by Rye Hart
Neil’s face had suddenly gone serious. “There are just some things going on that I think you need to know about.”
I waited for the waiter to bring us a bottle of whiskey before pouring myself a hearty glass to sip at. The fire of alcohol sent a pleasurable shudder through me. The stress from the past couple of days lifted from my shoulders. I needed a break away from the office, but I also needed to distance myself from the temptations waiting for me at home.
“So what’s going on?” I asked him, though the look on his face told me I might not want to know.
“There’s something that you need to know, Gabriel.”
“Like what?” I asked, looking at Neil, who was studying his own glass of whiskey with a frown. “Come on then. Spit it out. I’ve got a few sips down, if that’s what you’re waiting for.”
“It’s about your ex-wife and ex-best friend,” he said.
I stiffened in shock to hear those words coming out of Neil’s mouth. He didn’t know either one of them personally. As usual, a bitter anger tore through me whenever the subject was brought up.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demanded, setting my glass down on the table harshly. “How do you know them?”
Neil held up his hands in a universal sign of peace. “I don’t know them, man. Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“What is going on Neil?”
“They’re coming into Chicago,” he said. “To have a meeting with some government folks about what to expect with U.S. spending. They are pitching for a contract to predict consumer behavior for the next year, given the shit state the economy is in.”
“Bastards,” I blurted out, shaking my head while fury rose in me. “First, Jack Miller stole my original research for predicting consumer spending, and then he stole my wife. Now they are going after the contract we are pushing for?”
“I’m just letting you know before anyone else tells you,” Neil said grimly. “The only reason why I found out is because I called in to check on when we needed to have our shit together. They informed me that there was another company also giving input, and when they told me who it was, I had to tell you right away.”
A headache throbbed in my temples, then. I would need something much stronger to get through the night to kill the dark anger now rising up in me all over again.
“We are going to go over everything next week,” I said. “Triple check everything. I don’t care if we have to stay in the office all day and night, either. They aren’t going to get the contract.”
Neil nodded as he sipped at his whiskey. “I figured that. I’ll send out an email to everyone first thing in the morning to let them know what we are preparing to do. It’s going to be fine, Gabriel. You’re the best at what you do.”
“Jack Miller is no slouch either,” I replied coldly. “Especially since I taught him everything he knows.”
“He’s a piece of shit. I don’t know how many people actually enjoy his company besides your ex-wife.” He grimaced at the sharp look I gave him. “They’re both perfect for each other.”
I downed the last of whiskey before raising my glass to gain the waiter’s attention. “No shit. They aren’t going to get that contract, though.”
“We’ll make sure of it, Gabriel. Don’t worry. Have another glass of whiskey. Relax.”
I couldn’t relax, though. The ache in my groin was prominent now. I refused to let myself go there with thoughts of Penny still lingering in my head. I kept wondering what was inside of the Victoria’s Secret bag that she had carried with her to lunch. Now, I needed something much stronger to deal with the tumult of emotions raging inside of me.
“I need something stronger than alcohol,” I commented dryly. “You going to stay behind for a little bit?”
Neil sighed at me in exasperation. “You know, it amazes me how a man like you can get laid so often when you want it.”
“How is that amazing?” I asked, laughing. “I know that I look like some game nerd who stumbled into money.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Neil reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet. He tossed a crisp fifty-dollar bill on the table. “I told Marissa that I would be back home after talking with you to help with the kids. Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
I scanned the room absently as Neil rose from the table. “Yeah, make sure to say hello for me, and a Merry Christmas, too.”
The VIP lounge was full of the usual sights I had gotten used to over the years. Rich and snobby women who thought they were more important than others. Some of them were half plastic to keep ahold of their youth, while a few other women lingering about the bar appeared to be so young that I briefly wondered if their IDs were fake. I had standards. Even if people didn’t believe it, I didn’t nail young women that I met at the clubs. I tried to stay clear of that sort of situation.
Picking up my glass, I tossed a fifty-dollar bill on the table as well and headed into the thick of the club. The thrum of music and energy crashed over me as I downed another drink before setting it on the bar top. I scanned the dancing crowd in the neon lights in front of the DJ before taking a seat on a bar stool to wait patiently for someone to catch my interest.
The swing of long, luxurious blonde hair caught my attention further down the bar. A tall and petite blonde was perched delicately on the edge of a bar stool, dressed in a black mini dress that seemed to just wrap around her in all the right ways. It revealed long and toned legs that were clad in dark nylons that disappeared in a pair of teetering heels. That was the type of woman that I could take back to a hotel tonight to fuck.
“That’ll do,” I muttered and hopped off the bar stool with a new drink in hand.
I approached the blonde-haired woman with ease and confidence. Taking a seat next to her, I noted the glass of wine as her choice of drink. Classy. For night club standards, anyway.
“I’d be happy to buy your next glass if—"
The blonde turned around in her seat. I started back in surprise to see Penny staring back at me. Shame shot through me when I realized that I had been fantasizing about taking her to a hotel to enjoy a night of pleasure. My dick, however, was anything but remorseful.
“Shit,” I said and leaned away from her with an embarrassed grimace. “I’m sorry, Penny. I didn’t realize it was you sitting here.”
“It’s fine,” she shouted over the music, though her cheeks were pink. “I was just sitting down for a break from dancing.”
I nodded.
“So, where is Alyssa?” I asked, scanning the crowd for any sights of my daughter. “I imagine this was her grand idea of you coming out here to the nightclub.”
A smile tugged at Penny’s red lips. I found my eyes focused there for a moment longer than appropriate before I pulled my gaze away.
“You’d be right,” she said. “And I think she went into the bathroom. I told her that I would be at the bar.”
“Well, wrap it up. Alyssa isn’t even old enough to be here,” I said. “The both of you are going home for the evening. I don’t want either one of you dancing and drinking around this club. I know the men that come here.”
Penny sipped at her wine. “Then, why are you here?” she asked boldly.
I didn’t get a chance to respond. Alyssa sidled up to Penny and stopped short when she saw me sitting on the bar stool. Horror filled her eyes as she immediately went to adjust a dress much too short for my liking.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I was meeting Neil for a drink,” I responded, shaking my head at Alyssa’s dress in exasperation. “Really, Alyssa? That dress is kind of inappropriate, don’t you think?”
“It’s not any shorter than Penny’s,” Alyssa pointed out with a pout.
I kept my gaze focused on Alyssa because it was entirely too tempting to look over at the slender pair of thighs I had been drooling over earlier.
I reached for Alyssa’s arm. “Come on, girls. We can all go back to the condo and—”<
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Alyssa shrugged my hand away with glittering eyes. “No, Dad. I’m an adult. I’m not drinking, obviously, because I’m not old enough, but I came here to dance. I can handle myself, believe it or not.”
I didn’t want to believe it, but she had a point. She was an adult and I had taught her how to take care of herself. I watched as Alyssa blended into the crowd on the dance floor before I downed another glass of whiskey.
I studied Penny’s profile as she finished the last bit of her wine. She appeared to be relaxed after a few glasses, but still alert to her surroundings. Curiosity burned within me.
“Are you going to tell me why you aren’t talking to your mom?” I asked.
Penny glanced over at me with a frown. “Why does it matter so much to you? It’s a long story.”
“I’d be glad to hear it,” I said, standing up from the bar stool. “Come talk with me in a booth back in the VIP lounge.”
“What about Alyssa?” she asked. “Never mind. She’ll come find you when she’s done dancing.”
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. “Exactly. We can talk in private without having to shout over the music.”
“Sounds good to me,” Penny said, rising from the bar stool. She swayed for a moment and I grabbed her around the waist to steady her. Electricity shot straight to my dick and alarm bells went off in my head.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “Apparently that last glass was one too many.”
“No worries,” I told her, letter her go just long enough to take her hand. “I’ve got you.”
But whose got me? I wondered.
CHAPTER SIX – PENNY
I relished the feeling of Gabriel’s hand in mine while I followed him away from the dance floor. He led me through a series of doors where security guards kept watch. The sound of the music turned into a faint heartbeat in the distance when he pulled me into what appeared to be the VIP lounge, judging from the abundance of expensive clothes and security details throughout the room.
“My daughter is Alyssa Bradley,” Gabriel told one of the security guards at the door. “If she comes looking for me, let her in. We’re taking a break from the music.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, nodding at the two of us. “Only Alyssa Bradley is allowed through.”
The wine had hit me a bit harder than I intended. I stumbled slightly in my heels with Gabriel leading me to a private booth with bright red curtains. He helped me sit down in the booth before ordering two waters.
“You need water,” he said, sliding in the booth next to me. “It’ll combat the alcohol a bit.”
I rubbed at my fuzzy head with a grimace. “It’s been a long time since I’ve gone out for a drink. I was just having a few glasses to calm my nerves.”
“That rarely works,” he said sagely. “Trust me from personal experience. Deal with your shit when you’re sober. You won’t have unhealthy coping mechanisms in the long run.”
I nodded and took a sip of water.
“I don’t usually drink,” I admitted. “I don’t like the way it makes me feel like I’m not in control.”
“And you usually feel the need to be in control?” he asked me, his green eyes pinning me to my seat.
“Well someone needs to be,” I quipped. “Got knows my mother never was.”
He sat back and studied me for a moment. “What makes you say that?”
“Years of living with her?” I suggested, shrugging my shoulders. “She’s been pretty wrapped up in her shitty boyfriends for the past ten years of my life. It’s like my dad never really existed to her.”
“Everyone has to move on with their lives eventually.” Gabriel leveled a hard glance in my direction as I sipped at my water. “Is that why you’re with her? Because she moved on?”
My stomach churned sickeningly when I looked away from him. I didn’t want to talk about anything that involved my mother and her boyfriends. Especially the current one.
“I didn’t come out here to talk about my mother’s love life,” I pointed out, wishing that I had another glass of wine to steady my nerves. “She can do whatever she wants to do. I’m not going to let it ruin my break away from school.”
Sensing a touchy subject, Gabriel nodded as he let the topic go. “That’s fair. I won’t ask again if it’s going to upset you. We can talk about something else. What are you planning to do after graduation this spring?”
I traced the rim of my water glass while I debated how to answer. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do yet. My mother insisted that I keep going to school to obtain my MBA, but I was exhausted from spending the past four years studying. I did well in my business classes, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I enjoyed my art classes and my English ones as well. Those were the subjects I sorely wished I would’ve pursued, if my mother hadn’t pulled the, “I’m paying for your college education, so study what I want you to study.”
“Not sure yet,” I said. “I’ve thought about how nice it would be to just travel around for a little bit, to take a break from school.”
Gabriel nodded. “I did that after college. I needed a break from it, so I built up my office after that. Never been back since.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised. “I figured you would’ve continued your education, after how successful you’ve been over the years.”
“I never liked school,” Gabriel said, laughing. “As soon as I was done with my bachelors, I held my middle finger up and walked.”
“That’s nice to hear. My mother thinks I need to keep going on with school, but I don’t want to do it. I just want to be done.”
“I’m sure she just wants you to be successful. But I have a feeling you are going to do that whether you get your Masters or not.”
I blushed at the honest answer, feeling good that this man had such confidence in me when my own mother couldn’t. “I know she wants you to kick me out so that I have to go back to New York for Christmas—” I started.
“I’m not going to kick you out. It’s nice having you around the place.”
His eyes darkened a tad bit in the dim lighting. My cheeks flushed hotly as I tried to decipher those words.
“It’s nice being here,” I replied cautiously. I wasn’t sure where this conversation was going, but I didn’t want it to stop. A part of me felt titillated, knowing that Gabriel didn’t want to push me out of the way. “Thank you for letting me stay. I really do appreciate it.”
“Of course.” He eyed my empty water glass. “Are you feeling a bit better?”
My head didn’t feel as fuzzy, but every other part of my body did. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, Gabriel made my body respond in ways it never had before. My thighs felt quivery, and the spot between them pulsed with need.
“A bit,” I said. “I like the way I’m feeling right now.”
Gabriel’s eyes danced as he looked at me from across the table. “What sort of feeling is that?”
Emboldened by the alcohol and the look in Gabriel’s eyes, I licked my lips as I looked up at the heavy drapes that hung over the booth. A surge of something hot and delicious went through me then as I reached up to untie the drape that was pulled back. Maybe it was the few glasses of wine, but I felt particularly braver than usual. The red curtain fell with a gentle swoosh of fabric. I tried to peer through the dark curtains. The only bit of light we had was the small candle at the center of the table.
“Wow,” I said. “You really can’t see anything through the curtains,” I said thickly.
“Nope, not one thing.”
I turned at the sound of Gabriel clearing the huskiness from of his voice. It occurred to me then that the few drinks he’d consumed over the past hour were affecting him just as much as me. His eyes were bright and clear but also lazy in his contentment.
I couldn’t say what spurred me on to scoot across the booth to where Gabriel sat, but I felt myself being drawn toward to him.
This is wrong. This is so fucked up.
That
rational part of me faded away quickly when Gabriel’s hands skimmed along the back of my arms to grip my shoulders. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to pull me closer or push me away. I needed to pull back, to push him away. This was Gabriel Bradley—my best friend’s father. But the power he had over me was delicious.
I stared into his eyes. They were conflicted as he gazed back at me. Desire. Guilt. I could see it swimming in his eyes. Then, he leaned forward to crush his mouth against mine in a searing kiss that knocked the wind right out of my lungs.
I let out a startled gasp at the contact before the butterfly sensation in my stomach spread throughout my body. I kissed him back, hard. I battled his tongue fiercely as Gabriel’s hands smoothed down the curve of my back to grasp my ass through the fabric of my dress as he pulled me into his lap.
It didn’t matter to me that Alyssa could come walking up to the table at any moment. I couldn’t think of anything else besides the sensation of Gabriel lifting me over his lap to lay me back down on the leather couch. He kissed me expertly, rendering me into putty beneath his lips and hands that were now bunching my dress up over my thighs. Those sinful lips continued down to bite and lick at my neck teasingly. I arched up against him in pleasure as he coaxed a breast out to suck hard at one of my nipples. His other hand skimmed along the inside of my inner thigh.
The first brush of his fingers against the soaked fabric of my panties sent jolts of pleasure up my spine. I buried my fingers into the dark locks of Gabriel’s hair as his fingers pushed aside the fabric to tease the nerves there. His thumb pushed down hard then. My hips jerked up in response to it as I ground against him desperately.
“Gabriel,” I sighed out, running a hand through his hair. “Please. Your fingers feel so good.”
His teeth bit down at the tender skin of my breast. “You feel amazing, Penny. You’re so fucking wet.”
I sucked in my bottom lip to bite down as those dexterous fingers parted me. They rubbed at me with a rough pace meant to bring a quick release. My body jerked and spasmed at the onslaught of his hand against my core. His mouth was biting and teasing the skin of my chest while he panted against me. I reached down to grasp the hard and twitching erection that I could feel through the fabric of his pants.