Lake Masters leaned back in his chair, ready for the show to begin. At thirty-nine, he’d basically seen it all, and this definitely wouldn’t be the first time he’d seen a display of this kind. In fact, just a couple of months ago, he’d attended his brother Shane’s bachelor party and witnessed basically the same thing—a nearly naked woman popping out of a huge fake cake.
He took a sip of his beer—straight from the bottle—thinking there was nothing like a party with live entertainment. Besides, showing up for the bachelor party was the least he could do, since he wouldn’t be attending the wedding. He would be leaving for Paris in a few days, where he would spend two weeks negotiating an important business deal for the advertising firm he owned.
When the woman burst out of the cake, his gaze automatically went to her plump, shapely, and well-rounded behind before drifting to the smooth lines of her bare belly. He would be the first to confess, without apology, that he was an ass man. For some reason, he would automatically seek out that part of a woman before looking anywhere else. And he had to admit that this particular stripper was well put together. A certain portion of his anatomy suddenly reminded him that it had been almost eight months since he’d slept with a woman. Expanding his advertising firm by opening the Orlando office had taken a blasted toll on his social life.
He froze within seconds of raising the beer bottle to his lips when the woman bent over, giving every guy in the room a luscious view of her backside and the barely-there thong that indecently covered it. In fact, all she was wearing was a leopard-print bra, matching thong, and a pair of matching boots. In his opinion, she was making a statement: She could get as animalistic as any male in the room. The way she was moving her body all over the place made a believer out of him.
“Your breathing has changed.”
The whispered remark made him glance from the exhibition in the middle of the floor over to his brother Grey, who was less than a year his junior. “Yeah,” he confirmed. It would be a waste of time to deny it, since Grey, a former FBI agent, seemed programmed not to miss anything.
“I’m surprised Brandy let you come to Mike’s party tonight,” Lake said. He adored his brother’s wife because of
the happiness she had brought to Grey’s life. “I’m sure she knew what would be going on,” he added.
Grey snorted. “Hell, I didn’t say anything when she went to Sonya’s bachelorette party last weekend. I understand some police officer showed up who bared all for the ladies. Brandy and I have this rule: We can look, but we can’t touch.”
Lake considered Grey’s comment for a moment and then smiled. Sounded like a sensible rule, and knowing Brandy, he could buy them having made such an agreement. He shared a very close relationship with his three brothers—Shane, Grey, and Quinn—and would be the first to admit that they had hit gold when they married their wives. He considered his sisters-in-law—Faith, Brandy, and Alexia—savvy divas in their own right, although they constantly bugged the hell out of him with their reminders that he was now the last remaining single Masters brother.
“Boy, she sure knows how to work it, doesn’t she?” whispered Jesse Devereau, who was sitting on the opposite side of him.
Lake chuckled. He figured that, like Grey, Jesse also had a hands-off rule in his household. Lake then looked over at the groom to see how he holding out, since the woman had her breasts all in his face. He couldn’t hold back his laughter. The usual calm and collected Mike Kelly was suddenly anything but that. And although Mike’s gaze had not once wavered from the tantalizing view in front of him, Lake was fairly certain that no matter how hot things got, his friend would not yield to temptation.
Lake swallowed when the stripper took a step back and
then slowly began inching her thong down voluptuous thighs before quickly yanking it back it up. She was a shameless tease who was wicked as well, if the blatant invitation she was making with her tongue was anything to go by. He could just imagine that tongue of hers wrapped around his—
“I need a cold drink of water.”
He glanced over at Grey. “If you leave now, you’ll miss the best part,” he said.
“That’s not a bad idea, and I need that damn water.”
Lake grinned when his brother got up and quickly headed toward the kitchen. He figured Grey needed more than a drink of water to cool off.
“Where’s Grey going?” Jesse Devereau leaned over and whispered.
“In the kitchen to cool off.”
“I think I’ll join him.”
Lake chuckled and shook his head when Jesse got up, too. They were cowards, the both of them. That left him, Cord Jeffries—a man he’d met and become friends with through Grey—and a few other guys whom he’d met that night, friends of Mike from Los Angeles, as the remaining fearless bunch.
Pretty soon it seemed all the happily married men had deserted. Besides the groom, Lake was the only single man in the room. That meant he was the only one free to hit on the woman, make plans with her for later. He smiled at the idea.
Starting with thoughts of a potential rendezvous with the exotic dancer, stripper, or whatever title she preferred,
he opened his mind to all types of possibilities, especially the ones that indicated he might finally get some sexual release after eight months. It wouldn’t be his first one-night stand, and it most certainly wouldn’t be his last. He was old enough to know the score, was very selective in his dealings with the opposite sex, and took the practice of safe sex seriously.
His breath caught when the stripper crouched down to remove her boots with her bare butt pointed toward him. Oh, God, he could feel his heart rate increase, his pulse getting erratic. He was convinced he was about to have a coronary. But he would enjoy every moment of it.
“So, did you and that woman get together last night after the party?”
Lake frowned as he cocked his head and looked at his clock, his eyes barely open. It wasn’t even six in the morning. Why was Grey calling him this early and asking him something so obviously private? “That’s none of your damn business,” he growled.
He ignored the laugh that crackled in his ear. “Evidently you didn’t score, since your attitude hasn’t changed. Your bark is still that of a man who needs to get laid.”
Lake rolled his eyes and flipped on his back in the bed, then gazed up at the ceiling.
“So, what happened?” his brother prompted.
“Nothing happened, Grey. She’s married.”
“Married? Shit. What kind of man would let his wife work in that type of profession?”
Lake grinned. “He’s a policeman. Probably the same one who showed up at Sonya’s bachelorette party.”
Grey laughed. “You’re probably right and they probably live in the biggest damn house there is here in Orlando, raking in all kinds of money just by exposing their bodies. Must be nice. Do you think me and Brandy are in the wrong business?”
Lake rolled his eyes again, refusing to answer that. “I know you probably have a lot to do today, but why are you calling so early?”
“Brandy wants you to come to dinner.”
“Is she cooking?”
“Of course not. It’s being catered as usual. My wife is too busy to cook.”
Lake smiled. He knew that was Grey’s nice way of sidestepping the fact that she couldn’t cook. He’d heard how pampered Brandy had been while growing up. Her mother had raised her to have maids and butlers. “What time is dinner? I have to start packing since I’m flying out first thing in the morning.”
“Five o’clock. I almost forgot that you won’t be here for the wedding. Shame you’re going to miss it.”
Lake pulled himself up in bed. “There will be others.”
“Your own, perhaps?”
“I’m in no rush.”
“You’re not getting any younger.”
“I wasn’t aware there was an age requirement.”
“There’s not, just a reminder.”
“Thanks, and I’ll see you at five.” Without waiting for Grey’s response, he leaned over and hung up the phone.
He swung his legs over the bed to get himself up and off to the bathroom, thinking in all reality he was a blessed man. He owned one of the largest advertising firms in the country, and it was growing by leaps and bounds. His company’s portfolio was so broad that it included public relations, lobbying, marketing services, interactive design, and most recently he’d added media buying services. He had formed the company right out of college, and now he employed close to five hundred people in his Boston office alone, which was one of the reasons he’d made a decision to open an Orlando office.
The market here was a good one to tap into and with the city being a tourist’s dream, there were a number of customer service corporations willing to pay big bucks to get their name out there before the buying public.
The St. Laurent Hotel had been one of them, and Brandy had entrusted him to take her first hotel to the next level. In less than a year, it had become the most sought-after place to stay in Orlando and boasted a five-star rating. Since then, she had built three new hotels in Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Grey handled the security for all four hotels. The couple worked well together and made an awesome team.
Lake looked in the bathroom mirror before reaching for his razor. Why did everyone assume he should have a wife? So what if he was still single? Was that a crime? To listen to his sisters-in-law, one would think so. Maybe it was time for him to set his sights on someone who would be his perfect mate. The last thing he wanted, though, was a woman with dollar signs flashing in her eyes. He refused
to become some gold digger’s nugget or some young thing’s sugar daddy. He wanted a woman who was pretty close to him in age and who possessed a mature mind. And she would have to be as financially stable as he was, and as emotionally balanced. He was way too old for drama.
His affair with Liz Harrison while in his late twenties had taught him a valuable lesson. There were a few things he regretted doing in his thirty-nine years, and hooking up with Liz definitely topped the list. She had been the ultimate drama queen, although he hadn’t known it at first. All he’d seen was her curvaceous backside and 40D bra size. She had taken the word clingy to a whole other level and constantly badgered him about the time he’d spent working, trying to get his business off the ground.
The last straw was when she had moved her no-good, lazy-behind twin brother into their already crowded apartment without his permission. The man was supposedly down on his luck. Lake soon discovered that as long as he supplied Liz’s brother with a roof over his head and food to eat, he was content to make no effort to find a job or move out.
Lake grimaced when he remembered the ugly scene that ensued when he’d asked Liz’s brother to leave … and that was only after he’d caught the man going through his wallet. What erupted was more drama than he’d ever wanted to endure in his entire lifetime. The siblings teamed up against him, and in the end, Lake had been the one who left, with nothing more than the clothes on his back, vowing never to become enmeshed in a situation like that again. That fiasco had been almost twelve
years ago, and he had learned his lesson well. In the years since, he found himself screening women before he dated them, but lately doing so took up too much of his time and way too much effort.
He had even gone so far as to entertain the idea of going through a dating service and would definitely check out one when he returned to the States. His firm represented a number of them, and if he were to believe his own ads, some were actually good, with high success rates.
Maybe it was time for a turning point in his life. He would consider settling down. As Gray had reminded him, he wasn’t getting any younger.
A few hours later, Lake had dressed and grabbed his tennis racket on the way out the door. Thanks to his brother Shane—whom they considered the tennis pro in the family—all his siblings knew how to play the game. Today he was meeting Devin Phillips, a doctor he’d met through Grey when he first arrived in Orlando a few months back. He’d discovered Devin to be a likable guy who enjoyed playing tennis as much as he did, so they began getting together at least once a week on the courts.
He pulled into the parking area where Devin’s office was located. Usually they would meet up at the country club, but today Devin had taken his car to the shop for a service check and had asked Grey if he would pick him up instead.
The parking lot was full, so he drove through slowly, mindful of all the elderly people on scooters. He smiled,
remembering when his grandfather had gotten his own scooter last year. He had become as reckless with it as a kid on Rollerblades for the first time. The family soon discovered he was as dangerous driving the damn thing as he’d been when behind the wheel of a car.
Lake glanced at his watch, noting he was a few minutes early, and pulled into a parking space. He was adjusting his seat to allow more leg room when he noticed a woman walking toward Devin’s medical complex. When his gaze zeroed in on her, blood rushed through his veins. He felt dizzy. And if that wasn’t bad enough, intense heat settled right smack in his loins. Nothing of this magnitude had ever happened to him before. Even the woman from the striptease show last night hadn’t gotten such a rise out of him, and definitely not to this degree. This was definitely lust at first sight, and it was taking one hell of a bite out of him. His libido was on full alert, red alert, hot alert.
Toting her briefcase, she was dressed in a business suit tailored to her form and emphasizing just what a curvy body she had. She was looking totally professional on one hand, and succulently luscious on the other. Who was she? he wondered. Another doctor? A patient? He seriously didn’t care, just as long as she wasn’t someone’s wife. And from where he was parked, he couldn’t see her left hand to check for a ring.
He felt a smile tug at his lips. She had the cutest shaped ass that he’d ever seen on a woman, and her legs, he thought, could be used for a lot more than just walking. His mind began envisioning them wrapped around him while they made love.
His gaze then moved upward to her face and studied it. She was definitely one stunningly beautiful woman. She had skin the color of chocolate, medium brown hair that was cut just short of hitting her shoulders, and a face with features that usually were too young for his taste. But for some reason, not today and not with her.
Damn.
She had to be about twenty-four, no more than twenty-five at the max. He couldn’t remember the last time he was attracted to a woman that young. But as he continued to watch her every movement, he felt a tugging desire in the pit of his stomach. With every step she took, a part of him couldn’t help but be thankful he’d been born a man.
He saw her reach the door at the same time Devin walked out. They stopped and chatted familiarly. Whatever Devin said made her smile, and simultaneously, every cell in Lake’s body lit up as well. In that instant, he knew he could probably sit there and gaze at her all day. She and Devin ended their conversation, and moments later she entered the building. Devin glanced around the parking lot before noticing where Lake was parked and began walking his way.
Lake tried like hell to pull himself out of his daze. It was simply absurd that he’d spent the last few minutes lusting after a woman so young. Though anyone who knew the Masters brothers would agree that nobody could ever fault or question their taste in women.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Devin said, opening the car door and sliding onto the seat beside him.
“Who is she?” Lake asked before Devin could fasten his seat belt.
Devin glanced over at him with a lifted brow. “Who is who?”
Lake turned the key in the ignition and began backing out of the parking space. “The woman you were just talking to.”
Devin smiled now that he understood the question. “She’s my drug dealer.”
“What!” Lake hit the brakes.
“Whoa, Lake, calm down! It was just a joke,” Devin said, laughing. “At least, it’s one that she and I share. She’s one of my pharmaceutical reps, but it’s an inside joke between the two of us, since she sells me the drugs. And she’s good at what she does. She keeps me and my staff on top of the latest advancements and breakthroughs with the medications I prescribe. I’ve been working with her for at least three years now.”
Lake frowned. “She’s kind of young, isn’t she?”
Devin chuckled. “How old do you think she is?”
“Twenty-four. No more than twenty-five.”
Devin shook his head. “Guess again, and add five years to the highest number.”
Lake swung his head around. It was a good thing that they had come to a traffic light. “She’s thirty?”
“Just about. She will be in less than six months.”
“You sure?”
“Positive. The girls in the office are teasing her about reaching the big three-oh.”
Lake was surprised. She was still a lot younger than
what he preferred, but there was an appeal that he just couldn’t shake. “So, what’s her name?”
“Courtney Andrews.”
“Do you know if she’s involved with anyone?”
“Now that’s something I’m not sure about, but I don’t think so, because my secretary has been trying to fix her up with one of her brothers. So far she hasn’t been too successful. Probably because one of my nurses pulled Courtney to the side and told her what a lowlife Christine’s brother is. I’m surprised that you and Courtney haven’t met.”
Lake glanced over at Devin before moving into the intersection. “Why would we have?”
“Because you know some of the same people. She’s Sonya’s cousin.”
Lake’s eyes showed surprise. “Sonya? Mike’s Sonya?”
“Yes,” Devin said, smiling. “Mike’s Sonya.”
Lake recalled that he and Sonya actually met sometime last year before she and Mike had become serious about each other. It had been on a day she dropped by the St. Laurent with Carla to visit with Brandy.
“Too bad you’re going out of town and won’t be attending the wedding on Saturday,” Devin said, interrupting his thoughts. “Courtney is part of the wedding party.”
“Yes, it is too bad,” Lake said, but already his mind was thinking ahead to the day he would be returning to Orlando. And the one thing he intended to do when he got back was make sure he got introduced to Courtney Andrews.