King of New York (10 page)

“I
think I should go home now. Can you please call your driver?”

His
eyes suddenly illuminate as he stares deep into hers.

“Please
stay with me tonight. I’m sorry that I fell asleep. I hate romantic films. I am
more of an action guy.”

His
eyes plead with her. She doesn’t say a word as he continues to speak.

“I do
not want to be alone tonight. I promise not to touch you. Believe me when I say
I have never asked a woman to stay, but I’m begging you to stay, Sierra. Please
spend the night and keep me company.”

His
cold blue eyes darken as he waits for her reply.

“Why
do you want me to stay? It is obviously not for sex, so why?”

Sierra
knows why he wants her to stay, but she rather it comes from him. She wants to
get to know the man she’s quickly falling in love with on a personal level. She
sees a sudden sadness in his eyes, and for the first time she sees that
dangerous men also have vulnerability within them. It just takes the right
person to see it.

“Maybe
I want you to stay because it will be nice for the only woman I have ever liked
to hold me tightly through my nightmares. It will be nice, just for once, to
experience a beautiful nightmare.”

Maybe
she just fell in love with him more than she could comprehend, she thinks, as a
stray tear escapes her eye.

****

Chad cannot believe
that he is opening up to a woman that he barely knows. She makes him feel
comfortable and happy. He forgets his dangerous lifestyle and his past when he
is with her. And it has only been an evening. She awakens the gentle and caring
side that he never knew he possessed.

Sierra
pushes towards him and he sees the broken thread of a tear on her cheek. He
wipes it away with a kiss. Sensing how deeply she cares for him, he softly
kisses her lips.

****

His kiss is brief but
she savours all of it. The potency of fear and want at the same time is what
she feels in his kiss.

“I would
love to stay. It will be a pleasure to spend the night with you. You can also
hold me during my nightmares.”

He
lifts her off the floor and takes her to his bedroom. They fall asleep with
their clothes on. He keeps his promise, even though she wishes he would rip her
clothes and make sweet love to her senselessly.

During
the night she hears him fight with his demons. She knows he is disturbed by his
daily life. She knows she has fallen in love with him when he turns around and
instinctively kisses her on the lips, then falls back to a sleep seemingly
without his nightmares.

Oblivious
to the fact that a nightmare that is real might be on its way, Sierra falls
asleep with happiness next to the man she loves.

****

After Sierra falls
asleep, Chad wakes and stares at her lovingly. He is torn by the emotions she
causes within him, but he can’t help but want her. The sun begins to rise and
he decides to go shopping later in the day to blow some steam.

CHAPTER 8

It is early morning and Sebastian
Benoit has arrived in the big bad apple of New York in search of his love
interest, Sierra, and possibly to find new fortunes in new shores if the
opportunity presents itself. London has bored him since Sierra left.

He had left
London from Heathrow airport with a heavy heart as the words of his father rang
in his ear about the outcome of his stay not potentially turning out to be what
he may expect it to be. He had told his father he wanted to pursue Sierra but
the old man had advised him against such a risky trip. But as matters of the
heart would have it he had decided to go against the advice of his father.

During the first-class
flight to New York, he could not get a decent hour of sleep and it was all
because he was scared of what awaited him. Anxiety gripped his mind and dug
into his head; he couldn’t control his thoughts. They ran from high to low,
each with its own intensity, and it drove him damn near crazy. Throughout the
flight he stayed awake, afraid to fall asleep because of fears his thoughts
might form into nightmares.

****

Before Sebastian went to New York,
he had called up Sierra’s brother for some drinks. However, he had an ulterior
motive, and that was to get his love interest’s elder brother to reveal to him
exactly where Sierra was staying. While he had been sitting in Westferry Circus
on the fateful day that he had seen Chad Perry in the
Canary Wharf Enquirer
,
Sebastian had decided to go to the Big Apple in search of Sierra.

During his drinks
with Sierra’s brother, Sebastian didn’t go straight into what he wanted.
Instead they had a bit of banter about sports, mainly Manchester United and the
fight the night before between two of boxing’s most prized fighters. During
their conversation, Sebastian managed to bring Sierra into the dialogue
casually.

“So how are your
family and your younger sister, Sierra, doing? I hope New York is treating her
well.”

Oblivious to the
fact that Sebastian was trying to get at something, he answered gladly. “They
are great, and Sierra is doing well in New York,” replied Sierra’s brother.

“Well, that’s
great, I’m happy for her. I presume that she will be heading to the top with
her brilliance.”

“It’s nice to
know that you think so highly of my sister.”

Sensing his
opportunity, Sebastian asked for her number and her whereabouts in New York,
lying to her brother that he was going to a plastic surgery seminar in the city
and thought she’d be happy to see a familiar face.

Her brother gave
him the information he required and asked him if he’d seen Sierra since her
graduation. He lied to her brother saying “No,” deciding not to tell her
brother that he’d had a romantic encounter with his sister – the jewel of the
family!

With her number
finally in his possession, he said goodbye to Sierra’s brother. He called her
on private number while in the car to make sure that it was the correct number.
The phone rang and his heart stopped as each tone rang out. A woman picked up,
and her voice was the sweetest symphony he had heard since she had last spoken
to him.

“Hello,” the
voice on the phone said repeatedly. However there was no answer from his
connection. He sat quietly in his car as she continued to say hello, possibly
with the notion that the person on the other line could not hear her. But he
could. He heard her clearly and took in every aspect of her voice. She finally
got agitated and cursed at him before cutting him off. His whole body started
to tremble. He could not believe she still had such power over him. He was weak
with emotion. Love and lust enveloped him. He loved her and could not wait to
go to New York and make love to her like he had done before. The whole time
that she was talking his manhood had been getting harder by the second.

****

Sebastian walks out of the
airport towards his transport. The driver takes his luggage into the car and
they leave. They arrive at an expensive and elegant hotel near Central Park –
the place where he will plan how to get Sierra back.

Unable to get
any rest due to the crazy thoughts in his head, the morning starts to bore him
and he decides to go shopping. He leaves his hotel room thinking of Sierra. As
he walks the streets of New York, he thinks about how much money he could make
as a plastic surgeon in New York in comparison to London. Most women in his
London practice just got boob and nose jobs and that was it, but the women in
New York looked like they had had surgery from head to toe; it was probably why
the women in New York seemed sexier than those in London, in his eyes. All
thanks to plastic surgery. He laughs, feeling amused at the thoughts in his
head.

As he enters a
boutique, he sees a man just as handsome as he is, or possibly even better-looking.
He can’t help but stop and look at him. The guy is dressed in a finely tailored
suit that fits his physique so well that Sebastian feels the urge to hit the
gym at that precise moment so that he can match up to the toned muscles that
the other man has. Even though his own muscles are quite defined, he can’t help
but doubt himself. The man on the other side of the room exudes confidence,
style and wealth – pure unadulterated affluence.

For a moment,
Sebastian feels invisible as it seems all eyes are on the handsome stranger on
the other side of the room rather than him. Sebastian knows that he is a very
good-looking guy, but today he feels almost ugly compared to the other man in
the room.

The face on the
stranger looks familiar but he can’t remember where he has seen him before. But
since he’s not a regular visitor to New York, he brushes it off as him probably
looking like one of the supermodels in the fashion magazines that he sometimes
reads to catch up with the latest trends in the world of men’s fashion.
Sebastian sits in the back of the boutique waiting for his items with his eyes
glued on the stranger. He wonders who the stranger is, and why he is getting so
much attention, especially from the ladies. The thought goes over and over in
his mind until he sees the supercar outside with the roof down, playing mellow
rock music from its stereo. The guy is filthy rich; one could see the money
dripping off him. A little bit of jealously comes over Sebastian as he watches
the man leave the store with a woman holding the door open for him as he walks out
into the street and into his car.

The car is a
beast and a beauty, all at once, a little like the owner.

****

Chad Perry does not clearly see
the man on the other side of the boutique as he quickly looks at him, but he
feels the eyes of hatred on him as he takes a second quick glimpse into the
envious green eyes of the stranger. Being the charmer that he is, Chad Perry
woos the ladies in the boutique one last time, then leaves and drives away in
his flashy car, dashing winks out of the window to the ladies.

He is oblivious
to the fact that the man he saw in the boutique was Sebastian Benoit, Sierra’s
one-time lover.

Chad listens to
soft rock as he makes his way home feeling happy with his purchase and in a
hurry to go and meet Sierra, who’s at his place.

CHAPTER 9

“Guess who’s home?” Chad says to
the first woman that has ever spent the night in his place without him sleeping
with her, and he smiles at the acknowledgement.

Sierra rubs her
eyes as he speaks. He laughs at her laziness and her sleepy eyes.

“I thought I’d
leave you to get your beauty sleep while I went out shopping. Don’t thank me
but I took the liberty of disturbing you while you slept to get your dress size
from the back of your dress. I bought you something special, but you will have
to wait a while to see it.” He kisses her forehead. “You look very sexy while
you’re asleep, I must admit. I will, however, be calling you sleeping beauty,
as I’ve never seen someone sleep as much as you do … lazy girl.”

Sierra chucks a
pillow at Chad and gets out of bed.

“I forgot to
mention, a green-eyed creep kept on staring at me while I was at the boutique.
I think he must have been British. You guys have a weird way of trying to get
someone’s attention.”

Chad’s jokes
about the British always make her laugh.

She goes and takes
a quick shower before Chad takes her out for food. He smiles at her outfit, which
looks a little out of place for the daytime as it is the dress she had worn the
night before on their first date. “I love the dress,” he whispers sexily. She
smiles shyly under his arctic gaze. He is infatuated by the way she smiles and
stares at him as if she desires him more than air itself. He softly bites his
lips and breathes gently as he takes in her face and body.

They enjoy their
meal and stay for drinks before heading back to his.

On their way
back, Chad sees that they are being followed, but he doesn’t want Sierra to get
alarmed so he maintains his composure even when he sees that he is being
closely monitored by the car behind. The danger excites him, but he knows he
cannot react because the repercussions for Sierra will be greater than for him.

He glances at
her and she is clearly oblivious to what is happening as she sings along to Bon
Jovi’s
It’s My Life
. He smiles, knowing that she is happy, but then suddenly
realises that it may not be him they are following but her.

“Get down, get
down now, Sierra.” She tries to act bravely, but he senses her fear.

“Please just trust me,
baby, and stay down. Remember when I told you that I was a dangerous man? Well,
nothing has changed. There are people out there that will want to use you to
get to me and I don’t want them to know anything about you.” She heeds his
words and stays down till they get to his and he manages to lose the car that
was pursuing them.

She remains calm
until they get inside his penthouse apartment. He feels a hot tingle across his
face before realising she has slapped him with all her might.

“How dare you
put me in such a dangerous situation? Do you know how fucking scared I was?”
Chad cannot help but laugh as he rubs his cheeks.