Hunter - Blaire Drake Page 0,3
the door and down at my ruggedly handsome friend. His hair looked like he'd just had ten rounds on an electric chair, as it always did, but the rest of him was impeccably put together, from his soft brown eyes, sharp cheekbones and plump lips.
I pressed the button on the intercom. “Who is it?”
“Bite me, Addy.” He hammered his fist on the door. “Let me in. I'm turning into a fucking tomato.”
I rolled my eyes and unlocked the door, then opened it. I turned without waiting for him to follow me. “Tomato, right. Is that under that thick Italian skin of yours?”
“You wound me, baby.”
I glanced over my shoulder at his grinning face. “What do you want, Pontarelli?”
“You know,” he started, “I want a coffee.” He grabbed my shoulders and steered me into the kitchen. “Be a doll.”
“Or you can kiss my ass and make your own damn coffee.” I shrugged his hands off of me and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge. “Aren't you supposed to be... I don't know. Doing something this afternoon?”
“Oh, like work?” He raised his eyebrows as he fired up the coffee machine. “Yeah. Supposedly. Except Dad decided Angelo was doing it instead.”
“What were you supposed to be doing?”
“Not a fucking clue.”
“Don't you think that's why Angelo is doing it instead?”
“I know that's why Angelo is doing it,” he confirmed. “Why do you think I don't know what I was supposed to be doing? I'm already the black sheep. All I had to do was stare blankly at Dad when he called me down this morning and he told me to come protect the little princess.”
I snorted. “Little princess. Next time he says that, remind him who keeps his ass from being sliced off by someone else.”
“Not the greatest visual in the world, but it works.” Gaige dumped three teaspoons of sugar in his black coffee, making me wrinkle my nose in disgust. “What?”
“I don't know how you drink it like that,” I told him. “Just the smell of black coffee makes me feel sick.”
“What can I say? I take my coffee the way I like my women; sweetness and darkness all in one.”
Yet again, I rolled my eyes. “Yes, those poor women. I bet they last as long as a cup of coffee, too.”
“Now, now, Addy,” he chastised me. “I last longer than a cup of coffee, so they certainly do.”
“And once you're done with them?” I walked into the front room. “Precisely.”
“Look, baby, I'm the son of the head of Los Angeles's crime family. I can't settle for just anyone. And she certainly needs to have real tits, because if a fake one gets shot, I don't wanna be cleaning that mess up.” He sat on the other end of the sofa. “Besides, they all think I'm an up and coming actor.”
“You're a permanent actor. I don't think I've ever seen you be honest with a woman.” I tucked some hair behind my ear. “Except the time we met and I caught you masturbating because you didn't shut the bathroom door properly.”
A hint of red flamed in his cheeks, and I just about bit back a laugh. Yeah. I'd never tire of reminding him of that. He hadn't been told that Mamma and I were coming to his house, and when I'd gone to use the bathroom, I'd found him in it.
“Why do you keep bringing that up? I was fifteen. I had to get my kicks somewhere.”
“I'm just saying, Gaige, you should have been in your room or have locked the bathroom door.”
“One day, I'm going to walk in on you masturbating, and then you won't be so cocky. Mostly because I won't walk out.”
“And one day, you're gonna give up on your quest to get inside my pants.”
He pursed his lips, his eyes flashing with laughter. “Sorry. That doesn't make any sense to me.”
I laughed. Ever since I'd turned eighteen, he was certain that sooner or later, I'd give in to his random attempts at seduction and let him give me what he proclaimed would be 'the night of my life.'
That was five years ago.
He was still trying.
I had to give him props for effort. He wasn't letting it go, and if I were a weaker woman, I'd have given in long ago. Unfortunately for Gaige, I was too attached to our friendship to let something like that ruin it. Not to mention Darien was sure he wanted more than just one night, and with my future plans, that