed that Nico wasn’t saying much. Did he see Tina at the lounge like she had? That would explain why he was so quiet. She didn’t want to believe that was the reason, but the guys ribbed him on his silence. She watched his every emotion play across his face.