Fire and Desire (BWWM Romance) (5 page)

Antonio would blush if he knew the things Emily had him doing in her mind. The vibrator worked deep into her walls, hitting her g-spot, while the butterfly tip fluttered against her clit. Visions of Antonio in the shower naked with her made Emily call out his name as she came. Her legs went weak, and she balanced on the walls until she regained her composure. After drying off, she made her way to her bed and fell fast asleep.

The next morning, Emily woke up refreshed. Breakfast and a note awaited her in the kitchen. “To jumpstart your day.” She smiled at Antonio’s message before taking a bite out the bacon. It was nice and crisp, just the way she liked it. Emily wondered if he was like that with all his women employers or if it were an Italian thing.

The ringtone playing on her phone interrupted her thoughts.

“Hey, girl,” she answered.

“They accepted our offer.” Shayla’s voice was upbeat. “After sitting on the market for over a year, they were happy to have someone take it off their hands.”

“Oh my God!” Emily screamed. “It’s happening! This is really happening!” She was on her way to being the owner of an upscale lounge with private rooms for her girls.

“Yes it is! I’ll get the paperwork finalized but consider it yours. You have the passcode so do what you do best and work your magic.” Shayla voice reflected Emily’s excitement. “I have to get to a meeting, but I wanted you to know. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye!” Emily hung up and did her happy dance—a two-step with a spin.

Calming down a little, she searched her phone for the email address of a contractor she’d run into a few weeks earlier. She shot him an email, asking him to meet her at the building to check it out and quote her a price. Doing a time check, she realized she better get showered and ready for her next interviewee—another girl from the strip club.

At exactly ten-thirty, her doorbell rang. Ryan answered and called up to her. When Emily reached the den, Amber was already seated. She was dressed in jeans and a V-neck t-shirt, and her brown hair was pulled into a pony tail. Nothing about her appearance screamed adult entertainer, and that’s exactly what Emily liked.

“Hello, I’m Mercedes.” Emily held out her hand.

“I’m Amber.” She flashed a Colgate smile and returned a firm shake.

“Let’s get started…” Emily began her normal line of questions, and Amber answered each one as if it were a position for employment in the corporate world. After the Q&A, Amber impressed Emily with her exotic dancing skills. Emily enjoyed a girl who knew how to play to the camera.

Amber was definitely most men’s fantasy. “What would you say if I said I’d like to hire you?” Emily asked, breaking her own rules on hiring girls after their interview.

“When can I start?” Amber grinned. Her nose crinkled, making her freckles more prominent.

“I have a photo shoot planned for tomorrow in Miami, which is why I’m eager to hire you today. Are you available?”

“What time does the bus leave?”

Emily held back her laugh. “My girls
don’t do Greyhound. They fly unless they want to drive their own vehicle. Kenny will email you the details in a few hours, along with your welcome information for setting you up on the site. It was nice meeting you, and welcome to The Playhouse.”

On cue, Ryan showed up and escorted Amber out. His dark brown bald head glistened in the sunlight when he opened the door. With his broad shoulders and muscular arms, he resembled a black Mr. Clean.

Emily needed to get up to her office and do the monthly billing but wanted speak to Ryan first. “How do you like it so far?”

He turned from the closed door with a huge smile on his face. “What man wouldn’t want a job watching over beautiful women? I’m enjoying it.”

“I think they’re enjoying you as well. I saw the googly eyes Amber gave you. Just remember the rules. No dating my girls, and we’ll be fine.”

He nodded.

Emily reluctantly headed up the stairs. She hated doing the bills, but there was no way she was about to pay an accountant to steal from her. Celebrities were always having financial troubles due to their accountants’ failure to report. Emily alone handled the books and made sure Uncle Sam got his cut.

She took a seat at her cherry Oakwood desk and deducting out site maintenance for Kenny, security, and the girls’ pay. The girls moaned and groaned about getting a check or direct deposit instead of cash, but business was business. Their pay would reflect in her report to the IRS.

After deductions, Emily tallied her earnings to more than seventy thousand for the month, up by twenty thousand from the last quarter. Business was definitely doing well.

Emily was still amazed to see how many people would pay to go online and get their freak on but was happy they did. The online webcam business was booming, and The Playhouse was number one of the highest ranked sites. She was way more generous than most in the adult entertainment business, to ensure her girls stuck around.

Everything was falling into place for Emily. Her house and vehicles were paid for, and she could even afford her new building without having to make cutbacks. The only thing missing from the equation was her girl Janet to run the business with her. She missed her best friend. Janet hadn’t bothered to call in the past week even after Emily left several messages. It was very strange for Janet not to call at least twice a week, especially after she had finally landed her first acting job.

Emily finished up her accounting and called Kenny.

“Boss lady,” he answered.

“Are you free?”

“Always for you.”

She laughed. “Meet me in Buckhead for an early dinner at Imperial Fez in an hour. It’s on me.”

“What are you up to?”

“It’s payday, and I want to hand deliver your check. Just be there, okay?”

“Okay.”

“See you then.”

She hung up, grabbed her purse, and said goodbye to Ryan. It was time to fight traffic on I85 but not before calling Mr. Italian and thanking him for breakfast. Her insides moistened at the thought of him.

Chapter Four

Antonio had been up a few hours and still couldn’t get the look on Emily’s face out his mind. What had she dreamed as she dozed off during the movie? He knew the look of pleasure when he saw it. Was she trying to torture him? First she brushed against him, sending a jolt of energy through him and then the look.

“No, she’s your client, nothing more. Get it together. She probably has men lined up to be with her,” he said to himself.

He drove toward the northern suburbs, making his rounds to his other two clients to check on the status of his employees. Atlanta was full of celebrities, and he wanted to ensure his employees did a great job to continue booking them. Word of mouth was how he’d gotten started. It was also the way most businesses failed.

Antonio had been discharged less than a month when his childhood friend, now well-known actor, needed a fill in for a body guard. His friend joked that he really didn’t need protecting; it was merely in keeping with appearances. Antonio did the job, was paid well, and soon received calls for more jobs, which led to him starting his own company.

When he received an email from Emily, he assumed she would be older and white. From research, it seemed the majority of the market was run by older white men and a few white women, at least for the websites not focusing on the niche market of being all black, all Latino, or all whatever. The Playhouse was anything but niche. It was high end, and the girls were from all nationalities. He laughed at the thought of calling a webcam site high end, but from what he saw, it definitely was.

The brown beauty who answered the door had caught him off guard. Her amazing smile and slender frame with curves in all the right places were a turn on. Her sassy attitude reminded him of women like his mother. If Emily were Italian, she’d fit right in.

He wondered about the loser who left her stuck with a child. She didn’t provide much information other than he did nothing for his son. Antonio couldn’t wait to see her again, but for now, he needed to focus. He pulled up into the wraparound driveway of the mini mansion and parked.

***

The bourgeois hostess showed them to a small table in the back corner of the restaurant. After being ignored by the hostess until Kenny arrived, Emily wasn’t off to a good foot with their service. The hostess had the nerve to look at Emily as if she couldn’t afford the place, but when Kenny arrived, she all but fell over him to make sure he was seated.

“Charles will be your server,” she said to Kenny.

“I guess I’m chopped liver,” Emily joked as the woman walked off. She sat across from Kenny, checking out his linen outfit and freshly manicured nails. She admired how he dressed not quite hip hop but not uptight either. He was always nice and professional when he was around her.

“Nice place,” Kenny said.

“I’ve never been here, but they had high ratings. I checked out the menu online, so I know what I want.”

“Something to drink?” the waiter huffed at them like he had some place more important to be.

“Heineken for me, and the lady will have a Pomegranate Martini, please. We’re also ready to order, if you do not mind.”

“You remembered my favorite drink.”

Kenny smiled at Emily before address the waiter. “The lady will have the lamb and I’ll take the rosemary chicken.”

The server brushed across her to reach for the menu. Emily cut him the side eye. He could have simply asked her to hand it to him. He speed walked back in the direction of the kitchen. She adjusted her attitude and concentrated on the reason for meeting with Kenny.

“I just want you to know I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Without you, I don’t think my business would be as successful,” she started. “The constant updates you do on the pictures and designs keep the men wanting more. I think they come back just to see what’s new.”

“Me?” He shook his head. “You’re the one with the vision, and I admire that. You are a hardworking, dedicated, and independent woman. You saw something you wanted and went for it,” he replied in his British accent she had finally become accustomed to.

“Thanks, but this dinner is about your great work. You’re my right-hand man. I don’t know what I would do without you.” She pulled out a cashier’s check written out for ten thousand from her purse and slid it across the table. “Here’s a bonus for you.”

Kenny stared at it for a moment before speaking. “One day, you will see that it’s not the money keeping me around. Though the money is a plus.”

The waiter placed their food on the table. Without saying a word, he turned and marched away. Emily rolled her eyes as she watched him converse with white patrons at another table.

Her stomach growled at the sight of the lamb shank in front of her. It looked delicious. She forgot what she was about to say and took a bite. “This tastes amazing.” She swallowed the mouthful. “Are you going to be able to handle the girls in Miami without me? I want to meet with the contractor to get a quote on the building. It’s a go.”

His eyes lit up. “Really?”

She nodded. “Shayla called me this morning. I want to have everything in place to have the launch in three months. Time waits for no one.”

“You’re the boss. I’m sure the girls won’t be much of a bother.”

They gave each other a knowing look, then burst out laughing. Twenty wannabe divas on a photo shoot were worse than watching a room of kindergarteners. The laughter subsided, and they finished off their meals.

“Will there be anything else?” the waiter asked with annoyance. He’d hovered back and forth past them for the last fifteen minutes.

“I take it that’s the hint for us to leave?” Emily shot back, looking him up and down.

“We do have other customers waiting.” He reached across her and began clearing the table.

“I notice you didn’t pester the other party who arrived at the same time we did,” Kenny said, casting a glance in their direction.

“Do you know who that is?” he whispered like he was about to give them classified information. “That is the owner of the Hawks.”

“So freaking what! We’re paying just like he is.” Emily slapped a hundred dollar bill on the table, enough to cover the tab and tip, and made a bee line to the door.

“Wait up.” Kenny caught up to her. “That ingrate really hit a nerve, I see.”

“People like him always want your money but don’t want you to be seen. Did you even notice how the hostess walked us to a freaking corner table right next to the restrooms when there were plenty others in the middle of the restaurant? And how long it took him to even take our order in the first place? Not to mention the funky comment he mumbled after taking our order. The whole he knows how
we
never tip well so why even bother. Hell, I always tip very well. I mean, if the waiter does their job, like coming to the table and acknowledging our presence! You know what…never mind. I can’t believe I let his simple ass get my blood pressure up.” She stopped walking and crossed her arms.

“As you would say, you are a hot mess.” Kenny laughed. “Even if everything you just said was true.”