His eyes raked over my body and he licked his lips. “Well, I’m pleased to see that Jesse also has exquisite taste in women. Just like the rest of the Eddington men.”
I blushed. “Well, thank you.” I smiled.
He released my hand and motioned for Jesse to pull out my chair. “Son?”
“Oh, where are my manners?” quipped Jesse, as he stood back up and pulled it out for me.
“Thanks, babe.” I smiled back at him as he pushed my chair.
“You’re welcome, lover,” he answered, tugging on a strand of my hair.
“Sinclair, would you care for a glass of wine?” asked Jack. “We have a bottle of Chateau Margaux that I just opened for Mimi. How is it, by the way, my dear?” he asked.
Mimi, who’d just taken a prim sip, retained her puckered expression and nodded. “Yes, a little dry, but good.”
“Sin adores wine,” drawled Jesse, grabbing the bottle.
“Good, she’ll fit right in here,” said Jack.
Jesse poured both of us a healthy glass and took a sip. “Oh, yes,” he groaned in pleasure. “This wine could definitely cause a scandal. Honestly, I could see myself drinking a case of this.”
Jack smoothed down the right side of his moustache and smirked. “At seven thousand a bottle, I highly doubt we’ll have to worry about that little exhibition.”
Jesse burst out laughing. “Oh, contraire. I know where you hide the booze and I also know you can certainly afford it. How is the casting business, by the way?”
From what I’d understood, Jack was some bigwig casting director and made mucho dollars. Another reason why many celebrities were expected at tomorrow’s party.
He tilted his head and looked down at his own drink. “Well, actually, I’m considering retiring.”
Jesse’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding,”
“Not at all,” said Jack, swirling the ice around in his glass. “I’ve had enough of the political bullshit and would much rather spend my days playing golf or sailing on the yacht.” He looked at me. “Do you sail?”
I cleared my throat. “Unfortunately, I’ve never been sailing.”
He smiled. “Well, I’m sure we can remedy that. What do you say, Jesse? Invite her over again, next weekend and we’ll de-virginize her.”
Jesse choked on his sip of wine.
I patted his back and murmured, “What’s wrong Jesse? Never de-virginized a woman before?”
“Who’s a virgin?” interrupted a deep, velvety voice.
All three of us turned to stare at the tall, dark-haired man standing in the doorway. As he moved closer, my breath hitched and something inside of me woke up – a desire to be naked and staring up into the most intense blue eyes I’d ever seen.
Wow, I had no idea Jesse’s brother was so freakin’ hot.
“Oh, Reed!” gushed Mimi, standing up. “Come here and give your mother a hug!”
I whipped my head back to Mimi, who stared at her older son as if he was some sort of god. It made me sick to my stomach to see her treat two sons so profoundly different.
Reed gave her a hug, shook his father’s hand, and then turned to Jesse. “Look at you, all ‘dressed to the nines’. You make me look like a bum off the streets,” he said, motioning towards his dark jeans and yellow polo shirt. With perfectly chiseled features, broad shoulders, and athletic build, I couldn’t imagine any bum looking quite like that.
“Oh, you look just fine,” said Mimi. “Sit down and join us, Reed. We were waiting for Gretchen to serve dinner. In fact,” she said, moving towards the door. “Let me see what is taking so long.”
As she left to check on the food, I stole another glance at Reed’s face, noting that his nose appeared like it may have been broken once or twice and he had a small white scar under his lip. These things seemed to make him even more hot and I wondered if he’d gotten them fighting. Jesse had mentioned that his brother had been a hothead in high school.
He caught me checking him out and smiled a deeply dimpled one that warmed my tummy.
What in the hell was wrong with you, he’s taken and you’re definitely not looking, I told myself.
“Son, introduce your girlfriend,” said Jack, finishing off his cocktail. “Where are your manners?”
Jesse, who had just taken a bite out of a piece of bread, waved his hand. “Oh, yeah – Reed, Sin, Sin, Reed.”
“Sin?” asked Reed, a corner of his mouth twitching as our eyes met, again.
I raised my chin. “It’s short for Sinclair.”
“Don’t let that fool you,” said Jesse, with a wicked grin. “She lives up to her name.”
I elbowed him in the ribs and he grunted.
“So, girlfriend, huh?” remarked Reed, lifting the bottle of wine and studying it. “I had no idea you had a woman in your life.”
“There are many things that you don’t know about me,” said Jesse, examining his nails again.
Reed chuckled. “I guess so. Tell me, Jesse, how long have you been hiding Sinclair from us?”
“Actually, we’ve only been dating for a short time,” he said.
“Interesting,” he said, pushing the wine aside. “So, how did you two lovebirds meet?”
“We met at Tangled,” said Jesse. “She’s the top hair designer at their salon.”
I turned to Jesse and raised my eyebrows. I was good, but far from being their “top” hair designer.
Reed ran a hand through his sandy-brown hair and smiled. “I could use a haircut, maybe I should make an appointment.”
Jesse pointed up to his highlights. “She just foiled me yesterday. You should consider getting a little splash of color thrown in to yours.”
Reed turned to me, his eyes probing mine. “What do you think, Sin?”
“I don’t think you should change it,” I said, wondering if his hair was as soft as it looked. “It’s a good color on you.”
He looked back over to Jesse. “Good, because personally, I feel that if someone doesn’t like me for who I am – fuck ‘em.”
“Easy for you to say, Reed,” replied Jesse. “You’ve never had to prove yourself to anyone. Even now, with that stubbly mug of yours, you’re still larger than life.”
Reed rubbed the dark shadow on his chin and smiled. “Larger than life, huh? Listen, Jesse, there’s only one person I need to prove anything to,” he replied, sitting back in his chair. “Myself.”
“Right,” said Jesse.
“No, it’s true. It’s the only way to live, man. Otherwise you’ll spend your entire life beating yourself up for the sake of others.”
Jack cleared his throat. “Not to change the subject, but where is that lovely fiancée of yours, Reed?”
A flash of irritation passed through his icy eyes. He shrugged. “Guess she couldn’t make it.”
“Uh oh,” smirked Jesse. “Trouble in paradise?”
Reed’s lips thinned. “Let’s just say, little brother, which I’m sure you’ve learned, some women are predictable but most are… unpredictable.”
“Oh,” I interrupted, suddenly feeling very defensive of my gender. “Interesting assessment of women, which one is your fiancée?”
“The disappointing kind, she’s far too predictable.”
“Too predictable, huh? How so?” I asked, unable to help myself. Another man thinking that he knew all about women. Now that was predictable.
Reed, obviously sensing my disapproval, stared at me with amusement. “Let’s just say she’s a temperamental, spoiled little rich girl, who’s always gotten her way, and if things don’t go exactly as planned for her, she will make your world miserable.”
“Sounds like the perfect woman,” replied Jesse. “You must have searched far and wide for this delightful little creature.”
“More like collided,” said Reed.
“So, when is the wedding?” I asked.
Before he could answer, Mimi stepped back into the room. “Dinner is on its way and good news – Sela made it! She’s fre
shening up and will be down shortly.”
“Wonderful,” muttered Reed, grabbing the wine and filling his glass. Tapping out the very last drop in the bottle, he looked at Mimi. “We’d better keep these coming.”
Chapter Four
Reed
As I left the dining room, I thought about Sinclair. Not only was she drop-dead gorgeous, with those heart-stopping green eyes, the cascade of reddish-brown hair, and unforgettable lips, but obviously a feisty little wench. I wasn’t sure what kind of relationship my brother had with her, but I knew one thing – it definitely wasn’t sexual. A satisfied woman wouldn’t have undressed me with that kind of hunger in her eyes. Not like Sinclair had.
Besides, my brother was so gay, he couldn’t even think straight.
Chuckling to myself, I went upstairs to search for Sela and found her in one of the five guestrooms, standing over a suitcase in nothing but a hot pink pushup bra and lacy thong panties.
I cleared my throat. “Looks like I arrived just in time.”
She turned around, her eyes blazing. “I don’t know about that,” she snapped, raising her arms in the air in frustration. “Thank you, by the way! I had to meet your mother all by myself, without any kind of introductions.”
I frowned. “Look, I didn’t know you were coming. In fact, I’ve been trying to reach you all day. What happened; did your phone fall out of the plane?”
“Ha-ha, funny man. No, it died,” she said, turning back to her suitcase. As she bent over to look through her things, all I could think about was burying myself deep inside of her. Then, when she dropped a hairbrush on the floor and reached down to pick it up, it was too much. I moved in behind her, slipping one hand between her legs, the other on her perky little breast. “We could skip dinner and have dessert,” I breathed, nibbling on her earlobe.
She slapped my hands away. “Reed,” she warned. “There’s no time for this.”
Groaning with two weeks of pent-up frustration, I turned her around and pulled her to me, sliding my hands over the curve of her ass. “Come on, I haven’t seen you in almost two weeks. I’m ready to explode.”
“Not… my… fault…” she said, pushing me away. “You could have flown out to see me.”
I sighed. “You know why I couldn’t. I had to be in court all week.”
“Right, your cases,” she sneered, slipping a cream-colored dress over her head. “You know, if I knew you were going to spend so much time in ‘court’, I would have put more thought into marrying you.”
“You’re being ridiculous. Obviously I just can’t pick up and leave whenever I want to.”
She grabbed her lipstick and turned towards the mirror on the wall. After applying a generous amount to her lips, she glared at me. “There’s always an excuse, isn’t there?” she said, then lowered her voice to mimic mine. “I have a case I’m working on, I have to do some research, I have an interview.” She turned around. “Well, what about me? When do I get any of your precious attention?”
“Look, Sela, if you weren’t traveling around the country all the time, you’d see me every morning and night.”
“Oh, now it’s my fault,” she huffed.
I sighed. “No, I’m not saying that. Look, we both had these careers before we met. We both knew what we were getting ourselves into.”
“No, I didn’t because you pursued me and we spent much more time together. Now, I’m beginning to think that there is someone else who is taking up more of your time.”
My eyebrows shot up. “What?”
She raised her chin. “A lover, perhaps?”
“That’s bullshit,” I snapped. “There is nobody else, for Christ’s sake. I can’t believe you’re accusing me of that.”
“Really? I heard you were quite the… the… ladies’ man, before me.”
“That was then,” I said. “Now I’m a happily engaged man.”
With a seductive smile, she slipped her arms around my neck. “If there is anyone else, Reed, and I find out,” she murmured, her French accent thicker than usual. “I’ll cut off your deeck.”
“My deeck?” I put her hand on my straining zipper. “Sela, there is nobody else,” I said. “So do me a favor – either stop with the accusations, or do something more useful with that mouth.”
She licked her lips and slid down to her knees. “Something more useful?” she whispered, unzipping my pants.
I sucked in my breath as she pulled out my cock and slid it between her lips.
“Is this what you meant?” she asked, licking the tip.
I groaned. “That’ll work.”
Chapter Five
Sinclair
“Sela is certainly lovely,” said Mimi, placing a napkin on her lap. “I can understand why Reed is so smitten with her.”
“So, she’s not pregnant?” asked Jesse.
“Jesse…” she warned with a withering stare.
“What? It’s a sincere question,” he replied.
Mimi didn’t respond. Instead she bit into her salad and glanced towards Jack, who was furiously texting on his cell phone.
“Well if she is, we’ll know soon enough,” replied Jack, looking up. “Anyway, Reed is twenty-seven. He’s definitely old enough to settle down.”
“I wonder how long they’ve been dating,” said Jesse. “If she’s some big-time model, I would have thought I’d have read something about them in the tabloids.”
“Reed detests the paparazzi,” sniffed Mimi, “especially after dating that actress a few years back, the one who tried using him to get in with your father. After he dumped her, she made all of those vile accusations about him and made Reed look like some kind of arrogant baboon.”
“What kind of accusations?” I asked.
Mimi waved her hand. “Oh, that he had a horrible temper, drank too much, and was a womanizer.”
“And those weren’t true?” snorted Jesse.
“Hardly. Your brother does not have a drinking problem,” said Mimi. “It’s absurd.”
“But the rest is true?” I asked, biting back a smile.
“Well, I’m sure that creature brought out the worst in him,” replied Mimi. “She was a dreadful girl. Don’t you agree, Jack?”
He looked up. “Despicable. But, unfortunately, she got what she wanted. Notoriety. She was even cast in a couple of movies soon after.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
Jack shrugged. “Yeah, but they were ‘B’ movies.”
I worked on my salad and was almost finished when Reed and Sela stepped into the dining room. As they moved closer, I stared at her and sighed; she was everything I wasn’t – tall, rail-thin, with light blonde hair, high cheekbones, and perfect little bow-shaped lips.
Reed introduced her to all of us and then they sat down across from me and Jesse.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said with a slight French accent.
“Oh, it’s quite all right,” gushed Mimi, staring at her future daughter-in-law with appraisal. “You have a busy schedule. I’m just happy you were able to make it.”
“Yes, it is… upsetting, having to travel so much,” said Sela. “I never get any rest.”
“Or time to eat?” joked Jesse, under his breath.
I kicked the outside of his foot.
“You should really take some time off,” said Reed, pouring Sela a glass of wine.
Sela’s eyes narrowed. “As I’ve mentioned before, Reed, I simply cannot do that. You know that I’ve already committed myself for the fashion shows in Paris. Maybe you should take some time off to be with me.”
“I can’t take time away from my cases, unfortunately,” he replied. “People’s lives are depending on me.”
“People’s lives depend on me, too, Reed,” she answered, tightly.
“Well, we are delighted that you could make it here this weekend,” interrupted Mimi, obviously sensing the tension. “Right, Jack?”
Jack, who was smiling down at his phone, looked up. “Right, Mimi.”
Jack chuckled and stood up. “You’d think, wouldn’t you? Please excuse me, everyone. I need to make a quick phone call. Be right back.”
Mimi frowned. “Jack –”
“Feel free to start the main course without me if it takes too long,” he said, hurrying off.
Mimi stared at Jack’s retreating back, lost in her own thoughts, and something told me that theirs wasn’t the perfect marriage.
“I see some things never change,” murmured Jesse under his breath.
“So,” said Reed, pouring himself another glass of wine. “Where is your shop located?” he asked me. “I think I’ll make an appointment this week.”
“It’s in Midway City,” I said, “near the art museum.”
“Reed, I thought you were flying back to New York with me on Sunday?” asked Sela.
He shrugged. “Actually, I have some business I need to take care of in Stanton. Plus, I haven’t been home in a while. You don’t mind if I stick around for a few days, do you, mother?”
Mimi’s face lit up. “Are you serious? That would be marvelous.”
Sela looked across the table at me. “So, what kind of shop do you have?”
“I’m a hairstylist,” I replied. “I work for Tangled.”
“Tangled?” She looked up at my hair. “Do you cut and style your own hair?”
“No. I leave that up to my coworkers. I have cut and colored Jessie’s, however. Many times.”
From the haughty look that flashed through her eyes, she was far from impressed. She turned to Reed. “Reed, if you really want your hair done right, I recommend Milan. He is my personal stylist.”
“Excuse me?” retorted Jesse, with a look that would melt an iceberg in less than a second. “What is that supposed to –”
“No, I think I’d like to give Sin a try,” interrupted Reed. “I have faith in her abilities.”
I grinned. “I’d love to give you a haircut. In fact, I brought my scissors. I can cut it before tomorrow’s party if you’d like?”
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