Marie Rochelle - More Than Friends - Brad

How long are you going to keep lying to yourself , her mind taunted? You know that you want Brad in your life more than anything else in this world . Even landing a bigger office and position at the news station didn’t compare to how much she wanted Brad in her life, but it wasn’t going to occur. She had burnt too many bridges with him.

Alicia shook the crazy thought from her head. She couldn’t let her mind go down that road. She had to focus on one thing at a time. The most important item on her life’s agenda now was her career and she wasn’t about to change that for anyone. If love came to her so be it, but she wasn’t going out looking for it.

Okay, she had to stop thinking about this nonsense and get down to business. Shaking off her nerves, Alicia went over in her mind what she wanted to tell Brad and then dialed his number. The phone rang a couple of times before he finally answered it.

“Hello?”

Alicia tried to calm down her racing heart at the warm, rich sound of Brad’s voice. Just the tone of it sent her down a path of steamy nights rolling around in bed. Lord, it wasn’t right that one man could make her entire body melt with one spoken word. She had to keep her wits about her.

“Brad, it’s me, Alicia,” she spoke up when she finally regained her voice well enough to speak.

“Sweetheart, I know. I saw your name on my Caller Id, but I thought I was seeing things at first. How are you doing?” his deep, rich, tempting voice asked.

Sweetheart …Alicia wouldn’t admit it to Brad, but she liked when he called her that.

“I’m doing well.” Alicia kicked off her shoes and relaxed on the couch. Taking to Brad always made her feel so comfortable and peaceful, she didn’t know what it was about his tone but it did something to her.

“That’s good. Why are you calling me? I thought you told me that you weren’t going to talk to me anymore after our last conversation? What can I do for you?”

She heard the slight hesitancy in his words, but Alicia wasn’t going to allow that to stop her. “I need to talk to you. I know it’s late, but do you think that you can come by for a few minutes? It’s really important.”

There was a long pause and Alicia wondered if Brad was even going to answer her. Maybe he was remembering the last time they were together and it wasn’t sitting well with him. She might have ruined her chances spending any time with him and that hurt her more than not being about to do the project Tiffany wanted.

“Yes, I can come over. When do you need to see me?” Brad asked.

Alicia clutched the phone to her ear and sent up a silent prayer that Brad hadn’t blown her off. God, he was such an amazing man. He was going to make some woman a wonderful husband.

“Do you think that you can come over tonight? I know it’s very short notice, but it’s really important.” Please let him say yes.

“Tonight…” Brad said.

“Yes.”

“Okay, I think I can swing by there before I head home,” he replied and then ended the phone call before she could say another word.

Alicia looked at the phone in her hand with semi-shock. Did Brad mean that he was actually going to show up for her tonight because she had asked him? Would it be in the next hour or three hours from now? Well, it didn’t matter how long it took because she was going to wait up for him.

After he showed up and she confessed the reason she called him over to her house what would Brad tell her? He wasn’t the type of guy to tell her to shove the idea up her ass or anything. No, he was too much of a gentleman for that kind of comment. God…Brad agreeing to ask his brothers wasn’t the only hurdle that she had to jump over.

The other Drace brothers had to give the green light for it too, but Lee would be the hardest sell. He hated her with a passion sorely for the way she had treated Brad over the years. However, she couldn’t blame Lee for his low opinion of her. Brad had been open with his feelings and she constantly ran from them.

A sudden knock on the door drew Alicia’s away from her inner thoughts. Getting up off the couch, Alicia hurried over to the door and swung it open. She was glad that she was holding on to the door frame because if she hadn’t been she would have fallen over after looking at Brad.

Damn, was it right for one man to look this perfect without even trying?

Brad stood there, devilishly handsome and almost too much for words to even form in her head. His usually sun-blenched hair was slowly getting back to its naturally dark brown color since he was spending less time giving tennis lesson and working indoors more.

The porch light glimmered over his attractive face highlighting the angles of his features. His lips were firm and sensual which only enhanced his compelling eyes and the hint of a shadow of a beard that touched his jaw. It look like he hadn’t bothered to shave this morning and the little rougher look was turning her on.

Years of playing tennis and being athletic had given Brad a beautifully proportioned body with rippling muscles that strained against the white dress shirt he was wearing. Alicia couldn’t believe how acutely conscious she was of Brad’s tall physique. Slowly, Alicia dragged her gaze away from Brad’s powerful body up to his face. ”Wow…you got here fast,” Alicia said, hoping that Brad hadn’t noticed her drooling over him.

Brad smiled down at her making her heart skip that familiar beat. Damn it! He knew that she had been staring at him, but she wasn’t about to admit it.

“I was only about a block from your house when you called me,” Brad confessed. “I wanted to come over and see you since we haven’t spoken to each other in a while.”

How was it possible for Brad to be this handsome and sweet at the same time?

Alicia was so taken back that she didn’t know what to say, so she did the only thing that she could. “Would you like to come in and tell me why you were a block from my house when you don’t live anywhere near my neighborhood?”

Easing past her, Brad walked into her house making the large area suddenly seem a whole lot smaller.

“Well, are you going to answer my question?” she asked, closing the door behind her.

Sliding his hands into the pocket of his slacks, Brad spun back around to face her. “I was having the weekly dinner at Lee’s and some things happened, so I decided to leave early to come and see you. You don’t know how pleased I was that you called me.”

God, how could she have forgotten about the notorious weekly dinner at Lee’s mansion? Lee Drace was one of the bluntest men she’d ever had the displeasure to be around.

He wasn’t fond… No, he hated her and never had a problem telling her what he thought. It was a wonder that Brad was still even friends with her at all.

“You don’t have to stand there in the middle of the living room,” Alicia told Brad as she walked past him. Taking a seat on the couch, she waved her hand toward a chair across from her. “Have a seat.”

Instead of sitting in the chair she offered him, Brad decided to sit very close to her on the couch with an inch barely separating them. “Thanks, I would love to sit by you,” Brad said, trailing his finger down the side of her arm.

The light touch was making it hard for her to concentrate and control the shiver that raced through her body every time Brad touched her. Most women in town had a thing for the other Drace brothers and were devastated when they had gotten married and started families of their own. However, the man she was drawn to was sitting right next to her slowly driving her crazy.

“I don’t recall telling you to sit next to me,” Alicia teased as she leaned away from Brad instead of moving closer like she desired.