Marie Rochelle - More Than Friends - Brad

“Okay, I’ll stop messing with you.” There was a trace of laughter in his voice as he moved away from her so they were no longer thigh to thigh. “I’m going to be good. Tell me why you called me. Was it because you were lonely without me or were you craving one of my kisses?”

Nibbling at her bottom lip, Alicia pondered how to start off the conversation about what her boss Tiffany wanted her to do. She decided she might as well jump right into it.

“My boss called me into her office today and gave me a new assignment. I’m really excited about it. I mean if I do a good job this could lead to other things maybe bigger and better job opportunities.”

“That’s wonderful,” Brad replied, smiling at her. “What’s it about?”

“She wants me to do a special about some very influential men here in Houston.”

Brad tilted his brow, looking at her uncertainly. “I don’t think I’m following you. Why would you want me to come over to hear about you interviewing some men? Are you saying that you want to use me to make one of them jealous like you tried to do with Max?”

Alicia quickly shook her head. “No, it’s not like that. I apologized for that. Max wasn’t the man I thought he was. I’d have never asked you to do that for me. It was truly wrong and I’m sorry.”

“I know how it is to be in love with someone who doesn’t see you the same way. Now, let’s forget about Max and you finish telling me about this wonderful new job assignment.”

“I can’t believe how understanding you are,” Alicia said, surprised again by this unpredictable man. “Most men would have been so upset that they wouldn’t have said another word to me.”

Brad ran the tip of his fingers down the side of her face. “If you ever stop running from how you feel about me, maybe you will see that I’m not like most men.”

Alicia opened her mouth and then snapped it shut, stunned by Brad’s bluntness. It took her a second or two to regain her thoughts. “My boss wants me to do a story about you and your brothers,” she blurted out.”

Slowly, Brad’s warm fingers dropped away from her skin and then he moved back from her before completely getting up. A chill suddenly filled the room that she wasn’t prepared for and honestly didn’t want.

“Are you telling me that you invited me over here so you could get a news breaking story about my family?” Brad demanded glaring at her.

His expression grew harder and resentful as his mouth dipped into an even deeper angry frown. “You already know how private my family is. We don’t talk about our private lives unless we really have to.”

Jumping up from the couch, Alicia tried to approach Brad, but he took a step back from her. She wouldn’t admit to herself how much that slight movement hurt her feelings. However, she had to make Brad understand that if he didn’t agree Tiffany was going to do it on her own with another news reporter.

“Brad, the title of the story is ‘ Why white men love and marry black women .’ It seems when a white man proclaims his attraction for a black woman not only sexually, but also romantically that it sometimes leads to a lot of controversy and sometimes even dangerous threats. So, the main focus of the piece will be why some influential white males are opening themselves to dating outside their races, despite any criticism that may come from it.”

Alicia watched as some of the anger left Brad’s handsome face, but it still didn’t look like he was going to agree to her request. If he turned her down she wasn’t sure what she would have to do to make him help her.

God…she wondered what Brad would think if he knew she wanted to do this assignment just to be able to spend more time around him.

Brad raked one hand through his dark hair giving it that tousled look that she loved so much. “I can’t give you an answer about this until I talk to everyone else involved and if one person doesn’t want it the answer will be no. I don’t care what your boss wants. Our final answer will be it, so don’t try to change my mind.”

The need to argue was pushing at her, but Alicia knew when to leave something alone and see how the cards would play out. “Okay…that’s fine. Go and talk things over with your family. I swear that I’ll do an excellent piece about your brothers and their families.”

Brad gave her one more look and then headed toward the front door. “Don’t count on hearing a yes because I can already hear Lee now, but I’ll ask for you.” Opening the door, he went out and then suddenly came back to her getting close, looking down at her intensely.

His mouth was on hers before she would move one muscle and just as suddenly the surprise kiss ended. “Have a good night, beautiful,” Brad whispered against her swollen lips before going out the door closing it softly behind him.

Pressing her fingers to her mouth, Alicia stared at the closed door wondering if Brad’s family agreed to the story how she was going to handle working so closely with him and keep up a distant attitude.

“Are you busy? I think we need to talk to each other about what happened last night at dinner.”

Brad debated if he should even acknowledge his brother or keep reading over the rental properties that Zack had given him a couple of weeks ago. He loved Lee, but he was tired of working with him. It was past time that he made his own mark with his own business.

He wasn’t the kid brother that Lee, Richard or Zack needed to take care of anymore. It was about time he proved it to himself and his brothers.

“What do we have to talk about?” Brad questioned as he looked up from the papers on his desk. “You hate the woman I’m in love with. How can we ever get past that? It’s like a pink elephant in the room.”

Coming into his office, Lee sat down in a chair. “I wouldn’t say that I hate Alicia, but she doesn’t treat you with any kind of respect. Why would you want to be around a woman like that?”

“How can you give me advice?” Brad demanded. “Didn’t you have one hell of a time getting Cherise to admit how she felt about you? I don’t ever remember telling you to give up on her.”

Lee glared at him before his laughter filled the room. “I guess I need to see and understand that you aren’t my baby brother anymore, but it’s going to be hard on me. I’ve taken care of you for so long that it’s going to be a hard habit to break.”

For a moment, Brad was too stunned to say a word to his brother. Why was Lee giving up so easily? It wasn’t like him at all. Lee usually dug his teeth in and didn’t give up without a hard fight.

“Okay, what’s up? Are you sick or something? I know you and you wouldn’t have thrown in the towel this quickly and especially when it comes to Alicia.”

Leaning back in the leather seat, Lee laced his fingers across his stomach and watched him with the steady stare he’d hated ever since he was a little kid.

“Cherise told me that if I didn’t stop pressuring you about Ms. Hart that I will drive a bigger wall between us. I don’t want that to happen. I might not act like it most of the time, but I do love you as much as I do Zack and Richard. I think I push them just as hard as I do you.”

“Don’t you understand that all of us are adults now? God, both Richard and Zack are fathers and you’re about to be one in a matter of months yourself. It’s past time you took a step back and enjoyed your life. Hell, you finally got Cherise to marry your ugly ass,” Brad teased.

“Yeah that’s true. When Traci told me I’d lost her and she was moving to Paris I almost lost my mind. I couldn’t let Simon have what I had been fighting for so long. I love Cherise so much and the babies are a wonderful bonus of our love for each other.