Page 53 of Naughty Nelle

CHAPTER 5

Blake

Immediately after work, I met my best bud, Jaime Zander, at my sports club, Equinox, for a game of racquetball. Jay-Z, as I affectionately called him, was a creative genius. He ran a very successful advertising agency—ZAP!—and had created the award-winning advertising campaign that’d launched SIN-TV. “Television so hot, your screen will sizzle.” In the process, we’d become friends, having discovered that we shared many of the same interests, including kinky sex. He had a few years on me, but that didn’t impact our friendship. The big difference was that he was now married and the new father to a set of twins. And I was still single. A player like he’d once been before meeting his gorgeous wife Gloria, the founder and CEO of Gloria’s Secret, the world’s largest retailer of lingerie.

Usually, I squashed him. But tonight I was distracted, off my game. I missed several easy-to-get shots and ended up losing to him big time in our series of rallies.

Removing my goggles, I wiped sweat off my brows with my wristband. My breathing was shallow. I was beat and defeated.

“You’re buying tonight, Blakester.” An enormous shit-eating grin crossed Jaime’s heated face. Tradition had it the loser always bought a round of drinks at the bar that was part of the upscale sports complex.

Over two overflowing mugs of Guinness, Jaime and I caught up on business. His agency was handling the video presentation for the upfront—the highly anticipated May event at which we presented our slate of new programming to advertisers.

“Why won’t Gloria buy time on the network?” I asked. I so wanted Gloria’s Secret to be one of our advertisers. I’d given Jaime my business; it was only fair Gloria gave me hers.

“You know Gloria. It has to be a good fit.”

Like my cock? I mused. I dared not say this, knowing how fiercely possessive Jaime was of Gloria. He couldn’t even take a joke.

Jaime took a swig of his beer. “She’s only interested in the female 18-49 demographic.”

Anchoring an elbow on the table, I ran my hand though my hair in defeat. It wasn’t happening. Hardly any women watched SIN-TV. After another gulp of the foamy beer, I abruptly changed the subject—kind of. It was still about Gloria.

“How did you know that Gloria was different from the other babes you’d been with?”

Jaime shot me a perplexed what-the-fuck look. “I just knew. When I met her, I swear my heart got a hard-on.”

“Was she your type?”

“Hardly. I usually went for petite brunettes.”

Gloria was a blond Amazon. A towering, golden goddess.

“What made her different?”

“The challenge. She was hard to get.”

Newly engaged Jennifer was impossible to get. “Doesn’t being married cramp your lifestyle?”

“Being married is my lifestyle. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I look forward to going to sleep with Gloria and waking up to her. I love every minute I spend with her and the twins. They’re the loves of my life.”

A smile lit up Jaime’s face. It always did when it came to Gloria and the twins.

“Doesn’t the sex get old?”

“Not with Gloria. It only gets better.”

“How did you know you loved her?” Kill me now. I was beginning to sound girly.

“On a plane ride. Extreme turbulence. I knew if we went down, I wanted to go down with her. I couldn’t live without her.”

Jaime had almost twice lost Gloria. Nine months ago, she nearly died giving birth to their beautiful twins. Before that, they’d both almost lost their lives when this crazy Russian creep threatened them at gunpoint at a gala. I happened to have been there last year. It was total life and death insanity.

Jaime furrowed his brows. “Blake, why are you asking me all these questions?”

I took another gulp of my beer. “Just curious.”

“Bullshit. You’ve met someone.”

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