Champagne Showers (33 page)

“Since when are you into foo foo drinks, Dani? What happened to my microbrew girl?”

I laugh, “Maybe I’ve grown.”

“Humph.” He scowls and looks away “More like mega bucks has gotten his hands on you and is molding you to his ways.”

I look at his face and notice the twinkle has left his eyes and has been replaced by something far darker. I can tell by the twitch in the muscle at his jaw that apparently we’re no longer having a light conversation.

I shake my head, “Seriously Bradley, Harrison has nothing to do with my choice of adult beverages. I’m really hoping you didn’t invite me here to pass insults.”

“No.” He takes my hand, “I miss you, Dani.” He looks at me straight in the eye and for a  brief second, I miss him too. The waitress comes with our drinks and I seize the opportunity to pull my hand away. He raises his glass and says, “To old Dani and her newfound success!” I clink my glass to his and think, what an odd toast, but I go with it.

“Have you got any new updates with the investigation?”

I shake my head no. ”The guy they hauled in is a match for fingerprints and other evidence, but he isn’t talking and got his hotshot attorney in there right away. And, this hotshot attorney comes at a high price, so Detective Burke feels he’s being bankrolled.”

“Do they have any idea who is bankrolling him? Or why?”

I shake my head again, “Well, it’s obvious it has to do with Harrison, the big question is why. Harrison isn’t really sharing much information with me, and Detective Burke is dealing directly with Harrison’s right hand guy, Garrin, who happens to be his house man, Philippe’s, son.”

He makes a quiet whistle “That’s a lot to follow, did they grant the guy bail?”

I take a sip of my drink. “Yeah, they think whoever is bankrolling him also posted his bail. He’s a petty criminal and since there hasn’t been an actual threat made, it wasn’t actually a large bail. The whole thing is weird and it has me completely on edge.”

He shakes his head and takes another drink of his beer. I follow by taking a hefty drink of my tasty blueberry smash up.

“I feel like I’m being followed all the time. Harrison wanted me to have one of his guys with me, but I felt like that was being melodramatic. I’m still worried about what their intent is with those pictures of me and Harrison.”

He chokes on his beer and then grimaces at me. “Don’t remind me of those pictures. I really wish I hadn’t seen them myself. And don’t forget, I was in some of those pictures too.”

“We are still waiting to hear back from Detective Burke about leads they have on the surveillance cameras found at Harrison’s penthouse.”

He snickers, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Wonderful himself had those installed and he just had the misfortune of someone intercepting the pics in cyberspace.”

“Oh knock it off!” I scowl at him and he gives me a half smile.

We continue to talk about his screwed up mess with his ex-girlfriend, Carrie. He’s now in a legal battle with her to get his name removed as the father of her baby on the birth records. She doesn’t want him removed because as long as he’s on there, he has to pay her child support. She’s lying about not knowing who the father actually is, and until he can legally get his name removed, he’s on the hook as far as the courts are concerned. On top of it all, she keeps hounding him for more money.

“I just got to ask, why did you ever take up with her anyway? It’s not like you didn’t have a wife at home.” My mouth tastes bitter as the words tumble out.

He shakes his head and looks away. He doesn’t look at me when he finally answers, but he looks out the window instead. “Dani, I never deserved you. I’ve always had a wandering eye. I can’t help myself. Even while we’ve been sitting here, I’ve checked out every woman that’s walked by this window and the frat boy in me has rated each one by how many beers it would take to sleep with her.”

I sit there with my mouth agape. “So why did you want to get married then? I mean if you’re a self-proclaimed womanizer, why would settling down with one person be remotely appealing to you?”

He raises his empty glass as a gesture to the waitress for a refill. He lifts his eyebrow at me and I shake my head no. I realize that I’ve had three drinks now on an empty stomach. So much for sticking to one drink.  I’ll be lucky if I don’t break my neck walking back to the office in these heels.

He looks back at me, “I think I got married because I knew that if I didn’t, I’d never be able to keep you.”

I lean in closer and then in almost a whisper I say, “Since you’re being truthful, please tell me why you hated having sex with me, when all the while you were sleeping your way across the Pacific Northwest. Why was I such a chore?”

He is chewing his lip just like a little kid. He’s always done that when he’s thinking and I’ve always thought it to be very sexy. Despite his significant character flaws, he’s still a catch. I give him my ’answer me’ look.

“I have no excuse other than maybe I felt guilty making love to you when I’d been sleeping with those other women. I guess I didn’t want to dirty you, so to speak.” He takes a big swig of the beer just brought by the waitress.

That isn’t really the answer I’d been fishing for. It strikes me as odd that Harrison can’t get enough of me and Bradley acted repulsed by me at times. Maybe he was experiencing self-loathing from his guilt and that was how it manifested itself. It really shouldn’t matter at this point, and maybe I should change the subject. I’m pretty sure Harrison wouldn’t approve of this conversation anyway. As if Bradley can read my thoughts, he asks me about Harrison and my relationship.

“So, just what is the story with you and Mega Bucks? Is it getting serious?”

“Depends on what story you’re reading, literally. I’m not used to having my picture in local and national newspapers, not to mention those rags. It’s a surreal experience to be at the store and see my picture staring back at me. I’ve read a few of the captions, and so far nothing real scary.”

He studies me for a minute. “You know what I was asking, Dani.”

I sigh, “Yes I do know what you are asking, and it’s a hard question to answer since I really don’t know what the story is. I guess you could characterize it as we’re taking it one step-at-a-time.”

He lets out a small chuckle, “Well, that’s a politician response if I ever heard one.” He continues to chuckle while he downs more of his microbrew. I practically lick out what is remaining of the chocolate martini in front of me.  “Would you like another?” He asks, nodding at my glass.

“No, I’d better not, I’ve had three now.”

He shakes his head and holds up four fingers. Oh no, have I had four drinks? This walk back is going to be brutal.

“I think I’d actually better get back.”

“Why don’t I buy you some dinner, or do you have plans with Mega Bucks?” I can hear the bitterness in his voice. I let it go, no sense in walking through that door. I’d rather end this on a good note. Besides, we’ve already had an uncomfortable enough conversation as it is.

“Thanks, but I do have to get back and get my work wrapped up, and yes I do have plans with HARRISON.”

He gives me his best wounded puppy look and then plunks down several twenties on the table. I start to stand up and the room begins to tilt. Shit! I drank way too much! He helps me up the rest of the way, and once out on the sidewalk, I start to sway a little. He braces me with his body and puts an arm around my back. We walk and laugh all the way back to my office. We come around the corner and who should be leaning up against his black sex mobile with his arms crossed, but Harrison. We both stop right there and Bradley’s arm around me drops. Harrison remains in his stance with his eyes locked on mine. I flash him a huge grin and advance toward him.

“Harrison, you’re early.”

“No, I believe you are late.” He’s still staring into my soul with those piercing blue eyes. The muscles in his jaw are pulsing. I can tell that he’s mad.

I walk over to him, trying not sway as I go. I stumble a little on the sidewalk. Damn it, even when I’m sober these stilettos are hard to walk in. Harrison's arm juts out to steady me just as Bradley advances forward to steady me from behind. I realize in one frightening moment, I’m caught between my past and my future. That’s if I didn’t just screw everything up. Harrison looks around me and Bradley gets the message and drops my arm.

“Have you been drinking, Danielle?”

Geeze, I feel like a kid getting scolded for taking the last cookie from the cookie jar.

I look at him sheepishly, “Yes, I had a few drinks at happy hour with Bradley.”

With his eyebrows raised he says, “It seems it was more than a few.” Then he leans toward my ear and says under his breath so only I can hear, “I thought I was clear on where I stand about you seeing your
ex-husband
.” He hisses an emphasis on the last two words.

I pull my head back and look at him. I can tell he’s fuming mad. He looks at Bradley and then back at me. He opens the passenger side door,

“Get in.”

I look back at Bradley who is standing there dumfounded. I mouth “sorry” and then g him a frown face with my lower lip sticking out. He smiles back at me and nods, then advances forward with his hand outreached. He looks Harrison straight in the eye and takes his hand.

“Take care of her.”

Whoa, I’ve never heard Bradley sound so assertive and domineering. He almost matched Harrison at that moment, almost.

Harrison retracts his hand and looks Bradley square in the eye,

“I will, better than you ever could.” I stiffen, bracing myself and hoping this doesn’t lead to a pissing match.  To my surprise, Bradley straightens his stance and then says to me,

“I’ll check in with you soon, Dani. It was great catching up.” He then turns to Harrison and simply nods before turning and walking away from us.

Harrison finishes helping me into the car, shuts the door and then walks around to the driver side. My nerves are on fire and I’m still feeling fuzzy from my drinks. I reach into my purse to grab a breath mint, then quickly slather on some lip-gloss.

He gets in without saying a word and doesn’t even look at me. He pulls out and I wonder what he has planned. I don’t even have my overnight bag and he wasn’t due to get me until 6:00. I look at the clock on the dash and to my horror, it reads 6:37 PM. Oh no! We were at the bar for nearly two and a half hours. I steal a sideways glance at Harrison and he looks so damned hot especially because he’s mad. I open my mouth to speak and as if he anticipating it, he says, “Don’t say a word. Surely you know how furious I am that you defied me, and to add insult, you had me waiting, and not only that, I was starting to get worried.”

I turn my body to face him. He looks at me from the corner of his eye. He brings the car to a stop at a light and then with lightning speed, he shoves his right hand behind my head and pulls me to him with such a force that the air is sucked right out of my lungs. He then plunges his tongue into my mouth seeking my tongue. He kisses me with such passion and ferocity that I feel that he is going to devour me right there at the stoplight. 

The light turns and reluctantly he pulls himself away and turns his attention back to driving. I sit there in stunned silence as my loins burn out of control and my face becomes a glowing ball of crimson. He says nothing else to me nor does he look at me. At the next light, he takes his hand off the stick shift and begins to seek his way up my skirt to find my wet pulsing “P”. Pushing aside the lace material of my thong, he shoves two fingers inside, but then the light changes and he has his hand back on the stick shift.

We’re going up Broadway on a Friday during peak travel time so I can see how this is going to turn into a game for him. Sure enough, at the next light he reaches back down between my legs and shoves my lace thong aside again. He takes his fingers and twists my clit between his fingers. He then firmly tugs at it.  The light changes and he once again removes his damned fingers. Okay, so two can play at this game.

I reach over and seek out his throbbing cock with my left hand and he groans deep in his chest. I start stroking his firmness through his pants, the fabric runs great interference with my devious plan. He parts his lips and starts to pant a bit. I find his zipper and pull it down to gain full access to his hard throbbing cock. He groans again and leans against his seat more. My own loins are getting wetter at his reaction to my touch. My gosh, I want him now! We’re stuck in traffic and there isn’t a hiker’s nature area to pull over to this time.

At the next stoplight, I lean over the console as far as I can and take his hard cock into my mouth. It isn’t easy but I at least manage to get the swollen tip in my mouth and I start my assault. Gently at first and then I start using my teeth to nibble the end while I suck and flick my tongue over it. He pushes my head now and reaches around my chest to shift gears, we’re moving again. I unfasten my seatbelt and enable myself to move into a better position to keep up my pursuit. I give little or no thought to whether people around can see into the darkly tinted windows. I take my hand and wrap it as far down the base as I can get and rapidly slide it up and down the shaft to provide friction while I continue to suck and flick my tongue over the end. I give the swollen tip one last nibble and then I feel him start to cum, I shove his cock into my mouth as far as I can, given the position I’m in, and he releases himself into my throat with a ferocious growl in his chest followed by a low guttural moan.