Prologue

Previously…

16 December

I must have drunk too much scotch the night we placed that douche of a wager. It was that damn Aidan Hall’s fault.

There we were enjoying a civilized meal when he started whining about the fact me and H were discussing our kids.

“Hey. Can we talk about something else now, man? Your son’s the most beautiful thing I ever saw but let’s talk sports or some other shit.” He complained to H.

I’d guffawed. “Oh, Aidan. You have all this to come.”

Aidan had shook his head in protest. “I really can’t see it, not for me. I’ve met plenty of women I’ve liked well enough but the big old ‘L’ word, it’s never happened to me.”

Sighing, I took a drink of my scotch and then rubbed the spiky ends of my salt and pepper hair. We were quite a trio. There was me at forty-eight, the father of a twenty-four-year old daughter and a past involving a nightmare ex-wife who made the Housewives of New York look like sweet little puppies. An ex-wife who was still causing me problems years after our divorce. Then there was Henry, forty; and Aidan, the baby of the group at twenty-nine. We were all businessmen. I owned several businesses under my surname King’s, including residential properties, nightclubs and a business school. Aidan owned a sex club he’d bought from H, and an adult movie company, GoDown Productions. H had sold everything apart from a house in Manhattan and one in the Hampton’s and continued to work for me as a Consultant for my property business.

“Out with it, Eli. When you rub that stubble we know there’s something on your mind, old man.” Aidan commented.

I raised a middle finger at him.

“Just the one thing on your mind then?” He winked at me.

“My ex-wife is getting remarried.” I told them.

“Hallefuckingluyah.” Aidan yelled and H clapped. They knew what she was like.

“Yes, well she’s getting married in January and she’s decided that in the spirit of being amicable around our daughter that I’ve to attend, and bring a plus one.” I rubbed my chin again. “Basically, she wants to show off that she’s met a multi-billionaire who’s better for her than I ever was.”

“Just say you can’t make it.” H advised me. “If she’s so madly in love she’ll not even notice you’re there.”

“Brianna is putting the guilt on, ‘Daddy, I never see you. It would be so nice if you and Mommy could finally put your differences aside’. I loved my daughter but Christ she took after her mother. “She’ll just want to hit me up for money and then I’ll not hear from her again until her bank account runs dry once more.” I sighed.

Years ago, I’d fallen in love with whom I’d believed to be a sweet, lovely woman, but once the ring was on her finger and she’d gotten pregnant, she’d become a society climbing backstabber, who had to have the best of everything amongst her friends; an unrealistic ambition when some had royal connections. She’d basically made my life a misery until she divorced me when Brianna was ten. I’d discovered she was having an affair with a Sheikh and had several properties in her portfolio that I’d not put there. It was an understatement to say it had been an ugly and messy divorce. Katrina had moved to Los Angeles, creating a distance between me and Brianna and making our daughter so spoiled that I’d despaired.

“You’re gonna have to suck it up then and take a date with you. Preferably someone like twenty years younger than Katrina. No amount of plastic surgery is going to let her compete with a nubile young woman.” Aidan said.

My goddamn face flushed as I thought of her. I’d picked up my scotch again and taken a sip. Dare I ask them about her? Would it be obvious why?

We’d talked business for a while and then I’d thought well it was now or never. “Have any of you ever picked up any gossip about my Assistant, Alexandra? You know, about her love life. Just, you know, I don’t really like asking and she could have a celebration coming up, an engagement or similar. She’s worked for me a few years now, it would be bad of me to miss such a thing.”

“She’s married, Eli, to the love of her life. Used to be a fitness model.” Aidan told me.

I fucking knew it. I’d left it too late. My shoulders slumped.

“Joking.” Aidan nudged me with my elbow. “Out with it. You have a crush on your Assistant?”

Shit. Keep cool, Eli, keep cool. Let Aidan have even a hint of your attraction and he’ll run with that ball until he scores a goal. He was that kind of a guy. I sighed. “No. I just had it pointed out to me that Alexandra might like me. I was just working out if there’s any basis to that.”

“Who told you that?” H asked.

“Haley from Green’s. She saw us together at a party a couple years ago.”

“A couple of years ago? And you did nothing about it? Fuck, Eli. What’s the matter with you?” Aidan said exasperated.

“If Haley said it, I’d say there was probably some truth to it.” Nodded H. “She’s lovely, that girl. No mean side to her at all. So genuine.”

“Yes, well I find it hard to believe seeing as I’m forty-eight and Alexandra is twenty-nine. My daughter is not much younger than her, goddamn it.”

“Well, Eli, I think you have your answer. The lovely Alexandra could be your plus-one to your ex-wife’s wedding. If she hasn’t given up all hope by now and joined a convent. All you have to do is find your balls and ask her.” Aidan shook his head at me.

At this point I ordered another round of scotch. I couldn’t ask her out. Could I?

“So, I hope I can count on you both to come to the relaunch of the Club next month?” Aidan said.

“Yes, Amelia can’t wait for an evening out. She says we might visit one of the rooms to play so I’m definitely coming.” H said.

“Good to see the support for your fellow businessman.” Aidan quipped.

“He’s pussy whipped, or wants the opportunity to whip the pussy. You selling whips?” I chuckled. “Anyway, I’ll be there. Purely to see your up and running empire. I won’t be partaking. No offense but sex in public just isn’t my thing.”

“No offense taken, old man. There’s no one wants to see your wrinkly dick.” He laughed. Cheeky bastard. I wasn’t that old.

“I think a whip needs taking to your ass, boy, only not in a sexual way. Don’t cheek your elders.” I couldn’t help a small smirk curling the edge of my top lip.

“Why don’t you bring Alexandra with you to the launch? See what she thinks to it?”

“Not a cat in hell’s chance. I’ll be flying solo that night.”

“Pussy.”

“Yes, I should imagine I’ll see lots of it.” I raised an eyebrow at Aidan. It was time to turn the tables on our young Mr. Hall.

I patted H on the back. “I think we should look around, H, and see if we can’t find a woman for our Aidan here. He needs someone to keep him in line, dontcha think?”

“It’ll happen to him when he’s least expecting it.” H replied.

Aidan protested. “No way. I’m still young. No intention of settling down any time soon. I’m still empire building. No woman will want to be stuck at home while I’m out at my sex club.”

“Why would they be stuck at home?” I queried.

“I wouldn’t want any woman of mine hanging round that kind of establishment. They might decide they want a threesome. We know there’s plenty of those around,” Aidan said, turning to H, as we used to take part in a hell of a lot of threesomes to make women’s fantasies come true at Club S.

“You hypocrite! You mean after all you’ve taken part in, in the past, you want a woman all to yourself?” H’s jaw dropped.

“Absofuckinglutely. I refuse to share my woman’s pussy with anyone. In fact, I’m going to fit her with a pussy lock when I find her.”

At this point H and I were almost hysterical with laughter.

“Oh my God, you are crazy. Fucked up crazy. So your ideal woman is what? A sex-crazed stunner who’s willing to wear a chastity belt and stay at home while you mingle with women who want to have threesomes with you?” H asked.

“That’s about it, yes.” Aidan replied with a pout to his lip.

More laughter ensued. “Then there’s no wonder you are still fucking single.” H said.

My cell beeped. I picked it up, and I couldn’t help the smile that played out on my face. I typed out a quick message then put my cell back on the table. When I looked at the other two, they were both staring at me.

“Who was that?” Aidan asked.

Fuck.

I cleared my throat. “It was Alexandra. She sends me a text when she’s home.”

“Excuse me?” H said. “Want to run that past us again?”

“Look, I can’t even remember how it started, but we must have been on a working dinner or something and I asked her to text me when she got home safely and she laughed and said I had to text her too and then she kept on with it. She texts me every night and I do the same. It’s nothing. Just lets someone know you’re home safely, like a security thing.”

“Oh dear God, are you really that stupid, Eli? You like this woman and by the sounds of it, she likes you.”

“She’s far too good an assistant for me to fuck it up by fucking her.”

“Okay, whatever you say, Eli, but I think you’re being a complete dick and ought to grow a pair of balls.” Aidan huffed.

H sat back and looked at both of us. “I don’t know which of you is the most dumb. The one who won’t take a chance on his assistant because she’s great at her job, bearing in mind, Manhattan is full of amazing PA’s, or the guy who thinks he can own a sex club and his wife will just sit at home and cook his dinner. It comes to something when I’ve become the most well-adjusted out of the three of us.”

He had a point.

“I will find myself a woman. Just to shut you all up. I will find that very woman. Who will let me own her pussy all by myself and accept my job.” Replied Aidan.

“Okay, and when are you going to find her by, because this sounds like something to wager on.” H had said.

“At the very latest by Christmas.”

“Three months? You’re going to find the woman of your dreams in three months?” I shook my head.

“At the latest. You know me. I love a challenge.”

“So, what’s the wager?” H asked.

“If I lose, I’ll babysit your daughter once a week. If you lose you are only allowed to show me pics of the kids at their birthday and at Christmas, with a maximum allotted time of five minutes exactly.”

“You have no heart, but deal.” H said.

“Eli. If I win, you have to ask your Assistant out. What do you want if I lose?”

What did I want in return? Huh, I knew what would serve the smartass right. “You take my nightmare of a daughter out and somehow try to make her human.”

“Holy crap. I’d better make sure I win.” He said laughing, then shook my hand.

Then we carried on drinking scotch and shooting the breeze until it was time to head off home.

So that was where it had begun. The stupid wager. And what had happened? Aidan had won. Found a woman who was more than happy with his businesses. Lori was an amazing woman who knew her own mind and would keep Aidan on his toes. So that left me with my end of the bargain to fulfill. I had to ask out my assistant Alexandra on a date.

Why did I feel like I’d gone back to being fourteen years old and trying to work up the nerve to ask Sherry Carmichael, my first ever date, to the movies?

I’d been putting this off for two years and could put it off no longer. Especially since I’d agreed I’d ask Alex out the very next day after losing the bet.

The truth was I really did like Alexandra. She was kind, caring, fantastic at her job and boy, was she hot. Something I tried and failed not to notice on a daily basis.

But I was busy today. Wall to wall meetings. So, maybe I’d ask her tomorrow. Maybe…