"More Than Friends: Brad" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rochelle Marie)

Chapter Two

Glancing down at the cell phone in her hand, Alicia wondered how she was going to present her boss’ idea to Brad. The last time the two of them had spoken to each other things hadn’t gone over too well. She left like she usually did and Brad was upset she hadn’t stayed to talk about their situation. So, she just couldn’t call him up, ask for permission to interview his entire family and think that he would agree to ask them about it.

Brad had asked her out on a date to spend the weekend with his family on vacation, but she’d turned him down flat. There was no way she could spend that time with him seeing how content and loving his brothers were with their families when she was so miserable with her own life.

No!

She wasn’t going to think about that. She loved her job, life and everything else that she had going on for her. Being in love wasn’t in the cards for her right now, so she was going to focus on her career and ending up where she wanted to be in her ten year plan.

Sure, a new job and a bigger bank account wouldn’t keep her warm in the middle of the night. Or listen when she had ideas about work when something good just popped into her head out of nowhere.

Most women needed a man at their side to make them feel worthwhile, but that wasn’t her. She was strong, independent and self-sufficient. She didn’t need anyone there to hold her hand or cuddle up with her on the couch to watch a late night movie.

She had gotten this far in life without help from anyone else and she would continue to do so and in the end all of her sacrifices would have been worth it.

How long are you going to keep lying to yourself, her mind taunted? You know that you want Brad in your life more than anything else in this world. Even landing a bigger office and position at the news station didn’t compare to how much she wanted Brad in her life, but it wasn’t going to occur. She had burnt too many bridges with him.

Alicia shook the crazy thought from her head. She couldn’t let her mind go down that road. She had to focus on one thing at a time. The most important item on her life’s agenda now was her career and she wasn’t about to change that for anyone. If love came to her so be it, but she wasn’t going out looking for it.

Okay, she had to stop thinking about this nonsense and get down to business. Shaking off her nerves, Alicia went over in her mind what she wanted to tell Brad and then dialed his number. The phone rang a couple of times before he finally answered it.

“Hello?”

Alicia tried to calm down her racing heart at the warm, rich sound of Brad’s voice. Just the tone of it sent her down a path of steamy nights rolling around in bed. Lord, it wasn’t right that one man could make her entire body melt with one spoken word. She had to keep her wits about her.

“Brad, it’s me, Alicia,” she spoke up when she finally regained her voice well enough to speak.

“Sweetheart, I know. I saw your name on my Caller Id, but I thought I was seeing things at first. How are you doing?” his deep, rich, tempting voice asked.

Sweetheart…Alicia wouldn’t admit it to Brad, but she liked when he called her that.

“I’m doing well.” Alicia kicked off her shoes and relaxed on the couch. Taking to Brad always made her feel so comfortable and peaceful, she didn’t know what it was about his tone but it did something to her.

“That’s good. Why are you calling me? I thought you told me that you weren’t going to talk to me anymore after our last conversation? What can I do for you?”

She heard the slight hesitancy in his words, but Alicia wasn’t going to allow that to stop her. “I need to talk to you. I know it’s late, but do you think that you can come by for a few minutes? It’s really important.”

There was a long pause and Alicia wondered if Brad was even going to answer her. Maybe he was remembering the last time they were together and it wasn’t sitting well with him. She might have ruined her chances spending any time with him and that hurt her more than not being about to do the project Tiffany wanted.

“Yes, I can come over. When do you need to see me?” Brad asked.

Alicia clutched the phone to her ear and sent up a silent prayer that Brad hadn’t blown her off. God, he was such an amazing man. He was going to make some woman a wonderful husband.

“Do you think that you can come over tonight? I know it’s very short notice, but it’s really important.” Please let him say yes.

“Tonight…” Brad said.

“Yes.”

“Okay, I think I can swing by there before I head home,” he replied and then ended the phone call before she could say another word.

Alicia looked at the phone in her hand with semi-shock. Did Brad mean that he was actually going to show up for her tonight because she had asked him? Would it be in the next hour or three hours from now? Well, it didn’t matter how long it took because she was going to wait up for him.

After he showed up and she confessed the reason she called him over to her house what would Brad tell her? He wasn’t the type of guy to tell her to shove the idea up her ass or anything. No, he was too much of a gentleman for that kind of comment. God…Brad agreeing to ask his brothers wasn’t the only hurdle that she had to jump over.

The other Drace brothers had to give the green light for it too, but Lee would be the hardest sell. He hated her with a passion sorely for the way she had treated Brad over the years. However, she couldn’t blame Lee for his low opinion of her. Brad had been open with his feelings and she constantly ran from them.

A sudden knock on the door drew Alicia’s away from her inner thoughts. Getting up off the couch, Alicia hurried over to the door and swung it open. She was glad that she was holding on to the door frame because if she hadn’t been she would have fallen over after looking at Brad.

Damn, was it right for one man to look this perfect without even trying?

Brad stood there, devilishly handsome and almost too much for words to even form in her head. His usually sun-blenched hair was slowly getting back to its naturally dark brown color since he was spending less time giving tennis lesson and working indoors more.

The porch light glimmered over his attractive face highlighting the angles of his features. His lips were firm and sensual which only enhanced his compelling eyes and the hint of a shadow of a beard that touched his jaw. It look like he hadn’t bothered to shave this morning and the little rougher look was turning her on.

Years of playing tennis and being athletic had given Brad a beautifully proportioned body with rippling muscles that strained against the white dress shirt he was wearing. Alicia couldn’t believe how acutely conscious she was of Brad’s tall physique. Slowly, Alicia dragged her gaze away from Brad’s powerful body up to his face. ”Wow…you got here fast,” Alicia said, hoping that Brad hadn’t noticed her drooling over him.

Brad smiled down at her making her heart skip that familiar beat. Damn it! He knew that she had been staring at him, but she wasn’t about to admit it.

“I was only about a block from your house when you called me,” Brad confessed. “I wanted to come over and see you since we haven’t spoken to each other in a while.”

How was it possible for Brad to be this handsome and sweet at the same time?

Alicia was so taken back that she didn’t know what to say, so she did the only thing that she could. “Would you like to come in and tell me why you were a block from my house when you don’t live anywhere near my neighborhood?”

Easing past her, Brad walked into her house making the large area suddenly seem a whole lot smaller.

“Well, are you going to answer my question?” she asked, closing the door behind her.

Sliding his hands into the pocket of his slacks, Brad spun back around to face her. “I was having the weekly dinner at Lee’s and some things happened, so I decided to leave early to come and see you. You don’t know how pleased I was that you called me.”

God, how could she have forgotten about the notorious weekly dinner at Lee’s mansion? Lee Drace was one of the bluntest men she’d ever had the displeasure to be around.

He wasn’t fond… No, he hated her and never had a problem telling her what he thought. It was a wonder that Brad was still even friends with her at all.

“You don’t have to stand there in the middle of the living room,” Alicia told Brad as she walked past him. Taking a seat on the couch, she waved her hand toward a chair across from her. “Have a seat.”

Instead of sitting in the chair she offered him, Brad decided to sit very close to her on the couch with an inch barely separating them. “Thanks, I would love to sit by you,” Brad said, trailing his finger down the side of her arm.

The light touch was making it hard for her to concentrate and control the shiver that raced through her body every time Brad touched her. Most women in town had a thing for the other Drace brothers and were devastated when they had gotten married and started families of their own. However, the man she was drawn to was sitting right next to her slowly driving her crazy.

“I don’t recall telling you to sit next to me,” Alicia teased as she leaned away from Brad instead of moving closer like she desired.

“Okay, I’ll stop messing with you.” There was a trace of laughter in his voice as he moved away from her so they were no longer thigh to thigh. “I’m going to be good. Tell me why you called me. Was it because you were lonely without me or were you craving one of my kisses?”

Nibbling at her bottom lip, Alicia pondered how to start off the conversation about what her boss Tiffany wanted her to do. She decided she might as well jump right into it.

“My boss called me into her office today and gave me a new assignment. I’m really excited about it. I mean if I do a good job this could lead to other things maybe bigger and better job opportunities.”

“That’s wonderful,” Brad replied, smiling at her. “What’s it about?”

“She wants me to do a special about some very influential men here in Houston.”

Brad tilted his brow, looking at her uncertainly. “I don’t think I’m following you. Why would you want me to come over to hear about you interviewing some men? Are you saying that you want to use me to make one of them jealous like you tried to do with Max?”

Alicia quickly shook her head. “No, it’s not like that. I apologized for that. Max wasn’t the man I thought he was. I’d have never asked you to do that for me. It was truly wrong and I’m sorry.”

“I know how it is to be in love with someone who doesn’t see you the same way. Now, let’s forget about Max and you finish telling me about this wonderful new job assignment.”

“I can’t believe how understanding you are,” Alicia said, surprised again by this unpredictable man. “Most men would have been so upset that they wouldn’t have said another word to me.”

Brad ran the tip of his fingers down the side of her face. “If you ever stop running from how you feel about me, maybe you will see that I’m not like most men.”

Alicia opened her mouth and then snapped it shut, stunned by Brad’s bluntness. It took her a second or two to regain her thoughts. “My boss wants me to do a story about you and your brothers,” she blurted out.”

Slowly, Brad’s warm fingers dropped away from her skin and then he moved back from her before completely getting up. A chill suddenly filled the room that she wasn’t prepared for and honestly didn’t want.

“Are you telling me that you invited me over here so you could get a news breaking story about my family?” Brad demanded glaring at her.

His expression grew harder and resentful as his mouth dipped into an even deeper angry frown. “You already know how private my family is. We don’t talk about our private lives unless we really have to.”

Jumping up from the couch, Alicia tried to approach Brad, but he took a step back from her. She wouldn’t admit to herself how much that slight movement hurt her feelings. However, she had to make Brad understand that if he didn’t agree Tiffany was going to do it on her own with another news reporter.

“Brad, the title of the story is ‘Why white men love and marry black women.’ It seems when a white man proclaims his attraction for a black woman not only sexually, but also romantically that it sometimes leads to a lot of controversy and sometimes even dangerous threats. So, the main focus of the piece will be why some influential white males are opening themselves to dating outside their races, despite any criticism that may come from it.”

Alicia watched as some of the anger left Brad’s handsome face, but it still didn’t look like he was going to agree to her request. If he turned her down she wasn’t sure what she would have to do to make him help her.

God…she wondered what Brad would think if he knew she wanted to do this assignment just to be able to spend more time around him.

Brad raked one hand through his dark hair giving it that tousled look that she loved so much. “I can’t give you an answer about this until I talk to everyone else involved and if one person doesn’t want it the answer will be no. I don’t care what your boss wants. Our final answer will be it, so don’t try to change my mind.”

The need to argue was pushing at her, but Alicia knew when to leave something alone and see how the cards would play out. “Okay…that’s fine. Go and talk things over with your family. I swear that I’ll do an excellent piece about your brothers and their families.”

Brad gave her one more look and then headed toward the front door. “Don’t count on hearing a yes because I can already hear Lee now, but I’ll ask for you.” Opening the door, he went out and then suddenly came back to her getting close, looking down at her intensely.

His mouth was on hers before she would move one muscle and just as suddenly the surprise kiss ended. “Have a good night, beautiful,” Brad whispered against her swollen lips before going out the door closing it softly behind him.

Pressing her fingers to her mouth, Alicia stared at the closed door wondering if Brad’s family agreed to the story how she was going to handle working so closely with him and keep up a distant attitude.