My Brother's Best Friend Page 8

  “Oh?”

  He shakes his head, “Let’s not talk shop. Not tonight. So, how come you don’t have a boyfriend?”

  Wow, that was direct!

  I’m looking at his dark eyes trying to figure out if he’s toying with me, but it’s indifferent. He has a way of putting up a front. One that’s so damn hard to read.

  “I just don’t.”

  “Wow, a knock-out like you?”

  I giggle. “I’m not a knock-out. Only in this dress.”

  He shakes his head. “If you didn’t have the tools, kitten, then you wouldn’t be able to work it.” His hand is cupping my face as if he has something more to say, but then he drops his hand and then turns to face the front.

  Put it back!

  I want to scream at him. I cross my legs, knowing that I’ll get his attention.

  “There must be a reason that you don’t have a boyfriend.”

  Wow, he’s pushing the subject. I feel a tiny tingle race across my skin as I wonder if he’s asking because he wants to be my boyfriend. I shake my head at the idea of it.

  “I just haven’t met the right man yet.”

  “Ah, so you’re a fussy kind?”

  He raises an eyebrow, and some part of me likes this game. I should tell him that it’s none of his business, but he just paid for my dress, and this is the most interaction I’ve had with him, and it’s my last day.

  I won’t see him again.

  Part of me is sad about the whole idea of not seeing him again.

  “Do you ask all your secretaries the same question?” I throw back at him.

  He laughs. “Have you seen Joanne? She’s old enough to be my mother.”

  “I thought that men like older women?”

  He sighs. “At times. Fine, if you don’t want to answer my question, you don’t have to. I was kind of curious.”

  “I just…don’t have the time.”

  I fob him off with a feeble answer. I’m too embarrassed to tell him the truth. My dad hurt me so badly time and time again that it makes me feel as if I can’t trust men. But I'm at the back of the limo with my boss in a provocative dress. He’s doing something to me that nobody ever comes close to doing and I don’t feel scared.

  Why does Andrew make me feel safe?

  I can’t put my finger on it, but he just does.

  “I see.”

  “What?”

  “Well, it seems to me that you’re a woman that wants a man to love her. The type that they’ll bend over to please her.”

  I laugh. “A fussy woman?”

  He points. “Exactly!”

  “No, I don’t believe in fairy tales anymore…besides, I could say the same thing about you.”

  “How?”

  “Do you have a girlfriend?”

  He seems surprised at my question, but I think that he’s not used to being questioned, only the other way around.

  “Wow, no I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  He crosses his arms, waiting for me to ask him the next question. The most obvious one.

  “Ever been married?”

  “How do you know that I’m not married?”

  I’m just about to explain further when the driver buzzes into the back.

  “Sir, we’re here.”

  Andrew nods his head as he looks up at the building and sighs, “So we are.”

  Well, he doesn’t have a ring, I was about to tell him before the driver buzzed in to say that we arrived, but I didn’t get the chance. Then again, if he was attached, then he wouldn’t have had to ask me to be his date.

  He turns to me. “Are you ready?”

  I nod. “I won’t know anyone, so I’m a little nervous.”

  He shakes his head and says, “You’ll be with me, and I won’t leave your side. Not even for a second.”

  The driver opens the door, and I climb out. The next thing I know Andrew’s by my side. As the driver is about to leave Andrew says, “Roger if you could get my car, leave it with the valet, then when I'm ready to leave I can just head home. Without having to bother you.”

  “Are you sure, sir?”

  Andrew nods, but he doesn’t say a word.

  His driver says, “Well thank you, sir. Have a good night, miss.”

  Andrew blurts out, “You have a good night too.”

  His driver repeats the same thing, apparently happy to have the night off. Andrew looks at me and says, “Roger, I intend to have a very good night indeed.”

  “Well, how’s Roger going to get home?”

  Curiosity gets the better of me, because I feel as if he's left his driver stranded.

  “Oh, he’ll figure it out. As for you my dear, just worry about tonight.”

  It sends a shiver down my spine and ends with us walking through the lobby with our eyes locked and my smile is only for Andrew.

  He's not married and desperate to know why I haven’t got a boyfriend. Andrew’s my date tonight and the best part of it is he’s no longer my boss.

  Chapter Four

  Andrew

  As soon as we arrive, all eyes are on us. Before I got out of the limo, I took off my tie and jacket, but I knew for a fact that they’re not looking at me as we head up to the terrace where the party’s being held. They’re looking at her. My knockout date. The one that doesn’t have a boyfriend.

  I nod as I see a few familiar faces. People that were in our social circle. The one that I was a part of when I’d been seeing Roberta. She was so fucking demanding. At first, I thought it was cute. That she was the kind of girl that wanted attention, but after going to one too many events with her, I started to find it annoying. That was over a year ago. Since then she still calls. Still insists on me visiting her, but I have no intention of falling for her demands especially with this hot blonde by my side.

  It’s as if the alarm bells ring the moment I start to head towards the bar. Olivia’s on radio silence. It’s clear that she’s not used to so much attention. She’s too damn cute. Nice and everything that I’ve never officially had in my life.

  “Roberta,” I bark the moment she slides to my side.

  She’s so fucking close she can easily be a second skin. I move away from her. “Meet Olivia.”

  I was just about to say, my girlfriend, but I’ll make that announcement if Roberta gets on my nerves one too many times.

  “Oh,” she says surprised, as if she never saw that Olivia was by my side. Roberta is wearing a red leather dress that pushes her fake boobs practically up to her chin. I’m trying to remind myself what I found so appealing about her. Because looking at her right now, I can’t find anything at all.

  “Hi.” She cuts her eyes to Olivia, taking in her good looks. I’m sure she’s not happy.

  “Hi, this is a great party.” Olivia smiles at her.

  Roberta ignores her as she starts to trace her finger on my shoulder. “I’m so glad you came. I was worried you weren’t going to turn up. The party started two hours ago.”

  Yes, who the fuck has a party that starts at six in New York? Apart from kids? Even eight’s a bit early, but I don’t want to cause a scene, especially because I’m trying to stand up straight against the force of Roberta leaning against me. Has she put on weight? Or is it all the silicone?

  Because even her face looks a bit blotchy.

  “Oh, Andrew was treating me like Cinderella. He wanted to make sure that I wore something new for tonight,” Olivia says as she purrs on the other side of me. She’s holding my arm. That part, I don’t mind, and I love that she’s a good little actress.

  In the store, she was acting all innocent. Now, she’s acting like Sharon Stone out of Basic Instinct. I’m expecting her to flash that she has no panties on.

  Fuck.

  I better concentrate before I do something I’ll regret and make a move on Roberta, just so that I’m not near Olivia.

  Roberta looks her up and down as if she’s throwing daggers at her.

  “Or maybe, Andy,” Olivia whispers loud e
nough for Roberta to hear. “We can just get out of here, and you can see the new lingerie that you bought me, too.”

  Roberta moves away, and I know that she heard and wondered if Olivia means it or is just fucking with Roberta’s head.

  “I have guests to attend to. Anyway, you just got here, and there are some of your friends that are dying to say hi.”

  Then she struts away from us, her hips looking as if she’s moving them from left-to-right, but even her butt looks big too. I don’t remember her having that shape at all. It’s as if her waist is too thin and she’s competing with Jessica Rabbit.

  I shake my head about being with her in the past, and I move closer toward Olivia. I spin her to face me, close enough to have her full concentration and a bit too close making the temptation to kiss her is even stronger.

  “Olivia, you’re full of surprises.”

  “I just didn’t like the way that she was coming on to you with me standing here. It’s just rude. I wasn’t party to us doing this, but now I understand why you wanted me to do it.”

  I didn’t need Olivia to fight my battles, but it’s nice for her to think that she’s here to do it. I could have brought anyone else. But I chose her; that’s the part she fails to realize. I’d just taken a golden opportunity to get rid of Roberta, and the bonus would be to spend the night with Olivia.

  I laugh. “That was just a sample of the way that she behaves.”

  “God, I hate to think about what’s she’s like when she gets in a rage. If she could kickbox me away from you, I have a feeling she would have done it.”

  I nod. “I’m surprised she didn’t. She must be getting old.”

  “If she had tried to kick my butt, would you have stopped her?”

  I pause as I think about Roberta fighting Olivia and what I would have done. The same thing that all the other guys here would have done…watched.

  “Nah.”

  I let go of her and face the bar, ready to order. She hits me and says, “Well, next time you need a favor then don’t expect me to do to it.”

  I wink at her and say, “I won’t.”

  ────

  Olivia’s had a couple of cocktails, and she’s dancing with one too many men. I’m not jealous, but I can see that they’re trying to take advantage of her because I’m being distracted. Roberta’s working hard. She’s sending nearly all of my so-called friends to come and talk shop to me and it’s left Olivia bored, meaning that she’s decided to make her own entertainment on the dance floor.

  Damn, can she move.

  I watch as she holds her glass in one hand and seductively moves her hips.One minute I think that she's trying to get attention, but then I decide that she just loves music; it’s clear by the fact that she seems to know the lyrics to the songs as she sings along every time she dances.

  “Olivia, let’s go.”

  “Oh no, why? I was just dancing with…”

  “Steve, who’s trying to touch your ass every minute. Now, let’s go.”

  She shakes her head. “I’m not drunk if that’s what you’re thinking. I always dance like this. And I’ve only had three cocktails. One with alcohol and the others without.”

  Her bright eyes are in front of me, and I want to fuck her right now. She’s a mix of innocent and fragile, but she has the underlying strength of an ox underneath all that beauty too.

  “Surprised?” she asks as I put my arm around her. I tilt my head to the side and then grab the cocktail that she’s holding, then I quickly give it to one of the waitresses that is passing by. “Did you think that I’m a stupid blonde that doesn’t know when a man’s trying to take advantage of her?”

  I want to tell her the truth, but I hold back. She’s surprised me twice tonight. The first time when she was looking at the price tag knowing she wasn’t going to pay for it and now this. Shit, and there was the time that she was handling herself against Roberta. Fuck that makes it three times in one night.

  “You regret asking me out. I’m not the kind of girl you think I am.”

  She puts her hands slowly on my shoulder as we start to slow dance.

  “It’s not that. It’s just them. When the first guy had tried to put his hand on your butt, I thought you were a bit wasted, and that was why it took you too long to react to it.”

  Fuck. I sound like a teenage schoolboy, jealous about his date not giving him her full attention while they’re out for the night.

  “Besides, where have you been all my life?” I ask as I stare into her blue eyes and she starts to sway her head. It’s as if everything about her is a surprise. And I’m good at reading people. Especially women, but then again I was wrong about Roberta, and that cost me more than one friendship, which was why I started hanging out with her friends. None of mine wanted her around; even their girlfriends can’t stand her.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The way that you’ve been carrying on, Olivia, you’ve probably got a black belt. Maybe if he’d pushed you too far, you would have given him a bad ass kicking.”

  I’m laughing a little, but she shakes her head, and there’s something about the way she avoids looking at me that lets me know that something’s wrong. I can tell I asked the wrong question as she replies slowly, “Something like that.”

  I knew it was time to change the conversation and I’m about to say something when I can hear my name being called. The voice is getting closer. Olivia drops her hands and says, “What does she want now?”

  I grab her hand and say, “Who cares. I don’t want to stay here to find out.”

  We make a swift exit. I ignore the others calling me. I ignore everything, and my eyes are on Olivia, who wants to walk faster, but she’s struggling with her heels.

  I scoop Olivia up in my arms, and I pick up my pace. As we reach the elevators, she says, “A girl could get used to this treatment.”

  I laugh and say, “A girl could get it, if she keeps flirting the way she’s been doing this evening.”

  She smiles at me and wraps her arms around my neck. Roberta stops calling my name and by the sounds of it, stops following me as I press my lips against Olivia and we both forget that only a few minutes ago, Roberta was following us.

  I hear the elevator chime and I know one thing’s for sure. As soon as we get out of here, I’m not letting her go. Not tonight.

  Chapter Five

  Olivia

  As soon as the doors close, he lets out a long breath. It’s the sigh of a man that’s on a mission. I tremble as I feel myself getting wet. He breaks away from our kiss, and steps inside the elevator. I know once we’re inside, he’s not going to let me go and I don’t want him to.

  Going home is always the last thing on my mind, even more so now. And as the doors close, I don’t even blink as he drops me down and grabs my arm.

  He spins me back toward him, and his lips are on mine.

  A kiss that I’ve been dreaming about all night. It’s here, and I can’t think of anything else, but the prelude of what’s to come.

  I’m a virgin.

  I should be scared because of the way that he’s acting at the moment. He sandwiches my body between his chest and the elevator wall behind me. His tongue explores my mouth with such hunger. He’s so damn strong as he starts to crush his face against mine. He’s teasing my mouth with his tongue; his fingers start to prowl from my back to the nape of my neck.

  He’s so determined in his ministrations that I feel weak in his arms. I can’t do anything but stand and be kissed. I feel his hardness building against my stomach as he starts to grind himself against me.

  A longing starts to build between my legs.

  As we hear the elevator bell ring, he pulls away from me. He opens his eyes as if he was in a trance. “Fuck, I shouldn’t have done that.”

  He shakes his head and signals for me to get out of the elevator.

  “Why?” I whisper as I leave trying to straighten myself out. I don’t want anyone to know what we were up to in the
elevator. Then again, why should they care?

  I don’t know anyone that would be in this hotel, and it suits me fine. People can think whatever they like because there’s only one thing on my mind. And that’s Andrew taking me to his place.

  “I need to take you home.”

  God, I can’t believe I’m saying this as I chase after him. “Why?”

  “Because I shouldn’t have done that,” he barks back at me.

  “But I wanted you to do that.”

  He shakes his head. “You work for me.”

  Then he looks around the lobby; just a couple of people who look as if they’re going up to Roberta’s party. Or maybe another gathering. The lobby’s quiet and a couple of people waiting are not interested in anything that we have to say to each other.

  “I used to work for you. I don’t anymore!”

  He could carry me to the bathroom and bend me over in there. I don’t know what he’s done to me. I never wanted a man to touch me or even do what he did to me in the elevator. I’ve been broken for so long, hard to open up to a man, but with him, I’ve done it so easily and in one night.

  He draws in a sharp breath and closes his eyes, and then he grabs a hold of my wrist.

  “Just remember that you asked for this.”

  He’s warning me and I smile at him. “I know, and I won’t change my mind.”

  He strokes my face with his free hand and says, “Good because there’s nothing worse than a tease. I don’t like to play games.”

  I nod my head and say, “Well, we have something in common then.”

  I’m talking like an expert as if I know what I’m getting myself into, but I haven’t got a clue. Sure, I know that we’re going to have sex. I know that he’s going to take the one thing that I’ve been holding on to, my v-card, and for the first time in forever, I don't give a shit. I want him, and moreover, I know that he wants me. Even if it’s only for one night.

  We walk quickly to the parked car. It’s as if he clicked a button and made sure that the valet brought it straight away. No words are spoken as he lets go of my wrist and the valet driver quickly moves to my side to open my car door. I sit down, scared that if I don’t, Andrew may drive off and leave me. He has a determined look on his face. He’s a man on a mission, and that mission is me.