Excerpt
ENZO RAWLINS
hadn’t a care in the world as he laid back as Kalita Lopez worked magic with
her tongue.
The sun crept up
against the window pane just as he screamed her name. “Kalita, baby! Kalita.
Damn that was good.”
Kalita Lopez was
a mesmerizing beauty. The kind of woman
who knew how to use her sex as a weapon, an instrument of pure pleasure, and a
way to support herself.
“Enzo,” she
purred. “Kalita likes you. But you don’t pay the rent. It’s time for you to go.
I must meet a diplomat at two o’clock today. I need my rest. By the way, pick
up those empty champagne bottles and put them outside in the recycle bin for me
when you leave.”
“What?” Enzo
stared at her with hurt dark eyes and realized he hadn’t seen that coming.
“Look Enzo don’t
be hurt. Everyone has to earn a living. You’ve been with me almost four days
now. The money Ryker gave me was good, but I’ve been handling you on charity
for the last two days and that’s because you’re pretty good with that weapon
you’re stroking right now.”
“So, you’re not
one of Ryker’s old flames?” He asked but didn’t wait for an answer. “You’re a
hooker.”
“Hell no!” she
said in perfect English.
“And you’ve got
a phony accent too? What next?”
Kalita got up
out of the bed and picked up Enzo’s cloths and threw them at him. “Look Enzo,
this is Silicon Valley in case you haven’t noticed. Rents and mortgages aren’t
cheap. Now don’t you have a job or something to go to?”
Enzo shook his
head and then thought about it. Why not tell the truth for a change? “No, I’m
sort of in between jobs,” he said. “Hell, I should get paid to do what you do.
I could use some fast money.”
Kalita studied
him slowly. His naked male form was sexy to behold. Her mind raced. Enzo was
good at wielding that penis of his, like a gallant Knight on a mission. But was
he sincere, she wondered?
She knew what
social skills were needed to handle a job like she had. Enzo had those skills. Plus, he was good at
laying down some really classy, sexy, sweet talk on a moment’s notice. Not to
mention that sexy thing he did with his tongue.
Kalita was good
at judging people. And then she made a decision and flashed Enzo a grin.
“Well…Well …Well,” she said thoughtfully. “Are you just looking for a hobby to
do when you get bored? Or are you serious about that making some fast money?”
“And how,” Enzo
said with a lascivious grin.
“You know you
are a sexy stud muffin and I do know a few wealthy elderly ladies who would
just get a kick out of letting you use that weapon you call a penis on them.”
Enzo grew
silent.
Kalita decided
to sweeten the pot. “I know a company that is hiring, and all you have to do is
be nice to a few women and let them see how capable you are in the bedroom,”
she hesitated, smiling wickedly.
She let her
words sink in watching his brain digest the information.
“Are you serious
Enzo? I mean about making some fast
money,” she finally asked.
RYKER GRANGER
sat beside his father’s hospital bed and realized that his parents weren’t the
invincible. He also realized he envied the relationship his parents had
together.
A stabbing pain
shot through his father as he tried to sit up and reach out. “Ouch!”
“Dad, what are
you thinking? Just lie still,” Ryker said.
“I hate waking
up in a hospital room,” Colbert declared. “What happened to me anyway?”
“All I know is
one-minute Isabella is yelling for me to come quickly because you were having
chest pains and the next thing I knew you collapsed in my arms. You’ve been in
the hospital a week now.”
“Yeah, I
remember that,” Colbert nodded. “Did the doctors say what was wrong with me?”
“They said you
were dehydrated, exhausted, and your blood pressure was running higher than
normal, and they are still running tests.”
Colbert reached
for the blanket. “I want to pull the
blanket closer,” his father said and then looked around the room.
“Let me do
that,” Ryker said, adjusting the blanket.
His father
glanced around the room. “Where’s your mother?”
“Isabella took
her downstairs to the cafeteria,” Ryker replied.
“Hah!” His
father nodded and smiled. “I seriously doubt that. The two of them probably
rushed off somewhere to find the nearest Thai restaurant.”
Ryker had to
admit he was right. “You know it.”
Colbert Granger
leaned up and raised his hand. He waved Ryker closer. “Good, because there’s
something I wanted to talk to you about, in private, son.”
“Yes, sir,”
Ryker replied.
“Let me cut to
the chase Ryker. I’m your father and I’d like to feel that you got that Taker
instinct from me. Chasing women, loving the art of doing business. You know
what I mean,” his father laughed out.
Ryker smiled
coolly and sat in silence.
“Hell, you’re a
hot-blooded Granger just like me. I know you got that chasing tail gene from
me, that’s for sure.”
Ryker read his
father’s eyes and a smile flitted across his face.
The two shared a
laugh.
All at once
Colbert inhaled a deep breath and stared back at his son. “But Ryker, by the
time I was your age I was married to your mother and she was pregnant with you.
Now I know you don’t want to give up your freedom. And that’s why I’ve given
this a lot of thought.”
Ryker stood
there staring back at his father.
“And you know
what else Ryker?” He pointed to the chair. “Maybe you should sit down before I
say what I’m going to say.”
Ryker pulled a
chair in close. “Okay, what is it Dad?”
Colbert Granger
cleared his throat. “Ryker, I love you, son,” he hesitated. “And I know you
know all about my having your half-brother, Steele Coltrane two years before
you were born.”
“Dad I know all
about the family history. Why are you telling me this?”
His father
frowned. “I’m getting to that part Ryker, indulge your father for once and let
me finish,” he said with a tilt of his head. “Anyway, like I was saying that
Cierra Cantrell is one really nice girl. And I want grandchildren, so does your
mother and since getting married and starting a family is the farthest thing
from your mind. Your mother and I discussed it and we agreed that Cierra was
the perfect young woman to have our grandchildren by.”
The moment was
silent.
Finally, Colbert
spoke. “You see Ryker, sometimes parents have to make hard choices. They have
to look at their children in a way where they evaluate them to see what
strengths they have and what weaknesses. Now take you for instance, you have an
authoritative manner, but your disposition is like mine when I was your age. I
loved to sow my wild oats too. Did you
know Ryker, that in ancient times the Egyptians believed that there was danger
in giving too much power to the youngest son?”
AT JUST PAST TEN
O’clock that night Kalita Lopez called Enzo Rawlins’ cell phone and gave him
the information.
After taking a
shower and changing he packed a small overnight bag and walked out of his home
and loaded his car.
Growing up in
the upscale Berryessa Area of San Jose, he had been like all the other kids who
had graduated from Piedmont High School, with big dreams of one day starting
the next big dot.com business. But part of being Enzo Rawlins was always having
a back-up plan.
Enzo’s back up
plan always seemed to involve controlling others. Especially horny women with
big bank accounts, he thought as he drove down the street.
***
An hour later,
he pulled his car into the driveway of the affluent home in Oak View Estates in
the rustling hills of Alamden Valley.
He thought the
mansion was in typical California Spanish hacienda Style as he walked to the
front door.
The front door
opened promptly.
“Luanne
Lanchon?” Enzo asked curiously, feeling
he had to be the luckiest gigolo on the face of the planet.
“Yes, and you
must be Enzo,” she said. “Come on in. Oh, and I have the Gayot Rosé
Champagne. Kalita said that it was your
favorite,” she said in her soft southern drawl.
Luanne Lanchon
was a beautiful sixty-something woman with a slim build and big breasts. Her
long, full black hair was laced, intermittently with silvers of gray.
“I have a fire
going in my pleasure chamber,” Luanne said, closing the door behind them. She
walked down the dim lighted foyer like she was an imperious queen, as the
tiered sheer negligée she wore flowed after her.
Enzo fell in
step behind her and caught a whiff of her perfume as it hung thickly in the air
around them.
Minutes later,
Luanne led the way into the pleasure chamber, a luxurious bedroom suite at the
far end of the mansion, complete with a full bar, a sitting area in front of a
roaring fireplace, and huge sliding glass doors.
