Page 8 of Damaged Billionaire Daddy (The Lanes Series #1)

Chapter eight

Richie

It doesn’t mean anything.

I accepted Nia’s invitation to take Kandis out because I knew how much it would annoy her, or at least that’s what I keep telling myself in an effort not to face the truth. The truth? She’d grabbed my attention.

Kandis was a pain in my ass, and I fully believed that if I was not careful, she’d do anything possible to make sure I ended up at the bottom while she was at the top, but even with that being said, there was something about her that made her so different from every other woman I’d ever met.

For instance, I took the girl’s virginity, and usually that would make a woman clingy and hard to get rid of but not this one. She acted as if it meant nothing when other women would have tried to trap me.

My looks, fame, and fortune didn’t change the way that she felt about me. But one thing that did? The sex. And I was not willing to let the first time be the last time. I would have her again before I went back to the city.

“This isn’t a date.” Kandis was sitting in my passenger seat with her arms crossed, as close to the window as she could be while looking outside of it as if looking at me would make her puke. “In fact, I wish that you would leave and never come back, but you’re making that exceptionally difficult.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “A bit harsh don’t you think?”

“To you? No.”

“Your grandmother called it a date.”

“Yeah. Well, she’s wrong, and if she knew what you were doing, I’m sure she and granddad wouldn’t be so fond of you.” She sent me a look before going back to looking out of the window. “Where are you taking me?”

“Where would you like to go?”

“Wherever we end up going, I will be leaving immediately. I can uber to a friend’s.”

I let out a laugh. “You really think I’d make it that easy on you?”

“I really think that you need to stop messing around me before I show you who you’re messing with.”

“I’m so scared,” I said, raising my hands as if to ward her off in horror.

I was sure that whatever Kandis was about to say next would have been insanely unladylike, but she was cut off by her phone ringing.

She sent me a dirty look as if it was something I did on purpose before pulling it out, sighing at the name, and answering it.

“Mila,” she greeted with fake enthusiasm.

“I was going to call you back, I swear.”

I could only hear one end of the conversation.

“No, I didn’t forget.”

“I don’t, Mila.”

“Like I said earlier, it’s really not my style.”

“I do love you. Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I’m kind of tied up right now.”

Her voice got quiet. “Yes, with him.”

So, she’s told her friends about me? I wondered what she said about me, probably something along the lines of I’m the self-entitled jerk who took her virginity and now she couldn’t get away from me.

“I really don’t want to.”

A long silence. “Fine, Mila, I’ll make an appearance.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Kandis had a sour look on her face, and her unhappiness was easy to see from miles away. She looked even worse than when she had to agree to go on this date.

“What was that about?”

“Don’t act like we’re friends.”

“I feel like taking someone’s virginity does make you in a way friends with them.”

“I don’t think so.”

“A party?”

Slowly, she turned around to look at me. “Eavesdrop much?” And then her entire face lit up, as something came to her mind. Her face was enveloped with a smile. “Wait, actually, yes. I can kill two birds with one stone. Let’s go to the party.”

I looked her over. “You’re not dressed for a party.”

“I don’t have anyone to impress.” She put her back against the seat. “But there are going to be a lot of women with their guards down who will get so lost in your eyes that they won’t even notice you’re an asshole. Getting them to spread their legs for you should be relatively easy.”

There’s only one girl who’s legs I want to get in between.

But the idea of seeing her let loose a bit at a party wasn’t one I could miss out on. “Give me the address.”

* * *

“I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before.” Under any other circumstances, the woman in front of me would have my full attention. She had big eyes, maybe too big, and a round face with sharp features.

Her hair was dark and almost reached her butt. She’d been flirting with me for the better part of five minutes with subtle glances and little smiles. She was small but cute.

If I wasn’t so focused on Kandis, I would probably take her home.

“Probably not,” I told her, honestly. “I’m not from around here.”

“Yeah, you have a city accent.” Now that she said it, I could hear her thick, country accent, although her clothes easily gave her away. She’s wearing a floral-patterned blue dress with a small belt wrapped around it and cowboy boots, paired with a hat that screams ‘I ride bulls’ in my free time.

“I’m Clara.” She reached her hand out to me, and I shook it with pursed lips, casually looking around the party to see if I could spot Kandis.

She disappeared basically the second that we entered the threshold, and I hadn’t seen her since.

I highly doubt that it was accidental she’s stayed out of my sight.

There was no way she left, right? Not without telling me and knowing what I could do and say to her grandparents.

“Clara,” I repeated, mainly as a means of remembering her name. “It’s great to meet you. I’m Richie.”

She withdrew her hand and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, giving me a shy look. “If you’re not from around here, where are you from?”

“Somewhere far away.”

“I figured.” She nodded. I liked the fact that she didn’t ask a lot of questions. “What are you doing here?”

“Business, mostly,” I stated. “A bit of pleasure.”

Her lips curved upwards. “What kind of pleasure?” She was getting straight to the point. I did like that in a woman, when I didn’t have to try hard to woo them.

I downed the rest of my drink. “A kind I’m sure you’re familiar with.”

“I can show you how familiar I am with it.” She got onto her tippy toes and wrapped an arm around my neck, reeling me in close, so she could press her lips against mine, pushing her body up against mine. She was soft and warm, but it was nothing like when Kandis did it.

This is insane.

I had a woman throwing herself at me, and the only thing I could think about was someone else. That was so unlike me, especially when I didn’t even like Kandis. She drove me nuts, but when I touched her, I never wanted to stop. Something about her was just so familiar. I couldn’t really explain it.

“Gross.” Clara pulled away, and Kandis was standing in front of us, clearly annoyed, with a hand on her hip.

“Kandis, is that you?” She dropped her grip from around me. “Oh my gosh, it is! I didn’t know you were back.”

“Did you miss me?”

The two girls hugged as some kind of reunion, and I watched with vague interest. “Kandis, how nice of you to join us,” I commented, making sure they didn’t forget that I was standing right in front of them.

Kandis rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t be messing around with this one, Clara, trust me.”

“Oh, is he yours?”

“She wants me to be,” I answered.

“Shut up,” she snapped.

Clara laughed. “So, there is something going on between you two?”

“No!”

I wiggled my eyebrows at Clara who shook her head, amused. “Well, I won’t get in the way of that. Kandis, hit me up sometime, okay?”

She walked away, and Kandis looked up at me. From her eyes, I could tell that she’d been drinking a bit but not enough to make her incoherent in any form.

“I’m a bit confused. You told me to find a woman and then stepped in before I could.”

“Clara’s too good for you.”

“But you’re not?”

Kandis opened her mouth to say something, but her nose wrinkled before she closed it again. She leaned against the wall and puts her hands into her pocket. “You shouldn’t find a girl here.”

I cocked my head. “Why not?”

“Because…” She drifted off. “I said so.”

“And I’m expected to listen to you now?”

“Because I’m better than them.”

“Are you offering yourself?”

Her cheeks turned red. “Is that what you want?”

“What happened to this being a one-time thing?”

Kandis looked around before she went to a table and picked up one of the drinks, throwing it to the back of her throat quickly before letting out a breath and looking at me with a renewed confidence.

“Normally, I would never say this because it’ll go straight to your head and make you think I care, and I don’t. I hope that’s not what you get from it, but, hell, if I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since we slept together.”

Now, this is a surprise.

“And not in a I want to be your girlfriend kind of way because nothing sounds more revolting than that but in the bend-me-over-and-fuck-me-one-more-time way which sucks because I hate you or, at least, I want to hate you because you’re a terrible human being. And I will take you down, but my body…”

I knew exactly what she was talking about.

“You want to make this one-time thing a two-time thing?” I stepped towards her, my manhood already jumping to attention out of pure excitement of being this close to her again. Kandis didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. I knew exactly what she wanted.

I leaned down and kissed her, my hand immediately going to the center of her back while the other gripped her ass. I pushed her up against the wall, reveling in this feeling of having her again.

Fuck, the things I wanted to do to this woman.

“I knew you’d come around and realize,” I growled softly. Only it came out more like a purr.

“Realize what?” she asked softly.

“You’re no different from any other woman.”

Kandis’s entire body became frigid, no longer pliant in my hands. She pulled away from me and stared at me hard before slapping me across the cheek. “Forget everything I just said, you ass.”

“Kandis…” I tried to grab her arm, but she ripped it from my grip.

“I want nothing to do with you.”