by Lucy Darling
Love In The Mix
Lucy Darling
“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”
— Oprah Winfrey
Contents
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Epilogue
CONNECT WITH ME!
Also by Lucy Darling
Summary
Alyssa has finally got her bakery, Love Bites, up and running. Everything is falling into place until a handsome stranger across from her shop catches her eye. Watching him becomes a daily part of her routine. Now she’s craving more than sweet treats.
Sean works too much for his own good. But owning the hottest night clubs in the city takes dedication. Even if it means leaving his club at early hours of the morning. Yet, even with all the success he’s had, still he feels as though something is missing. That is until Alyssa comes stumbling into his club looking adorably out of place.
She thinks he’s too wild for her. He thinks she’s what he’s been missing. Can he prove to her that love doesn’t really bite . . . except in the sweetest of ways?
1
Sean
My head snaps up when the sound of blasting music fills my office. The door falls closed behind Amber as she enters. Once it’s shut, there's silence once again. I’ve never been more thankful for making a soundproof room. It is the only way that I can get any work done when the club is actually open.
Still, my head pounds from listening to the madness all day. I should go home but something has me rooted in my office. I decide I’ll wait for the club to close and then I’ll leave. It’s not as though there's anything waiting for me at home. Just an empty house.
“Aren't you going to come out and celebrate?” Amber is one of the hosts at Club Vine. She fills in as my second assistant when Noah leaves for the day. My days run so long I have to have two assistants in order to keep myself sane.
“No.” I go back to answering emails, not caring that it’s two in the morning. I wish the time would go faster. I am ready to leave. I am the boss—not only that, but I own the freaking place. I could leave whenever I wanted to but still, no dice. I keep on sitting and waiting, trying to fill my time with menial tasks.
My brother Ethan might have a point about me being obsessed with work, but I’m not ready to admit that yet. It’s easy for him to say when he has Amelia to lure him home every night. Although my bed is enticing, it always being empty is not.
I don't even know why I’m complaining about being here. If I go home I’ll be doing the same thing I’ve done this whole month. I’ll lie in bed trying to figure out why I suddenly feel as though a hole has formed inside my chest. I thought it was because I was closing in on owning all my clubs myself.
My older brother Ethan had done me a solid by being a silent investor. He helped me get off the ground with some start-up money when I was fresh out of college. I was lucky that he believed in me and was always willing to help.
After years of hard work, I was able to pay him off this afternoon. I gave him back every single cent that I had ever borrowed. He wouldn't take the interest on the money so I took it and put it into a trust fund for my niece or nephew who’s on the way.
“You can live it up for one night.” Amber strolls over to my desk, sitting on the side of it. She leans over. The dress she has on is cut low in the front, her tits practically hanging out. I’m pretty sure she’s doing it on purpose. I’m not interested. I think that's part of my problem: I’m never interested.
“I’m sure there is something else you could be doing right now.” I give her a death glare. I should look into a second assistant who isn't one of the club workers. I’d picked up Amber on the fly after the head bartender here told me she was efficient. But I'm beginning to regret that decision. With each week that passes she becomes a little more comfortable, which is leading to her hitting on me.
“I’m sure there is.” I glance back up to her. She’s smiling down at me. There’s a glimmer of hope in her eye, which I’m about to extinguish.
“Get out of my office.” It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her she’s fired but I don’t. I’ll hire someone new for my late night PA shift and then I’ll have her led out to the front door where she can be more efficient. She sits up straighter immediately as her nose flares with anger. She masks it quickly.
“If you need anything—”
“I don’t.” I cut her off, turning my gaze again to my computer, dismissing her. I don’t fuck people that work for me. Hell, I don’t even have time to fuck my own hand anymore.
Since I opened my first club all I do is work. Some people think that I spend my nights partying. Of course I was always seen in pictures inside clubs with giant parties going on behind me. It is my job. I’m not saying that I’ve never partied but that life isn’t for me anymore.
My business is too important to me and I’ve worked too hard to allow that lifestyle to get its hooks in me. I am ready for the next phase of my life; I’m just not sure what that is, which lately has been leaving me uneasy.
I finally have what I’ve always wanted and still there is this empty feeling that remains inside of me. Each day it grows worse. I should probably see a doctor or some shit. I rub the center of my chest, trying to get the hollow feeling to go away. It does nothing to fill the void.
I try to think about what has changed in the past month that could be giving me this feeling. It can’t be that my brother fell madly in love, got married and has already knocked up his wife Amelia. His whole life has changed for the better. No, this feeling came after. I am happy for him but it isn't something I ever wanted for myself.
I lose myself in work trying to pass the time. As I go over the numbers, it still always shocks me how far I've come in such a short time. Ethan is my brother but he was more often a father figure to me. I wanted to prove myself to him. I’ve done it. This afternoon I could see how proud he was when we signed off on all the paperwork. Making the empire that I’ve built mine.
I glance at the clock and see that it’s finally four in the morning. I flip off my screen. Friday night is done. It went smoothly. I had no idea how important a good staff is. Having managers at each club that I can trust to run things without me hovering over their every move is vital to my business. I still need more staff, but I’ll get there eventually.
I stand from my chair, stretching. I still don’t feel tired. I should probably find something to eat. I grab my suit jacket off the back of the chair before heading downstairs to the now empty club. Only a few employees linger around cleaning and restocking.
“How’d it go?” I ask Gio, who is sitting at the bar counting out money.
“I swear we make more and more every night.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” I slap him on the shoulder.
“I’m out for the night.”
“You know you don’t have to come here every night,” he tells me, looking up from the stacks of money and credit card receipts.
“My office,” I remind him. I have seven clubs. Each has an office but I made myself a nice big one here at Vine. It has the space and is my biggest, most profit
able club to date.
“Just saying, boss man. You don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to. Not like you come down and hang with us anymore.”
“I come down and pitch in if you need hands.” I am still the first to roll up my sleeves and make drinks if need be. There is no task here that I wouldn’t do.
“I’m talking about not working. You used to come down and hang.” Ah. He’s right; I used to hang down here with the high spenders. If I was in the bar hanging out with people, though, I knew my picture would end up in the gossip magazines. I am a King, after all. They always want to know what my brother and I are up to.
“Publicity. As you can see, we don’t need that anymore. The clubs speak for themselves now.” I reach into my pocket, pulling out my keys. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I head out the front door, rubbing my tired eyes. If I am lucky sleep will come to me tonight. I stop when the cold spring air hits my face. The weird twinge in my chest hits me hard with a throb. I stand there for a moment trying to get it under control. I lift my eyes, feeling as though someone is staring at me. The streets are empty this early in the morning. I shake the feeling off as I slip into my Bugatti, taking off for home.
2
Alyssa
The sleek sports car pulls away from the curb. I watch it go until the red taillights fade into the distance. Out of all of the times that I’ve seen him leave the club over the past few months, I’ve only ever seen him take one woman home with him. That may not be accurate since I don’t catch him every day so it’s probably more than that. I’m not sure why that thought bothers me, but it does.
It’s possible that some days he left earlier or he might not have been there at all. I know nothing about my mystery man that has become an odd stalking obsession for me ever since I first spotted him. He’s too handsome for his own good. Is that even a thing? For someone to be too handsome?
It has to be because he occupies a majority of my thoughts. Those devilish hazel eyes and chocolate brown hair might have something to do with it. Not to mention that sexy as hell smirk he wears.
“Watcha doing?”
I scream, turning to see my best friend Neily standing there with a cup of coffee in hand. “Did I miss him?” She looks up and down the street. “No fancy car, so I missed him.” She shakes her head like she’s actually disappointed. She doesn’t care if she sees him; she just wants to give me crap about it.
“He left.” I turn, heading back into our shop and locking the door behind us. We don’t open for a few more hours, but I need to get to work. Owning your own business is hard work that requires a lot of dedication. I’m lucky to have Neily to share the responsibility with.
“Was he alone?”
I nod my head in answer.
“Aly, you act like the man cheated on you. He has no idea you secretly stalk him, so it’s not cheating.”
“I’m not stalking!” I defend myself even though I kind of am.
“We can totally name it something else if that makes you feel better about it.” She taps her finger against her plump lips as though she’s trying to think of something. “A huntress? A scouter?” she offers.
“It’s not funny.” I feel a little defeated about the whole thing. Why do I even bother going to see him every morning that I work? I come in extra early so that I don’t miss him. Neily is right. I am a stalker.
“You’ve got a crush. It’s no big deal. It’s not like you’re following him home and reading his mail.” She takes a step toward me and her voice drops to a whisper. There’s not anyone else in the shop to overhear us so I'm not sure why she’s whispering. “You’re not, right? Doing any of those things? I mean, no judgment or anything, but that might be taking it a little far and as your friend I gotta tell you that.”
“I don’t even know his name,” I mumble, heading back toward the kitchen with Neily hot on my tail.
“You know I’m only teasing you, right, Aly?”
“Yes, I’m being sensitive.” I grab my apron, putting it on. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
He makes me feel all of this weird stuff inside of me that can’t be real. I don’t know the man but Neily was right about the day I saw him leave with that other woman. He’d opened the door for her and off they went. She was everything I wasn’t. Tall, thin, and she had giant boobs. Some girls get everything. It’s a bunch of crap, if you ask me.
I mean, I have boobs but it’s because I’m curvy all over. Her curves seemed to settle all in her chest. It is impossible for me to lose weight. Not when I spend most of my days making sweet treats. Let’s not forget my cheese obsession. I mean, is there anything better than those two things?
“What’s wrong with you is that you have a crush.” Neily takes a seat at one of the high top chairs I have in the kitchen as I start my morning prep. “You have also made up some false narrative in your head about this man, too, I bet.”
“Likely,” I agree. How many storylines have I thought up about his life? None that could actually be true if he stays out at clubs as late as he does. One thing I do know is that he’s uber rich. His car alone says that. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
I roll out the dough I prepared yesterday. I have to stop watching this guy. I should let someone else take over my morning shift. I’ve trained the other two girls to do almost everything I could, but still I come in at the crack of dawn to get a peek at Mr. Sexy.
“Let’s actually do some stalking.” Oh God. Neily can come up with the craziest ideas. Most times they blow up in our faces, like our 7th grade science project. There are the random times that one of them actually amounts to something. Us owning our own shop is one of them. We had been talking about it for years and finally Neily gave me the push I needed to do it. That was about the only time it’s worked out for us.
“What do you mean?” I’m not totally opposed to what she might have in mind.
“It’s Saturday. Let’s go to the club tonight and check it out. See what he’s doing in there.”
“We could get caught.”
She bursts into laughter. “How can we get caught? He doesn't even know who we are or what we are up to.” She makes a very good point. This idea is sounding better to me by the second.
“Can we get in?” I’m never here late at night but I’m guessing the line for the place will be down the street and wrapped around the corner. What if we get to the front and they turn us away? Is that still a thing?
“We’ll go shopping.”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice unless we wear our prom dresses.”
“Those weren’t even cute back then.”
“I was joking!” Neily and I went to prom together. Our moms, who are also best friends, had helped us pick the dresses, which were horrible but we let them anyway. It may have made them happy but as for Neily and me, we looked like we were going to prom in their generation. They’d been so excited about prom we couldn't let them down. We sucked it up and let our moms have their fun. I narrow my eyes on her.
“Kind of joking?” For someone who makes the coolest designs, Neily has the worst sense of fashion. That’s terrible coming from me because mine isn’t much better. “We can find something to wear, I’m sure. We’ve never actually gone to a club. Let’s do this!”
I chew on my bottom lip. We haven’t. Neily and I have always been on the straight and narrow. Maybe it’s time for us to do a little something crazy. Time for us to spread our wings and have a little fun.
3
Sean
“Did you sign these?” Noah slips the papers in front of me. I glance over the papers, scribbling my name down before he pulls them back. I look over at the clock and know he’s leaving for the day. He’s trying to finish up everything he can before he calls it a night. He’s a hard worker and I’m lucky to have him working here.
“Amber.” I look up at Noah as he straightens the papers in his hand and then moves the small glass globe on my desk over an inch. He can
be a little bit OCD. I’m sure he’s lining the globe up with something that I don’t even notice but his attention to detail has served us both well.
“I’m already on it.”
“You noticed?” Of course he did.
“She stares at you constantly. At first it was the usual reaction you get from women but now it’s crossed over the line.” He shakes his head like he doesn’t understand why. I fight a laugh because I should be insulted but I’m not. Attraction from women was something I never lacked. Gossip magazines were always trying to pair me up with someone.
I don’t know how many times my picture has been taken in one of my clubs while I was talking to someone. The music being so loud that you have to stand close in order to hear the other person. Yet, the next day I’d be rumored to be having another one-night stand. I’ve gotten so used to them reporting these lies that I no longer pay attention to it.
Why do I give a fuck if the world thinks I’m dating someone? Who cares if they think I'm sleeping with a different woman every night of the week? None of those things have any bearing on my life. I know the truth and that's all that matters.
“I think she has a crush,” I agree. It’s on the idea of dating Sean King. The man that people have made me out to be, not the real me. No one really knows who I am except for my family and Noah. I trust Noah, and that’s why he already knew that I wouldn't care for Amber’s long stares.