Romance: Luther's Property (52 page)

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Authors: Laurie Burrows

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Chapter 4
 

“Are you sure?” Nicole asked, her voice quivering with fear
and anxiety.

This was the biggest wedding that she’d ever done. So much
had been riding on this. If it was canceled, she would be completely screwed.

Nicole informed her boss that the celebrity wedding that
everyone had been looking forward to had been canceled. When she hung phone,
she felt like everything would turn out all right. Her boss was disappointed.
But he seemed to be keeping things in perspective. There would be other big
weddings, plenty of them.

Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case. An hour
later, he called back to inform her that her services would no longer be
needed. Nicole begged and pleaded for another chance. She wouldn't mess up
again. It wasn't her fault. But none of that worked. She was unemployed.

After she hung up the phone, she walked over to the couch
and let her head slump into her hands, clueless about what her next move would
be. But she was
 
sure about one thing:
Austin Daniels was a first-class asshole!

After about an hour of non-stop texting and calling, Jeffrey
finally decided to get in touch with her. He was in a loud place, probably a
bar. She could barely understand what he was saying. But basically he said he
was really sorry for having screwed up and he was going to make it up to her.
All she could think about was what she would have done if he were there in the
room with her. She felt like strangling him. She couldn’t believe that he had
ruined their anniversary. And on top of that he had given her such a lame
excuse. She had a very strong feeling that he was lying.
 

But she didn’t know what to do. If she accused him of
cheating he would probably act very defensive, whether he was guilty or not.
She felt so sick to her stomach. All she wanted to do was lay on the floor
crying. Instead of doing that, she sent him a stream of angry texts telling him
how much of a jerk he was. And how he wouldn’t be getting sex from her for a
long time. She meant all those things when she said them. And then she had the
strong urge to throw her phone across the room and watch it smash into little
pieces. She had never felt so insulted by someone She cared about.

She poured herself a glass of white wine and sat down on the
couch. She couldn’t even bring herself to turn on the TV. She just sat there
staring at the blank screen. What was her life coming to? Why had she decided
to come to New York City in the first place? Maybe she would have been better
off staying out west. She felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She
didn’t want to be on her couch, crying and feeling sorry for herself. But she
really had no idea what else she was supposed to do in this sort of situation.
She sent off a few texts to her friends to let them know what this asshole had
put her through. But she figured that they had their own Friday night problems
because they didn’t seem like they were in any hurry to respond to me.

She took her glass of wine over to the window and sat down
on the edge. The scene down on the street below was so vibrant and alive. It
seemed silly to stay in her apartment on a night like this. The loud sound of a
motorcycle almost made her drop her drink and it definitely snapped her back to
the present moment. The bike came to a stop at a traffic light right in front
of her window. The engine made a few loud sounds, thunderous sounds that made
her whole body shake. She began to wonder what it must have felt like to ride
around on that thing all day. And suddenly my mind began to wander again and
she thought about all of the things that might have been missing in my life.
Yes, she had this wonderful apartment in one of the hippest neighborhoods in
one of the hippest cities, but she still felt like something was missing. And
after being stood up by Jeffrey, she felt even stronger about it.

She was hoping that the guy on the bike would turn and look
at me. She wanted to stare at his face, gaze into his eyes. What was his life
like? How would her life be different if she went on the run with him? But he
didn’t turn and look at her. When the light turned green, he zoomed off.

She drank a few glasses of wine and walked around the
apartment listening to sad love songs. She was actually starting to feel
better, slowly putting the disappointment of the night behind her. But then she
heard a key opening the front door and all of the bitterness and anger came
flooding back to her. It was Jeffrey. Two hours after their dinner reservation
this asshole decides to come home.

She crossed her arms against her chest and kept her eyes
locked on the door. When he opened it, he had a big, stupid grin on his face.
That was his “ I fucked up please don’t hit me Mommy” face. It made her
absolutely sick. She wanted to throw her phone at him. But somehow she managed
to contain herself.

His tie was undone and the tope three buttons on his shirt
were unbuttoned. He had clearly been drinking. He walked towards her with that
same stupid grin on his face and his arms held out wide. He really thought that
he was going to be able to sweet talk his way out of this. There was no way
that was going to happen.

He wrapped his arms around her in the middle of the
apartment and she just stood there with her arms crossed against her chest. Not
only had he been drinking whiskey and beer but he had also been smoking. He
reeked of cigarette smoke. That pissed her off even more. He knew how much she
hated cigarette smoke. And he had promised her months ago that he had quit
forever. She wondered what other things he was doing behind her back.

“C’mon baby, what’s wrong,” he said. She was doing her best
to keep from screaming. She didn’t want to make a scene. The walls in their
apartment building were notoriously thin. If she raised her voice, everyone was
sure to hear it. She didn’t want to end the night with the police beating on
the door. Things were already bad enough.

She couldn’t keep quiet any longer. She sighed and pushed
him away from her.

“You know exactly what’s wrong,” She said. “You really
fucked up this time.”

That knocked the smile off his face. He lowered his eyes and
shook his head.

“I know baby, I’m really
sorry. It
’s
just that things have been really stressful at work, and she needed a release.”

“It was our anniversary!” She screamed.

 
He backed up. It was
beginning to dawn on him just how pissed she was.

Chapter 5
 

Austin rode his hog through the Manhattan streets until the
sun began to go down. He needed something to eat and he was definitely in the
mood for something to drink. A few shots of whiskey and some beers were just
what he needed. The lights and energy of the lower east side swirled around
him. Everywhere he turned he saw attractive women in funky clothing with all
sorts of piercings and tattoos. He didn’t really think these kids were bad ass
or anything like that. They were just copying styles that they had seen guys
like him wearing, or that they thought guys like him wore. But he didn’t feel
like spending much time worrying about that. He felt a lot more comfortable
here than he had felt in Midtown. He parked the hog and took a look around.

His body tingled with electric energy. There was something
in these streets that he hadn’t noticed before. Everyone seemed so alive and
happy. The only thing that bothered him a little bit was the humidity and the
smells. He had no idea that it could get this hot and muggy in New York. He was
in desperate need of something to quench his thirst and a nice young lady or
two who would give him the opportunity to strip out of his clothes. But he knew
that once he started really drinking he wouldn’t be worrying about the heat any
more.

The smells hadn’t caught him completely by surprise. Big
cities could stink like this when the weather got really hot. He knew that from
having spent a lot of time in LA. But this New York stench was much stronger
than any city stench he had ever encountered.

But this wasn’t the time to worry. He had a night to enjoy
himself and he was going to take it. Tomorrow he would have to make a series of
pickups and drop-offs and he would really have to focus and take care of
everything in a very professional manner. Tonight was the night for him to
experience some fun and maybe even some sex in a far off place. He wanted to
return to the west with plenty of stories to tell.

A group of giggling girls in short skirts passed him walking
arm in arm. Austin’s eyes lingered on the girls’ supple pale flesh. He could
feel his dick getting hard in his pants. He reached down and squeezed. He could
feel every part of his body crying out for pleasure, crying out for communion
with another body. “Damn,” he said to himself under his breath. “My cock is so
damn hard”. He’d been riding for days and days and he hadn’t taken any time to
masturbate while on the road. And he hadn’t stayed in any place long enough to
really dig his claws into any girls. And dig his claws was exactly what he did.
And it usually only took him a few days. But on this journey he hadn’t had that
much time.

“Ahhhh”, a girl screeched close to Austin’s ear. Then he
felt several bodies bumping into him. It was a group of three girls. They had
all fallen to the concrete. There were two drunken guys standing over them
swaying back and forth, side to side, with wild looking expressions on their
faces. Austin immediately assessed the situation. He was no stranger to
conflict. And he was no stranger to street fights. If he had to fight these
guys, he gladly would. Besides, he seemed much more muscular and imposing than
either of them.

“Are you girls all right?” Austin said, helping the girls
back to their feet one at a time. When all three of them were back standing up
on their sexy heels, Austin took a good look at them. Blondes and brunettes,
they were skinny with lots of makeup. Austin felt his cock getting hard in his
pants. Once again he couldn’t resist squeezing the hard bugle. One of the girls
he had helped up, a blonde with pretty blue eyes, could see that he checking
all of them out. She smiled and licked her lips. Apparently, she was enjoying
all of the attention.

“Yes, we’re okay,” the blond girl said to Austin, her eyes
twinkling with lust. Her eyes roved up and down the bad boy biker’s sexy body.
She stopped and lingered when she got to the crotch area. She seemed impressed.

“Who the fuck are you, man?” One of the drunken guys said to
Austin.

The blond girl put her hand on Austin’s arm.

He turned to look at her, “You know these guys?” He asked.

“Not really,” she said. “We had a few drinks with them and I
guess they thought they were going to get something out of us.”

Austin took in all of the girl’s words. He also kept his
eyes locked on the two guys who didn’t seem to know what to do next.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind getting something else out of you,”
Austin said with a wicked smile. He didn’t need to say any more. The girl
seemed to know exactly what he was talking about. She slipped her arm inside of
his and they began walking down the street. All the two drunken guys could do
was stare as Austin walked off with one of their girls. The girl's two hot
friends didn’t spend much more time standing around. They hurried down the
block to catch up to Austin and their blond friend.

Chapter 6
 

She was still standing with her arms crossed against her
chest. For the last five minutes, Jeffrey had been mumbling excuses and
apologies. She was getting sick of hearing from him. But for some reason she
couldn’t bring myself to kick him out of the apartment. So she opened another
bottle of wine and poured myself a drink.

“Oh baby, I have an idea. It’s a really good idea,” Jeffrey
said, his eyes growing wide with excitement. She sighed and looked away from
him. She really wasn’t in the mood for his idea but she knew that wouldn’t stop
him from telling her.

“I’ll order Chinese take-out,” he said. “Delivery will take
too long. I’ll go to the place down the street and I’ll pick up some beers.”

Spending the night in the apartment was certainly not what
she wanted but it was better than nothing. She could feel myself beginning to
calm down and slowly regain her composure. There was only so long that she
could be mad at him. There was something so pathetic about him when he was
trying to make up for something he did wrong.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly. It
felt good to feel his body so close to mine. She could hear him crying and
sniffling in her hair. She pulled her head back and looked into his eyes. She
had never really seen him this emotional. She began to worry that maybe there
was more going on than she had suspected.

“What’s wrong?” She asked. “I know you didn’t mean to mess
things up.”

“But I almost always mess things up,” he said wiping away
tears and sniffling. “It seems like everything I do these days goes wrong.”

She didn’t know how to respond. She’d had never heard him
talking so negatively about himself before. And there was only so far that she
was willing to go with consoling him. He had screwed up. Big time. And she wouldn’t
let him forget. Not for a long time. Maybe never. But there was no point
arguing about it anymore. We were either going to make the most of the night or
there was no point being in the apartment together. And she definitely did not
want to be alone.

“Okay, baby,” she said. “I like your idea. Why don’t you get
the food and I’ll prepare the table.” When she said that, she could see his
mood begin to lighten. He stared at her timidly, as if he were afraid that she
might hit him or something. It was so weird to see him like that. It was also a
real turn off. That may have been the moment when she began to hunger for a
real man; a man with some balls, a man that could pick her up in his arms and
take her to some far-away place. She wanted a man who would be able to take her
on whirlwind adventures. And that’s not what she was getting from this
relationship and, when she really thought about it, she realized that she’d
probably never get anything like that. She sighed again and wrapped her arms
around Jeffrey’s thin shoulders.

He squeezed her back and whispered in her ear that he loved
her. Usually when he said that, she was very quick to respond that she loved
him too. But in that moment, she felt something holding her back. She couldn’t
bring myself to say anything to him. Her tongue seemed rooted to her mouth.

So instead of saying anything, she kissed him softly on the
lips and smiled at him. That appeared to be good enough for him. A few minutes
later he went out of the apartment and headed for the Chinese restaurant down
the street.

A weird feeling came over her body. She couldn’t quite
figure it out, what it was or where it had come from. This was turning out to
be such a strange day. When she’d woken up in the morning, She had been filled
with energy and excitement. She couldn’t wait to celebrate her third
anniversary with her lovely boyfriend. But all of those hopes had come crashing
down in a matter of hours.

She had been really looking forward to being intimate
tonight. Both Jeffrey and she had been working like crazy over the past few
weeks and there had barely been time for us to embrace each other, let alone
have sex. She had felt her body calling out for his and this was the time that
we would be able to really take our time pleasing each other.

Fifteen minutes later, Jeffrey came back to the apartment
with a bag of steaming hot Chinese food and a six-pack of beer. She’d already
had several glasses of wine and she could feel her head beginning to lighten.
Jeffrey must have noticed the slightly tipsy look in her eyes.

“I see you’ve been dipping into the wine,” he said. “You
must want to get naughty tonight.”

Nicole couldn’t help giggling and she quickly covered her
mouth. She was supposed to be mad at him. She was supposed to kicking and
cursing and screaming and threatening to end the relationship. But despite all
that, he still had a way of making her laugh and breaking down her walls. Maybe
that’s why she’d fallen for him in the first place. Nothing she did was capable
of really throwing him off his game. She loved that. She really did.

She twirled her hair around her fingers and stared at him
seductively, as he laid the food out on the table. Normally she would have been
the one setting the table but tonight she felt it was appropriate for him to
take care of that. It was the least that he could do. So he wasn’t going to get
any pats on the back from her, but she was glad that he was taking a little bit
of responsibility for himself.

After he had put all the food on the plates, Jeffrey came up
behind her and put his hands over her eyes. His skin felt warm against her
face. The feeling made her smile.

“Do you promise to keep your eyes closed?” He asked. “She
felt giggly and giddy inside.

“Yes,” She said in her best, little-girl voice.

“And you promise not to open them until I tell you to?”

“Yes,” she said again.

He pulled his hands away from her eyes and a few seconds
later he told her to open them.

When she did, she almost fell off the chair she was so
shocked by what he was holding in front of her face.

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