Society Girls: Sierra (3 page)

“In what way?” she asks, her eyes
narrowed.

“In every way. I want your
body in my bed, and all of you at my side for every event I have to
attend while I’m in town. I want you to cook me dinner, and
basically anything else I can think of. I’ll help you learn one of
the hardest languages in the world, and you’ll be mine. Whenever,
wherever, and
however
I want you.”

“I’m not that kind of girl.”

“It’s what I want,” I tell her with a
shrug.

“What else can I give you? I have some
money.”

I laugh right in her face. “I don’t need
your money, lindeza.” I can’t help but slip that term of endearment
in. She is more than pretty.

“You can’t have me.”

“Good luck, then.”

I start to walk away, but she grabs my arm.
“Wait.”

“Yes?”

“Yes. I’ll do it. I have some terms—things I
won’t do sexually—but I’ll sleep with you, and be your arm
candy.”

“Don’t forget the dinners, and whatever else
I can think of.”

“Why are you doing this? You could probably
have any woman you want.”

“I only want you. Only you,” I reply
honestly.

“My internship has to come first. I can’t
always be at your beck and call, and I may have to cancel on you if
I’m required to work.”

“I understand.”

“What if we’re not compatible.”

“In bed? I promise you will love everything
I do to you, Sierra. Your pleasure is of the utmost importance to
me.”

I don’t miss the shiver than runs through
her body at my words. She wants me. I’m pretty sure she wanted me
at the wedding, but for some reason, she fought her attraction to
me. This internship must be really important to her, and I couldn’t
be happier.

“When do we start?”

“Right now,” I tell her as I pull her to my
side, and walk back into the house. Game on.

* * *

Sierra

I’ve never had all conversation stop when
I’ve entered a room before, but it does now. Joel has his arm
firmly around me, and my brother looks like he wants to commit
murder. “Relax, querida,” Joel whispers in my ear.

“What does that mean? And
the other word you said to me.
Lind
-something.”

“Lindeza,” he says, spelling it out for me
with a smirk on his face. “You’ll have to tell me next time I see
you. What kind of teacher would I be if I just told you the
answers?”.

“This isn’t a joke to me.”

“Nor to me. I plan on taking our agreement
very seriously.”

“Hello, Joel. I wasn’t expecting to see you
here,” Reina says, walking up to us, along with Matt.

“Hi, Reina. It’s great to see you again,” he
tells her, kissing her cheek while Matt growls.

Now I remember. When Reina was in Europe,
she made out with Joel at a club. I’m pretty sure it was for some
kind of mission, but I don’t know if Joel is aware of that. Matt
must be, but he still looks pissed.

“I should go mingle,” I say, pulling out of
Joel’s embrace. I’m not in the mood for a testosterone contest
tonight.

“Go see your friends and I’ll find you
before I leave,” Joel tells me.

I nod, and practically run to where I see
Jen, and some of the other girls gathered. She laughs as I walk up.
“He’s bloody hot.”

“Yes.”

“You have to give us more than that,” Kalila
tells me.

“Yes, please. I need to live vicariously
through someone, and since Jen won’t talk about her hot boy bander,
you’re my only hope at the moment,” Neveah tells me.

“Wayne’s not mine,” Jen insists.

“I don’t think he knows that,” I reply with
a wink. He’s definitely hers, or he would be if she’d give in and
claim him.

“Anyway
. Back to you and the baseball stud. What’s the deal? You’ve
never even mentioned him.”

“We met briefly at Zack and Ainsley’s
wedding, although I doubt he remembers that. I went outside for
some air and I heard him finishing a phone call. He was speaking in
another language, which turned out to be Portuguese.”

“Ooh, did you ask him to be your sexy
tutor?” Matissa asks.

“No. Yes. I mean, we’ve come to an
arrangement.”

“Sex and education. I like that,” Jen tells
me.

“I have to cook for him, and be his arm
candy sometimes, too.”

“I wish I could help you more,” she tells me
getting serious.

“I know.”

I
do
know. We all have things we need
to work on, and while we’ve promised to help each other as much as
we can, we all have to pass. Most of us are meeting for two hours a
day to do all we can for each other, but we need to work out things
on our own as well.

“No more talk about our training. Sierra’s
brother is throwing this party to celebrate our internships. We
need to make sure all this food and booze doesn’t go to waste,”
Harlow reminds us all.

Camari shakes her head, but follows her into
the crowd, along with the rest of us. We have fun, eating, dancing
and drinking for the next couple of hours. I know where Joel is at
all times, because I can feel him staring at me like he’s
physically touching me with his eyes.

Ainsley kept Zack in line when I got up the
nerve to go over and see him. Joel was on the other side of the
room, so that helped ease the tension. He just congratulated me,
and gave me a big hug. I love my brother, but his tendency to be
overprotective can be a bit much at times. Thank God for
Ainsley.

“Are you ready to go, querida?” Joel asks
from right behind me. His hands go to my waist, and I have to fight
the urge to melt back into him.

“I’m not sure my brother’s going to be okay
with us leaving together.”

“He’s going to have to get used to it.
Unless you’re backing out.”

“I’m not.” I can’t.

“Let us say our goodbyes, then.”

I square my shoulders as he puts his arm
around them, watching Zack’s eyes narrow once again as we approach
him. “Cruz,” he growls.

“Taylor. This was a great party. Thanks for
inviting me.”

“I wouldn’t have if I’d known you were going
to hit on my sister. There’s a code, you know.”

“I live by my own code and no one
else’s.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Zack,” Ainsley says, a warning in her
voice, reminding him that I hate it when he gets like this with
guys.

“Goodnight. Thank you again. For
everything,” I tell them, pulling Joel to the door with me.

“That went well,” Joel tells me when we
reach my car.

“Should I follow you?” I ask, ignoring the
sarcasm in his voice.

“Follow me where?”

“To your place? Or were you wanting to come
to mine?”

“Not tonight, Sierra,” he tells me, taking
my keys from my hand and opening my door for me. He places a kiss
on my cheek, and hands the keys back to me before turning to walk
away.

What the Hell? I’m still standing there as
he gets into his sports car and roars off without a glance back to
me. Maybe this was all a joke to him. I don’t even know if he
really meant what he said about helping me. We didn’t exchange
numbers or anything. I shake my head to clear it a little, and then
drive myself home. I need to pass my language tests. With or
without his help.

Sierra

I’ve been ignoring my brother’s texts since
I left the party with Joel last night. I don’t know what to say to
him. I know what he’s thinking, but he’s wrong. Joel walked me to
my car, and kissed me on the cheek. I know I won’t be getting off
that easy for long, and I should be worried about that. I’m not,
which scares me. I shouldn’t want to to be with a man who’s only
helping me so I’ll sleep with him, no matter how hot he is. And
damn, if he’s not the hottest man I’ve ever come in contact with.
My panties pretty much burst into flames when he spoke to me with
that slight accent of his.

The banging on my door tells me I better
think of something to tell my brother, and fast. “Open the damn
door, Sierra. I know you’re in there.”

“What’s your problem, Zachary?” I ask,
complete with eye roll, when I open the door.

“Well, let’s see,” he says, storming into my
apartment as I close the door. “I throw you a party and you end up
leaving it with Joel Cruz.”

“Okay, and?”

“You don’t date athletes.”

“Maybe I do now.”

“You’ve just all of a sudden changed your
mind? For him?”

“Do you talk about all your friends with
such scorn?”

“No.”

“Is he an ass?”

“He’s cocky, but no. He’s a good guy,” he
admits with a sigh.

“Then why shouldn’t I date him?”

“I don’t know. Dammit. You’re my baby
sister.”

“I’m not a baby.”

“If he hurts you, I’ll kill him. I’m telling
him that.”

“Go ahead and play the protective big
brother for one conversation, but then you leave him alone. I mean
it.”

“Fine. I love you, Si.”

“Love you too, Zack. Now go home to your
wife, and let me get back to studying.”

“I’m really proud of you. You can do this. I
know you can.”

“Thanks,” I tell him, as he pulls me into a
hug before leaving.

I sit on the couch, pulling my Society
laptop onto my lap, and bringing up the Italian software. Reina
gave me an oral exam for Spanish, which I thankfully passed, so I’m
onto Italian now. She thinks it will be easier for me to try this
language next since it’s got some words similar to Spanish. So far,
so good.

I’ve only been in training for one week, but
it’s harder than anything I’ve ever done in my life. The main focus
of my studies is languages since I’m lacking there, but I also have
classes in the other nine components as well. I have classes once a
week for the areas I showed a strength for, three days a week for
the ones I did okay in, and five days a week for languages. We work
at our own pace towards passing, so while I share classes with all
nine other girls, I see some more than others, depending on our
strengths.

I don’t know how long I’ve been at it when I
get another knock on my door. Since I know no one but Society women
and their guys can get to these floors, I yell out for whoever it
is to come in. I’m not surprised to see Jen open the door. I set my
book aside and smile as Neveah, Matisse, Rose, and Rhieve enter
behind her.

“Hey, ladies.”

“We’re thinking of going out tonight. You
in?” Rose asks.

“Sure. I could use a break. Are the other
girls coming?”

“I want to invite Harlow, Kalila, and
Camari, but I can barely stand to be in the same room as Greta, so
I don’t know. It will be obvious if we don’t invite her,” Jen tells
me.

Greta is the blonde who was bitchy to us on
our first day. She hasn’t been any nicer since then. I don’t think
she understands the meaning of sisterhood, or cares about what
Reina told her. She seems to excel at everything else, though, so I
guess we’re stuck with her.

“I don’t think she’ll care,” I remind her.
“By the way, good job on not letting any ‘British’ slip into your
explanation.” She struggles with blending in since she’s used to
her slang and standing out everywhere she goes.

“Thanks,” she says, beaming at me. “I think
you’re right about Greta. We’ll invite everyone else. Meet you
downstairs at seven? We can get dinner first, and then dance it
off.”

“I’ll be there without bells on.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll explain it on our way back to our
floor,” Matisse tells her with a laugh. “Be sexy, but not slutty,
Si.”

“Gotcha.”

I smile as I close the
door, already knowing what dress I’m going to wear. I bought it
about a year ago, even though I had no place to wear it yet. I just
loved it, and it fit, so I splurged. I only wish Joel was going to
see me in it. Wait, no! I don’t want that, or him. Who am I
kidding? I totally want that man, despite the deal he’s made me
make with him. Or maybe
because
of it.

I try to put him out of my mind as I shower,
shave, and slide lotion all over my body. I don’t call him as I
slip on my shiny black dress with the sheer panels at the top, and
the fringe at the bottom. And I definitely don’t consider what he’d
think as I step into strappy black heels. Putting my hair into a
twist so the back of my dress is shown off proves that I didn’t
dress for him. He told me the other night that he loves my hair
down, but I’m sure that was just one of his lines. I’m going out
for me tonight, and not him. I don’t know how many nights I’ll have
like this, so I should make this one count. For me and only me.

That sentiment lasts
through a fun dinner with my friends, and even as we walk through
the casino to the club. It’s only when we walk inside, and I see
Joel, that I feel like I’m there for him, even as Greta is standing
too close to him, and he’s obviously flirting with her. A surge of
jealousy goes through me, and one word goes through my head:
mine
.

It takes all of my self control, but I turn
from them and walk over to our reserved table. I won’t cause a
scene. I’ve only known Joel for one night, and despite our
agreement, I know he’s not really mine. I’m his to do with as he
pleases, but there was never any reciprocity agreed to. I thought
he meant for us to be exclusive, but apparently I was wrong. Thank
God for condoms.

Strong arms circle my waist before I sit
down, and I inhale the scent that is uniquely Joel—a mix of woodsy
cologne, soap, and a hint of sweat—before he whispers in my ear.
“You have nothing to be jealous of, Gatinha. Flirting is in my
blood, but I belong to you right now.”