Newmar, Lola - Leo's Crown [Scarlett Rose and the Seven Longhorns 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (2 page)

Chapter 2

“Come in,” Charlie Rose called out after the soft knock at the half-open study door interrupted his Skype conference call. He conjured the lanky, dark-haired man entering with a wave of his hand. Charlie then turned back to the laptop screen to continue to speak to the account manager of his public relations firm.

“Well, you’ll have to excuse me, Mr. Finez,” he spoke to his computer screen. “My nurse, Todd Leach, has arrived, and it seems I am due for another home visit.”

“No problem, Mr. Rose. Like we discussed earlier, I’ll have those signed documents faxed to you by the end of the day. Once you approve, we can get started right away on Lil’ Payne’s public relations campaign. He should be getting out of prison in three days, and then his new album is hitting the shelves two days later, so we need to move fast while his name is still in the headlines. Talk about great timing to get arrested a fifteenth time for marijuana possession.”

Charlie chuckled and nodded his head at his employee through their webcam. “Sounds good. Keep me posted on your progress. It shouldn’t be too complicated. You know how the young folks are these days—the more arrests the better in the rap music business.”

Mr. Finez gave a final nod. “Yes, sir. Enjoy the rest of the day.”

With that, Charlie shut his laptop and turned his attention back to Todd. “Thank you for your patience, Todd. Working from home has been a lot tougher than I had thought.”

Todd smiled at him before waving his hand dismissively. “It takes some getting used to, I could imagine. You are a very dedicated, busy CEO, sir. A workaholic, if I say so myself. It must be tough to not feel as in control as you’re used to feeling.”

“Yes, Todd, it is. But it seems I cannot be in control forever.” Charlie lowered his gaze, studying the dark age spots on his old hands. He’d put those hands through a lot of work since his first job as a ten-year-old shoemaker. He’d worked at his mother’s side in the factory while his father had been at war. Just the image of her bright red lips smiling down on him, her hair piled neatly in a bandana as she worked fifteen-hour days, brought a smile to his thinning lips. His Scarlett took after her grandmother in that way—as ravishing as an old Hollywood starlet and as hardworking as a honeybee.

He and his mother never heard of his father’s whereabouts after the war, whether he was alive or dead. She’d soon remarried, and Charlie had saved enough money over the years to move out on his own at sixteen. His ambition had earned him an internship at an advertising agency, and he later opened his own public relations firm in Dallas at the tender age of twenty-five. It had been a long road, but his hard work had blessed him with great success. More importantly, he was able to give his daughter the finer things in life. Scarlett deserved nothing less.

Todd walked over and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Charlie.” Todd’s voice had him looking up into the young man’s friendly brown eyes. Although Todd was almost thirty, he barely looked older than a teenager. “You’re a good man. You’ve done a lot for a lot of people’s careers, and you’ve built an empire from nothing. Not to mention you were suddenly left alone with the responsibility of raising a preteen girl as a maturing man.” Charlie felt his heart tighten at the brief mention of Scarlett’s late mother, taken from them much too soon. “But, Mr. Finez…well…I don’t know.” Todd’s lips pursed, and Charlie could tell he was struggling to form the words he needed to express.

Charlie patted the young man’s hand encouragingly. “Go on, Todd. What is your concern?”

“It’s no secret around Dallas that Scarlett is the one who will be inheriting the company, which makes her one of Dallas’s most eligible bachelorettes. I’ve seen the way Mr. Finez looks at her, Mr. Rose.” Todd hesitated then let out a deep sigh. “I just want you to be careful is all. Especially Scarlett. You both mean a lot to me, Mr. Rose.”

Charlie smiled up at the man he’d come to be very close to over the last several months as he again patted the hand placed on his shoulder. Initially, he had felt a little odd at the thought of having a gay male nurse take care of him after his stroke seven months ago, but he’d gotten to know Todd very well, and he was a good, caring boy who loved his job.

“That means a lot to me, Todd. I appreciate your friendship. You know that. And true friendship is a rare thing when you’re on top of the Dallas society.”

Todd smiled sweetly then gave a joyful clap of his hands. “So,” continued Todd as he reached in his fanny pack and began to pull out Charlie’s medication for the day, “I heard Mrs. Sokolova got in town today. I’m sure she was quite excited to see Alisa. Mothers always love planning their daughter’s weddings.”

Charlie grimaced at the soreness that drowned his body as he slowly eased up out of his desk chair. As usual, Todd was immediately by his side to help him into his wheelchair.

“Yes, Dasha is a lovely woman. We are all very excited about the wedding next week. Alisa is the sunshine of my life, and although the fifty-year age difference is alarming to many, I’m just much too old to care what others think. I think we all get that way at a certain point in our lives. I am now just looking forward to spending my last moments with her.”

Alisa was only a few years older than his own daughter, Scarlett, but the night he’d met her at the airport after finding her though a mail order agency, he felt as though God had sent him his own Russian angel. Although she was a sassy, demanding girl, her accent made her that much more adorable when she pouted and insisted on yet another designer dress or sports car. She made him happy with her Striptease Saturdays to ease the stress of his week. And just to start his week off right, there was Masturbation Mondays where she’d dress in the latest lingerie he’d bought her from Agent Provocateur then pleasure herself in front of him until she climaxed around her vibrator. She’d been there at his side through all the charity events and business parties over the last year, and she was always so grateful for the boob jobs, nose jobs, Botox, and anal bleaching she’d insisted on. But to Charlie, it was all worth it. She made him feel like a young, lovesick teenager all over again. He was completely and utterly in love for the first time in eleven years.

Once Charlie was settled into his wheelchair seat, he pointed toward the study door. “Let’s go check on Alisa and Dasha now. They’re supposed to be picking out her wedding-night lingerie.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Todd, who just shook his head and laughed as he rolled Charlie out into the hallway.

“I can’t see that being too exciting on my part, but I can see how a strapping, young, straight man like yourself can find that appealing,” Todd joked, and they both laughed as they wheeled down the hall.

When they entered Alisa’s large, custom-built fitting room, he felt the air escape from his lungs. He gasped loudly, and as expected, trusty Todd was right there, handing him his oxygen mask to put on. Charlie felt his eyes widen from the sight before him as he inhaled the oxygen from the tank.

Alisa stood atop the platform in front of the three-sided mirror as she chatted happily with her mother in Russian. She sounded so sexy as she spoke rapidly and excitedly in her native language.

And, my God, what a vision.

She wore a bright, crystal-embellished white corset, white fishnet stockings connected to her garter straps, and blue suede stilettos. And that was it. She wore her platinum blonde hair in a loose bun, streaks of dark brown peaking throughout. Her recently purchased double-E breasts spilled from the top of the corset as if daring his old ass to have yet another stroke right there. Those round mounds might as well have been the grim reaper.

“You’re going to be the death of me, my darlin’,” Charlie butted in as he handed the oxygen mask back to Todd.

“Hi, my sweet lover,” Alisa purred when she turned her attention to his voice. She ran over to him with her arms outstretched and a bright smile on her face. He loved the way her breasts bounced closer and closer to him as she moved. She wrapped her soft, supple arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

Dasha came over and gave him a sweet kiss on his cheek, as well, throwing him the smile his beautiful Alisa had inherited. “Hello, Mr. Rose, my future son-in-law.” His heart ached a little at the thought of not growing old enough to see Alisa develop into a mature, demure woman like her mother.

He giggled as she playfully pinched his cheek as if he were a small child. Such charming women, really. Even at forty, Dasha was as statuesque as her daughter. Both blonde with dark brown eyes, they could be mistaken for sisters. Dasha lived in New York, so Scarlett hadn’t had a chance to meet her yet, but he was excited for her to. “It’s so nice to see you, and I’m so delighted to be in your home.”

Charlie thought it was funny, too, that he was thirty years older than Dasha—technically young enough to be his granddaughter—and she would be considered his mother-in-law in a matter of days.

“So what do you think?” Alisa asked as she did a little twirl in front of him.

“I think you’re just about the fairest beauty I’ve ever seen, next to my Scarlett, of course.” Charlie’s smile quickly faded when rage suddenly burned in Alisa’s dark eyes at his statement.

He felt confused as she crossed her arms in front of her silicone giants. He didn’t know why his sweet angel would be angry. But she also knew better than to try to put herself before his baby girl and kept her mouth shut. Besides, Alisa would never treat anyone with anything but kindness, so he brushed it off to wedding-bell stress. He felt so lucky to have found himself such a loving, caring young woman to be his wife.

“Speaking of Scarlett,” he continued, “has she checked in today? I haven’t heard from her since you told me she left for the Hamptons to close out the McCalister account two days ago.” He chuckled at himself at the thought of his overachieving daughter hopping on a plane to fly across the country to close a deal at a night’s notice. She definitely got her drive from his side of the family.

Alisa had said Scarlett explained to her it was an opportunity not to be missed for the company. Although Charlie still held the CEO title, it was obvious his young daughter was already taking the company’s administrative responsibilities as seriously as if she already were. But that was his Scarlett—spontaneous and motivated.

Alisa took a deep sigh before returning to the platform to continue admiring her burlesque dancer-esque figure. She kept her eyes on her giant breasts as she readjusted them. “Yes, lover. In fact, she called about an hour ago. I knew you were Skyping with Mr. Finez, so I just took a message. She’d said she’s doing well, and she thinks she’s getting in really good. She said she’ll be back the night before the wedding. I told her you would call her as soon as you were done, but she insisted on you doing what you can to help with the wedding instead of worrying about her.”

Charlie felt a warm beam of pride over his daughter’s take-charge way of business. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Always business before pleasure.”

“Yes, well, Mother and I need to go get a little more Botox and a little fat injection for our temples,” Alisa stated as she twirled back toward him. “Oh, and we need one more spa trip for last-minute touch-ups.”

More
bridal preparations? She’d already insisted on a five-course meal from one of the most renowned chefs of Dallas, bought her wedding gown straight off Vera Wang’s catwalk, insisted on trapeze artists for the reception, and a five-piece live band. And that was only a tip of the two hundred thousand dollar wedding. “But, Alisa, you just spent almost ten thousand dollars last month on all these injections—” Charlie was cut off immediately as he watched Alisa slowly lick her lips as she sauntered over to his wheelchair.

He didn’t care that mother-in-law Dasha and gay Todd were in the room once Alisa walked over and lightly straddled his lap. She kept most of her weight on her toes as she leaned forward, obviously being careful not to hurt his frail body. She was used to that at this point. Her large, fake melons were mere inches from his watering mouth.

“Please, lover,” she purred in her sexy Russian accent. She began to lightly toy with his tie as she batted her lashes at him. He felt his will slip right through his fingers as her intoxicating perfume embraced his lonely body. Goddamn it if he wasn’t useless in her presence. “I only want you to be proud of your new bride. We can’t have me feeling anything less than a princess, now can we?” She leaned in and lightly brushed her soft lips across his.

He reached his hand out to Todd as he kept his eyes on Alisa’s chocolate, heavily lidded gaze. The well-trained Todd handed him back his oxygen mask, and Charlie placed it over his nose and mouth. He shook his head frantically as he inhaled deeply, seeking relief.