The Hot Brother (Romance Love Story) (Hargrave Brothers - Book #5)

by Alexa Davis

  I grabbed a towel and soaked it with sweat before tossing it aside and going over to the speed bag. I was good at that, at least. I moved my fists in fast, fluid motions. It helped clear my head and by the time Charlie called out for me to switch to the weight room, I felt strong again and determined that the next time Charlie sparred with me, I was going to end up on top.

  After running two sets, he looked at the clock and said, “I think that’s good for today. Good job, kid.” I thanked him and while I was in the shower, I marveled at how I’d gone from not giving a shit about his opinion to filling with a sense of pride in myself every time he said I was doing a good job.

  With Martin, things had been more on a buddy level. With Charlie, it was like a son trying to impress his dad. I had given up on my own father a couple of decades ago. Maybe that was the appeal for me, but whatever it was, I was beginning to see that by recommending Charlie, Martin was at least looking out for me in the end.

  I showered and dressed and although I was parked in the back, I headed for the front door. I was having Karli withdrawals and was hoping to at least catch a glimpse of her. I was disappointed when I passed the office and she wasn’t there, but as soon as I stepped outside, I found her out on the sidewalk on her phone. She had her back to me and I heard her say,

  “No, Michaela, not tonight.” A few beats later she said, “I have to study and besides, you know how I feel about loud, wild, frat-boy parties.” She listened again and said, “I love you, too. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She ended the call, and I let go of the door I’d been holding. When it shut, she turned and looked at me. “Oh…hey, Nick.”

  “Hi. What are you studying?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m sorry. I heard you say you had to study. Are you in school?”

  “Yeah, I’m a second-year law student.”

  “Cool, smart girl.” I smiled. She smiled back. We were having a conversation just like normal people; go figure. “My brother’s an attorney.”

  She looked surprised. I guess she didn’t think a guy like me could have any intelligent genes running through my blood. She would be surprised to know that I graduated high school with honors. “Oh, wow,” she said, “That’s cool. It’s always nice to have an attorney in the family, just in case.”

  So, she thought I was stupid and a criminal. Nice. “Yeah, I don’t even give shoplifting a second thought anymore.”

  She laughed softly. “I didn’t mean to imply you needed a lawyer.”

  “I guess it was a fair assumption if you ever read any of the tabloids I used to star in.”

  “Used to?”

  “I’m reformed,” I told her with a grin and a wink. “No wild, frat parties for me, either.”

  She smiled. “Good to know, I guess.”

  “So, you’re not into wild parties. What are you into, Karli?” I took a step toward her and it thrilled me that just like that night at my house, she didn’t move away. She was looking up at me, and I was dying to taste her lips again. I bent down and put my lips right next to her ear and said, “Maybe you and me could find something to get into together?”

  She did step back then. “I don’t think so, Nick.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m just not into fighters.”

  “You seemed kind of into me that night at my house.” I took a step toward her again and ran my tongue across my lips. I reached down and brushed a soft piece of hair away from her face. She actually shuddered. That encouraged me. “Was I wrong, Karli? Did you not enjoy that kiss as much as I did?”

  “Nick…” Her face was flushed and her breaths were getting shorter. She wanted me, I knew she did. She was afraid for some reason to explore those feelings, but I was determined to change her mind.

  “What, Karli?” I brushed her hair behind her ear and let my fingers linger on her cheek. Another shiver ran through her gorgeous body. I brought my hand down and cupped the back of her neck.

  She tipped her head back further, and I started to lower my lips down to hers. That was when she pulled out of my grip. “What are you doing? You can’t just kiss me whenever the mood strikes!”

  I tried to look sorry but life is like fighting, it’s all about timing. I was hoping the timing was right because I really wanted to taste those lips again. “Sorry, you’re just so…”

  “Don’t say it. Look, I told you, I don’t date fighters.”

  I folded my arms and looked down at her. “How unfair is that? You’re stereotyping.”

  She laughed. “I’ve been around fighters and gym rats my entire life. I have yet to meet one that’s not just like the other.”

  “How insulted would you be if I said all pretty blonde women are Barbies?”

  “I wouldn’t be insulted because it’s not true.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. All of us fighters and “gym rats” are not the same either. But, you’ll never know that if you don’t give people a chance.”

  She smiled and said, “People? Or you?”

  “Well, I’m people and you hurt my feelings.”

  She looked amused. “Your feelings are hurt?”

  “Yes, you don’t believe I have feelings? Fighters don’t have feelings?” I’d completely lost the smile on my face.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’ve just had some bad experiences.”

  I stepped closer to her and said, “You can’t give up just because you’ve run across a few assholes.” I lowered my mouth down again and with my lips so close to hers I could feel her breath on my face I said, “You’ll never know what you’re missing if you’re too afraid to take a shot.” I let my lips barely touch hers. She didn’t move this time and she didn’t protest, so I pressed them together a little harder. I felt her part hers, and I let my tongue delve in between them and tangle up with hers. She stepped closer to me and I wrapped her up in my arms and pulled her up onto her toes.

  God, I loved kissing her. It was the best thing that happened to me since the first kiss…until I heard Charlie clear his throat behind us. I let go of Karli and reluctantly turned to look at him.

  “What the hell is this?”

  “Charlie…”

  Karli put her hand on my arm and said, “It’s okay, Nick; I’ll talk to Dad.”

  I looked back at the man who just kicked my ass an hour ago. He was glaring at me again the way he had that first week we had trained together. I felt like a wimp leaving her here to deal with it. I tried again, “Charlie, don’t be angry with Karli; the kiss was all me.”

  “You forced yourself on her?”

  “No, Dad,” Karli said with a sigh. “Nick, please go.” Charlie gave me a dismissive snort.

  “Okay, I’ll see you both tomorrow.” Neither of them said anything and as I was walking away, I heard Karli say,

  “I’m twenty-two years old, Dad. You don’t get to say who I kiss and who I don’t.” I missed Charlie’s reply, but I had a feeling I’d feel it tomorrow.

  CHAPTER TEN

  KARLI

  Dad had come out at exactly the wrong time to tell me he was finished and I could catch a ride home with him instead of a cab. I should have taken the cab…or even walked the twelve miles.

  “I thought you swore off dating gym rats.”

  “I’m not dating Nick, Dad.”

  “Oh? That kiss looked awfully friendly for people not dating.”

  I wasn’t about to talk to my father about the difference between “dating” and “hooking up,” which was what I’m sure Nick was interested in doing. Instead, I said, “He’s cute.” Cute was a huge understatement, but this was my dad, after all. “I’m attracted to him. But I told him in no uncertain terms that I wouldn’t go out with him.”

  “And then you put your tongue in his mouth to drive the point home?”

  “Dad!”

  “What? Did you or did you not just have your tongue in that boy’s mouth?”

  “Daddy, first of al
l, he’s not a boy, and I’m no little girl. Second, I really don’t want to discuss this with you. I’m a grown woman and what I decide to do and whom I decide to do it with is my business, okay?”

  He rolled his eyes but kept them on the road – and he didn’t answer me. We rode in silence the rest of the way to the house and only when we were parking in the garage did he finally say, “Listen, baby girl. I realize that you’re a grown woman and too old for me to tell what to do. So let me just offer you some fatherly advice: friendly, fatherly advice.

  “When Martin came to me about taking on Nick’s training, I did a lot of research on him. This kid…man, excuse me. This man has been a party boy since he was eighteen years old. Since he started fighting, he’s been photographed with probably fifty different women. He will break your heart, baby girl. If he does that, I will break him. I won’t have any choice.”

  “Oh, Dad, Nick is not going to break my heart, okay? The reason he is not going to break my heart is because my heart is not involved with him. I’m not going out with him. I’m not falling for him. I made an error in judgment by kissing him and it won’t happen again. In a couple of days, I have a date with an attorney, and I’m really looking forward to it. I am done with fighters and gym rats, but everyone makes mistakes, right?”

  He grumbled and got out of the car. I followed him into the house, and he began making his way down the hallway toward his bedroom. “Hey, Dad?” He turned back toward me. “Please promise me you won’t take this out on Nick while he’s training. This was as much me as it was him and that wouldn’t be fair.”

  He made a face, but said, “I’ll try.”

  “Dad!”

  He rolled his eyes at me again. Sometimes, I felt like the parent. “I won’t take it out on him; happy?”

  I smiled and blew him a kiss. “Thank you, Daddy.” He grumbled again and walked away. I was shaking my head at him when my phone rang. It was Nick. Shit.

  “Hey, Nick,” I said when I picked it up.

  “Hey, I just wanted to make sure that we were okay.”

  “I’m okay. I’m a big girl. My father doesn’t dictate my life. I asked him not to be hard on you while you’re training because of this.”

  He laughed nervously. “And what did he say to that?”

  “He agreed.”

  He laughed again. “We’ll see. So, what are you doing for dinner?”

  “Nick, I thought we were clear that I wouldn’t go out with you.”

  “No, we’re a little muddy on the issue. You sure don’t kiss me like a woman who doesn’t want to go out with me.”

  “I’m sorry about that. It was poor judgment and not my intention to lead you on. I wasn’t thinking. It won’t happen again, Nick.”

  He was silent for a few moments. I did feel bad, and I felt confused. It was easy to decide that Nick and I were a bad idea when he wasn’t right in front of me. But whenever he and I were close to each other, it was like my head completely quit working. I’ve had crushes before, but nothing like this. I felt like I was being driven by pure passion where he was concerned, and I knew if I didn’t put a stop to it, that it would turn out all bad.

  “Don’t be sorry,” he said at last. “I’m not sorry we kissed. I’ve kissed a lot of women, Karli, and those two kisses were the best I’ve ever had. But I’m willing to start over…just as friends. Unless, of course, you’re one of those people who think men and women can’t just be friends.”

  “I have male friends.”

  “Okay, good. Then we can just put the attraction aside for now.”

  “Um, excuse me? The attraction?”

  “Oh, well, I was just assuming it was mutual.”

  “Don’t assume.”

  He laughed. “Okay, my mistake. Well then, if you’re not attracted to me, then it should be easy…as long as you can resist the urge to kiss me again. That is where the attraction issue gets slightly muddied.”

  “So arrogant. You kissed me, both times.”

  He laughed again. “Okay then, it will never happen again. Now, dinner? I’m starving over here.”

  I rolled my eyes more at myself than at him. “Fine, dinner – as friends. That means you keep your lips to yourself.”

  “No lips, got it.” He chuckled. I got the feeling he was convinced that there was no way I could resist him. I was just going to have to prove him wrong.

  ********

  Nick and I arranged to meet at Treasure Island. I let him pick the place for dinner and he picked Gilley’s. It figured – hot girls in black, leather bikinis and cowboy boots serving him food. I was sure that was on the top of one of his fantasy lists. But, this wasn’t a date; it was dinner with a friend, so he could flirt with as many scantily-clad cowgirls as he wanted.

  To prove to myself I wasn’t worried about trying to compete, I pulled my hair up into a simple ponytail and put on a casual, cotton, peach-colored dress that I’d had forever and a pair of brown sandals. The only make-up I wore was a tiny bit of mascara and lip gloss. On my way out the door, I grabbed my purse and let Dad know I was having dinner with a friend. He shouted out for me to say hello to Michaela. I didn’t correct him.

  It took me about twenty minutes to get to Treasure Island. I used the time to go through the “rules” in my head. I couldn’t let him stand too close to me. I wasn’t going back to his place. I would meet him wherever we went and drive myself home. I wouldn’t drink too much alcohol so as not to lower my inhibitions and under no circumstances would I kiss him ever again.

  Sadly, that last rule gave me a sharp pang in the center of my chest. He was an amazing kisser – the kind that all men would be compared to from this point forward. But, it was wrong to lead him on, whether that had been my intention or not.

  I hadn’t lied to Nick when I told him I had a lot of male friends. Most of my friends have been male. I spent so much time with men and boys in the gym growing up that I learned to identify with them more than women at an early age. Add that to the fact that I was raised by a single father and men ruled my world.

  I’d had crushes on some of the guys that came and went through the gym over the years and the last one I dated, I actually thought I was in love with. We had been talking about getting married, just before New Year’s last year. We went to a party on New Year’s Eve and I lost track of him before midnight. I went looking for him and found him in the kitchen in the walk-in pantry, getting busy with one of the fighter groupies. That was when I swore off fighters and gym rats.

  That was also almost a year ago and I had to wonder if the fact that I was desperately horny had anything to do with this overwhelming attraction I felt toward Nick.

  As I drove into the valet area, I saw a cluster of women near the entrance and realized that right in the center of them was Nick. I rolled my eyes as I handed the keys off to one of the valets. No wonder he was so full of himself. As I walked up toward him, I could hear feminine giggling. One of the girls closest to Nick had her arm out and he was signing it. Give me a fucking break. When he finished dotting the “I” in Storelli, he looked up at her face and gave her a thousand-watt smile.

  The next girl tried to move forward and I’m sure she was lifting up her shirt. God only knows what that one wanted him to sign. Thankfully, he caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye. The next thing I knew, I was the one basking in the heat of that sexy smile.

  “Sorry, ladies; that’s it for now. My dinner date is here.” There was a collective groan from the crowd and suddenly five pairs of eyes were on me. Most of them were pretty eyes and it hit me that Nick could go home with any one of them.

  That was my biggest issue with dating a fighter. It was not that there was anything wrong with my self-esteem now, but I worried about how much it could take before it began to go south. I was not planning on testing it. Nick could take whomever he wanted home with him…right after we had dinner.

  I smiled in the direction of the glaring women and that only made their stares grow harder as they
took me in from head to toe. Suddenly, Nick’s big hand was reaching toward me. I took it, for safety’s sake, and he pulled me through the crowd while using the other hand to part them like Moses at the Red Sea. He guided me to the door of the casino and I could almost feel the heat of the stares at my back until the door closed behind us.

  “Sorry about that,” he said.

  “I’m sure it happens all the time,” I said, sarcastically.

  “It does,” he agreed casually as he led me through the banks of noisy machines and toward Gilley’s in the back. “A hazard of the job, I guess.” More like a hazard of walking around looking like a tattooed God, I thought.

  “I guess,” I said as I suddenly remembered I was still holding his hand and let go of it. His lips twitched, but he held back whatever sarcastic comment he had on the tip of his tongue. He stopped walking when we stepped inside the restaurant and smiled at the hostess. She practically gushed and hurried us back to a table in the corner that faced out to where they did the pirate shows. Once she took our drink orders and left, I asked him a question I’d had on my mind since I met him.

  “So, why don’t you have a girlfriend, Nick?”

  “I’ve been too busy training and fighting to worry about trying to sustain a relationship, I guess.” His answer almost sounded practiced, like he had anticipated it and prepared a reply ahead of time just in case. He didn’t mention the part where he got to fuck a different woman every night, either. I guess I should at least respect the fact that although he’s definitely a player, he’s not cheating on anyone. “What about you, Karli? Why no boyfriend?”

  “I haven’t had the best of luck in that arena,” I said. “I thought it best to take a break for a while and maybe when I get back in the game, I’ll stop picking losers.”

  “Fighters and gym rats?”

  “Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I basically grew up inside of a gym, so those are the guys I met first.”

  He grinned. “You would meet more preppies and honor students if you’d go to one of those wild, frat parties.”

  I smiled back tightly. His dimples were showing and I felt lust flooding my veins once again. I had to actually take a deep breath and let it out slowly before I said, “I doubt that, but I do have a date coming up with an attorney, so maybe my luck is about to change.”