Fixated Read online

  “So what are you having?” he asks.

  “Honestly, I could eat this place out of business. I’m going for the Hungry Surfer’s breakfast.”

  “Same here, buddy,” he says, sliding the menu to the middle of the table before leaning back against the seat and resting his head against his folded hands.

  Almost on cue Nadine sashays back to our table. “You boys ready to order?”

  Collin devours her from head to toe before answering. “That we are. My friend and I both worked up quite the appetite—if you know what I mean—and only the Hungry Surfer’s plate will do.”

  “Mmmm,” she purrs. “Tall and strapping men like you need to replenish for sure.”

  This girl is so obvious it’s not even funny anymore.

  Once again I jump in to make sure we keep this to food and nothing more. “What’s your freshly squeezed juice of the day?”

  Collin gives me an unimpressed look. I ignore him.

  Nadine turns around to look at the blackboard and I follow her gaze. “They’re all really good, but personally I’d go for the guanabana. It’s my favorite. Oh, look, one of my colleagues just prepared a fresh batch,” she says, pointing her finger.

  I take in the tall glass of cloudy liquid, already excited. “Perfect. I’ll have that and can I also get an extra-hot, tall latte with a double shot of espresso to start?”

  I barely have time to place my order before the eager blonde turns her attention to my friend. “Are you also going to have the same beverages?”

  “I’ll skip the juice and go for an extra-tall latte with a single shot of espresso,” Collin says. “If I have two shots, I’ll be way too wired up. Then I’ll have no choice but to find something to calm me down. You know, take away the edge.”

  “I’m sure I could help with that.”

  Here we go again. “Nadine, it’s been a long night and I’m in desperate need of caffeine. I’m sure I must come across like an asshole, but if I don’t put coffee into my system in the next few minutes I might bite someone’s head off,” I huff.

  I guess my annoyance comes through loud and clear. Our waitress straightens her shoulders like a cadet and looks at me apologetically. “Sorry about that. I’m on it.” She heads to the coffee bar to place our order.

  Jeez. Why do I detect a sexual innuendo to everything she says?

  I follow Nadine as she weaves her way through the tables, still amazed by her boldness. She’s exactly Collin’s type—uncomplicated and unlikely to expect more than one night. Then again, in many ways she’s also my type since I’ve been back in LA. That said, I much prefer women who don’t have to hide behind inches of makeup… especially this early in the morning. Don’t hold last night against me. I was wasted.

  I’m still lost in my thoughts when Collin’s comment snaps me back to the moment. “We got really lucky with those women and we’re paying the price today. I’m hoping a shot of dark goodness will bring some life back into me.”

  Last night we hit a bar where the ratio was ridiculously in our favor. Maybe it’s because it was a rare rainy Thursday night, but there were plenty of single women and few men. Collin couldn’t decide amongst the three friends vying for his attention, so he proposed to do all three at the same time and none of the women objected.

  “Sounds like you’re tired,” I say in my best Scottish accent, pulling my lips down in a sad frown. “I doubt very much one cup will do.” I grin, digging deeper.

  “You’re fucking hilarious in the morning, you know that, Evans?”

  I met Collin and his older brother Shane my first week of school out here. He and his brother are only a year apart, but you’d swear they were twins because they share such a tight bond.

  When I turned sixteen, I moved from Phoenix to LA to live with my father and my new stepmother. I had a major attitude problem and since I already towered over my mother at six feet tall, she decided to send me to live with someone she knew I’d respect and who was much taller than I was. My mom is barely five-one while Dad stands six feet six inches tall.

  The big chip I was carrying on my shoulder at the time is how I ended up being friends with the Dennison brothers. Collin and Shane’s parents left Scotland and moved to Washington, DC when the patriarch, a college physics professor, decided to leave his cold and dreary country. After a few years in the nation’s capital, the Dennison boys ended up in Cali when their dad got a job at the University of California. Interesting coincidence since my dad was also a professor at UCLA.

  During their first year in high school Collin and Shane got teased a lot for their accent. My best friend Jake and I were always there to fight off the bullies. The experience stayed with Collin since Jake and I weren’t always able to intervene before he got hit. He was determined to become as American as possible. Several years of voice coaching and a former career as a teen actor have considerably softened his accent, but when he’s tired, like he is now, you can hear the Sean Connery in him coming out loud and clear.

  “Jake and I decided I’d come to Los Angeles to expand our business in Cali and you’ve been a really bad influence on me.” I try damn hard, but it’s impossible for me to keep a straight face.

  “No, I haven’t. You’re the one who’s always complaining there’s little action on that godforsaken ranch of yours in Fort Collins. I’m just helping you get some. Your best friend and business partner needs to chill. We’re not all in love like he is.” Collin grimaces. I think the guy would rather get eaten by sharks than consider being monogamous. “Thank God, right?” He flashes me a devilish smile.

  As much as I try to convince myself to be good and stay home once in a while, there are too many temptations in the City of Angels. Not to mention that hanging out with Collin Dennison doesn’t help. If anything, this guy pushes me to explore every single one of my feral urges. No wonder the song Bad to the Bone is his anthem. Fucker.

  “Thanks for being such a good Samaritan.” I snicker.

  “You’re only here for a short while, you might as well enjoy every bit of it. When you get back to Colorado, it’s not as if you’re going to go out and party your head off with Jake since he’s now made things official with his sister’s assistant.”

  “You may have a good point, but I don’t have to burn the candle at both ends every single night.”

  “Whatever. I know you’ll thank me later.” He’s possibly right. “What are you up to today?”

  I’m about to open my mouth to answer when another waitress holding a tray approaches us. Yes. Coffee.

  “Morning. Who ordered the single-shot extra-tall latte?”

  “Well, good morning to you too, gorgeous. I guess I’m the lucky one.” Collin is at it again. I roll my eyes, thinking this girl is yet another one of those groupies who’s more than willing to drop to her knees any second now and give my friend the blowjob of his life just to be able to brag about it to her girlfriends. I’m already bracing myself, but when Collin flashes her his signature I’m-a-hot-celebrity-and-I-know-you-recognize-me grin, she doesn’t flinch. She just stares back at him with an even face. Weird.

  Ignoring his advances, she continues. “Here you go. Enjoy,” she says flatly as she places Collin’s huge mug on the table in front of him. “We have some raw sugar on the table,” she says, pointing in front of her, “but if you want some white, I can get you some from the bar.”

  I guess Collin must’ve also noticed her indifference, because he presses harder. “Do I detect an accent?”

  She curls up her lips, but it’s not a smile. “Funny, I was about to ask the same thing about you.” I nearly choke laughing at her response. She either has no idea who Collin is or she’s playing hard to get. “I guess the extra-hot double shot of espresso is yours, then?” She turns to face me and lifts my very large mug from the tray ready to place it in front of me, but when I meet her eyes I freeze, mesmerized. Inadvertently, her hand brushes mine and the contact sends an unexpected jolt down my spine.

  I blame a lo
ng night of fornication, severe lack of sleep and the fact that from this vantage point the sun bounces in her irises, revealing the most seductive yellow shade I’ve ever seen in my life, for the fact that I clumsily knock my cup over.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” I say as the coffee runs all over the table.

  “Oh, my God,” she shrieks, panicked. “This is piping hot.” No kidding.

  Worried, I jump to my feet to avoid getting burned. I love my cock and my balls way too much to risk anything this stupid. In my haste, I bump into the chair of a patron behind me wearing a Dodgers baseball cap. “Crap. Sorry,” I apologize, conscious I’m disturbing everyone’s breakfast.

  The guy raises his hand. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. I’d jump as well if I saw hot coffee coming at my private parts like that.” He chuckles before stuffing a forkful of pancakes in his mouth.

  Once I’m out of harm’s way, I find my voice again and I’m able to string together a full sentence again. “Are you all right?” I ask the waitress.

  “Yes, I am. I’m more concerned about you,” she says, sweeping a few strands of reddish-brown hair away from her face with the back of her hand. “I’m so terribly sorry.”

  “Please, don’t apologize. It’s my fault. I was inattentive,” I reassure her. Of course, I avoid admitting she’s the real reason behind my distraction.

  For the first time since the beginning of this fiasco, Collin adds his two cents. “Fuck, man, you’re a mess this morning.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Accidents do happen,” the gorgeous waitress says in my defense. Our gazes meet again and she stares for a few long seconds. She hesitates and then blushes before speaking. “Let me run to the bar to grab a cloth. I’ll have this table cleaned up in a flash. Please don’t try to soak up the liquid with paper napkins because this coffee is super caliente.”

  “Got it.”

  I watch the petite waitress wiggle her curvy hips away from me. She turns around briefly and when she sees my eyes are still glued on her, she folds her bottom lip inside her mouth. Damn. This is only supposed to be breakfast. How in the hell did it turn into a flirting game?

  Collin breaks the spell. “One thing is certain, that girl can’t be from LA or else she wouldn’t be so focused on you,” he says, pointing to the waitress who caught my attention.

  “Oh, don’t be jealous, Dennison. I’m sure it won’t take you much to convince the blonde with the fake acrylic nails who’s been tripping all over herself to go out with you right after we’re done here.”

  “Testy. You definitely need that coffee,” he mocks. His eyes shift in Nadine’s direction. “If I do hook up with her, one thing is sure, I’ll have a better afternoon than you will.” He grins from ear to ear.

  The waitress with amber eyes rushes back with a couple of her colleagues to help clean up our table. When all traces of my clumsiness are erased, the two other employees walk back to the bar, but the petite curvy brunette lingers a bit longer. She flashes me a shy smile. I respond with a side grin and I tell myself there’s no way I’m leaving this place without getting her name and phone number.

  Once the storm I caused passes, Nadine waltzes our way with a big tray of food that’s way too heavy for her to carry comfortably. She drops our individual plates in front of us before placing my guanabana juice in front of me. She’s just about to say something when a woman sitting right behind her calls out her name. Nadine is obviously annoyed because she rolls her eyes before walking away, leaving us to enjoy our breakfast.

  The Hungry Surfer’s breakfast does justice to the name. The baked egg dish is served in a medium-size cast-iron skillet and from the snap-crackle-pop sound, it’s still quite hot. It’s hearty for sure—a bed of semi-mashed white beans and two eggs that sit under a topping of shredded Parmesan, crispy fried breadcrumbs and diced bacon. It’s served with a thick slice of rustic bread that screams homemade.

  “This will hit the spot nicely,” I say, already salivating.

  “Damn right it will.”

  “I’ll do my best not to spill my food all over myself.” I chuckle, picking up my knife and fork.

  “Yeah. Unless you want that sweet little brunette to come running back to our table. Maybe this time she’ll be forced to rub you clean instead of wiping off the table top.”

  If that’s all it takes, I’m game. I can’t explain why I feel this way considering I just rolled out of bed and left two women who still remain nameless. I guess it’s the combination of this girl’s fresh face, devoid of any traces of makeup, her seductive amber eyes, her reddish-brown hair, that ass that would fit so nicely in my hands and what I can detect as being very ample tits. Even under a nondescript black uniform, they’re impossible to hide. Yup, she turns me on. I definitely want to know more.

  I have no intention of giving Collin the satisfaction of knowing I’m into her, though. “Why don’t you keep track of your own conquests, Romeo?” I scold.

  I’m just about to dig in into my food when I catch the brunette from the corner of my eye approaching us again with a mug. “I figured you still wanted this.”

  I reach out to grab the much-needed coffee and thank her. “You’re a real trooper for not forgetting. After this eventful morning, I’m regretting not having ordered three shots of espresso.”

  She giggles. “I hear you. I start seeing stars if I haven’t had my cup of coffee by eight o’clock in the morning, so I totally understand.” I laugh at her spunk. “Anyways, I should get back to work before my boss gets mad at me.” I ready myself to answer, but my growling stomach precedes me. She giggles again. “Enjoy your breakfast.”

  “Thanks.”

  She’s still giggling when she walks away.

  I like how easygoing she is. Although my stomach is impatient, my eyes are fixated on her dangerously tempting hips.

  “You might as well eat up, because you’re going to need some energy if you intend on tapping that.” Collin smirks. I shake my head at my friend’s audacious observation.

  Collin and I devour our breakfast in no time at all. It’s really delicious. If we weren’t in a public setting, I would’ve licked my plate, it was that good.

  “I wish I didn’t have such a busy day in front of me. After all this food I might need a nap,” Collin laments.

  “Same here. What are you up to today?” I’m doing my best to focus on our conversation, but I’m scouring the room looking for her. I’m trying to find just the right moment to approach the brunette again without being too obvious and without getting her in trouble.

  “I’m meeting up with Shane.”

  “Your brother isn’t shooting his cooking show today?”

  “No. We have a full day shooting new photos for the upcoming calendar. Today is one of the rare days he doesn’t have to go to the studio to shoot his Food TV show, so we want to take full advantage of it or we’ll seriously be late on our schedule. And you know how many hundreds of thousands of those calendars we sold last year.”

  “I still can’t believe so many women are willing to dish out twenty-seven bucks a pop just to have you and your brother Shane adorning their walls.” I chuckle.

  “What can I say? We’re masters at selling the fantasy.”

  “You don’t say. The two of you could teach marketing lessons to many Fortune 500 companies.”

  “I must admit that being a fitness model is more rewarding and far more lucrative than being a C-, if not D-, list actor.”

  “It’s also a lot better for your love life.”

  “Love?” Collin looks at me, freaked out.

  “Sorry. I mean sex,” I whisper.

  “My life is way too good for me to settle for one woman, Evans.”

  “I hear you.” I nod. “It’s good to keep your options open.”

  When I turn my head towards the espresso bar, the waitress is still staring. She immediately lowers her gaze when I catch her. I smile inwardly because we’re trying to pretend to be nonchalant about this and we’re bo
th failing. It’s clear we’re interested in each other.

  “Amen to that,” Collin says. “On a different subject, it’s funny how my brother and Jake’s sister, Riley, both ended up with prime shows on Food TV.”

  “I still can’t believe their rise to stardom in the last few months since those shows hit the air.”

  “Yeah. Tell me about it. Not that you and Jake have anything to be jealous about. You guys are on fire.”

  “We’re doing better than ever. The LA team and I can barely keep up. The same goes for our boys back on the ranch. We keep hiring more and more ranch hands because the orders keep pouring in.”

  “Are you working from your office today?” Collin asks.

  “Nah. I’m on the road meeting with new clients and then tonight I’m attending a cocktail party at a potential prospect’s big-ass mansion in Beverly Hills. Let’s hope it doesn’t end too late.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got quite the day ahead. Can I convince you to come out with me tonight after you’re done with business? We always score big time when we work a room together.”

  He’s right. We never have any problems getting laid when we’re on our own, but together, it’s almost guaranteed we’ll end up with a few girls who are very open to a threesome.

  “Not a chance.” I shake my head. “I’m staying home tonight. You’re on your own.”

  “You’re staying home on a Friday night? You’re such a pussy.”

  “Whatever. Don’t forget tomorrow we have that big gala. If I don’t get some rest, I won’t have enough energy. We’ve been going hard for way too many days in a row. I need a break.”

  Now if that little beauty with amber eyes is willing to give me her number, I’ll certainly forfeit sleep.

  “Suit yourself, Evans. I’m still hitting a couple bars tonight.”