The Grim Attraction

Chapter One

          

Chapter One

            Fourteen Years Later...

             "Guess who just came back from his tour in Tokyo?"

            Mia looked up from her laptop to her friend Dinah Ross, who was waving at her frantically from the kitchen. Mia rolled her eyes and removed her laptop from her lap. She stood from the sofa and dragged her feet to the kitchen. She gazed at the screen and saw the headline on the tabloid. "'Multi-Millionaire Arrives back in the States Alone'." Dinah read aloud. "He looks so handsome in those slacks."

            Mia sighed and crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at Roarke's picture. He was wearing sun glasses with a polo shirt, slacks and loafers, and he was climbing down from his private jet. And the headline was correct, he was alone.

            "Has he called you?" Dinah asked. Dinah, to Mia's annoyance, had always had a crush on Roarke since their early college years together. Roarke knew of this but he had never initiated anything out of respect of her friendship with Mia. She couldn't help to think sometimes that Dinah may resent her a little for that.

            "No, he hasn't." Mia said as she walked away and sat back on the couch. She grabbed her laptop and scrolled through the pictures she had taken with her camera in the past weekend. While Roarke had dropped out of college and somehow managed to become a rich playboy by investing in companies and buying out businesses, she had opted to continue her education and graduated with a degree in Photography. She wasn't rich from her career choice, but she was comfortable enough that she didn't worry about not getting the bills paid on time. It didn't hurt that their lives were made much easier by the generous inheritance that their grandfather had left them.

            She and Roarke where now twenty-two years old, and to the media Roarke was a sensation for being a very young and successful tycoon and philanthropist. He was also one of the most eligible bachelors, though he was in no hurry to settle.

            As for her, she was fine with herself. She was attractive, with shoulder length black hair, black brown eyes, and olive brown skin. Unlike her brother, who stood at six-foot-two, she was a bit taller than the average woman and curvy. Her brother and she shared the same coloring of complexion as their deceased father, who had been a Colombian American archeologist.

             "I'm heading out. I promised mother that I would go cake tasting with her today." Dinah's mother was marrying in six months for the fourth time, and Dinah was the maid of honor for the third time.

            "Oh right, I remember." Mia nodded to her. She saved the pictures in her cloud and a hard drive. Dinah packed her own laptop and folders in her bag as Mia typed up a quick message and attached the photos to the email before clicking send and closing her laptop. "I'll walk you out." she said as she stood once more and stretched.

            "I cannot be her maid of honor again if she decides to divorce this one and remarry." Dinah said with a sigh as she adjusted her purse on her shoulder.

            "But you're so good at it." Mia teased as she followed her.

            Dinah stopped at the door and looked over at her. "Tell your brother we should hang out." she teased and winked.

            Mia rolled her eyes and opened the door for her. "Good bye, Dinah. Choose ice cream cake please."

            Dinah wrinkled her nose. "It's a wedding Mia, not my little sister's birthday party." She hugged her and walked out.