Man Seeks Woman 2, Man Seeks Wife (3 page)

Conrad
Brewster and his twin brother Ben were my bosses. They were nearly
thirty years old and in my opinion, players who loved not only men
and women but work as well. I’d worked for them for five and a half
months so far and loved coming into work everyday except when
Conrad was like this. Normally he was the relaxed one of the two
brothers that ran their own Security business in the middle of
London but recently, he’d been like a bear with a sore head and
snapping at everyone—including me.

Conrad
narrowed his dark brown eyes at me and hitched his hands on his
hips, the muscles under his shirt bunching together as if he was
getting ready to pounce. “Where is that file that I left on my
desk?”

My eyes darted
to his desk that was currently looking like a warzone. I sighed in
annoyance. I tidied and sorted that desk on a daily basis then he
came in like a whirlwind and messed everything up, as per usual.
“What file?”

His big fists
clenched on his hips, his eyes pointing lasers at me from where he
stood. “The Albatross file. Where is it?” he spat.

Of course I
knew where the Albatross file was and so should he. I’d given it to
him last night but he was on the phone at the time arguing with
someone. I remembered that he actually snatched the file from my
hands, stuffed it in the drawer and turned his back to me.

Now, I licked
my dry lips and pushed off the doorframe, walking over to the desk
and picked up a random file from the top of the hazardous pile.
“Don’t do that.” He snapped and marched around the desk, snatching
it from my hands. “I asked where the file was, not for you to touch
anything.”

What the hell
was his problem this morning?

My brows rose
as I backed away from him and the warzone of a desk towards his
sofa and plopped down into it, the leather huffing under my weight.
“Are you finished?”

Really, it was
pretty funny to see Conrad Brewster flustered. The guy was at least
six foot four and in old terms, built like a brick shit house. This
guy was muscle piled on top of muscle. He went to the gym at least
six times a week, visited the salon twice a week for a tan and a
mani and drunk those horrible chalky drinks that made me gag every
time I saw the carton filled with them in the staff room. In my
opinion, just looking at them was enough to put weight on me rather
than entice muscle.

Conrad’s face
reddened even further. “Remind me again why I hired you?”

I snorted and
began to tap my foot on the floor to a beat in my head. “Because
you love me,”

He grunted a
rude sound. “Uh-huh. Try again.”

This was the
same thing I went through with both brothers on a daily basis
whether they were in a good mood or not. They were really like two
playful bears wanting to spar and roll around in the dirt but
verbally even though they were nearly thirty for God’s sake.

“Because I do
my job so well,” I batted my eyelashes at him. “You and Ben just
simply couldn’t live without me.” I gushed and patted my chest with
my hand. I bit the inside of my mouth to stop from laughing out
loud when his eyes narrowed on me and his lips moved as if he
wanted to dismiss the comment.

“Whatever.” he
grumbled eventually and began rooting through the files on his
desk. I opened my mouth to tell him about the red one that was just
about to—oh shit, it already went. I watched with a sigh as all the
files that I had placed on his desk this morning fell to the floor
in a great big heap.

“You’ve made a
mess now.” I said quietly, idly picking at my nails, my foot
tapping faster against his carpeted floor.

My head
snapped up when an elastic band flicked against my cheek. I clucked
my tongue and removed the pen lid from my mouth where I’d been
chewing it and placed it in the middle of my palm. I squinted my
eye closed and aimed it at him like a missile. Flicking my index
finger against my thumb, I aimed right for his forehead and...Damn
it, I missed.

Conrad watched
the chewed on pen lid sail past his eyes then looked back at me
with raised brows. “More of the stock you’re destroying. I’m taking
that out of your wages.”

I stuck my
tongue out at him and pushed up from the sofa, making my way out of
his office, seeing as I wasn’t getting anywhere with him in this
mood. I stopped at the door and looked over my shoulder at where he
still stood looking way too big for the office. Actually even with
his white shirt, red striped tie and black suit trousers, he made
the place look untidy. “You mean along with the elastic bands that
you flick at me from your desk when I’m on the phone. Do you know
how many boxes of those we go through because you have this
overwhelming need to flick those fingers of yours—“

“Alright,” He
snapped and flicked another elastic band at me which I was too slow
to avoid. I growled at him when it landed on my right cheek this
time.

Fucking
elastic bands!

My mouth
opened to tell him to bite me because he was a prick when the
office phone rang. I sauntered over to the desk and plucked the
phone up. “Brewster Brothers Security, Victoria speaking, how may I
help you?”

“Hey, Angel, I
need you to do me a favour.” Now it was Ben, my other boss.

I rolled my
eyes and slumped down in my seat, reaching over for the pile of
yellow post-it notes and a pen. It was always a favour with him.
“Hit me.”

He chuckled.
“I had a meeting booked at one thirty tomorrow that I was supposed
to attend but I’ve just got a call from the client and they’ve
informed me that they’re not going to be in the office then, so
we’re going to have the meeting in our offices at the same time,
tomorrow, hopefully. Can you make sure the meeting room is suitable
and deal with any problems?”

“You mean like
making sure the table is clean of any bodily fluids that you may
have left the last time you used it?”

Ben sniffed
indignantly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh.” I
shook my head and tapped the end of my pen on the top of my desk,
disturbing the screen saver to my computer. “I heard you and Damon
in there on Friday, banging away. Don’t deny it.”

In actual
fact, I’d stood outside the door for a couple of minutes being the
perv that I actually was, listening. I know that if it were to have
been me in there with someone, he’d have done the same. We were all
pervs together.

He was silent
for a beat then his teasing tone came across the line. “You’re just
jealous.”

“Damn
straight.” I laughed out loud. I hadn’t had my hole filled for
going on six months and my vibrator just wasn’t cutting it. A woman
had needs and listening to him and his weekly squeeze in the room
down the hall had been too much to bear for little old me. “Okay
but you owe me if I have to clean up anything. Remember I am a
receptionist not a glorified helping hand.”

Who was I
trying to kid?

“Whatever.” he
grumbled, much like his brother had. “You’ve got the rest of the
day to do it. I’ll bring you a cake in the morning for your
troubles, how’s that?”

Oh well, food
was the way to get to me nowadays seeing as I had nothing else.
“Two Danishes and a hazelnut latte then you’re on.”

Ben made a
sound at the back of his throat before he sighed dramatically.
“Such a hard bargain,” He chuckled. “You got it, sweetheart.”

Go get her
tiger.

“Can I buy you
a drink?”

I blinked into
my nearly finished drink before looking up at the smoky voice that
had spoken from somewhere over my left shoulder.

He was talking
to me, right?

My eyes
flicked to either side of me before darting back to him. There was
no-one close enough to me that he could have been talking to.

“Huh?”

The man who
was dressed in what looked like a black satin shirt and dress
trousers with a rather orangey coloured tan smiled at me revealing
straight white teeth that to my slightly woozy eye were false as
fuck. He looked like
TOWIE’
s Mark Wright but better looking
with dark eyes.

“I said.” He
leaned in closer to me making my nose twitch and itch with how much
aftershave he wore. “Can I buy you a drink?”

Huh, he was
talking to me. “That’s what I thought you said.” I murmured as I
twisted the straw in my glass then sucked up the rest of the fruity
liquid. I was all for a free drink. I smiled a little and pushed
the glass towards him. “Malibu and pineapple,”

Normally I
would have had my poison consisting of a beer and a shot then
chased it up with a whisky if I felt like it but tonight was
different. I needed a different type of buzz.

He smiled
back, a ‘get in there’ man smile that had me biting the inside of
my cheek to stop from laughing out loud and telling him he had no
chance in hell in getting frisky with me but I kept my mouth shut.
Let him think what he wanted, most men did anyway.

“Here.” He
handed me back a full glass and took hold of my elbow. “Let’s move
to a table.”

“What’s wrong
with the bar?” I grumbled, sliding off the stool, grabbing my
clutch from the bar. I was pretty comfortable on the stool all by
myself which was totally the way I liked it lately.

He leaned in
close to me again and this time I did sneeze. “Bless you.” He
whipped out a handkerchief from his trousers and held it up to my
nose like was a child.

“Yeah,
thanks.” I clucked my tongue and took the handkerchief from him
then did actually laugh out loud when I saw initials sewn into the
cloth. “Seriously,”

Whatever his
name was because I was sure he hadn’t introduced himself yet looked
a bit sheepish as he shrugged and continued to lead me to a booth
in the corner of the bar we were in. I slid in the seat first and
curled myself into the corner.

“I didn’t
catch your name.” He said sliding in after me and sitting a little
too close for my comfort.

“Ugh. Dude,
honestly, personal space,” I waved my hands around and pushed his
side a little to get him to budge over. I nodded when he moved a
little. “Victoria. How about you,”

“I’m Brad.”
Ahh, that matched the B.W. printed on his handkerchief.

“Well, Brad.”
I gulped down a healthy dose of my drink then smiled at him over
the rim of the glass. “What are you doing here tonight?”

Brad shifted
in his seat, his right hand rubbing the condensation from the side
of his beer glass. “Just came out for a drink.”

“Hmmm,” I
twisted my lips to the side as I studied him. For a person coming
out just for a drink, he certainly didn’t look like it. I mean he
wore a black satin, ironed to a pin shirt with dark trousers that
looked somewhat expensive and okay type of shoes. His hair that was
as dark as noir itself was gelled and styled as if he’d spent at
least three hours with it in the mirror. Actually come to think
about it, he had Essex boy written all over him, not city boy like
I would have expected.

“Got a
girlfriend?” I asked, completely out of the blue. Not that I
actually wanted to know but he seemed so confident at the bar and
now, he looked a little lost and to be honest, he looked like he
was waiting for me to take a bite out of him.

Not gonna
happen well, not that kind of bite anyhow.

Brad, poor
Brad fidgeted again and downed some of his pint before shaking his
head. A shadow passed in his dark brown eyes that made me sit up
and take notice. I was sure someone had hurt poor Brad.

“No.” He
swallowed and glanced at me, because he was kind of avoiding eye
contact with me. “No girlfriend.”

“Why not?”
escaped my mouth before I even had the thought not to say it.

He shifted
again. “Can I be honest with you?”

My brows rose
and I nodded. He leaned into the table, resting his elbows on the
edge and turned his head to me so he was looking at me now. “She
cheated on me.” Now he looked downright relieved to have gotten
that little thing out there.

Oh crap! Why
did I always have to end up with the nutter on the bus?

“You weren’t
supposed to say that, were you?”

Brad huffed
out a laugh and sucked more of his pint down. “No but there is just
something about you that makes me nervous as hell. At first I
thought you looked hot and everything sitting at the bar with those
boobs of yours all out there and all but then when you spoke and
the look you gave me when I handed you my handkerchief, you changed
all of that.”

“So you don’t
think I’m hot anymore?” I had to play with him.

His mouth open
and closed, sputtering, “No, it’s not that—“

I held my hand
up then patted his hand with it. “I’m just fucking with you, don’t
worry about it. If I’m honest with you, I smelled you first then
looked at you and what you’re wearing and had to stop myself from
rolling my eyes.”

A frown
appeared between his brows as he glanced down uncertain at his
clothing then looked back up at me. “What’s wrong with what I’m
wearing?”

“Are you on
the rebound?”

“No.” He
answered quietly.

Uh-huh. “When
did you break up with her?”

“Two weeks
ago.”

I rolled my
eyes and slammed my palm down on the table, effectively drawing
attention to us. “So you are on the rebound. Were you hoping to get
your dick wet tonight?”

Brad covered
his reddening face with his hands and nodded whilst laughing. “I
thought with you but you’re something else.”

I pursed my
lips and patted his shoulder as I leaned into the table. “Wasn’t
gonna happen anyway, buddy.”

“Not with you,
obviously, but do you think I have a chance with anyone else in
here?” At first I thought he was kidding but the sincerity in his
eyes told me he wasn’t. He really was hoping to get deep down under
tonight.