Without any pants.
I chuckled as I approached her at the bar, but I didn’t address her attire. Not yet. First I wanted to know what sort of mission she was on, since we rarely got a glimpse of the old doll, unless it was important enough to bring her out of one of the castles she frequented in Scotland, her villa in the Mediterranean, or whatever trip she happened to be on at the moment. Add that to her other business ventures around the world, and I was damn lucky she was here today.
My curiosity spiked, I ordered a peach smoothie and took a seat beside her. “DD…” I said placing a hand upon her own and squeezing.
“Damon, darling. So good of you to meet me.” A spark of annoyance threatened her voice.
Damn. Had I missed a text or something? “I…I didn’t know you were…”
Before I could finish, she put a finger to my mouth. “No, darling. No one knew I was coming. It’s quite all right. I had your sister meet me at the airport.”
Then how did she know? I tried not to show my displeasure. Tabitha and DD had always had this secret language between them. I’d always resented that.
DD looked out at the pool, then back at me. “You know, I was hoping something had changed around here. After all, It’s been what seven, no eight years since I’ve been back, Damon.” She gave me an accusing look. I immediately bristled.
“Changed? What should we change? Our client list is only slightly lower than last year but I assure you the Delaney Club is in the black.” When I was little I called her DD, for that was all I was capable of saying, and something about seeing one’s grandmother half-naked made me slip into the old nickname.
She reached down for her purse and I tried not to stare at her naked legs. I hated to admit, they were pretty spectacular for an old brawd. No varicose veins and trim to the hilt. Holy shit! Was that a tattoo of a monkey on her ankle? When the hell did she get that thing?
Lifting the huge leather purse like it contained a ton of bricks, she set it on the bar and then began rifling through its contents. Then she pulled out a large envelope. “I’ll get right down to business, Damon.”
She slapped the envelope on the bar, and dropped the bag by her feet. “Before you look at that, I need you to listen to me.”
Sliding my palms over the manila envelope, soft jitters fluttered in my veins. She was giving me the club. At long last!. Now I could do exactly what I wanted with it and to hell with my sister’s signature. I swallowed. If that was what I thought it was, then DD must be…
“I’m retiring,” she confirmed with a smile. “Effective whenever you two get your goddamned shit together.”
I ignored that last comment. “The two of us? You’re giving it to Tabitha and I?”
My face fell to my knees. Tabitha had her own life. I didn’t know where and I didn’t care, but basically, even though she owned a quarter of the Delaney Club, I seldom saw her. I just assumed she wanted nothing to do with the place. So I’d gone on my merry way, making all the decisions, paying all the bills, taking care of our clients the best way I knew how, although never really rocking the boat.
“Now I know what you’re thinking,” my grandmother began. “You’re thinking you’ve been running this place all by yourself, so why stop now? You’ve spent your every waking minute making sure things run smoothly without a single finger poked into the pie from either me or your sister. You’re thinking this isn’t fair and it isn’t right.”
I stared hard at her.
“Well you’d be right, naturally,” she continued. “But let me ask you something, Damon. Are you happy?”
“What?”
She swiveled in the chair, crossing one leg over the other, leaving me momentarily distracted. Curious too. Where the hell were her pants?
I focused on her face. Her flawless, surgically enhanced yet beautiful face. I loved my grandmother. It was because of her taking us in when our parents died in a train wreck, that Tabitha and I had perfect childhoods. We never wanted for anything. It was only after we’d both graduated from college, she started traveling the world. When I took an interest in running the business of the club, DD had been overjoyed. Of course I was happy.
“What do you mean?”
She waved a hand back and forth. “It’s just so….dull.” Her tongue lingered on the last word. “I mean, the same clients year after year, the same functions, the same…everything. Although I did hear that some woman in an evening gown fell into the pool. At least that kept you amused.”
“I don’t see…”
“Sure you do. It’s not the club I’m actually worried about. It’s you, Damon. You need something more in your life. You need… I don’t know. Some pizzazz, I think. I’m not sure what exactly, but something. Or… someone?” The sunglasses slid down her nose as she dropped her chin, brows raised.
“I’m not following… “ But then, I brightened. “You want us to redecorate? Consider it done. Consider it…”
“Oh for Christ’s sake, Damon… You’re just like your father. Flipping dense as a pack of cards! No, you ninny. I don’t want you to redecorate. I want you to do something with your life, but if it involves the Club, so be it. I need to see if this place means anything to you. Oh, not the building. Not even the damn corporation but something…In here.” She patted her chest lightly. “And I’d like it if you got married too.”
So that was what this was all about. What the hell!
She pushed the envelope toward me. “Open it.”
With shaking hands I pulled out several sheets of loose leaf paper from the envelope. I set them between us, face down. I scratched my head, trying to figure out what the hell she was up to.
“Go ahead, read it,” she commanded.
The bartender brought her another drink.
“You’ll find it’s all very legal. Both you and Tabitha have exactly two weeks to show me what you can do with the Club, but it has to be something original. It has to be something that comes from your heart. Something that gives back to the community for instance. No idiotic balls or wine tastings.”
My gut tightened. What the hell did I know about charity events? If that was what she was talking. And pitting me against my sister? Tabitha didn’t have a creative bone in her skinny little body. What could she possibly come up with and why would she even want to? To show me up that’s why.
I slid my fingers through the papers and settled on the last page. Gritting my teeth I said, “Um…why am I the only one that has to find a wife?” Not that I had any intention of doing that. I’d get out of that little clause somehow.
“Tabitha is already married if you recall.”
I did recall, but it didn’t seem fair. Of course none of this seemed fair.
This was all too much to take in, but part of me salivated at the challenge. Maybe this would fill that void I’d been feeling lately, minus the wife part.
I inhaled a lungful of air. “What happened to your pants?”
DD giggled. “I met the most charming woman today. A bit of a dreamer too. She’s a painter, just like me. Anyway, she spilled something on them so…I took them off.” She lifted her drink. “Found I kinda like being bare legged too. Let’s everything….breathe.” she sighed dramatically. “What? Don’t look at me like that. You men do it all the time. Why, my Reggie wears a kilt without any… “
“Christ DD! Too much information.”
I glanced about the room and sure enough two old geezers smoking cigars and one guy close to my age were staring at my grandmother’s legs. Fuck! I wanted to deck them on the spot, wipe those nasty grins away with my knuckles. I would have too, had she not sprung to her feet and, to my relief, announced she needed to go change. She threw the bag straps over her shoulder and said, “You can keep that, Damon. I have copies.”
I almost died when I saw her stride over to the table with the younger man, give him a wicked smile, and hold out her hand for him to kiss it.
I wasn’t the only one flabbergasted. The older gentlemen frowned. On
e of them missed the ash tray and put his cigar out on the table. I burst out laughing before the envelope in my grip started to make a hole inside my palm.
What the hell was I going to do? I couldn’t lose the Club to my sister. This Club was my life. I didn’t have anything else. Or anyone. Was that the problem, according to my grandmother? She thought marriage was what I lacked. The word left a nasty taste in my mouth.
***
I met Jason for a game of racquetball in the gym, hoping it would clear my mind. I had two weeks. Just two weeks to figure this all out. To my dismay, all he wanted to talk about was his sister.
“Shit! There must be one decent guy in this godforsaken hellhole,” Jason fumed. “I mean, they can’t all be married.”
I gave him a swift jam serve, catching him off balance. I couldn’t help gloating when he missed the ball.
“I don’t know what you expect me to do,” I complained. “I gave you the list of all the ones that are either single or divorced.”
“I know, I know. And I appreciate that, but this is my sister we’re talking about. I have a responsibility to her. He has to be perfect. If I don’t find someone for her soon, she’ll sleep with the first asshole she finds. And then she’ll tell herself its true love.”
“Wow. Really?”
“Have you seen her, man? She’s fucking gorgeous.”
I had seen her and held her too, but I couldn’t tell him that. When she’d shown up earlier dressed in a leopard skin bikini, a little jewel in her belly button, and long auburn hair skimming her cleavage, I’d nearly swallowed my gum and my cock twitched.
“She’s…pretty,” I said trying not to sound too impressed.
Jason looked at me, letting the ball go over his head. “You don’t date much do you?” Then he nodded with a knowing expression. I let him think what he wanted. He was right about one thing. I didn’t date much. Since my divorce, I’d steered clear of anyone who looked slightly dangerous. That also meant anyone who really appealed to me. Being stabbed in the back, and I mean that literally, will do that to a man. I didn’t think Elizabeth would do that, but still.
“Listen,” I said, returning his volley. “I’m not sure you’re giving your sister enough credit here.”
“How do you mean?”
“For one thing, she’s not the first woman or man for that matter to pick the wrong mate, right?”
Jason didn’t respond, but I noticed he upped his game after that, hitting the ball with so much vigor, he almost blinded me before I ducked at one point.
“It’s like this,” I said. “When the right one comes along, the right one comes along. There is no guarantee that whomever you pick will click with Elizabeth anyway. Why don’t you just pick the first one of those guys on my list. Don’t even think about him. Just pick a name. Let them go on a date, and if she kicks him to the curb, you did your best. If she doesn’t you’re a hero, right?”
He hit the ball back to me pretty quickly and this time I missed it. Sweat was pouring down my back. I started to heat up, my balls tight, just thinking about Elizabeth.
“I don’t know, bud. That doesn’t sound very scientific.” The ball hit the wall behind his head so fast, it almost hit him when he turned around. “Man, I thought you were going to help me with this.”
“I am helping you. I’m just saying there’s no guarantees, so you may as well just take the burden off yourself.”
He caught the ball as I threw it to him and stared at me, lips tight. “So the first guy I see, right?” He threw the ball up and swung.
“Right. And give your sister some credit. Maybe she’s learned something by dating all those jerks. Know what I mean?”
“I do actually.”
We’d been at it for two hours and I could see Jason looking a little heat stroked. I let the last ball go over my head. “Okay, game over.”
“What’s the score?” he asked.
“What score?”
He chuckled and then picked up a towel, dabbed off his face, and then threw it over his shoulder. “By the way, you said you wanted to talk to me about something…”
I tossed him a water bottle then grabbed my workout bag. “I’ll figure it out.” He gave me a funny look, shrugged his shoulders and took a long drink.
“Man, I’m going to kill that guy called Adam one day,” Jason remarked as we walked out of the gym.
“Adam?”
“You know Adam and Eve? The reason for all our troubles.”
I laughed.
Chapter NINE
Elizabeth
I couldn’t stop thinking about him if my life depended on it.
Damon Donovan was absolutely, without a doubt, the wrong man for me. I had this whole scenario in my head as to why. He was obviously so in love with his own muscles that he worked out three times a day. Who does that, unless they want to appear a certain way to the opposite sex? He probably had a different woman every night. Now that conjured up all sorts of exotic fantasies. Maybe he had nooners in between classes. I could totally picture that about Damon. He had this raw animalistic nature. Like he demanded what he wanted, while at the same time he appeared kind and generous. But it was all an act. I knew the game. I knew his type.
Maybe I wasn’t meant to be in love. Perhaps that was a good thing. No broken heart. No tears or divorce papers to sign. No reasons to want to take my own life although I couldn’t exactly see myself doing that ever again. I’d healed pretty well, deciding once and for all that no man was worth it. Too bad I found that all out after I scared the shit out of Jason. I would never…ever… put him through that again.
Gripping the iron railing of my veranda, I gazed down at the pool and the place around it. I saw kids of all ages, most of them dark-skinned, laughing and carrying, like this was flipping Disneyland.
The sight of their small bodies warmed me, and I wished I could say I hadn’t been where they were, but I had. Judging by the buses, the way some of them were clothed, their ghetto behavior, these were not kids from Prep school. I had a vague idea about the kind of crap these kids must be going through because I’d been there myself.
I glanced back inside my room where my wooden easel stood poised against the back wall. I should focus on my painting. Really make something of my life. I didn’t need a man for that. Actually, I only needed a man for one thing, which gave me an idea. Could I do this? Did I dare? Could I have sex with Damon and go on my merry way? Just mind-blowing no-strings attached sex? I had to admit, I’d thought of little else these days, and Delilah said muses filled one’s soul. She claimed it made her a better artist. I hadn’t asked her, but I doubted she was in love with any of those five men.
I saw Damon walk over to the pool and my nipples immediately stiffened.
He was wearing a pale blue shirt that trapped his magnificent broad shoulders beneath a rich perfectly fitted jacket. Columbian blue. Blue mirrored sunglasses hid his aquamarine eyes making him look untouchable and very, very, yummy.
I wanted to rip those glasses off his face, unzip his perfectly tailored pants.
Lead him up here to my bedroom.
By his dick.
If I thought he was hot before, he was ten degrees hotter now.
I gasped, knuckles white as I gripped the railing for dear life, nipples tightening, almost painfully.
It was nearly a hundred degrees! What was it with all the suits around here? I started to fantasize about taking it off him. Not just the coat. All his clothing. But I wanted to take his tie off most of all, so I could make it into a leash, wrap it around my hand and lead him to…where, exactly?”
I know! I’d tie him to the bedpost!
A hot rush of electricity sparked between my thighs. I was sweating profusely now which had nothing to do with the sun.
Leaning as far over the railing as was humanly possible, I focused on the beautiful blonde talking to Damon. I couldn’t help it. I knew it was ridiculous, but a twinge of jealousy wrestled with my heart. I couldn’t tell if
they were laughing or sparring with each other. Her hair, which was braided all the way down her back, looked like the type men ogled after, her legs so long she could have been a model, and when she turned in my direction the sun glinted off the damn jewels in her hair. Damon seemed to be enjoying her company immensely, and when he placed a hand on her lower back, I almost sprinted from the three-story terrace. Like Wonder Woman, ready to scratch her eyes out.
Control yourself! This is what you wanted, right? So he was a player after all. Casual sex was on the table in full force now.
When I made my way back downstairs, I saw Jason finishing his lunch. “Oh hey,” he said. “Pull up a seat. Did you eat yet?”
“Not hungry.”
“Then have a drink. You look like you could use one.”
“I said I’m…not…hungry,” I snarled.
“Hey, don’t take it out on me because you’re in a bad mood.” He wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to talk to you.”
“About what?” Maybe he wanted to leave early or had some sort of excursion off this damn property planned. I could use a change of scenery right about now.
“I think I found you a date.”
“Oh great,” I said, deflated.
“Hey, come on. You look like I just planned your funeral or something.”
“Sorry.”
“You should be. I’m trying really hard here, Liz. Anyway, this guy owns his own company, but it still hasn’t gone public yet.” He raised his eyebrows. “So he’s rich but not too rich.”
“Whatever, Jason.”
“Divorced three times…”
“What!”
“Now hear me out, Liz. The first one was at sixteen. I know. I know. Not too bright huh, but maybe that’s because he’s a romantic right? Like Romeo and Juliet. You gotta love a guy whose romantic.” The words sang from his lips as if he’d just invented the most perfect man on earth. I wasn’t getting it. Not at all.
“And the other two marriages?”
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