Naughty but Nice: A Best Friend's Dad Christmas Romance Read online

  When I got over to my parent's house, I saw Vanessa first. She was dressed in an extravagant emerald green gown that complemented her beauty and accentuated her gorgeous curves. I stared at her for a long time, trying to get myself under control. My heart was beating a staccato rhythm in my chest and my hands were trembling. It took a little while before I worked up the courage to walk up to her.

  I sucked in a breath as my eyes traveled up and down her body – she was absolutely stunning. The floor-length gown was form fitting, not hiding that hot little body underneath it, and the neckline showed off just enough cleavage to be a tease. She caught me staring and smiled at me, her cheeks flaring with color, then turned away when Dylan Montgomery, one of the political strategists, stepped up to talk to her.

  Dylan looked my stepsister up and down, and I could tell he was admiring her. Being a bit older than Vanessa, I didn't think I had to worry too much about him. But as I walked over to them and the closer I got, the more I feared perhaps I wasn't welcome there after all. My stepdad saw me and did a double take, his face darkening, before he seemed to get himself back under control as he walked over to me.

  “My, don't you look nice, Carter,” he said, holding a glass of champagne. “I wasn't sure if you would be joining us tonight.”

  “Yeah, I decided that I should probably make an appearance, and maybe do some good for a change,” I said.

  Mitch said nothing. He simply looked at me as he sipped his glass of champagne, his eyes seeming to dissect me, take my measure, and weighing me, and the expression on his face very clearly saying that he'd found me wanting. As much as I despised my stepfather, I knew I had to play nice. I had to play my role and not be such a contrary asshole to him. Especially if I ever wanted a shot at dating Vanessa.

  “I was actually just going over to talk to Vanessa,” I said.

  “Oh yeah?” Mitch turned and looked at his daughter with a smile. “If you don't mind, let those two talk for a bit. Dylan has expressed an interest in her and I want to let that play out. Let them get to know each other a bit better. I think they'd be a good match. Don't you think they'd make a powerful couple in this brave new political world?”

  I clenched my fists at my side and tried to control myself. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, silently, gaining control of my tongue and the sarcastic answers that wanted to come flying out.

  “I suppose so,” I said evenly. “But, don't you think he's a bit too old?”

  “Nonsense,” Mitch laughed, patting me on the back. “Age is nothing when you're as powerful and well connected as Dylan is. I think they can both do a lot for one another's political careers.”

  And that was Mitch in a nutshell – feelings and things like love were afterthoughts. For him, the best pairings were those who could further each other's careers. He hadn't married my mom for love – I knew that beyond the shadow of a doubt. He'd married her because they were mutually beneficial to each other. They'd helped further each other's ambitions. And now, he was trying to get Vanessa to think about love and relationships along the same lines as he did. And it pissed me off.

  I looked over at them and noticed Vanessa was smiling and laughing, seeming like she was enjoying herself, and Dylan's company. Maybe a bit too much for my liking. I watched as she touched his shoulder, sharing a joke with him as she sipped from her glass of champagne. Dylan looked at her like a power-hungry wolf ready to pounce.

  “I'm going to find my mom,” I said, walking toward Vanessa and Dylan instead.

  “She's in the library, Carter,” Mitch called out after me, but I wasn't listening.

  I walked up behind Vanessa, and sneakily grabbed her tight little ass. She squealed and turned around, almost like she wanted to slap someone, but when she saw me, her eyes softened and she smiled, shaking her head at me.

  “Carter, what – wow, you look good. Really good,” she said. She ran a hand down my shirt, pretending to straighten my tie, but I could tell she was feeling me up. “Umm, you've met Dylan Montgomery before, haven't you?”

  “I have,” I said, reaching out to shake the other man's hand. “But I'm not sure if he'd remember me.”

  “How could anyone forget you?” Dylan said, gripping my hand tightly, an inscrutable expression on his face. “You're quite memorable.”

  “Memorable? And what's that supposed to mean?” I asked, still feigning a smile.

  “No offense intended, I just meant, well, you're always the life of any party,” he said, smiling wide. “It would be difficult, if not impossible, to forget someone like you.”

  Dylan's smarmy grin made me irrationally angry and I had to bite back the urge to punch him. I knew he'd meant to insult me. But for Vanessa's sake, I let it slide. I needed to prove to her that I could keep it together, that I could rise above and be a bigger man who didn't get upset about petty insults and petty men.

  Dylan was a nice-looking man, I couldn't deny it, even if he was at least ten years her senior. With graying hair and a fit body, he certainly had a distinguished, elder statesman look to him. I had no doubt women found him attractive. My only question was, did Vanessa? Was she being taken in by his charm? And did she realize that to him, she was simply part of a political calculus designed to further his own agenda and ambitions?

  “Can I speak with you for a moment, Vanessa? In private?” I asked, still smiling pleasantly.

  I wanted to do anything I could to get her away from Dylan, to show her why she'd want to be mine instead of his.

  “Uhh sure,” she said.

  She excused herself from Dylan before the two of us slipped away to her father's office

  “What did you want to – ” she started to ask.

  I cut her off by quickly closing the distance between us and pressed my lips to hers. I actually was trying hard, but Vanessa's siren song was so strong and so powerful, that I was absolutely failing to keep myself completely in check. I did, after all, warn her that I would always be a bit of a troublemaker. It was in my damn DNA.

  She kissed me back as I pushed her down onto her father's desk. She pulled her gown up and wrapped legs around me. As she ground herself against me, a flirtatious little smile on her lips, I felt my cock growing hard against my dress pants.

  “Did you really think I wanted to talk? Especially after seeing you looking like that?” I muttered, nibbling her neck. “You're absolutely fucking stunning, Vanessa. I wanted you the moment I laid eyes on you.”

  “Mmm, call me naive, but yes, I actually did think you wanted to talk,” she said with a laugh. “Because we shouldn't be doing this, Carter. Not here. Not now.”

  “And why not?” I asked. “Don't you think it's hot?”

  “Well – maybe a little,” she chuckled, reaching down and stroking my cock through my pants. “But I need to get back out there soon. I'm scheduled to make a speech on my dad's behalf – ”

  My tongue was in her mouth, literally stopping her mid-sentence. Nothing in this world mattered more than her in my mind. And perhaps that was my biggest weakness. My biggest blind spot. And maybe it was naïve of me, but I figured that maybe, just possibly, she felt the same way about me.

  “Carter, please – ” she said, still smiling and laughing. “Can we do this later? You know I love being with you, but I really need to – ”

  The door knob to the office turned, and both of us froze, my heart pounding, a shot of adrenaline shooting straight into my heart. We turned and watched as the door started to open. It was like slow motion as Vanessa pushed me off of her and climbed down off the desk.

  We both watched in horror as a man I didn’t recognize stepped inside, seeing us in an obviously compromising position that turned him bright red.

  “I'm sorry, for some reason I thought this was the bathroom,” the man said.

  “It's two more doors down, Mr. Gomez,” Vanessa said with a friendly smile. “Do you need me to show you?”

  “No, I think I can find it,” he said, waving her off. “But thank you
, Vanessa. You really look lovely by the way.”

  “Doesn't she?” I added.

  The older man shut the door behind him, and I quickly moved back toward Vanessa. But this time, she was ready for my advance and pushed me away a little harder, a little firmer, and with a little more force.

  “I said stop, Carter,” she said, her voice rising. “We were almost caught just now. Do you know what would happen if we got caught fooling around in here?”

  “By who? By that old man?” I laughed. “Like he'd remember it even if he came in and found us straight up fucking. Vanessa, he couldn't even find the restroom.”

  “That's Jorge Gomez, one of our special guests for tonight's fundraising event,” she snapped. “Or do you actually even know what tonight is all about?”

  Her voice stung as she yelled at me. But her words didn't hurt me nearly as much as the look on her face.

  “Vanessa, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult anyone,” I said. “I'm just not as into all this as you are.”

  “Obviously,” she said. “Because if you knew or cared about anything other than yourself, you'd know how important tonight's event is for me. Yet you come in here, treating our home like some sort of sleazy nightclub when we have some of the biggest names in politics in the other room. Do you know what this would do to my career if someone had seen us fooling around?”

  She started to leave the room, but I grabbed her arm. She turned to me, a look of pure anger on her face, and in that moment, she reminded me of her father. She looked exactly like he did when he was pissed off. She'd always had a temper, and this wouldn't be the first time I was on the wrong side of things, but I'd hoped that I could at least apologize and try to make things right with her.

  “Listen, I'm sorry. I'm trying here, Vanessa. Believe it or not, I really am,” I said. “I'm sorry.”

  “Sorry isn't good enough, Carter,” she snapped.

  “Wait a minute,” I said, getting angry now too. “You pulled me onto that desk, you wrapped your legs around me.”

  “And it was a mistake. All of it was a mistake,” she said in return.

  She pulled her arm free and left the office in a huff, slamming the door behind her as she left me alone with my thoughts, and a raging hard-on. Pulling myself together, I waited for my arousal to subside before I stepped back out into the throngs of people. I looked around and once again, found that Vanessa was out there , chatting it up with Dylan. He had his arm around her waist and pulled her in close, whispering something in her ear. Whatever it was that he'd said made Vanessa blush and giggle. She leaned in closer to him and said something only he could hear.

  They were getting awfully cozy. As I stood there looking at her and all of the people around us, all of my own doubts and fears about myself came crashing down over me. How could I have ever thought that I'd be good enough for her? Especially when someone like Dylan was in the picture. Someone who not only had his shit together, but somebody who understood her ambitions in life. And somebody who had the connections to make things happen for her.

  Fuck, I was such an idiot to think I ever stood a chance. Coming there and trying to prove myself to her had been a huge fucking mistake.

  But it proved one thing. I was indeed the black sheep of this “family” and I would forever be on the outside looking in. I could never give Vanessa what she truly wanted. To keep trying to be a better person for her, to be somebody I wasn't, was simply an exercise in futility.

  The realization was liberating.

  I was free to be me.

  CHAPTER NINE - VANESSA

  “If you think your father is successful,” Dylan said, speaking low so as to not be overheard by any of my father's fans. “You're going to blow him out of the water, Vanessa.”

  I blushed and leaned closer, “Thank you, Mr. Montgomery. But I – ”

  “Please, call me Dylan,” he said, his eyes twinkling as he spoke about my future career potential.

  I'd never met anybody like him before. Oh sure, I'd been around plenty of political types, coming from this family, it was impossible to avoid. But I'd never met somebody whose sole job was to identify people they thought had talent and potential, and then groom them to be future politicians. And what blew me away even more was that he got so excited when it came to me talking about running for office in the future. His entire face lit up and he looked like he was barely containing his excitement.

  “You're planning to run for Congress next term, correct?” he asked. “Take over your father's old seat in the House once he's in the Senate?”

  “Well, I thought about it, briefly,” I said. “But I – ”

  “No buts,” Dylan said. “We are going to make it happen. Vanessa, you are the future of not just this Congressional district, but this country. I can see your talent and ambition, and I'm not afraid to say that I already believe in you.”

  I was dizzy with excitement and felt like I was walking on air. Yet, even with such high praise making my head buzz, I was distracted. I kept thinking about Carter and what I'd said to him. Sometimes, I could be too blunt and harsh for my own good; a not entirely wonderful trait I'd picked up from my father. And even though I knew that while he tried to hide it, Carter was sensitive. I knew that deep down, he felt inadequate and that one of his biggest fears was that he couldn't live up to the family's reputation.

  And everything I'd said to him in my father's office only reinforced that notion in his head. I couldn't have felt like a bigger asshole if I'd tried. And knowing Carter like I did, even though he might not show it on the outside, I knew he was taking it hard.

  I scanned the crowd, but saw no sign of him among the throngs of people. I was so distracted looking for him that I didn't even notice my father standing beside me until he tapped me on the shoulder.

  “Where have you been?” he asked. “We're getting ready for the speeches now.”

  “Sorry, I slipped away to talk to Carter earlier, and then Dylan pulled me aside.”

  “Good work on your stepbrother by the way. I'm impressed,” Dad said, patting me on the back. “Looks like your influence did him well.”

  He thought Carter's cleaner, more put together look was because of me. But honestly, since the night we had sex at the club, I'd tried to keep my distance from him. I needed time and space to think. To figure things out. And being around Carter always clouded my judgment as well as my emotions.

  I excused myself from Dylan's side to take my place on stage. It was then, while I was front and center, that I saw Carter. His tie was removed, his shirt unbuttoned a bit and he was drinking straight from a bottle of Scotch. Jorge Gomez's granddaughter, Sofia, was at his side. His arm was around the woman's waist and the two of them were leaning close together, laughing at something.

  My cheeks burned red as I tried to focus on my speech while my mind was racing, trying to find a way to stop the disaster before it started. But it was with a yawning chasm in my stomach and a deep, dark sense of foreboding, that I realized it was already too late.

  “What the hell is he doing?” my Dad whispered in my ear. “I thought you'd talked to him about getting his shit together.”

  Before I could say anything, let alone defend myself, my father had already summoned security to escort Carter out. I stayed where I was on stage and watched as Chuck and a few other large guys in suits approached him. Carter watched them coming, a look of agitation on his face. He took another long swig from his bottle and then turned and stared up at me, and for a moment, I looked back at him, trying to apologize with my eyes. And he gave me a brief smile that made me think I could fix things, and make things alright between us again.

  I walked off the stage, stepping toward him, just as Dylan stepped up and put an arm around Carter's shoulder, smiling, talking, and obviously trying to calm him down. But Carter being who he was, swung at Dylan and hit him in the face with a closed fist. The sound of his fist connecting with Dylan's nose was loud enough that I heard it from where I was.

 
Dylan doubled over, clutching his nose with his hands, blood squeezing out from between his fingers. I hurried over to Carter and Dylan, torn between who to go to, as Carter looked at me and screamed, his face a mask of absolute rage.

  “Everyone in this family is a joke!” he yelled. “Fucking fake ass people!”

  He looked me dead in the eye as he said those words, and I felt my heart shatter into a million tiny pieces. I knew, in that moment, that Carter wasn't capable of changing. He was who he was and he wasn't willing to change that. I realized that this had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with him. In that moment, even though my heart was shattered, I was sad for him.

  “You need help, Carter,” I sobbed, not even bothering to cover my tears. “You need more help than even I can give you.”

  Chuck and the bodyguards had managed to get ahold of him and they dragged him away. I watched as the front doors closed, and he was gone. Standing there, looking at those closed doors, I'd never felt so alone in my entire life. Even though I was surrounded by people, I was absolutely and utterly alone. No one here could possibly understand the pain I was going through in that moment. No one could understand the broken heart I was enduring. Nobody could ever understand what Carter had meant to me.

  Not even Carter seemed to understand that.

  ooo000ooo

  Amy was more than happy to comfort me as I cried on her shoulder that later evening. We had wine and ice cream – more of both than I probably should have – and she let me talk, cry, rage, and rail. Most importantly, she didn't judge me for feeling the way I did.

  “I can't believe I slept with him. Again. I'm so weak,” I sobbed. “He's never going to change. I should have known that. I should have fucking known that. I'm such a goddamn idiot.”

  “Hush,” she said. “Give it a few days and then maybe try to talk to him again. He might just need a minute to calm down.”

  “I can't,” I said, wiping my nose and sniffing loudly. “I'm too weak. I want to sleep with him, even though I know it's a terrible idea. Worse than a terrible idea.”