Читать книгу A Los Angeles Passion - Sherelle Green - Страница 13

Chapter 3

“Okay, so even I have to admit that this is pretty lavish for an all-male organization,” Kiara whispered to Miranda. Kiara never considered herself someone who was easily impressed, but she was in awe of the luxurious twelfth-floor penthouse suite in the downtown Los Angeles Fine Arts Building that served as the home for the LA chapter of Prescott George. The place was huge and easily accommodated a few hundred people. Given that even some of the most upscale penthouse suites in LA were smaller than the norm in other cities, this was impressive.

“The Moguls never go cheap,” Miranda whispered back. “Every party I attend with Vaughn is grander than the last.”

The Moguls’ motto, written on the wall, caught her eye. From generation to generation, lifting each other up. She’d heard their motto before, but for some reason, seeing it written in an official Prescott George chapter location felt different.

Kiara followed close behind Miranda and Vaughn as they made their rounds and greeted other Moguls and their families, respectfully introducing her as a close family friend. Kiara wore her most professional smile and tried her best not to fidget under the stare of some of the Moguls.

“Could you pretend to be a little more comfortable?” Miranda teased.

Kiara frowned. “I can’t help it. I almost feel as if I’m on display here.”

“Well, you do look fabulous, my friend. But I’m sure it’s because of the type of party this is, too. Some of the Moguls are trying to figure out if you’re going to rent them.”

Kiara lifted an eyebrow. “Rent them? Exactly what type of party is this?”

“Funny you should ask,” Miranda said with a sneaky smile. Before Miranda could explain, Kiara was tapped on her shoulder.

“Well, if it isn’t Kiara Woods of LA Little Ones.” Kiara turned to glance over her shoulder and was pleasantly surprised to see a good friend.

“Tell me it isn’t Kyra Reed of Bare Sophistication Lingerie Boutique,” Kiara said with a smile. The two women hugged before Kiara introduced Kyra to Miranda.

“Kyra, this is my friend and old college roommate, Miranda. Miranda, this is Kyra. We were on a couple of the same panels together at the women empowerment conference I was telling you about a few months ago.” Both women greeted each other.

“I’ve been dying to check out that boutique,” Miranda said. “And I know a couple women who took photos at your boudoir studio and they loved how the pictures turned out.”

“Thanks,” Kyra said with a smile. “We’re really excited about how well LA has received the boutique. We’re headquartered out of Chicago with a store in Miami as well, so we’re hoping to open more locations soon.”

“I’m looking at expanding my locations, too,” Kiara said. “And I’d love for us to get together and share business ideas, but first, Miranda was just going to explain to me what type of party this was since she knows that I’ve sworn off men right now. Yet I could have sworn that she mentioned something about renting men.”

Kyra’s mouth formed a perfect O as she looked from Kiara to Miranda.

Miranda giggled. “About that. I may or may not have left out the part about this party being the first Rent-a-Bachelor silent auction in which a woman can rent a Prescott George bachelor of her choice for up to a week or just a few days.”

Kiara’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious! Rent-a-Bachelor? This can’t be a real thing.”

“Oh, it is,” Kyra said. “Girlfriend, why do you think I’m here? My friend and her husband were invited by one of the Moguls, but of course, I’m the single friend, so they brought me along to support the cause. I have no problem with finding a date, but who can pass up the opportunity to rent a sexy piece of chocolate.”

Kiara shook her head as she and Miranda laughed at Kyra’s candor. She’d only hung out with Kyra a few times, but the girl was nothing if not honest.

Kiara glanced around, noticing for the first time just how many good-looking men filled the room. “I must admit,” she said, “there’s definitely some good eye candy here.”

Kyra nodded. “There truly is. Women are renting bachelors left and right.” Kiara and Miranda followed Kyra’s outstretched hand that pointed to a corner of the penthouse, where a herd of women stood in front of a row of Apple computers.

“I don’t see any men wearing name tags or anything, so I wonder how the women are renting the bachelors,” Kiara said.

“Right by the computers, they have an impressive black double-stitched booklet that contains a photo and bio of all single, divorced or widowed eligible Moguls who have agreed to participate,” Kyra said. She snagged a glass of wine off the tray of a waiter who passed by, before continuing.

“If you register, you can also see all their info online. Their bio includes their occupation and age, as well as other hobbies that women may want to know. Tonight is the event kickoff, so they have bid assistants to help if you don’t want to do the online registration. But going forward, online registration will be the most prominent way to rent bachelors. Since it’s a silent auction—and in true Millionaire Mogul fashion—once you make it to the front of the table, one of the bid assistants takes your written bid and contact info. I assume the bachelors predetermine how much time they can give, because some of them are only allowed to be rented for up to two weeks out of a month, while others claim to have the entire month open. Some of the bachelors are so sought-after that they have an open and close bidding time to ensure they aren’t double-booked. After you place your bid to rent your guy, for an extra fee, you can receive a small gold pamphlet on the bachelor you rented, as a keepsake. The entire process is really quite nice, because every woman who is willing to lay down some bucks feels like she’s won.” By the time Kyra was finished talking, Kiara and Miranda were looking at her with blank stares.

“What?” Kyra asked. “I thought you both wanted to know.”

Kiara laughed. “How do you know all this? Is it safe to say you rented a bachelor?”

“Girl, please.” Kyra reached into her clutch. “I promised one of the bid assistants our newest lingerie set so she could give me the inside scoop. Then I rented two bachelors and brought these sexy gold pamphlets along with them.”

“Two dates, huh,” Miranda said with a laugh. “Go big, or go home.”

Kyra shook her head. “Nope, not dates. I already have my flavor of the month. These hot cakes I just rented will be some great eye candy for a masquerade lingerie event that Bare Sophistication is planning for a women-only eightieth birthday party.”

Kyra waved the pamphlets in the air. “Our client was a famous actress back in the 1950s and 1960s and came into our shop a couple months ago saying that she heard about our parties and wanted us to plan one for her. But she didn’t just want us to showcase our women’s lingerie like we typically do at our masquerade parties. She wanted us to showcase our men’s line, equipped with enough eye candy to give her senior citizen friends whiplash. There was no way I was going to turn down this party and my only hope is that I follow in her footsteps when I’m her age. So, I plan to pimp these men out for the one day that I rented them.”

Kiara and Miranda were laughing so hard, they didn’t hear Vaughn approach. Kiara was grateful that Vaughn introduced himself to Kyra because she still hadn’t stopped laughing a few minutes later.

“I must have missed something really funny,” Vaughn said, placing a kiss on Miranda’s forehead. Kyra just smiled up at him while Kiara and Miranda’s laughter finally started to die down. Kiara had been so caught up in Kyra’s story, she hadn’t noticed the commotion happening near the entrance.

“I wonder what all the fuss is about,” Miranda said as they all glanced around the room.

Kiara rose on her tiptoes to try to see over the women in front of her. “Whatever it is, it’s clearly the object of some gossip.”

“Well, damn,” Kyra said as she lightly tapped Kiara on the arm. “I think I see what all the fuss is about.”

Kiara glanced toward the direction that Kyra was looking at and froze. Standing toward the front of the penthouse, directly under one of the crystal chandeliers, had to be one of the sexiest men she’d ever seen.

“Oh, wow,” she whispered as she soaked in the six-foot-two milk-chocolate-colored man wearing a tailored, deep gray suit with a navy blue BabyBjorn strapped to him and a baby bag hanging off his shoulder.

“You don’t see that every day,” Miranda said.

“No, you don’t.” Kiara couldn’t take her eyes off him even though he obviously had enough admirers to last a lifetime. His dark hair was closely cropped and his face was clear of any facial hair. Kiara had always been a fan of facial hair, but she had to admit that the clean-shaven look was doing crazy things to her insides.

She couldn’t see the baby inside the carrier, but the way he lightly touched the back of the infant’s head every so often to make sure the baby was okay caused her ovaries to do a backward flip.

“That’s interesting,” Miranda said. “For every lustful look he gets from a woman, he’s met with a hard and disapproving stare from the men.”

“I wonder who that is,” Kyra said. “I hope he’s a bachelor. But I didn’t flip through the bachelor book long enough to spot him.”

“There’s a reason some of the men aren’t very happy with him,” Vaughn said. “That’s Trey Moore, oldest son of Reginald Moore.”

Kiara stole her eyes away to look at Vaughn and Miranda. “The son of the man who caused the LA chapter to be placed on the six-month suspension?”

“In the flesh,” Vaughn said. “But I’ve been working with Trey for some charity events lately, and he’s a good guy. He and his two brothers were cleared of any wrongdoings, but I guess some of the members think the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Well, I don’t know the story,” Kyra said. “But Mr. Daddy Daycare seems to be in the running for tonight’s greatest catch. Women are fawning all over him and that baby.”

“I don’t think he has any kids,” Vaughn said. “So, I’m not sure who the baby is. Trey is also the brain behind Rent-a-Bachelor. He’s involved with a lot of community outreach for the chapter.”

Kiara glanced back at Trey just as his eyes lifted from the baby and locked onto hers. She gasped, caught off guard by the intensity in his gaze. Even from across the room, she could feel the heat.

“Well, well, well.” Kyra nudged her. “Looks like our little Kiara has caught someone’s eye.”

Kiara swallowed, willing her eyes to break contact. Come on, girl. Why are you still staring at him? She vaguely heard her friends continuing to chatter around her, but she wasn’t comprehending anything they were saying. His gaze had her hypnotized and she was pretty sure she’d never stared at a stranger this long or this deeply before.

“I’m not interested,” she said as she finally looked away. She ignored the shared look between Kyra and Miranda. When no one began speaking, she realized they were waiting to call her out on her blatant lie.

“I’m seriously not,” she said again, before turning to Vaughn. “I know this isn’t your chapter, but do you think you could give us a quick tour?”

Vaughn nodded. “Sure. The LA members have opened some of the rooms for tours and such tonight anyway. We’ll start on the second level.”

“Great,” Kiara said a little too enthusiastically. When she’d finally agreed to a night out, she’d assumed she would catch up with her friends before their trip to Dubai and maybe have some good old-fashioned adult conversation since the majority of her day was spent around children and babies. What she hadn’t signed up for was the most intense eye contact she’d ever had. His eyes had seemed to penetrate right through her, and all she’d wanted to do was tell him to keep on peeling back the layers.

If he could do all that from across the room without even saying two words to her, she didn’t want to know what would happen if they actually spoke.

* * *

“Who are you looking for?”

Trey turned to face his brother Max. “No one. Just checking out the crowd and seeing who arrived.”

Even though they were members of the same chapter and were heavily involved in Prescott George, they weren’t particularly close. Their brother Derek was a member as well, but only because their father insisted on paying his membership dues. Trey had always wondered if Reginald paid Derek’s dues because he genuinely thought Derek would be a great member, or just for bragging rights to say that all three of his sons were a part of Prescott George.

“The turnout is great,” Max said. “Great idea, Trey.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” When Trey had initially presented the idea of having Rent-a-Bachelor as a fund-raising effort to support their big Christmas bash for the chapter, he hadn’t expected so many members to be on board given the crazy few months they’d had. Surprisingly, the vote had been unanimous.

Max smiled as he glanced down at Matthew. “And who is this little guy?”

“This is Matthew, Carmen’s son, and the reason I had to put you guys on hold a couple days ago when Reginald called.” Trey looked from his nephew to Max. “Actually, I was hoping I would see you tonight. I’m sorry to hear about Reginald. How are you holding up?”

Max’s smile dropped. “I’m okay given the circumstances. I know that you and Derek don’t care for him, but I can’t imagine him not being here.”

Trey clasped Max’s shoulder. “I may not like the man, but I would never wish death on anyone. After I got over the initial shock, I immediately thought about you and how hard I know this will be for you. It’s unfortunate, and if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.” As the words left his mouth, Trey realized he truly did mean every word. He wanted to be there for Max.

“Thanks, man.” Max grew quiet for a few moments before speaking. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. After the call, some things were sort of left unsaid. I know you and Derek don’t owe Reginald anything, but I want to do this for him. I want to investigate this a little more and see if he’s innocent like he claims to be, but I don’t think I can do it alone. I know we all have demanding schedules, but I can’t help but feel like this is something we should all be doing together.”

Trey had figured that Max would want to investigate the case for Reginald. He’d had a couple of days to think about the phone call, and although Trey didn’t think for one minute that Reginald deserved their help, he couldn’t deny the fact that it would weigh heavily on his heart if Reginald was telling the truth and died without them uncovering the real culprit.

“Although I’m not sure I believe that Reginald is innocent, I’d be willing to help investigate further,” Trey said. “Maybe we should talk to Derek and meet sometime this week.”

“I appreciate this,” Max said. “And I already spoke to Derek. I called him this morning. He told me he was sorry that Reginald was dying, but Reginald has never been a part of his life, so he won’t help. I know that although he is a member, he isn’t actively involved with anything for Prescott George, but I’m hoping that he attends tonight so we can talk.”

Trey nodded. “I understand where he’s coming from. I may not have the best relationship with Reginald, but Derek went through worse. I think Derek would be willing to meet with us, though. My schedule is swamped, but maybe you could swing by my place this Sunday morning. Are you free?”

Max pulled out his cell phone. “I think so. I can come by before an event I have to appear at. What about Derek?”

“He texted me that he’s supposed to be here tonight.”

Max’s eyes widened. “Really? Derek never attends anything related to Prescott George.”

“I was surprised, too,” Trey said. “But in case he doesn’t show or doesn’t stay for long, maybe we should just contact him after the event and see if he’s willing to meet with us?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Max said.

After they parted ways, Trey was still a little surprised that after all this time, he was finally going to spend some time with his half brothers. Max had once tried to get close to him and Derek, but they both had shut him down. Being the oldest, Trey knew what he had to do. Even if they discovered Reginald was lying about his innocence, it was time for the Moore brothers to finally try to forge a relationship of their own.