ROMANCE: The Bad Boy Meeting

by Kevin, Amanda

  He pulled over onto the side of the street. I found a parking space a couple cars ahead of him, put my car into park and slipped the keys from the ignition and into my purse before hoping out. At this hour the streets were pretty bare. “So you work here?” I asked, trying to figure out which place he worked at. There was a hit restaurant, a clothing store, gym, a wedding shop, and a skate shop.

  “Yea, but I’m not taking you to the shop.” So it was the shop, but which one? “We agreed on food.”

  “I guess we did.”

  I let him lead the way to the restaurant, this time I was the one who reached the door first. I pulled it open and motioned for him to go first. He scowled but made his way inside. “Hey Josh,” He nodded to a black haired guy who approached us. “Mind if we take a back seat?”

  “Not at all.” He grabbed two menus and led the way to the back of the building.

  The entire thing screamed hip. Jessica is going to scream when I tell her I came here. The walls were a deep red, with stainless steel tables and big fuzzy black benches. I fallowed… oh god, I don’t even know his name. I fallowed him towards the back of the room and took a seat across from him. He looked around happily as the waiter lay the menus down in front of us.

  “So, do you have a name?” I asked reaching for the menus.

  “Ken,” He held his hand out to shake.

  “AJ.” I shook his hand. He looked me up and down.

  “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You too.” I glanced down at the menu. I wasn’t surprised to see the price on these things, but I was surprised that he’d decided to take me here. I mean, it wasn’t even an official date and he was taking me somewhere like this?

  “What do you do for a living?” He asked casually.

  “I… am in the retail business.” It was a common lie I used, not really a lie I guess. I did sell things, just after I um, acquired them first.

  He smirked. “I thought so…. See, I’m looking for someone. A friend of mine suggested her to me. AJ Jones.”

  I stared at him. Who was his friend? I tilted my head. “Who’s your friend?”

  “His name is John Mackly.”

  “Oh! John, you should have just said so.” John was a good client.

  Ken grinned. “Maybe I wanted to make sure I got dinner in with you first.”

  “Trying to win me over?”

  “Do I need to?”

  “Depends, what are you looking for?”

  “A black necklace. I’d rather not go over it right here, if that’s alright with you.”

  “Of course.” Most of my clients didn’t like talking about our transactions in public.

  “Good, you can come over tonight and we will go through all the details.”

  “I go over client proposals at my own place.” I raised an eyebrow but before I could say anything Josh approached us. “Are you two ready to order.”

  “I’ll take the usual.” Ken piped up. Josh turned his attention to me.

  “I’ll um, I’ll take a chicken burger please.” I closed my menu and handed it to him.

  “It will be out in a jiffy.”

  I waited until he was gone before I turned my attention back to the man I was sitting with. His black hair was pushed out of his face and fell to his shoulders. His tanned his looked smooth, other than a couple scars. It made me wonder what his deal was. After all anyone who came to me about acquiring anything had a deal. I didn’t dare ask in public. I’ll do that later.

  * * * *

  The meal went very well. Apparently we had a lot in common, though I still hadn’t found out what he was. He even invited me out to some boxing match tonight after we get everything sorted out.

  I hadn’t given an exact answer but I was considering it, and even trying to decide what to wear.

  Now, I was just waiting for him. We’d agreed to meet at 7:00 and it was 6:59 when I heard someone knocking on my door.

  I jumped to my feet, my hunting knife on my hip and rushed for the door. My fingers curled around the handle and I opened it as quickly as I could.

  He stood there in a suit. I swallowed looking him up and down. My gods above and below how could a man look so good in a suit? If it were up to me I’d jump him right then and there

  “Hey.” I forced myself to step aside. “Come on in and we can get everything sorted out.” I waited for him to slip out of his boots. He carried a briefcase with him.

  “So…” He looked nervous.

  “Come on, let’s go to my office.” I led the way down a small hallway off the living room and into my equally small office. I sat down at the desk facing the door and motioned for him to take the large comfy chair.

  He sat up straight as he laid his brief case on the desk. I poured us a glass of water from the pitcher on the desk and motioned for him to have a cupcake. Something I had just baked today. “So,” I slid the glass over to him. “Let me just walk you through this real quickly. I assume it is your first time?”

  “Yes.”

  Was it just me or did he sound nervous? For such a muscular man it was kinda cute. Until I saw his muscles flex under his suit. Cute turned into sexy pretty fast. I cleared my throat as I looked away from him. “So, first we talk about what you need me to get for you. If you have any research on it then now is the time to give it to me. I take a good look at it and normally have to review the research and do some of my own before I can actually give you an answer on whether or not I can do it. If it’s something that will be hard for me to acquire then I will need more time in this world time is money so I work that into my price. I don’t work based on hours I put into the job but it does fall into my price.” I grabbed a piece of paper from under my desk. “An easy job, one that takes me a day or two,” I pointed to the first line of text on the paper. “Will cost about $2000. Of course that is assuming I am not going into a heavily guarded area and that the object is somewhat easy to get. But that is where my price starts. If I require travel you will have to pay for my flights there and back.”

  “It’s in California.”

  I worked hard to control my eyes so they didn’t bulge. “Alright. Well, at least I won’t have to track it down-”

  “Look,” He cut me off. “John told me how good you are and I need this necklace. I’m willing to pay you whatever you need, and you will receive an extra $5000 if the job is done within the week.”

  This time I couldn’t control my eyes widened. “Um, excuse me?”

  “I’m serious about getting this necklace. All the information on it is in that briefcase. I will pay for any tools you need.”

  I sat back studying the man in front of me. “Why do you want this so bad?”

  “Do you always ask your clients that?”

  “No.” I admitted.

  Ken smirked. He pushed himself to his feet as he checked his watch. “I’ve got to get going. Will you be joining me at the fight?”

  I stood. “I don’t date clients.” I knew it was the right thing to say but after all these years this was the only time it was hard for me to say.

  “I’m not a client yet.” He glanced down at my desk. “You said yourself that you will need at least a day to go over everything.”

  Using my own words against me. I kinda liked it. You should say no. I knew what I should do… but I also knew what I wanted to do. “Just let me get changed.”

  I stepped out from behind the desk, let him make his way back into the hallway and locked up my office. With such sensitive stuff in there I kept it heavily under lock and key.

  I made my way into the bedroom. I paused at the door, wondering if I wanted to close it. Part of me didn’t. The living room wasn’t in direct line of sight to the bedroom, but I liked the idea of him catching me changing. I knew the right thing to do was close the door but I chose to only half close it.

  I changed into a black pencil skirt, applied some lip gloss, pulled on my blue shirt that made my boobs look great, slipped into my black 5” pumps and, after sco
oping up my black clutch, made my way back out to the living room.

  Ken was waiting for me by the door, his shoes on and his pockets in his hands. He saw me, a grin spread over his face as he looked me up and down. “You clean up well.”

  My cheeks burned. “Thanks.” I let him lead the way out of my place and towards his streets. “I can fallow you.” I said. I looked around. “Where’s your car?”

  “Oh, I’m driving another one. Please, let me drive you.”

  “No it’s fine. I can drive myself. That way you don’t have to drive back here.”

  He turned on his heal and made his way over to a Jaguar. “I don’t mind at all.” He popped the passenger side door open. “In fact, I’d be honored if you let me drive you there.”

  I swallowed dryly. I couldn’t make myself speak so I just made my way over to the car and dropped down into the seat. He has more than one car? And not just any ratty old cars. These were luxury cars.

  I watched as he circled around the front and came over to the driver side.

  The actual drive didn’t feel like long at all. “So are you going to tell me why you want the necklace?”

  “It’s… personal.” Ken stared out the front window. “I just… need it.”

  “You need it?”

  “No. I really want it. I… the necklace was stolen from my family. I want it back.”

  “A family heirloom?” That’s what he was paying me so much to get for him? It wasn’t something I was used to having to get. There must be something more to it.

  “Yes.” But clearly he wasn’t going to expand on it.

  He came to a stop outside a small bar.

  “I thought you said we were going to a fight?”

  “We are.” He turned the car off and hopped out of the car. I popped my door open and by the time I was out of the car he was waiting for me. Okay, he wasn’t human. Humans don’t move that fast. He held his arm out to me.

  I took it and let him lead the way around the back of the building. We came to a stop in front of the back door and he knocked twice.

  Seconds later someone opened the door. The elderly woman glanced at me, then at Ken and stepped out of the way to let us in.

  “I wondered why you were late.”

  “I’m not late.” He shook my hold off him and pulled the woman into his arms. “Grace, this is AJ. She’s helping me with some… stuff. AJ, this is my boss Grace.” She looked me up and down before extending her hand to me.

  “It’s nice to meet you dear. Why don’t you come get a drink with me while Ken gets ready?” It wasn’t a question.

  “Um, sure.” I still wasn’t quite sure what was going on. Grace was his boss, and he was getting ready…. Oh wait. I wasn’t going to watch a fight with Ken. I was going to watch Ken fight.

  My mouth fell open a little as we headed towards the front. The bar was up against the left side of the building, at the back there was a ring set up and a few dozen chairs around it. Two men were already fighting. Blood dripped from one of them.

  “What can I get you?” Grace asked from behind the counter.

  “Um, just a beer is fine.”

  “He didn’t tell you that you were coming here to watch him fight, did he?” She searched my face.

  “No.”

  A sympatric smile spread across her lips. “He’s one of our best fighters. He’ll be fine.” She handed me my beer and I took a long swig.

  “Hey Grace.” A man came up to her. He pulled out his wallet. “Ken’s about to go on, right?”

  “Yup. He’s the next fight up.”

  “Good! I came just to see him.”

  Oh crap. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I realized I was probably at an illegal fight right now. I looked around me. Everyone was well dressed despite the fact that the bar was dingy and there were several punching bags in the back. Everyone seemed more than happy to be here.

  I watched as one of the men in the ring fell down. The referee counted until 10 and when he wasn’t able to make it to his feet by then he called the match. My heart pounded in my chest. Grace had said this next one would be Ken’s.

  A hush fell over everyone as the two fighters left the ring and the next two came out from the back room. As Two men, one of them Ken in a pair of black shorts, entered the ring everyone cheered. I just stared at him.

  I’d seen how large his arms were before but… his abs. he had a perfect 6 pack and his chest was huge and covered in tattoos. It was the kind of chest I wanted to kiss. I swallowed dryly as the two men prepared to fight. The other guy was almost as big as him, with long black hair that was creasy and he wore green shorts. I couldn’t take my eyes off Ken the entire fight.

  The way his body move. The way he dodged punches and countered strikes. He won by blocking a kick and delivering a knockout punch. I gasped, my heart jumping into my throat before I could scream my approval.

  He bent down beside the referee to make sure the other guy was okay and, once the guy had come back to, Ken helped him towards the back room.

  “Why don’t you go back there and say hi?” Grace suggested.

  “Are you sure that would be okay?”

  “Of course. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise just tell them that Grace sent you back there and tell Ken to come see me before he leaves.”

  I nodded as I turned on my heel and headed for the back door we’d entered when we first got here.

  Chapter 2: Not Here

  “That was good fight tonight.” He gasped.

  “Sorry about that right hook.”

  He shrugged it off and laughed softly. “I don’t fight you so you can be sorry man.”

  As we approached his small change room he took his weight off me. “I’ll be fine. Quit looking so sorry.”

  I turned my face away from him so he wouldn’t see just how worried I was. “I know, I know. You heal quickly. Just be careful would ya?”

  “You’re one to talk.” He snorted as he pushed his door open and stepped inside.

  “Hey!” She called from behind me.

  I spun to face her. Her heels clinked against the floor as she made her way down the stairs by the back door and towards me. I closed the distance between her and held my hand out to support her as she took the last step off the stairs. “What are you doing down here?”

  “Grace sent me.”

  He grinned. “Well come on. I’ve just got to change and then we can head out.”

  “She wants to see you before you leave.”

  “She always does.”

  “Why?”

  “To pay me. I’m one of her fighters which means I take part of the commission she makes on the tickets and then I get a small percentage of the bar money.”

  “And this affords you two cars?”

  “Four actually.” I turned to see her reaction. She looked lost, confused, and in shock.

  “You have four cars?”

  “Three cars and a truck.” I nodded as we entered my small change room.

  “Wow.”

  “And no, this doesn’t afford it. This is just fun for me. I’m a welder by trade. That is what affords me three cars and a truck.” I glanced around the room for somewhere to change out of her sight. Didn’t find anywhere so I just grabbed my pants and slipped out of my shorts. I was utterly aware of her eyes on my ass, or maybe they were on the tattoo on my lower cave.

  “I was thinking we could leave tonight.”

  “I need to do a little research then we can leave.”

  “You can do your research on the plane.”

  “Excuse me.” I turned to face her as I slipped into a muscle shirt. Her face was bright red as she stared at the ground. Slowly she glanced up. She bit her lower lip.

  My eyes traced over her body. Her bare legs up to the hem of her skirt, her blue shirt that accented her breasts. I swallowed dryly stepping closer to her.

  Her eyes locked on mine as she straightened herself.

  A fight always got my blood pumping, it ga
ve me a chance to let loose and let my wolf side have some fun but the only issue was that when it ended the wolf didn’t want to go away. It took me hours to get myself back under control and right now, with her in front of me, I wasn’t sure the wolf would be controlled at all.

  * * * *

  I refused to look away from him as he stepped closer to me. Seconds ago we’d been talking about the job, about taking a plane, now it all felt… so pointless. I stared at him, my eyes running over his body. My stomach fluttered as I saw what I’m sure was a hard on. I stepped closer to him. “Then you’ll be a client.” I didn’t realize how low my voice was until those words came out. “And I don’t date clients.”

  I reached out and touched his chest. A soft moan passed through my lips as my fingers traced over his muscles, trying to memorize every inch of them.

  He grabbed my hips, slid the hem of my shirt up just enough so that his fingers were touching my skin and pulled me close to him.

  I gasped as his lips crashed against mine. He pulled me tighter into his arms, my hands reaching up for his hair and my fingers tangling into his hair finding the perfect home. His kiss was aggressive. My teeth grazed his lower lip gently as he pressed his body against me, guiding me to the wall. I felt my back hit it as he pulled away from me. His eyes searched my face. “I want you.” He whispered.

  My heart pounded in my ears. This was a bad idea. It was worse than dating a client. “I want you too.” I whispered before I even realized it.

  He pressed himself against me, his lips crashing against mine again. I moaned as one hand traced over the curves of my body and into my hair. He pulled my neck gently to the side placing feathery soft kisses on every inch of skin he could touch.

  My hands left his hair and traced down his large frame. God I hope other parts of him are just as large.

  They sure as hell felt it. I massaged him from outside of his pants.

  He let out a growl of pleasure. I popped the button on his jeans.