Fearless by Eve Carter Read Free Book Online Page A

She hunched up her shoulders like she had a secret. “Carlos and I were just coming out here to…have a little fun.” She wrinkled up her nose and smiled. “Want to join us?”
    “Oh Jesus. No, Cinnamon. But hey, knock yourself out there, birthday girl.” I gave a nod to Carlos and pulled on Jesse’s arm. As usual, Cinnamon had made a memorable first impression.
    We pushed past the two of them before Cinnamon could get her claws, or her overly pumped up lips, on Jesse. That woman had had more work done in her young life than a 1950 Buick. As we entered the house, I heard her say, “Carlos, hun. I totally forgot my drink in the house. Do you mind getting it for me while I light this shit up?”
    We hadn’t gotten much farther than the hallway before I heard a voice behind me. “Niki. It’s about time you showed up. I was afraid you wouldn’t make it. You know I don’t like it when people are late.”
    “Dad!” I started and turned around. I guess I was a little on edge, but he had that effect on me. We gave each other a stiff hug. He was impeccably dressed in a fine suit. Yep, he sure had a client or two here tonight. “Sorry we’re late, Dad, but we had to pick up Cinnamon’s gift on the way.” I lied.
    “Oh, I see. No problem then.” He looked at Jesse as if he hadn’t noticed his presence until now. He squared his shoulders and said, “Who is your friend? Doesn’t he talk? Is he mute?” Before I could answer the rude questions, Jesse cleared his throat.
    “Mr. Milani, not at all, sir. It’s a true pleasure to meet you. Niki has told me so much about you. I’m Jesse Morrison.” He extended his hand like a gentleman, but my dad ignored it.
    “Jesse Morrison.” He narrowed his eyes, as if mentally scanning a list of fugitives’ names from America’s Most Wanted. “Hmm…Tell me, Jesse. I’ve never seen you with Niki before. Are you from around here? Your accent sounds a little East Coast.”
    “Great observation, sir. Born and raised in New York. I’ve only been here a short while.”
    “So how did you get to know Niki?”
    Geez, it was like the Spanish Inquisition. I figured I’d better run some interference and interrupted, “Chase and Jesse are friends, Dad. Enough with the questions, already. He’s not on trial here.” I furrowed my brow. I’d had a feeling things were going to go like this. “I brought Jesse as my date, so can we please move on?”
    “Really? Well, that is really kind of…”
    I didn’t want to argue any longer. It was futile. There was no winning or making him understand. I grabbed Jesse, leaving my dad mid-sentence, and continued into the main living room to get a drink. God, I sure needed one.
    “That went great.” Jesse joked.
    “Trust me, that was nothing. Just a typical day around here.” I was fuming.
    The great room was large, with a massive black Steinway piano as a center piece. For the birthday occasion there was a bar set up against the wall, with wine and beer, and some finger food. I made a beeline directly for the bottle of Chardonnay, strode over and poured a glass to the brim. Before I was able to take a sip, I cringed with the recognition of the voice behind me.
    “Hello, Niki.”
    I turned and saw Jason, standing there, chewing on a crescent roll.
    To fortify my nerves, I took a large gulp of my wine. “Hi, Jason. What are you doing here?”
    “Your dad invited me. It would have been rude of me to not comply.”
    I opened my mouth, about to explode into a verbal tirade against Jason. With one hand on my hip and the other pointing my Chardonnay in Jason’s face, Jesse came to the rescue and jumped in to diffuse the conversation.
    “Hey, Jason, I’ve heard so much about you. Nice to put a face to all that information.”
    “So, who are you?” Jason asked.
    “I’m Jesse, from New York.” They shook hands and Jesse slung an arm across Jason’s shoulder, maneuvering him towards the patio as he continued. “So you work for Mr.