Whiskey For Breakfast Page 10

  “It wouldn’t be pretty. I’ll pay you an extra hundred dollars if you go through with it.”

  “I need to make up a fee chart for the next time. I feel like you’re taking advantage of my services. Now lead me to the bar.”

  “I like that idea. You can never resist my body once you’ve had a few drinks.”

  I rolled my eyes. It was true. I was one of those affectionate drunks. I’d always been able to control my urges though before I’d met Nick and Savage. I think the alcohol in my system had some kind of chemical reaction with their pheromones.

  “I think you’re suffering from short term memory loss. Last time I checked it wasn’t me that was trying to resist anything.”

  “I’m starting to think I maybe made a mistake about that.”

  “Besides, you’ve got Susan now. I hope I get to meet her real soon.” I fluttered my eyelashes and made a beeline toward the open bar.

  “I’ll have a whiskey, neat.” The bartender must have sensed my urgency because he skipped over the three other people waiting at the bar and got me my drink. Or it could have just been he was enjoying the view of my cleavage since his eyes never made it to my face. I saluted him for the compliment and then knocked back half of the whiskey, not bothering to savor the taste.

  I felt Nick come up behind me and order a whiskey for himself. The woman next to us was tall and blond and polished, and dollars to donuts the diamonds draped around her neck were real. She looked Nick up and down twice and then licked her lips. To be fair, Nick was always worth a second look.

  I put my empty glass back down on the bar and signaled the waiter. The warmth of the first drink was sliding through my body and it was just enough to take the edge off.

  “Don’t you think you should slow down on the booze, sweetheart?” Nick asked before the bartender moved away. “The condom broke,” Nick whispered conspiratorially to the bartender. The blond beside us scooted closer so she could hear the conversation better. “She’s a little upset about it.”

  I turned to the blond, who was looking at us both with rapt fascination. “Don’t be seduced by the pretty face,” I told her. “I found out too late he’s got kids all over Savannah. And he doesn’t pay a dime of child support. How am I supposed to raise this kid, I ask you?”

  She shot Nick an angry look and moved away to seek out new prey.

  “Very nice, love,” Nick whispered against my skin. “If we do this all night my mother will never be able to set me up on another date.”

  “Another date?”

  “Yep. She ambushed me with Susan. She was already here for dinner when I showed up. And then I had to fake an emergency call from dispatch just to escape.”

  “So what you’re saying is we don’t need to kill Susan?”

  I felt his smile against my neck. “Jealous?” His breath sent chills down my spine and things were becoming rather uncomfortable in my nether regions. Nick had been right. Putting alcohol into my system while he was in the same room wasn’t the best idea. I’d have no ability to resist him if he put his mind to it.

  “Why would I be jealous? You’re free to date whoever you like. Just like I am.”

  “Maybe we should change the subject. Since you brought up the story for my mother, I don’t suppose there’s any truth to the broken condom theory, is there?” he asked.

  I choked on my whiskey and Nick slapped me on the back a couple of times. “It’s been two months, Nick. I can promise you that if there’d been a broken condom I’d have mentioned it by now.” At least I was pretty sure I would’ve mentioned it. “And I probably wouldn’t be swilling whiskey.”

  “It’s been a really long two months.”

  It had been an eternity. Mr. Incredible wasn’t cutting it anymore. I needed Nick in a bad way. His finger trailed up my arm and around the neckline of my dress. My nipples spiked to hard points and I think I stopped breathing.

  It’s a good thing we were interrupted by Nick’s father, otherwise I was about thirty seconds from grabbing Nick by the hand and heading to the nearest closet.

  An hour later, all my amorous feelings had disappeared. Nick’s dad looked a lot like Nick and Nick’s older brother David. The Dempsey men were all built like runners, with long, lean lines of muscle and broad shoulders. Nick’s dad had the same stunning blue eyes and dark hair, only his was just graying at the temples. Very distinguished and handsome for a man who had to be in his early sixties. That’s pretty much where all similarities stopped.

  My granny always used to say that all assholes came in different shapes and sizes and some were just smellier than others, but I’d never met an asshole as big or smelly as Charles Dempsey.

  “Nicholas,” Charles said, coming up next to us at the bar. He ordered another gin and tonic and I could tell it wasn’t his first. Probably more like his fifth. “Introduce me to your lady friend.”

  “This is Addison Holmes. And she’s armed, so watch your hands.”

  “You always go for the feisty ones. I hear you’re an exotic dancer.” Charles completely ignored Nick’s warning and leaned in close. “How much do you charge for private showings?” His hand landed on my knee and was going straight for the money pot when I grabbed his thumb and bent it back all the way to his wrist.

  Charles screamed like a girl and went down to his knees. I’d been faster reacting than Nick and by the look on his face it was probably a good thing. I was pretty sure I’d never seen Nick as angry as he was now. And he’d been angry at me a lot. Everyone in the room was looking our direction, but no one came over to see what was wrong. Apparently they were used to this kind of scene.

  Nick grabbed his dad by his tux lapels and hauled him to her feet. Charles swatted Nick away and straightened his jacket. He was white as a sheet and his face was clammy with sweat. “You bitch. Do you know who I am?”

  “A man who managed to sire a decent son despite being a misogynist asshole?”

  Nick stepped between us and I couldn’t see the look on Nick’s face, but his dad paled even more. “Go drink some coffee and sober up. I’d hate to have to arrest you for sexual assault, but I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

  Charles stood up straight and gathered as much dignity around him as he could. “You’ve never been anything but a disappointment to us, Nicholas. We gave you a future that you squandered. Joining the military and running off to do God knows what. Then coming back home and deciding to be some piss-ant cop. Two hundred years of Dempseys are rolling in their graves because of you.”

  “It’s probably good for them to get a little exercise,” Nick said, moving aside and helping me up from the barstool.

  I’d decided the best thing I could do would be to shrink away and pretend I wasn’t listening in on what should probably be a private conversation between father and son. Charles clapped his hand on Nick’s shoulder and held tight so we couldn’t walk away.

  “I’ll drop the lawsuit if you’ll agree to sign the money over to the company. No judge with a lick of sense is going to side with you over this. Your grandfather wasn’t in his right mind when he left everything to you. It was always agreed upon that the money would go back into the firm.”

  “Take your hand off me.” Nick’s voice was deadly and Charles must have gotten the hint. “As far as I’m concerned, grandfather was the only Dempsey who has ever been in his right mind. Now if you’ll excuse us, I need to go congratulate my brother.”

  I didn’t say anything as Nick led us through the crowd and away from his father. In all honesty, I didn’t know what to say. And I wasn’t about to ask what that last bit had been about with the lawsuit, though I was curious as hell.

  “Do you see my brother anywhere? I’ve made it about as long as I can.”

  I hadn’t officially met David yet, but Nick had pointed him and his fiancée out to me. They looked like a very nice couple, and I was starting to recognize that polished look of the really rich. Their bones were different. High cheekbones and high brows. They didn’t have a lo
t of facial expressions and they all looked the same. There was no one with any character in the whole bunch, and I was looking hard to try and find some.

  Nick had those upper crust bones too now that I looked closely. But Nick’s perfection was marred by a previous broken nose and the slash over his eyebrow. Not to mention his eyes had more living in them then everyone in the room combined.

  Nick and I were back at the double doors and a waiter stood just to the left of us and rang a tiny bell signaling dinner. This must have been a hungry group, because they filed out of the parlor and into the dining room like a herd of cattle.

  We followed behind everyone else, but we were halfway across the foyer when something caught my eye. I knew Nick had noticed it too because he stopped dead in his tracks. His brother David had broken out of the herd with a brunette I didn’t recognize and slipped through the door under the stairs. Considering his pants were unzipped and his hand was already up her dress I was guessing they weren’t having a quick business meeting before the rehearsal dinner.

  “What room is that?” I asked.

  “Half bath.” Nick’s jaw was locked again and the little veins were bulging in his forehead. I was starting to think being around his family was probably not good for his health.

  “Hunh. Maybe it’s not what we think. Maybe she needs help with her Spanx to go to the bathroom. Sometimes they’re hard to maneuver and you’ve got to have a friend help you out.”

  His smile was tight and I could see his disgust. “My brother is definitely a professional Spanx remover. If anything, David’s holding tight to the family legacy. They don’t take a lot of stock in saying vows before God. In the Dempsey world of law, there’s always a loophole somewhere.”

  Nick led me away from the dining room where everyone was being seated and back toward the front door so we could make our escape. But the hall doorknob rattled and we sprinted back to the parlor where the party had just been.

  David slipped out of the bathroom, straightening his clothes as he went to join the others in the dining room, and a minute later the brunette followed.

  “Well, I’m certainly glad you didn’t inherit that quality from the men in your family,” I said.

  “Infidelity?”

  “Premature ejaculation.”

  Nick laughed and some of the tension went out of his shoulders. “What do you say? Want to have dinner in here? We’ve got an open bar and trays of spicy meatballs and little quiche.”

  “You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet, babe.”

  Oh, boy.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Sunday

  The thing about drinking good liquor is that it doesn’t cause a hangover. So I woke up the next morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Only not in my bed.

  Nick and I had gorged ourselves on spicy meatballs and thrown back a couple of more drinks, and while we were doing it we managed to have a pretty decent conversation. I told him about the neighborhood watch and caught him up on what was happening with my mom and Vince, and he talked about sports and told me he was thinking of buying a boat.

  Nick never talked about work because apparently that was a no-no, though I’d suggested more than once that he might get some new ideas if he talked it out loud. Mostly I was just nosy and wanted to know what he was working on. I also understood perfectly well now why he’d never talked about his family before. If I had a family like that, I’d want to pretend I was an only child too.

  We’d filched a bottle of single malt from behind the bar and snuck out the front door when we heard people start moving around the house again. But then we realized we were both entirely too drunk to drive home and we ended up calling a cab.

  Somewhere between Nick’s parents’ house and my place, Nick decided he wanted me to look at his new kitchen cabinets and help him decide on a paint color for his breakfast room. Now I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday, so I figured this was his way of trying to get me into bed. It turns out he really wanted me to look at his kitchen cabinets and pick out paint. I’m not sure that’s saying a lot for me. In fact, I was more than a little peeved he didn’t try to make a move on me at all. I was wearing my best lingerie to drive him crazy, and I’d made up an entire speech in my mind I didn’t even get to use.

  “So what do you think?” he asked.

  “About what?”

  “The paint. I can’t decide what looks best with the cabinets.”

  I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that I was standing in Nick’s house. I had no idea where we were. He lived way outside of Savannah. I remember the cab heading toward Whiskey Bayou and wondering briefly if he was going to drop me at my mother’s house. And then the cabbie turned off the highway about halfway there and took a one-lane road through a bunch of trees that I never would have found even in the daylight.

  And then all of a sudden a little clearing appeared along with a house that looked like Frank Lloyd Wright on steroids. I couldn’t see it all that well, but I could see enough to know that it was the kind of house that couldn’t be bought on a cop’s salary.

  “You seriously want me to pick out a paint color? That’s why you brought me here?”

  His eyes sparkled with devilment and his mouth quirked in a smile. “Sure, why else would I bring you here?”

  I narrowed my eyes and looked at the rows of different color test paints on his breakfast room wall. “I like the yellow. It’s cheerful. Why aren’t you trying to take my clothes off?” In my head I knew I’d regret this conversation in the morning. But I was maybe a little more than drunk, and drunk Addison didn’t have a lot of filters.

  “You could probably seduce me pretty easily right now,” I went on. “And I like the look of you in a tux.” Something alarmingly close to a giggle escaped my lips and I saw Nick’s mouth twitch. I was starting to think maybe he held his liquor better than I did. I was mostly a cheap date.

  I stalked him so he was backed up against the kitchen table and I walked my fingers up his chest. He’d stopped smiling and his eyes turned so dark they were almost navy.

  “Addison—”

  “What? You said it’s been a long two months. It’s been a long two months for me too. And I’m afraid Mr. Incredible is going to short out he’s getting so much use.”

  “Not that I don’t appreciate the offer, but I’d prefer you sober. The next time I’m inside you I want you to remember it.”

  I was so turned on I was afraid my clothes were going to melt, and I pressed against Nick and nipped at his bottom lip. I wasn’t only an affectionate drunk, I was also an honest drunk. “I’m pretty sure you should take advantage of me now. When I’m sober I’m probably going to be mortified about my behavior and never want to see you again. Also, I’m pretty mad at you still, so this situation probably won’t help things.”

  Nick grinned at my confession and I might have giggled some more, but it was all starting to get hazy. All I knew was that Nick wasn’t totally unaffected by the way I was pressed against him. Either he’d started carrying his gun in the front of his pants or he was really happy to see me.

  “Why don’t I show you to the guest room?”

  “Why don’t we skip that and use this table? It looks sturdy enough. You look good enough to eat.” I licked my lips and Nick sucked in a breath at the implication.

  “Jesus. I’d better get massive points for this.”

  “Oh, it’s massive all right.” I waggled my eyebrows and went into another fit of laughter. And then I gasped as Nick picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and ran for the stairs like a bat out of hell. The rest of the house spun around me, and I was starting to think hanging upside down might not be the best idea considering all I’d had to drink.

  Then all of a sudden I was flat on my back in the middle of a large bed. The sheets were cool against my back and the ceiling fan spun lazily above my head.

  “Be back in a minute,” Nick said.

 
; “I’ll be waiting.” I got up unsteadily and stripped out of my dress so I only wore the black lace contraption and my high heels. I figured Nick was going to get protection and then we’d get down to business. I was having a sexual crisis. It turns out two months was a long time for me too, though I’d never thought so before when I was only having bad sex.

  Nick appeared a minute later with a stack of what looked like clothes in his hands, but he promptly dropped them as soon as he got a look at me.

  “Sweet holy mother,” he said. The bulge in the front of his slacks looked to be at Hulk proportions.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think I deserve a fucking medal.” He scooped up the clothes he’d dropped on the floor and handed them to me. “The bathroom is through there if you want a shower. There’s an extra toothbrush and other toiletries if you need them. I brought you one of my shirts and some sweatpants.” And then he shut the door in my face and left me in the room all alone. I stood there like a dummy a few minutes with my mouth hanging open before I realized he wasn’t coming back.

  I’d just been rejected by Nick. Again. I dropped back on the bed and tried to decide how upset I was but everything was blurry. I kicked off my shoes and pulled the comforter over me. Nothing wore a good buzz off faster than reality. And I’d just had a good dose of it.

  ***

  Despite the fact that I woke up without a hangover, I wasn’t in that great of a mood. I’d tossed and turned all night, switching back and forth between complete mortification and wondering what Nick was doing only a room or two away. I hoped he’d had as miserable a night as I had. It was the least he deserved.

  I’d ended up showering about three in the morning in hopes that the hot water would be soothing and finally put me to sleep, but mostly it had just made me experiment with the adjustable shower head. I checked the brand when I got out so I could have one installed in my own bathroom. I put on the sweats and shirt and crawled back into bed.