Burning For Claire (The O'Connell Family Book 2) (2 page)

“What are you doing here?” shrieked the harpy as she looked at me like I was a nuisance. If I was to ever hit a woman, she’d be flat on her rear.

“I’m here because I can be, you shrew,” I barked at the bitch.

“You can leave now. I’m trying to take my daughter out for her graduation.” As far as I was concerned, she had no right to call Sam her daughter.

“I’m not going anywhere, Medusa. You can leave. I’ll take Sam home myself because hell if I want your tarantula ass in my living space.”

“Please. You share an apartment with a teenager. Aren’t you a little too old to be trying to screw my daughter?”

She didn’t deserve my time, but I wanted Sam to have some peace, even for just a moment. “I’m a guy so no, but I’m a hell of a lot younger than the guy you tried to pawn off on her.”

Shocked, she asked, “She told you?”

“Yes, you damn witch. Why don’t you go looking for your flying monkeys before I throw water on you?”

“You’re nothing but a smart-ass punk. Being hot is all you got going for you. You can’t get someone your own age or land a real job. It’s pretty pathetic.”

“You’re the pathetic one. Do you even realize that you took her to the O’Connell family salon? Does John O’Connell know she’s here? Oh wait that’s right, Sam picked the place.” I watched as she paled in fear. I wasn’t really far behind her on that note, but I knew that none of the O’Connell men, except Rick, would be caught dead in there. While I was waiting for her to be done, I saw him walk out. After what happened seven years ago, I wasn’t welcomed by the family. Not to mention that they could blow my cover. I’d spent almost two years on this assignment, and it was almost to at an end.

I left the vulture standing with her mouth open on the sidewalk and walked inside of the salon. It was owned by the youngest one of the O’Connell family, Miss Claire O’Connell. She and I never met before, so she wouldn’t recognize me especially since she was a kid at the time.

I looked around and didn’t see Sam anywhere, but I knew she was here somewhere. I searched for a redhead in this place. I spotted Sam as she got up from a chair looking sexy and beautiful, but it was the beauty behind her that stole my attention.

She was a dark-haired, little thing, with a streak of red running through her hair. I couldn’t make out her figure because she was wearing that smock thing, but I could tell she was fairly petite. She stood upright after sweeping up some cut hair and I realized she was shorter than I thought, not that it mattered. I had to control my breathing when she turned around. My heart was racing like I’d ran a six-minute mile. The moment we made eye contact, my cock jumped in my pants.

Sam walked up to me and gave me a hug in front of the sexy little thing and I hugged her tightly too. I tried to gauge the cutie’s reaction. I could have sworn she’d made an upset pouty look, but when I looked back she had her head bent and was sweeping around the chair next to Sam’s.

“I love the new look. You look really hot,” I chimed loudly. I watched her sweeping motion stutter. She was interested.

“Thanks, but it was all these ladies here. They made me look like this.”

“You were already beautiful. They just freshened you up and brought out the sexy in you.”

“Thanks, Brady. Where’s my mom?” The ever-shy Sam blushed and as always she changed the subject when it came to her beauty.              

“I’m right here, sweetheart,” the she-devil answered as she sashayed her way up to us. She grabbed at Samantha’s hair feigning affection for her daughter. “Wow, Antonio is going to love this look.” Then she turned to me and sneered. “It’s your loss Brady. You had her in your bed and tossed her out. Now I guess you won’t have to wait up for her tomorrow.” I rolled my eyes at this bitch. She had the nerve to insinuate, in front of the sexy stylist, that Sam and I had a relationship.

“Mother!” Sam cried in embarrassment.

“What? He can handle it. If he’d still wanted you, you’d still be warming his bed. Besides, I have to go. Brady said he’d take you home.” The shrew turned back to me before she spoke, “By the way stay out of her panties from now on. She can do better than a mall worker.”

Sam looked completely upset and mortified. To change the subject and also get in an introduction to the little beauty, I asked, “Sam, is this beauty the one who turned you into sex kitten?”

“Oh, sorry. Brady, this is Claire O’Connell. Claire, this is Brady Williams.” Holy hell. I should have known this was her. I hadn’t seen a picture of the girl since she was only thirteen at the time. She was stunning and completely unavailable to me.

“It’s a pleasure, Miss O’Connell,” I said as I looked deeply into her eyes.

“Claire,” she responded as a blush creeped up her face.

“Claire,” I repeated. She was unfathomably beautiful.
Damn, why did she have to be an O’Connell?

“Brady, are you ready?” Sam asked.

“Sure, let’s get out of here.” I didn’t trust myself with pure temptation staring hungrily at me.

“Thank you so much, Claire,” Sam said as she gave her a huge hug. I wanted to be in the group hug—minus Sam, though.

“Yes, thanks, Claire,” I said with a smile. “I think I need to come here and have you cut my hair.” While Sam grabbed her bag, I whispered to Claire. “Beautiful.” Her blush deepened to a darker shade of red, almost matching her red streak.

Sam and I hit the streets as I walked her to my older model truck, but my thoughts stayed inside with the little owner.

“Seriously, Brady, you should have asked her out. She’s really pretty and reminds me of a little pixie.”  

“Pixie. I like that. It fits her, but maybe another time.” She had no idea how bad I wanted to ask Miss Claire out. I thought about it, but the O’Connell family didn’t care for me, and I sure as hell didn’t care for John O’Connell. Plus, my family wouldn’t take too kindly to having a mobster in the family. Man, my thoughts were getting ahead of me. I went from wanting her in my bed to wanting her by my side for keeps.

“Let’s go eat. I’m freaking starving,” Sam interjected, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Sure, then you can tell me about your day with the shrew,” I groaned.

“It wasn’t too bad. I told you she made me throw a tantrum in front of a businessman who seemed to know Claire—
intimately
,” she added intentionally.

“She has a boyfriend?” I asked with a snarl.

“I think so, or maybe they are just flirty. He comes to see her every two weeks for a cut.”

“Well, I think I’ll have to stop in there anyway and find out,” I grumbled, suddenly in a bad mood.

“Way to go, Brady!” she said as we walked into our favorite Chinese restaurant.

I started sweeping up around while Sam had gotten her make up done. I’d gotten to where Sam was sitting, when I felt a tingle up my spine. I avoided looking up, that was until I heard the deep timber mixed with a southern drawl. My body had a mind of its own and I needed to see who possessed the sexiest sound in the world. I shivered with excitement, and my heart started to race as I stared at the man. He must be the fabled Brady she was texting while I did her hair.

He was as hot as his voice was sexy. He was at least as tall as my brother if not taller and muscular under that plain black tee shirt. He was wearing jeans that hung at his hips with a wild stallion buckle and a pair of cowboy boots. His country boy look was attractive. His face…man that face was rugged, strong and chiseled. His eyes were chocolate with hair just a shade darker, it was cut perfectly for his face. All of a sudden I wondered who cut his hair. Did some broad get to rub her fingers through that amazing hair as she cut it or while they made love at night?

When introductions were made, I tried to be as normal as possible without drooling like a fool. I tried to hide the fact that it ticked me off that Brady and Sam were once an item. It wasn’t something I wanted to think about. It was clear they were just friends now. Something I still didn’t like, but that worked for my brother because he was super interested in Samantha—insanely interested.

I walked back to my office after they left because I needed to get myself together. I paced back and forth and only stopped to dig into my candy bowl for a handful of chocolate covered hazelnuts. Brady was sex on a stick, and it wasn’t fair.

I’d just plopped down on my chair when my receptionist, Tad rushed in without knocking.

“Thanks for knocking,” I said sarcastically.

“Oh. Please. It’s not like you’re getting busy in here with some hot guy like that hunk that just walked out of here. Damn. That man was fine as hell. Did you see his cowboy look? All he needed was a cowboy hat. Whew! A night of naughty fantasies for me. I wonder if he swings my way,” Tad gushed.

“I doubt it. He’s my last client’s ex-boyfriend,” I hissed in my jealousy.

“Pity, well at least I still have hope that your brother would switch sides,” he said wistfully.

“Ha! Who are you fooling? My brother can’t keep his dick tucked into his pants when it comes to women. Besides, I think he’s got it bad for the same damn girl.”

“Ooh, a cock fight!” I glared at him with annoyance, but he just smiled. “Hey, a man can dream,” Tad said as he licked his lips.

I didn’t want to hear Tad’s dirty thoughts when my mind was on Brady, especially his thoughts about my brother. “Get out of my office. I have some paperwork to do, and you have a front desk to manage.”

“Don’t get all bitchy with me, just because the cowboy got you all hot and bothered.” 

“Shut up,” I hissed.

Tad stuck out his tongue at me before he left my office and headed out to the front to pretend to work. I had so much work to do as the owner on top of being a stylist, I needed every chance I got to get things done on my “down time.”

Twenty minutes later I was on the phone with my ex-boyfriend, Everett. He asked me to lend him more money that he never paid back, when my brother stormed into my office looking like a wild man. I knew it was because of the
lovely
Samantha. This was going to be fun.

“Hey, I’ll call you back. My brother is here and practically breathing fire. Yeah, talk to you later.” I wasn’t planning to call him back. He only wanted to borrow more money from me like I was a damn bank, but I already said no. I rolled my eyes as my brother was breathing heavy.

“What’s up big bro? Got your panties in a twist?” I used Sam’s words against him. He was ready to snarl at me. It was clear he wasn’t in the mood for my humor. Screw it. I was his little sister. I could tease him all I wanted. It was in the sibling handbook. 

“Tell me now, Claire. I’m not in the mood for your shit,” he growled.

“Hey, chill. If you don’t, I won’t tell you what I learned,” I teased and gave him a wink.

“Fine, Claire, I am sorry. What did you find out?” I could tell he wanted to choke on his own words. Apologizing wasn’t something he cared to do—ever.

“Well, she is going to be eighteen, a bit young for you. Her mother and she don’t see eye to eye for shit. She has a hot date tomorrow with a rich sexy man. She wasn’t interested until she saw his picture, and I couldn’t blame her—it’s Antonio Moreno. That man is something else.” I loved messing with him. It was clear he was not going to let that happen.

“The fuck if that is going to happen. What else?” I was right on the money.

“Oh, she was picked up by this other guy who was so hot. I’ve never seen a hotter guy. She had been texting him the whole time I was doing her hair. From what I could read, he was stalling her mother outside of the salon, and he was picking her up before going back to their apartment. Lucky bitch. If I had that handsome guy living with me, he wouldn’t be getting out of bed, and I wouldn’t be looking for another date.”

“Ugh, gross, Claire. Please let me pretend that you’re still innocent. Well, anything else?” he asked impatiently.

“No, well, she did ask me if you came in here all the time. I told her that you come every two weeks to get your haircut and to chat with me,” I said as I batted my eyelashes.

“What the fuck? Now she probably thinks we are together,” he fumed.

“Bro, I did it on purpose. You know nothing about women, besides what they look like naked.”

“Hey, I resent that shit. I know something about women—little sisters are brats.”

“Hahaha, get over it. She is interested in you. She couldn’t help but ask even though I could tell she was feeling awkward about it. Well, what are you going to do lover boy?”

“You’ll see soon,” Rick said before he left my office in a hurry. I just laughed. I had work to get done before Rick picked me up to take me to our parents’ place for a nice quiet family dinner.

When he came to pick me up, I was shocked to see who he had in the truck with him—Samantha. Man, he wasted no time. I jumped in and started my campaign to embarrass my brother. “Why hello, Samantha. It’s so nice to see you again…so soon.”

I turned to my brother and put my head on his headrest. “So…this is where you needed to go. Why didn’t you tell me that you already asked her out when you grilled me for details about her?”

“Claire, why the fuck are you such a brat? And get your ass off the back of my seat!” His face was flush with mortification and annoyance. I felt I’d done my job. Now it would be Ethan’s turn to piss Rick off—all with love, of course. 

It was a fun car ride. I liked Sam or at least I would have if it wasn’t for her relationship with Brady. Can you say jealous? Because that’s how I was feeling, completely and utterly jealous.

My brother was on edge all night. His eyes never leaving Sam, I think he was ready to belt my brother Ethan in the face if he didn’t quit flirting with Sam. We were having a good time talking when my father called my brother into his study to discuss business. I knew damn well that wasn’t the case, so when I got a chance I walked over to the door and listened.

I learned more than I wanted to learn and something that had pissed me off the most. Brady Williams wasn’t Brady, but rather the cop who investigated my family a long time ago, Travis Williams. He was a lying asshole, and I hated him.
Then why was it that I spent the next several days thinking of him?