“I can assure you I had the same reaction when I was asked,” she says sternly. “I don’t want this any more than you do, but it is what it is.”
“She tried to pick me up yesterday.” I put my hands on my hips, telling the table.
“Are you insane?” she huffs out, her voice rising. “You and your anatomy landed on me.” She looks at Doug. “Right in my back.”
I roll my eyes at her.
“Karrie,” Doug says, looking at her.
“What?” She shrugs at him. “He couldn’t even contain himself, and he thinks I tried to pick him up.” She looks at me. “You wish.”
I pfft out. “Please, one word and you would have come home with me.” I look at the men in front of me. “You guys can’t be serious.” I then look back at Karrie. “Besides, how old is she? Twelve?”
“Pervert. I would have pulled the fire alarm and kicked you in the nuts.” She crosses her arms over her chest, making her tits strain against the buttons. “Either way you would have ended up in the same place. Alone. With bruised nuts.”
Robert slaps the table. “That’s enough, you two.” He looks at both of us. “Now, you two have a lot of catching up to do. I will forward you both the travel schedule.” He stands up, grabbing the papers, and slapping me on the shoulder. “Good to have you.”
Coach Dan gets up also, smirking at me while I stand here speechless that they allow a girl to chaperone me. Not just any girl, the hottest fucking girl I’ve ever set eyes on. I had to take care of myself three times since I stumbled on her.
“You two try not to kill each other.” Dan looks at Karrie. “Be good, sweetheart.” And he kisses her cheek.
“Really?” I throw my hands in the air. “Does no one think this is a ridiculous idea?” I look around the room and the only one left is Doug, who gets up.
“I think it’s the best thing to ever happen to you.” He walks over to squeeze my shoulder. “But if you make my little girl cry”—he leans in, whispering—“they won’t find your body.”
My mouth opens and closes, and then opens again, not a sound coming out.
“Sweetheart, I’ll call you later.” He kisses her on the same cheek that Dan just kissed her on. Why the fuck is everyone kissing her, and why the fuck am I so irritated that it bothers me?
Just Karrie and I are standing in the middle of the room. “You’re the boss’s daughter?” I finally get some words to come out.
“Yes,” she says, turning around to walk away from me, but I grab her arm, and it’s too much. Her tiny arm in my big hand almost feels like it sears me. She looks down at where I’m touching her, her eyes never coming up to meet mine. “I want to get home.” She shrugs my hand off and walks ahead of me. “We can take an Uber back to the hotel and pick up our stuff and then we can get home. Finally.”
I follow her out of the conference room where she goes to the reception desk, grabbing a black matching jacket and her big black purse. “Thanks, Alice.” She smiles and then walks to the elevator, and I have no choice but to follow her. The only thing I can wish for is that I don’t end up fucking this whole thing up.
The minute we leave the conference room I’m already taking my phone out to text Cooper.
We have a problem. My chaperone cannot be served alcohol in a bar. Can we have it changed? To a man? Who is older? With saggy balls?
I press send and then put the phone in my pocket while I follow Karrie all the way outside to a car and ride over to the hotel.
We are both looking out our respective window when her soft voice fills the car. “This wasn’t an ideal situation for me either.”
I turn to her, which is a mistake because I want to yank her over to me and kiss her. I want to make her squirm on my lap, but most of all I want to see what she looks like when she smiles. I don’t have a chance to say anything because we are already back at the hotel where she has already exited the car.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, so I pull it out and see that it’s from my mother.
He’s on the ice with the twins.
I smile while I reply because I know my sisters.
The twins hate skating!!!
I know, but this is a punishment. It seems the bus driver was talking smack about Cooper and him retiring too young.
And? Why are they punished?
They got kicked off the bus indefinitely because they called him a pencil dick moron. Then Zara gave him the finger.
I start laughing out loud when I bump into Karrie again for not looking where I’m going.
“If you're finished sexting, we can meet outside in ten. I’m already packed.” Her voice comes out curt.
“Jealous that I’m not sexting you?” I ask her and then smile while she glares. “Besides, I wouldn’t sext my mother. Ever.”
“Whatever,” she says, getting out of the elevator. “Ten minutes.” Then she slams the door, making me growl.
An hour later, we’re sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic while we weave our way from mid-town to Brooklyn. We finally make it to the front of the brownstone. All the houses are lined up on the street, all attached. All literally brown. Big bay windows on each side of the door. The only thing telling them apart is the different cast iron railings up to the front doors. Those also are original because no two doors are alike. I follow Karrie up the ten stairs that lead to the big brown doors. Both doors have windows on them so you can see inside. You don’t see much because there’s a white rounded door on the inside with stained windows, not allowing you to see inside the house.
She unlocks the two deadbolts and walks in, throwing her keys on a mirrored table with fresh white roses in the middle. She steps in, turning the brass rounded handles, making us come face to face with a white staircase. The railing is a dark chestnut brown. The flooring is a glossy green almost black marble flooring. All I can see is Zoe and Zara trying to run and then slide with their socks.
“I’ll give you the tour,” Karrie says to me, turning left and entering what she calls the living room.
It looks like it’s been in a magazine ad. I walk into the room, taking in the bay windows. A hidden bench makes it so you can curl up with a book. All white, the room has one color, but the couch is a huge U-shaped deep brown. There are a million throw pillows placed all over, but what gets me is the fireplace right in front of the couch. It’s old school, hand-carved in white marble, the old details from the past all engraved. A huge screen television sits on top of the fireplace. The table in the middle is black with nothing on it but the different remotes.
“All these remotes are for the television as well as the music system that plays throughout the house. The small gray one is for the curtains.”
“I’ve never had a remote for curtains before. If my sisters ever visit, we must hide that.” I laugh at her while she smiles and walks back out, turning left and heading down a narrow hallway. Different types of frames line the wall from top to bottom. All personal. I try to stop and take it in, but she’s already at the end of the hallway that opens up to a huge kitchen.
The middle counter is all white and gray marble. A white vase with red flowers brings out the light in the house. Skylights from the ceiling let in more light. The range against the wall is black. White cabinets line up the two walls while her huge ass fridge is against the wall on the other side. One door is see-through and you can see that there isn’t much inside. We are going to have to make sure it’s stocked at all times. While I’m training, I hate eating unhealthy. She walks to the other side of the room into what she calls the dining room. There’s a white square marble table in the center with eight brown chairs around it. A vase of green flowers sits in the middle with a couple of candles. Her mail is on the table, so she picks it up.
“Everything is so white,” I tell her while she ignores me. “Can you show me where my room is?”
She puts the mail down on the table, taking off her jacket and throwing it over one of the chairs while she takes off the heels she’s been wearing. �
��Follow me.” She leads me back to the hallway where we take the stairs up to the second level. Once we get there, I see there are two doors. She points to the right. “That’s my room.” She ignores me, opening the door, and then walks a couple of feet into the hallway to the door on the left. “And this,” she says, opening the door, “is my off—” But she stops talking. “What in the hell is going on?” she says, walking into the huge room that doesn’t look like an office at all.
The big king-sized bed in the middle of the room against the wall lets me know this isn’t an office. The walls are painted a nice soft gray, making the red and navy blue cover pop even more. The furniture is all dark and very masculine.
“No, no, no, no.” She keeps chanting, walking to the door in the corner. She opens it and I see it’s an empty walk-in closet. “I’m going to fucking kill Jose,” she says while she pulls out her cell phone to call someone. “Jose, it’s Karrie. What happened to my office?” she asks, one second away from snapping and throwing something across the room. I don’t know what Jose tells her, but she replies, “No, the bedroom upstairs is the gray room, not my office.” She nods her head and then all she says is goodbye.
“So good news,” she tells me. “This is your room. Bad news, your bathroom is upstairs. But you’re fit. It’ll be fine.” She shrugs her shoulders while I take off my jacket, tossing it on the bed. I unsnap the buttons on my wrists.
“Whatever, I’m not difficult.” I walk to the window, which is facing the small covered backyard. “I noticed that the fridge is empty downstairs, so I’ll make a list and you can go and pick up the things I’ll need.” I turn to face her.
“Um, excuse me?” She puts a hand on her hip. “Pick up the things you need? I think you’re confused just a touch. I’m a chaperone, not a PA. You want someone at your beck and call, hire someone.”
“They did, you,” I tell her, watching her bite her teeth together so hard, I think her teeth might snap.
She charges out of the room, opening her bedroom door and slamming it. I wait at the entrance of my room, listening to the banging that’s going on behind her closed door. I’m about to go knock when the door swings open.
“You listen here.” She walks up to me, huffing and pointing her finger at me. “You want stuff in the fridge, go buy it yourself. You need soap or shampoo, get it on your way out. You need your cleaning picked up, I’ll call you an Uber. I won’t now, nor ever, be at your beck and fucking call.”
I don’t hear anything else that comes out of her mouth. The only thing I can focus on is her lips and how plump they are and how she licks them a lot when she’s angry and the only thing running through my mind now is making them even more plump by kissing the shit out of her.
Chapter Four
Karrie
I’m ranting and raving and the only thing I can think of is his two strong arms he’s showing me. Well, from the elbow down. His sleeves are rolled up and the way his hands lie on his hips, I want to jump on him, wrap my legs around him, and kiss the ever loving fuck out of him. But he made me so mad. Give me a shopping list, a fucking shopping list.
“Let’s get something straight, as you must not know the difference between a chaperone and a PA.” I continue my rant from before. “Do you have a computer?” I ask him, watching his eyes fixate on my lips, making me self-conscious, making me lick them even more. When he doesn't answer me, I wave my hand in front of his face. “Hello, computer?”
When he just smirks at me I’m about to pull my hair out. “You need to chill, babe.”
Babe? Did he just tell me to chill and then followed it with a babe? I flip my hand to the side.
“Go change. We’ll go for a walk and you can show me where to get groceries and stuff.” He then looks at his watch. “It’s almost dinner time anyway, so maybe we can eat out?” He walks past me, going back down the stairs to grab his bag and then running up the stairs, throwing his bag down in the corner. “Babe, change, yeah.”
I’m standing here with my mouth hanging open in utter disbelief that he would ignore all the huffing and puffing I just did and follow it up with babe. “Three seconds. Two—” He stops counting so I can ask him.
“What happens at one?” Shoot me, I’m curious.
“I get naked,” he says, pulling his shirt out of his pants and unbuttoning them. “Two.”
I turn, darting out of the room. “I’m going to change,” I say, running into my room, shutting the door. I have to walk through my closet before I reach my bedroom, which is in the back of the house. Quiet, peaceful, serene, that’s what I told the decorator and she didn’t disappoint. My huge king-sized bed sits against the white wall. The covers are white, cushiony, and thick like a cloud. All you want to do is sink into it. The gold throw pillows light up the room. I don’t have any furniture except two side tables with two lamps. I hear a knock on my door and I’m about to tell him to come in, but he’s already walking in.
“Jesus, I thought my sisters had big closets. They would vacation in yours.” He looks around. “Why aren’t you dressed yet?”
I look back at him and he’s wearing black running pants and a white T-shirt with the team’s logo in the corner. A torn up baseball cap on his head.
“You can’t just barge into my room,” I tell him. “What if I was naked?” I put my hand to my chest to maybe hide the fact that my heart is beating so hard he might see it almost come out of my chest.
“One can only hope.” Is all he says, going to the bed and sitting on it. “Babe, go change. I’m starving.”
“Okay, we need to discuss a couple of things.” I look at him. “Perhaps go over a couple of ground rules.” I’m about to continue when he puts his hand up.
“Can we do this while we eat? My stomach is eating itself at this point.”
“Unbelievable!” I yell, walking back into my closet, slamming yet another door. I grab my yoga pants off the shelf and tug them on so fast I almost get my foot caught and fall over with my ass in the air. I grab a T-shirt, the whole time grumbling, “Such an asshole.” I put my T-shirt on. “Bossing me around, hungry, hungry. I’ll show him hungry.” I rip my sweater off the hanger, zipping it up, opening the door to find him still sitting on my bed while he watches something on his phone.
“Ready?” he asks, getting up. He walks past me, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him. I try my best to pull my hand from his, but he refuses to budge. He stops by the stairs, looking at the stairs that go up. “I guess that’s where my bathroom is?”
I nod, looking down at my hand in his. His hand is tanned compared to mine, which is pale. “See, not too far.” I shake my head, too, finally pulling my hand free to walk down the stairs where I go and get my sneakers on. “Ready?”
He nods while I get the keys, putting them in my pocket after locking the door.
We walk down the street lined with trees that are slowly turning from green to yellow and orange. It’s still mild outside for the beginning of October. Some houses even have Halloween decorations out. I take the phone out of my pocket and make a note to order some online.
“It’s pretty here,” he says from beside me, our legs moving in sync.
“It really is. I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, but I’ve fallen in love with it.” We cross a busy intersection where cars are honking and rushing away. I point down the street to a corner store that still has a couple of iron tables outside. “That’s the coffee shop. They have the best almond croissants you will ever have. It feels like you’re in Paris when you bite into them.”
“Too sweet for me,” he says, taking his hat off and flipping it backward so you can see his eyes now. “Do they have anything else?” he asks me while we wait for the light to change to green so we can walk across.
“Yes, they have lots of baked goods you could try. They even have gluten free cakes.” I start walking across the street, pointing out different shops for him when he goes out by himself.
“I don’t know why you're telling me
all this. You're my chaperone, which FYI I looked up the meaning while you were in your closet talking to yourself.” He smiles. “Do you do that often?” he asks, looking at me. “I mean, talk to yourself?”
I stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk. “I don’t talk to myself.” Okay, fine, I do. I have some of the best conversations with myself. It's how I process things. I make a note to have these conversations more in my head now that he is living with me.
“Babe, you were ranting.” He stops walking and comes back to me because I’m still standing in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Stop with the babe, please.” I shake my head, continuing walking with him till we finally reach the supermarket. There are crates of fruit lined up outside. He stops to grab a couple of clear bags to put the fruit in, passing some empty ones to me.
“Fill it up with oranges while I get some bananas. Do you have a juicer at home?” He doesn’t look up at me while he grabs apples.
“Um, I have no idea. Probably not. Don’t buy too much. It might go to waste.” I fill the bag with the huge oranges.
“Shit, I didn’t even check the schedule. When do we leave town?” He stops packing the bag of apples.
“Saturday right after the game. We play Philly Sunday night. Back on Monday.”
“Okay.” Is all he says before walking inside the market, grabbing an empty cart and putting the bags of fruit in them. “Is there a butcher around here?” he asks while we walk down the meat aisle.
“I think around here somewhere. Why?” I ask him, confused. There’s a whole aisle of meat right here.
“I usually just buy big slabs of meat and they cut it to make portions.” He gets his phone out of his pocket where he MapQuests the nearest butcher. “Closed now, but we can swing by there sometime tomorrow. Shit, it’s game day tomorrow. Okay, Monday afternoon it is.”
“Why don’t you grab what you want for tonight and we can work out the details later?” I ask him, grabbing myself a piece of salmon. I’m not eating out tonight. I’ve been living on room service for the last couple of days and I want a home-cooked meal.
Something So Perfect Page 3
