Rayna’s Daddy (The Men of the Quadrangle #1)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

I had been to some shady places in my life, but Hotel Rockwell, was the shadiest and the last place I wanted to be on a Friday night. The stale smell of spoiled food and sweat made my sinuses act up. Cheap florals and body odor hung like a smog cloud in the rafters. The dull, grey marble floors may have been white at one time. Exactly what I expected from a hotel owned by the low life criminal Albert Santorini. I scratched my nose and proceeded into the stingy bar off the main lobby.

A few sad sorts sat hunched over at the bar. The smell of cigarette smoke bombarding me in the face. I climbed on a bar stool, staying near the entrance hoping for better airflow. It didn’t help. Josh, my right hand and COO of my family’s company, proceeded to the bar and came back with two shots. I prayed it was tequila, something powerful and strong to make being in this place.

I down the shot, the taste immediately assaulting my senses. My lips puckered, and a burning sensation charred my throat.

“Wha--” I covered my mouth and coughed. “What the fuck was that?” My voice rose an octave. My chest burned as I sat the glass on the table with a clink, wiping my hands on my pants.

“It’s from Santorini’s private collection.” Josh laughed and rubbed his chest. “Not a fan?” We’d been friends for as long as I can remember. As kids, his parents were never around, my parents had unofficially adopted him. In some circles he’s considered the fifth Grant brother, but he was a Burroughs. His last name reminded him of what he did not want to become. The Burroughs were a notorious crime family in the sixties and seventies; they made movies about his family. With no other siblings, he was the last of the Burroughs and took on the burden of righting all their wrongs. He was my best friend, and I was going to help him. Even if it meant associating with men like Albert Santorini.

“Not a fan of anything that has Santorini’s name on it.” I rub the back of my neck, willing the pain behind my eyes to dissipate. “Let’s get this over with and get out of this place.”

“Kyler, man, you are such a snob.” He chuckled.

I lifted my head to tell him off, but something caught my attention. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a young woman wrestling with a suitcase. It had to weigh more than her.

I hopped off the stool and moved closer to the archway between the bar and the lobby. She had somehow managed to make it through the double set of doors. She waved off people who offered to help. Stumbling as her shoe stuck to the marble floors. The suitcase caught the back of her lean legs. She pouted at the offending suitcase and yanked it to the side.

My cock twitched in my pants.

One of her pigtails fell in her face and she blew it away a few times before stomping her foot and pushing it behind her ear.

She turned; her big brown doe eyes took in her surroundings. With all the goddamn music blaring through the place, plus my distance, I couldn’t quite make out the words falling from those luscious pink lips. I imagined a little gasp, with a wow falling into the air.

My cock did more than twitch as her lips remained in the cutest little ‘o’. She grabbed for her bag three times without looking, before squeezing the handle and stepping forward. She pulls her t-shirt down. A sliver of tanned skin on her taunt stomach showing. Just that sliver of her flesh had me salivating. Giving up on the shirt, she slid her thin little fingers in her skirt waistband and pulled it up, exposing more leg. Those gorgeous legs.

My gaze fell to the white knee-high socks pulled over her knees. She wasn’t tall, but all leg. On her feet were purple Chuck Taylors, with black laces. Laces which happened to be, untied on one foot.

My instincts kicked in. I strutted across the lobby. My angle would give me a direct path to reach her, hopefully before she fell and hurt herself.

Like I spoke it into existence, she proceeded to do just that.

“Whoa.” Her hands shot out in front of her. I reached her in time to grab her around her tiny waist. I pulled her back toward me. Her round ass rubbing against my thigh. She was so lite in my arms.

“Careful little lady.” I whispered in her ear.

“Oh, my goodness.” She grunted and instead of pushing me away, she covered my arm and held on for the ride.

I shift her back and placed her on her feet.

“I’m so sorry.” She stared down at her feet. Looking around for her bag. It had slid a few feet away during her near tumble. “Ten minutes in Vegas and I already almost ended up in the hospital.”

“Well, it’s still early, could still happen with this level of clumsy.”

She giggled.

Fuck me. Who was this girl and where had she been all my life?

She tilted her head and looked up at me. She nervously fidgeted with her fingers.

“Thank you.” She gave me an awkward but adorable curtsy. “For saving my life. Your good deed will not go unrewarded.”

She smiles, and a blush blossoms behind her freckled cheeks.

Out of my four brothers, I was the quiet one and the oldest, but I could typically string a few words together on command. I ran a four-billion-dollar company and didn’t accomplish it by being mute. This little bit of thing had rendered me speechless.

She exhaled and turned to walk away. I grabbed her wrist.

“I think I got it covered from here.” She looked down at my hand, but didn’t pull away. Did the girl have no sense of self-preservation? Despite her evil shoelace, I caught myself manhandling her like she belongs to me.

“No, little girl, I don’t think you do.”

She gasped again, and I had the pleasure of hearing it this time.

I dropped her hand and kneeled on the floor, ignoring the pain in my knee. I touched the back of her leg and lifted it to settle on my thigh. Grabbing the laces and making them into two bunny ears. I tied the two loops in a knot and pulled it tight.

I looked up into her eyes. Her angelic face erased everything else in the world.

We both froze, taking in the moment.

“Rayna.” A distance voice broke he spell.

I patted her toe, guiding her foot back to the ground as my fingers slide up her calf. Goose bumps popped out on her skin.

I stood up.

“There.” I shove my hands in my pants pockets to keep from touching her again. “Now I think you can handle it moving forward without that pesky lace impeding your progress.”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“Rayne.” The voice came from a woman standing between us and the bank of elevators.

“Rayne.” I whispered. Beautiful name. Sweet, and pure, and oh so innocent.

Her eyes remained glued to my lips.

“Sweetie.” I lean in. “I think she’s talking to you.”

“Uhm, what?” Her eyes darted around. “Oh, Natalie.” Rayne waved enthusiastically to her friend. She grabbed her bag and took off.

“Oh.” Her sneakers squeaked against the high glossed floor. “Thank you.”

I tipped my imaginary hat. She grinned and let her friend drag her away.

Disappearing into the bank of elevators.

Josh sidled up beside me.

“You have to find out who she is.” I hit him in the chest.

“It shouldn't be too hard.”

I turned toward him. “What do you mean?”

“I imagine you'll see her again very soon.” The smirk on his face told me he knew something.

“That woman she was talking to, Natalie.” Josh frowned. “Was Natalie Santorini.”

“Santorini?” Shit. “Albert’s daughter.”

“Yep.”

“That would mean, she’s . . .” I didn’t want to say it aloud.

“One of his girls.”