“That’s good to hear.” he sat upright again. “You can go ahead and make all the adjustments.”
“Awesome,” she smiled back at him and shut down her laptop.
“Should I order lunch?” My house staff members are all on holiday. He checked the time on his wristwatch. “It’s going to take a while, the restaurant takes their time to get my food ready. Or would you prefer we go out to eat?”
“It’s okay,” she put her laptop back in the bag. “I’ll wait, I am free for the rest of the day, so I can wait.”
He walked to the corner to where the phone was and made the order.
“Okay,” he said finally and dropped the receiver. He strolled back to Cassie and extended a hand to her, “come, let’s fix you a drink before food comes.”
She took his outstretched hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. They went to his well-stocked bar in another part of the living room.
“What would you like to have?” he inquired from her with a slight chuckle.
“I want you to guess what I would like,” she gave him a flirty smile, wrapping her hands around her middle. “Just give me what you think I will like.”
“Is that a challenge?” He cocked his head to one side, with amusements dancing in his eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll make something you will like.”
“I’m waiting,” she hopped on the high chair, setting an elbow on the edge of the tall table. “Make me happy, bro.” His heart fluttered, seeing her carefree nature for the first time. It was so enchanting.
Blake gave her a lazy smile and turned his back to her. He opened a shelf and brought out two crystal glass cups.
“I used to think Donavon was your brother.” He then filled the glasses with ice cubes. “I recently realized that you are cousins.”
“Yeah,” she nodded, “most people don’t know we are cousins.” She shrugged. “He’s more or less the first child of the family, anyway.”
“I heard he lost his parents at a tender age.” He said and poured dark rum over the ice cubes and added ginger beer.
“That’s true,” Cassie looked on as he stirred the drink in the glasses. “His dad is my father’s elder brother. Both Donavon’s parents died in a horrible car accident on their way home from a friend’s birthday party. He was only five years old. I was two and my sister was in mom’s womb then.”
“So your dad had taken him up since?” He handed a glass over to Cassie.
“Absolutely.” she collected it and took a long sip of the drink. “Hmmm,” Cassie purred. “You are a genius: this is one of my best cocktails, dark and stormy.”
“Really?” He mixed the mixture into the glass cups with a stirrer before adding slices of lime.
“Here,” he handed one of the glass cups to her.
“Thank you,” she collected it and tilted the glass towards him, saying, “let’s drink to success and friendship.”
“Yes.” He clicked his glass with hers. “To success and friendship.”
The doorbell went off.
“That must be our lunch,” Blake said, eye twinkling.
“Pardon me,” Cassie set her drink in front of her on the tall table after some time. “There is a very personal question that has been bugging my mind.” She fixed her gaze on him. “Can I ask, it’s very personal like I said.”
“Shoot,” he gave her a slow smile, wondering what it could be.
“Is it true that your late wife divorced you before eloping with her lover?” Her eyes were full of curiosity. “Or you were still legally married when she eloped?”
He gave a little laugh and lifted the crystal glass of his cocktail to his lips to take a gulp of his drink before answering.
“What does it matter? The bottom line is that I am not married anymore.”
Cassie lifted a brow and licked her lips. “I guess that’s what matters.” She chuckled and took a sip of her drink.
“It’s been months since the incident,” he breathed through his mouth. “I think I want to take it easy. I don’t want to jump into another marriage…another relationship, just yet.”
“Good for you.” Cassie looked into his eyes with undisguised hunger and disappointment.
“I want to take this time to concentrate on my flagship projects.” He walked to the large window and turned around to face her. “My dad is gradually retiring. I need to have my flagship projects too, like his grandfather did, my grandfather did, and also my father.”
“I see.” she lifted a brow. “The real estate is your baby?”
“Yes,” he said with a tiny smile and shrugged. “Let’s see how it goes.”
“It’s going to be awesome,” she assured him. “We are going to give you a masterpiece. People will fall over each other to get a piece of it.”
“Oh yeah,” he raised his glass with a hand in his pocket. “I like that.”
‘And are you interested in expansion?” she tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I mean, can I inform you if I see any land that would be good for another estate?”
“Yes, yes,” his interest picked up. “I will appreciate that. I want this real estate part of the company to be as big as it is possible.”
“Don’t worry, I will be on the lookout.”
They both fell into a brief silence, Blake watching a bird that perched on a nearby tree outside and Cassie in deep thought as she looks into her drink.
Blake caught her when he turned around. He cleared his throat, “what’s on your mind?” He probed.”
She took a sip of her drink. “you know, sometimes I get tired of our life,” she shrugged, gazing into his eyes. “I mean this life of privilege of ours, which is embroidered with constant expectations.” She set her almost empty glass on the table. “You have to live up to certain expectations.”
“I know,” he consented. “Are you telling me that? It can be exhausting at times, trying to meet up and to surpass the legacy before you.”
“People don’t know that these legacies of ours comes a lot of weight”
“That’s it,” he agreed. He was drawn more to her at that moment because she understood the complexities of living a privileged life.
“Sometimes it’s ti-.”
The doorbell rang at that moment, cutting her short.
“That must be our lunch,” he set his empty glass down. “Let me get it.”