Alex considered giving up. He knew his brother was the object of many, many fans’ attraction. He had accepted it when their band had become popular but he couldn’t quite make himself give up on Dani. At least, he thought, he could be friends with her—maybe—and get to know her better.
Over the next several years, Alex had gotten to know her better; the two had become fast friends, and Dani had brought a sense of normalcy into his chaotic life. When she had turned eighteen, Alex had flown her to London, making her a guest and taking her around the city the day after the concert. He had grown accustomed to the fact that Dani had a crush on his older brother—a crush that never really went away.
By the same token, his crush on Dani had never really gone away either; as they had both grown up, it had only gotten worse. When they had first met she had been cute and funny and charming. As an adult, she was beautiful, with penetrating intelligence and irreverent humor. They had graduated from emails and phone calls to text messages back and forth, and Alex had heard from her about all of her college classes.
He had also been the first person to hear her earliest attempts at songwriting. She would never have let Blake hear her songs, or even Elijah—but she had trusted Alex. When he had told her, over and over again, that her material had merit, she had eventually let him talk her into recording her demos semi-professionally; he had paid for the studio time himself at a small place in her hometown, and had helped her with the instruments she wasn’t proficient at. He had secretly taken the tracks with him and made his brothers listen to them. Blake and Elijah had both admitted that Dani was good.
Conveniently, the three brothers had invested in forming their own record label. It was an independent label, not a major one; they weren’t quite secure enough to start a major label. Initially they had only used it as a vehicle for their own projects but over the years they had also met a number of talented musicians and bands, and gradually, they had decided to start signing people. Now they divided their time between their own records and tours and managing the growing business they had started.
And since the company was really starting to grow—enough to have several employees, above and beyond the talent—Alex had suggested to his brothers that they should sign Dani, who had become moderately successful through her own efforts.
Alex snapped out of his reverie when Dani turned to face him, throwing herself onto the comfortable old sofa that dominated his office. “So,” she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes, “What’s the story?” Alex threw himself down onto the couch next to her.
“Blake and Eli should be getting here soon, and then we’ll give you all the paperwork and you can talk to whatever lawyer you want and decide if you want to sign. If, you know, you’re okay with being with us vampiric industry types.” He grinned. Dani chuckled, giving him a playful kick.
“And then do we get to go out and get drunk like rock stars?” Dani asked. Alex laughed.
“You know I’ll never miss out on a chance to hang out. Eli’s baby has the flu or something. Don’t know if Blake will come out or not.” Dani hadn’t been devastated when Blake had gotten engaged, but Alex knew she still had feelings for his brother. Everything was so comfortable between them that in some respects, Alex didn’t even want to try and change it; what if he alienated her? He didn’t want to lose one of the best friends he had outside of his family.
Blake and Eli both arrived while Alex and Dani were chatting, and the four of them went into the boardroom together. Alex watched as Dani read over the contract they were offering her; he knew for a fact that it was one of the best recording contracts available in the industry, both in terms of profit sharing and the amount of freedom she would have as a musician.
Because the brothers’ label was independent, and small in scale, they weren’t interested in making enormous amounts of money; they made a fair amount of money on their own, and their early career had been successful enough that they really didn’t have to work a day in their lives, if they didn’t want to. They had wanted to offer their friends the chance at enough success to live on—maybe not lavishly, but enough to pay the bills as an artist.
Dani looked up at the three brothers, trying to keep her face straight as she said with exaggerated seriousness, “I will have to have my lawyer look over this, gentlemen. I can’t trust my own personal opinion that you would never screw me.” Alex bit his lip as the thought came unbidden: I would definitely screw you—just not in that way. Alex made himself laugh along with Blake and Eli.
“How soon can your lawyer get back to you?” Eli asked, sitting back in his chair. Dani grinned.
“Oh, he’s very anxious to get his hands on the contract, so I think I’ll hear from him within a couple of days. You’re stuck with me in the area in the meantime.” Eli answered her grin with one of his own.
“You know you’re always welcome at my place. Alana told me if I didn’t invite you over for dinner while you were in town, I would be sleeping on the couch for a week, with sole baby duties.” Dani had become friends with both Eli’s and Blake’s partners.
Alex remembered the easy way that Dani had dispelled any notion that she was “competition” as soon as she met them; Dani acted like one of the family, like a nagging, annoying little sister to Eli and a friendly, teasing sister to Blake. Alex wasn’t sure exactly how other people would view their interactions.
“Lizzie was all for organizing a ladies night,” Blake suggested. Alex knew he wouldn’t be able to monopolize all of Dani’s time while she was in town, but he hoped she didn’t commit herself to too many events.
“I think I’m going to take advantage of my caffeine and nerves-fueled energy to go out tonight. I didn’t really celebrate the end of the tour.” Blake nodded.
“I’d love to come out, but Adam’s been sick,” Eli said, making a genuinely regretful face. Dani nodded, gesturing that she understood.
“You gotta take care of the baby,” she said, “otherwise, how will I play with him when I come over for dinner?” She turned her attention to Blake. “I assume you have wedding-planning things to do with Lizzie?” Blake nodded ruefully. “That just leaves you and me, Alex,” she said, giving him a little smile. He had expected the outcome—had even hoped for it, a little bit. He wanted some time with Dani to himself.
Alex was pacing back and forth across the living room, waiting for the right time to leave and pick Dani up. He had gotten ready quickly, anxious for the time to pass. “I’m acting like a girl in a freaking rom-com,” he groaned, throwing himself onto the couch. From the other side of the room, Blake laughed. He and Blake were sharing a house; their religious parents frowned on the idea of Blake living with his fiancée, even though it wasn’t as if the two of them hadn’t already had sex. Before Eli had gotten married, he had lived with them too.
“Chill out, Al. It’s Dani, for crying out loud.” Alex rolled his eyes. He had confided in Eli about his feelings for Dani, about his knowledge that Dani had a crush on Blake—the whole hopeless mess—but he had never, ever mentioned it to Blake. Alex got up and started pacing again. He couldn’t leave for another twenty minutes, not without getting to Dani’s hotel ridiculously early.
Blake turned around from the computer screen and faced him. “What are you worried about?” Alex started to turn away. “Seriously, Al. It’s Dani. You’ve known her for years, and she’s totally into you.” Alex faced his brother, eyes wide.
“What are you talking about?”
Blake snorted. “Dani. She’s into you.”
Alex rolled his eyes again.
“No she isn’t.” He started to pace again, glancing at the clock. Fifteen minutes to go.
“She totally is! You two are always texting each other, and she had to know you’d get there before either Eli or me, and she got there early. Right when I walked into the office I could see it.”
Alex shook his head. “We’re just close. You’re close with her too, and so’s Eli!”
It was Blake�
��s turn to roll his eyes. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you, too. You’re into her.”
Alex looked at the clock.
“Just ask her out already! Stop being afraid and go for her.”
Blake didn’t know anything. He clearly hadn’t even noticed that Dani had had the hots for him for years.
Some part of his brain wanted to jump at the idea, though; what if Blake was right? But he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. Alex shook his head again. Blake apparently decided not to waste his breath on his brother’s stubbornness anymore. He turned back to the computer, and Alex went back to pacing, watching the clock tick the last several minutes before he could leave.
Dani was waiting for him when he arrived at her hotel. She was in a floral sundress, and Alex had to force himself not to react to how utterly lovely she looked. Her dark red hair was pulled back into a bun, and the light makeup on her face only served to highlight her features. Alex recognized the flowers on her dress: peonies.
He knew them because she had called them “her” flowers; they bloomed only in the weeks surrounding her birthday. She grabbed a green blazer to cover her shoulders and Alex almost stopped her. Instead, he hugged her, breathing in the scent of her as unobtrusively as he could. “Oooh, you smell good,” she told him, her voice pleased. “Where are we going?”
“You know where. We’re going to Bolton’s.”
Dani grinned. “I should have guessed as much. Lead on!”
Alex offered her his arm and she took it, letting him lead her to his waiting car.
They had formed a casual sort of courtesy on previous nights they’d gone out; Alex always picked Dani up, was always responsible for getting them both home. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Dani—she was actually a more cautious and careful driver than he—it just developed that way. Alex couldn’t quite remember how it had started, but probably it had been her twenty-first birthday.
Bolton’s was their preferred bar; they loved the junk food the kitchen put out, and it was one of the last old bars in the downtown area, successful among the more pretentious clubs because of the quality of its bar and personnel. The two of them were seated at their usual booth, and ordered snacks along with beers.
Soon they were chatting about everything and anything, and Alex felt himself relaxing in Dani’s company, lulled by her charm and wit. “I’m glad you let your hair grow out,” she told him, reaching across the table to steal one of his fries. Alex laughed. When he had cut off his long hair, fed up with the upkeep and with the fact that it had been his trademark for so long, Dani had sighed and told him jokingly that it was a crime that he had gone for short hair.
“Part of it is laziness,” he told her, stealing one of her fried mushrooms. “I couldn’t be bothered to keep cutting it, so eventually it got long again.” He had pulled his sandy blond hair into a short ponytail at the base of his neck; Dani had said once that he looked more elegant that way. “I did miss it being long, too.” He didn’t admit the other part of his decision. He had begun consciously growing his hair out shortly after seeing Dani on tour months before.
After a few beers, Dani was starting to get a little bit tipsy. Alex smiled to himself, taking her in: the flush in her cheeks, the shine of her eyes, her lips moving, the dart of her pink tongue. Dani didn’t get sloppy as she became drunk, one of the long list of things Alex liked about her. She told him that her grandmother and her mother had both tried to raise her to act like a lady, and she tried to at least keep up the pretense.
“You know, now that I’m going to be working with you guys, I should confess something,” Dani started, leaning in with a giddy smile. Alex laughed.
“Your lawyer already gave you the okay?” Dani rolled her eyes.
“I know you guys aren’t going to screw me with an awful contract. The lawyer thing is just a formality.” Alex nodded. “Anyway, back to my confession.” She licked her lips and looked down a moment before making eye contact with Alex again. “When I first started listening to you guys, I had a crush on you.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “You had a crush on Blake.”
She shook her head, waving a hand to dismiss the idea.
“That was later. I mean hell, Blake’s so pretty, you know? And talented. But before I even ever noticed Blake, I had a crush on you.” She paused and sat back, smiling at him. “I thought you were the most fun, the cutest, the most like me.”
She laughed, drinking down the last of her pint. “And then I met you and it was true.” She shrugged. “When you asked for my email, I had hoped… but then, we got to be friends, and I figured it was probably better off that way.”
Alex was shaking his head. “I’ve always liked you.”
Dani tilted her head to the side, giving him a puzzled look.
“I knew you had a crush on Blake, so I always thought you just wanted to be friends.”
Dani’s eyes widened.
“Alex! I had hoped you’d make a move for years! When you didn’t, I just decided I might as well be happy with what I had.”
Alex reached across the table and grabbed at Dani’s hand, squeezing it tightly.
“If I had ever thought that you had feelings for me, I would’ve done this a long time ago,” he said. He stood, pulling her up with him. Alex felt his heart beating wildly as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, wrapping his arms around her waist. He had dreamed of this moment; for years, he had hoped against hope that she would give him some indication that his advances would be accepted.
To hear that she had harbored feelings for him without him even knowing made him felt brave. Dani melted against him and he crushed her body against his, needing to feel the press of her. He had dated other girls while they had been friends; tried to tell himself to move on. He had realized in the last two years that it was basically useless. He compared every woman he met with Dani.
Alex pulled away from the kiss after several moments. “Blake is going to be insufferable,” he told her, kissing her softly on the forehead. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent again. Dani laughed.
“More than usual, you mean?” Alex laughed at the quip. “It’s a good thing he IS pretty, or no woman would put up with him. I’ve known that for years.” Alex kissed her temples, sweeping his lips back down to claim hers. He tasted her lips, letting his hands roam slowly along her curves.
“Blake told me tonight that you had feelings for me, that I should just make a move. When he finds out that I have he’s going to lord it over me for weeks.”
Dani chuckled, draping her arms around his shoulders. “We could just not tell him.”
Alex grinned, leaning in to kiss her again. He let his lips drift down over her jaw, to her neck. They would have to leave soon; he couldn’t restrain himself for much longer, couldn’t keep things at least moderately polite. He had to have her, had to explore the growing heat between them.
“In that case,” he murmured, nipping softly at her pulse, “let’s go back to your hotel room.” Dani giggled and nodded, leaning in to kiss him just below his ear. Alex paid their tab and steered her out of the bar quickly.
He drove even more recklessly than usual, feeling an almost feverish need to get to the privacy of Dani’s hotel. When they arrived, he almost ran through the lobby, Dani’s hand tightly clasped in his own. He kissed her again while they waited for the elevator, touching her all over, more daring than he had been in the bar now that they were in a deserted lobby. He could feel his cock stirring, getting hard just at the thought of being alone with her.
Dani took out her key card and let them into the room, and he laughed as they fell into each other, almost falling to the ground together. Alex let his hands rest at her hips, holding her body against his. He could feel the warmth of her through her clothes, her sweet, yielding body almost trembling as he kissed her again and again. He couldn’t get enough of the taste of her lips, the feeling of her tongue playfully batting against his. Alex moaned when he felt Dani’s hands on his shoulders, kn
eading the tight muscles she found there.
He led her towards the enormous bed that dominated the room, his cock almost throbbing with arousal. They sank onto the bed together, and Alex pulled her body against his, letting her feel the hardness of his cock through his jeans. Dani was moving against him, soft sounds somewhere between moans and whimpers leaving her throat.
Alex reached up and gently freed her hair from its bun, running his fingers through the silken softness as it tumbled down. He opened his eyes, breaking away from the kiss to take in the sight of her, cuddled close to him.
“You are so beautiful,” he told her, his voice barely above a whisper as he kissed her all over her face, her neck, traveling downward. He kissed the tops of her breasts, rolling over to cover her body with his own. He pulled his jacket off, tossing it away from him and following it with his tee shirt, needing to feel her skin against his own.
Dani sat up, tossing aside her blazer and reaching around to unzip her dress as well. Alex felt himself grinning and stopped her, reaching around to her back to take care of that detail himself as he kissed her again.
The Ultimate Erotic Short Story Collection 23 - 11 Steamingly Hot Erotica Books for Women Page 5
