Her Little Black Book Read Online Free Page A

Grey’s nice way of sidestepping the fact that she couldn’t cook. He’d heard how pampered Brandy had been while growing up. Her mother had raised her to have maids and butlers. “What time is dinner? I have to start packing since I’m flying out first thing in the morning.”
    â€œFive o’clock. I almost forgot that you won’t be here for the wedding. Shame you’re going to miss it.”
    Lake pulled himself up in bed. “There will be others.”
    â€œYour own, perhaps?”
    â€œI’m in no rush.”
    â€œYou’re not getting any younger.”
    â€œI wasn’t aware there was an age requirement.”
    â€œThere’s not, just a reminder.”
    â€œThanks, and I’ll see you at five.” Without waiting for Grey’s response, he leaned over and hung up the phone.
He swung his legs over the bed to get himself up and off to the bathroom, thinking in all reality he was a blessed man. He owned one of the largest advertising firms in the country, and it was growing by leaps and bounds. His company’s portfolio was so broad that it included public relations, lobbying, marketing services, interactive design, and most recently he’d added media buying services. He had formed the company right out of college, and now he employed close to five hundred people in his Boston office alone, which was one of the reasons he’d made a decision to open an Orlando office.
    The market here was a good one to tap into and with the city being a tourist’s dream, there were a number of customer service corporations willing to pay big bucks to get their name out there before the buying public.
    The St. Laurent Hotel had been one of them, and Brandy had entrusted him to take her first hotel to the next level. In less than a year, it had become the most sought-after place to stay in Orlando and boasted a five-star rating. Since then, she had built three new hotels in Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Grey handled the security for all four hotels. The couple worked well together and made an awesome team.
    Lake looked in the bathroom mirror before reaching for his razor. Why did everyone assume he should have a wife? So what if he was still single? Was that a crime? To listen to his sisters-in-law, one would think so. Maybe it was time for him to set his sights on someone who would be his perfect mate. The last thing he wanted, though, was a woman with dollar signs flashing in her eyes. He refused
to become some gold digger’s nugget or some young thing’s sugar daddy. He wanted a woman who was pretty close to him in age and who possessed a mature mind. And she would have to be as financially stable as he was, and as emotionally balanced. He was way too old for drama.
    His affair with Liz Harrison while in his late twenties had taught him a valuable lesson. There were a few things he regretted doing in his thirty-nine years, and hooking up with Liz definitely topped the list. She had been the ultimate drama queen, although he hadn’t known it at first. All he’d seen was her curvaceous backside and 40D bra size. She had taken the word clingy to a whole other level and constantly badgered him about the time he’d spent working, trying to get his business off the ground.
    The last straw was when she had moved her no-good, lazy-behind twin brother into their already crowded apartment without his permission. The man was supposedly down on his luck. Lake soon discovered that as long as he supplied Liz’s brother with a roof over his head and food to eat, he was content to make no effort to find a job or move out.
    Lake grimaced when he remembered the ugly scene that ensued when he’d asked Liz’s brother to leave … and that was only after he’d caught the man going through his wallet. What erupted was more drama than he’d ever wanted to endure in his entire lifetime. The siblings teamed up against him, and in the end,