Filthy Rich Alpha - Virna DePaul Page 0,38

life. She’d fought too long for independence. To never allow anyone have such control over her that she’d fall apart if the control was abused. Twisted.

That’s what had happened to her dad, and look where that got him?

Six feet under, a grieving widow, a son with schizophrenia, and a daughter who was wound so tight she felt like she could explode.

She stewed about the encounter with Branden all the way down in the elevator, and by the time she met Iris in front of the hot dog cart outside, she was practically livid.

“Hey girl! How is life as a financial wizard treating you today?”

“It sucks,” Cara snapped, then regretted her tone. It wasn’t Iris’s fault her world was in upheaval.

“Uh-oh. What happened?”

“Two words,” Cara told her. “Branden Duke.”

Iris ordered her hot dog and Cara got a salted pretzel with cheese. They walked down Broad Street to Bowling Green and sat on a bench near the Charging Bull. It was surrounded by a group of Chinese tourists posing for pictures. The sound of their Mandarin language was like background music, reassuring. Settling.

Cara realized her tension had abated, and focused her attention on her friend. “What are you doing in Manhattan in the middle of the day? You usually avoid this area like the plague. You’ve said you’re allergic to dollar bills.”

Iris grinned around a mouthful of hot dog. “I’ve got an interview at one of the restaurants on the Street.”

“Oh good. You’ll make a lot better tips down here than you do in Brooklyn.”

“Yeah, I like my cheap regulars, but I can’t live off them,” Iris said with a grin. “So what’s up with you and Branden?” she asked. “Is it work, or personal?”

Cara sighed, dipped her pretzel into her cheese cup, took a bite, and sighed again.

“Oh my God! You had sex with Branden Duke!”

“Shh!” Cara said, looking around. “Why don’t you just get up on the bull’s backside and announce it to the entire Financial District?”

Lowering her voice, Iris said, “I’m sorry, but you did, didn’t you?”

“Maybe, but I’m beginning to think it was a mistake.”

Iris laughed. “When did it happen? I want details.”

“Iris!”

“Not a blow by blow. Eww! I mean how did it happen? Who initiated it? Was he romantic?”

Cara thought about that. Absolutely. But there were other words to describe Brandon Duke.

Passionate. Sexy. Erotic.

Even a little vulnerable

She shivered just thinking about the night before and said, “Yes, he was romantic. He actually invited me up for dinner. But I passed. In fact…” She hesitated. Iris would share all sorts of details about her dates with Cara, even going into explicit detail about the sexual activities she engaged in, but Cara was typically more circumspect. Although, given her decision the evening before, after those two jerkoffs had made their crude statements, to go for what she wanted, maybe it would be good to tell Iris about her activities. That’s what she wanted to do, to tell the truth. Share a little of herself with her friend.

“I actually initiated it. Jumped his bones the minute I showed up at his apartment.”

“Go Cara! I knew it was about time your dam broke.”

Her insides quivered. Fluttered. Sent electric shocks throughout her body as she recalled the fabulous sex the night before. But then Branden’s dominating attitude from earlier swept into her mind, and her body chilled. “Maybe I should have listened to my gut and kept him a fantasy, though.” She stared at her half-eaten pretzel.

“Why? Was sex that bad?”

“Last night was…fabulous.”

“You didn’t spend the night, did you?”

She blushed. “Um, yeah, I kind of fell asleep.”

“In his bed? With him there? Wait—were you in his arms? Did you have morning sex?”

“No morning sex—we both had to get to work. And yes, I spent the night, in his bed, in his arms.”

“And the sex was good, right? Just looking for a little clarification here. You usually don’t give me this much detail.”

Cara looked off into the distance. “It wasn’t just good, it was…delicious. He took me places I never even knew existed.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“It’s just that…today he was a little controlling. Demanding. Maybe he thinks because I slept with him he all of a sudden has rights.” But the memory of him sweeping the hair out of her face as she was dressing charged into her mind and wiped away the thoughts of how he’d demanded to know where she was going for lunch. Could her one thought—that he was jealous—be true? The warm and excited quivers in her tummy came