Alluring Promises Box Set (Books 1-3)

by Josie Bordeaux

  Walking back toward the bar I kept having flashes of last night’s walk home. “Was I hanging all over Iz?” I asked.

  “Yeah, pretty much. You were talking about her tits a lot, too.” It was coming back to me after Flynn said that.

  “Ugh.” I put my hands over my face as I started to remember more. “I was talking to her tits all night, wasn’t I? Didn’t I yell at some guy about her tits too? Remind me to stop drinking around her.” Then I thought about it some more. “Why wasn’t she pissed at me just now?” She looked so happy bounding down the steps and smiling, even winking at me. I stopped and glared at Flynn. “Did I fuck her last night?” I honestly couldn’t remember.

  Flynn busted out laughing, “I don’t think so dude, but Clark said you guys were making out when he walked in. She told us not to tell you. But, it’s too funny watching you try to remember.”

  “I kissed her? Shit and I don’t even remember that. That sucks. What is wrong with me?” I stopped again and asked, “Wait. Did I kiss her before or after I puked?” I seriously hope it wasn’t after. That’s just wrong.

  “Before, man, before. Look, I wouldn’t worry about it. She doesn’t seem pissed about it and didn’t want us to say anything. Not sure if she’s embarrassed or what. Or she wasn’t sure if you wouldn’t remember, so just don’t tell her I told you.”

  “Yeah. Okay, I won’t mention it. Especially since I can’t remember and she doesn’t want me to. It must have really sucked.” I really felt horrible now. Poor girl has a psycho ex and her boss kisses her when he’s trashed. Nice Z, really nice.

  “You just gonna get drunk again tonight? You coming to the club or hanging out here?” I didn’t care either way. I got it that he didn’t want to be near the townhouse when Mel got back from her date. Just hope she was smart enough, not to come into the club if he was there.

  “Nah, I’ll come to the bar with you. I can at least walk home from there.” After I took a quick shower at my place, we both headed back to Allure.

  “Hey, you know you missed her cooking again. She cooked us all breakfast, including Bloody Mary’s. She’s amazing in the kitchen,” Flynn said as we got out of the truck and headed for the bar.

  “Crap. I missed another meal,” I said laughing. “I should probably stop drinking so I’d actually be sober enough to be there for once.”

  We strolled into Allure. Flynn kept walking toward the bar and I went to my office. I noticed my desk was clean and orderly. Funny, I didn’t think I would have cleaned up while I was drunk last night. I shrugged and went to go check on my staff and to see how the bar was doing tonight. You know, try to be responsible, considering this past week I had flaked out almost every night.

  Clark came running in, almost out of breath. “Sorry, man! Mel was in the bathroom forever. Pissed me off.”

  “No worries,” I said as I chuckled.

  The bar started getting busy and I was talking to several patrons, mostly sexy women that Clark was kind enough to make sure there were plenty of. One in particular kept putting her hand on my chest, smiling and flirting brazenly. She had a friend, so I thought I would bring them over to the bar near Flynn since he looked like he could use a pick me up.

  We were chatting, but I kept eyeing Izzy. She seemed to be in a really good mood. Her, Sandy and Mark were having a great time behind the bar bantering with customers, but I noticed she kept lingering at the other end of the bar. Her eyes were shining really bright and wow, her smile was just incredible. They were all dancing to the music behind the bar in between serving customers. Well, good. Glad my staff could enjoy their jobs so much.

  I decided to glance down to where Izzy seemed to be hovering and noticed two guys were really chatty with her. Nothing out of the norm, I guess. I noticed her and Sandy whispering to each other each time they went to the register and giggling like school girls. What the…?

  “Did you hear what I said?” asked the chick as she fondled the lapel of my jacket.

  “I’m sorry…what did you say?” I tore my gaze from Izzy back to the hot chick flirting with me.

  “I said this is my favorite bar. You really out did yourself with the décor.” She bit her lip, smiling and then ran her tongue along her lip.

  Usually that would turn me on, but I kept thinking about Izzy. “Oh, yeah, thanks.” I gave her a half smile then turned my focus back to Izzy behind the bar.

  Flynn elbowed me at that point and yelled above the music, “Z, Roxanne here just said that we should all hit the dance floor. You wanna go?”

  “What?” I asked glancing briefly back at him. I was trying to figure out what he was saying because I really wasn’t listening. I wanted to see what was going behind the bar with Izzy.

  “Dance, silly,” the chick said, pulling on my arm and leading me out onto the dance area. I reluctantly followed her and started dancing, but maneuvered myself to where I could see what was going on at the bar.

  I watched Izzy leaning over the counter looking “dreamy” at one of the guys. Why did this bother me so much? She was patting the guy’s hand and then flipping her hair. She made sure to continue tending bar though. She made drinks in between talking to the guys. She was flirting. Like actually flirting. Who was this guy? I mean, I’ve watched her talk to customers, but this one, she was making sure he was very well attended to and beaming at him. She kept licking her lips and a couple times bit her full, luscious bottom lip. Fuck. Who was this fucking guy? This wasn’t her ex, was it? We agreed she’d come tell me.

  Flynn leaned in and yelled into my ear so that the girls couldn’t hear. “What’s up with you, man?”

  “I think Izzy is flirting with those two guys,” I yelled at him above the music.

  He smirked, nodding his head and chided, “Welcome to my fucking world, buddy, Welcome to my world!”

  I looked back at him and gave him a look. “Nah, man, it’s not the same with Izzy and me.” Is it? Shit, was he right? Was I really that into her and didn’t realize it. Man, I can be such a dumbass.

  I watched one of the guys take out his phone from his pocket and leaned forward listening to what she was saying, grinning eagerly. Was she giving out her number? Why? What the fuck was she giving him her number for?

  At that point I stopped dancing, put my hand over my face and started rubbing my chin, annoyed as hell at Izzy for flirting–and more annoyed at myself for caring about it.

  Flynn noticed my expression and yelled in my ear over the music, “Ya gotta let it go, man. This is what was happening to me last night with Mel. And now the fucker is on a date with her.”

  Fuck that, I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’m always pissed at him for not manning up. I won’t let that be me.

  I stalked over to the bar–long strides. I attempted to contain my anger, but it was getting tough. I stood beside the guy and Izzy looked up, still smiling brightly. Fuck, why does she have to be so gorgeous? And happy? She was so happy and I’m about to screw that up. I swallowed hard and tried to calm down. The douche noticed Izzy’s gaze and turned toward me.

  Izzy excitedly spoke up to introduce me, “Z, this is Mark and his buddy Dex. I met him on my run this morning. He’s training for IronMan.” Great. A fucking athlete. I’m sure he’s great compared to the drunk she attended to last night who puked after making a pass at her.

  He held out his hand to shake mine. I glanced at Izzy smiling so brightly; I knew if I didn’t shake his hand that smile would fade. I couldn’t have that. I shook his hand making sure to try to break it. It’s a guy thing. He didn’t miss it because he was trying to squeeze harder. Izzy broke in the weird testosterone display we were having and sweetly trilled, “Z is the owner of this bar, Mark.” Just then she was called away to take an order.

  We finally ended our handshake just as Flynn came over with the two girls. Why the hell did he bring them over? I didn’t feel like talking to them; much less give Izzy the idea I wanted to. I was glaring at Flynn, who just smirked at me while shaking his head.<
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  I tried to be polite and introduce them, but didn’t know the girls’ names. Flynn positioned himself to try to move the girls closer to Mark and Dex. I still didn’t get why he brought them over.

  One of the girls turned to Mark and asked, “Wanna dance?” He tried to protest, but she grabbed his arm, pulling him out to the dance floor. He glared at me and I had a smirk on my face when it finally dawned on me what my best friend just did for me. Sweet move, Flynn. I fucking owe him big time. Shortly after that, Dex was being pulled out there by the other girl.

  I smirked at Flynn. “Nice move buddy. Thanks.”

  “No problem, amigo. Anytime.” Flynn grinned as we both turned back to the bar just in time to see Izzy’s face as she watched Mark walk out to the dance floor with a smoking hot brunette. Her smile left her eyes and her mouth pressed together. It looked like tears were forming in her eyes. Great. I really am a huge dick now. Fuck.

  She stood in front of us and glared at me. “What’d you do? Did you do that on purpose?”

  “No,” Flynn protested. “No, the girls just pulled them out there. Z had nothing to do with that.” She looked at him as if she didn’t believe him but was trying to reason it out in her head. She turned around and poured us some beers then tended to the other customers.

  I turned my back to watch them dance and under my breath said to Flynn, “Damn, I feel like shit. Did you see how disappointed she was?”

  “No more than you were when you saw her flirting and giving out her number,” Flynn replied.

  “Now what? They’re going to come back soon.”

  He took a deep breath and said, “Well, it’s almost closing time. You can send her to the back and have her take inventory or something stupid.”

  Wow. Now I’m really going to be a dick. I took a long drink of my beer, looked at gorgeous Izzy and decided being a dick was definitely the way to go. I took a look around. The bar was packed. There was no way she’d believe that I really needed her to do that, but it was worth a shot. I leaned over the bar. “Izzy, I need to see you in my office for a sec.”

  She looked around at how busy it was and asked, “Now? Can’t that wait? We’re slammed!”

  Bartender Mark looked at me and smirked. “I’ve got it covered Iz, go on back.” Yeah. He got it. He’s also totally getting a raise too. She huffed and threw her towel on the back counter and started walking. She glanced over at the dance floor. Disappointment was written all over her expression. I’m such a dick.

  We both got to the office and she stood there seething at me. I closed the door.

  “What was that?” I was surprised she wasn’t yelling, but thought maybe she didn’t want anyone to hear. She seemed like she was trying to contain her anger.

  “What? What do you mean?” I tried to sound nonchalant and think of a good enough reason why I actually called her in here. Nothing came to mind.

  “You and Flynn were totally cock-blocking Mark,” she wailed. I burst out laughing. It just sounded funny coming from a woman. I couldn’t stop laughing, but seeing how angry she was, immediately I tried to rein in my laughter.

  “Come on. You know you didn’t want to go out with him. He’s probably training or something. He shouldn’t be out late anyway. I’m doing him a favor.” That’s it Z, stand your ground. You were looking out for the guy she liked. Who am I kidding? I didn’t say any of that with a straight face so she knew it wasn’t not even remotely true.

  “Why did you do that?” As angry as she was, I had no idea how she was able to contain her voice and keep from yelling. God, she looks sexy when she’s angry. She had this spark in her eyes and her chest rose up and down. Wow. Instant chub. I got even harder the moment my eyes zoned in on her hard nipples poking through her shirt. Was that because she was pissed at me or because she was thinking about Mark?

  “We kissed last night,” I blurted out as I tore my eyes from the sight of her chest.

  She studied me cautiously. “You remember kissing me last night?”

  “Well no, Flynn told me but…” As soon as the words came out; I knew it was the wrong thing to say. Dumbass.

  “So, you heard that we kissed and now you think you can chase away any guy that likes me? You don’t even remember kissing me last night!” She was beyond pissed now but still doing an amazing job trying to contain her anger. Wow. That’s so hot.

  At that point, my dick took over any reasonable thought. Within two steps I was inches from her and I ran with what I knew I wanted deep down. My hand slid around the base of her neck and the moment her eyes widened and I watched her glance at my lips, I was done for. My lips pressed against hers, melting into mine as if we’d always done this. She willingly opened her mouth with a small moan escaping her lips. Our tongues clashed against the other and she wrapped her arms around my back, pulling me even closer. As our kiss became more fervent, we both moaned into each other. I swear if I died right now, I’d die as the most satisfied man on earth just from her kiss.

  I pushed myself against her, letting her feel how hard I was for her. Immediately I had a flash memory from last night come to mind. I remembered a sweet, sensual, passionate kiss. Fuck, it was so erotic. This was just as hot, if not more.

  My hands thrust through her hair, pulling her toward me; I needed to devour her. The moment she lifted her leg and wrapped it around me, I lost it. My hand ran along her smooth, firm leg. My fingers dug into her back of her thigh and then moved up to roughly cup her incredible ass, my fingers inches from where I really wanted to explore. She moaned again into my mouth, pushing her body harder against me. She started grinding against my hard cock as I started to slide my fingers under the lace edging of her panties.

  The door burst open and Sandy’s voice now replaced all the moans that had echoed off the walls just a few seconds ago. “Flynn’s in a fight and we can’t break it up!” Her eyes widened as she watched us disentangle ourselves while still panting heavy. It took me a minute to register what she said. “Fuck,” I muttered as I ran out to the bar, making sure to adjust my hard-on.

  A huge crowd was gathered. Mark and Flynn were throwing blows at each other while bartender Mark and Clark were trying their best to break them apart.

  I stepped in and pushed douche Mark away toward Clark. Clark caught him and pulled him out the door. His buddy, Dex, was grabbing at Clark yelling, “That’s fucking bullshit and you know it, asshole!”

  Flynn laughed while holding his jaw. I wanted to laugh too, but knew customers were watching.

  “Nothing to see people. Move on,” I yelled. The music was still going so a couple of people started dancing again.

  I grabbed Flynn by the shoulders and asked, “What the fuck happened?”

  “He called me out on cock-blocking him. I said ‘yeah and?’ He pushed me and fuck if I was going to let the asshole push me, so I punched him in the face and it went from there. I gotta give it to him though, he’s got a great right hook!” He must be drunk because he was still laughing.

  Izzy came running out. “What happened? Are you okay Flynn?” She obviously had no idea who Flynn was in a fight with. Her hair was still mussed from me thrusting my hands through it. She was running her hands over it trying to fix it, which just added to how sexy she was.

  Flynn glanced at me and wiped some blood from his mouth. “Yeah Izzy, I’m doing fine.” Smirking, he walked back to the bar.

  Izzy inspected me curiously, “Who’d he get into a fight with?” I put my arm around her shoulder and started walking her back to the bar.

  “Doesn’t matter. It’s almost closing time. Let’s start wrapping things up.”

  After a cutting glare, she headed back to the bar. I couldn’t stop watching her while trying to sort out what just happened.

  By then Clark walked back in talking loud about how great a fight it was. I slung my arm around his shoulder and leaned in to him. “Shut the hell up about the fight, okay? Izzy doesn’t know it was with the dude she was trying to get with.”

>   He had a disgusted look on his face as he asked, “She was trying to hook up with that dude after she was with you last night?”

  “It’s not what you think. Just...just shut up for now, okay. I’ll explain it all later. Start closing up the bar.” Two women came up to Clark saying something about how hot it was that he had to break up a fight. How the hell does he get them so fast?

  After the last customer left the bar, I glanced over to Izzy. Her glare said enough. Shit. She found out that Flynn fought Mark since I didn’t tell Sandy or Mark not to say anything. Well, that was dumb of me. But then again, I’m sure the rest of the wait staff would have told her. I wasn’t sure what to say to her just yet and when I glanced back up again she was on the phone. Must be that douche Mark. She looked like she was apologizing and then she was smiling after hung up. Well, that’s not good.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Izzy

  THE FEELING I had for Z was something I couldn’t quite explain to myself yet. The heart pumping, fiery attraction we felt toward each other, the chemistry we shared was…intense. It was a feeling I’ve never shared with a man ever before. Not even with him, which seems strange considering I always felt he had swept me off my feet, well, at least in the beginning.

  I touched my fingers to my mouth and ran them over my swollen, almost bruised lips caused by our passionate kissing just moments ago in his office. His touch seared my skin like fire when his fingers grabbed my thigh and then reached to cup my ass. My heart picked up from just replaying everything in my mind. I gently bit my swollen lip, trying to calm my hunger for more of his touch.

  Shouldn’t I be angry with Z for what he had done? Had he pulled me into his office only out of jealousy because I had flirted with Mark? Was he in some sort of contest with Mark?

  Mark. Shit. How do I feel about Mark? It was nothing at all compared to what I felt for Z, but I did have a nice flirtation that was entirely on the opposite side of the spectrum. Sweet. Innocent. Almost a teenage romance type of flirtation.