“So…” she said breathlessly, trying to focus on what she needed to ask him. “Why’d you really come back for this charity tournament. Why did you come back here after so many years?”
“Because of the CAA,” he whispered.
“What…what’s so special about the CAA…Oh, god. Don’t stop,” she said as he pushed even further into her desire. The fabric of her panties still covering the place she desperately wanted him to touch.
“Helping children of alcoholic parents is…something that I’m really passionate about,” he whispered.
Taking a deep breath, she managed to voice her next question.
“Is that because of your father? Oh God!”
His fingers dipped beneath the fabric of her panties and touched the most sensitive spot on her body.
“No comment,” he whispered.
She couldn’t find any more words after that. Brent continued to kiss her lips, her neck, her collar bone as he stroked her desire, making her cry out and shake again and again.
Soon, much too soon, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
“That’s enough you two,” Marcus called out. “Make yourselves decent then come on out.”
Leah heaved a sigh as Brent pulled his hand out from under her skirt with an apologetic smile.
“Leave it to my agent to ruin the mood,” Brent said. With another disappointed glance at her, he pushed away from the wall and adjusted his clearly tented trousers.
She suddenly found herself wishing that she could do something to help him with that. Pushing the impulse aside she stood up away from the wall and smoothed her hair.
“I still don’t understand what his hold is over you,” Leah said referring to Marcus. “I mean he’s your employee. Not the other way around.”
“It’s not him, really,” Brent answered. “It’s my brother. And, like I said, it’s complicated.”
“I assume I can quote you on that,” Leah said. Brent chuckled.
“That’ll make a good quote. When asked about his past in St. Augustine, CEO Brent Watt eloquently stated ‘It’s complicated’.”
“It’s more than what I’ve gotten so far,” Leah answered.
“I’ll try not to take that personally,” Brent said as he ushered her towards the door. “I did give you more than you got in that first interview.”
“Quite a bit more,” Leah said with a suggestive smile. “But, you still haven’t told me everything I want to know.”
Brent smiled and put one hand on the door knob. Before he turned it, however, he leaned down and whispered in her ear once more.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to do this again.”
Leah felt a shiver run down her spine as Brent chuckled again and opened the door, ushering her back into the world.
Chapter 3
They did meet in that room again the next day. As well as the day after that. And, while the physical relationship between them grew more and more intense, Leah regretted that she wasn’t getting anywhere with regards to learning about Brent’s past.
“At least tell me where you learned to play golf,” she said one evening as his hand dipped beneath her shirt to cover her breast.
“Am I that good?” He asked against her neck.
“You’re better than a lot of the celebrities here,” she said as she moved her hand to unbutton his pants, hoping that by doing so, she might give herself an unfair advantage.
“So,” she said dipping the hands into his boxers and cupping the long, erect member she found there. “Where did you learn?”
He groaned as she stroked him and she smiled in triumph.
“If...if I answer, will you keep doing that?”
“Maybe,” she said with another stroke of her hand.
“I... I learned here. At the club. My dad was a member.”
“He bought you lessons?” She asked. A little thrill went through her when she realized they were getting closer to what she wanted to know.
“No. I watched the other club members play. Sometimes they’d let me caddy. I learned from them.”
“Where was your dad when this-”
Her words were cut off by a gasp when he pulled her hand out of his boxers and shoved his leg between her thighs.
“That’s enough questions for tonight, I think,” he said. Before she could answer, he pulled her panties completely down in one fluid movement.
The next moment, his long, thick dick was pressing deep inside of her. Leah certainly couldn’t ask any more questions after that. It was all she could do to grab hold of his shoulders and hold on as he pounded into her over and over again.
The articles that came out of these little trysts had become very popular. Of course, neither the general public nor Leah’s editor knew how these little tidbits about Brent Watt were obtained. But, the articles hinting at Brent Watt’s secret heartbreaking past made for exciting reading all the same.
“Just make sure the last article actually spells it out,” the editor told her just before she left for the tournament’s last charity event. “We need him to actually confirm the rumors about his father. It’ll be anticlimactic if he doesn’t.”
Leah had agreed. But, as she made her way to the country club’s black tie gala that evening, she couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit ashamed of herself.
She’d always said she wouldn’t be one of those reporters who slept her way to a story. And, now, wasn’t that exactly what she was doing?
On the one hand, it was. But she couldn’t help but feel as though that wasn’t all it was with Brent. When she was with him, not just in the storage closet at the country club, but anywhere, she felt closer to him than she did to any other man she’d ever met.
Now, she felt as though she didn’t just want to know about his past for the article. She wanted to know about it because it was a part of him.
Still, as she drove to the last formal dinner of the tournament, she knew that she couldn’t put it off any longer. She had to find out about his father one way or another. What’s more, she had a feeling that Brent would be willing to tell her tonight.
When she’d pulled up to the country club, she had to fight off a gasp when she saw Brent waiting at the door for her.
His well-tailored black suit showed off his lean, muscular body and the bright blue tie he’d chosen made his eyes sparkle. Those eyes brightened when they landed on her as she climbed out of the car. She’d felt a thrill rush through her as he looked her up and down with obvious appreciation.
“I’m glad you decided to dress up,” he said moving towards her. “You look amazing.”
She’d worn a dark blue and very fitted evening gown as well as an unfamiliar pair of high heels. She told herself that these heels and the instability they caused were the reason she took Brent’s arm when he offered it.
“You clean up pretty well yourself,” she said with a smile. He chuckled in a way that made her stomach flip as he led her into the country club’s dining room.
As soon as they entered, of course, Marcus was waiting for them.
“Glad you could make it,” the agent said though the frown on his face as he looked at her told a completely different story.
“We didn’t have any room left at Brent’s table, but, I got you a spot nearby,” he said taking Leah’s arm and moving her away from Brent.
Leah, feeling a sting of disappointment bordering on panic, looked back at Brent.
“Don’t worry,” Brent said with an easy smile. “I’ll make sure to steal you for a dance.”
She barely had time to give him a smile before Marcus hurried her away.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” Marcus said through his teeth as he tried to give bright smiles to important looking men who greeted him.
“Enlighten me,” Leah said, keeping a smile on her own lips. “What exactly am I doing?”
“I’ve read your articles, Leah,” he s
aid. “I know half the stuff you’ve quoted him saying weren’t approved by me.”
“He hasn’t said anything his brother wouldn’t approve of,” Leah said confidently as they reached the table and he pulled out a chair for her in what looked like a gallant maneuver.
“Either way,” Marcus said gently. “Don’t think for a second I’m going to let you sneak away with him tonight. I’ll be watching you two like a hawk.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Leah said smiling in a way that made her feel more confident than she felt. Marcus gave her one last backward glance before moving off towards his own table with Brent. To his credit, the table where she was seated was just beside the one where Brent sat with his agent. They were so close, in fact, that if she listened closely, she could hear their conversation.
So, when the bodyguard made her way over to Marcus from his post by the door, she watched the bouncer with interest. When he bent down to speak to Marcus, Leah moved her chair closer to hear their conversation.
“Jordan Watt wanted you to give him a call right away,” the tall man said.
“Can it wait until after dinner?” Marcus asked with a nervous glance towards Brent.
“He said it was an emergency. He needed to talk to you as soon as possible.”
Marcus’ eyes glanced from the tall man to Brent and Leah, clearly trying to weigh his options. Finally, he heaved a sigh and stood from the table.
“Remember, don’t do anything ‘till I get back,” Marcus said sternly to his charge. Leah glanced to Brent who was on Marcus’ other side.
“Oh, you can trust me, Marcus,” Brent said flashing a winning smile.
Marcus looked at him as though he didn’t trust his client one bit. But, with a sigh and another glance to the bouncer waiting, he gave a small nod and moved away from the table.
Brent moved to the edge of his seat and watched eagerly until Marcus left the room. As soon as he had, he stood up and made his way over to Leah.
“And, that’s our cue,” he said. “Come on.”
Before Leah could say anything, he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her seat.
“Where are we going?” She asked as he dragged her gently to the dining room door.
“You wanted an interview, right?” he asked.
“And we can’t do an interview in the dining room? I mean, your agent’s not there.”
“We could,” Marcus said as they left the dining room and were now making their way across the open porch overlooking the golf green. “But, I don’t feel like cold salad and gazpacho.”
“What do you feel like?” She asked curiously.
“Burgers,” He said. “I asked around and there’s a place right by the beach I’m dying to try.”
Chapter 4
The restaurant Brent had chosen was a surprising hole in the wall type place called The Burger Shack. And it lived up to its name. The building itself was small and looked like it was made of tiki wood. The dining room inside was about the size of an average Georgian living room with only a handful of customers.
They were seated at a tiny booth just beside the restrooms. When ordering, Leah strongly considered a salad. Because, the more she looked at Brent across from her, the more she was tempted to think of this as a date rather than an interview. Despite what she’d told him at that club.
In the end, her gnawing hunger won over her desire to appear dainty and she ordered a cheeseburger.
“You won’t regret it,” Brent said when the waiter left to put in their order. “The burgers here are to die for.”
“So, I take it you’ve had them before,” she said.
“Yeah. Used to come here all the time when I was a kid.”
“If you’ve got such great memories of this place, why haven’t you come back?” she asked, rooting in her bag for her pen and notepad.
“Jumping right into it, huh?” he asked, a nervous half-smile on his lips.
“No time like the present,” she answered.
And she was glad that Brent was willing to jump right in with her. He answered every question she asked him. And, for her part, Leah was surprised to learn that Brent’s childhood had been much different from the rosy picture Marcus had painted for her.
“It’s true that Dad was a middle-class marketing vice president for a TV station,” Brent said. “But, he was also a raging alcoholic. He would hit our mother constantly. Even hit me a few times. Jordan and I dealt with it in different ways. Jordan put his head down, locked himself in his room and focused on his school work. I used any excuse to get out of the house altogether. Needless to say, I ended up getting into some trouble. Once, mom even had to come to the police station because I’d been nabbed for graffitiing a car. But…that changed when I was about thirteen.”
“I assume that’s when you got into CAA,” Leah said.
“You assume right,” he told her. “After Mom begged him, Dad tried Alcoholics Anonymous. Mom got me and Jordan to go to the CAA meetings. Jordan didn’t go back after the first one. But…I kept going. I guess I liked being able to talk about all the stuff going on. Even after Dad gave up on the twelve-step program and started drinking again, I kept going to the CAA meetings.”
“And your Dad drinking again is the reason you left town?” Leah asked, finally beginning to understand.
“Yeah,” he said. “I started trying to defend Mom when he would go after her. So he started beating up on me. Eventually, when I was eighteen, I got sick of it. So, I left. Jordan had already moved out so, I moved in with him. Didn’t see any reason to come back.”
“Not even when your Dad died?”
“Like I said,” he told her taking a sip of his water. “I didn’t see any reason to come back.”
He set down his cup, looked up and gave her a small half-smile as she jotted the last sentence down in her notebook.
“Just one last question,” she said.
“Shoot.”
“Why doesn’t your brother want you to talk about this?”
The half-smile faded from his face and he looked down at his hands.
“Jordan…Jordan just doesn’t like talking about personal stuff with the press,” Brent said. “And, I mean…I can see why. Things celebrities say get blown out of proportion all the time.”
“That explains why he doesn’t talk about it,” Leah answered. “But, why does he have his guard dog trailing you to make sure you don’t talk about it. And, beyond that, why do you let him?”
Brent’s tan cheeks took on a slight flush when he glanced up at her. A look of something between shame and embarrassment crossed his face.
“Look,” he said. “Jordan was the one constant I had growing up. I mean, Mom was so beaten down by our father it was hard for her to look out for us. Dad was always drunk. So, Jordan basically raised me. It’s…it’s hard for me to say no to him.”
“Then why speak out now?”
Brent ran a hand over the five o’clock shadow on his chin and heaved a sigh.
“To tell the truth, I’m getting tired of it,” he said. “I’m getting tired of not being able to tell people how much help I got growing up. I’m sick of people thinking I had some kind of privileged upbringing when that was not the case at all.”
“Does people thinking you’ve had a privileged upbringing really change the way people see you?”
“You’d be surprised,” he said. “Especially when I come back to St. Augustine. I mean Marcus has kept me out of trouble this trip but usually-oh, shit!”
Leah followed his gaze out the restaurant’s window and saw why Brent’s face had suddenly fallen. Marcus, followed by the bodyguard was marching towards them, a look of fury on his face.
“I guess this means you’re in trouble,” Leah said. “Should we run for it?”
Brent shook his head, his eyes still locked on Marcus.
“I’m sick of him babysitting me,” he said. “Sick of him parading me around. Calli
ng me his meal ticket. I think you’re right. It’s time I stand up for myself.”
As soon as this speech was finished, the front door of the shack flew open and Marcus stomped in.
“So, this is where you went off to!” he said moving over to their table. The slick smile that usually filled his face was gone and his cheeks were red and puffed. He would have looked funny if Brent’s expression hadn’t been so serious.
“Marcus look, I- “
Forever Together Page 3
