All I had to identify my ‘important client’ was a name and a face, and I waited patiently beyond the cordoned-off terminal. It took mere moments for the speakers to blare with a feminine voice declaring the plane was being unloaded, and I tapped my foot absently as I glanced around. A woman waited with her five children, one only a few weeks old, and the anxiety surrounding her was palpable.
It took only a fraction of a second to realize why she looked so tense when a big, muscly man in full Marine uniform came rushing out of the terminal. He dropped his heavy knapsack to make a break for his family, and his childrens’ shouting and screaming filled the terminal. Every pair of eyes were on them, and I almost felt bad for watching as he slid to his knees to bear hug all of his kids together.
The oldest couldn’t have gone through puberty yet, but he clearly didn’t care too much about his appearance as he burst into tears.
My heart squeezed painfully, and I tore my eyes off them to focus on the gate as my lungs stuttered. I didn’t even know anyone in the military, but no one could deny the emotion of the moment. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, I squared my shoulders and pursed my lips into a thin line before regular fliers began to disembark the gate.
“Mr. Richards—” Putting on my best smile, my cheeks heated at the immediate, intense gaze that raked down my front. A shock of ear-length, dirty blond hair curled slightly on either side of intimidatingly bright, blue eyes, but Anthony Richards didn’t so much as twitch in greeting. “I’m Hailey Montgomery—I’ll be your driver for the week. May I take your bag?”
Smooth-shaven cheeks did nothing to hide Anthony’s thinning lips, and he held out his carry-on in silence to nod curtly.
“Let’s get this over with, then.” Gruff and hard, his deep voice hit me like a brick to the face, and my smile strained slightly as I took the leather handles of his small duffel bag.
“Right this way, please.” The quiet bubble around us only grew denser on the way out of the airport and back to my car, and tension thrummed through my veins. I didn’t know anything about Anthony Richards aside from his name, but his picture didn’t do him justice.
He was large and in charge—and he was not in a good mood.
Great, just great.
“Take me to the Rochester.” Speaking up from the back seat, Anthony’s demand coiled underneath my shoulder blades as I pulled off the curb and into the ever-flowing ocean of traffic leaving the airport. Rolling my inner cheek between my teeth, I glanced in the rearview mirror to find him scowling at his reflection in the tinted window of the back passenger side seat.
A cell phone chimed a tune I didn’t recognize as I zipped up a highway on-ramp, and I tapped the steering wheel absently. There were definitely worse things that a grumpy client—like a client that never shut up or got personal. Putting pressure on the gas pedal, I checked my mirrors habitually before flicking on my blinker to merge into the far left lane.
“You couldn’t call me in the morning? I just landed, I’m not even at the hotel yet.” Annoyance seeped into Anthony’s thickened voice, and I flexed my toes in my heels as the urge to glance back at him burned between my eyeballs and their sockets. “I know that, this isn’t my first business trip, you know. If you don’t like it, why don’t you do something about it besides complain?”
“You know what—I really don’t care at this point. I’ll call you when I feel like it.” Electricity crackled in the air as Anthony cut the call, and I couldn’t resist temptation anymore. Peeking in the rearview mirror, my eyes widened slightly as I watched him drag his hand down his face. His grimace morphed his expression as he slouched in his seat; even behind his palm, he couldn’t hide the frown that tugged at his mouth.
He looks really stressed.
The thought banged against my forehead just as his eyes flickered to mine, and I fixed mine back on the road without watching his pupils restrict. For a long, tense moment, Anthony stared at the back of my head, and I held my breath as my hair follicles tingled under my cap.
But Anthony didn’t call me out, and after that few seconds slid by on pins and needles, my tight muscles relaxed when he moved his stare to the scenery.
Anthony
Scrolling through the search page I’d brought up on my cell phone, I frowned deeply at the sheer number of bars and clubs this city had to offer. The elevator gave a shrill ping as it stopped at the ground floor, and I stepped out onto solid ground without tearing my eyes from the screen.
“This one looks the best, I guess.” Slipping my phone into my suit pants pocket, I raked my hand through my hair as my grumble rang in my ears. My bad mood had only gotten worse since landing, and I strode heavily towards the hotel’s revolving doors to step onto the busy sidewalk. This city’s nightlife was insanely active, and I took a deep breath filled with the smell of food from nearby restaurants and bars.
The map to the particular place I wanted to check out branded against my eyelids every time I blinked, and I set out at a leisurely pace. Couples on dates, groups of people just hanging out, flooded every inch of downtown, but the claustrophobia eased some of my nerves. It only briefly came to me that I should’ve asked Hailey for a tour, but I didn’t want to talk more than necessary and end up heaping guilt on what was already a volatile situation.
Music spilled onto the street as I passed a bar-b-que joint that was filled to the bay windows, but it couldn’t stave off my frown. Loosening my tie and unfastening the top two buttons of my shirt as I wandered down the sidewalk, I rubbed my neck roughly before shoving my hands into my pockets.
“At least she didn’t seem to take it personally…” My mumble was lost under all the other noise, floating on the crisp breeze that combated the heat radiating from various eateries. Hailey was a nice surprise from the groveling, insipid drivers that I was usually stuck with; I got the instant impression she was a great conversationalist.
But I’d kept my mouth shut on the 45 minute drive to the hotel rather than test that theory.
Not that there’s not a good reason, though.
My mind wandered back to California, and I ground my teeth as the phone call only two hours ago rang in my ears. Irritation flooded my veins at the overbearing tone in my father’s voice, and I curled my hands into fists in their sheaths.
If my father didn’t trust me after all this time to run the businesses he forced me to take over, why in the fuck didn’t he just take them back? The question haunted me more often than I cared to admit, and even after five years, I didn’t have an answer. He was a control freak, he always had been, but that strictness that’d served me well in adolescence was crushing me as an adult.
Our relationship had deteriorated considerably since my father’s heart attack, and I could barely stand to even take his calls anymore.
Money. Hedge-funding. Banking. Properties. Stocks. Everything my father had shoved down my throat, he topped with a direct style of management that I couldn’t swallow. Slowly over the years I had begun to break away from him, but he still found ways to fuck with me.
Like he was doing right fucking now.
My destination was only about a fifteen-minute walk from the hotel, off a side street that was surprisingly clean and well-lit. Staring at the long line of men and women idling on the sidewalk to get in, I frowned absently as my gaze slid to the bruiser that guarded the entrance.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I waited in a line for anything, let alone a club entrance, and I inhaled deeply to exhale heavily.
The bouncer and I were the same height, and he watched me through narrowed eyes as I strode towards him. Recognition flashed in his dark irises and across his face before he reached for his little walkie-talkie.
Hiding the little sliver of surprise that lodged in my chest, I only nodded as he opened the door for me wordlessly.
Even after a lifetime, I still found it amazing that people recognized me almost everywhere I went.
Leather and sex tainted the air, growing thicker and head
ier as I made my way down the hallway that led to the club’s main floor. Not just anyone could find this place, and I shirked off my jacket to hang it on a peg on the wall.
Pulsing, low music reverberated up from the floor, and my palms tingled as I pushed open an otherwise boring looking, metal door.
A deep, richly stained bar stretched to my immediate left, and the mingling floor spread to my right. Stalking down towards the center of the clean counter, I dropped into a leather-clad stool to signal the bartender.
Ignoring everyone around me, my eyes fixed on the wall of alcohol before me as a woman in a form-fitting, purple dress came slinking towards me.
“Just a beer.” Speaking up before she could even open her mouth, I twisted on my stool to finally take in the characters around me.
Women in collars and scant lingerie prowled the floor in tall heels, their bodies flushed and glistening under the low lights embedded in the ceiling. Men lounged on couches, some alone, some draped in someone sweet, and the sexual tension was so thick I could taste it.
Every club like this was the same, the same atmosphere, the same types, the same anxiety that pulsed in time with the music. My stiff shoulders finally relaxed some, and I rolled them hard to tilt my head back as familiarity wafted into my pores.
“Here you go, Batman.” Whirling around to scowl at the bartender, my lip twitched at the snotty glare she sent me in return. The thick hairs on the back of my neck stood up, but she only flipped her long, blonde hair to strut off to another patron.
Snatching my beer, I eyeballed the mouth of the glass bottle before lifting it to my lips.
At least I can count on the fact that she won’t fuck with my drinks.
Just like with my coat, I had a security in not worrying about other people. The communities were really respectful when it came down to it, and the bartender’s attitude was as far as she’d go. I’d seen it before, and I had no doubt I’d see it again.
Casting my gaze at the floor, I necked my beer as the rush of annoyance in my chest drained to simply enjoying the place. My eyes narrowed, flickering from woman to woman in search for someone interesting to bury my frustrations in. Unlike many other clubs I’d been to, they didn’t wear masks to protect their identity, and that made picking one easier.
But I wasn’t expecting to see a familiar face, drawn in boredom and disinterest, among those crowded in a corner on a loveseat. Straightening, tingles shot down my spine as I watched Hailey pick at her well-manicured, real nails. Even from across the room, I could spy her frown, and my lips twisted into a grimace without any direction from my startled mind.
The man whose lap Hailey sat on was having some avid conversation I couldn’t hear with another man. My chest tightened, and my eyelid twitched when she tried to get his attention only to get waved off. Swiftly sliding to her dark green, four-inch heels, she gave him the universal sign to fuck off when he tried to grab at her waist.
And God fucking damn was Hailey hiding some serious sexy underneath that unflattering uniform from earlier.
My palms itched to cup her C-cup breasts as they jiggled from her deep saunter, and my fingertips tingled to pull aside her forest green and brown trimmed thong. Necking my beer greedily, I set the bottle down and hopped off my stool to make a bee-line for her before I even processed what I was doing.
Need stiffened my cock and my strides, and my abdomen tightened as tension coiled in my legs. Within the time it took to blink, I was within reaching distance, and I grabbed Hailey’s wrists to blindside her. Her gasp sounded loudly in my ears, and she dug her nails into the back of my palms as the electricity coursing through me jolted my heart.
She’s got sass.
“Get off before I call sec—” Pinning Hailey to the wall, I secured both her wrists above her head and clamped my free hand over her mouth before I realized how incredibly fucking scared her tone was. Her wide, baby blue eyes only got wider when they met mine, and I pursed my lips tightly even while she went slightly limp.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Leaning in to hoover up her heavy smell through flared nostrils, I murmured softly in Hailey’s ear. Her only response was to clamp her thighs together against mine, and I carefully released her mouth only to massage the pulse points in her neck as the throbbed wildly. “You’re okay.”
“What are you doing here, Mr. Richards?” Mortification laced Hailey’s high-pitched squeak, and she sucked in a sharp breath that stole the heat from just underneath my collar. “I should go, this is bad. I- I’m going to get fired—oh, shit!”
“Stop.” My command came out an unintentionally harsh growl, and I pursed my lips tightly even as she clamped her mouth shut. “I’m glad I caught you, Hailey. I just wanted to clarify… I’m not having the best day.”
“What?” Blurting out her confusion, Hailey softened against me as a gasp rippled down her throat and against my palm. “Oh, the car… I wasn’t judging you or anything. I’m sorry- I know I should’ve ignored your phone call… you just looked really stressed and unhappy.”
“It’s a long story. What about you, what are you doing here?” Forcefully changing the subject, I leaned back a little as fire raged in Hailey’s soft, blue eyes. They blazed in contrast to the deep red of her cheeks, and my fingertips crept up to circle just under her ear. Thickly lashed eyelids fluttered, and the thrilling anxiety in my gut intensified as her soft moan floated into my ears.
“I- I met a… friend- but he’s been ignoring me, so…” My cock ached something fierce at her stuttering and stumbling, and I didn’t drop Hailey’s half-lidded gaze even as her next words nearly made me cum in my pants. “That feels ni-i-i-ice…”
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One Kiss: A Brother's Best Friend Romance Page 12