“We can’t.”
“Can’t we?” He was dazed at how incredible it felt to have Elyse in his arms. “Come home with me tonight. You can follow me in your car.”
His words must have been like a douse of cold water because her eyes narrowed. “So we can spend the night together and you can tick me off the list like another one of your women?”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s not like that.” She mesmerized something desperate and needy inside him.
“I think it is.” Elyse had unbuckled her seat belt and was jumping out of the Bugatti before Julian could react.
“Wait a sec!” He rushed out of the car toward her, but Elyse, having seconds on him, had reached her vehicle and was jumping inside it. “Elyse, wait! Please!” he implored.
She rolled down the window. “And here I thought the evening we shared was something special, maybe the start of something new, but you’ll never change, Julian. You’ll always be afraid of something real with a woman. So I’ll see you around.”
Elyse rolled up the driver’s-side window and sped out of the parking lot, leaving Julian stunned in her wake.
How had the moment turned sour so suddenly? Had he really gotten their signals crossed? The look that had passed between them in his car had been timeless. The lust had been tangible, overwhelming. It was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He’d thought Elyse had felt the same. That she’d wanted him as much as he’d wanted her. He was certain of it. So why was she running scared?
And worst of all, she hadn’t given him a way to contact her.
So what was he going to do about it?
Four
Julian was still flummoxed when Monday arrived. He’d never had anything like Friday night happen before. For the first time in his life, someone had surprised him. In a good way. Usually, when he turned on the charm and flirted with women, they were easy targets and fell prey to his charms, but not Elyse Harper. First, she’d intrigued him by switching places with his real date, leading him to believe she couldn’t wait to meet him. Then she’d confounded him by turning down his suggestion at the end of the evening to go back to his place.
When had a woman ever turned him down? There were countless beautiful women willing to share his bed, and he was always happy to oblige. He liked women of all shapes, colors and varieties, but Julian had to admit he appreciated Elyse being more discerning about whom she went to bed with. She demanded respect and refused to accept anything less. Was that what made Julian want her more?
Was that why he’d been unable to stop thinking about the pixie-haired beauty with the mesmerizing brown eyes that seemed to look into his very soul? He wanted to know more about her and he wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way.
He was musing over his next step when Giana walked into the VIP lounge for the Atlanta Cougars’ executives. Julian was by the coffee bar; the lounge also included a central seating area and a restaurant that overlooked the outdoor practice fields.
“Good morning,” Giana said as she made her way to the espresso machine.
“Good morning.” Julian took a sip from his Cougars’ coffee mug.
“So.” Giana leaned against the countertop as she waited for the machine to make her frothy concoction. “How was your blind date?”
“You knew about that?”
“Of course. Everyone in the family is gossiping about how you’re letting Mama believe she’s actually setting you up with the love of your life.”
“Au contraire,” Julian replied over the zipping of the espresso machine. “I went into her matchmaking scheme with my eyes wide-open. I never claimed I’d meet my soul mate, but I was willing to give it a try. And because of Mama, I may have actually found a woman I’m willing to at least try a normal relationship with.”
“Really?” Giana’s arched brow rose. “Do tell.”
“Her name’s Elyse Harper—and she wasn’t Mama’s choice. She happened to overhear one of Mama’s candidates say she was meeting me, and crafty Elyse switched places with her.”
Giana frowned, folding her arms at her chest. “You don’t find that the slightest bit suspect? Mama is going to be furious. She had such high hopes for her matchmaking.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint Mama, but quite frankly, I didn’t mind the swap. It was just a date.”
“I don’t know.” Giana turned away to retrieve her filled mug. She took a quick sip. “Seems contrived to me. But, more important, how did it go?”
“Giana, it was one of the best dates I’ve had in a long time,” Julian responded. “Rather than be my usual charming self, I was able to just be me, you know? And Elyse responded. She talked. I mean really talked, not just about the superficial stuff like our favorite food or movie. At the end of the night, I would have liked nothing better than to take Elyse home, but she turned me down.”
“She did what?” Giana put her mug down on the countertop. “Didn’t you say she approached you? I mean she’s the one who stole the place of your intended date. I would have thought she’d be eager to seal the deal.”
“And that, my dear sister, is what made Elyse so appealing. Although she made the first move by switching places, she wasn’t willing to compromise herself by moving too fast. It made me respect her.”
Giana scoffed. “You just love the chase!” She picked up her coffee mug again and drank generously.
“Oh, I’d love to chase,” Julian responded. “The thing is, I’ve never had to. The women I’ve been with always make the first move, but the alpha in me appreciates a woman taking it back to old school and making me work for it.”
Giana chuckled. “That’s why I love you, Julian. You say whatever comes to your mind, regardless of the consequences.”
“You should do more of it. Perhaps if you did, Father might listen to you more and take your suggestions.”
“Hey...how did this become about me?” Giana inquired. “We were talking about your—” she pointed to his chest “—love life.”
“Yeah, well, I’m telling it like it is,” Julian said. “And as for Elyse, the sneaky minx didn’t even leave me her phone number, but that’s not a problem. I’ll find out where she is and, when I do, she’ll be putty in my hands.”
“Good luck, big brother. You’re going to need it.”
* * *
Elyse was proud of herself. She’d made first contact with Julian Lockett, sealing the course of their fate. After meeting him, Elyse was certain he was the key to getting closer to the Locketts. The problem, however, was that her planned ruse wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d thought to maintain because she actually liked Julian.
Social media portrayed him as a playboy, a womanizer, constantly on the prowl, but Julian Lockett was more than that. Yes, he was charming and sexy as sin, but he was also smart and funny—beyond what she’d given him credit for. There was a lot more depth to Julian than he let on. She wondered if he used his charm as a way to keep people at bay, so they couldn’t see the real him. Maybe it was a coping mechanism. If it was, she understood it because she’d often done the same.
Growing up hadn’t been easy. She’d barely been six years old when she’d seen cancer ravage her mother, stealing her joy and vitality. Elyse had watched the father she’d adored turn into a shadow of his former self. She’d learned at a young age just how cruel children could be. Everyone in their neighborhood, knowing her father drank too much, had called him a drunk or a deadbeat to her face. Some of what they’d said was true; her father couldn’t hold his liquor, often stumbling into their tiny one-bedroom apartment and passing out on the floor next to where she slept on the couch. Sometimes he forgot to pay the rent until the landlord banged on the door.
And Elyse? Well, she ignored the bullies. But confront them? Stand up for herself? No. Never. She’d felt too helpless, too alone, too isolated, so she’d run away. Hid out, so no one could
find her. It had been easier that way. She’d tried to make herself invisible so no one paid attention to her. It had worked. Eventually the bullies had moved on to someone new and Elyse began figuring a way out.
Being tormented had motivated Elyse to want a better life. Why? Because when you were the daughter of the neighborhood drunk, everyone thought you wouldn’t amount to much. So in school, she’d worked hard, put everything into her studies until eventually she’d earned herself a scholarship to a boarding school outside the neighborhood. It had been ideal.
Although she’d been a scholarship kid, she’d made friends with some of the girls and would be invited to visit their homes. When she saw how happy they were with their families, Elyse began to wonder just how much she’d missed out on, had lost, because Josiah had stolen her father’s dream.
Maybe it was irrational to blame Josiah for her father’s gambling, but he knew how much the Atlanta Cougars meant to him. When Josiah caught wind of Frank’s gambling rather than help his best friend, he’d gone for the jugular, allowing Frank to offer his shares of the Cougars as collateral during a poker game. By the end of the night, Josiah had the Atlanta Cougars all to himself. Her father’s downfall into drunkenness was a direct result of losing the Cougars to Josiah and her mother to cancer.
Her father was why she was doing this, getting closer to Julian Lockett. Elyse was trying to right the wrongs of the past. Her modus operandi might be wrong, but she had to work with the hand she’d been dealt. And Julian was the key. She would get close to Julian to gain information about the Locketts’ secrets. Then in her role as a publicist, she would ruin their reputation by exposing them, causing the Cougars’ stock to plummet and since they were family owned and the only stockholders, he’d feel it in his pocketbook. Josiah didn’t deserve to live the high life after he left her father, her family with nothing.
She’d purposely not given him her phone number because she’d known that a man like Julian would be thrilled by a challenge. Finding her would prove difficult for him because Elyse had no social media accounts. She’d purposely stayed off social media because she’d wanted anonymity when it came time to take back her father’s due. She was certain Julian would use any method at his disposal to find her. And when he did, she would use every technique in her handbook to get closer to him, so she could get even closer to his father.
* * *
“I need your help, Nico,” Julian said, walking into Nico Shapiro’s office in the basement of their corporate headquarters later that morning. Not many people knew about Nico. The Atlanta Cougars kept him on hand for matters needing the utmost discretion.
“Oh yeah, what can I help you with?” The sandy-blond man stood.
“I need you to find someone for me.” Julian plopped down in the chair opposite his large glass-topped office desk and faced Nico.
Nico sat back down, his blue gaze focused on Julian. “Let me guess, a female?”
Julian frowned. “Am I that predictable?”
“You have a reputation as a ladies’ man,” Nico responded. “So who is this paragon of virtue you can’t live without?”
Julian ignored the sarcastic comment. “Her name’s Elyse Harper. We met Friday night at Bacchanalia and she’s fantastic.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“I don’t know where to find her.”
“What do you mean?”
Julian sighed. “Other than knowing she’s in public relations, is a staunch Democrat and likes yoga and Pilates, I don’t know much. I was hoping you might be able to fill in the blanks. Basically, I need to know how to reach her. Her cell phone and a work and home address to start.”
“So you don’t need a full workup?”
Julian shook his head. “Absolutely not. I’d rather learned about her the old-fashioned way.”
Nico leaned his forearms against the glass desktop. “And what if the reason Elyse didn’t provide you with her digits was because she wasn’t interested in seeing you again? Did you ever think about that?”
Julian got to his feet. “No. I think she wants me to find her, and that’s where you come in.”
“All right, I’ll let you know when I have something.” Nico rose and offered his hand.
Julian shook it. “I look forward to it.”
Nico took care of anything needing fixing with the Atlanta Cougars, so if anyone could find his elusive woman, it was Nico. And once he did, this time Julian wouldn’t let her out of his grasp.
* * *
“Julian, what’s this I hear about you standing up poor Tiffany Mayes,” his mother asked later that day when he stopped in at the family estate in Tuxedo Park. He and Roman had been summoned by their father to discuss one of their linebacker’s knee injury. Although he hadn’t specialized in orthopedic surgery like the head team doctor, Julian disagreed with his decision to return the linebacker to play in the Cougars’ current season, so Josiah wanted to discuss it.
“I’m sorry, Mama, I can’t talk,” Julian said as she followed him down the foyer toward his father’s study.
“Oh no you don’t.” She stepped in front of his path. At five-five, Angelique was several inches shorter than him, but that didn’t stop Julian from feeling her anger as she stared up at him. “You’re not going to sweep past me without explaining yourself, not after the trouble I went through setting up that date.”
Julian stopped. “It wasn’t my fault, Mama. Another woman showed up in Tiffany’s stead.”
His mother’s brow furrowed. “Another woman? That’s impossible.”
“I’m sorry, but it was possible. And I have to tell you, I rather enjoyed her company and plan on seeing her again.”
“But who is she?”
“I don’t know, Mama, but I intend to find out.” Julian left his mother standing in the hall with a perplexed expression and walked to his father’s study.
The door was ajar. Josiah and Roman were already talking, and they stopped when he walked in. Both men were in dark tailored suits with handmade dress shoes. Julian’s chest tightened at the image of the perfect father-son duo they made. The only difference was their father had a wide chest and husky build while Roman had an athletic frame.
“There you are, boy, come on in.” His father motioned him forward. “What’s this I hear about you giving a dissenting opinion from Dr. Walters?”
Julian didn’t like the accusatory tone in his father’s voice, but he wasn’t surprised. Josiah was rarely on his side. If anything, he was always looking for fault with Julian and he usually found it. Nothing he ever did was going to please the old man.
“My opinion is based on facts and the MD behind my name,” Julian responded hotly. “I don’t believe you have one, do you?”
His father came charging toward him. “You getting mouthy with me, Julian?”
“No, sir.” Julian didn’t back down and instead stared up at his father, who was nearly six inches taller than him. Living in the Lockett household, he’d learned at an early age you had to stand up to a bully and that’s exactly what his father could be at times. “But I know he isn’t ready to come back. We need to keep him on the sidelines and ensure his knee is healed properly.”
“Dr. Walters says with the therapy he’s been getting, he should be ready to start.”
Julian shook his head. “I disagree. If nothing else, keep him as a backup, but he’s not ready. Pushing him before that knee is fully healed would be to the team’s detriment.”
“We need him back now!” his father insisted. “And your job is to look out for the Atlanta Cougars.”
“That may be so,” Julian responded. “But I’m a doctor first. I pledged an oath to do no harm and I stand behind it. I may not have years of surgical experience, but I’m in the trenches with this team day in and day out while Dr. Walters has his own practice.”
“Perhaps he can be more objecti
ve because of it,” Roman said. When Julian fired him an angry glance, he held up his hands. “I’m only playing devil’s advocate here, Julian.”
“Whatever.” Julian shrugged. “The two of you will decide what you want to do no matter what I say.”
“That’s not true,” Roman objected.
“Yes, it is. You’ve always been on his side.” Julian inclined his head toward their father, who was watching them carefully.
“And you, boy...you’re always thinking with your heart,” Josiah responded. “You need to think like a leader. One day I’ll be gone and it’ll be up to you two—” he glanced at Julian and then Roman “—to run the Atlanta Cougars. You have to be ready to make hard decisions.”
Julian glared at his father. “Then we’ll agree to disagree. I have made my position clear. You can choose to listen to it or not.” He looked over at Roman, who, as the Cougars’ General Manager, was running the organization, though their father was still on the board and refused to retire to let Roman take over completely.
Roman stared at Julian for several beats before saying, “Julian is right. We should sideline him for the first half of the season and bring him in near the halfway point to help get us to the playoffs.”
“Well?” Julian looked over at Josiah. It was two against one, but he could override Roman should he so choose.
“Fine. We’ll bench him, but you’d better be right, Julian.”
“I am.” Because if he wasn’t, his father would never let him forget it.
* * *
“Hey, Daddy,” Elyse said as she entered his one-bedroom apartment carrying several bags of groceries after work on Monday evening. “I brought you a few things.”
Frank rose from his perch on the couch and followed her into the small galley kitchen. From the look of it, he was sober. He’d also showered, shaved and put on a fresh T-shirt and jeans, though he was in desperate need of a haircut. “You didn’t have to do that, baby girl.”
Blind Date with the Spare Heir Page 4