“But I shouldn’t have—it was inappropriate—” I can’t even speak in complete sentences. “When the press—” My voice failed again. I am a grown woman, used to making multi-million dollar decisions and three overgrown teenagers have stolen my ability to think constructively.
Tobias lead me to the sofa, the scene of my last crime, and I groaned again. He kept his arm firmly around me and it was a comfort to have his strong and familiar shoulder to lean on.
“Jacy, these guys are the masters of inappropriate,” he said. “They knew what they were doing all along. The problem is, Princess, that they don’t know you. They don’t know how difficult relationships are for you since your mother left your father.”
Oh god. Not that again. But he was right. My world crashed and burned when my mother took off with an asshole movie producer. Her overdose at his hands was the icing on the cake. He got ten years in jail. I got a lifetime of doubting my choices in men because any boyfriend I had was just like that jerk—too much glitz and glamour. The words “just like your mother” didn’t play well with me because it held the possibility that I could fail as badly as her. So I had sworn off men and buried myself in my work. But apparently, the magic spell of duty and responsibility had melted under the glitter and tinsel of three rock stars; as it would have with my mother. And I knew better. I fucking did.
“But I should have—”
“Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve. You’ll get on the phone, call your team, and start the next round of spinning things.”
“But if they go to jail—”
“Might be the best thing for them. Maybe I’ll ask the judge to try them together and then ask for work release on the day of the concert. I can see it now. All three of them delivered to the Bowl in their LA county prison garb. We’ll call the concert “Work Release.”
The idea was so ridiculous I laughed through my incipient tears. But it was also genius. I could see the press releases now.
“You know what? That idea is so outrageous; it’s a winner. But it’s a misdemeanor charge, at best. They can’t get much time for it.”
“You’d be surprised. Up to a year in County Jail and a thousand dollar fine.”
“I should know that, damn it.”
“You are being too hard on yourself, Jacine. Your father is in the hospital and you took on three impossible clients.”
The scent of him, flannel wool and his woodsy cologne wafted in a comforting haze. He kissed the top of my head and instinctively I leaned into him. Tobias, handsome, strong, reliable Tobias held me and soothed away my fears. It was a damned hard couple days and on top of that my sexual frustration threatened to send me over the edge. I could still feel Rory’s hands on my breasts performing magic on my body. The slightest touch of Tobias’s fingers on my thigh sends tingles through me that ignite my desire.
I made the slightest of gasps, and Tobias lowered his lips to mine. Every fantasy I ever had about Tobias flashed through my mind, how I wanted him to hold me and kiss me drove me to get closer to him. Shifting my body, I turn toward him and slipped my hand to his tie and tugged his head closer to mine.
With infinite tenderness his lips touched mine. And yet, it was filled with such passion my mouth burned with the taste of his mouth. The bristles of his five o’clock shadow scraped my chin sparking a shower of tingles through me.
Tobias ran his fingers on either side of my head and held my mouth to his, kissing me with such tenderness that my heart thawed and opened up to him. This was beyond bodies touching, or doing the right things to stoke desire. It was the sharing of two hearts and it took my breath away.
“Why,” he asked, “would you want any of those boys when you could have a real man?”
I gasped at his words. Why would I? Why wouldn’t I? Why not Tobias and not any of them? But I can’t answer. My mind jumbles with images of all four men, and to tell you the truth, they all stun me in their own way. They all had qualities I liked and admired, Cole’s romantic nature hidden under his balls-to-the-wall attitude, Jersey with his artistic sense, Rory’s pragmatic gentleness, and Tobias’s steadiness. Like a potato chip, I couldn’t have just one.
I was very confused.
My phone rang to save me from answering Tobias’s question and desperately I reached for it in the pocket of my duster.
“Leave it,” he breathed and then kissed me again with a kiss so sweet I might go into diabetic shock. Oh, damn, oh damn, I am going straight to hell. I know this and I don’t even believe in fiery damnation.
“It might be the hospital,” I gasped.
Sensibly, he nodded and pulled away. But it was the one call I did not want to take, but absolutely had to. What if something was wrong?
“It is my father.”
Tobias’s face turned a peculiar shade of white as if he was caught doing something wrong.
“How are you doing, dad?”
“Damn it, Jacine. What the fuck is going on?”
“Dad, you shouldn’t get yourself excited.”
“Excited? What the hell is this on the television about a fight at my house, and Kane, Dys and Holmes getting arrested?”
I flushed embarrassed that I was making out with our business lawyer while my clients were jailed.
“Um, well they all showed up here, and apparently they can’t be in the same space for ten minutes without turning on each other. Tobias and I were just discussing our next steps.
“Marshall’s there? Put him on the line.”
I held the phone out to Tobias. “My dad wants to talk to you.”
Tobias put on his lawyer face while he held the phone to his ear.
“Uh huh. Yes. Sure. I’ll get right on it.”
He handed the phone back to me.
“Handle it,” my father growled. And the line went dead.
“Whoa,” I said. “I’ve never seen him this angry. Not even when I took his precious Jag without asking him when I was sixteen.”
“Yes, I remember that. But this is different.”
“How’s that?”
“That was only a car. Today he thinks you crashed his reputation.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cole
I screwed up. Not only am I sitting in this damned jail cell, but I am here with Dys and Holmes, the last two fucks I want to share a jail cell with. Jacine didn’t pick up on the one call I was allowed. Who the hell am I supposed to call now? I don’t have a business manager, and I burned the last set of friends I had with a stupid card game.
Dys leaned back against the concrete eyeing me like I’m some jungle cat that could pounce on him at any moment. Holmes appeared to be meditating or some shit. Yeah. In a jail cell. He always was a little weird.
And did I blame Dys for giving me the stink-eye? No. I screwed up the first best thing in my life with an asshole move. Now I shot down the second best thing in my life with my impulsiveness. When was I going to learn?
Boss lady is more than hot. She’s the one I’ve been looking for all this time and I didn’t even know it. Who’d have thought? I thought it was just a kiss. Wrong. As the old song goes, “I fooled around and fell in love.” Yeah, that’s right—love. The big L. The thing that shall not be named when bedding groupies.
But Jacine was no groupie. She was fire and class, and power shaped in the body of a goddess. But the damndest thing is that Dys and Holmes zeroed in on her too. While I don’t like it one bit, I can’t blame them.
But what the hell are we going to do?
“Guys,” I said. “We need to talk.”
Dys snorted. Holmes gazed at me with an eerie calm that sent creepy shivers through me.
“I freely admit I’ve been an ass.”
Holmes nodded. “Acknowledgment is the first step in wisdom.”
Dys stared at me like he didn’t believe it.
“I shouldn’t have been such a jerk about the music. I’ll have Marshall draw of papers giving back your rights to your share, Dys.”
�
�Keep the music. It doesn’t matter.”
“But I thought—“
“Shit, Kane. You don’t get it. I don’t care about the music. I can make more of that. And I don’t care about the money—ditto.”
“Ditto,” said Holmes sagely.
“It’s because you treated me like shit that I’ve held a grudge. And I shouldn’t have done that either because that helped to get us into this mess. No man, what hurt was that I lost my friend, friends,” he said as he nodded his head at Holmes “And I’m too old to go making a bunch of new ones. But the point is I didn’t want to either, and that’s made me a hard man to live with.”
“Same here,” I said. “I can’t keep a band worth shit.”
“That’s true for me too,” said Holmes. “I don’t even speak to my band mates. I just sign the checks.”
“And no one,” I said, “played as good together as we do.”
“We jammed,” said Dys.
“Rocked and rolled,” agreed Holmes.
“So I’m offering my sincerest apologies for every rotten thing I did. I was wrong.”
“There’s something you don’t hear every day,” shot Dys.
“Fuck you, Dys,” said Holmes. “The man is trying to say he’s sorry. Can’t you take that one thing with a little grace.”
“Sorry,” mumbled Dys.
“But there’s one thing,” I said. “I need you to lay off Jacine.”
Dys's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because I’m in love with her.”
“What?” said Dys derisively. “You think love is when the hooker doesn’t charge you extra for the blow-job.”
“It’s the real deal, I swear.”
Dys scoffed. “You barely know her.”
“You know it when you see it. I did that day we met in the office.”
“Well, I’ve had a thing for her for four years, so don’t even say that doesn’t trump your feelings of looooovvve.”
“You’re both off your rock star rockers,” said Holmes. “Neither one of you can connect with her soul like I do. Besides, we have a bigger problem. We’re in jail. Or haven’t you noticed?”
“I noticed,” I said dryly.
“So we’ll bond out,” said Dys.
Ever the optimist, Dys is.
“And then what,” continued Holmes. “Did you not pay attention the last time. We were given bond on the condition we didn’t pull this shit again.”
“Now you tell us,” said Dys.
“And, we might get a judge that decides that it is “teach the celebrities a lesson” week. Seven years, guys. That’s what we could get.”
“You think? Because I haven’t seen you thinking very clearly at all.” said Dys.
“Ha,” I said.
“And you neither. Really. Thinking Jacine would want you?”
“Hey,” said Dys. “For the first time in four years, we are speaking like human beings. Let’s not blow it now.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Besides it doesn’t do a bit of good fighting about it. It’s up to her who she wants.”
“Really, Kane? When did you get so enlightened?”
“I don’t know. I’m sitting in a jail cell with two of the biggest dicks in the world who happen to be my best friends, and I wonder? What did I do to deserve all this? I mean, Christ, I must be doing something wrong. Maybe it’s time to change what I’m doing.”
Holmes snorted.
“You’re absolutely right,” he said.
“Geez, two of you in agreement,” said Dys. “I guess I’m outvoted.”
“Look,” I said. “Whatever happens we need to stick together.”
“Yeah,” said Holmes. “Friends.”
“Brothers-in-arms,” I said. But it didn’t escape me that we didn’t agree about boss lady, and that’s a problem.
Because I’m not letting a woman that hot out of my sight.
The door to cell block buzzed open and an officer came to the door.
“Your lawyer is here,” he announced.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jacine
Tobias convinced the officers to let me into the room, and I sat on one side of the table with him as we waited for the officers to escort the guys in. My stomach fluttered with nervous anticipation. My father’s scolding should have set me straight on what exactly I’m supposed to do, and that isn’t falling into bed with any of these clients or our firm’s lawyer.
In a futile attempt to reassure me, Tobias patted my thigh under the table.
“It’s going to work out fine. Just stick to our plan. It will pull them into line.”
My foot pulsed despite the soft ballet shoes I wore. The place between my legs throbbed because there is only so much make-out interruptus a girl can take before the fire in her nether regions drives her insane.
Tobias proved wonderfully sweet, and supportive, and I wanted to hug him for standing at my back. But the problem is not what we did with each other’s backs but our fronts. I am uncomfortably aware that I’ve crossed another professional line. Putting my hands where they don’t belong on not just the firm’s lawyer but also my father’s best friend? How can someone with a Harvard Education screw up so badly in only two days?
Officers led Cole, Jersey, and Rory into the conference room. It wasn’t the usual room, but since Tobias wanted to speak to them at once, the officers put us in this larger room. The only proviso was that the officers had to handcuff the rockers to their chairs; which they did not enjoy. Too damn bad.
The door shut us in, and two stalwarts of the police force stood guard outside.
“When are we getting out of here?” said Jersey. He rattled his cuffs to drive home the point.
“Yeah, what are we paying you for?” growled Cole.
Rory’s lips upturned into a grimace.
“The judge warned you—”started Tobias. I laid my hand on his arm to stop him. He was right. I had this, and staring at the scuffed-up reprobates stirred a fire in me that wasn’t sexual. Mostly.
Is it wrong to get hot when the men you’ve been fooling around have cuts and bruises that announce they’ve been at battle? I found the dirt smudges on Jersey’s face entrancing. Cole’s bluish shiner made me wince, but it had a certain cachet that aroused my inner cavewoman. Rory’s road burn from contact with my driveway’s gravel made my stomach flutter.
I must be sick.
Or horny.
Or both.
God help me.
“You are not paying us for rescuing you from jail, but to make your antics endearing to the public,” I said acidly.
“Baby,” said Cole. “Don’t be mean.”
“Baby? Get your head out of your pants, Cole Kane. You can’t expect me to salvage your reputation every single time you screw up. What were you guys thinking?”
“Obviously, all we were thinking about is how fine you are,” said Jersey.
Tobias cleared his throat in warning.
“Focus,” Tobias growled. “We’ve got real problems to solve, and it’s not where you’ll get your dick wet next.” I wasn’t sure if he was talking like a lawyer or a man who saw these three as rivals for my affection. But it was my job to get this train to crazy town on track.
“Seriously, Tobias and I discussed whether or not to leave you in jail. It might make good press. I can see it now.” I drew a huge arc in the air with my hand. “We’ll call the concert Work Release. The fans will eat it up.”
“Work Release,” snorted Rory. “Where’d you get that idea?”
“Actually, it was Attorney Marshall’s.”
“Attorney Marshall,” Cole said as his eyes narrowed. “I thought he offered legal advice.”
“Oh he does,” I said in a breezy voice. “And other things—too.”
“Like what?” snarled Cole.
“Like none of your business what,” said Tobias. The edge in his voice could cut glass.
The two men stared each other down, and I swore un
der my breath. This was not the time for another blowout. Jersey seemed to sense that too and offered up a question.
“And how do you propose we get ready for this concert?” said Jersey.
“We’ll work with your individual bands while the three of you contemplate the seriousness of the shit you’ve generated.”
“And then we’re supposed to get on stage and play like we are ready?” Jersey was incredulous.
“You know your songs, don’t you?”
“Screw that, Jacine,” said Jersey. “That’s dreck. I won’t know the marks on the stage and the sound check will suck. No.”
“What can we do? It’s not like I’m your mother and can put you in your rooms. So maybe I’ll have to let the police do it.”
“Screw it,” said Jersey. “Then I won’t go on stage.”
“I kinda like the idea of you being mommy,” said Cole. “Can I be your dirty boy?”
“Shut up!” said Jersey and Rory together.
“You’re right, Attorney Marshall,” I said as I stood to leave. “They can’t behave themselves. We’ll leave them here.”
“You can’t do that,” protested Jersey. “I’ll get another lawyer.”
“You can do that,” said Marshall as he stood too. “But since I filed as attorney of record, not until we go to the arraignment and see the judge where you can fire me properly. And then you’ll have to get a new lawyer, and the trial will wait on that.”
“Bastard,” muttered Rory.
“He’s a lawyer,” I said easily. “That’s what we pay him for. Come along, Tobias. I’m starving. Perhaps you can take me to dinner.”
Tobias’s eyes sparkled at the suggestion.
“Wait!” said Jersey. “What do you want from us?”
I glanced over my shoulder.
“One. Stop hitting on each other.”
“Fine,” said Cole.
“Not a problem,” said Jersey.
“Two. Stop hitting on me.” This last was Tobias’s suggestion as a way to reduce conflict between the three. Reluctantly, I agreed, because he was right. This was the smart course.
The Penthouse Secrets: A NYC Billionaire Romance Trilogy Boxed Set Page 41
