I bit my lip. “And you’re talented.”
He stepped forward, cupped my chin, and without hesitation, kissed me. It was filled with passion, and if I hadn’t heard the bell to the front door ring, I would have done to him what he had done to me moments ago.
We pulled apart, our look of surprise mirrored.
“Marika! The film crew is here,” I heard Susannah’s voice call from the front.
Chapter 10
JAMES
“Where should I hide?” I asked, looking around the back of Hard Grind.
Marika turned her head and yelled back to Susannah, “Coming!” She then faced me again. “Just go out the back door. It gets stuck sometimes; just jiggle the door handle.”
I let out a shaky laugh and nodded. “Great. The last thing I wanted was to cause any problems.”
“I don’t know about that. You seemed happy giving me one special problem a few minutes ago.” Marika gave a sly grin.
My cock still hadn’t softened from watching her come undone in my arms. That memory was seared in my head. I knew when I got home, I would replay it repeatedly as I worked my cock.
Ready to kiss her one more time, I leaned forward but paused when I heard Susannah call for Marika. “I better go,” I whispered against her lips. I tucked a few strands of her soft locks behind her ear. I liked her ponytail I wanted to tug at it and expose her neck, where I could lick and nibble until she was begging for more.
She waved, backing away. “Thanks again for the flowers.”
Just before she made it to the doorway, she knocked into the wall. Giggling, she righted herself and slipped away.
My chest lifted and fell as I let out a contented breath. I may have screwed up how I came into her life, but I felt like the luckiest man in the world to have her now.
Let her go on one dinner date with Steele. I’d explain to him that I liked her. He wasn’t the type of guy to go after someone his friend liked. Besides, she needed the money, and if she wouldn’t take it from me, then let her take it from my brother.
Which reminded me . . . I wanted to tell Rock about the dollar amount of the prizes.
After taking a moment to look around the back, I found the door that led to the alley. I reached out and pressed at the handle. It was one of those long bars that needed to be pushed to release the lock.
Nothing happened. The bar felt stuck. Marika mentioned that might happen. She told me to jiggle it, so I did. Again, I pressed the handle and nothing.
Using all my strength, I jiggled, pressed, jiggled, pressed, and repeated several more times. I was panting and became more frustrated by the minute.
I heard something. Twisting my head, I noticed voices from the front of the shop. Marika and a few people I didn’t recognize. One of them mentioned the back.
Oh no. They were coming back here.
Placing my hands on my hips, I assessed the exit door. There had to be a trick to getting this door opened. And wasn’t this a fire hazard? I made a mental note to mention this to Marika later.
Instead of jiggling this time, I tugged and pressed on the handle as hard as I could before pushing on it.
Oh God, why wouldn’t this door open?
The voices were getting louder; they would come back here at any moment. I frantically glanced around to find a hiding spot. Of course, there was none. The place was too small. The biggest thing I could duck behind was a black plastic waste bin, and I’d have to lose about hundred pounds and shrink a foot to make that doable.
Out of total desperation and with very little sense, I took a step back and ran at the door. I jumped and threw myself at it. My body slammed against the thing, and it swung open. I tumbled out of Hard Grind and onto the black pavement. Loose pebbles and old trash covered the alley. Having rained that morning, it was also damp with puddles, causing everything to stick to my body.
When I stood, the water that trickled down the side of my face and arm was black and red. I was bleeding.
I looked back and made sure the door was closed. Wouldn’t want anyone to witness my actual downfall from desperately escaping a coffee shop.
I limped toward the street and ignored the stares people on the sidewalk sent my way. I smiled despite the shooting pain from my arm. I had witnessed the most gorgeous woman in the world explode with satisfaction in front of me. That’s all I cared about.
All my thoughts were on Marika as I found my red Tesla Model X, my body numb to the pain as I made my way back to The Blue Spot.
I stumbled past Mia’s desk as she had the phone to her ear. “Yes, in three weeks. To renegotiate the Fire Lake Coffee contract. Uh, I will have to call you back. Someone is bleeding.”
Even when I walked into Rock’s office with his assistant Mia running in behind asking if I needed help, the smile had never left my face.
Rock stood from behind his huge old-fashioned desk. “James, what happened to you?”
“A woman. That’s what happened to me,” I said as I went over to his black leather couch and sat.
That’s when all the endorphins wore off. Once my ass hit the leather, I shot back up with a yelp.
“Ouch.”
“I’ll get the doctor,” Mia said and moved toward the door.
“Yes, and hurry. Whatever this woman did was vicious,” Rock said solemnly.
I shook my head and tried to hum the pain away. “I fell. She did nothing to me. I just fell.”
“Into a shredder?”
I narrowed my eyes at my brother. “Hilarious. No, in the alley behind her coffee shop. I was trying to open the back door, which was stuck and . . . you know what? It doesn’t matter. All you have to know, Big Brother, is that I’m in love.”
I wasn’t sure until I felt her, kissed her. Yup, this was pure love. I’d do anything for Marika, even skid across the alley pavement with my face.
He rubbed the back of his neck and groaned. “Not this again.”
I jerked my head in Rock’s direction even though it really, really hurt to do so. “What do you mean, not again?”
“Remember last year? What was her name? Iodine?”
“Idola. Her name is Idola. She’s Greek.”
“Yes. How could I forget the daughter of a Greek shipping magnate? You went on and on about how you loved her. How she was everything to you. And what happened to her?” My brother turned to me and pointed.
“Her father was bankrupt and had gone to jail for embezzling and selling arms to terrorists.”
“She was using you because she was accustomed to a certain lifestyle. She knew you had money and told you whatever you wanted to hear until someone with more money came along. One of the Cornhole clan came along and flashed their billions in her face, sweeping her away.”
“This is different.”
Idola was pretty and not like any other woman I had ever met. I had always dated women who grew up like me. She was born rich. She knew how to navigate that world. It was fun; she was exciting, and I never expected someone from her background to use me for money.
“Is it? Who’s this woman?”
I couldn’t tell Rock about Marika. He’d disqualify her from the competition.
“It doesn’t matter. That’s not why I’m here.”
He held up his hands and walked back over to his desk chair and sat.
“Fine. Don’t tell me who she is, but if you find out she used you for money or fame, don’t—” My brother sighed and shook his head. “You know what? I will not do that anymore. I shouldn’t judge you like that. We’re family. I want you to confide in me like you do Monty.”
My mouth fell open. “Who are you, and what have you done with my brother? Oh, wait . . ..” I looked around. “Did Monty build a robot version of you? Is this Rock the robot?”
“No. It’s me. I’m just trying to be more open-minded, okay?”
I knew what had Rock changing his ways. “Laura. That’s why you’re being so nice. Not only is that woman beautiful and talented with food, but she�
��s also able to perform miracles.”
His jaw clenched. “Stop it.” The frown he had slowly morphed into a grin. “So what if I’m trying to be a better person for her?”
I nodded slowly. “I understand.”
And I did. I made fun of my brother these past few months while he was with Laura, but now I got it. When you found the woman of your dreams, you’d twist yourself into a pretzel just to see her laugh.
“So, what was so important that you came here instead of the hospital?” He looked at my bleeding skin pointedly.
I limped over, removing the flier I had snagged from Coleman’s office from my pocket, and placed it on Rock’s desk. He picked it up and read.
“This is the contest flier. Is there a problem?”
I pointed to the small print at the bottom. “Look at the prizes.”
He read them and shrugged. “And?”
“You approved all that? Not just the top prize, but the other prizes as well?”
“Yes, I did. Is that why you came here? To get Coleman in trouble?”
Yes.
“No. Okay, if he got a little in trouble from this I would grin, but only on the inside. I’m here because I know you. We may have money, but you’re the Ebenezer Scrooge of the bunch.”
“I’m not cheap. How do you think people get rich? By spending all the money they have? No. They do it by spending only when they know they’ll make it back. Just because you like to throw your money at expensive toys doesn’t mean I will do that.”
I tried to fold my arms, but it hurt, so I leaned my hand on his desk. “Exactly. Yet you're throwing all this money on a silly contest.”
Rock leaned back in his chair, smiling up at me. “That silly contest aired the first episode of Win a Date with a Billionaire on our VidTube channel yesterday. Not only did it get us thousands of subscribers, but we’ve had someone book a bachelorette weekend here just from seeing the show. That was six rooms. That money I threw at the contest, in one day, netted The Blue Spot a big profit.”
“Oh, well . . . that’s great.”
He shrugged. “Besides, it wasn’t all our money. The C.H. Corporation wanted in on the contest, so they donated to the prizes.”
“Isn’t that the same company that owned the construction company where Dad worked?”
I couldn’t believe my brother would involve them in anything. My father lost his life because that company tried to cheap out and not follow the law. Then they tried to blame our dad. Thankfully, they had installed video cameras on the site, trying to catch people stealing their materials. But they caught their gross negligence instead.
My brother glared up at me. “Yes.”
I was about to rip him apart. Screw the pain in my arm, I’d hobble over and let my brother have it. But before I could move, he said, “Sometimes, in business, you have to rely on help from your friends and let your enemies think they’re helping you too.”
Before I could ask more, the door opened, and in walked Mia and the doctor. I did not understand what my brother was up to, but I had a feeling he would never tell me.
Chapter 11
MARIKA
“You don’t think this is legal?” I asked as I walked through the thorn bushes and tall weeds.
“Not technically, no. But where else would we go?” James glanced back to make sure I was following. The corners of his mouth twitched.
It was hard to say no to James.
He was the most confident man I knew. Even here, in the middle of the mountains, he acted as if he knew which direction to head.
Tiny scrapes dotted his legs, yet I felt safe with him. Based on my luck with guys on dates, I worried more for him than me.
“It’s just that the sign back there said ‘keep out, private property,’ and with the contest, I don’t want to do anything that might get us into trouble.”
He stopped and came over to me, wincing as a pricker dug into his knee.
“You shouldn’t have worn shorts,” I mentioned the obvious.
“Yup. I didn’t realize the mountains would be so filled with plant life that drew blood.” He slapped his neck. “Or so many mosquitoes.”
“Welcome to the great outdoors!” I waved my hands around at the wild part of the mountains he drove us to. I didn’t know where we were since I always hiked near Castle Ridge. We drove about a half an hour south of my hometown and weren’t on any path.
“Why didn’t we go on the Black Rock Falls trail? That’s the one I’m used to. There are lots of spots to have a picnic.”
Which was the point of our outing today. James surprised me at work and said he was taking me on a picnic. Susannah volunteered to close up, but I was still hesitant to go. She swore if I didn’t go, she’d tell muscled-up Jack that I needed a mani-pedi immediately and only his ‘roided fingers would do.
But I was nervous. Not because the last time I saw him was three days ago when he made me come in the back room of Hard Grind or that we weren’t near any trail. It was my history with dating men that made me second-guess coming here today.
Looking at his knee, I felt the dating fail had already begun. I was sure this day would end with a tale of how James was attacked by some wild thing.
“This is new and exciting for both of us. Adventure!” He spun around and got another pricker in his calf. “Damn it.” He bent down to pick it out.
He limped farther into the brush. Was his confidence all an act? Surely he at least glanced at a map, right?
“Where exactly are we heading?”
I swallowed when he stopped, gazed around for longer than I had hoped, then pointed and said, “There. I think.”
My shoulders sank, but I carried on. He was bearing the load of the backpack, so if we were lost, I knew it would be harder on him.
If anything happened to James, I’d have to drag him back to his car, and he was a big guy. Not only that, but then I’d have to figure out how to drive that thing. He told me it was a Tesla, which I had never seen before. It was all computerized, or at least, it looked like it.
As someone who didn’t even own a smart phone and only ever used my dad’s laptop to look up a recipe, I had no idea how to operate James’s car.
“This is making me nervous, James. Perhaps we should just head back and—” The words died in my mouth as he came to a stop near a cliff.
It looked out over the mountain range. I could see for miles.
The way the light hit the mountains farther away, everything was blue. It was like something from a professional photograph.
“That’s amazing. I can’t believe you discovered this spot. I admit, I was a little uncertain you knew where you were going.”
James slid his arm around my side. I was hot and sweaty from the hike, but his touch was warm and reassuring. Perhaps that confidence wasn’t fake after all.
“I didn’t.”
Or maybe it was fake.
“Did you even look at a map?”
He shook his head. I slipped out of his embrace and glared up at him. “You’re telling me we could have been lost or attacked by wild animals or any number of things that happen when people go traipsing around the mountains?”
“That wouldn’t have happened.”
My eyes widened, and I shook my head, trying to make sense of all this. “You could have gotten yourself hurt or me. This place isn’t your playground. You can’t just do whatever you like because it looks fun.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was my mother all over again.
“You sound like Rock,” he said with a snort.
“I may not know the guy much, but I’ll take that as a compliment. He runs a resort. A very expensive, beautiful resort. Seems to me the guy knows what he’s doing.”
I turned, my eyes lingering on the landscape but not really seeing it. My mind was more focused on the mistake that was this outing. Why did I listen to Susannah? Just because a guy was talented with his hands didn’t make him dating material.
Maybe
I wasn’t the problem with my dates. Maybe I attracted people who refused to take life seriously and ended up screwing up something as simple as a date.
All these years I had been blaming myself, and now I was realizing it was them. Why else would Doug end up in the hospital on our third date? I didn’t ask him to dip his penis in peanut butter. I didn’t know he had a peanut allergy. And then there was the look of surprise on his face when I told him peanuts were the key ingredient in peanut butter.
“What man with a peanut allergy keeps peanut butter in his apartment?” I mumbled under my breath.
“What? I didn’t bring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Did you say you have a peanut allergy?”
I turned and pointed my finger into his chest. “No, I said this was a mistake.” And then I left.
That was a beautiful spot for a picnic, but I wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it.
I had been an idiot to think James was worth taking a risk on. Distracted by his good looks and his humor and his positivity. The same things my mother dazzled me with every time she forgot to pick me up from school or promised to help me with a project, only to lose track of time with her friends and forget about her promise.
I wasn’t the only one my mother hurt. My dad chose to only remember the good about her, but I remembered the hurt on his face when he would dress up on their anniversary, only to be stood up by his wife because she saw something downtown that captured her eye on the way home from work. It didn’t matter what it was—a free concert, an art show, or a new store opening. If it was new and exciting, my mom was drawn to it like Winnie the Pooh to honey.
My mother broke my heart too many times to count until it took her life five years ago. I would not make the same mistake as my father.
“Where are you going? Marika,” James called out, and I heard the breathlessness in his voice. He was running after me.
So I stopped.
“This was my fault, James. I led you to believe that I wanted magic,” I waved toward the view, “when all I wanted was a man who knew what he wanted and worked hard to get it. I don’t want beautiful things. I want security.”
Dating Disaster with a Billionaire (Blue Ridge Mountain Billionaires, #1) Page 7
