ONE NIGHT STAND (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) Read online

  “Damn, that was pretty good,” she said when she was able to breathe again.

  “Pretty good?” he mused, his eyes finding hers as he laid on his back.

  “Yeah, pretty good.”

  “Is that a challenge?”

  For the first time in a long time, Charlotte felt free. She wanted nothing more than to spend the entire night in the arms of this man. “Maybe it was.”

  Braydon laughed as he sat up. “Well, in that case, I think it’s time for another round of drinks.”

  ***

  He stared down at her sleeping form in his bed and frowned. Charlotte was amazing, considering she’d been a virgin. But Braydon was puzzled. He felt weird. Different. And he wasn’t entirely sure he liked the new feeling. He was used to one-night stands with all sorts of women, but there was something about the way she’d touched him… No. No strings. No attachments. He did not do relationships.

  It was nearing three in the morning, and he knew he should get some sleep if he was going to be any sort of civilized person later that day. If not for his mother, at least for his stepbrother. Quin had his moments, though the guy was bone dry, too good for Braydon’s liking. He never took risks, never stepped out of line. What was the point of living if there were never any crazy moments?

  But, unlike Braydon, Quin had grown up with the full support of two parents, rich and never having any real need for anything. Braydon glared out the window, hating them all over again.

  Chapter 5

  Around five, Braydon gave up trying to sleep and brewed some coffee as he waited for the morning paper to be delivered. He wanted to see if his actions were in the news. It wouldn’t surprise him. Everything he did at his damn company made it to the papers. He just hoped the remark he’d carelessly made was not seen by certain other parties.

  Once he got the paper and headed back inside, he heard Charlotte moving around in his bedroom.

  “Is that coffee I smell?”

  “Help yourself,” he called back, opening the pages as she staggered out of his bedroom, her hair a mess, wearing one of his shirts. His gut tightened so hard it hurt. What the hell was wrong with him?

  “Oh, sorry. I’ll get dressed as soon as I can stand up straight,” she said, plucking at his shirt.

  “No, no, it’s fine. I don’t mind. Not much of a morning person?”

  She shook her head as she poured a steaming cup of coffee and asked for sugar and cream. He pointed her in the right direction, fascinated while watching that shirt inch up a little higher every time she reached for something.

  “Your cell’s been going off all morning, by the way,” he said, clearing his throat as he nodded to her black clutch on the table.

  She cursed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, well, there are certain things I’m not ready to deal with yet.”

  “Whatever you say.” He flipped through the pages of the paper and cursed. “Damn it, those freaking animals just had to quote me word for word.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Just… Sometimes, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

  He raised his mug to take a sip and saw her eyes slide to his elbow. “What happened there? Looks like it was pretty bad.”

  Before he could answer, she was at his side, her fingers touching the old scar gently. “It was an accident,” he lied. “Long time ago.”

  “Looks like it was pretty bad. What happened?”

  He shook his head. “No strings.”

  “Right,” she said. She dropped her fingers as her cell went off again. “Damn, hold on.” She hurried over and grabbed her cell and put it to her ear. Whatever was being said on the other end made her face turn white, and she dropped it quickly and rushed back into his bedroom.

  “Everything all right?” he called out.

  He heard a thud and a curse. She called out that she was fine and rushed out of his room again, clutching her heels, her dress partially unzipped. “I’m sorry, I have to get out of here. I guess… Thank you for last night?”

  Braydon headed to the front door and zipped her dress quickly. “You’re welcome, I think.”

  He watched her hurry to the elevator and hop in, waving enthusiastically at him as the doors closed. For some reason, he felt a strange pang of loneliness as he closed his door and headed back to the kitchen for breakfast. There were still a few days until his butler, Liam, returned from vacation—not that Braydon had issues taking care of himself. With Liam gone, he had avoided another lecture on one-night stands. Part of him grinned at how Liam would’ve reacted to his adventures last night.

  “Braydon, you can’t just let a woman walk out your door without making her breakfast,” he mocked as he made his own breakfast, cracking eggs and setting them to fry in a skillet. “She must know that you care about her on some level.”

  If only Braydon did care. He’d never really felt a need for a solid relationship. After what his mom had done to his da, he never wanted the same thing to happen to him—ever—so he kept his distance until he absolutely needed some sort of human connection. Like last night. Except, he realized as he started to eat his breakfast, he couldn’t simply forget about Charlie.

  He smiled as he chewed, remembering the way she’d arched under him. The sounds she’d made… The way those big eyes of hers were filled with so much life.

  “Knock it off, Braydon,” he muttered to himself, suddenly not hungry anymore. “She was just another one-night stand. You’ll never see her again.”

  After a shower, he busied himself in his office, avoiding any and all e-mails from his board members wanting to know why he assumed Ronan McKinley was associated with the Irish mob. He really had no straight answer for them, and if he did try to answer them, they’d think he was either crazy or a criminal. In truth, he guessed he was the latter—or had been. But that was years ago. He’d straightened himself out and even had a few reminders to stay on the straight and narrow.

  Absently, he rubbed his elbow. At least the nightmares had finally stopped. Not that he didn’t deserve them. He glanced at the corner of his desk where a picture of him and his da sat. He wondered what the old man was up to and gave him a call, hoping it would distract him from the way that woman’s dark eyes had watched him last night.

  How they had stared at him and made him feel things he never wanted to admit he could feel.

  ***

  Charlotte wasn’t sure what she expected when the cab finally dropped her off at the front gate of her house. She paid the cabbie and hurried to let herself in. Maybe she was lucky and her mother had decided to step out for some early morning errands.

  Luck was not on her side.

  “And I even slept with a leprechaun,” she muttered under her breath.

  Victoria stood in the front doorway, tapping her foot, arms crossed so tightly over her chest Charlotte thought she’d pull them out of the sockets. She stood as tall and straight as she could, still carrying her heels, as she walked to her mother.

  “Morning, Mother.”

  “Morning, Mother? That’s all you have to say to me? Morning? Do you have any idea what you put me through last night?!”

  “I’m sorry, but by the way you were talking,” she said with a shrug, “I thought you were trying to tell me something. That whole speech about getting out of the house and doing something different.”

  Her mother stilled for a second before she opened her mouth and yelled. “Not to go to a strip club! People saw you there! They took pictures of you going through the front doors! Then at the bar—and where the hell were you last night? All night, Charlotte? Where?”

  She gripped her heels tighter, stared her mother right in the eye, and lied. “I was with Prudence and Helen, sleeping it off. That’s where.”

  “So if I call them right now, that’s what they’ll say?”

  “Yes, of course.” She pushed past her mother and bolted for the stairs when she heard her mother speaking to someone else. She
whipped around to see her on the phone.

  “Yes, Prudence? This is Victoria. Was Charlotte with you last night? All night?”

  Charlotte held her breath as she watched her mother’s face. Slowly, some of the anger seeped out, and she breathed a sigh of relief as her mother thanked Prudence and hung up the phone.

  “I told you. I don’t know why you didn’t believe me.”

  “You are not to pull a stunt like this again, do you understand me? Not while you’re under my roof!”

  “Don’t worry, Mother, it was a one-time thing,” she said and turned as a smirk crept across her lips. More like a one-night stand with an amazing guy she wished she could see again. The way his hands had felt on her body, how he’d kissed her into oblivion…

  By the time she reached her room and closed the door, she had forgotten about her mother’s anger and was fantasizing about another night with Braydon Keagan. If only she’d gotten his number.

  “No, then you would look desperate, and ladies are not desperate,” she scolded herself.

  She tossed her heels in the closet and grabbed some fresh clothes before she headed to the shower. The water felt good on her skin, which was still sensitive from last night’s activities. As she closed her eyes, letting the water wash over her body, she imagined his hands on her again… Moving up her sides and holding her breasts—

  “By the way,” her mother snapped from the doorway, and Charlotte cursed, nearly falling in the tub. “Quin was very upset that you weren’t there last night.”

  Charlotte poked a very angry and red face out from behind the shower curtain. “What are you doing? Can I not take a shower in peace?”

  “No, not when your future might be on the line.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Now, can you please get out of my bathroom?”

  When her mother didn’t look like she was going to budge, Charlotte closed the curtain, working on shampooing her hair. She waited to see if her mother would say anything else, but she remained silent in the doorway. Charlotte tried to ignore her presence, but it was too hard, so she rinsed out her hair and pulled back the curtain again so her mother could see her face.

  “What?”

  “Quin is a good guy, Charlotte.”

  “I know he is, mother. He’s been my friend for a very long time. I know exactly who he is and what he’s about, but I’m not sure why you’re standing here telling me.”

  “I don’t want to see that boy hurt.”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I did not hurt him that badly by not showing up at my own party.”

  Victoria raised a brow at her. “You don’t understand men very well.”

  I understand them enough to get a great one-night stand, she mused but stopped when she noticed the way her mother stared at her. “What?”

  “You’re smiling.”

  “Is that a bad thing? It means I’m happy despite the fact that you’re scolding me like I’m still a child in prep school.”

  “Did you meet someone last night?”

  Charlotte wanted nothing more than to duck back behind the curtain and pray her mother would disappear. But she didn’t. “I met lots of people and lots of men. We did go to a male strip club.”

  “That is not what I meant, and you know it. Now, answer the question.”

  “I will not.”

  Her mother took a step into the room, shaking her head. “Do not take my words as permission to completely disregard everything you have been taught and everything your father did for you. I will not have my only child turn wild on me.”

  “So when you said you wanted me to find a man and realize my future, it was somewhere in the realm of being socially accepted by the elite?” she snapped.

  “Do not take that tone with me. You are a lady.”

  “And I will continue to act as a proper lady,” Charlotte said. “I am sorry that for one night, I had some fun with my friends. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Mother, I would like to finish my shower so I can prepare for this party I must attend.” She pulled the curtain closed again, and this time, her mother left.

  Charlotte leaned against the wall of the shower, confused and breathing hard. What had gotten into her? She never acted like that, ever. Not even when she was growing up and hit her teen years. She’d always kept a respectful mouth around her parents. Had she taken it too far last night?

  Course you did. You had a one-night stand with a man you will never see again. You are no longer a virgin… Better hope she doesn’t find that part out.

  Charlotte groaned and rested her head against the smooth wall. It was a big thing in this house to wait until one was married to lose their virginity. Too bad that ship had already sailed.

  She got out of the shower a few minutes later and tried to decide what she was going to wear to the party. Her mother hadn’t even told her what it was about. She really didn’t like watching all those businessmen strut around. All they did was sip brandy and talk about their businesses. It was dull and nothing else, but Quin would be there, at least. Maybe it had something to do with him and his father. He had been trying to move up in the family business for some time now. Perhaps it was finally happening.

  An hour later, she headed downstairs, dressed in a dark, burnt-orange dress and brown leather pumps with her hair flowing down her back. The weather was warm enough that she didn’t need a jacket over her arms. Her mother was waiting. She didn’t exactly look angry anymore, but she wasn’t her usual happy self, either.

  “Are you going to be like this all day?”

  Victoria shrugged. “I don’t know. It depends on whether you can prove that my proper daughter is still in there.”

  “One night, Mother. It was one night.”

  “One night is all it takes for a great person to fall.”’

  Charlotte bit back her reply. Her mother would drive her insane. She knew it. If only her father was still around to keep her from going overboard. If only she knew what the heck she was going to do with the rest of her life.

  Or the rest of the day, for that matter.

  She sighed as their driver brought the town car around and they climbed in. Quin. He wasn’t a bad guy, but honestly, he was just too nice. Too good. Too… boring. Charlotte hoped she’d be able to keep herself entertained with him after last night’s adventure with a redheaded leprechaun.

  Chapter 6

  Around two, Braydon arrived at his stepdad’s house for the engagement party. He wanted to know the poor woman who his dull brother was going to ask to marry him, but figured it’d be just as much fun as a surprise.

  “Braydon! You made it,” Quin called out from the top of the stairs.

  “Course I did,” Braydon said as he handed his jacket to the butler. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. My little stepbrother is getting married.”

  Quin laughed as he bounded down the stairs. “Only if she says yes, of course.”

  “Is there any reason she wouldn’t? When did you start dating this mysterious woman?”

  They headed through the large foyer and down the hall, passing a kitchen bustling with chefs as they prepared food for the party. Braydon tried not to roll his eyes when he spotted his mother in the center of it all, pointing fingers, her high-pitched voice giving out orders.

  “Doesn’t she ever simply enjoy herself?” Braydon muttered as they continued out into the garden.

  “Mom? You know her. She has to be in control of everything.”

  “No, actually, I wouldn’t know,” Braydon snapped. He sighed when Quin hung his head. “Hey, it’s not a big deal, remember? I’m over it. So, you going to tell me about this girl?”

  Quin grinned. “I’ve known her for years. She’s been my friend since I was little.”

  “Does she know you feel this way about her?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  Braydon grabbed a drink from a passing tray and fought the urge to shoot it all back at once. �
��So that’s a no. Wait, are you asking her to marry you before you even date her?”

  They headed to a table in the rear of the garden so they were mostly out of the way while the rest of the decorations were set up. Braydon watched Quin’s face go from excited to nervous, then downright twitchy as he held his own glass of champagne.

  “It was Mom and Dad’s idea, honestly. They said we would make a good match.”

  Braydon choked on his brandy. “An arranged marriage? They’re doing an arranged marriage! Does the woman know what she’s walking into today?”

  “It’s not like she doesn’t have any idea.”

  “Are you sure? Did you tell her? Did anyone tell her?”

  Quin rubbed the back of his neck and took a large gulp of his champagne. “I was supposed to last night, but things kind of fell through. It wasn’t my best moment. I had everything planned out. It was going to be perfect and then, well… She, uh…didn’t show.”

  Braydon patted Quin on the shoulder. He wasn’t even sure what to say in this situation. He knew his mother liked to keep everything in her world revolving around exactly what she wanted, but to arrange a marriage for her son? For a second, Braydon was more than happy she’d walked out on him and his da. The last thing he needed to deal with was some woman being forced on him. What if she was ugly? Or wretched? She could be a bitch just like his darling mother. It wouldn’t surprise him in the least for her to find someone exactly like her for her precious, perfect son to marry. If only Quin had the nerve to stand up to her.

  “Are you really going to do this to yourself?” Braydon asked.

  “Why wouldn’t I? I like her, and we get along so well. We’re both from the same world.”

  Braydon nodded as he downed the rest of his brandy. “Exactly. Won’t that get just a wee bit boring? The same routine you’re doing now, just with another person in your life? Where’s the risk? Where’s the bloody adventure?!”