“When did you get back?” Parker asked, ignoring his friend’s question for the moment.
“This morning.” Solomon strolled into the room, and headed straight for the mini fridge in the corner. After extracting a beer, he sat in the black leather chair across from Parker’s own and kicked his feet up on the polished marble desk. Even though Solomon had an office of his own just a few doors down, he spent most of his time in Parker’s. It was easier for him to annoy Parker that way. “But you digress. This meeting isn’t about me in all my splendor, but about you, and the shitty little look on your face. Did DelRay screw you over?”
Knowing Solomon as he did, Parker was well aware the persistent man wouldn’t leave until he dragged every last detail from him. Solomon was annoying like that.
“No.” Solomon’s grin dimmed a bit. It served him right. “The opening went off without a hitch. The club was packed all weekend long. I’m sure I’ll see a nice return for my investment.”
“Wonderful.”
“Yeah.” Parker smirked. “I can see you’re overjoyed for me.”
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“I think the guy is a loser.”
“Yes, I know, but you don’t have to worry. I still like you best,” Parker mocked.
Solomon snorted. “As if I care. I’m just looking out for my boy and his bank account.”
“I know, and trust me, I appreciate it.” And he did. Theirs was an equal partnership.
Where Parker brought in the Hollywood connections and the movie know-how, Solomon was the brains behind their ventures. He made sure the I’s were dotted, the T’s were crossed and everyone was paid on time. “But everything went smoothly.”
“Then what’s with the frown?”
“I have some stuff on my mind.”
“Like?”
“Like stuff,” Parker repeated. They were men, for Christ’s sake, they didn’t talk about their feelings. “Let it go.”
Saying that to Solomon was akin to waving a scab in front of the fingers of a seven year old. It just encouraged the man to pick. “Then this has to be about a woman.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If it was about anything else you would have already spilled the beans. For some annoying reason you have an outdated moral code when it comes to chicks.”
“Horrible isn’t it?” Parker dryly said.
“Yes, it is.” Solomon agreed, missing the sarcasm all together. “Come on, I tell you about the girls I screw.”
“Much to my delight.”
“Exactly. Besides this—” Parker’s ringing cell phone halted Solomon’s inquisition.
Parker answered it without glancing at the number, happy for the interruption. “Speak.”
There was a brief pause followed by a rapid, “Arf, Arf.”
“Hello?”
“Ahh, much better.” Cyn’s amused voice filled the line. “I was afraid you were going to have me roll over and play dead next.”
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Parker went from annoyed to extremely pleased in the space of a heartbeat. “Can you hold on for a sec?”
“If this is a bad time, I can call you back.”
“This isn’t a bad time at all.” As if he was going to give her a chance to run again.
Parker placed his hand over the mouthpiece and lowered the phone. Addressing Solomon, Parker gestured with his head to the door. “Get out.”
Solomon grinned evilly and scooted further down in the chair, as if making himself more comfortable. “Don’t mind me, I’ll wait.”
“You have one choice. You either walk out or I’ll throw you out. Head first.” Even though Solomon was a few inches taller and more muscular, Parker would have followed through on his threat.
Instead of infuriating Solomon, Parker’s words seemed to have amused him. “It’s like that, is it?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll go, but only because you asked so nicely.” Solomon stood and set his beer on the desk. “But I’ll be back for the goods.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” Parker didn’t care why he went, as long as he did. “Shut the door behind you.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Solomon teased, closing the door as Parker requested.
Annoying prick. Parker sat down and took his hand away from the phone. “Playing hard to get, were you?"
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Why did you wait so long to call?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I should call or not.”
“Why?”
“I wasn’t sure exactly how I was supposed to go about addressing royalty.”
“Ahhh.” Parker smiled. So much for anonymity. “I see you found out.”
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Cyn didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but when she did, her voice was far less friendly. “You should have told me who you were.”
Parker’s smile slid away. He hadn’t expected Cyn to be excited he was a semi-celebrity, but he didn’t expect her to be upset either. “I did.”
“I think I would have remembered if you did.”
“I told you my name, Cyn.”
“Come on,” she said impatiently. “You knew I had no idea who you were.”
“I did,” he admitted, unashamed. “And let me tell you how refreshing it was. How refreshing it is. Besides, Cyn, you said it yourself. It isn’t what I do that matters. It’s who I am. Or at least I thought it didn’t matter to you.”
“It shouldn’t.”
“But it does.”
“A little,” she said softly.
That was not what he wanted to hear. “Why?”
“For many reasons.”
“Give me one.” Parker wasn’t going to walk away without a damn good fight.
“We don’t have anything in common.”
“We did the other night,” he reminded her.
“That was before I knew who you were.”
Sighing, Parker stood and walked over to the window. This is why he didn’t press the issue of his identity the other night. He knew, to the core of him, if he told her who he was and what he did, she would have bailed. “I’m the same person.”
“No, you’re the Prince.”
“It’s a stupid trumped up name.” One he’d never hated as much as he did right now.
“All of that stuff, Cyn, it’s all fake. The glitz. The glamour. The people. You never know there who really likes you for you.”
“Poor little rich boy syndrome.”
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“Something like that.” Parker turned his back to the Hollywood sign and leaned against the window. It was a telling gesture, in more ways than one. “Come on, one date.
You and me. Just like before. No titles, no interruptions, no bullshit.”
“That’s a lot of nos.”
“I was hoping if we get all the nos out of the way now, there wouldn’t be any tomorrow night.”
“Are you that used to getting your way?” The laughter was back in her voice, just the way he preferred it.
“Yes.”
“I can tell.”
“One date.” Parker didn’t know when to quit. “Tomorrow night.”
“I have to work.”
“Then Saturday night,” he persisted.
“I shouldn’t say yes.”
He had her. “But you’re going to.”
“Aren’t you worried I might be going out with you now because I know who you are?”
“No.” The very idea made him want to laugh.
“Why?”
“Because you wanted me the first night. Not the Prince, but me.”
“Just a tad bit cocky.”
“Do me a favor, Cyn. Never put tad bit and cock in the same sentence again. I have a reputation to live
up to.”
“Or down.”
Parker walked back to his desk and sat back in his chair. He fumbled around his desk until he found an ink pen and his address book. “Give me your address. I’ll pick you up.”
“No, I’ll meet you somewhere.”
“Meet me?”
“Yes. I don’t know you well enough to give you my address.”
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Parker dropped his pen and leaned back in his chair. At first he was impressed with how cautious she was. Now that it was working against him, he was annoyed. “That excuse is going to get old fast.”
“But it’s not old now, so it’s good enough for me.”
“We’ll play it your way. For now.”
“I’m willing to accept those terms.”
“Where do you want to meet?” If Cyn still felt as if she needed a safety net, he was happy to provide it. But whether she admitted it to herself or not, Cyn had nothing to be afraid of when it came to him. Yes, Parker meant to have her, but at the same time, he wasn’t planning on letting her go.
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Chapter Four
“You have to open the store for me today.”
“I don’t have to do anything but stay black and die.” Cyn continued loading the dishwasher, not bothering to looking up. Drew Truman, the eldest sister of the gruesome twosome, wasn’t worthy of the respect or the time and energy it would have taken to glance up.
“Fine.” Drew’s long suffering sigh was as dramatic as the want to be thespian could utter. It was a noise Cyn was unfortunately well acquainted with since Drew and her equally annoying sister, Staci, moved into her townhouse. “You don’t have to, but I need you to open the store for me today.”
“Sorry, I can’t. I have other plans.”
“Liar.”
“You’re right. I am lying.” Cyn closed the dishwasher’s door and straightened. “I’m not sorry at all. In fact, this is this least sorry I felt all day.”
Of course that wasn’t saying a lot. The Elder Saturday family breakfast, a tradition begun long before Cyn had even began to eat solids, had lost its thrill for her. Thanks in large part to her father Walt’s live-in girlfriend, Franny, and her twin daughters.
“What is that suppose to mean?”
“You’re a smart girl,” she lied. “You figure out.”
“I can’t believe you’re acting like this. What’s so important you can’t open the store?”
“I could ask you the same thing, but you know what, I’m not. Because I don’t care.
You don’t want to work today. Fine. Take it up with my dad, but don’t expect me to cover for you this time.” Or ever again.
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Cyn was done working shifts she hadn’t been scheduled to work. She was tired of putting up with the three ungrateful women who made her life miserable for the sheer fun of it. For the last two years she’d bitten her tongue and held back, just because she wanted to please her father, but she could no longer do that.
She didn’t have a life. Last Saturday was an eye opening experience. This thing with Parker might very well go nowhere, but it wouldn’t be because she didn’t try. She’d been ten types of fools to let him slip away. It wasn’t everyday a girl went out with a Prince and even if tonight was the only time she saw him again, she was going to enjoy herself.
She deserved it.
“You’re just being selfish.” Drew’s face turned up in anger as she spoke. The sad thing was, she and Staci both would have been very pretty girls if it weren’t for their very ugly attitudes. They both had shoulder-length ebony hair, coffee-tinged skin, and slender yet feminine bodies, but their bitchy personalities made all those features pale in comparison. It really was a waste. “Mean spirited even.”
“You would know.” Cyn turned around and began to wipe down the counters. As soon as she was done cleaning her father’s kitchen she was leaving. The longer she stood around arguing, the longer it would take for her to finish.
“I’m going to tell your father.”
“Okay.” Cyn loved her father, truly she did, but she wasn’t going to work on her day off just to prove it.
“Fine.” Drew huffed out of the room, leaving Cyn alone in the peaceful silence. With Drew and her sister for roommates, it wasn’t a state she had the liberty of enjoying much any more, so she tried her best to relish the brief moments when they came.
“What’s this I hear about the store not opening today?” Walt’s booming voice startled Cyn out of her silent reverie. Damn, talk about brief. She didn’t even get to fully zone out yet.
Turning around, she eyed her father who was standing in the kitchen doorway with Franny, Staci and a grinning Drew at his heels. Despite the deep pitch of his voice, the robust sixty-three-year-old man was the least intimidating man in the world. Even though 38
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he stood over six feet tall and possessed a voice that could shake the leaves from the trees, he was as kind as they came, a fact Franny used to her advantage for the last two years.
Smiling, as she usually did when her father was in her presences, Cyn leaned back and rested against the sink. “Sorry, Daddy, you’ll have to ask Drew about that. It’s her turn to open the store.”
“Is it now?” Walt turned his level stare to Drew, who scrambled into the middle of the room to quickly answer him.
“Yes, but I have an audition today at twelve,” she whined, much to Cyn’s annoyance.
Cyn didn’t believe her for a moment, but then again, she didn’t care. Audition or no audition, she wasn’t going to open the store. “The schedule has been posted on the board for over two weeks. She could have switched with any of us at any time. Did she really have to wait until an hour before the shop opened to do so?”
“But I just found out about it.”
“Just now? Five minutes ago?” Cyn questioned, one eyebrow raised.
“Well, no.”
“Exactly. I’m not switching. I covered for you the last two weekends in a row. I’m not going to do it again.”
“You worked the last two weekends for her?” The surprise in her father’s voice made Cyn almost reluctant to continue, but she knew if she didn’t speak up now she’d spend the rest of her life being their lap dog.
“Yes.” Cyn nodded her head to emphasize her words. “And I have plans tonight that I’m not going to break.”
“Well, I don’t blame you,” Walt sympathized.
“But, darling.” Franny stepped up and leaned against Walt’s arm, resting her head on his shoulder. The twins had inherited their mother’s looks as well as her devious ways. In the most manipulative move Cyn had seen in a while, Franny lovingly caressed his chest www.samhainpublishing.com 39
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as she spoke in a soft girlie voice. “It’s not as if Drew is asking Cyn to cover for her so she can go to the mall. This audition could be important for her career.”
“What career?” Cyn asked. An extra in a straight to video horror film did not constitute a profession.
“Everyone has to start off somewhere, Cynthia. Besides, my girls weren’t as lucky as you are to have such a kind and generous father.”
Here we go again. “Be that as it may, I have plans today, so I can’t work.”
“What type of plans?” Franny eyes narrowed with annoyance as she crossed her hands over her breasts, as if she was put off by the whole discussion.
“I have a date.”
“A lunch date?” Franny questioned with a faint of hint of disapproval.
“No.” Not that it mattered. “A dinner date.”
“Then I don’t see why you can’t open up just this once.”
“Just this once?” Had her words fallen on deaf ears? “Did you miss the part where I said I wo
rked the last two weekends for her?”
“Family pitches in at times like these.”
Family my ass. “Fine then. Let Staci work today.”
“Me?” Staci squeaked. “Why do I have to work? It’s not my day.”
“You’re preaching to the choir, sister.” Cyn smirked.
“I have one question.” Walt chimed in. Cyn could already hear father’s next words.
She took a deep breath and prepared herself for the disappointment of his capitulation.
“Who’s this young fella you’re going out with?”
Okay, she hadn’t been expecting that. “No one you know.”
“Well, I hope not, seeing as how every man I know is either gay or not good enough for you.” Walt stepped away from Franny and walked over to Cyn with a large grin on his handsome face. “Are you going to bring him by the house so I can meet him?”
“No, Dad, this isn’t the gun over the fireplace type of date.”
“Aww…come on. I haven’t dusted my rifle off in years.”
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“Dad.” Cyn buried her face in his shirt, breathing in the familiar scent of his Old Spice cologne. “I haven’t known him long enough for you to scare him off yet.”
“You never let me have any fun,” he teased.
“That’s because—”
“Walt, honey,” Franny called out, interrupting as she always did when they were talking. “What about the store? Who’s going to open it?”
“I will.” Walt offered, much to everyone’s surprise. These days her father was more of a behind-the-scenes kind of man, leaving the day to day running of the store in Cyn’s capable hands.
She knew one of the main reasons he’d wanted her to hire the girls was because he was trying to help relieve some of the stress on her shoulders, unknowingly giving her more than she had in the beginning. And Cyn, forever the peacemaker, worked hard to make sure he didn’t have to know.
“You?” Fran stiffened, the fake smile she wore like fur, frozen on her face.
“Yes, it is my store after all.”
“But we had plans,” Franny whined in almost the same pitch as Drew. Like mother like daughter.
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