International Guy: Milan, San Francisco, Montreal (International Guy Volumes Book 2)

by Audrey Carlan

  I snort-laugh. “I guess sometimes it takes an expensive business agreement to find what’s been in front of your face all along.”

  She smiles, lifts her arm, and winks. “Worth every penny.”

  “Glad to hear it. Do you mind if I give you another bit of advice?”

  “Would I be able to stop you?” One of her dark eyebrows rises in question.

  I grin, appreciating the banter with Rochelle. I can see why Royce went for her. Besides the outer package, which is nice, she’s got a quick wit and a smart mouth. All of which can be a lot of fun for any man, especially a man like Royce. In a lot of ways, Rochelle Renner is the perfect package for Royce. Still you can’t change that the woman is going to work herself into the ground and doesn’t want to deal with familial distractions. Royce’s mother and sisters are so deeply enmeshed in who he is, there is only room for a woman to be added to his heart, not replace the women already there.

  “Shoot.” She turns on her side and rests her head in her hand, giving me her undivided attention.

  “It’s not always about seeing what’s right in front of your face, although it was very important in your case. Sometimes that part can be managed by opening your eyes.”

  “Then what is it about? I’m on pins and needles here.” She smirks.

  I take a deep breath and hope I’m not about to offend her. We’ve ended this case with her falling for her man and weeding out an embezzler; the last thing I want to do is piss her off when she’s already got a lot on her plate. Still, I wouldn’t be doing her justice if I didn’t put the truth out there for her to chew on.

  “I firmly believe the answer to what you’ve been seeking is not as simple as finding a mate, or being the best in your field. It’s about wanting what you already have. Keehan’s always been there. Fear got in the way. Don’t let fear control your life . . . and for the love of God, live a little!” I scold playfully. “If you spend all of your time working, you spend none of your time living.”

  The door opens. Keehan goes right to Rochelle’s side and sits in the curve her bent hips leave available on the couch.

  I stand up. “I’m going to use the restroom before we head to the hotel and airport.”

  I move to leave the room, and she calls out, “Parker,” and points to the closed door in her office.

  “Thanks.” I open the door and find a perfectly white bathroom. Everything is white. The floor, the walls, the towels, the sink, even the faucet.

  “Strange woman,” I mumble under my breath, and take care of business. As I’m washing my hands I notice the vanity mirror runs all the way across the sink and the area behind the toilet. I grin and think back to the four times I’ve written a message on a mirror. In a split second I decide if there’s a lipstick tube in the first drawer, I’ll do it. If not, I won’t.

  I open the drawer and find it filled to the brim with makeup and beauty products. Three tubes of lipstick practically gleam in the right-hand corner of the drawer. I pull one out and find a deep crimson color just itching to be used.

  “Must be fate.” I take in the cocky expression on my face as I lift the tip to the corner of the mirror and write Rochelle a little reminder.

  Want what you have.

  Love, Me

  I cap the lipstick and toss it back into the drawer. Time to catch a plane and get to my girl, because I am one man who absolutely wants what I have.

  10

  The town car Rochelle hired pulls up to San Francisco International Airport at the curb for departures. Royce and I pour out of the vehicle and secure our luggage from the driver.

  Once we’ve both checked into our flights, we head to the closest bar.

  “Drink first, food after?”

  “Hell yeah,” Royce rumbles on an exhausted sigh, his big form trudging through the airport crowd in the direction of the nearest flashing neon sign. We find a sports bar, if you can really call it that, in the dead center of the airport; it will do for our purposes. The top-shelf liquor in gleaming bottles along the back of the bar makes it a good choice for us.

  “What can I get you?” a ginger-haired brute of a man asks. With his red flannel shirt and the curly rust-colored beard and mustache, he looks like he’d be more suited in the Sierras, chopping down trees and yelling timber than behind the bar serving drinks to folks rushing to catch a plane.

  “Whiskey neat, three fingers. Macallan Eighteen if you have it.” Royce tucks his jacket over the back of his chair.

  The bartender glances over his shoulder at the array of whiskies displayed. “We do.”

  He goes for the bottle as I call out, “The same for me.” I crack my neck from side to side, attempting to relieve some of the built-up tension this case and the worry for Skyler have brought upon my shoulders. At the rate things are going, I’m going to need a full-body massage to get through this stress. Instantly the visual enters my mind of Skyler’s toned thighs straddling my ass, her silky hands running up and down my back. The pleasant image has my dick stirring, reminding me of what’s to come when I get done with the five-hour flight to JFK. Jesus, I can’t wait to see her. Get my hands all over her tanned skin.

  Royce’s gaze flicks to mine, a thick black eyebrow cocked in question, which kills the vision in my head.

  I answer the only way I can. “Need to feel the burn tonight.” There is so much clouding my brain right now, a veritable tornado of information flying dizzyingly around.

  “I heard that.” Royce offers a tight-lipped smile, drops his head low, and runs a big paw over his neck and the back of his scalp a couple of times.

  The bartender sets two tumblers in front of us and fills them a touch higher than three fingers. “You boys need some food?”

  “Eventually,” Royce says tiredly, lifting his glass to offer a toast.

  I lift my own and clink it against his tumbler.

  “Thank fuck this one’s done!” he says tiredly.

  I chuckle with the hilarity the toast brings. This case wore big, badass Royce out. “Glad it’s over.” I let the whisky slide down my throat, settling like liquid warmth in my gut.

  Royce sucks in his bottom lip and runs his teeth over it. I can tell he’s chewing on something he wants to talk about.

  Taking a guess, I wade in where I know I shouldn’t. “You thinkin’ about Rochelle?”

  He eyes me sideways but doesn’t turn his head before he takes a slow sip of his drink, hissing softly upon completion.

  “I’m man enough to admit I was wrong about her. She wasn’t meant for me. Got that. You and I came to an understanding. Got that too. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m heading home to an empty fuckin’ house ready to be filled with a family I don’t have, now does it?”

  The weight of Royce’s current situation is hitting my brother hard. The waves of his unhappiness swirl around us, and I reach out a hand and clap him on the back between the shoulder blades while leaning closer. He stays solid, looking straight ahead when I speak.

  “What can I do?”

  He shakes his head once. “Not a thing. Unless you’ve got a beautiful sista who’s ready to settle down and deal with my overbearing momma and crazy-ass sisters”—he flicks a finger out past his glass—“and who’s willing to handle a man who travels a lot, has two brothers from another mother who are always around, and a business that needs attention . . . there’s not a thing you can do.”

  I breathe deep and let it out slowly. “She’s out there.”

  He nods, but I don’t get the impression he believes it. Rochelle was a bigger blow to his ego than I initially realized.

  “Think of it this way. Skyler came into my world out of nowhere. Woman opened the door in a camisole and the tiniest pair of panties, thinking I was her best friend who’d forgotten her key.”

  Royce blinks slowly and shakes his head, about to interrupt, but I forge on.

  “I spent too long fighting my instincts with her but eventually caved in to the best thing that ever happened to me. And bel
ieve me, brother, it is not easy. She lives a plane ride away. She’s a fuckin’ celebrity everyone wants a piece of, including me. Only the piece I want is huge. The whole damn pie.” I take a breath and dip my head in his direction. “What we’ve got is special. And you know, anything worth having is worth working for. Now you’re going to have to put in the work. Put your feelers out there. Find your soul mate.”

  Finally Royce turns his head to me, and I drop my hand to my knee but stay close so as to not share our conversation with anyone in hearing distance.

  “She your soul mate?” His tone is filled to the brim with emotion I most certainly was not expecting to hear from him, especially in a crowded sports bar in the middle of a bustling airport.

  I think about Skyler’s blonde hair falling down her shoulders. Her nose crinkling cutely. The way she calls me honey and how it makes me light up. How she loses herself completely when I’m inside her, giving me everything that is her. Remembering Skyler’s excitement and nervousness about meeting my family and brothers, wanting to be liked by them. How she lets her entire self go when she’s laughing. There’s a lot to Skyler; every day I’m finding out more, and it’s only been a few months. I couldn’t imagine the possibility of another woman being my soul mate. Loving someone more than I do her.

  “I want to believe she is. How’s about I tell you when I’m certain?”

  “Fair enough.” Royce purses his lips and lifts his drink. “Gonna hit the dating scene hard back home, but don’t tell my momma. She finds out, and she’ll have every one of her friends’ available daughters lined up with numbers on their backs like in an auction.”

  Laughter bubbles up with no stopping it at the visual. “She’d absolutely do it too!” I chuckle and sip my drink.

  “Yes, she would. You eager to get to New York?”

  I run my finger over the rim of my glass. “More than I can express. I’m worried about her. This Johan is a real piece of work.”

  “You think he’s going to hurt her? Physically?”

  I shrug. “Don’t know. All I do know is he’s hurting her mentally and emotionally, and I’m about to lay the ration of shit on him Wendy found, which is not going to be pleasant one way or the other.” Chills ripple down my spine, and unease sets up a beat in my stomach.

  “You in touch with Sky’s security team?” he asks thoughtfully.

  “Yeah, sent a message to Nate about keeping a close eye on her and that I’d update him on the new threat when I get there.”

  Royce chuckles. “How’d it go? Don’t suspect a man like Nate Van Dyken or his pistol of a wife would be okay with you butting in on how they take care of their charge.”

  Once again, I laugh out loud. “Too true. He responded with a single word: Done.”

  Royce smiles wide, the first time since we left Renner Financial Services. “They picking you up at the airport?”

  I shake my head. “Nah, I haven’t even told Skyler I’m coming to see her, plus it’s the red-eye. Want it to be a surprise. I know she’s working late tonight. We were supposed to talk later this evening, but I sent her a text telling her I’d touch base tomorrow when I’m home.”

  God. All I want to do is fall into her bed, wrap my arms around her warmth, and let her peaches-and-cream scent fill my lungs and ease my soul.

  “Good man.”

  I nod. “Since it will be late, and Skyler is on set, the paps won’t be hounding me. I should be able to slip through the airport, catch a taxi, and be at her place with no one but her doorman being the wiser. Unless, of course, they’re watching her door, which could be possible. Either way, it’s worth the trouble.”

  He takes another swallow of his whisky. “Oh, wanted to let you know I reviewed the documents Sophie sent over and sent her my response. She’s nervous about some board meeting coming up and wants everything to be in place, but she’s got it all. She didn’t need to be so worried.”

  “Good. Did Bo tell you he had Wendy looking into her new boyfriend?”

  Royce grins. “Find anything on him?”

  I shake my head. “Nope. Clean as a whistle. Wendy did find out he made a sizable purchase at a jewelry store recently. Very sizable.”

  Royce frowns.

  “Bo thinks he might propose.”

  Royce’s eyes widen with the comment. “Shut the fuck up. I mean, Sophie’s all of that, but it’s been, what . . .” He flicks a few fingers out as if he’s ticking something off in his mind. “. . . a few weeks?”

  “Something like that,” I mutter, and suck back the rest of my whisky.

  The bartender lifts his chin in a silent request to see if I need another.

  “Beer. Sierra Nevada.” I switch my drink. Unlike Royce, I can’t hammer back the whisky and not get shit faced fast. As it is, I can already feel the liquor swimming in my empty gut.

  “I’ll take a refill.” Royce lifts his glass, and the bartender nods. Royce eases his body against the chairback and crosses his arms over his chest. “You okay with this new development in Sophie’s world?”

  I lean back and put my arm on the bar. “How so?”

  “Know you’re protective of her. Had your physical moment, but more than that, she’s important to you. Hell, she’s important to me and Bo too.”

  “Yes, she is. More than anything, if this is the man she wants, I’m happy for her. Do I think it’s too soon? Fuck yeah. Gonna reach out, make sure she’s doing all right and not jumping with both feet into something because she’s still grieving over her father. Plus, she’s got a lot on her small shoulders running that company. I won’t tell her not to marry someone if she’s in love with the guy and thinks he’s her future, but I will warn her to slow down and take a breath.”

  Royce runs his thumb over his bottom lip. “Agreed. Sophie’s young and sweet. And with no one to look after her, it’s on us to make sure she’s being smart.”

  “Truth.” I make a mental note to check in with Sophie as soon as I can. “Where to next?” I ask, since he was running the show before I came back from Milan and we headed out on this trip.

  “Montreal. A cyber-tech company CEO wants us to ferret out a rat in her company. Someone selling trade secrets, and something about bugs in the system.”

  Thank God it’s not another case involving romance of any kind. Corporate espionage. Sounds downright mellow compared to the emotional shit show we’ve been dealing with as of late.

  “Gonna take a few days off. Get past the shit with Sky and Johan.”

  Royce nods. “Figured. We’ll discuss next steps back home, yeah?”

  “Yeah. Catch you on the flip?” I stand up and pull on my jacket. Royce does the same before clapping me on the back and squeezing my shoulder.

  “See you back home, brother,” he says.

  I drop three twenties on the bar to cover our bill. “You got it.”

  “Call us if you need us in on this Johan issue.”

  “Will do.”

  Royce lifts two fingers. “Peace.”

  Skyler’s penthouse is deadly quiet when I enter at two a.m. Not wanting to wake her, I place my suitcase quietly on the floor near the front door. Since it’s so late, the paparazzi weren’t out hovering like vultures at her door for a speck of meat, as I suspected. The doorman waved me through as if he’d known me for ages.

  I untie my dress shoes and step out of them, not wanting to make too much noise by clomping through her home. Once I’ve removed my jacket and tossed it over the couch back, I set the single white rose, which was waiting for me on the plane in first class, down on top of it. Seeing it reminded me of Skyler, so I saved it for her, knowing it would make her smile. Since I live for each smile, I had the stewardess wrap it in a wet napkin and a baggie and brought it with me here. I let out a long weary sigh before heading through the dark halls to Skyler’s bedroom.

  When I get there, I’m surprised to see her bed is still made and she’s not in it. I frown and glance at the clock on the bedside table. Two fifteen. My shoulders fal
l as if they’ve had a ton of cement added to each side.

  Bone weary, I make my way into her bathroom, strip off my clothes, and get in the shower. Her scent assaults me the second I enter the steamy space.

  I groan. “Where the fuck are you?” I let my head hang and the water glide over my muscles. Needing to be with her, feeling her all around me but not here, I pour her bodywash into my palm and wrap a tired hand around my cock. I find it’s already semihard merely being in her home, surrounded by her peaches-and-cream smell. With a firm grip around the base, I tug up to the very tip, imagining it’s Skyler with her petite hand wrapped around me instead, running her slippery thumb around the bulbous crown.

  “God, baby, I miss you.” I let my forehead rest against the chilled shower tile. My mind fills in the blanks for me as I slide a soapy hand up and down my length.

  My dream Skyler plants her naked breasts against my wet back, one hand on my waist, the other wrapped around my cock, jerking me to beautiful oblivion. Her lips fall to my shoulder, where she scrapes her teeth along the ridge up to my neck. There she lays an openmouthed sucking kiss, driving me wild.

  My dick hardens painfully in my hand as my ass cheeks clench and thighs tighten, holding my weary weight up. I slam my other hand against the tile wall and arch into each pull.

  “Peaches . . . ,” I whisper, my balls becoming heavy with the need to burst.

  I close my eyes as dream Skyler wraps both of her hands around my cock, jacking me magnificently with all her might. Her soft pants are lost against the noise of the shower beating down over us and my loud grunts.

  “Give it to me, honey. Give it all to me.” She rests her face against my bicep so she can watch the power she has over me.

  “Fuck!” I growl out, tightening my hand into a fist against the tile. I squeeze my dick hard, needing the firm grip as dream Skyler talks dirty to me.

  And then it hits me: the base of my spine tingles, and I go up on my toes and arch into the pleasure ripping through my body as jet after jet of my essence spills out over my hand to the watery floor below. The orgasm goes on and on as I imagine Skyler pumping away, greedy in her desire to get every last drop of my pleasure.