“Thanks Lee,” Brad said as he moved away and headed for the door, but he spun back around.
“Why are you cleaning out your books?” Lee loved those marketing books. Some of them had been around since he started his own business all of those years ago while he was still in college.
“I’m boxing up some of the older books to make room for baby photos. I’m about to have more important things to display than my old marketing books that I got years ago.”
“It’s about time you put your interest and time toward something else besides my personal life,” Brad exclaimed and then left the room to the sound of thick books being dropped into a box.
As Brad was about to leave Lee’s house so he could find Alicia and tell her the good news, Brad stopped by the kitchen door and looked at Cherise flipping through a cookbook. She had this glow about her now that she was pregnant and it looked good on her.
For the longest time, he never thought that Lee would end up with their feisty sister-in law because she put up such a battle back when Zack was dating Traci. Cherise was the female version of Lee and that was the main reason they always argued and Cherise pushed Lee away for so long.
However, after almost losing her to another man Lee came to his senses and took his ass overseas to get his woman back. He was willing to do that and more for Alicia, but he wasn’t going to be her stepping stool either. She needed to meet him halfway or they wouldn’t ever make that walk down the aisle. He stayed there a few more minutes watching how in high spirits Cherise was before he eased away from the kitchen door and left the house.
“Alicia, you had a wonderful broadcast tonight, but your deadline is almost up,” Tiffany told her as she walked out of her office and up to her in the hallway.
Did her boss have a life or was her life totally made by being up in her business all of the time? Alicia thought to herself.
God, couldn’t she get a moment’s break? Well, she would rather deal with Tiffany now than later. She guessed Brad wasn’t able to get through to his brothers because she hadn’t heard back from him.
Honestly, she wanted to be the one who did the exclusive interview with Brad’s family because she wouldn’t sensationalize their life story like another reporter at BBTV would to move up at the station.
Spinning around, Alicia faced Tiffany so she could finally get her boss off her back. “Tiffany, I told you.” She was going to finally tell this woman what she thought of her and it didn’t matter if she lost her job or not.
“Alicia, I was hoping that you’d still be here. I’m glad that I didn’t miss you.”
The sound of Brad’s voice breaking into her conversation made Alicia looked over her shoulder at the man who was a permanent part of her nightly fantasies now. She couldn’t take her eyes off his long strides as he headed in their direction. They showed that he was sure of himself and for some odd reason it was turning her on.
You just need to get laid, her mind taunted.
Taking a peek from the corner of her eye, Alicia noticed how Tiffany couldn’t take her eyes off Brad either and it was pissing her off. Why in the hell was her boss drooling over Brad when he wasn’t interested in her at all? He wasn’t here to see Tiffany. He came to the station to see her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as Brad walked right past Tiffany like she wasn’t even in the same room as them and right up to her.
“I wanted to see you to tell you about my brothers’ decision,” Brad answered as he pushed her glasses up her nose with his index finger.
The feel of Brad’s hands on her skin sent her blood pressure up another notch. Her attraction to this man standing all up in her personal space was getting harder to keep under control. Could Brad see in her eyes that she had been dreaming about licking French Vanilla ice cream off his bare chest?
“Will I be happy with your answer?” Alicia asked when she was finally able to get her wandering thoughts together.
“I believe so,” Brad replied as his fingers brushed a strand of hair off her cheek. “How about I tell you everything over dinner?”
All while Brad had been talking to her he hadn’t stopped touching her body and it was making her even more aware of him. He looked over her seductively, patiently waiting for her answer and it suddenly hit Alicia that she didn’t want to turn down Brad’s dinner invitation like she always did in the past.
“I would love to have dinner with you.”
“Alicia, can I have a minute of your time before you leave with him?” Tiffany’s sharp voice cut in.
Her attention had been on Brad so much that Alicia had forgotten her crappy boss was still standing within hearing distance of her conversation with Brad. She could only imagine what Tiffany had to tell her.
Brad shook his head. “No, you go and get your stuff while I talk to Tiffany. There are a few things that I need to tell her about the interview she wants you to do and now is the perfect time for me to do it. When you come back, I’ll be ready to take you out.”
Nervousness set in as Brad moved away from her and escorted Tiffany over to the other side of the room near the exit sign. She was dying to know what Brad was saying to Tiffany, but she could tell from the sour look on her boss’ face that it wasn’t good or anything she might want to hear about.
Alicia took one last look at the two people to her left before making her way to her office with the thoughts of her date with Brad in the back of her mind.
Chapter Seven
“Tiffany didn’t look too pleased when we left the station. What did you tell her?” Alicia asked Brad as they sat outside on the patio of the restaurant.
They had just finished dinner and were waiting for the waiter to bring their check. She had suggested they have dinner at D4, but Brad declined. He informed her that he wanted to be able to have a good time without Richard looking over their shoulders throughout the meal.
She had wanted to talk about Brad’s conversation with her boss over dinner, but he shut it down and wouldn’t let her. Instead, he turned the conversation towards her. Asking her questions about her past relationships and family, but she avoided most of them by getting him to talk about his childhood. She liked the closeness she shared with his older brothers, it was something very special and she envied it a lot.
“I thought Tiffany needed to understand who was doing the story and if it wasn’t you then we wouldn’t agree to the story,” Brad said, shocking her.
Alicia was surprised that Brad would take time to even speak with Tiffany because most of the time everyone at work tried to avoid her unless they had to be around her since her attitude was so nasty.
“I bet she wasn’t too pleased with your discussion,” she laughed, wishing she could have of heard Tiffany’s response.
“Honestly, I don’t care about what Tiffany thought. My only concern is for you. Did you have a good time tonight? I was surprised that you accepted my dinner invitation without the usual fight you put up. Could you not think of a good reason to turn me down this time?”
Brad was a hundred percent right. She couldn’t argue with him. She was constantly trying to find ways not to be alone with him, but tonight for some reason was different. She wanted to go out with him and spend some alone time together with the gorgeous and kind man in front of her.
He was a very intriguing man. Most of the women in Houston probably overlooked him because his brothers were so dramatic with their outgoing personalities that fit them, but Brad did possess a lot of wonderful qualities of his own.
She would call him an aphrodisiac to her senses and Brad wasn’t even aware of it. Sometimes, he made her want to do things she shouldn’t do like take a candlelight bubble bath while he washed her back. Or slow dancing naked together in front of a fireplace…naughty little things that she had never craved before.