“Relax,” Andre said, immediately holding both hands up. “We can settle this. You hit me, your insurance pays. End of story.”
The affronted woman glared at him and then at me. What did I do? “Hey, how about a little backup? You were in the car, so you’re a witness. It was his fault, right?”
“Look, lady, I just arrived in New York and have someplace to be. Fill out whatever paperwork you need and let’s move on. I’m late as it is.”
“Well, God forbid you’re late. I’m supposed to be somewhere too, you know. This was the last thing I needed. So don’t get all righteous on me, mister!”
Righteous? Who the hell was this woman? She then mumbled something incoherently, and I did my best not to laugh, knowing that would set her off even more. Part of me wanted to test the theory, though, because damn, the more pissed off she got, the more turned on I became. Granted, it’d been a while since I met a woman who intrigued me at all.
“Are you hurt?” I took the opportunity to slowly scan her body from head to toe. Even standing as rigid as a virgin in a porn shop, she was perfect. Perky breasts sat high in the bustline of her dress, with the thin straps revealing the smooth skin of her neck, shoulders, and arms. The dress hugged every inch of her from chest to waist, and then flared until it hit right above her knee.
In comparison to the supermodels I photographed, she was petite, her heels still only bringing her to my shoulder. The dress itself was both sweet and sexy, leaving nothing to the imagination about what lay beneath the flirty fabric. Except for that print, which was busy as hell—were those vibrators? It was tough to see under the darkening sky.
Sensing my distraction, she snapped her fingers in the air, a habit I remembered Jude having. “Hey!” My line of sight slowly lifted to meet hers. “My eyes are up here.” Two brilliant cornflower-blue eyes blazed right through me, and fuck if that didn’t make my cock twitch… blue-eyed blondes were kind of my thing… angry ones, even more so.
“Are you cold?” I asked, what I thought was the obvious question based on the way her nipples were pushing through the vibrator fabric.
“What? No, it’s like eighty degrees out.” I could see the innuendo of my question hitting her through the widening of her eyes. “You’re a pig.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Thank Christ, the cops arrived and quickly began filling out the dreaded paperwork. Apparently, this wasn’t Andre’s first accident, but I still had no clue who was at fault.
While waiting to give my own statement, I sent a quick text to my brother.
Running late. Wacko hit my ride. Just filling out paperwork. Will be there soon.
Twenty minutes later, the parking lot attendant walked up to us, and although he hadn’t seen it happen, he was the one who had called the police. The dude stared at my nemesis, appreciating her beauty, and offered to park her car for her.
A sweet smile lifted the corners of her plump lips. Why did he get her sweet side? “That would be lovely, thank you.” She bent into the car, and I ogled like the pig she accused me of being as the flirty dress rose up to expose the backs of her thighs. When she’d straightened back up, she was gripping her purse and a wrapped present with one hand and giving the attendant the keys with the other. He beamed like a horny teenager, as if she’d given him her phone number rather than what was needed to start her car.
Without a goodbye, she scurried away and disappeared into the same building where I was headed. And I had a deep suspicion we’d be crossing paths in a few minutes.
Exhausted over this ordeal, especially after traveling all day, I headed into Cleary Laboratories. Kyle had decided to have the party at the building that housed his cosmetics company, and thankfully there would be an open bar waiting for me inside. Shit, I could use a drink.
As Kyle had instructed, I hauled my luggage into the foyer and waited for his hostess to direct me to the empty office where I could store my belongings. From the lobby, I heard the festivities going on above. After I dropped off my things, I headed to the party, following the sounds of chatter and music. I yanked the door open, and sure enough, the first thing I saw was the irate blonde yapping a mile a minute as my brother and his friends looked on.
Fucking awesome.
I hadn’t even realized I’d released the heavy door until it clanged shut and all eyes landed on me. It was one of those moments when you wanted to turn around and check to see what was behind you.
“Are you following me now?” The closer I got, the redder her face became, and then in true Tasmanian devil fashion, she lost her mind. “This is a private party! My friends will kick your ass if you hurt me.”
“Maybe you’re following me?” Who was this chick and why was she here? I know… to torture me. This woman had a chip as big as the car she’d just hit resting on her shoulder. Was she kidding right now? Blood coursed through my veins, turning it from a simmer to a full-on rolling boil. And hell if I knew why that turned me the fuck on.
Actually, it may have been because she clearly couldn’t give a shit about my opinion. As strange as that sounds, most of the women in my life were eager to impress.
Yet, this one couldn’t give a crap about impressing me. The disgusted look on her face came complete with an unflattering choking noise… and again I wanted to laugh. Even while trying to appear all badass, her pretty face and ridiculous dress made her attempts counterproductive.
“In your dreams. You’re such a jerk.”
“Sweetheart, I’m not the one who caused an accident—you were. Where did you learn to drive? On a racetrack?” A quick glance at our audience revealed them twisting their heads back and forth in a ping-pong fashion.
“If your dumb driver didn’t cut me off to get into the lot, this wouldn’t have happened. God, you’re so rude.”
“You need to relax.” All the females gasped at once, while the men visibly cringed.
“Cass,” Luca said in his calming voice.
If fire could dart out of eyeballs, I’d be scorched. Ignoring my brother, she gritted her teeth and growled, “Relax? Did you just have the gall to tell me to relax?”
“Did I stutter?”
“Ugh!”
“Cass.” Luca tried grabbing her attention furtively.
Miss Pain-in-my-ass glanced at my brother before turning toward Kyle and plowing on. “Kyle, can you please escort this… this… jackass out?” I assumed the puff of air she aimed upward was meant to blow away a strand of hair that had fallen across her face, but it only ended up releasing in an unattractive sound. Did she spit?
Luca, always the diffuser of situations, stepped closer and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. “Cass!”
She bit back, “What?” At last, Blondie gave my brother the attention he’d been seeking, and as if a light bulb illuminated inside my brain, the name registered.
“Cass? As in Cassie?” She glared at me before darting her narrowed gaze to Luca.
Luca raised his hands in surrender. “I see you’ve met my brother.”
Suddenly, you could hear crickets. No fucking way! This was my brother’s best friend, Cassie? The friend who had a heart of gold and the patience of a saint? The one who was as sweet as sugar?
Luca met my shocked expression with a glint of mischievousness in his eyes and a shrug. “Welcome to New York, Dante.”
Cassie’s brows furrowed when the comedy of our situation hit her. “Wait… this… this… man… is your brother?”
Luca laughed as he nodded. “Cassie, this is Dante. Dante, Cassie.”
Had I just entered an alternate universe? “This is the woman you told me about? The sweet school teacher? Christ, I’d hate to be one of her students.”
Cassie plopped her hands onto her nicely shaped hips and smirked. “I’ll have you know, I’m a very good teacher. Take that back.” She then whispered something that sounded very close to asshole, but one couldn’t be too sure with her.
“Take that back? What are you, twelve?” A
nd once again, everyone’s eyes bounced between us.
“You’re incorrigible. You’re nothing like your brother.”
Her comment forced a grin. She had me there. The more she stewed, the more I appreciated the way her dress enhanced her boobs. “Ahh… they’re pencils, and here I thought they were vibrators,” I voiced my revelation out loud.
“What?”
“The pattern on your dress. Outside I thought you had dancing vibrators all over it. Makes sense now. I get it—teacher.”
After an unflattering gawk, she blinked once and let out with a snit, “I need a drink,” before storming off toward the bar by herself.
Once she was out of earshot, Luca pulled me to the side. “Ease up. She’s one of my best friends.”
I couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit of remorse over busting her chops as I looked over to where Cassie stood with the other ladies. “I had nothing to do with that damn accident. She’s pazzo.”
“She’s not crazy, and I’ve never seen her so upset. Can you take it down a notch?”
“For you, fine. But I’m telling you, there’s a side to that woman you haven’t seen yet.”
Luca laughed but didn’t disagree with my assessment. Then he led me back to the circle and placed a possessive hand on the small of a brunette beauty’s back who I recognized from our video chat as Sabrina. “Sabrina, officially meet Dante. Dante, Sabrina.”
The warning look he gave me as I pulled her into a hug made me laugh out loud. She clearly belonged to him, since he went caveman, though I decided to have a bit of brotherly fun. I held her face and leaned in slowly, knowing he was about to deck me. As my lips hovered over hers, I turned to kiss first one cheek and then the other. “Even more beautiful in person.”
Sabrina, who seemed unaffected, confidently said, “Thank you.”
I couldn’t help but smile at my brother, who simply shook his head. “You sure know how to make an entrance.”
“What can I say? It’s a gift,” I retorted with a hearty chuckle. “Trust me, this wasn’t how I predicted this night going.”
Jude and Kyle were next, each of them giving me a handshake followed with a bro-hug. They then introduced me to the two gorgeous women standing beside them. Brae, Jude’s wife, shyly shook my hand. In comparison, Kyle’s girlfriend, Vanessa, met my gaze full on and didn’t hold back—I liked that in a woman.
“So you’re the big brother?” she asked with a smirk.
“That’s me, and you could be a model. Happy birthday.”
She rolled her shoulders back with a truckload of self-assurance. “Thank you.” At our exchange, Kyle gave me the same warning glare I’d gotten from Luca before he snatched her hand with his.
“You’re welcome. My apologies for the commotion.”
Vanessa nodded once, leaned in, and with emphasis said, “But…” She pointed a manicured nail at me. “If you ever talk to my friend like that again, I don’t care who you’re related to, I will take you out back and kick your ass. You got it?” My eyebrows joined my hairline. “That’s what I thought. Now, let’s go have a drink. It is my birthday after all.”
We congregated at the bar to place our drink orders. Cassie still looked furious, turning her back to me while holding a glass of wine. The band struck up a song, pulling people into the center of the room to dance. Jude and Kyle followed suit, taking their ladies by the hand and joining the other couples on the makeshift dance floor.
Luca’s gaze bounced between Cassie and me. “Is it safe to leave you two alone?”
Naturally, Cassie answered before I could, with a saccharin smile plastered across her pretty face. “Yes, of course. I know how to act civilized.”
Sure she did.
With a tilt of my hand, the three fingers of whiskey I’d ordered shot down my throat. I noticed Cassie’s body begin to sway. Under normal circumstances, I would have asked her to dance, but this night was anything but normal.
Chapter 2
Cassie
It took everything in my power to keep my eyes from devouring Dante. But I’d rather eat chocolate-covered insects than let him know he affected me. For some unfathomable reason, my mind and body were at war with one another. And if I had to be honest, it could be because this cocky, arrogant man sent an unfamiliar zing zipping through me.
Jesus, he was my best friend’s brother. Which meant there shouldn’t have been anything zipping or zinging anywhere… and that should’ve been weird all around—yet, it wasn’t. Yes, they both had the same tall, dark, and handsome thing going on, the same faint accent, but their dispositions couldn’t have been more different. Where Luca was modest, Dante was cocky. Where Luca was reserved, Dante appeared uninhibited. For whatever reason, that last difference had my lady parts screaming.
I thought back to when I’d met Luca, and between his striking good looks and sweet personality, I might have developed a tiny crush. But the more we got to know each other, the more that crush turned into genuine affection, like a sister had for her brother. Definitely no zing.
A man like Dante Benedetto screamed of danger. Usually, I preferred safe, sweet, quiet men, much like my coworker Thomas. We’d gone on a few casual dates, and he had hinted at wanting more. Something held me back, and it only now occurred to me what that something was. With Thomas, there was no zing.
After receiving Vanessa’s invitation, I’d had a fleeting thought to invite Thomas, and now I wondered how different my evening would have been if I had. For one thing, I wouldn’t have been driving. For another, if I’d had a date, Mr. Benedetto might not have even given me the time of day.
Why my eyes kept seeking him out was beyond me, and why did my heart flip when I caught his gaze fixed on me? More important, why in the world did this ass need to be Luca’s gorgeous brother?
To calm my pounding pulse, I took a moment to look around. Unsurprisingly, Kyle had outdone himself and transformed the clinical space into the perfect place for a party. Purple and white balloons and streamers adorned the lab, along with a “Happy Birthday” sign draped along the far wall. All the tables were decorated with candles and flowers. Waiters and waitresses milled about passing out hors d’oeuvres, causing my stomach to unleash a low rumble. I helped myself to a few, needing food to counterbalance the alcohol.
Even with the party’s distractions, I still couldn’t get past the events of the evening. Beneath the weight of Dante’s stare, I continued to ignore him, keeping my eyes fixed on the couples dancing to the ballad played by the band. I turned toward the bar for a refill on my wine when a warm breath caressed my ear and a deep voice stopped me. “Are you sure you should be drinking with the way you drive?”
Practically knocking noses when I whipped my head toward him, I glared with contempt oozing from every cell in my body. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m already taking a cab home tonight because my car is damaged. I barely drive it, but of course the one night I take it out, you come along—”
“Damaged?” He cut me off before his full lips rolled over his teeth, forcing my gaze down to his mouth. “You mean the tiny little crack in your bumper?”
“Oh my God!” There would be a murder committed tonight, no doubt, if I spent one more minute with this… person. “You know what—” He halted my words when he slid his jacket off to reveal a formfitting T-shirt that skimmed over him like paint. Holy crap. Every muscular nuance was proudly displayed beneath the smooth light-blue cotton, including the outline of a bar piercing his left nipple.
“You were saying?” His eyes held mine as he casually laid his jacket on the back of a nearby chair. His T-shirt and jeans left nothing to the imagination. Long legs, trim waist, and an impressive bulge caused the back of my neck to overheat. Of its own volition, my hand lifted my empty glass to my lips. When words still hadn’t found their way out of my mouth, he folded his arms, making my hot-flash predicament even worse.
“I was saying…” I paused to swallow air. “Please go away.” My own words sounded
distorted due to the lack of moisture on my tongue.
“Is that what you really want?” He stepped even closer… too close. “For me to go away?” Eyes the color of rich coffee with a touch of cream bore through me. I wasn’t sure if it was a rhetorical question or not; regardless, I chose not to dignify it with an answer. Undeterred, Dante closed the distance, bringing his bare left elbow to press against mine. He was so close, there wasn’t a doubt he could see the effect he had on me through my dilated pupils and the hair on my arms standing on end. It wouldn’t surprise me if he could hear my heart pounding.
It took five full seconds for him to continue, and by then my heartbeat roaring in my own ears almost made it difficult to hear him. “Because that may pose a problem, since you’re my brother’s best friend. Let’s not forget, we’ll be seeing so much of each other now that I’m a New Yorker.”
Dammit. I forgot this wasn’t a short visit. Luca had mentioned Dante was about to relocate to the city. How in the world was I going to deal with seeing him on a regular basis? Granted, I could avoid him, but that would mean avoiding my friends as well. He was right, we would run in the same circle.
When I chanced another glance at him, his gaze remained trained on me. His deep-brown eyes studied my face as he dragged his thumb across his bottom lip—one of the sexiest moves I’d ever witnessed.
“Is there a problem?” I asked, my raspy voice betraying my attempt to disguise how much that one move turned me on.
Dante shook his head. “No, not at all. You have wonderful bone structure.”
My eyelashes fluttered a few times. “Excuse me?”
He tilted his head, studying me. “I photograph a lot of beautiful women, and even though you’re too short, your face has nice angles.”
The Mr. Wrong Series Page 80