Club Abbott: Yours (Club Abbott Series, #5)

by Hazel Kelly

  “That’s wonderful. So he’s going to help out at The Nest, too?”

  I nodded. “He was already eating all his meals there and offering to help clean up half the time.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “And in my opinion, a guy like that deserves a break.”

  She leaned up on her tippy toes to whisper in my ear. “That’s really sweet.”

  “I thought so, too, until Woody called me out and asked if I was only helping him to impress a girl.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “And are you?”

  “No. But if she’s impressed, I won’t be disappointed.”

  She smiled as the other girls arrived at our side.

  “So a flash of your wristband is all you’ll need to get drinks for the rest of the night,” I said, demonstrating. “But what can I start you all off with?”

  Carrie shrugged. “Vodka tonics all around, I suppose.”

  “Not for me,” Nora said. “I want a cocktail.”

  “Great,” I said. “What do you normally drink on a night out?”

  “Guinness,” she said, pulling the front of her sleeveless dress up with two hands.

  “Then I recommend you try a Black Velvet,” I said. “It’s got some stout in it, but you won’t miss out on the champagne bubbles.”

  Carrie furrowed her brow. “Since when are you a drinks expert?”

  “I’ve been studying very hard for the last few weeks,” I said, practically yelling so they could hear me.

  “You mean drinking?” Brook asked.

  I shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly a chore.”

  Brook put a hand on my arm. “Can you recommend something festive with brandy in it?”

  “I certainly can,” I said. “The Barbotage should do the trick for you.”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  “It’s certainly done the trick for everyone else who’s tried it.”

  “Sounds perfect,” she said, patting the side of her unmoving hair.

  “And what about me?” Carrie asked.

  “Definitely the Atomic Cocktail,” I said. “That way you’ll get the kick of Brook’s brandy, but with the familiar vodka buzz you’re used to.”

  “Sounds good,” she said.

  I nodded. “Oh it is.”

  “And like you’re trying to get me drunk,” she said, squinting.

  I waved down the nearest barman and put the girls’ order in before turning back to her. “On the contrary, I’m simply trying to get you something so strong you’ll have to take your time over it.”

  She turned her ear towards me.

  “So it lasts till we get where we’re going.”

  “What?”

  “There’s something I want to show you.”

  She furrowed her brow. “What is it?”

  “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?”

  She cocked her head. “You didn’t say it was supposed to be a surprise.”

  “It’s not really,” I said. “It’s just somewhere a bit quieter where we can talk.”

  “Is it one of the VIP rooms?” she asked, leaning towards my ear.

  “No,” I said. “They’re so packed they’re nearly overflowing.”

  “And what if I don’t want to talk?”

  I smiled. “Even better.”

  She pushed a hand playfully against my chest as the bartender sat down our row of cocktails along with four tequila shots.

  I was pleased to see none of them needed any convincing to step up to the plate.

  “Thanks for coming,” I said, lifting a shot glass into the center. “I hope you all have a great night and a happy new year.”

  We clinked our small glasses carefully and downed our shots a second later.

  “Oh my god,” Nora said. “That didn’t even burn.”

  “Way to give away that you never drink anything but bottom shelf tequila,” Brook said, nudging her.

  Nora made a face like she didn’t even know if she should be embarrassed.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Nothing wrong with a little Pepe Lopez.”

  Nora smiled.

  “I know you guys just arrived, but do you mind if I steal Carrie away for a bit?”

  They both shook their heads so fast it was almost like they didn’t even know her.

  Carrie must’ve felt the same way cause she shot them a look. “You guys could at least act like you want to party with me!”

  “We don’t,” Brook said, suppressing a smile. “Nora and I are on the prowl. You and your slutty dress will only interfere with our agenda.”

  Carrie looked down. “If you think I look like such a slut, why didn’t you tell me before we left-”

  Brook leaned over and laid a hand against Carrie’s far cheek so she could whisper something in her ear.

  I watched as she rolled her big brown eyes.

  Chapter 15: Carrie

  “Relax. I didn’t say you were a slut,” Brook said. “I only said you looked like one, and a very expensive one at that.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “But if you ever were going to be one, be one for this guy,” she said. “He is fucking gorgeous.”

  I pulled away from her. “Thanks very much for that.”

  Ben was staring at me. “Everything okay?”

  “She’s all yours,” Brook said, nodding. “Nora and I will be around if you need us.”

  Nora lifted her glass towards Ben. “Thanks again for the drinks- and the wristband,” she said, twisting her wrist in the air.

  “My pleasure,” he said.

  I watched them disappear into the crowd, weaving their way to the dance floor. Then I turned back to Ben. “They could’ve at least pretended they cared about you stealing me away.”

  “Perhaps they know what’s good for you,” he said, fixing his eyes on me.

  I nodded. “My judgement has been questionable lately.”

  “I have to agree.”

  I pushed his solid chest and felt an ache in my guts.

  “Except for your choices regarding the club,” he said. “I wouldn’t change a thing here. Everything is perfect- not only for the eye, but I’ve hired some really experienced staff-”

  “To go with your really inexperienced staff?”

  He nodded. “And they’ve been very impressed by how practical the layout is. While we were getting set up, they picked up on details that I didn’t even realize you designed purposefully.”

  I smiled.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’d been designing bars and clubs your whole life.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “That’s really great to hear since I didn’t know what the heck I was doing at first.”

  “You and me both,” he said, sliding his hand around to my lower back.

  My body grew warm where his hand lingered.

  He lowered his lips to my ear. “But I guess we make a pretty good team.”

  “I guess we do,” I said, laying a hand on his chest.

  He grabbed it and turned away from the bar. “Come on,” he said. “I want to show you something.”

  I walked behind him, relieved he took it slow because one wrong step and he would’ve been dragging me in my silly heels.

  We made our way across the main dance floor towards the larger bar, and as I sipped my cocktail between steps, I couldn’t help but notice that Brook was right. There were gorgeous bejeweled people everywhere and my diamonds definitely fit in.

  As did my dress, despite her accusations.

  When we reached the short end of the L shaped bar, Ben led me right behind it where several dozen bartenders in white shirts and black bowties were pouring, stirring, shaking, and serving drinks of all colors, shapes, and sizes. And I have to admit, it was a wonderful treat to see the place as alive as it had been in my imagination for so long.

  Suddenly, Ben led me through a black door and into a dimly lit stairwell.

  “Where the heck are we going?” I asked. “I did
n’t even know this was here.”

  He put a foot up on the bottom step and shook his head. “And you thought I didn’t have any surprises left.”

  “I never said that.”

  He lifted his eyes and chin up the stairs. “After you.”

  I squinted at him. “Is this just an excuse to try and see if you can look up my dress? Because I’ll have you know I’m wearing underwear.”

  One side of his mouth curled up. “I think you know me well enough by now to know that if I decide to look up your dress, I’ll be after a lot more than a peek.”

  I swallowed.

  “But thanks for warning me about the underwear,” he said. “You know, so I can adjust my attack strategy accordingly.”

  I rolled my eyes and started up the stairs, keeping my hand on the railing as it curved around. When I got to the top, there was a dark hallway lit up with nothing but the same subtle strips of light along the floor that they use to illuminate the aisles on airplanes.

  Ben stepped in front of me, grabbing my hand to lead the way, the sound of the thumping club growing softer with every step. After it felt like we’d practically walked the length of the dance floor again, he turned and I saw a room at the end of the hall.

  As soon as we stepped inside, my jaw dropped. “Oh my god.”

  He swung the door shut behind us, but I didn’t look back.

  The cozy sized room, which opened up just a few carpeted steps below me, featured a black leather wraparound couch and a bar in the corner. But the most impressive part about it was that the longest wall was a window that looked down on the entire club, including the dance floor, the main bar, and the back wall where he told me he was going to project the countdown when midnight approached.

  “This is incredible,” I said, walking up to the window. “Oh look! There’s Brook- and Nora,” I said, waving automatically.

  “They can’t see you,” he said. “The window is tinted and mirrored. You can only see through it from this side.”

  “Wow,” I said. “This is so fun. I had no idea you were putting something like this in-” My eyes bounced around the glamorous people below.

  “It was kind of last minute,” he said. “I only got the idea two weeks ago. From my dad, actually.”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  “And then I got a loft specialist in and he said it was doable.”

  I lifted my cocktail to my lips and let the sweet kick burst against my tongue. “This makes the VIP rooms look so lame.”

  “Maybe, but what the VIP don’t know can’t hurt them, right? And most of them will never be up here so it won’t be an issue.”

  “So what does that make me?” I asked, looking over my shoulder.

  He was standing a few feet behind me now, sipping his cocktail and looking at me as if I were part of the view.

  “A VVIP?” I asked.

  “I was thinking a title might be in order all right,” he said, walking up behind me. “But that wasn’t the one I had in mind.”

  “No?” I took a sip of my drink and felt his arms slip around my waist. “What were you thinking?”

  He slid the tips of his fingers down one side of my back, causing my whole body to erupt in goosebumps. Then he lowered his face so I could feel his hot breath on my ear.

  “I was thinking girlfriend had a nice ring to it.”

  I raised my eyebrows and turned to face him. “What?”

  “What do you say?”

  I swallowed.

  He tilted my chin up with his fingers. “I can’t get excited about a new year that won’t have you in it, Carrie.”

  My lips fell apart and I focused on his deep blue eyes, letting everything else fade away.

  “And I don’t want to pretend that I don’t have feelings for you anymore- or that I can control them.” He pushed a wisp of hair out of my face. “Cause I can’t.” He cast his eyes down for a moment and shook his head. “The way I feel about you is too wonderful to deny.”

  I put a hand over my chest, convinced I could feel my heartbeat in the diamond under my palm.

  “And I know I’m not the easiest guy to be with. And that I can be a stubborn pain in the ass.”

  I smiled.

  “But there’s nothing I want more than to be a pain in your ass.”

  My eyes grew wide.

  He laughed. “God that came out wrong.”

  I nodded. “It did, yeah, but I know what you mean.”

  He raised his eyebrows.

  “And you were right,” I said. “I was just scared to admit my feelings before, scared to get hurt again.”

  “But I would never hurt you.”

  “I know. Besides, it’s all relative, right?” After all, I was more afraid of a future without him in it than I was of getting hurt again.

  He furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, yes,” I said, curling my fingers against his chest. “I’m crazy about you, too, and I would love to be your girlfriend for real.”

  Chapter 16: Ben

  When she looked up again, I kissed her, enjoying the sour taste of her cocktail as her tongue swept across mine.

  And I was so full of relief, full of happiness, full of desire for her, that I swear to god I thought my chest might burst.

  I slipped my hands across the bare skin of her lower back and pulled her close as she tightened her fist around a clump of my shirt.

  Within a few moments, there was no hiding how badly I wanted her as the strain in my pants became painfully apparent.

  I pulled back for a breath and noticed that she was still holding her drink. “Are you enjoying that or…?”

  “I am,” she said, looking around. “Where’s yours?”

  I nodded towards the empty glass on a table by the door.

  “You certainly got that into you fast.”

  I smiled. “I figured I’d have more interesting things to occupy my hands with when we got up here.”

  She cocked her head and a smooth patch of her neck caught my eye as her hair fell behind her shoulders. “You knew I wouldn’t resist?”

  “I didn’t know shit. I haven’t had a coherent thought since you walked in wearing that dress.”

  One corner of her mouth curled up.

  “I only knew that I wanted you to be mine,” I said. “But I’ve known that for some time.”

  “How long exactly?” she asked, squinting at me.

  “Probably from the minute I walked in your office that first day to answer the ad and you were wearing that red skirt that pulls so perfectly across your ass.”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  “But the deal was sealed when I ran into you smelling like booze in your pajamas at the grocery store.”

  She shook her head. “You know, if that hadn’t happened, we might never have-”

  “No, we would’ve.”

  Her lashes looked even longer than usual as she batted them. “How can you be so sure?”

  “Besides the fact that I’m blessed with fantastic genes and oodles of charm?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, besides all that.”

  “Cause,” I said, looking in her dark eyes. “You’re everything I ever wanted and more.”

  “Is that so?”

  I nodded. “It is. In fact, I made a list once and you’ve got-”

  She furrowed her brow. “You made a list?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’ve always written down my goals so I know what to focus my energies on-”

  “What did it say?”

  “Something like, ‘someday I want to meet a beautiful blonde with big brown eyes and dimples to die for that’s creative and clever and charming and thinks I’m the cat’s pajamas.’”

  “No you didn’t.”

  I shrugged. “Fine. So I never made a list. But even if I had, I never would’ve been able to dream up a woman even half as wonderful as you.”

  “I know what you mean,” she said, casting her eyes down.

  “Cause you�
��ve finally realized how special you are or-”

  She drained the rest of her glass. “Cause I made a list once, too.” She walked over to the couch and set her empty glass on the table beside it. Then she sat down, slipped her feet out of her shoes, and dug her toes into the dark blue carpet.

  “Something tells me you’re not kidding,” I said, walking over and taking a seat beside her.

  She shook her head. “I’m not. But I got it all wrong.”

  I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean it was a waste of time,” she said, turning towards me. “Because what the mind thinks it wants isn’t always what the heart needs.”

  I wrapped my fingers behind her bent knees and pulled her legs into my lap. “And what is it that your heart needs, Carrie Callihan?” I leaned up close so I wouldn’t miss a word. “If you don’t mind my asking.”

  “I’m still trying to figure that out, but I think it needs a man who won’t take my shit but won’t give me any either.”

  I smiled. “And you’re going to give me a chance to be that guy?”

  She shrugged. “Why not? I know we’ve only officially been dating for two minutes, but you haven’t blown it yet.”

  “Sounds like my cue to stop talking,” I said, leaning in for another kiss.

  She raised her arms around my neck and pulled me close.

  I kicked my shoes off next to hers and shifted my weight, lowering her back down against the couch until I was on top of her.

  “This is kind of hot,” she said. “I mean, I know the people out there can’t see us or anything-”

  “It’s very hot,” I said, letting the weight of my hard-on press against her inner thigh. “And I assure you, I wouldn’t stop if they could.”

  She kissed me again, and I put a hand over one of her breasts. I could tell instantly that she didn’t have a bra on underneath her dress and felt myself swell at how close I was to taking her nipples in my mouth. “How do you get this thing off?”

  She reached up and pulled her dress off her shoulders, one shoulder at a time.

  I stuck my hand around the bunched fabric at the top and pulled it down, revealing her gorgeous tits, which I began to grope- perhaps too hard, but I couldn’t help myself.