Billie Bossa Nova

4.

The night seemed to be progressing into something sort of like a dinner party, but she still wasn't aware of exactly what was going on. The plus side was that she had seen some familiar "colleagues" or rather accomplices of Adan Rivera in his little underground business. Not to mention she had seen Natalie watching one of them, namely, Matteo Cruise, from behind the counter in the kitchen.

When the dinner started and everyone sat around the large dining room table, Juanita instructed Billie to sit on the table. Apparently, Adan's last assistant had done the same. Immediately when everyone was seated, the first course was served. Having been in numerous assignments attaining communities of different backgrounds, dining with the rich was nothing new. What was new, though, was Adan's-or perhaps Juanita's- choice in menu.

It was a mixure of Spanish and Italian food. In the middle of the table, a variety of appetizers were placed by the maids for the guests' choosing. Enchiladas, parmesan tortellini bites, mozzarella stuffed meatballs, taquitos...The variation of dishes was absolutely crazy. After giving people time to finish their appetizers, the maids would swoop in and grab the empty or unfinished dishes, only to bring the main course soon after. The same procedure happened for dessert. Billie wasn't ashamed of how much she was eating. She hadn't eaten anything since morning when she had a muffin and coffee on her way from CRO HQ in London to here in California. To say she was starved was an understatement.

She could feel someone watching her, and she knew that she must for sure be drawing eyes to herself from the way she was gulping everything down, but she didn't care. The food was too good and she was too hungry. Natalie came over at some point during the night, distributed the glasses of wine on her tray and stopped short of when she was giving Billie hers.

"Look to your left, hun."

After saying this, Natalie left with the empty tray. Billie then lifted her head towards her left, finding a pair of hazelnut irises dig into her own. She ignored the speed of her heart and grabbed the wine on the table, gracefully and unconsciously taking a sip as a way to distract herself from the feel of his eyes on her. She wasn't afraid, she told herself. She'd been eyed by a serial killer, Kai Rivera was nothing.

The wine warmed her body on its way down her throat, the taste of bitter grapes displeasing on her tongue. She effortlessly hid the twist of disgust on her features, placing it down and grabbing the fork. How did she reach out again? Under his gaze, she'd suddenly forgotten how to. After a few minutes, when she was halfway the tamales with chocolate sauce that slid across her tongue and smothered against her teeth as she chewed it, she dared a glance in his direction.

A woman, whom she knew to be Julianna, his sister, was rambling on next to him, but he didn't seem to be listening. He sat back while his long arm reached out in front of him where he swirled his spoon around a bowl of chocolate pudding. As if he felt her looking, his eyes drifted away from his worn out pudding and sought to find hers. Before they could, she immediately drifted them back down to her own dessert, not daring to look up. The only time she did was when the familiar sound of metal clashing against glass filled her ears.

A middle aged woman stood from her seat, who's hair was coal black and wore a dress that revealed too much for a woman her age.

"Kai, my beautiful nephew." It took just that sentence for Billie to recognize an Italian accent, and for her to conclude that it was Kai's aunt. Amelia's sister. "I'm so proud of the man you've become, amor."

The room was silent now, letting everyone know it was that time of night. The woman said a few words of praise to Kai, including some insignificant detail of his childhood that managed to bring out a laugh from everyone. While she spoke, a maid walked in and presented the gift that she had brought for him neatly wrapped in black wrapper and she wished him a happy birthday. Then, she sat down and almost immediately, the next person stood up. Kai seemed nonchalant of the situation, barely tugging up the corners of his lips when a joke was told or the person proclaimed their love. If Billie hadn't met him earlier, she wouldn't know exactly who they were talking to.