Chapter Eight
Xavier
I didn’t have an answer to her question. Not one I was ready to share just yet, anyway. I felt too much anger. The hurt and pain, and mostly shame I saw in her eyes when she talked about her ex, was too familiar. It made everything in my body vibrate with anger.
At that moment, I truly understood what the phrase “to make someone’s blood boil” was all about. I could feel my temperature rise as she told me about the first time he’d put his hands on her. When she only nodded after I’d asked her what he’d done after my visit to their apartment, I saw red. And to know he tried to give some whack ass apology? Nah, he wasn’t getting off that damn easy. But she didn’t need to know that, so I kept that information to myself.
“You don’t have to tell me yet.”
I brought my attention back to her face and her eyes that were now filled with sadness. I didn’t want her to feel rejected, but I wasn’t ready to reveal that ugly part of my past. I knew it was hypocritical of me to have gotten on her for lying to me about her ex, and here I was, withholding information about my history. But the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I tilted her head up to mine and pressed my lips to hers.
There was some resistance on her end. She still wanted to talk. I didn’t. Her resistance melted away as she opened up and moaned into my mouth. The sound immediately shot to my dick, causing it to jump in my boxer briefs. I bent at the knees, not breaking contact with her lips, placing my hands behind her knees and standing, wrapping her legs around my waist. Her fingers came up, grabbing at my shoulders and pulling me closer. The tension in my groin grew as I carried her down the hall, and we barely made it halfway up the stairs before I had to lay her down. The heat from her core against my waist had my dick ready for entry. But first, I wanted to taste her.
Breaking free of her lips, I pushed her back against the carpeted steps and eased the oversized T-shirt up over her hips. I used my shoulders to push her legs apart. At that moment, I looked up to see her glazed eyes peering down at me, her lower lip tucked in between her teeth, anticipating my next move. Keeping my eyes on her, I lowered my head and swiped my tongue over her tight button. A loud gasp escaped Chanel’s mouth as her head fell back against the stairs.
I grinned as her sweet aroma floated up to my nostrils, and my stomach muscles tightened in anticipation. Pulling her clit in between my lips, I sucked and rolled it between my tongue and roof of my mouth, eliciting another round of moans. I felt Chanel’s hand come up and grip the back of my head, as if to keep me in place. She didn’t have to worry about that. I was even more anxious to feel her legs tremble as she came than she was. I used my tongue and mouth to massage her sex until finally that telltale shaking of her legs commenced and a flush of moisture coated my lips. The tightening of her legs around the sides of my head encouraged me as I continued to lick her through her orgasm.
By the time she came down from her high, my dick was rock hard. I scooped her up and somehow carried her the rest of the way to my bedroom.
“Anxious much?” she questioned saucily when I placed her down on my bed and made quick work of ridding her of the T-shirt.
I didn’t bother answering. The huge bulge in my briefs was response enough. I stared down at her naked body, my mouth watering as I took in the view of her round breasts, topped with areolae the color of cocoa powder and nipples the color of dark chocolate. At that thought, my mouth watered to taste those round mounds. I didn’t even have time to make my move before I felt Chanel’s hand snake its way into my briefs, stroking me.
“See something you like?”
“That feels good, baby girl.”
“I missed you calling me baby girl.”
Our eyes connected after her confession and I swear my dick swelled even more. I’d call her ‘baby girl’ and anything else she wanted to keep this feeling between us. With her hand still on my shaft, I climbed onto the bed over top of her, easing her onto her back and making room for myself between her legs. Reaching over her head to the nightstand, I opened the top drawer and pulled out a condom.
“Push my boxers down,” I instructed, right before dipping my head and sucking on Chanel’s earlobe. She did as requested in the midst of more moans. With my boxers down around past my hips, I pulled back, tearing open the condom wrapper. I briefly noticed Chanel’s eyelids raise when I covered myself, but neither one of us had time to think as I covered her mouth with mine and slid inside her moistness.
We groaned into each other’s mouths as I filled her all the way up to the hilt. Taking both her hands and intertwining her fingers with mine, I raised them over her head against the pillows, using our hands as leverage to lift my upper body up slightly. I needed to look down at her as I plowed in and out of her. Her eyelids were half-closed, mouth agape, forehead wrinkled as she took me deep inside her.
“Look at me.” I pulled almost all of the way out. When she finally looked up, I forcefully pushed all the way back in and swiveled my hips against hers to make contact with her swollen clit.
“This pussy is mine, right?”
“X—ah!”
Any admittance to my question was cut off by another downstroke.
“I can’t hear you. This is mine, right?”
“Ye—” Another plunge of my hips.
“What was that?” I questioned through gritted teeth.
“Dammit, Xavier!” she hissed at me.
I chuckled and raised her arms even farther over her head. I lowered my head, so my lips just brushed over hers.
“Say it.”
“It’s yours.”
“You’re mine.”
“I’m yours.”
A rush of heat shot through my entire body and I bottomed out in her pussy. It didn’t take long for her orgasm to crest, the tightening of her walls gripping my dick and bringing about my orgasm. I lowered my head to the space in between her head and shoulder and grunted. Her arms tightened around my shoulders as her legs tightened around my hips.
When I finally caught my breath and realized I’d been laying my entire body weight on top of her, I adjusted our positions so she was sprawled out on top of me. My body shivered at the light touch of her fingers grazing my chest.
A few minutes later, she sat up, resting her hand on my chest and pressing her chin against it, so she was staring directly at me. Those big eyes of hers held me rapt, saying everything and nothing at the same damn time. She drew her other hand up and began outlining my lower lip with her pointer finger. The quiet of the room was broken by her giggle when I opened my mouth and bit the tip of her finger.
She sighed. “I missed these lips,” she admitted, once again using her finger to outline my mouth.
“Is that all you missed?”
“Not even the half of it.” She ducked and pressed a kiss to the middle of my sweaty chest. It was a small gesture, but one I felt all the way to my toes. “Are you leaving again?”
That question accompanied by her hesitant tone made my entire body stiffen. My lips turned downward, and I used my hand to lift her chin, so her eyes were once again on me.
“What?”
“I mean, is this...you and me? Are we together?”
“You’re mine. Always have been.” The sureness of my answer was revealed in the steadiness of my voice. “Don’t ever forget that.” I reached down and squeezed her ass, causing another giggle. I was thankful she didn’t ask any more questions about why I’d left in the first place. I’d answer those in due time. Right now, I just wanted to spend the day in bed with her. Reveling in what I’d missed for so many weeks. I had to leave again for work in a couple of days, and I planned to spend as much time with her in my bed and me inside her as possible.
“That can be arranged,” she agreed, alerting me to the fact that I’d said that last part aloud. “As long as you don’t mess up my hair anymore,” she added, patting the wild mane around her head.
“I thought you were on your India Arie.”
She frowned at me, confused.
“I am not my hair. Your hair is kinda wild though,” I laughed, tugging on a few of her wild strands.
“Shut up!” She smacked my chest.
“Nah, I like it tousled like this though. Reminds me of how it got that way.” I raised my eyebrows, wiggling them at her. The laugh she was barely holding in burst out and my chest did the same. This feeling right here is what I’d been missing for the last month, and I was determined to ensure it remained between us. I pulled her back down to lie on me.
“I have to leave for Vegas on Monday. So, that only leaves today and tomorrow for us to spend time getting reacquainted.”
“Are you asking me to spend the weekend with you or telling me?”
My smile widened, and my hand paused in her hair. “What do you think?” I wasn’t asking, and she knew it.
She laughed and shook her head. “What am I going to do with you?”
“I can think of a quite a few things,” I growled, biting her ear as I adjusted our bodies, so she was once again underneath me.
****
I stepped off of the private plane and into the stifling Las Vegas heat. Nevertheless, I felt better than I had in a long time. I paused to button the middle button of my gray Hugo Boss suit jacket and made my way down the steps to the tarmac. This trip was for business, but it felt like it might as well be for pleasure as long as I’d been planning this project. The only thing that would’ve made it better would have been to have the woman I’d reluctantly dropped off at her condo this morning by my side instead of back in Houston. But this wasn’t one of my grand openings, not yet anyway. We still had a ways to go until the actual restaurants were up and running, but this trip was making that day one step closer. My hands twitched with anticipation as I reached the waiting Lincoln Town Car. The driver held the door open for me.
“Welcome back, Mr. Grant,” Marshall, my usual driver when I was in Vegas, greeted.
“Marshall, how are the wife and kids?” I inquired.
“Great, sir. The wife’s still begging to leave Vegas though.”
“Still looking for more beach time, huh?”
The older man shook his head and chuckled. “You know it.”
“Can’t blame her.”
“Eh, who needs the beach when you’ve got the Strip?” He looked genuinely perplexed.
“Can’t argue there,” I agreed as I climbed in the backseat. A few seconds later, Isaac, who’d accompanied me on the trip, got in on the other side. My phone buzzed with an email from my assistant, Bryce.
Your 11:00 appointment is finalized, and the reports are attached.
Today I was meeting with the owners of the two casinos where I was opening my two latest restaurants. It was an ambitious move on my part, opening not one but two spots in Vegas at the same time.
“Anyone else trying this move, I would’ve said they were crazy as hell,” Isaac stated as he sat next to me.
“But you already know I am a little bit crazy.” I didn’t bother to look up from my phone as I typed my response back to Bryce.
“To be this successful you’ve got to be at least a little crazy.”
I chuckled.
“I’ve heard that before. Now, tell me something I haven’t heard. Tell me about Rossi’s employees.” It’d been Isaac’s responsibility to do some maneuvering to make sure Rossi’s employees were ready to jump ship, and I had it planned out that they would swim right over to me, as my employees.
“He’s losing employees faster than the Titanic.”
“And we’re rescuing them, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good.”
We rode in silence most of the way to the hotel where we were staying, which just so happened to be where one of the restaurants was scheduled to open. Within thirty minutes I was entering my hotel suite on the top floor with a spectacular view of the strip below. Despite the magnificence of the room, I wasn’t there to indulge in luxury. I was there to get some shit done. Even before unpacking I pulled out both my laptop and tablet, plugged them up at the desk in my spacious bedroom and began printing out the reports Bryce had emailed me earlier, thanks to the in-room printer I’d requested ahead of time. After that task was completed, I spent another hour or so finalizing some other issues that needed addressing, and confirmed my dinner appointment for that night, not too far from the hotel. As I stood to stretch, there was a knock on my door.
I strolled to the door, checking the peephole and seeing that it was Isaac before opening.
“You ready?”
“Yeah, let me grab these reports. You have the copies for everyone else, right?”
“In my bag.”
“Cool. Let’s go.”
Within the next twenty minutes, I was seated in a huge conference room amongst two owners of the hotel and casino I was currently staying in, as well as the two owners of a hotel and casino within walking distance. Both their businesses would house my new restaurants, and our meeting was to discuss exactly when we’d begin renovations.
“I must say, Mr. Grant, your reputation precedes you,” Daniel, one of the owners stated as we all settled in. Though I’d met many of the members of this group on numerous occasions over the last eighteen months, this was my first time meeting Daniel.
“I’m glad to hear it.” I slid the report out in front of me before standing. “Let’s get down to business, shall we, gentlemen?”
Over the next few hours, we spent time negotiating contracts, hours of operation, menu ideas, design and spacing, and all the big and little details that go into making a restaurant. We were now in the phase of hashing out the more minor and persistent details, and it took digging my heels in when the owners didn’t want to comply. Especially on one particular issue.
“No way, we can’t pay the staff those wages.”
“Then this has all been a waste of time,” I answered back.
Jeff, one of the owners who normally wore his poker face pretty well, looked at me as if I were insane, before putting his casual expression back in place.
“You’ve got to be kidding, Xavier. You know the typical hourly rate for wait staff, and you want to double that—?”
“More than double,” I pointed out. The hourly salary I was planning on paying staff was more than double the typical hourly wage.
“And you don’t expect this to cut into your profits? I mean, we’ll win, either way, seeing as how we’re earning a twenty percent cut off the top, regardless,” Daniel interjected.
I nodded in agreement. “Right and what I know more than you gentleman is how to run a successful restaurant.” Emphasis placed on the word successful. “I know wait staff like the back of my hand, and I know how to avoid employee turnover. I’ve found that when you treat employees well and pay them generous wages, we reduce the amount of turnover and increase loyalty. Meaning, we have more employees willing to go above and beyond.
“Now, I know you’re all astute businessmen. I’m sure you wouldn’t be in this room if you weren’t.” I paused looking around into the eyes of each person in the room. “So, far be it for me to tell any one of you how to conduct your business. But, as for me and mine? I’ve built a multimillion dollar business off of learning from experience, and in my experience treating others the way they want to be treated is the way to go. And that includes high wages. And if we can’t agree on that, then we can’t agree on anything else, and we’ve all wasted the months we’ve put into these projects.”
It was a huge risk, but one I was willing to take. I wouldn’t back down. I was a businessman, sure enough, but I also stuck to my core beliefs when it came to running my company.
Looking around the room, I watched the stony faces of the men. They were just as astute and sure of themselves as I was. I wasn’t going to intimidate them into backing down, but I knew they were logical as well. I’d talked about reducing turnover and increased employee loyalty, which all amounted to decreased profit loss for the business in the long run. And yes, what Daniel had said was true, they would make a profit off my restaurants either way, because they would be housing them. However, if my restaurants failed, they’d be out profits for the time it would take to open up a new restaurant, which could take months or even years. Thus, it was mutually beneficial for us to make this work.
“All right, Xavier. We can agree on the wages. Now, let's work out the rest of this deal.”
I looked around the room as everyone stood and began shaking hands.
“Rossi’s going to lose his shit,” I heard Isaac say under his breath next to me.
I gave him a half-grin while a feeling of pure satisfaction rushed over me. This was one of my most lucrative deals to date, and the fact that its completion was the final blow to a past business enemy was just more icing on the cake. My fingers were just itching to get the necessary papers signed and finally get the renovations completed. The deadline I’d set for the completion of the renovations was by the end of the year, which meant I had less than four months to get this shit done and open.
“I think it’s time to pay Rossi a visit,” I casually said to Isaac. The outlines of his eyes wrinkled a bit as the satisfied smile spread over his face. I was sure it was a mirror of the look I was giving him.
****
“Dominic Rossi, please?” I asked the female assistant who sat at the front of the spacious office on the bottom floor of a two-story building a few blocks from the strip. I leaned against the counter, crossing my legs at the ankles and looking around the nearly empty office space. I could tell at one time the office had been more robust with activity, but the two opened doors farther down the hallway that sat bereft of any furniture, save for a desk, told the story. Rossi’s company had been leaking employees and money for some time. The closing of his restaurants here in Vegas was the final straw that broke this camel’s back.
“I’m sorry, what was your na—?”
“Just tell him I’m an old friend.” I gave his receptionist an endearing smile, which caused her cheeks to turn a particular shade of crimson.
“Mr. Rossi, there’s a-an old friend here to see you.” She hesitated when she turned her green eyes on me.
I stared intently, waiting to glean any reply from her expression. When her forehead crinkled and her eyes flashed back to me, I knew she was debating on whether to ask me for my name again.
“Xavier Grant,” I told her without her prompting.
“Xavier Grant,” she repeated into the phone. “Oh, okay.”
I straightened as she hung up the phone.
“I’m sorry, but Mr. Rossi is extremely busy today and he can’t…” Her lie was cut off by my laughter. I knew he would try to avoid this meeting any way possible, but not today.
I turned to Isaac, who’d remained quiet since we entered the office. “You can wait here. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
“Wait!” I heard the shrill voice of the receptionist as I began walking to where I assumed Rossi’s office was.
“It’s okay, doll. He’ll only be a minute,” Isaac’s voice interrupted the receptionist’s calls to my back.
A minute later, I was standing in front of the open door of Dominic Rossi’s personal office. His head was down, looking at the files in front of him, but as soon as I entered the room, his head came up. He’d aged since the last time I’d seen him, and not in a good way. His once dark and shiny hair was now a dull gray. The usual tan skin that spoke of his Italian heritage was more beet red. He’d put on some weight to his already stocky frame. Stress had a way of doing that to people. Shock, surprise and a slight twinge of fear all ran across his face.
“I would’ve expected you to have a better poker face than that, considering how long you’ve been in Vegas.”
“Xavier Grant,” he stated, sitting back in his chair, squinting. “You’ve got some nerve , strolling into my office like this.”
“I do,” I agreed as I took the seat directly in front of him. Resting my arms on either side of the chair I glanced around. “This place is smaller than your old office. What happened, Rossi?”
Just like his receptionist out front, his cheeks flushed red, but his was out of anger .
“What are you doing here?”
I smiled for the first time since entering his office, but it wasn’t friendly. “What? No ‘welcome back, Xavier’? I mean, it’s been, what? More than ten years since we last saw one another?”
“Cut the shit. You aren’t here for any goddamn welcome party.”
I nodded, conceding. “On that account, you’re right. I’m here for business.”
His eyes narrowed to slits.
“Yes, I know. You’re surprised. Anyway, I just signed two deals to open restaurants not too far from here. In fact, if you look out your window right over your shoulder, you can see the top of the casino where one of my restaurants will be. I’m naming that one Junior’s, since I named my premiere restaurant in Houston Grant’s already.”
By the time I finished, Rossi’s eyes had doubled in size as realization sunk in.
“You bought out my place!” he seethed.
My lips parted as I began telling him the news I’d been waiting for God knows how long to impart. I stood, placed my hands on the edge of his desk and leaned over him. “I’ve waited ten years to ruin you. Unlike you, I have the patience of Job when I need to, and it has paid off. Not only did I buy out your failing restaurants, but I was also the one who reported your poor business tactics to the Better Business Bureau, recruited your top chefs, and promised to double the pay you were giving them. The contracts are signed, deals are done, and renovations start this week.”
I stepped back, adjusting my suit jacket, before addressing him again. “You really should watch who you fuck over. I was young and dumb when you played me, but I’m a grown ass man now. I suggest you find a new line of business to go into. The hospitality industry obviously isn’t your forte any longer.”
With that, I turned and left his office without another word. Rossi would learn soon enough the extent of my payback.
“You ready?” I questioned Isaac, who was now leaned over the receptionist’s desk, speaking in a low, deep tone. I knew it was his dirty macking voice. My hunch was confirmed when I saw the flush of red and the coy smile on the face of the receptionist. The picture before me made me recall a pair of brown eyes that I wanted to see. Unfortunately, I was going to be in Vegas for at least another week, so I was relegated to FaceTiming to see Chanel’s face.
“Sure thing,” Isaac responded.
I nodded and started toward the door, checking my watch for the time. It was a little after six in the evening. It’d been a long day, and I still had more work to do.
“Heather, you have my card. If you need anything, just give me a call.” I lifted my head at that to see Isaac toss a final wink at the receptionist. She giggled in response, holding his business card. He shrugged as we passed through the door and he caught my raised eyebrow.
“I figure she’s going to need a new job soon. There might be somewhere in one of the restaurants she could work.”
I grunted, making a mental note to remind Isaac of my no fraternization policy. But that was for later. Right then, we were headed back to the hotel for a little breather and then another dinner meeting. In the meantime, I pulled out my phone to get in a little FaceTime with my lady.