Night and Day
Page 20
She knew she’d reached new levels of boring, but someone had to clean up Javi’s little messes that would turn into bigger messes. And that someone was Alana. These days, she was the captain of the clean-up crew. While both her siblings played the free and frivolous card, she kept her head screwed on straight to keep the business running smoothly. Fun could wait.
Indefinitely.
Carla didn’t realize that she had the privilege of working as a part-time interior designer and full-time party girl because of Alana’s efforts. Efforts that Alana doubted their father would ever recognize because she was a girl. A vein in her temple started to throb at that thought. She needed a cocktail.
“Seriously, what else are you going to do tonight?” Carla’s question stopped her from ruminating on their father’s disapproval for a hot second.
“Make sure you can keep your trust fund—”
“Whatever you do tonight is not going to make or break the company, and you know it. Come out with me for one hour, just eleven until midnight. If you go home, you’ll just go home and get half drunk on champagne on your couch, watching the ball drop. You won’t be able to sleep, anyway.”
While her neighborhood, Little Havana, wasn’t flashy and revelers didn’t clog the streets at midnight on New Year’s Eve, some residents stood outside banging pots with wooden spoons—a form of celebration reserved for Heat championships and other special occasions. But her sister was right. All she needed to turn into a stereotype of a spinster was some cats. And she’d been thinking a lot about getting a kitten lately because she was seeing far too many of those ASPCA commercials on late-night television.
“Fine. I’ll be at your place in thirty.”
Carla wasn’t going to quit until she got her way anyhow. And Alana deserved to have fun, or at least enough alcohol to think she was having fun. Her sister squealed.
“Good. I picked up an amazing dress for you while I was out shopping today. By the end of the night, hopefully you won’t be a born-again virgin anymore.”
Alana sighed, hung up the phone, and grudgingly walked out the office.
She was going to get her v-card back if she didn’t do something about it soon. But she was going to need to be drunk—very drunk for this.
* * * *
Cole Roberts made his way down South Beach, looking for a bar that didn’t have a line a mile long. At 11:30 on New Year’s Eve, he wasn’t having much luck. He blew out a breath as he sidestepped a drunken army of college girls. There was nothing like being alone among throngs of inebriated, hollering coeds to make a guy feel old and used up.
He checked his phone again for a message from Javier. Nothing. Muttering under his breath that he wished he would’ve stayed someplace quiet, like the Keys, he dodged another staggering asshole and cursed his buddy. Javier had invited him down here for a vacation, and Cole—having nothing better to do—had agreed. He didn’t go home for the holidays anymore, not after his fiancée had humiliated him and then proceeded to procreate with some rich redneck. And something about the cold weather and abandoned streets of D.C. during the holidays made him antsy.
But now, Javier wasn’t answering his texts, and Cole was at loose ends.
The hotel was nice, and he should have ordered room service and stayed in. But he never could sit still for long. Being stuck in a sterile, all-white hotel room didn’t suit. So, here he was outside, on the biggest party night of the year, battling the crowd. At thirty-three, he was too old for this shit.
A beefy frat boy bumped into his left shoulder, and Cole grimaced. A round had nicked him in the shoulder four years ago. It didn’t hurt as much these days, and he was fully functional for regular, civilian activities. But he was no longer fit to serve as a Navy SEAL. That hurt more than the lingering aches and pains. The injury severed his military career and left him with no real purpose or plan for his life. And every plan he’d made for his future while in the service had blown up in his face right after that bullet had fucked up his shoulder. But at least he was alive.
He found himself in front of a club on a patio. Even though it was as crowded as all the other bars along the beach, he wouldn’t choke on cigarette smoke because of the open air. The music was so loud that no one would probably bother talking to him, either. He could watch pretty girls dance and drink in peace.
The man at the door had a Navy tattoo that peeked out from under his T-shirt. Cole strode right up to him, glad he’d worn the sleeves on his dress shirt rolled up. He was thankful for the tattoo on his lower arm, which depicted the logo of a Virginia Beach hangout that any Navy man worth his salt had gotten piss drunk at once.
The bouncer nodded toward the entrance, not taking the hundred-dollar bill Cole proffered. Once inside, Cole made his way for the least hectic bar of the four scattered around the club.
He leaned against the bar, and tried to get the hot blond bartender’s attention.
“Scotch. Sixteen year.” While she poured his drink and eyed him, he briefly considered talking her into coming back to his hotel room. He thought better of it because he didn’t want to be that guy. She was busting her ass, and probably flirting with all the customers for the tips. Since he wasn’t a scum bag, he wouldn’t add to her stress by hitting on her.
She gave him a saucy grin along with his drink. He handed over his credit card. “Keep it open and keep ‘em coming.”
He was on his second whiskey when he noticed a woman entering the bar. His mouth went dry, and not from the hooch. Everything about this woman was lush—from her perfect rack to the full hips. Long, dark hair curled over her shoulders. Lust hit his veins faster than the whiskey had. In less than a bass beat, he could picture her naked—underneath him, biting her lip, stifling a moan. He had a vision of his fingers dug into the skin of her hips as he thrust inside her. He wanted to thread his hands through her curls and find out how soft the skin at the back of her neck was.
She was about ten feet away, bellying up to order with a petite redhead. He didn’t know why he was gut-punched by her. There were hordes of women at the bar. But none of them held themselves the way she did. Like she had a secret from everyone else in the room. She wasn’t just beautiful. She was luminous. He’d never met a movie star, but he’d bet that she had the same thing that made people look at them. And he couldn’t stop looking. Underneath all that fuck-hot magnetism, she looked expensive. Probably too rich for his blood.
Leave it to him to spot the one spoiled rich girl in the place.
She surveyed the bar with a look that said she didn’t want to be there. Beth had the same look on her face when he’d reenlisted for that last tour. He should have known then that she’d wanted out, but he’d thought it was just a signal to work harder at keeping her happy.
And now that same look, on this woman’s face, made him hard enough that he’d have to hobble back to the hotel. He should have reconsidered talking up the bartender, or maybe the girl wearing a “Maid of Honor” sash a few tables way, but he couldn’t stop looking at her. The tips of his fingers burned with the need to touch her.
He finished his drink, hoping to douse his desire to go talk to her when the bartender set half a tray of tequila shots in front of her and her friend. After a moment’s hesitation, she licked and salted her hand—he would have been happy to do that for her—and downed two shots in quick succession. Dear Lord. Not many women could look elegant doing shots. She might as well have kicked him in the balls.
When she licked her lower lip, he groaned. That pink, glossy mouth. Her lips would look amazing wrapped around his cock. Fuck. He had to stop thinking that. He wouldn’t be able to approach her, much less leave the bar with her, sporting wood for all to see.
She took a third shot.
He’d almost calmed himself down by reciting Heisman Trophy winners backward in his head when she looked right at him. Fucked up as it made him, he got hard again as soon as she t
urned her hazel-eyed gaze right on him with a grimace on her face.