[B.S. #1] Tied Up in Knotts (12 page)

Nervously crumpling her napkin between her hands on the table, Avery looked at James through her lashes. “James, you can’t be that stupid.”

At James’s stern look, she amended her thoughts, and tried again. “James, look around you. We don’t belong here and if you’re trying to impress me, this doesn’t do it. I can’t let you spend all this money on me no matter how you made it.” Avery gave him a pleading look, wanting him to understand.

James now looked angry. “Well don’t mince words, spit out what you think. I promise to keep my hands to myself. I did ask you to tell me the truth.”

“Can you afford this because of drugs? Are you working pushing drugs? I know you said you weren’t, but I know that sometimes money speaks louder than words.” By this time Avery had twisted the napkin into a knot and was trying to undo it.

James reached out and took the napkin from Avery. He untied the knot and passed it back to her before saying anything. God she was onto the drugs again. He had just wanted to take her to one of his favorite restaurants, he wasn’t trying to impress her. Well maybe a little, but he hadn’t really thought it through enough. He was slipping. How could he give her an explanation without letting his personal life into the equation?

Looking at Avery, James could see she was concerned and worried. She was trying to shrink into her seat. Taking her hand in one of his, he looked into the big green eyes that he could drown in.

“Clay gave me a bonus for landing a big client this week. I thought I would like to do something nice for you. There is nothing else, no drug money involved. I want you to trust me. I didn’t lie, ask Angel. He came from a neighborhood just like the one around the office. He tries to help whenever he can. I’m trying to give back a little, too. You never know when you might need a friend, and in that neighborhood its best to know who you are dealing with.”

Avery looked down at the trembling hand that James still held. Now she felt terrible. She had lived in the area for quite some time and had never given thought to helping others. She just tried to stay out of everyone’s way and had even looked the other way a few times so she didn’t have to acknowledge what was going on around her.

“I’m sorry. I know that you’re probably getting tired of hearing me say it, but I tend to jump, then think.” Avery looked up at James with regret in her eyes.

“Really.” James grinned at her as he turned to the waitress that arrived at the table to take their orders.

James looked at Avery. “Any allergies?” Avery shook her head. “Are you vegetarian?” Another shake.

“We’ll both have the filet, medium, and a baked potato, with a salad to start. Dressing?” he inquired of Avery.

“Italian,” Avery said, the first thing that came to mind.

“Both with Italian dressing.” James ordered for both of them without a menu or asking for her input.

“Tell me more about yourself?” James asked after the waitress had left.

“Can we step back a minute? You can’t just order for me like I wasn’t here.” Avery was now sitting up in her seat. She felt sorry for questioning his methods of making money, but she was not going to let him steamroll her again.

“But I just did. Is there something that I ordered that you don’t like?”

“No…” Avery couldn’t lie, she liked everything he had ordered.

“Well what’s the problem?” James took her hand, playing with her fingers. “Let it go. I ordered a nice meal that you seem to just approve of, so let’s get back to your story. Tell me more about yourself? I am interested in everything about you. I know you feel the same pull that I do. All I’m asking for is that we explore this thing developing between us and see where it goes. I think you want the same, but are too afraid to let yourself acknowledge it.”

Pulling her hand from his grasp, Avery tried to relax and leaned back against the booth. What could she tell him without giving up too much? She didn’t know him well enough to judge. He said she could tell him anything, but most people, when they heard your parents were drug runners for the cartel, parted ways as fast as they could.

Trying not to lie, well, not too much, she told James about her childhood and the nice neighborhood that she had lived in. About being an only child, the family, many trips, and college. She kept to just the facts and didn’t embellish. She knew it sounded like a recital but she just didn’t want her mouth to get carried away and reveal too much. The only way she knew she could do that was to stick just to the facts. She sounded boring but he was the one that wanted to know.

“Boring, I know.” She looked up from her meal and laid her fork down, surprised at the amount that she had eaten with her nerves in disarray. “I was just an ordinary kid, like a hundred others raised in the suburbs. Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself? I know you and Clay are friends.”

“Yes, Clay and I are friends from way back, but don’t try to change the subject. I heard what you told me, but it was like you had read it from a book. I want to know the real Avery. The good and the bad. I know with your quick wit and stubbornness that you must have been a more rounded person than you are letting on. I know you still have doubts about me, but I can assure you that I have no hidden agenda, other than getting to know a very beautiful lady.”

“Oh, you lay it on thick.” Avery smiled at James. “OK, just a little. Then you have to return the bio. I was raised in the little picket fence house that everyone wants to own. John and Amanda Knotts were my parents. I went to school, and while I tried to follow the rules at school, I just kept getting into trouble. Looking back I think my parents were too strict. When I went to school I just wanted to be free. I wanted to ask questions and get answers. I didn’t want another person telling me that they knew what was best for me, without my input. That got me into a lot trouble, my mouth, as you know, runs away from me sometimes. So I spent a lot of time in the principal’s office. My parents couldn’t understand how the quiet girl they raised could get into so much trouble when out of sight. Many nights I was sent to bed without supper. My parents didn’t allow questions and their word was law. I didn’t have many friends growing up. Most couldn’t stand the rules at our house, so they just didn’t come. Birthday parties were frowned upon. Anything that would upset their orderly life was out of bounds.” Avery knew her mouth was starting to get away from her, but if he wanted the real Avery, he was going to hear it.

James just sat there trying to take in the beautiful woman before him, and he would have to readjust his thinking now that he knew about the life that she was brought up in. He knew his gut had been right about her. Avery was innocent in all this, and he just had to prove it. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice for a moment that Avery had stopped talking and was looking at him. Picking up his fork that he had laid down when Avery had started her story, he finished his meal.

Avery knew he was thinking. She just wished she knew what about. Come to think of it, she had sounded pretty pathetic. Maybe he wasn’t interested now that he knew what a doormat she really was and not the strong person that she had been trying to portray.

Noticing that Avery was not eating, James looked at her. What to say? He felt sorry for the little girl, but he wanted the woman that she had become. He just had to clear her and get the Feds off her back.

“Thanks for that. I can see you’re a deeply private person. I want you to know that I’m privileged that you shared that much.” Crumpling up his napkin, he laid it on his plate. “Are you done?”

“No, I’m not.”

James looked down at her plate that was still half full. “But you stopped eating.”

“Oh I’m done with the food, but not with you. It’s your turn. I told you my story, I want to hear yours. Before you make up some excuse and tell me there’s nothing to tell, I will warn you that I will ask Clay and you know how friends like to gossip and stretch the truth. So either you tell me or I get the probably R-rated version from Clay. Your choice.”

Well, the little girl had learned to stick up for herself.

Nodding at her to continue her meal, he knew she hadn’t eaten enough to keep a bird alive. Waiting until she picked her fork back up, James began.

“There is really not much to tell.” Avery glanced up at him with a disbelieving look.

“OK, OK, here it goes. I was raised not too far from here. My father was a cop and my mother a teacher at the local high school. I have a brother, younger, and a pain in my ass…I mean in my side, when we were growing up. He still is, but now at least we can string a sentence together without arguing. Mother hated the fighting, but Dad always said we had to grow up and learn to make our own place in the world and to let us be. I went to school then into the army for a stint. That’s where I met Clay. We were in the same unit. Angel and the others joined the unit later. And that’s how we all ended up together and our friendship has lasted all these years. After the army, we drifted into business together. Now we run an investment firm.”

“How did you get into investments after the army? It doesn’t seem to be something that would go together.” James had to think fast at her question. He really didn’t know too much about investing and with her quick mind, he was sure that she would pick up anything that sounded wrong.

“My brother made a name for himself while I was gone. Since I didn’t want to be a cop like Dad, I thought I would give it a go.” James gritted his teeth at his next statement. “My brother taught us everything we know. We are very grateful to him.”

“Who’s your brother? Maybe I’ve heard of him.”

“Nosy much?” James couldn’t lie about this, she already knew his last name and Avery was smart, she would put it together soon.

“His name is Chase Braden. He has an investment firm on the other side of town.” James couldn’t stop the pride sounding in his voice. His brother was a pain, but he was still proud of all he had accomplished.

“Oh, I heard of him. Isn’t he some golden child when it comes to investments? Didn’t he make his first million before he was twenty-five?”

“Yes, that’s him.” At James’s answer Avery had a fascinated look on her face.

James was starting to feel very uncomfortable the way the conversation was going. He had to get her back on track and talking about herself.

“Why aren’t you working for him uptown? If I was a millionaire I would take care of my family,” Avery asked again, taking him away from his thoughts.

“Oh, he does help us other ways, just not money. The guys, me included, wanted to do it ourselves. By the way, you didn’t tell me what your parents did for a living?” James tried to get her off the subject of his family and turn the conversation back to hers.

Avery threw her napkin on her plate and reached for her purse. “I think it’s time that we leave. It’s a long drive back to the office. I don’t know about you but I’m getting sleepy.” Covering a fake yawn, Avery escaped James’s question.

James looked at Avery. She didn’t fool him. She wasn’t tired, just tired of the questions. He would let it go for now. Signaling the waitress, James asked for the tab.

The long drive back to the office was done in quiet. The only sound was the soft sounds of the jazz station on the radio. As he drove through the night, James wondering how he could break down her barriers.

Avery was trying to think of ways to avoid telling him more.

Avery didn’t want to tell James anything else about her family. She was really starting to like him when he wasn’t so bossy, and her job was a dream. While she didn’t want to lie to him, she didn’t want him to look at her the way most people did after knowing that her parents were involved in drug distribution. He seemed to like her so maybe she could distract him with sex. Most guys, when sex came into play, stopped asking questions. Yes, that’s what she’d do. She really didn’t have the first idea how to seduce a man, but hopefully he would take the hint without her having to do too much. Avery opened the first two buttons of her top and let a little skin show.

James looked over at Avery sitting silently beside him, every now and then biting her lower lip. He could tell her brain was working a mile a minute thinking of ways to put off telling him about her family. Watching her start to fidget, he watched her reach up and unbutton her top.

Oh, that was the way she was going to play it. He would just have to show her that she didn’t run the show. Parking the car in front of the office, James rounded the front and opened the door for her. Helping her out, he noticed she wasn’t meeting his eyes, but made quite a show of stretching her long legs before taking his hand and standing up. Looking shyly up at James, Avery raised her hand to the open
v
of her blouse, drawing attention to her creamy skin. Oh, James looked, but there was no way James was taking the bait.

Reaching the bottom of the steps leading up to her apartment, James gently turned her, leaned forward, and kissed her forehead. Avery’s startled eyes looked up at him.

“Aren’t you coming up?” Avery asked James, wetting her dry lips.

“No, little one, at the restaurant you mentioned you were tired.” Turning her back around to the stairs, her patted her ass and told her to get some sleep.

Avery walked up the stairs with her head looking backward, watching James walk down the hall into his office.
Well, that went well. I guess I’m not sexy enough. I guess I got my signals mixed up. Maybe I was a one-night stand. Maybe this was his way of soften the blow by taking me out to dinner. A pity date.

James sighed as he closed his office door. Another night on the couch. He would have to think about expanding into the next building, if this went on much longer, and make himself an apartment. He wasn’t spending any time at his penthouse on the other side of town with wanting to keep an eye on Avery. Tonight he had thought he would be spending it in her bed, but he wanted her to trust him with everything. He could see she still didn’t when she evaded his questions at the restaurant with her fake yawn. She also had to learn that he called the shots when it came to sex, not her. His unruly cock had been at half-mast, raring to go since he picked her up. Tonight would just be another night he took himself in hand.