Chapter 2
BLAKE
My head throbs and my tongue is now one with the roof of my mouth.
My nose is probably still caked in cocaine, and when I realize there’s some chick in my bed, I let out a groan.
She’s wearing a pink party hat, her white-blonde hair slightly yellow near the roots.
Ugh, fucking hell.
My eyes skim down her body, and I remember why I brought her home.
She’s a dancer—and a flexible one at that.
But now, she needs to leave.
“Morning, honey.” I rub her back lightly, kissing her shoulder.
She stinks of beer and sex.
“I’ve got to go to work; my driver will take you home.”
“Huh?”
Her kohl-lined eyes blink at me, and I wink at her before climbing out of bed.
“Last night was fun, but I’ve got to go to work.”
She tugs the sheet to her chest, frowning at me.
Don’t be difficult.
“Can I ride with you?”
Like fuck you can.
“No.” I force a smile. “My driver is outside waiting.”
I grab my phone from the side, punching in a text to Silas, my driver, instructing him to take this girl home.
“Are you just going to send me away like I’m some kind of whore?” the girl snaps, tugging on her cheap dress.
“Sweetheart, don’t do this.” I sigh, opening my bedroom door. “The world is your oyster. Go explore. We fucked, no biggie. Move on.”
“God, you’re a jerk!”
I shrug as she storms past me, and I slam the door behind her, cursing myself for fucking another madwoman.
They’re all crazy.
I shower, allowing the hot water to soothe me, before dressing in a suit, ready for the day ahead.
The day ahead…lunching with potential clients and keeping Pops happy.
Easy.
I love my life, but working for my dad has more cons than pros. Especially when your dad is Alec James.
As if on cue, my phone vibrates in my hand, my dad's face alerting me to my tardiness.
“Dad.”
“Blake, where are you?”
I nod at my new housekeeper who flushes under my gaze, biting her lip as she returns to dusting a perfectly clean shelf. She’s cute.
Never shit on your own doorstep, Blake, I remind myself, dragging my eyes away from the sexy brunette.
“On my way in.” I grin, sliding behind the wheel of my Chevrolet C8. The call transfers to the Bluetooth speaker, and the engine purrs beneath me.
“You should’ve been here an hour ago.”
Twenty-five years old and I’m still getting shit.
“What can I say, the traffic is a killer.”
“Blake,” Dad says sharply. “Don’t fuck with me. We’ve got a meeting in fifty minutes. You’d better be there.”
In this car, I could be there in thirty.
“Yeah, I’ll be there. Calm down, you’ll give yourself a hernia.”
“You’ll give me a hernia.”
“See you soon, old man.”
The drive to work is as beautiful as always, the ocean chasing the highway the whole drive, until I meet the outskirts of the city.
I love living near the ocean: far enough away from the city that I get to escape after a busy day, but close enough that I can roll out of bed late.
The streets are packed, and as usual, my car commands attention.
She’s ice blue and sleek and by far my favorite toy in my life.
I park her up, shoving a couple of mints in my mouth as I jog to the elevator.
I don’t need my dad giving me shit about reeking of beer.
“Mr. James.” A uniformed security guy nods at me, opening the elevator.
“Morning,” I respond, taking a moment to compose myself.
I’m probably still off my tits, but it’s all good; luckily for me, the environment I work in is party central.
Filled with hot chicks, too.
I make my way to Dad's office, nodding at the travel agents who are here touring for the day.
“Ah, Blake! Say hello to our retail agents.”
I slow, turning to give a wide smile to the young women in tight uniforms.
They’re all licking their lips and gazing at me like I’m a steak.
Which I guess I am.
“Ladies, it’s a pleasure to meet you all.” I smile, my eye falling on the girl to the right, all tits and teeth.
She returns my gaze, looking up at me through thick, dark lashes.
Instantly I’m hard, and I try not to stare at her tanned legs.
Girls in travel are easy to get into bed.
They’re all up for a good time, and if you’re lucky, you can get more than one at a time.
This one doesn’t look like she shares well with others, though.
“Enjoy your tour.” I hold the girl's gaze, allowing my eyes to travel down her body slowly. She has to be twenty or twenty-one.
Nice.
“Keeley! Come on!” her colleague calls, and Keeley, my next fuck, looks at me helplessly.
“Are you at the conference party tonight?” she asks, her eyes practically misting over at the thought.
“Are you?” I flirt back, my trademark smirk making her flush deeply.
“Yes.”
“Then so am I.”
I wink at her, turning to my dad's office with a spring in my step.
Nothing prepares me for who is sitting across from him.
FIVE YEARS AGO:
I couldn’t stop staring at this girl.
First date nerves had her trembling, her mouth pursing together as she studied me.
“You’re beautiful, Danni.”
She had skin the color girls paid a fortune to get from bottles and mousey blonde-brown hair framing gorgeous green eyes. She blew me away.
“How many girls do you tell that to, Blake James?”
Give me that sass, Danni.
“Only the truly beautiful ones.”
The night flew by, and when I dropped her home, I didn’t want her to go.
She wouldn’t even kiss me.
“I’m not falling for you,” she whispered, her eyes darting down to my mouth as I stared at her.
“Really?” I smirked, lifting her hand to my mouth. “I won’t give up.”
Danni flushed, and I pulled her into my arms, burying my head in her neck.
“You smell so fucking good.”
“It’s just perfume,” she stammered out, her fingers lost in my hair.
But it wasn’t.
It was the scent of the year that followed.
It was Danielle Vee.
PRESENT TIME:
The same Danielle Vee that’s now sitting across from my father, her hands clasped across her lap. Her hair is platinum-blonde now, and her electric green eyes barely skim over me when I step through the door.
“Blake,” Dad huffs, waving at me impatiently. “Meet Danielle. She’s our new Retail Oversight Manager.”
Well, fuck me.
I nod at Danielle, who pretends she hasn’t noticed me at all.
“So, I think that if we drive the internet customers through the retail doors, we have many more opportunities to cross sell. Car hire, excursions, insurance…not to mention foreign exchange.”
Oh, fuck.
Her voice still sounds like it did five years ago, and I can’t stop remembering how my name sounds in her mouth.
Dad is hanging on her every word, sifting through the papers in his hands.
Danielle is dressed to kill, and I’m trying hard not to stare—but Jesus.
She’s in tight grey pants, a skintight white shirt that hugs her curves, and stilettos that scream sex. Her suit jacket lounges on the chair behind her.
“It’s great.” Dad grins, handing the paperwork to me. “See for yourself, Blake. I think Danielle here is really on to something.”
I sift through the neatly printed papers, the carefully drawn diagrams and relevant research.
Her scrawls on the page show her passion, but I hand them back to my dad with a dismissive shrug.
“Great. What time is our meeting?”
Dad stares at me with confusion, his eyes flickering back to Danielle apologetically. “Danielle, would you excuse us?”
Danielle nods, gathering the paperwork from my dad without looking at me.
“Of course, Alec.” Danielle turns in my direction, and it’s like someone has slammed their fist into my throat.
She’s every inch as beautiful as she was before, but the scared little girl seems to have grown up. She’s a woman now, in all sense of the word, but something else unnerves me.
It’s the steely look in her eye, the way she looks right through me like I don’t exist.
“Bye, Danni,” I can’t help but call after her, just to see her reaction.
She stops, holding the door in her fingers, arching a brow at me. “It’s Danielle. But I’d rather you didn’t address me unless absolutely necessary.”
Her eyes hold mine, and for a second, I’m fixated on her lips.
Danielle stares back at me with disgust, tugging the door open and storming away.
I turn back to Dad, amusement playing on my lips.
“Someone you know?” Dad groans, eyeballing me.
“Someone I used to know.”