The memory of making out with Alicia had kept him up most of the night and well into the morning. “No, she isn’t putting up blocks against me anymore. I think I’m moving towards something good with her.”
“Great...now enough about Alicia,” Richard said. “I want to discuss your life. Are you still thinking about leaving Lee’s business and starting up your own?”
He hadn’t let go of the idea of being his own boss, but starting up a new venture was hard especially since he still wasn’t too sure what he wanted do. “I haven’t decided yet,” Brad admitted, honestly. “Sometimes, I get a little envious that you, Zack and even Lee have jobs that the three of you love.”
“Don’t be jealous. We always knew what we wanted to do since college. You, on the other hand, loved being outside more than you ever cared about being inside a building,” Richard told him. “Just make sure this time you decide on a career that you love to do every day.”
Stretching his legs out underneath the table, Brad ran the palm of his hand along the back of his neck trying to relieve some of the knots. Richard made it sound so easy, but it wasn’t. He just couldn’t do anything with his life. He had to pick a good career, so he could be on an equal playing field with Alicia. She was younger than him and was already working at a job she loved and moving in the right direction with her life.
“It’s not as easy as you’re making it out to be. I’m thirty-two years old. I should already have a well-established career and I don’t. How can I ask Alicia to spend the rest of her life with me when I won’t be able to take care of her?”
“Alicia doesn’t seem like the type of woman who will want you to take care of her. All you need to do is love her and that will always be enough.”
“Are you sure?” Brad asked more than a little worried.
“Well, it’s enough for my stunning wife,” Richard laughed, trying to ease some of the tension in the room. “How about you take a peek at your nephew before you leave?”
His brother got up from the table and pushed the chair back in then headed for the door. “I think Dawn should be done bathing him by now. I told her I would stay home from work today, so she could spend the day with Traci and Cherise.”
“Do you love being a father?” Brad asked.
Turning back around, Richard gave him a smile so huge that it spread from ear to ear. “Sterling is the most beautiful gift that Dawn could ever give me. The love I have for my little boy knows no bounds. You’ll see when you have your own.” Richard spun back around and went out the door towards the nursery at the end of the hall.
Brad stood alone in the kitchen for a few minutes wondering would he ever be a husband and a father. He knew one thing. He wasn’t going to let Alicia leave him without a damn good fight on her hands. She was his perfect woman and he wanted her in his life forever.
Whistling to himself, he walked out of the kitchen and followed behind his brother thinking of another way that he could win over another piece of Alicia’s heart.
Chapter Sixteen
Standing in front of the window in her small office, Alicia glanced down at the crowd of people walking below but she really didn’t see them. Her mind was on something else, the same thing that had been keeping her up most of the night...Brad.
After the way the two of them had made out on the couch, she was positive he would ask to spend the night in her bed, but he surprised her. Instead of picking her up and carrying her the short distance to the bedroom Brad gave her a long, slow kiss and then left leaving her in a state of arousal that she had never experienced before.
Brad’s attention to her last night made her feel so cherished and understood. She might had been upset when he first left, but Brad was trying to prove to her that he wanted to create a meaningful and intense connection with her that wasn’t spent getting sweaty between the sheets.
Now, the idea of spending the night in Brad’s bed wasn’t horrible at all. Truly, the more she gave it thought the more she dreamt about it happening every night she was home alone in her empty bed.
Alicia hadn’t been the same since Brad started showering her with his unwavering attention. Somehow, he had gotten into her psyche and she was having a very hard time pushing him out this time.
Leaving the window, Alicia walked over to her desk and touched the flowers sitting there. When she had arrived here this morning a dozen red roses had been waiting for her at the security desk with the guard. How Brad found someone to deliver flowers that early in the morning she would never know. Reaching for the card, she flipped it open and read the note again.
Last night was wonderful; I hope that we have many more in our future,
Love,
Brad
Alicia wasn’t about to ignore the little skip of her heart. She placed the card back and took a sniff of the roses again. Oh yeah! Brad was paying her the right amount of attention with the way he was trying to get to know her.
“I didn’t know that you got paid to stand around and smell the roses. Wait until I tell our brother. You will never hear the last of it,” a female voice teased behind her.
Spinning around, Alicia screamed before running over and giving her big sister a hug. “Chloe, what are you doing here? I thought you were going overseas to give a lecture,” Alicia said as she took a step back from her sister who could have been a stand-in for Venus Williams.
“The seminar got cancelled,” Chloe said. “So, instead of going back home I decided to come and see my favorite little sister.”
“I’m your only sister.”
“That is true,” Chloe agreed as she moved around her and headed over to the roses and read the card. “Is this the tennis instructor you used to tell me about? Are you finally giving this guy a chance?”
Going across the room, Alicia took the card from her sister and shoved it back into the flowers. “I don’t need any advice from you and the last time I checked there wasn’t a ring on your finger.”
Chloe laughed at her outburst like she constantly did when they were children. “I’m single by choice,” her sister defended crossing her arms over her chest. “You’re single out of fear. You need to let the past go and move on. What happened back when you were younger wasn’t your fault. How many times do I need to tell you that before you believe me?”
Alicia wasn’t going to do this with her sister. Chloe should leave the past dead and buried. “I’m done talking about this.”
“You shouldn’t let what happened with Brian and Nick keep you from falling in love with Brad. Alicia, they didn’t die because of you. How can you believe that they did?”
Enough already...she was done discussing this subject. She had just got through being on television for nine hours straight. She was ready to go home and take a couple of hours break before she was due back tonight for a late broadcast.
In addition to her sister’s unwanted advice, Tiffany was hounding her to get a rough tape about the Drace brothers special to her, but her boss didn’t understand that she had to work around their schedule.
“Chloe, I’m thrilled you’re in town. How about we have an early dinner and I can bug you about your lack of love life so you will leave mine alone.” Grabbing her purse off her desk, Alicia made her way towards the door and as she was about to open it the door was flung open and Brad walked through carrying a small box.
“Hey beautiful, are you ready to spend some time with me?” he asked and then stopped in his tracks when he spotted Chloe standing behind her. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know that you had someone in here with you.”
“No problems,” Chloe answered before she could. “I’m Alicia’s sister Chloe. I just popped into town on a surprise visit. We were going to have dinner together, but my sister can go out with you instead.”
Alicia wanted to spend time with Brad, but she didn’t want to miss dinner with her sister either since she wasn’t sure how long Chloe was going to be in town.
“Chloe, I’m sure Brad wouldn’t mind me going out wit
h him tomorrow night,” Alicia said, looking over at Brad who was still standing near the door.
“I apologize, I should introduce myself. I’m Brad Drace, Alicia’s boyfriend,” Brad said, shocking the hell out of her as he came further into the room and shook her sister’s hand. “How about I treat the two of you to dinner? I would love to hear more about Alicia when she was a little girl.”
When had she and Brad discussed that he was her boyfriend? What was going on here? She was thrown by his words, but she liked how it sounded, a lot.
Chloe’s gaze swung back and forth between her and Brad like she was debating on taking Brad up on his offer. God, Chloe would tell Brad all of her secrets. She didn’t want her sister to come, but she wasn’t about to tell her that she couldn’t.
“Thank you for your offer. It was very nice of you but I’m going to head back to the hotel. Have fun at dinner. Alicia and I can have breakfast tomorrow. I need to talk to my sister about something anyway.”
Coming over to her, Chloe hugged her and whispered in her ear. “Brad is gorgeous. Don’t fight him. Just have fun and let the chips fall where they may.” Chloe ended their hug, waved at Brad and then walked out the door closing it behind her leaving her alone with the good smelling hunk behind her.
“Chloe seems very nice. Are you sure you don’t want to have dinner with your sister?” Brad asked. “I don’t mind taking a rain check.”
If Chloe had wanted to have dinner with her there was nothing Brad could have done to stop it. “I think my sister would rather I go out to eat with my boyfriend.” The last part of the sentence was spoken as Alicia faced Brad who just stared at her.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, innocently.
“When did we officially become a couple I thought we were working towards that stage?”
Brad moved closer until he left her no room at all. She swallowed her and squared her shoulders. She wasn’t going to let Brad intimidate her.
“Sweetheart, you have been my girlfriend even when you thought you were in love with that idiot Max. Now, you have to get on the same page as me and realize it.”
“What if I don’t want to consider you as my boyfriend?” she taunted. “Maybe I’ll always consider you as a friend and nothing else.”
A faint light twinkled in the depths of his blue eyes as Brad watched her and then he smiled. All of her defenses melted away when he did that and brought her into his world.
“I’ll let you keep thinking we’re only friends for a while longer and then I’ll have to show you.”
“Show me...what?”
“That we are more than friends.” Brad said the words with the certainty of a man who had a plan and wasn’t about to wipe it from his mind. “We better get going or we’ll be late for our dinner reservations.”
“Do you want to tell me where we are going?” Alicia asked, deciding to drop the topic of Brad being her boyfriend for now. It wasn’t like the idea was such a bad one.
“No, it’s a surprise.” Brad lowered his voice, being purposefully mysterious.
‘Thank you for the roses,” Alicia said. “They’re beautiful.”
“You’re welcome, but I don’t think there is anything in the world more beautiful than you are. Let’s hit the road. I don’t want us to be late.” Grabbing her hand, Brad escorted her to the door making her wonder why he was being so secretive about their plans for tonight.
Chapter Seventeen
“I can’t believe you brought me here,” Alicia hissed glancing at the closed front door. “You know that I’m not welcomed at his house. How about we grab something and eat it at my place before I head back to work? I want to spend some extra alone time with you anyway.”
“No!” Brad snapped. “You are going to get over your fears of my family dinner starting tonight. There’s nothing to be afraid of and it’s about time you see that for yourself.”
Taking her by the hand, Brad opened the front door and dragged her in behind him. The instant Alicia hit the living room, the scent of a home cooked meal filled her senses while the sound of family laughter touched her ears.
“Come, let’s go and surprise everyone. They weren’t expecting me to bring a date.” Brad took her in the direction of the formal dining room before she could tell him no, so she just walked next to him.
Oh, Alicia bet that Brad’s family would be in for a hell of a surprise when they saw her walking into dinner with Brad. She was going to gain more shock than Sidney Poitier did in Guess Who’s Coming Dinner. She only prayed that things went better than she hoped.
“Sorry we’re late everyone, I had to stop so I could bring someone with me,” Brad said, interrupting the flow of conversation going on at the table.
Several pairs of eyes flew in their direction as all of Brad’s family members stopped talking to look at them. Alicia felt like an animal on display in the zoo. It was really weird. Alicia stood next to Brad as Lee glared at her from his seat at the head of the table. She didn’t have to guess what he was thinking, she already knew.
“Brad, you bought Alicia. It’s about time,” Traci said, grinning at them. “Take a seat you two and grab something to eat. As usual my sister fixed enough food to feed an army of guests and she knows that it’s usually just us having dinner.”
Alicia would rather have stayed in the doorway, but Brad gave her a small shove forcing her to walk and take a seat at the table.
“Hi, Traci and everyone else,” Alicia said. She wondered if everyone noticed her knees knocking together. She was so nervous, but she had to get over it. Brad loved spending time with his family and she wanted to enjoy this time with him. It would give her more of an insight into who he was and what made him the incredible man that he was.
“I didn’t think I would ever see you again after the way Lee treated you today,” Cherise said.
Cherise wasn’t too far off, Alicia thought.
She wasn’t in the mood to go round three with Lee again today. She crossed her fingers everything went smoothly for Brad’s sake. He thought so highly of all of his brothers and she wouldn’t want to do anything to change that.
“Like I said earlier, Lee has a right to his opinion, but that doesn’t mean that his aversion for me will keep me away from Brad. I like how I feel when I’m around Brad. He’s a wonderful man.”
“Nicely said,” Richard exclaimed. “You keep doing what you want. Lee just loves to hear himself talk. Ignore him and he’ll stop.”
Alicia couldn’t help but smile at Richard. Richard was right. Brad was a good guy, probably the last truly good guy she might meet in her life. She should have realized that before now, but she was going to do her best to make up for lost time and her stupidity.
“Thank you. I’ll remember that.”
“Okay, enough about warning Alicia about Lee,” Dawn chimed in. “We all know how controlling he can be, but we all love him anyway. Now, get some food on those empty plates before my husband goes for seconds. You know how much he loves Cherise’s cooking.”
Laughing, Alicia watched as Brad grabbed a bowl of mashed potatoes, placed some of his plate and passed it on to her. For the next couple of minutes they filled their plates with beef, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and bread.
“How are the interviews coming along?” Traci asked. “I’m excited about my turn coming up tomorrow. I have so much to tell about Zack.”
“Don’t you dare tell all of our secrets,” Zack joked, smiling at his wife.
She loved how all of the couples teased and flirted around with each other. She longed one day to be able to do that with Brad. She saw herself there, but just not quite yet.
“Alicia was going to interview me first, but I insulted her and she left,” Lee stated making everyone at the table look at him. “I apologize for being so harsh. I should’ve kept my opinions to myself. I hope you can schedule another time to interview me and Cherise.”
Shock was the only word that Alicia could use to describe how she felt about
Lee’s apology. She wasn’t expecting it. It was almost too good to be true.
“Apology accepted,” she said because she didn’t know what else to do. “How about I call you after I’m finished with Traci’s interview tomorrow? If you’re free I can come by your office?”
“I’ll be in meetings until at least one o’clock, but I’ll be free afterwards,” Lee told her.
She could tell that he was trying his best to be cordial and if she guessed right it seemed that Cherise had a long talk with her husband. Lee had taken a 180 degree turn about her and that could be the only reason why.
“Okay, I’ll be at your office at two o’clock,” Alicia said.
Alicia glanced down as Brad grabbed her hand on the table then looked back up at him. He winked at her and she couldn’t help but to smile back. Maybe this dinner wouldn’t turn out as bad as she thought it would. She was still a little nervous of Lee and wasn’t quite sure what to think about his apology, but if he was willing to give an olive branch than she would take it for Brad.
“I guess now is a good as time as any to tell everyone our secret,” Brad said loud enough for everyone to hear.
Secret...what secret was Brad talking about? She didn’t have a clue.
“What are you talking about?” Zack asked, staring at them.
“Are you pregnant?” Lee tossed out. “Is that why you brought Alicia to dinner, so you could break the news in front of everyone?”
“No, I’m not pregnant,” Alicia answered quickly. Shit! Lee would be the one who asked that question.
“Alicia and I are now officially a couple,” Brad said, smiling at her. “It took her long enough to let me in. I’m hoping things will only get better from here.”
Looking at Brad, Alicia knew that she would always remember this moment because this was when she first started falling in love with Brad Drace. He was willing to announce to his entire family that they were a couple when she wasn’t even sure about it herself. How could a woman not fall in love with a man like that?
More Than Friends: Brad Page 9
