Brightly Burning Bridges: A Bully Romance (Kings of Capital)

by Ivy Wild

  Lex had always been a planner. Even as a child, she’d written herself schedules, lists and daily tasks to keep organized. And while it had become near impossible to control every aspect of her life as an adult, that didn’t stop her from trying.

  Sitting back up, she took another deep breath of salty air before jumping off the hood of the car and hopping over the driver’s side door. She started up the little Italian vehicle and placed it in first gear before zooming off towards her hotel, her hair blowing wildly around her face.

  A few miles of winding roads found her at a little white cottage. It wasn’t a hotel as much as it was a toned-down version of a bed and breakfast. This area of the bay wasn’t built up much and besides the extraordinarily expensive resort in town and a heaping of equally upscale B&Bs, Lex was thankful to have found something within her budget.

  Hopping back over the driver side door, she walked around the car to grab the small suitcase that had been her traveling companion. The little cottage was picturesque, with bright flowers lining large stepping stones up to the wrap around porch. The steps creaked slightly under her weight as she walked up to the front door, the place clearly showing its age.

  Grabbing the small brass knocker, Lex tapped it three times and waited patiently for her host. “Coming!” an elderly voice sounded from behind the door. “You must be Lex,” the woman said as she welcomed her inside.

  “Yes, thank you, ma’am,” Lex responded politely.

  “I’m Ellen.”

  The woman matched her house perfectly. Her white hair was tied back in a loose bun atop her head with not a hair out of place. She wore a delicate blouse, a loose skirt and a pair of sneakers. She had obviously lost a few inches over the course of her life but Lex imagined she must have been a true beauty when she was younger. The house itself was the perfect beach cottage, with seashells and little knick-knacks strategically placed throughout the entranceway.

  “Did you make it out of the city okay?” Ellen asked as she led Lex through a tour of the home.

  “I hit a bit of traffic but you know what the city is like,” Lex laughed.

  “Thankfully, it’s been over a decade since I’ve had to go there,” the woman replied.

  “I look forward to the time when I can say that!” Lex responded and the two women shared a smile.

  Ellen led Lex down a few steps before handing her a key and opening the door. “Here is the attached suite where you’ll be staying,” she said, ushering Lex through the door. “The bathroom’s just through there,” she added, pointing at a little door in the corner of the room. “And that door there is the private entrance if you need to come back or leave after hours.”

  “Thank you,” Lex said with another smile as she placed her suitcase onto the bed. “It looks wonderful! I only wish it were for more than one night!”

  “Come back and see me any time. Guest or not, you’re a part of the family now,” she said and Lex couldn’t help the warm feeling that sprung up in her heart.

  “That means a lot to me, thank you.” Ellen nodded and turned to exit but Lex stopped her. “I was hoping to go out and explore a little tonight. Do you have any suggestions on where I could go that’s walking distance?” Lex didn’t expect there to be a large Uber presence in the area and she did want to have a few drinks on her last night of freedom.

  “The resort area is pretty much the only commercial area around,” Ellen explained. “It’s about a three block’s walk. Most people your age go to the restaurant there. They’ve got a bar and some sort of dance club on the upper level that starts up after my bedtime.”

  Lex giggled lightly as Ellen winked at her. “Thanks for the info. I’ll have to check it out.”

  “Just remember if you come back late, that key will only work on the side entrance.”

  “Got it, thank you!” Lex replied.

  “Well, let me know if you need anything else. I’ll let you get settled in,” Ellen said with a wave as she closed the door.

  As soon as the door clicked shut, Lex flopped down on the bed, the springs beneath her creaking in agitation. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to let anxiety about her new job get the better of her. “This is a new start. I’m not going to let old things hold me back anymore,” she promised herself.

  Shaking her head she rolled over and unzipped her suitcase. Rummaging through her few bits of clothing, she found the perfect outfit for the evening. She laid it out on the bed before heading into the bathroom to take a quick shower. As much as she loved her little Alfa Romeo, driving with the top down wasn’t the best for keeping one’s hair in order.

  Within an hour Lex was dressed and ready to hit the town. She twirled in front of the dresser mirror and smiled at her reflection. It had been a long time since she felt this good. She loved this mini dress and so rarely had a place to wear it, but it was perfect for tonight. The polka dot pattern coupled with its long sleeves made up for the fact that it cut quite low in the front and quite high on her legs. She paired it with leather strappy sandals and a pop of red lipstick before pulling her long hair into a messy bun on top of her head.

  She stuffed some cash, her phone and the little key ring into her cross-body bag before looping it over her arm and heading out for her last night of freedom. Her walk into town was mostly deserted in the beginning, but as she got closer, more and more people began to appear until finally, she was in the center of everything. The resort overlooked the bay and restaurants and boutique shops crowded the two street blocks that made up this area’s commercial district.

  Lex took her time to wander into a few stores to look through their trinkets. But just as she was about to walk into the last shop, her stomach growled, reminding her that she had neglected it for some time. Looking around, most of the restaurants seemed fairly busy—and expensive. She cringed as she looked at a few of the menus. “Fifteen dollars for a side salad? Yikes,” she thought internally. It must have been later than she expected because she could hear music pouring out of the resort nearby.

  “Well, Ellen did mention that the resort bar was where people my age went. Maybe the food is more reasonably priced there,” Lex reasoned with herself as she walked towards the music. When she reached the downstairs bar, she looked at the menu encased in glass outside and smiled. “Eight dollar drinks and food during happy hour. Perfect!” she thought as she entered through revolving doors and took a seat at the bar.

  The place was busy but not so busy that it was hectic. Most of the people sitting at the bar had their eyes glued to the televisions. Lex looked up to see the America’s Cup race. She giggled a little at how fitting it was that everyone here was watching yachting.

  The bartender approached and Lex ordered something to eat and a glass of white wine to match. As she waited for her food, she turned around in her chair to watch the bustle of people moving about outside. A few people looked at her oddly, likely not able to understand why she wasn’t watching the race but she didn’t care. She wanted to get the full experience of this place tonight, not watch television; she could do that any night.

  The low hum of an engine caught her attention and her eyes widened as a black Alfa Romeo 8C pulled up in front of the resort. She watched with rapt attention as the car’s owner stepped out of the driver’s seat. Lex tried to suppress a moan as she got a good look at him. He was exactly her type: tall, muscled, with a face that looked like it scowled often. His dirty blond, almost brown hair was faded on the sides with the top longer and slicked to the side. He was a beautiful specimen.

  One of the attendants came running up but the man shook his head before throwing the keys to another valet that was standing a few feet back. Lex could hear the last few words the man said as he made his way through the rotating door. “You’re the only one I trust with her, Michael.” His voice was a deep baritone and sent shivers through Lex’s entire body. The attendant Michael raised a hand in a mock salute and the man nodded as he entered the room.

  “Your drink, ma’am,�
� the bartender said, startling her out of her ogling. She turned around, cheeks red, and thanked the man before taking a long sip. The bartender looked at her with a bit of a furrowed brow. Lex knew he was likely sizing her up to be a problem, but she couldn’t be bothered with that right now.

  “Frank, good to see you,” the deep voice sounded behind her and Lex kept her eyes fixed on the television, even though she so desperately wanted to look at the man that was presently coming up behind her.

  “Wasn’t expecting to see you here,” the bartender responded, leaning across the bar to shake hands.

  “Got some business to handle tomorrow.” His voice washed over Lex from just to the right of her.

  “Four roses?” the bartender asked but the mystery man shook his head. “Just tonic. I’m headed to a meeting.” He stayed standing, waiting for his drink and Lex finally couldn’t resist the urge to turn around any longer.

  “Were you driving an 8C?” she all but blurted out.

  The man turned to look at her with wide eyes. She met his gaze briefly before having to break eye contact; his stare was too heavy to meet for long. It was as if he was sizing her up before deciding to respond. Finally, he spoke, “Not many people would know that,” he said simply, answering the question by not answering it.

  “I’ve got one of my own is all,” Lex said a little sheepishly. One of the man’s eyebrows lifted and Lex suddenly realized she needed to clarify. “An Alfa Romeo. Not an 8C,” she said with a small chuckle.

  “Damnit, I am totally messing this up,” she internally chided herself. She hated herself for being so awkward right now. This was supposed to be her night and here she was, making a fool of herself to the most gorgeous man she had ever seen.

  The man shrugged, his black tee stretching across his muscled shoulders. “Considering that there were only ninety shipped to the US total, it’s possible,” he paused. “Just improbable.”

  Lex gave him a fake smile. “Sorry, just had to ask is all,” she said before turning back to take a drink of her wine.

  She could feel the eyes of the man still on her and Lex kept her gaze forward, pretending to ignore his intense stare. Thankfully, the bartender returned with his drink and her food to break up the awkward silence.

  Lex began to idly munch the vegetables on her hummus plate, keeping her mouth shut for fear of humiliating herself again. Of course the man took a seat next to her at the bar, turning to face her, his long legs spread on either side of her body the only way that he fit in the small space. “Question for you,” he said and Lex had no choice but to turn and face him.

  He was so much closer to her now. She could smell his sandalwood cologne and it had her brain short-circuiting. “Come on, Lex. Concentrate.” She looked up into his eyes and immediately became distracted by their intense dark green color. Someone calling out from the other side of the room had him turning towards the sound.

  Lex looked to see an older man in a suit waving at him from across the lobby. “Excuse me,” he said, leaving his seat abruptly, taking his drink with him and heading towards the new arrival.

  Lex let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding in before taking another long drink to finish her glass of wine. “Another?” the bartender asked as he noticed her set down the empty glass.

  “Please,” she replied with a smile.

  The bartender gave her a knowing look. “He has that effect on everyone,” he said. “If you hang around here long enough, you’ll eventually get used to his intensity.”

  “Who is he?” Lex asked before shoving some pita and hummus into her mouth.

  “That’s Carter Ross.”

  The bartender walked off to fill another drink order as Lex said the name over in her head. “Carter Ross,” she repeated, trying to figure out why it sounded vaguely familiar. For the life of her, she couldn’t place it. “If he’s driving an 8C, he’s probably loaded. I probably just read about him in the newspaper or something,” she reasoned to herself, finishing the food in front of her.

  She turned back around to survey the lobby and street through the big glass windows. A few more tilts back of her head had her finishing her second glass of wine and feeling thankfully more relaxed.

  She watched out of the corner of her eye as Mr. Ross and the suited man walked into what Lex presumed to be a side conference room. As soon as he left the space, she felt like some weight had been lifted off of her. Turning around, she paid her bill before asking the bartender where the nightclub Ellen had told her about was.

  “Follow those stairs to the second level. You’ll see it on your right-hand side,” the bartender said, pointing to a set of stairs on the other side of the lobby.

  “Thanks!” Lex replied as she turned to follow his directions. Determined to salvage her evening, she climbed the stairs, the music from the club becoming louder and louder until she finally reached the small line to enter. Upon showing the bouncer her ID, he stamped her hand with a blacklight stamp and waved her inside.

  The room was dark and Lex was immediately surrounded by moving bodies since the entrance led right onto the dance floor. She managed to push her way through the crowd to find a seat at the circular bar that was surrounded by high tops on the lower level and a raised VIP section above that.

  “Vodka sour,” she shouted to the bartender above the din of the music. The man took a little flashlight out of his back pocket, waved it at her wrist to see the stamp before nodding and grabbing ingredients for her drink. He exchanged the drink for a ten-dollar bill and Lex turned back around to survey the crowd.

  She didn’t particularly recognize the music that was playing but she somewhat expected that, given how long it had been since she’d last been to one of these places. The people surrounding her varied in age, but Ellen had been right, most of them were around her age, if just younger in maturity level.

  Looking out at the dance floor she couldn’t help but chuckle into her drink as she watched one man doing what could only be classified as jazzercise. The reaction from the people around him was mixed, with some looking at him in confusion and the others just giving him his space and continuing to move to the music themselves.

  People shifting on the dance floor caught Lex’s attention. Looking over she noticed dirty blond hair making its way through the crowd. Her eyes widened and she turned back around to face the center of the bar before tipping her head back to gulp down the rest of her third drink for the evening. She knew his eyes were on her; somehow she could feel it, like an itch between her shoulder blades.

  The feeling passed and she sighed as the liquor settled into her system nicely. Feeling a bit more relaxed, she tapped her glass for a refill before chancing a look over her shoulder to see where Mr. 8C had gone. She noticed him a few feet away, talking to the bouncer that was standing in front of the VIP section. He looked absolutely gorgeous in his fitted V-neck black tee and dark jeans.

  Some very uncouth thoughts flashed in Lex’s brain about just what she would like to do with Mr. Ross, preferably in his car, and she couldn’t help but smile and shake her head. The bartender returned with her drink and she passed him another ten-dollar bill before taking the glass in one hand and pulling the cherry on top into her mouth.

  As her lips closed around the fruit, something caused her to look up and her gaze met one intensely dark and green from across the room. The two stayed there, the din around them fading away as the intensity grew between them. A blush dusted Lex’s cheeks before she finally broke eye contact. Since the first moment she’d seen this man, he was threatening her sense of control. It put her on edge, in a way that almost thrilled her as much as it frightened her.

  Turning back to the bar, she tipped the drink back quickly, the warmth from the vodka hitting her quite suddenly before placing the glass down and hurrying towards the entrance. She made her way back towards where she had entered, pushing her way through the crowd as she went. She could see that Mr. Ross had moved towards her location now, about to push
his own way through the crowd.

  When she finally reached her destination, the bouncer there shook his head. “Exit’s on the other side, ma’am.”

  “What?” Lex huffed in disbelief. The lights and music felt somewhat disorienting now and she turned around, trying to follow where the bouncer was pointing. She started pushing people out of the way as she tried to make her way to the exit. She needed air, she needed space and she needed Mr. Ross to stop following her so she could think. Lex was certain she wouldn’t be able to speak to him intelligently and she really didn’t want to embarrass herself again.

  She managed to make it through the crowd, avoiding the hunter as if she were some prey and crossed the room quickly to reach the set of stairs down to the lobby. As soon as she escaped the din from above, she felt so much better. She inhaled deeply as she took a seat at one of the tucked away armchairs, and froze as she heard a deep baritone voice behind her.

  “Hey, wait up.”

  She looked up to see Carter Ross descending the staircase, heading straight towards her. There was no way that she could run now; if she did it would be extremely rude. Putting a smile on her face, she tried to rein back her thoughts about wrapping her legs around the man and waited for him to meet her at her location.

  “Didn’t you hear me calling to you back there?” he asked, his voice deep and his eyes fixated just on her.

  Lex was finding it hard to breathe again and she internally berated herself for letting this man have such control over her. “So what, he’s gorgeous. There’s no reason I cannot pull it together to have a normal conversation with him,” she reasoned with herself.

  “Sorry, I must have missed it,” she lied.

  Mr. Ross took a seat in the armchair next to her and narrowed his eyes slightly before saying, “Don’t try and bullshit a bullshitter.”

  Lex couldn’t help but smile and his mood seemed to lift slightly with hers. Somehow, with the two of them alone like this, he didn’t seem as intimidating. Her confidence grew as she began to feel more like herself. “How can I be of service?” she asked, immediately regretting her choice of words because her brain started running clips of her on her knees in front of him. She knew she was likely blushing, but she tried to recover by looking down and swiping a piece of stray hair back into her bun.