Piper: The Casanova Club #1

by Ali Parker

  They had all come down from their rooms over the course of the last half hour or so. It was a whirlwind. I hadn’t expected to feel so overwhelmed meeting ten women. As someone who was raised by royalty and in a manor, I was used to there being a lot of beautiful young women in one room. In fact, I was more than used to it. Social evenings like this were a weekly affair for me back home in London.

  I should feel perfectly at ease here.

  But alas, I was not. I was on edge. There was a lot of pressure on me for this to go well. My mother and father had no clue this was what I was doing in the United States, and if they caught wind of the Casanova Club, they might remove my name from the family tree mural painted in the second dining room.

  My mother had threatened to do it before. This would probably be the thing to finally push her over the edge, the last straw in my relentless “rebellion” as she would call it.

  The only thing I was rebelling against was injustice.

  As someone with royal lineage, I had the power to make a difference in people’s lives. I had wealth and influence, two of the most important ingredients to propelling change. I cared about making my city better. I wanted to help people get off the street. I wanted to open more rehabilitation centers that shifted the focus from getting people off the street for the better of the public to focusing on getting people healthy again.

  My mother hated how “involved” I was. She wanted me to spend more time with the family and more time finding a wife. Someone who could sit by my side for the rest of my life with a pretty smile and soft voice. My mother would be the only woman telling me what to do. At least, that was how she saw it in her vision of my ideal future.

  I had no clue what I actually wanted. All I knew was I was searching for something to fill the void inside of me. I didn’t have high hopes that I would find her here at the Casanova Club, but there was no harm trying.

  It had worked for Jackson Lee.

  I cleared my throat and pulled myself back to the present. “Tell me about yourself, Jenna.”

  The red-haired girl pursed her lips in a cute smile. I admired the freckles dashed across her petite nose and the rosy hue that warmed up her cheeks. She was more than beautiful. One might call her exquisite.

  Of course, my mother would have words to say about her having red hair. I could hear her voice now: “Red-haired women will have red-haired babies.” Why that mattered, I had no idea, but my mother was infamous for getting hung up on the unimportant details.

  Jenna drew her mane of hair over one shoulder and ran her fingers through it. “Where to start?” She giggled nervously. “I’m a violinist. I play at special events here in New York at least once a week, and I play special parties. What else? Goodness, I can’t believe how nervous I am.”

  “Don’t be nervous, Jenna. You’re among good people here. Just try to enjoy it.” I didn’t necessarily believe what I was telling her. There was no doubt in my mind that some of these men were unworthy of a kind girl like her.

  “Thank you. That helps. I like animals. I’m more of a dog person than a cat person. Um. I like gardening and fashion and—” She shook her head. “I sound so boring.”

  I chuckled. “Not at all. I sit in a room full of dusty old farts all day long, talking about policies and planning banquets. Rest assured, you are not boring me at all.”

  Her smile broadened until I could see her perfect white teeth. That was a smile a man could get used to seeing every morning. “You are very kind, Asher.”

  “That was just a line my sponsor gave me before I came down.”

  Jenna blinked.

  I laughed. “I apologize. That was a joke. A bad one apparently.”

  She giggled. The sound was high and bubbly and quite adorable. She looked down at her hands in her lap as her cheeks turned a furious shade of pink. “A funny Englishman. I’ve never met one before.”

  I smiled. “Nobody has. I’m one of a kind.”

  Jenna ran her fingers through her hair once more. Her eyes slid from me and over my shoulder. Then someone stepped out from behind me.

  Easton.

  He had a big friendly grin slapped on his face as he held his hand out to Jenna. “Excuse me, but would you mind if I stole you away for a moment? I couldn’t stop staring at you from across the room.”

  Jenna giggled. Then she looked to me as if searching for permission.

  I nodded. “Go ahead. You don’t owe me anything. The whole point of the evening is to get to know everyone if you are able. Here, take my seat.” I rose from my chair and offered the chair to Easton.

  The quarterback seemed a little taken aback by my offer. I supposed he wasn’t expecting chivalry from one of his competitors.

  I moved away from the table, and Jenna’s nervous giggles faded out of earshot as I mingled through the crowd. I had no intention of pulling a woman away from one of the Casanovas. She could come to me if she wished.

  I wanted a woman with confidence, and it seemed the wisest strategy with something like this, where we had such little time and were confined by our environment, was to let her make the first move.

  It was sort of like being back at the manor.

  I couldn’t count on both hands the number of women my mother had coaxed into approaching me at galas or events. No place was off limits. I’d grown accustomed to being engulfed by swooning girls.

  I chuckled to myself. That was probably the only thing me and the rock star had in common.

  Levi Morgan was currently draped majestically across a lounge chair. He was dressed in all black and looked the most suave out of all of us. There were at least three buttons undone at the top of his shirt, exposing a long silver chain around his throat, and when he moved just right, I caught a glimpse of some black ink toward his left shoulder. The girl he was talking to seemed smitten with him. She had her breasts pushed up to her chin and was leaning toward him like she wanted him to kiss her.

  There was definitely stiff competition in this room.

  Over the course of the next couple of hours, things shifted gears as people ingested more alcohol. I had never been much of a drinker. I’d indulge in a couple here and there, but never enough to get me drunk or even tipsy. Being in control of all my faculties was necessary as a member of a royal family. I never knew when someone important was going to call on me.

  Of course, in my experience, it was usually just my mother who needed me to see to something.

  The evening spilled over to the bar on the other side of the club. The lights were dimmer there, the drinks were stronger, and the music was louder. A couple of the guys lit up some cigars and topped off their drinks, and the women continued milling around.

  I found it a bit odd that at this point, some of the women moved off to the side and clustered in pairs or groups of threes. They peered around the room with their heads bowed together and their lips moving, whispering.

  It would be foolish to think they were talking about anything besides the twelve of us.

  I didn’t mind if they wanted to talk, but I thought it a bit of a bad move to extract themselves from socializing with the men. They were losing precious time. Only a couple of the girls still sat around with the rest of us, and one of them, a brunette with a stunning smile and a dress that was all the way open along her back, even accepted Cooper’s cigar and took a couple puffs.

  She seemed to have the attention of most of the room as she blew rings of smoke up to the ceiling.

  That earned her Cooper’s undivided attention. Poor thing.

  Someone nudged me in the ribs. I looked to my right to find Levi standing beside me. “Word on the street is you have royal blood,” the rocker said without looking at me.

  “Word on the street is the rest of us should just throw in the towel now. Who can compete with one of the world’s sexiest rock stars?”

  “Did you just call me sexy?” Levi chuckled and flashed me a devilish smile. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me all night.”

  I
laughed. “I’m sure the women have been blowing smoke up your ass since you walked in.”

  He nodded. “True. But it’s hard to know if what they’re saying is genuine. But you? I trust you.”

  “You shouldn’t.” I winked. “I’m your competition.”

  Levi shrugged. “Nah. I don’t have competition. World’s sexiest rock star, remember?”

  Levi wandered off toward a cluster of three women and injected himself effortlessly into their conversation. Their giggles and flirty whispers floated upward to the ceiling to join the cloud of cigar smoke hovering above our heads.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about how furious my mother would be. This was no place for a man in my position. It was no place for a man of any position, my mother would say.

  And she might have been right.

  This night and setting wasn’t offering me anything. It wasn’t my element, and none of the women were really catching my attention. Jenna had been beautiful—undoubtedly so—but she hadn’t captured my interest enough for me to try to steal her away from any of the other men.

  At this point, I didn’t really give a damn in participating in the vote at the end of the weekend. Whoever the other men deemed the most worthy was fine with me. This probably wouldn’t work out anyway. And even if it did, my parents would be furious with me for bringing an American back to London.

  More than furious. I could visualize the smoke coming out of my mother’s ears now.

  I left the second bar without saying goodbye and headed back to my room, which was cool, dark, and quiet. The solitude wrapped me up in a warm, comfortable embrace, and by the time my head hit the pillow, my mind had wandered to more hopeful thoughts.

  Maybe, just maybe, this might work out.

  Maybe I would meet a woman who was genuinely interested in me instead of my money or a chance to join royal lineage.

  It was unlikely, but a nice thought to hold while I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 17

  Piper

  My feet were killing me. I’d been at the restaurant since Phillip and I finished shopping around two in the afternoon. I had to help prep all the pastries for Christmas week orders and deliveries. It was getting more and more insane with each passing day, and even though the whole Casanova thing was stressing me the hell out, I was almost starting to look forward to it.

  I wasn’t all that confident with the two and a half outfits I’d managed to find for the weekend. Two and a half sounded crazy, but I didn’t have the budget for three. The first thing I found was a floor-length black dress with lace off the shoulder sleeves. It was elegant and simple, and if I had time, I would try some DIY tricks at home to make it a bit sexier. Even Phillip had said it was a bit plain. But plain only cost seventy-five dollars.

  I’d also purchased a long-sleeved black crop top. It was skin tight with a plunging neckline that would show off the girls nicely. And I knew at some point, I’d have to flash my assets. Well, not flash them, but at least make it known to all the males in the room that I had them and that they were very perky, thank you very much.

  Lastly, I’d managed to get my hands on a pair of killer black pumps with red soles. They looked very expensive, despite the forty-dollar price tag. They were officially the first pair of heels I’d owned since high school. How sad.

  But I was in a pinch. I had no bottoms to wear with the crop top, and I didn’t want to wear the pumps for the whole weekend. Not because I didn’t like them enough or because they didn’t go with everything—they did—but because I didn’t want anyone noticing how completely and utterly broke I was.

  Hopefully, Janie had a skirt or a pair of sexy pants I could borrow. Otherwise, I would have to raid my closet for an old dress or something, and everything I owned was way too summery and sweet for this sort of event. I needed something that screamed sex and sophistication and class, not “I shop at thrift stores once every six months if I can afford it.”

  I swept my hair off my forehead when we finished up with the Christmas pastries, and I went to change my apron so I could help out at the front of the restaurant where my brother was waiting tables. When I told him I was there to help, he pulled me down the hall to the back room.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “There are customers out there. If Dad catches us, he’ll be furious!”

  “I know, I know,” Phillip said, his voice a hurried whisper. “But I got you something.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  Phillip crouched down and pulled out a blue bag from the bottom of one of our storage shelves. “Don’t worry about the money. Just believe me when I tell you I could afford it, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said nervously as I took the bag from him. I pulled out some tissue and looked down into the contents of the bag. It was too dark to make out much of anything, besides the fact that whatever was in the bag was blue.

  I plunged my hand inside and grabbed something soft. Very soft. Like velvet.

  I pulled it slowly out of the bag, and once it was free, fabric tumbled down from my hand. I gasped as I realized what I was holding.

  It was a royal-blue velvet evening gown.

  “Phillip,” I breathed.

  “Don’t say anything. You said you’d believe me, remember? I could afford to buy it, so I bought it. I don’t think the other things you got today will be enough to make a good first impression. You needed something to set you apart, and this? This will do it, Piper.”

  The dress was possibly the most expensive thing I’d ever held in my two hands. The plunging neckline was cut in a dramatic open V that would expose all of my décolletage. The back was also plunging and, by the looks of things, would likely reach right down to the dimples on my lower back. “This isn’t the sort of thing a brother buys for his sister.”

  Phillip nodded. “I know.”

  “But?”

  “But I thought about what you said and how much this money could help us. I wanted you to know I support you. No matter what.”

  I folded the dress up and tucked it neatly back in the bag before giving my brother a big hug. “You were an annoying little shit when we were kids, Phillip, but I wouldn’t trade you for the world. Thank you.”

  “Same goes for you.”

  My father’s voice came from behind us. “What’s in the bag?”

  I spun around to find him standing in the doorway. He was craning his neck, peering at the bag in my hands with curiosity.

  I clutched it to my chest. “Oh. It’s nothing. It’s just a dress I saw and really liked, so I treated myself. I used my tutoring money.” I wasn’t going to throw Phillip under the bus and tell our father that he’d bought the dress. I saw that going very badly for my brother, and I didn’t want him getting into trouble for me.

  “Let’s see it then.” My dad nodded eagerly at the bag.

  I swallowed. “Really?”

  “Why not?”

  “Since when did you care about dresses?”

  My father shrugged. “I don’t. I care about you. Why won’t you show me?”

  I sighed, and my shoulders slumped forward. There was no sense in arguing with him. My dad was relentless when it came to this kind of thing.

  So, I took the dress back out of the bag and let the hem fall to the floor as I held it up for him.

  It took my father a minute to process what he was looking at. “It’s an evening gown.”

  “It is.” I nodded.

  “What for?”

  My brain scrambled for an answer as I stared blankly back at my father like a deer in the headlights. The only word I was capable of latching onto was “Casanova” but I didn’t dare speak it aloud. He couldn’t know what I was planning to do this weekend. He’d blow his top.

  Phillip answered for me. “It’s for when she goes away for school. If she goes away, I mean.”

  My father’s eyes narrowed. I could spot all the telltale signs that he’d had a rough day: creases in his forehead, veins showing in his neck, red cheeks, and b
loodshot eyes. “You bought an evening gown for a school program I told you you weren’t going to accept?”

  “Dad, I—”

  He shook his head at me. “I won’t hear it, Piper. I don’t know what’s been going on with you lately, but your mother and I are worried. We don’t know how you’ve been spending your time or where. We’re concerned. What have you been running off and doing? What could you possibly need a dress like that for?”

  “You don’t know what’s been going on with me?” I asked. My voice was thin and pinched.

  My father folded his arms over his burly chest and nodded. “That’s right. Something is off. I can’t put my finger on it, but you’ve been dodging the restaurant and your family. I suggest you explain yourself while you have the chance, young lady.”

  “Something is off?” I asked incredulously. “You think I’ve been dodging my responsibilities? Dad, all I do is come to this restaurant. And tutor students. And work in the cafeteria and the library. And I knit. My whole life is nothing but responsibilities!” My voice had grown shriller, and my last sentence was more of a shout. I clamped my mouth shut and blinked several times to chase away the tears that were trying to escape. I took a deep breath as my father glared at me. “I’m sorry. I’m just… I have to go.”

  “Piper,” my father said sharply as I untied my apron and threw it at my brother.

  Phillip watched me with wide eyes as I grabbed my purse from the floor and hurried out the back door of the restaurant with my dress bag clutched under my arm. The tears flowed freely as soon as I was outside.

  Normally, fresh snowfall would lift my spirits, but tonight, it did no such thing.

  I walked a few blocks down the road to a small cafe with cheap prices. I ordered myself a cup of coffee and a muffin, which was more money than what I should have been spending. I sat by a window to eat while I watched the other people in the cafe sipping their lattes and mochas.

  There was a young couple a few tables down from me. They were playing footsie under the table. She had her cheek in one hand, and he was staring adoringly at her while he sipped his coffee.