Chapter 38
CHAPTER 38
Julian
My brothers and I were on the golf course, and Roman couldn’t stop yawning.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked.
“I’m tired. Maddie was up all night.”
“Why?” Parker asked.
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t go to sleep.”
“I’m surprised Morgan let you play golf today.” I smirked.
“She doesn’t care. You know that. We need to hire another attorney now that Richard left the firm.”
“We have a pile of applications sitting on our desks to go through,” Parker said, swinging his golf club.
“First thing Monday morning, we need to do that,” Roman said.
“Don’t you dare interview anyone until I return from the law conference in San Francisco.”
“We won’t,” I said. “How long are you going to be gone again?”
“Only two nights. I’ll be back Wednesday evening. ”
“God, I can’t believe how tired I am,” Roman complained, letting out another yawn.
“That’s what you get for having a baby,” I said. “I told you kids were a lot of trouble.”
“My daughter is worth every sleepless night. You’ll understand that one day when you have a kid of your own,” Roman said.
“Ha.” I chuckled. “That’s never going to happen, and you know it.”
I was standing in the lobby at the St. Regis in San Francisco with a drink in my hand, talking to an acquaintance, when a beautiful woman caught my attention as she walked past me.
“Damn,” I silently spoke as my head turned and stared at her. “Excuse me, Jim. There’s something I need to do. We’ll talk later.”
She headed toward the restaurant off the lobby, so I followed her and saw her sitting at the bar alone. Luckily, there was an empty stool next to her. I sat down, and the bartender walked over.
“What can I get you?”
“Scotch, please. Glenfiddich if you have it.”
“Coming right up.”
With a slight turn of my head, I stared at the beautiful brunette beside me.
“What are you drinking?” I asked.
She looked at me. Her beautiful bluish-gray eyes stared into mine.
“Wouldn’t you love to know.” A smirk crossed her lips.
“I would because I’d like to buy you another.” I smiled .
“Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.” She picked up her drink.
“Why not? It’s just a drink,” I said.
“Listen, I’m not interested.” She tipped the glass to her lips.
“Impossible. Women are always interested in me.” A smirk crossed my lips.
“I’m not the type of woman to have one-night stands, so unless you’re going to marry me, you can forget it.”
“Marry you?” I chuckled. “All I wanted to do was buy you a drink.”
“With the hope that you’ll ask me up to your suite, and I’ll say yes. Am I right?”
Damn, this beautiful woman. She had no idea how much she was turning me on.
“That is not true,” I said.
“Yeah. Okay. I know guys like you.”
“Guys like me? Can you elaborate on that?”
Her eyes held my gaze momentarily. “You’re arrogant, self-assured, overconfident, and way too charming for your own good only to get what you want from a woman. Once you do, you’re done, and you move on to the next victim who doesn’t know any better.”
Wow. This woman quickly knew how to make my hard-on go down.
“You have a mean spirit, lady.”
She laughed. “I only speak the truth.” She threw some cash on the bar and stood up. “It was nice chatting with you.” She grabbed her purse.
“I can’t say it was nice chatting with you!” I shouted as she walked away.
“Need another?” The bartender pointed to my almost empty glass .
“Yeah. Make it a double this time.”
On the flight back to Los Angeles, I couldn’t stop thinking about that woman at the bar last night. She stood about five feet seven inches, with a confident stand that radiated strength. Her long, wavy hair cascaded down her back, a rich chocolate brown that caught the light and shimmered with eyes that were a mesmerizing blue-gray shade. Her body was slender and toned—a work of art I wanted to explore.
When I arrived home, I set my bag down and noticed my two brothers sitting on my patio drinking beer. Opening the refrigerator, I grabbed a bottle and took it outside.
“There he is.” Roman grinned, holding out his fist.
I fist-bumped him first and then Parker before sitting down in the lounger.
“How was the conference?” Roman asked.
“Boring.” I smirked.
“Meet any hot chicks?” Parker asked.
“Tried to but she wanted nothing to do with me.” I tipped the bottle to my lips.
“Say what?” Parker laughed. “Who was she?”
“I don’t know. Some sexy as fuck woman sitting at the bar in the hotel’s restaurant.”
“What did she say to you?” Roman asked.
“I offered to buy her a drink, and she preceded to tell me that she doesn’t do one-night stands. And get this. She said the weirdest thing.”
“What did she say?” Parker asked.
“She said I could forget it unless I was going to marry her.”
“What?” Roman chuckled. “Who says that?”
“Right? Then she told me that she knew guys like me. When I asked her to elaborate, she said I’m arrogant, self-assured, overconfident, and way too charming for my own good only to get what I want from a woman. Once I do, I’m done and move on to the next victim who doesn’t know any better. Can you fucking believe that?”
“Sounds to me like she read you perfectly.” Roman laughed.
“Yeah, bro. She sounds very intelligent.” Parker laughed.
“She’s mean-spirited, and I’m happy I didn’t sleep with her. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life.”
“You never stood a chance with her.” Parker shook his head.
“I know she hurt your ego, bro. Just forget about her and move on,” Roman said.
“Trust me. I already have.”