Page 1 of Honey, Honey
Chapter One
LAW
I turned, adjusting the cuff of my jacket and frowned up at the sky. It was bleak, the sun hiding behind a low blanket of clouds that gave the early morning the feel of twilight rather than a new day.
It was cold. I hated the cold.
Summer couldn’t get here fast enough, but this was bearable for the simple fact that I knew it wouldn’t last. I turned up the collar of my jacket and kept walking, hands in my pockets and a frown on my face. I was practically stomping down the sidewalk to get my coffee and when I saw a look that could only be described as scared shitless on the face of a passing woman who did her best to give me a wide berth.
My steps slowed and I turned to glance at myself in the shiny glass of the building to my left.
“Shit,” I whispered, seeing the angry look on my face.
I was narrow eyed and glaring, my lips pulled into a thin line that was bordering on a sneer. With my hands stuffed into my pockets and my shoulders up by my ears, I was...formidable. I was a big man, and even if I was minding my own damn business while being pissed at the weather, it was good to keep a handle on what other people saw when they looked at me. The hours I was keeping, near round the clock for the past few weeks, didn’t help. I was eating like shit, not sleeping, and way too caffeinated for my own good. I looked haggard as fuck, with shadows under my eyes. My cheekbones were too sharp from lack of rest and food, and I knew I had the look of a man that was one hop, skip and jump away from punching someone. Twenty two days of constant work and high profile dealings that had far too much sway over the future of my company did that to a man. That woman had probably thought I was going to mug her or some shit.
I sighed, breathing in deep, and pinched the bridge of my nose as I forced myself to suck in another deep breath. “This is not good. Get a grip. Relax.”
I’d already been relegated to decaf by my assistant for being, “a total and complete dickhead.” I couldn’t even tell Addie she was wrong, because Ihadturned into an ass this month. The shittiest part of it was that I’d done it to myself when I had hijacked her scheduling program and over booked myself like a stupid fuck.
And since I’d done it on my own, that meant Addie got to tell me things like I was “a total and complete asshole,” and ban me from having anything with caffeine in it in the office. I was going to have to get her a nice gift, or reservations at a nice restaurant she would never think to go to, when all of this was over.
“One more week,” I muttered. “One more week and this is over, and then I am never being this stupid again.” I was lying, of course. I would do it again, and again,and againfor as long as I was able to. Work was the only thing I had. Work I understood. Work I knew. Work was the constant in my life that made sense to me.
Law Acquisitions was at the top of its game because I was relentless. I had always been that way, but now I was on the up-and-up. I didn’t have to watch my back when I went anywhere and I didn’t shower in water so hot that my skin was left raw in an attempt to burn away the memory of what I’d been paid to do by my employer. I didn’t answer to the highest bidder in the market for violence anymore.
I called the shots now, and that was a kind of power that I would never give up. I answered to no one and I liked it that way. But at the same time it meant I didn’t have anyone. Not anyone close to me that would be waiting on me, or wondering where I was after another late night at the office. It might be sad if I gave a shit about any of that. I took companionship when I needed it. There never was a shortage of partners looking to spend time with me when I came up for air.
That was a lot less frequent these days, though. The last time had been at the start of this, nearly a month ago and my palms itched remembering just how fucking sweet that weekend had been.
I grimaced and set off again towards my destination. If Addie had banned me from getting caffeine at the office I was going to have to do it on my own. Hudson Yards was a pot of things, up and coming playground to the rich, a little slice of New York that toed the line–eco and green living with a hint of Bohemian. Albeit carefully curated bohemian, while catering to the rich tastes of the upper crust. Everything was luxe or created to be one of a kind. The kind of place that never let you forget it was “artisan”, if artisan consisted of fuckwads of cash, mostly gleaming building fronts and immaculate windows I wasn't sure had ever seen a speck of dirt since being installed.
Hudson Yards was not accustomed to a man looking as irritated as me storming down the street. You don’t look irritated, you look murderous, I reminded myself. I clenched my jaw, pushing the thought away, because I did look like I might snap. I could almost hear Addie sighing at me from behind her desk, where she no doubt would be regarding me with an annoyed look while she tapped her ballpoint on the fat appointment book she kept my schedule in.
“Suck it up. Smile,” I ordered myself. If I was going to be moving in this world, one of money and squeaky clean windows, then I needed to at least try and not attract unnecessary attention walking down the damn street for coffee.
Otherwise what had been the point of all the shit I’d done to get here?
I wasn’t a thug. I was a businessman. Corporate head of a multi-billion dollar operation, and I only stood out when I chose to. Now was not one of those times.
I shrugged and rolled my shoulders, trying to release some of the tension there. I needed to relax. After another few minutes of walking, I was feeling a little clearer and by the time I was pushing open the door of A Different Brew, I felt more settled.
That was until I clocked the curvy brunette behind the counter.
“Fuck,” I huffed out, freezing in the doorway when she flashed a bright smile my way.
“Good morning, sir. How are you?” Her voice was like summer and sunshine, and whatever else made you go hot on a good day. It was sweet, but real. She wasn’t faking the smile, or the chipper tone I heard.
I didn’t answer her, just continued to stand there staring at her like a dumb fuck with one hand on the door and the other in my pocket to stop me from putting it up on the doorframe to steady myself. A move like that would clue the smiling woman in that she’d had an effect on me.
I didn’t like anyone to know that type of shit.
I was cool in boardrooms, I was cool waiting for a big mouthed guy who’d said one too many things while I loaded my forty-five. I didn’t get flustered like a school boy from a smile and a ‘good morning’–no matter how beautiful the woman was.
“Sir?” She tipped her head to the side, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. My dick twitched at that one word.Sir.God, I needed a day off if a good morning and one word was getting me hard.
“I, ah.” My voice came out in a splutter and my brow furrowed at my stumble. I did not stutter. Not for any woman. The small coffee shop was warm and inviting, just like the woman’s smile, but I didn’t move forward and didn't step into the shop until someone behind me let out a delicate ‘ahem’ and I was forced to move.
“Morning there.”
