**
Sitting at the bar, I order a vodka and cranberry. Just as the bartender slides my cocktail across the bar toward me, an arm wraps around me.
“Well look who finally has time for her best friend,” Olivia says.
She’s right. I haven’t given much time to my friends. Between the studio and Pete, I haven’t had much time for just having fun. I miss it and that’s why I need to talk to her, because Owen...he makes me remember what it’s like.
“Yeah I know I’m a shitty friend,” I say, lifting my shoulders.
“You are a shitty friend, good thing I like you. So what’s up?” She asks, sitting next to me.
Flagging down the bartender I turn to her. “How long do you have?”
“That bad huh? Well, I can’t help if you don’t tell me, so start talking.”
She doesn’t know exactly what I do for Pete, she thinks I just have drinks and talk. It’s not something I’m proud of and I don’t need to be judged about how I went about getting money for my dance studio. No one knows what I do, no one but me and that asshole Pete.
I tell her everything from trying to quit working for Pete, to the ‘job’ with Owen. Leaving out the details for sex because again, I don’t need to be judged. I’ve recently started judging myself enough.
“So, what’s the problem? You seem to like the guy,” she says, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears.
Searching her green eyes, I let out a sigh. “That is the problem. I can’t mix work and pleasure.”
She lets out a small laugh. “Brooke, you overthink shit. If you like the guy, who gives a shit what Pete thinks. Tell him you don’t want to do the job and walk away. Get a set of balls girl.”
“Okay first of all I don’t need balls, my vag is strong enough. But it’s not that easy to just walk away, you don’t understand.”
“You’re right I don’t understand, so explain it to me.”
The only way to explain it is to tell her the truth and if I do that, well all my secrets are exposed. I can’t do it, even with her. “I just need your help to figure out how to separate the business and pleasure. Please Olivia, help me.”
It’s pathetic. I feel pathetic begging her for help. It’s not who I am, I’m a strong independant woman. Everything I have I’ve gotten on my own. This whole situation is fucked up.
Turning to face me, she tilts her head. “You really like him don’t you?”
Shaking my head, I sip my drink. “He’s just fun to hang out with. We have fun, but I need to get my information and get out. I have you, you’re my friend.”
She laughs and picking up her drink. “Oh you swinging that way now?”
“What?” I yell, trying too hard to cover it up.
“Wow, you actually get men to tell you stuff huh? You can’t lie for shit. Obviously you’re screwing him.”
Groaning, I let my head drop to the bar. “Fine, I slept with him,” I mumble.
“You act like it’s a sin. Who cares who you screw. I’m not even sure why we’re still talking about this and you aren’t telling me what he looks like and how good the sex is,” she says, nudging my shoulder.
Turning my head on the sticky bar, I look up at her. “It’s messy, O. I can’t like him and do what needs to be done. You don’t understand, but it just can’t happen.”
“So walk away from both of them. If that’s what you want, just do it.”
“I can’t,” I whisper.
“You want to know what I think, well here it is. Tell Pete to fuck off and do what you want with Owen. You have a successful dance studio, you don’t need to have a second job. If he doesn’t like it, fuck him. What’s he going to do, fire you?”
She just doesn’t understand and why would she. She doesn’t know Pete could ruin me. But it does help. I know what I have to do. It might not be what I want to do, but I have to do it.
We spend the next two hours drinking and talking about everything that doesn’t have to do with my situation. I’ve missed my friend, more than I realized. After I get this taken care of, I’m going to make time for my friends again.
When I get home, I fall face first onto the couch. I’m so damn tired I could sleep right here. And just as my eyes start to close, my phone rings. Groaning I roll over and pull it out of my purse sitting on the floor next to me.
I debate answering for a minute, but my damn buzzed brain thinks it’s a good idea. “Hey.”
“Hey blue eyes, how are you?” Owen asks, his deep sexy voice sends chills down my body.
“Tired, what’s up Owen?” I ask, rolling onto my back.
“Nothing is up, I was just calling,” he says.
Closing my eyes, I rest my arm across them. “For what? I thought this was just fun,” I say, being a bitch.
“Having a bad day huh?” he asks, completely unphased by it.
“I’m tired Owen.”
“Oh it’s me. Well Brooke, when you’re in a better mood give me a call.”
With that he hangs up and I toss my phone. “Fuck.”
I’m fucking everything up. I can’t have him pissed at me, he’ll never tell me anything. Fucking Pete, I’ve never felt such hatred toward someone before. I need to take care of everything tomorrow. I need this nightmare to end.
**
Sitting on the couch, enjoying my morning coffee, I flip on the TV. No class today, I get to relax for a while. Considering I slept like shit, it’s a good thing. There’s a knock at my door and I check the time. It’s only eight in the morning, so I jump off the couch still in my long T-shirt I wore to bed. Opening the door, I want to crawl into a damn hole.
“Looking good, blue eyes,” Owen says with a wink. “Go get dressed.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask, as he steps inside. Of course he looks amazing with his jeans and blue shirt. It brings out his damn eyes even more.
He crosses his arms, making his muscles flex and I kind of want to lean over and lick them. “I’m taking you somewhere. Now, go get dressed.”
Mimicking his position, I stare him down. “Maybe I have things to do today.”
“Maybe I already checked and I know you don’t. Stop wasting time, go get dressed before I rip that shirt off of you and we never get out of here,” he says, taking a step closer.
“Alright, alright. Damn,” I say, stomping up the hallway.
I don’t know why I’m acting like a small child. I’ve never had someone show up on my doorstep and tell me to get dressed because they have plans. His demanding way just makes it that much more exciting.
Seeing that he is wearing jeans, I slip mine on and grab a pink tank to go with it. Fixing myself to look at least halfway decent, I walk back into the living room. Owen is sitting on the couch, texting on his phone, but as soon as he hears me he lifts his head.
With a smile slipping into place he tucks his phone away. “See that wasn’t so hard was it?”
“Where are we going, Ace?”
“Oh, I’m back to Ace huh? You done being pissed at me?” he asks, ushering me out the door.
Turning my head to look at him, I feel like a bitch. “I wasn’t pissed at you, I was tired.”
“I’d rather you be honest than give me that line,” he says, hitting the button for the elevator.
Honesty isn’t going to work here. So I once again lie. “You got me at a bad time. I had a shitty day at work and drank a little too much. I took it out of you.”
Kissing my temple, we walk into the elevator. “Let’s fix that.”
Once in his car, we drive but he refuses to tell me where we’re going. I’ve stopped asking at this point because he won’t give an inch, it’s pointless.
“How’d everything go the other night? It was business I’m assuming,” I say, trying to see if he’ll give me anything.
Turning his head briefly he grins. “It was business and it went great.”
Damn, he’s a stubborn ass. “That’s good,” I whisper and look out the side window.
“Hey,” he gently says, and I turn my head to him. “Business talk is boring and I’m not about to bore you with it. It’s good deal, something I’ve been waiting for, okay.”
“Okay Ace,” I say, with a small grin. Looks like I might be able to get something out of him after all.
Shortly after, he pulls into the Juilliard School. “We’re here,” he says, driving to park.
My heart is pounding in my chest because if I could have afforded it, this is where I would have come to school. This is where I wanted to come, to try to further my dance career. I have no idea what his plan is, but this right here, melts my heart a little bit.
“What are we doing here?” I ask, unable to take my eyes off everything around us. I feel like a damn kid on Christmas, bouncing in my seat ready to explode with excitement.
Parking the car, he turns to face me. “I thought you could use a day of dancing with some people your age.”
“Wait, what?”
He pushes my hair off my face and smiles. “You teach and you get to dance by yourself. It got me thinking, when was the last time you got to dance with people your age. So I made some phone calls, and today you’ll be dancing.”
I don’t even feel it until it’s too late, but a tear rolls down my cheek. The thought that he put into this, it’s beyond anything anyone’s ever done for me. “Ace, I don’t even know what to say.” I quickly wipe the tear and look out up to prevent more from coming.
“You don’t need to say anything, but you do need to get your ass out of the car because they are waiting for you,” he says, smiling as he wipes another damn tear.
We get out of the car and head toward what I assume is where I will be dancing. Holy shit, I’m going to be dancing at Juilliard. Looking over at him, my heart picks up. Maybe he’s not as big of an entitled prick as I first thought.
Chapter Thirteen
Owen
Sitting in the back of the huge auditorium, I watch Brooke dance. She’s unbelievably talented and that look of pure exhilaration on her face has me captivated. The way her body moves, everything so precise, like she’s done it a million times before. And hell maybe she has, I wouldn’t know. But seeing her now, I know she needs to dance.
She got up on that stage with a group of complete strangers and all but took over. Things that they had choreographed she pointed out and changed. And son of a bitch if they didn’t change it. The teacher part of her is strong, but the dancer part is powerful. I don’t know why she said she doesn’t dance for everyone, she should do nothing but dance. It’s absolutely beautiful to watch.
After they are finished, I wait for her to change. She comes bouncing out and runs at me. I catch her and lift her up. Wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, she crashes her lips to mine. My hands dig into her ass as I return the kiss.
She pulls away and her smiling face is all I wanted to see. I don’t know what happened last night, but I knew she needed something. I wanted to give her that. It’s a powerful feeling knowing I did.
“Did you see me Ace? Holy shit that was the most unbelievable moment of my life. It was more than I ever imagined,” she says, squeezing my neck.
“Oh I saw you, you’re a beautiful dancer, blue eyes,” I say, kissing her soft lips.
“Thank you, Ace. Thank you for the compliment, for setting this up, for everything. It was amazing.”
Letting her slide down my body, I link my fingers with hers as we walk outside. “No need to thank me. You’re a bit of an inspiration.”
“I am?” she asks taken aback.
“Watching the love you have for dancing, it inspires me to help,” I say, unlocking the car.
“What do you mean? Help with what?” she asks, as I open her door.
I slide into the leather seat and put the key in the ignition. “Help you build a bigger dream.”
“Whoa, what?” she yells.
I laugh and reach over, squeezing her knee. “You deserve to be up on stage blue eyes, I want to help make it happen. Everyone should see you dance, so let’s make it happen.”
She’s quiet for a while. I don’t push her because I’m sure it’s a lot to take in. But I can’t just witness what I did and sit back and do nothing. I have no idea what her finances are or her connections, but I have a ton of both. I can make it happen for her, she just has to let me.
“I appreciate it Owen, I really do, but everything I have I’ve earned. So while it moves me that you would want to help me, I can’t accept,” she says, never once looking at me.
“Alright, so think about it,” I retort.
She laughs a little and shakes her head. “Entitled prick.”
“Pain in the ass.”
The rest of the ride back to her place is pretty quiet. I’m not sure where her head is, but I’m trying to think of a million ways to get her up on stage. Maybe she won’t do it, maybe her pride is too big to let me help. But I’m not an easy man to say no to, so I’ll let it soak in and revisit it another day. When I have an exact plan to show her.
Parking, I look over at her. “You want to order in or go out?”
“Oh, are we having dinner together?” she asks, lifting an eyebrow.
“Yep, so in or out?”
She laughs and opens the car door. “Not like I can tell you no after today, so in.”
“You can tell me no, blue eyes. I just don’t especially like that word and I don’t hear it often,” I say, placing my hand on her lower back as we walk to the elevator.
“It doesn’t surprise me you never hear no,” she says, as we get on the elevator.
“I’m not an easy man to say no to.”
She doesn’t say anything back or anything at all until we get into her apartment. “What do you want to eat?”
Pulling out my phone, I hit a button. “I’ve got it covered.”
Walking down the hall to her bedroom, she closes the door. I sit down and place an order at my favorite Italian restaurant. Even though they don’t deliver, when I asked they told me no problem. Like I said, I’m hard to say no to. Hanging up, I turn my phone off. No interruptions tonight.
“Let’s talk for minute, is that okay?” she asks, sitting next to me.
Turning my head, I search her bright eyes. She wants to know something. “Okay, what do you want to know?”
Breaking her eye contact she looks down at the floor. “Anything,” she whispers.
Reaching over, I rest my hand on her knee. “I’m thirty years old. I have no family, which makes traveling easier. My business is my life and until recently no woman has been able to hold my attention. My favorite color is green. I like comedies, although I rarely watch TV. My favorite food is Italian. What else?”
I can see her swallow a few times before she lifts her head to look at me. “Where’s your family?”
“It’s complicated, but it’s just me. I’m sorry I just can’t give anymore than that,” I say, squeezing her knee.
“I understand,” she replies, nodding her head.
“I’m not a very open guy, blue eyes. It’s not something I’ve ever really needed to do. Business is business, but getting personal doesn’t mix. What about you?”
Clearing her throat, she sits on the couch folding her legs under her, facing me. “I’m twenty-eight. I have no siblings, but my parents are awesome. They moved to Pennsylvania a few years ago, but I see them as often as I can. You know about my dance studio and my love of dance. I haven’t had a guy hold my attention in far too long. My favorite color is blue. I like romantic comedies and I watch a lot of TV. I like all food.”
It’s a moment. Nothing big, nothing life altering, but a moment nonetheless. We both just stare at each other for several minutes and for the first time in a long time I feel some kind of connection.
“Anything else you want to know?” I finally ask.
She stares at me for a while and I don’t rush her. I have no idea what is going through her head, but I can see some kind of confus
ion or maybe conflict in her mesmerizing eyes. Reaching out, she touches my chest for just a moment and smiles.
“No, nothing else, Ace.”
**
After dinner she seemed much better. I think I really threw her off when I mentioned wanting to help her. But when I see something I want, I go after it. She needs to get used to it. And right now what I want is her.
We’ve been watching TV, or she has. I’ve been watching her. The way her mouth turns up slightly on one side when she’s smiling at something. The way she pushes her hair off her neck, exposing her porcelain skin. The way her eyes light up when something interests her. She hasn’t done anything and my cock is rock hard.
“Hey, blue eyes,” I say, getting her attention.
When she looks at me, I crash my lips to hers. She immediately returns the kiss, climbing onto my lap. Deepening the kiss, I pull her hair causing her to moan. Rubbing herself against my cock, I break the kiss and pull her shirt off. Her chest is rising and falling quickly with her heavy breathing, pushing her tits right against me.
Standing up, still holding onto her I ask where the bathroom is. Once inside, I sit her on the sink while I start the shower. Stepping in front of her, I pull off my shirt and jeans, never breaking eye contact. I take off her jeans next and position myself between her legs. Kissing up her neck, I nip her ear.
“I want you wet in more ways than one,” I say, taking off her bra. “I want your wet body pressed against me while your wet pussy is wrapped around my dick.”
Dropping her head back when I suck a hard nipple into my mouth, she lets out a sigh. “Oh yes,” she says, clawing at my shoulders.
I step back and drop my boxers as I rip her panties from her. Her eyes go right to my hard cock and I grin. Grabbing the condom out of my jeans, I don’t say anything while she watches me roll it on. Lifting her, she wraps her legs around me and her hands go into my hair.
I step into the shower and the hot water cascades over us. Kissing her, I move down and bite her neck that’s been driving me crazy. Sucking on her tits, the water rushing around us has me so fucking turned on. Her wet body pressed against me, my cock teasing her wet pussy.
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