Chasing Beautiful (Chasing 1)

There was another knock on the door and Lucy opened it straight away. Few delivery men stood there, with a gigantic box of pastries that had the world-renowned Pierre Hermé label. Two of the men went past us and went directly to the living room with a box in their hands. The guys with the box of pastries went last. I didn’t see a man standing behind, so I jumped out of my skin when he greeted us.

“I apologize. I didn’t mean to frighten you. But I’m looking for Ms. Sienna Richards?” a tall lithe blonde with the clear blue eyes asked between Lucy and I.

Um, who is this man, again? He never said.

“Um, that would be me. Who are you? Sorry, you didn’t introduce yourself.” Giving him a confused looked.

“I’m Luke Scott. I work for Knightly Industries. I’m the assistant of William Blake Knightly IV. I was ordered by Mr. Knightly to come here.”

Interesting.

The delivery men started to dissipate and exited one by one, but Luke Scott stayed. He was smiling with twinkle in his eyes. Hmm…

“I think the room is ready. Let’s all go and see”

Luce and I shared a ‘what-the-fuck-is-going-on’ look as we followed Blake’s assistant to the living room.

The coffee table was transformed into a French pastry wonderland. Different flavors of macaron neatly organized in a towering pasty stand. Another tower of cream puffs, éclairs, napoleon, small Parisian cakes, fruit gateau, and pan au chocolat to name a few. Three silver platter of assorted chocolates, there’s also a bucket of champagne chilling in a silver bucket next to the coffee table and a coffee pot.

My eyes greedily roamed the contents as my stomach growled.

Right one cue Blake.

“Enjoy, ladies. Also, Ms. Richards, I was ordered to give you this” he took a small soft-leather box out of his breast-pocket.

“Uh, thanks. Um why don’t you join us, Luke?”

“The company jet is waiting for me in Gatwick actually. I have to get back to Marbella as soon as possible. There was a lot of traffic in Paris, so I’m running late. There’s an important meeting set for three this afternoon and its already quarter to twelve. But thank you, Ms Richards. I’ll let my boss know how delighted you are. I didn’t realize how romantic he can be.” he said with a wink.

“Wait—did you just say you flew to Paris? To buy pastries, that’s it?”

Goodness gracious.

“Yes, that was what Mr. Knightly ordered. But I really must get going. Have a good day ladies.” He promptly left without much adieu and left Luce and I staring at each other.

A shrieking laughter came from Lucy, “Sienna—what the hell have you done to poor, Blake? He’s obviously smitten. I knew it! It took longer than expected but Toby predicted that Blake had his eyes set on you. I’m happy that he’s making you happy.”

“You could say that, I guess. It’s just in the early days but I do like him a lot,” a bit embarrassed that I didn’t tell her myself first.

“No wonder women clamored for him. Look at this! He had his assistant jetting off to Paris to fetch a few boxes of freshly baked pastries for his beloved. Oh, Sienna! It shows how much you mean to him when he goes to such lengths. Isn’t that romantic?” she said dreamily.

It’s more than romantic. It’s downright disarming me. If this was his intent—then his doing a stupendous job!

Luce and I sat as we poured each other drinks, champagne for her and coffee for me. We savored each pastry and compared which one was the best. It was orgasmic dessert heaven.

“How I wish Toby would do something like this for me. I mean, not in the same scale of grandeur—the man doesn’t own private jets—but just as sweet and romantic.” Did I hear a tinge of sadness? I might just be imagining things. They’re crazy for each other.

I took a sip of my coffee, eyeing her warily, “Toby loves you and he has his own way of showing it. Everything okay with you guys?”

She let out a sigh and limply sat back with angst written all over her face. “It’s rather been off for the last week. Something’s wrong, but he’s not telling me. I’ll give him a few more days to tell—if not, then I have to find another way.” Uh, oh.

“Whatever it is—I’m sure he has a good reason. He could be swamped with work, you know.” Trying to ease her worries.

She shrugged and got up, “We’ll see. Anyhow, I have to go meet a few of my schoolmates for a project. I’ll help you clean up when I get back okay? Tell Blake I enjoyed his impromptu.” She went over to kiss my cheek, but I hugged and gave her a little squeeze. “It’ll be okay,” I whispered in her ear as she nodded and headed out the door.

It was apparent that she was clearly bothered about it. I hope she’s going to be okay.

The soft-leather box openly sat next to the tower of macarons. I’m dying to know what’s inside.

I jerked it open.

It was a bracelet. A light-weight gold chain designed with oblong gold medallion with a big diamond studded heart and tiny diamond studded B.K. initials on the bottom right.

Huh! Why would he put his initials there? Is this is way of laying it on Kyle while I start work tonight?

I placed the bracelet back on the table and scrammed to go get my phone in the bedroom and dialed Blake. When he picked up, I didn’t even let his say hello. I was ready to chew him out.

“Knightly, you better explain it to me and you better explain it well! Tell me why you would give a present with your initials bluntly standing out? This present didn’t just land here one the very same day I start working with Kyle?” I was seething. If it was possible to have steam come out of my ears, the room would be muggy.

“Poppet, calm down. I wanted you to wear something that’s from me. I commissioned it a day before you told me about your job. Is it possible that I wanted Kyle to stay back? Yes, I do. Do you ever plan on telling him?” his placid tone irked me somehow.

“I’ll tell him—but not yet. It’s too early for him. He barely just got here. I’m not going to risk the possibility of him spiraling out of control again.” Why is he pushing the issue? I’ll tell Kyle in a month or so…

“It’s too early for him or for you, Sienna?” I stopped breathing from his tone of voice, he was controlling his anger. There was some noise in the background. “Mi amor, we have to go soon or we’ll be late!” an accented voice of a woman spoke in the background. I felt like I was punched in the gut.