Long and Hard: A Bad Boy Box Set

by Lulu Pratt

  Joe gets to his feet and shakes his head again. “Protect your balls and your wallet. She’ll suck them both dry and leave you standing there blowing in the wind.”

  I watch Joe walk out of my office, the ultimate cautionary tale, and pray I don’t fall victim to the same fate.

  Shoving the folder holding all the details of Jade’s life into my briefcase, I finally prepare to leave for the day. I walk by Amelia, who’s still at her desk on the phone with a notepad and several folders spread out in front of her.

  “Pack it in, Amelia,” I say. “Whoever is on the phone can reach us tomorrow.”

  If I don’t usher her out of the building now, she’ll stay until midnight trying to get everything done. I refuse to replace another secretary. The last one quit due to exhaustion after being severely overworked. Working for me is very demanding but I try to make the compensation worthwhile.

  She hits the mute button on the phone and looks up at me. “Mr. Tanaka is in town and is requesting a meeting. I’ll have this wrapped up within the next thirty minutes or so.”

  “Thirty minutes,” I say. “No more. Then I want you to go home and relax.”

  She nods and returns to the call, effectively ending our conversation. I check the time and quickly walk to the elevator. I need to head home and shower before my date. I hope Jade likes French food, because our reservations are for Mon Amour, a restaurant I’ve been wanting to get back to.

  I had to call in several favors to get the reservation at the last minute. I love the authentic atmosphere of the place, mainly because it takes me back to the vacations I’ve spent in Paris.

  Ed is waiting for me outside. He flicks his cigarette on the ground before stepping on it.

  “All set, boss?” he asks, holding the door open for me.

  I nod and slide inside the car with my mind still on Jade. Does she wear a lot of make-up? Will her hair be up or down? What will she wear? Shit, what am I going to wear?

  Since I typically go to the gym, home and then the office, my options at the condo are limited.

  “Ed, let’s go to the Hills, I need to go through my clothes,” I say.

  “Roger that, boss,” says Ed, taking a sharp right turn.

  I watch as the outside world starts to look more familiar the closer we get to my house. The buildings are spaced out and we’re suddenly surrounded by impeccable landscaping.

  A few minutes later, we pull into my driveway and Ed types in the gate code. I feel a wave of relief. Everything is just like I left it, not that I was expecting anything less.

  Ed pulls up to the front door and lets me out. The doors fling open and Yvette rushes outside to meet me holding a feather duster.

  “Mr. Jordan, I wasn’t expecting you to be home today. I haven’t cooked anything, but if you give me an hour I’ll have something whipped up for you.”

  I smile and fall in step with Yvette as we walk inside. “This is just a quick pit stop for a shower and a change of clothes, so there’s no need to cook anything.”

  She fusses at me for a few more minutes before returning to her work. I head to my bedroom and close the door. Walking through the bathroom and into the adjoining room I had remodeled into a closet, I consider my options.

  I stand back and stare at my wardrobe. Nothing jumps out at me, so I hit the button and shift the clothes around, searching for my favorite black shirt and deep gray slacks. I don’t like my clothes overly flashy and prefer darker colors to compliment my eyes and hair. My outfit choice is simple, but it’s much better than wearing a three-piece suit everywhere.

  I take a quick shower, get dressed and say my goodbyes to Yvette. Ed is waiting right out front with the car and has the back door open for me.

  We ride in silence as I replay my conversation with Joe. His personal life is the main reason he works so hard, having several ex-wives to support. I feel bad for him, but he made his bed. I sigh and stare out the window.

  I need to stop overthinking this. I’m not planning to marry this woman tonight so I just need to slow down and stop putting the cart before the horse.

  It’s not long before we pull up to Jade’s building and park right in front. Normally, I prefer to escort my date directly from her home, but since I’m not exactly sure which place is hers, I wait anxiously in the lobby near the elevator. I twist and turn the paperclip in my pocket to calm my nerves. It’s my lucky paperclip and I never leave home without it. An old college professor taught me the trick after I expressed that public speaking makes me nervous. It doesn’t anymore, but I still carry the paperclip with me.

  Every time the elevator doors open, I perk up momentarily, and then slump back in disappointment. I check my watch for what seems like the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. To help occupy my mind, I grab my phone from my pocket and check my messages. I have several emails from Amelia, a few text messages from Mr. Tanaka, and a text from Joe urging me to come out for drinks with him instead of going on my date. I’m so focused on my phone that I don’t notice Jade until she’s standing in front of me. Her perfume greets me first, with its light flowery scent. I notice her shoes next, black with straps around the ankles and a high heel. Her toes are painted fire red, and while I’m not into fetishes, I can’t ignore how cute her little feet are.

  My eyes travel the short distance from her ankle to her upper thigh where her dress ends. I take my time taking in every inch of her, like I’m unwrapping a highly anticipated birthday present. The dress hugs her body, making her curves stand out on her petite frame. My gaze finally reaches her face and I’m speechless. Her make-up is minimal and compliments her features perfectly. The long blonde hair I’ve seen wrapped in a bun is now flowing freely over her shoulders.

  She shuffles from one foot to the other and clutches her purse in her hands. “Am I dressed okay? I wasn’t sure where you wanted to go so I just guessed about the dress code.”

  I reach out, take her hand and kiss it. “You look amazing,” I say.

  She smiles and pushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Thank you, you look quite handsome yourself.”

  I glance down at my outfit and look back up at her. “I pale in comparison standing next to you,” I say walking her to the door.

  Ed is ready and waiting at the back door.

  “This is Ed, our driver for the evening. Ed, this is Ms. Sinclair.”

  “Miss,” says Ed, tilting his hat at her.

  “Hello, Ed,” she says.

  “All right, let’s head to our reservation,” I say.

  Jade slides in first, I slide in next to her, and Ed closes the door behind us.

  “Where are we going?” she asks.

  “It’s a surprise,” I say, reaching for her hand again.

  We make small talk during the ride over to the restaurant. Nothing too deep, just enough to break the silence. We pull up at Mon Amour and I help Jade get out. She looks around for a moment then smiles.

  I offer her my arm and we walk inside and head straight to the maître d’.

  “I have a reservation for two under the name Jordan,” I say.

  The man nods and motions for us to follow him to the private dining room I have reserved. Jade is the kind of woman I don’t mind having a little bit of privacy with.

  I pull out Jade’s chair and ensure she’s settled in before taking a seat myself. We’re sitting right next to a colorful saltwater fish tank, one of my favorite parts of the restaurant. We receive our menus and I slide closer to Jade.

  “Everything is in French, but if you tell me what you like, I can help narrow down the options,” I say.

  “I think I’ve got it covered,” she says with a nod.

  Feisty, gorgeous and confident. Three of my favorite things.

  The server comes back, ready to take our order. Before I open my mouth to offer help again, Jade starts to order her food… in French. She stumbles over a few words a couple of times, but otherwise she orders her food without my help.

  I place my orde
r and hand the menu to the server before returning my attention to Jade.

  “Someone knows French,” I say.

  Jade carefully unfolds her napkin and places it in her lap. “Yes, I’m chock full of surprises.”

  I can’t disagree with you there.

  “You most certainly are, Ms. Sinclair,” I say. “I wonder what other little surprises you have in store for the evening.”

  Chapter 9

  JADE

  THE EXPRESSION on Asher’s face when I order my food in French is hilarious, but I swallow down the laugh tickling my throat. No one is more surprised than I am.

  I guess those forced French lessons are paying off.

  As soon as I saw the menu, I recognized enough words to put together a few coherent sentences. Taking some Italian in high school also helped. Marie would be so proud.

  We talk and laugh all through dinner. In fact, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

  This guy is entertaining. He scores some bonus points for having a great sense of humor.

  After dinner, we share a delicious apple pie with vanilla ice cream on the side as Asher points out the various saltwater fish in the tank next to us. The effort he put into planning this date doesn’t go unnoticed.

  We slowly gather our things and prepare to leave. I don’t want the evening to end. Asher pulls me in close to him as we wait for his car.

  This date has turned out way better than I thought it would.

  The Rolls-Royce pulls up and Asher places his hand in the middle of my lower back, guiding me inside. I smile as soon as I see what’s waiting for us. Two glasses of chilled Champagne sit on a small silver tray and a bouquet of roses lay next to it.

  “Are these for me?” I ask.

  Asher smiles, handing me a glass of Champagne. “Of course they’re for you and there’s a card in there too.”

  I take a sip from my glass and fish around for the card stuck inside the bouquet.

  “Let’s see what we have here,” I say, opening the small card. “It says ‘Thank you Jade for such a lovely evening.’ Aww that’s sweet. But how did you know this evening would turn out to be so nice?”

  Asher wraps one arm around me and drapes the other across my thighs. “Just a guess,” he says with a shrug. “Lucky for me most of the time my guesses are spot on.”

  A rush of heat flows from my head to my toes. It’s been a while since I’ve been this close to any man and I’m anxious to eventually get my goodnight kiss.

  “Well, I’m glad you guessed correctly,” I say. “I don’t get out very often and I wasn’t sure what to expect this evening. Things definitely turned out better than I thought they would, and I’m glad for it.”

  “Tell me about it,” says Asher. “My job takes up so much time that I rarely go out either. I’m either in a meeting, approving documents or scouting businesses. In fact, I’m sure my secretary has sent several emails and texts just while we’ve been at dinner. You’ve help keep my mind off business tonight so I haven’t even wanted to check my phone. Speaking of phones, go ahead and put your number in mine so I can call you later. I’ll need a way to reach you when I get ready to plan our next date.”

  He hands the cell phone to me and I quickly punch in my number.

  “Oh, aren’t you Mr. Confident? How do you know I’ll even want to go on another date with you?”

  “I told you already, I’m a good guesser. You want to go on another date with me, right? Tell me I’m wrong if I’m wrong, but I think we both know I’m right about this one too,” he says with a smirk.

  I roll my eyes with a grin and hand his phone back to him. “Yeah, yeah, so far so good,” I say, trying to play things cool.

  He’s planning our next date already? Wow, an investor and a nanny sounds like the plot to a bad soap opera.

  I giggle at how vastly different our worlds are. Asher leans in closer and nuzzles my neck.

  “What’s so funny?” he asks, trailing his fingertips up and down my thigh. “I love a good joke.”

  His breath is warm against my neck and I struggle to stay focused.

  “I was just thinking how different our jobs are. You’re a businessman running his own company. You make great money doing what you do and you’re always busy. On the other hand, my job isn’t quite as demanding as yours and I certainly don’t make as much as you do. Even though our backgrounds are completely different we both hold very important jobs.”

  He kisses the crook of my neck gently and the dull throb between my thighs awakens. “Go on,” he says. “Keep talking.”

  “Well,” I say. “I’m a nanny and I’ve been a live-in nanny for the last three months to the most incredible little boy ever.”

  “You must really like kids. Do you have any of your own?” he asks.

  “Heavens, no,” I say. “Being Jacob’s nanny will be enough for quite a while. He’s still very young so I get plenty of hands-on experience. Every day is a new adventure with him.”

  Asher stops stroking my leg and slowly pulls away. “Um, what’s his name again?”

  I take note of his strange behavior and try to figure out what I said to make him react this way.

  “Jacob,” I say. “He’s nine months old and has some of the most striking green eyes I’ve ever seen. His parents spend a lot of time doing their own thing, so ninety-five percent of the time, Jacob is in my care which is why I’m rarely ever free.”

  Asher moves completely away from me and puts his hands in his lap. “What do his parents do?” he asks.

  “His mom is working on relaunching her modeling career and his dad does something with hedge funds,” I say.

  The color drains from Asher’s face and I watch his jaw tense up several times. I lean over and put my hand on top of his.

  “Are you okay?” I ask. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  He shakes his head slowly just as the limo rolls to a stop in front of my building. Ed opens the door for us and I exit right behind Asher. He holds open the door to the lobby and escorts me to the elevators.

  “Nothing’s wrong, everything’s fine. So, you live here with Jacob and his parents?” he asks.

  “No,” I say. “Just Magdalene. Heath has his own place. But enough talk about my job. I want to thank you for such a lovely evening. I really enjoyed spending this time with you.”

  “Likewise,” he says.

  We wait silently for the elevator. I’m not sure what else to say. Asher’s whole demeanor has changed and I’m not exactly sure why. The elevator doors open and I step inside.

  “Well,” I say. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  Asher nods and turns around to the lobby doors. He doesn’t give me a goodnight kiss or anything, he just walks away.

  What the hell just happened?

  Chapter 10

  ASHER

  TWO WEEKS fly by. Two long fucking weeks since I had my date with Jade and I’ve been dodging her ever since. I scroll to her number at least ten times a day before talking myself out of calling her. The blacked-out names in her background check make sense now.

  I’ve known Heath for years and I know in certain areas of his life, he would gladly pay an arm and a half to protect it. Magdalene is a whole other bag of worms I’d rather not have re-opened. Dealing with the delicate intricacies of life involving people I know has been something I’ve worked hard to avoid. I don’t need the conflict of interest or accompanying headache.

  I just haven’t had the words necessary to explain all that to Jade. How can I tell her that I don’t want to get involved with her because she’s the nanny to an asshole friend of mine? Besides, the whole “it’s not you it’s me” thing is a little too cliché for me to effectively use it as an excuse.

  I opted instead to throw myself headfirst into work, and most nights I don’t go home until the wee hours of the morning just to start the whole cycle over. I deliberately go out of my way to avoid Jade. I have Ed call up to let me know the coast is clear before I make a beeline to my car ever
y morning. I hate having to do this, and I wouldn’t have to if she didn’t live right next door. The messed-up part is, I really want to see her again. I fight with myself daily and the only thing that takes my mind off things is exercising, specifically running.

  As soon as thoughts of Jade enter my mind, I grab my running shoes and head outside. At this point, I find myself running several times a day. I start off at a slow jog and take my time at first so my body can warm up. It’s not long before I’m in a full-blown sprint. I ignore the ache in my legs and burning in my chest as I force myself to keep going. It’s late in the morning and the sun is slowly heating up the day. Salty droplets sting my eyes before running down my face.

  I circle the block and start to slow down as I begin to make my way back to my place. I like to start my runs at a faster pace and slow down the closer I get to home. I round the corner and jog steadily pass a pretzel vendor set up next to a park. The light changes just as I reach the intersection and I’m forced to inhale the delicious fumes coming from the stand. I jog in place as I wait for the light to change and I briefly look over at the cart hoping to catch a glimpse of the warm salted bread.

  Instead what I catch a glimpse of over the vendor’s head is a beautiful pair of blue eyes giving me a death stare.

  Jade.

  I watch her for a moment and the light changes for me to go, but I’m torn. Part of me doesn’t want to face her and the other part wants to explain myself and kiss her through my apology. It seems like a dick move to make eye contact with her and just keep running home like nothing happened.

  Before I’m able to close the distance between us, she’s coming at me full speed ahead pushing a stroller in front of her.

  “Good morning,” I say, mainly because it’s the only thing I can think of.

  “That’s all you can say to me after leaving me hanging for two weeks? We had what I thought was a wonderful evening and you blew me off after saying you would call me to plan the next date. I didn’t have high expectations to begin with but that was such an asshole thing to do. For a second I thought you were different,” says Jade.