No Ordinary Bloke
Other Books by Mary Whitney
Beside Your Heart Series
Beside Your Heart
(Book #1)
Disclosure of the Heart
(Book #2)
Forever Your Heart
(Book #3)
To Enn Bocci because she wanted to hear David’s story.
Are we born lucky or do we create our own as we go along? So far, life has taught me it’s a bit of both. I’m not a philosophical kind of bloke, but I know something about luck. A childhood on the wrong side of advantage will teach you that. I'm an investment banker which makes me a gambler by nature. Luck is in every sense a matter of chance. It’s both the circumstances the universe has decided for you and the chances you take as you make your way through life.
When I met Allison Wright, the fates were on my side, but I soon learned that the odds were against me.
“H
ush, hush, Little V,” I said as I cradled my niece. Trying to calm her wails, I pointed out of the expansive glass window. “Look out there. Do you see that big plane? You’re going on that soon with your mum and dad.”
Darling thing didn’t know what an airplane was. She clenched her eyes tighter and let out a screeching cry. To my right, I heard a male American accent say, “Do you mind?”
Rather than turning to the guy, I turned my head to the left as I bit my tongue. Normally, I’d go off at a jerk like him, but this wasn’t the place. As I looked to the side, I caught sight of a beauty of a redhead, some twenty feet away but looking at me as she spoke on her phone. She was nodding as she listened to the phone, and I wanted to get a better look at her so I smiled. Her lips began to turn up in a warm expression, but then as if she thought better of it, she turned on her heel and walked away.
Then Little V screeched again, probably complaining that I’d paid attention to someone other than her. As her screams rose through the room, the American voice said, “Can’t you make her stop? I’m trying to work.”
The arsehole left me little choice. I turned to him and said, “And who the
fuck
are you?”
Wearing ridiculous flip-flops and a T-shirt, the twat had a shiny laptop resting on his knees as he lounged in his seat. He had to be one of those twenty-five-year-old tech millionaires who thought rules and manners didn’t apply to him. I worked with that sort all the time. I liked their money, but I hated dealing with such wankers.
He stared me down. “I’m a paying customer in the British Airways first class lounge. That’s who I am.”
“Well, so is she. She’s probably going to be on your flight and in first class, and I hope she screams there as well.”
“Brats like that should be in the back of the plane. I expect some quiet.” He crossed his arms as if he was as entitled as the bloody King of England.
I bounced Veronica some more as her cries grew louder, and I took a step toward the jerk. “Do you think the whole fucking world revolves around you? It’s a good thing I’m holding this baby, right now.” I looked him up and down. I was a good foot taller and definitely in better shape. “I could take out your sorry arse.”
“David!” My cousin Adam’s voice rose from behind me. He’d obviously caught part of the conversation because he was at my side at once. Holding out his hands, he said, “Let me take her. Nicki’s at the bar. Let’s go and get a pint.”
“All right,” I said, hating to back down from a fight. A pint didn’t sound too bad at the moment though, so I gently handed Veronica over to her dad. Still I wasn’t going to let the American get away with his behavior. I nodded to the earphones hanging around the git’s neck. “If you want silence in a public place, put on your damn earphones.”
Forever the gentleman’s gentleman, Adam smiled to the sorry bugger. “Pardon us.”
As Adam and I walked away, he whispered harshly, “Jesus Christ, David. You’re thirty-eight and a senior vice-president of one of the largest investment firms in the bloody world. What are you doing picking fights like you’re still a teenager on the streets of the East End?”
I snorted and walked a little more proudly. “You can take the boy out of the Leytonstone, but you can’t take the Leytonstone out of the boy…”
“Look at where you are,” he said, gesturing around the posh lounge, not the normal dodgy waiting areas at Heathrow.
“Bollocks. He was insulting my niece.”
“She’s
my
daughter, and I wouldn’t cause a fist fight over her.”
I grinned. “Aw, cuz. That’s only because you’re Viscount Kincaid. You can’t take him on. This is just one of the reasons why it’s good to have me around.”
“And what’s another?”
I jerked my head toward the petite brunette sitting at the bar with a big smile for us. “Well, you wouldn’t have Nicki without me.”
“Not that again…”
“The truth hurts, my friend.”
When we reached the bar, Nicki already had three pints lined up for us. She kissed Adam on the cheek, and reaching for her daughter, she said, “Aw, my girl. It’s okay.” Veronica’s cries stopped at once. Nicki turned to us happily. “What’s going on with y’all?”
Occasionally, her Texas twang would escape her, and it always made me smile. “Nothing really. Thank you for the beer.”
Adam laughed. “Nothing except David’s threatening other passengers on our flight.”
I took a drink and waggled my finger. “But
I’m
not on your flight so it doesn’t matter.”
“Thankfully,” said Adam.
“I’m dreading the six hours ahead of us, but David …” Nicki cringed. “Thirteen hours to Singapore sounds miserable.”
“Travel is a fact of life for me.” I sat my glass on the counter. “Doesn’t bother me so much anymore. I keep busy, or I sleep.”
“What do you do? Watch movies?” she asked.
“Yes. I read a lot as well.” I stood a little straighter and gave her a sly look. “Chat up the flight attendants if they’re pretty.”
Nicki’s voice dropped. “You hit on flight attendants? That’s so cliché.”
Adam smiled. “It guarantees him a woman in every port.”
“Or on every plane,” I said and gave Nicki a wink.
“And on that note,” Nicki said, completely unimpressed, and turned to Adam. “One of us gets to change Veronica before the flight. Who is it going to be?”
Adam took another sip of beer. “You go ahead. I’ll handle the blow out on the plane. She’s bound to have one.”
“That’s a deal,” said Nicki, grabbing her bag.
As she walked away, I took her barstool and said to Adam, “Changing nappies. What’s that like?”
“Boring.” He wrinkled his nose. “And often disgusting, but necessary. I hear the boys piss all over you if you’re not careful.”
I imagined a tiny pecker spraying piss in my face. “Blimey.”
Just then about ten feet away, the profile of that lovely redhead caught my eye again. I always loved a redhead, so I sat taller in my seat to check her out. Her dark red hair was medium length, resting in loose curls on her shoulders. Her skin looked ivory, but with freckles all over her delicate cheekbones. Moving down her body, I saw she wore a well-tailored dress shirt buttoned up respectably, but not without showing off the silhouette of her nice-sized breasts. Her waist was small in a fitted suit skirt. I watched a sweet smile appear on her lips as she accepted a martini from the barman.
I looked at Adam and then nodded over to her. “She’s a beauty.”
Adam glanced over. He was a happily married man, but he was still a man. “Indeed.”
“I’d like to get to know her…”
“Get to know her?” Adam asked with a scornful laugh.
I grinned. “Well, I’d like to shag her as well, but even I’ve got to start somewhere. It’s not all wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am. Normally, I do talk to them for at least a few minutes.”
“Such restraint.” He leaned to the side to get another look at her. “You’ve always liked redheads.”
I watched as she took her drink to one of the giant leather chairs and sat down by her fancy briefcase. I sighed. “Yes, red is my favorite color.”
“So tell me about your trip,” said Adam. It sounded like he wanted a change of subject.
Ogling the redhead would have to continue later, if she was around. I turned back to Adam. “Meeting with our local office and sweating my arse off.”
Adam and I talked for the next half hour, with Nicki and Veronica joining us not long before they were about to board. When it was time to say goodbye, I wanted it over quickly. I was a closet sap who hated goodbyes, though I didn’t choke up with the two of them. Nicki and Adam traveled to Washington a lot for their work, so I should’ve been used to goodbyes by now. I think Little V made them harder for me.