As if I had time for the opposite sex.

They could bend over backwards for me for all I cared. It wouldn’t make a bit of difference. I’d never been tempted to take anyone up on their offers of a soft and cushy life as a rich man’s arm candy.

I could care less what I looked like, as long as it helped me on the road to stardom.

Someday I’d be a guest at places like this place instead of the help, I thought as I swept up the broken china.

Someday.

Chapter Three

Jake

Why the hell did I come back here again?

I pulled on my borrowed tie and swilled another gulp of the watered down bourbon. I stared balefully around the Gold Room at the country club my father and brothers belonged to. It was a time honored tradition. All the Delancey men had belonged here, in fact, going back three generations.

All except me.

God, I hated this place.

Not only was it filled with ostentatious, rich, privileged old bastards but, even worse, the food sucked. They did have decent bourbon behind the bar, though. If only I could get someone to give it to me straight. The bartender kept putting ice in my drinks.

Someone must have warned them about the youngest Delancey brother.

Everybody around here knew who I was. I had a reputation for being bad. Not violent bad. But hide your daughters and the good booze, kind of bad. Not that I gave a shit what any of these rich fucks thought of me.

It's not that I wasn't allowed at the club. I just wasn't allowed without supervision. Not since the last time. I’d only been twelve years old at the time, but that was old enough to sneak behind the bar and steal a bottle of booze. I’d drank the whole damn thing with my brothers Daniel and Jackson.

We’d all gotten too drunk to walk straight but I’d been the one who drove the golf cart straight through the front window of the pro shop. I’d been the one who caused Daniel to break his arm in the crash. And I’d been the one who was shipped off to military school.

What a laugh. That place taught you discipline sure, but only by learning how to take a beating. Or worse. Thankfully, I’d been more than ready and willing to fight back. I’d left almost the instant I turned eighteen, thankfully it was nearly the day of graduation. I’d waited to get my diploma, even though I didn’t have much need for it. And that was only because my mother had begged me to finish.

Even I couldn't turn down a woman who was dying.

I snapped back to the present with a jolt. Thinking about her never brought any ease. It was just a pile of regrets.

My brother Daniel was asking me something. I realized I was staring at her again. I tore my eyes away from the girl I’d been watching since we walked in. It wasn't easy to do.

‘Beautiful’ didn’t even start to do her justice. Yes, she was physically astonishing looking. The girl was brimming with energy and magnetism. She knew it, too.

I could tell that from just from looking at her.

"What?"

"I said, are you back to stay? We could really use the help now that Dad—"

"Shut up Daniel."

I rolled my eyes at my eldest brother Jackson. Of course they weren't keeping me in the loop. I wasn't one of them. Not anymore. I hadn't been since that day they let me take all the heat fifteen years before.

Besides, I wanted to go back to looking at her.

I’d been staring at the waitress all night. Jesus, I’d never seen anything like her. Those huge green eyes, the startlingly pretty face, the lips. Never mind the jet-black hair, porcelain skin, legs that went on forever.

It was the voice that I hadn't been able to get out of my mind.

Husky and rich but utterly feminine. And with an Irish lilt that was somehow lyrical, soothing, and arousing, all at the same time.

I felt like I was tied up in knots, and I hadn't even taken the time yet to really check out those magnificent tits of hers.

Eleanor.

That's what her name tag said.

Unfortunately she had disappeared from the room again. Presumably to work, but it felt like she was hiding to annoy me. I shut my eyes, trying to conjure her up again. I could bear my brother's pompous yammering if I had something good to look at.

Not good. A-fucking-mazing.

Fuck it, might as well go and find her.

"I need another drink."

Jackson put his hand out to stop me.

"I think you've had enough, Jake."

I shook his hand off with a sneer.

“Nice try, brother. I don’t take orders from anyone, least of all you.”

I stood and walked toward the back of the room. That's where she kept disappearing to. The staff was probably having a party back here. That's what I would do if I worked here. Laughing at the rich people. Most of the people here looked miserable, no matter how much money they had. Like they all had sticks up their asses. Like they all needed to get laid.

Tags: Joanna Blake Romance
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