Designing Woman (The Sloan Brothers Book 2) (19 page)

He took a long draw from his beer and did exactly that.

“Sorry, but I’m a little defensive these days.  I’m used to hitting a gym at least once a day and that hasn’t been possible since I’ve been here.  I’m jumpy.  How did you sneak out?”

“You answered your own question.  I snuck out while everyone was gone.  You heard what I told Anton, we’ve got maybe an hour before I need to start heading back.”

The door opened and we both looked up.  An unruly group of five or six men walked in, obviously having stopped for a drink somewhere else before they graced us with their presence.  They could’ve been bikers, but I doubted it.  Bikers tended to have a cohesive presence about them.  These guys looked like thugs.

Their eyes fell on us and two of them licked their lips and winked at me.  Great.  I had admirers.  I had obviously been hanging out in the wrong places.

They took a couple of steps in our direction and then noticed Tony.  He was focused on them exclusively and his hands were balled into fists on the table.  I saw a glimpse of the man I’d kneed in my hallway and I pulled my purse closer.  This could go wrong in the blink of an eye and both of us would be exposed.  I had to do something.  Now.

I downed my wine for a little liquid courage and reached across the table.  My hand had never looked smaller as I laid it on one of his saucepan sized fists.

“If this gets ugly, we’ll both have too much explaining to do.  Let’s get out of here.”

His eyes shot to mine and I watched him calm himself down as my gaze never left his.  He took three deep breaths and I felt his hands relax as he quickly nodded his head.

He stood as I hooked my purse over my shoulder.  He reached for my hand and I placed it in his, hoping for a show of a united front.  When I was on my feet and steady, he took his hand from mine and put his arm around my waist.  We started to walk towards the door.

The ugliest one, who just happened to be the biggest, sidestepped into our path.  He took a pull from his bottle of beer, and shot me a grin.  Then his eyes met Tony’s.  Tony was taller, but pound for pound, they were probably the same size.  The difference was muscle mass.  Tony was a fighter.  Unibrow was a loser.  I stood closer to the sure thing and tried not to tremble.

Tony’s grip on me tightened as Unibrow began to speak without the aid of a ventriloquist.

“You can go without her or leave in an ambulance.  Your choice.”

I couldn’t help it.  I started to laugh.

Let me take a moment to explain something.  I’m notorious for a lot of things.  My hair trigger temper, my big mouth, my uncanny ability to habitually do the one thing that will impact me in the worst way, and laughing inappropriately.  My sister has a theory that encompasses all of the above.  She labels them, “Stress Responses”.  That’ll work for now.

Both Tony and Unibrow looked at me as if I’d just offered them toast and I kept on laughing, practically doubled over at this point.  They waited patiently while I gained a little bit of control.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and set my sights on Unibrow.

“An ambulance?  Seriously?  That’s the best you’ve got?”

I motioned at Tony with my thumb and gave an unladylike snort of humor.

“Do you know who he is?”

I felt Tony’s grip tighten.

“He’s a heavyweight boxer.  A fucking contender dude.  If that doesn’t scare you, then take a look at my cast.”

Unibrow glanced down at my foot, confusion overtaking aggression for the moment.

“I got that kicking him in the nuts.  I broke my foot.  Then I broke his fucking nose once I had him down.  Now you and your boyfriends over there...”

I gestured towards the neanderthals leaning against the bar watching us closely while they made no move to come to their buddy’s defense.

“...might get a shot or two in, but my money’s on my date.  When he knocks one of you down, me and my cast will step in to assist.  You ever been kicked in the gonads by a twenty pound piece of plaster coming at a high velocity by a pissed off female?”

Unibrow flinched and didn’t realize his free hand was now covering his jewels, his thumb hooked in his waistband.  His color wasn’t quite olive green, but he was listening and weighing his odds.

I leaned towards him as if I was imparting secrets of great importance.

“Save face asshole.  Reach out to shake Tony’s hand as if you know him.  Then say goodbye and slap him on the back like you badass boys do, as we walk by.  No one has to know that a woman in a Prada boot just threatened to kick your ass.”

Unibrow cleared his throat and thrust out his hand.  Tony looked like he’d been kissed by a goat.  He growled and shook the man’s hand.  Unibrow growled back although he was smiling.  He stepped aside as we moved to walk by and Tony got the obligatory slap on the back that I recommended.

He opened the door for me and as we stepped outside, he began leading me around the corner towards a newer Oldsmobuick sedan.

“That’s a new one.”

He pressed a button on a keyfob he held in his hand and the lights flashed on the sedan.  He opened the passenger side door and without thinking I slid inside.  Once he was in the driver’s seat and buckling up, I asked the question.

“What’s a new one?”

He turned on his blinker and slipped into traffic.  My eyes stayed on him.

“I’ve never had a woman defend MY honor before.  It’s usually the other way around.”

I grinned, raised my nose slightly up in the air and faced the front while buckling my belt.

“Maybe you’ve been hanging out with the wrong women Mr. Marconi.”

He grinned and patted my knee.

“Maybe I have Ms. Lincoln.  Maybe I have.”

We were turning left on Boerum when it dawned on me that we were in Brooklyn.  While I was getting my bearings, he pulled into a parking space at the Box House, a trendy and pricey hotel that I’d been to a couple of times in the past.  The clients I visited there chose it because they had several rooms that resembled one bedroom apartments with full kitchens for extended stays.

He turned off the car and I reached for his arm before he could open his door.

“Tony, what are we doing here?  I live in Manhattan.”

“I know where you live Mel’, I’ve been there before.  Remember?”

He got out quickly and moved to my side of the car.  He opened my door and held out his hand.  Still dazed and confused, I placed my hand in his and he helped me out.  He linked his fingers with mine and started leading me to the front door.

“You’re not answering the question bud’.  Why are we at the Box House?”

He opened the lobby door for me and when I’d walked through, he took my hand once again and led me to the elevator, smiling at the desk clerk on the way.  He pressed the elevator button and turned to face me, smiling.

“I still owe you that drink and conversation.  I’m taking a huge leap of faith here Mel’.  This is where I’m living for the time being.  Nobody knows that but you and I’m trusting you with that.  I’m trying to prove I’m worthy of being your friend.  Friends trust one another.  Right?”

The elevator door opened and he ushered me inside while I was still processing what he said.  I paid no attention to which button he pushed, the whole thing was beginning to feel like an out-of-body experience.  His demeanor remained calm and unthreatening, his hand warm and comforting as he held mine.  He wasn’t sweating like he was nervous, or scowling like he was pissed.  He just stood there holding my hand while a muzak version of an old Zepplin tune played in the background.

My alarm bells never chimed a note.  I never once considered him dangerous because he wasn’t pressuring me in any way or saying anything that seemed off.  He was trusting me with his current address and the only person I could see that impacting, was him.  If I squealed, it was over for him and we both knew it.  Besides, who holds a person prisoner in a hotel?  I’d seen the movies, I knew how that worked.  You rent a house in a shady neighborhood, locked your prisoner in a room, then mumbled some shit about rubbing lotion on it’s body.  The Box House was a high end establishment.  I was perfectly safe.  Right?

He led me down the hall on whatever floor we were on, the doors spaced quite a distance apart.  That told me we must have been on one of the upper floors, because I remembered the apartment-sized rooms were closer to the roof.  He stopped in front of a door with a number seven on it written in calligraphy.  He inserted an actual key and opened the door, smiling as he led me inside.

The place was huge.  He led me down a short hallway and I noticed a staircase on my right.  I was facing a wall of glass bricks, the natural light making the white leather sofas gleam.  The floors were polished oak and throw pillows in tasteful colors broke up the white color scheme.  On the other side of the staircase was a galley type kitchen with modern appliances.  I was staring out the door when I noticed the terrace.  It was snow covered, but I imagine it was breathtaking in the Spring.  The view was of Manhattan.

I turned to look up the stairs and I heard him toss his keys on the counter.

“Wine?  Beer?  Soda?”

I looked over and he had his head in the fridge.

“I’d love a bottle of water if you have it, thanks.”

“Fizzy or still?”

“Fizzy would be nice.”

I was walking towards the view, when I heard him putting ice in a glass behind me.  A few minutes later, he was standing next to me with a glass of bubbling water over ice in one hand, a beer in the other.  I took the glass from him and smiled.

“This place is incredible.  I understand why you chose it.  Nice view.”

“The master bedroom has floor to ceiling windows on one wall.  The view is even nicer from up there.  Especially at night.  The city twinkles like stars.”

I looked up at him while I took a drink of my water.  The bubbles tickled my nose and the bitterness of the carbonation reminded me of chewing an aspirin.  His eyes were still on the view and it hit me that I was staring at a man that was more complex than I’d originally assumed.  I’d labeled him based on the stories I’d been told and put him in a mental file titled, “Crazy Asshole”.  He was anything but.

“Tony, this place must be costing you a fortune.”

“It’s not cheap, but I’m not hurting for money.  It would’ve cost more to rent an apartment or a house because I would have had to sign a lease.  I checked into it.  I can check out of here tomorrow and no one would bat an eye.  I’m renting by the month, so they cut me a deal.”

“Oh yeah.  I’m sure it’s nice and cheap.”

He laughed and turned smiling eyes to mine.

I took another long drink from my glass and his smile grew bigger.

“I like you Mel’.  If I’d met you in Boston, I think I would have taken a shot.  You’re my kind of woman.  You’ve got spunk and you’re not afraid to stand up to me.”

I drained the glass of any remaining liquid and he took it from me to place it on a side table.

“Now see, that’s where you’re wrong.  You like submissive females.  I know that much about you, Sir.”

I raised my eyebrows and put the emphasis on, “Sir”.  He understood my insinuation and his eyes became hooded as he smiled.

“I like that word on your lips.  I bet you’d make an interesting Sub.  You’d keep your spirit and your fire and you’d be a hellion in bed.”

My vision blurred for a second and my head was getting fuzzy.  This was odd.  I felt like I was starting to lean a little towards the right, and Tony placed a protective arm around my waist, pulling me into his side.

He put his beer down and moved to stand in front of me.  Both of his arms went around my waist and I began to get nervous for the first time.  His lips went to my forehead and he took a deep breath.  His grip tightened and he pulled me into his body.

That woozy feeling was getting worse and I felt like I had stepped off a carnival ride that had spun me for far too long.  I couldn’t keep my balance and my limbs weighed a ton.  I was fighting sleep with all the energy I had left.

His hands gripped my ass and my eyes shot up to his.  That was absolutely the wrong move.  His lips sealed over mine and my brain fought to keep him out and push him away.  My arms were limp noodles at my side and if he released me, I’d hit the ground.

His tongue gained entry and stroked my own as he moaned.  He started rocking his hips against mine and panic set in.

I heard my own slurred words and they sounded detached from my body as if another person was speaking them from a different room.

“Tony stop.  What’s going on?  What are you doing?”

His lips moved to my neck where he nipped and began to suck.  I squirmed but I was a shell of my normal fighting self.  He chuckled and squeezed my ass, pulling me tighter against his body.

“It’s called an eye for an eye Mel’.  A Sloan has what’s mine, so I’m taking what belongs to a Sloan.  Seems fair to me.  Damn you smell good.  I like how you feel in my arms too.  I’m willing to bet that when you’re in my bed all hot and bothered, you’ll give as much as you take.”