along with them.”
“Two dates, huh,” Miranda said with a laugh. “Go big, or go home.”
Kyra shook her head. “Nope, not dates. I already have my flavor of the month. These hot cakes I just rented will be some great eye candy for a masquerade lingerie event that Bare Sophistication is planning for a women-only eightieth birthday party.”
Kyra waved the pamphlets in the air. “Our client was a famous actress back in the 1950s and 1960s and came into our shop a couple months ago saying that she heard about our parties and wanted us to plan one for her. But she didn’t just want us to showcase our women’s lingerie like we typically do at our masquerade parties. She wanted us to showcase our men’s line, equipped with enough eye candy to give her senior citizen friends whiplash. There was no way I was going to turn down this party and my only hope is that I follow in her footsteps when I’m her age. So, I plan to pimp these men out for the one day that I rented them.”
Kiara and Miranda were laughing so hard, they didn’t hear Vaughn approach. Kiara was grateful that Vaughn introduced himself to Kyra because she still hadn’t stopped laughing a few minutes later.
“I must have missed something really funny,” Vaughn said, placing a kiss on Miranda’s forehead. Kyra just smiled up at him while Kiara and Miranda’s laughter finally started to die down. Kiara had been so caught up in Kyra’s story, she hadn’t noticed the commotion happening near the entrance.
“I wonder what all the fuss is about,” Miranda said as they all glanced around the room.
Kiara rose on her tiptoes to try to see over the women in front of her. “Whatever it is, it’s clearly the object of some gossip.”
“Well, damn,” Kyra said as she lightly tapped Kiara on the arm. “I think I see what all the fuss is about.”
Kiara glanced toward the direction that Kyra was looking at and froze. Standing toward the front of the penthouse, directly under one of the crystal chandeliers, had to be one of the sexiest men she’d ever seen.
“Oh, wow,” she whispered as she soaked in the six-foot-two milk-chocolate-colored man wearing a tailored, deep gray suit with a navy blue BabyBjorn strapped to him and a baby bag hanging off his shoulder.
“You don’t see that every day,” Miranda said.
“No, you don’t.” Kiara couldn’t take her eyes off him even though he obviously had enough admirers to last a lifetime. His dark hair was closely cropped and his face was clear of any facial hair. Kiara had always been a fan of facial hair, but she had to admit that the clean-shaven look was doing crazy things to her insides.
She couldn’t see the baby inside the carrier, but the way he lightly touched the back of the infant’s head every so often to make sure the baby was okay caused her ovaries to do a backward flip.
“That’s interesting,” Miranda said. “For every lustful look he gets from a woman, he’s met with a hard and disapproving stare from the men.”
“I wonder who that is,” Kyra said. “I hope he’s a bachelor. But I didn’t flip through the bachelor book long enough to spot him.”
“There’s a reason some of the men aren’t very happy with him,” Vaughn said. “That’s Trey Moore, oldest son of Reginald Moore.”
Kiara stole her eyes away to look at Vaughn and Miranda. “The son of the man who caused the LA chapter to be placed on the six-month suspension?”
“In the flesh,” Vaughn said. “But I’ve been working with Trey for some charity events lately, and he’s a good guy. He and his two brothers were cleared of any wrongdoings, but I guess some of the members think the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Well, I don’t know the story,” Kyra said. “But Mr. Daddy Daycare seems to be in the running for tonight’s greatest catch. Women are fawning all over him and that baby.”
“I don’t think he has any kids,” Vaughn said. “So, I’m not sure who the baby is. Trey is also the brain behind Rent-a-Bachelor. He’s involved with a lot of community outreach for the chapter.”
Kiara glanced back at Trey just as his eyes lifted from the baby and locked onto hers. She gasped, caught off guard by the intensity in his gaze. Even from across the room, she could feel the heat.
“Well, well, well.” Kyra nudged her. “Looks like our little Kiara has caught someone’s eye.”
Kiara swallowed, willing her eyes to break contact. Come on, girl. Why are you still staring at him? She vaguely heard her friends continuing to chatter around her, but she wasn’t comprehending anything they were saying. His gaze had her hypnotized and she was pretty sure she’d never stared at a stranger this long or this deeply before.
“I’m not interested,” she said as she finally looked away. She ignored the shared look between Kyra and Miranda. When no one began speaking, she realized they were waiting to call her out on her blatant lie.
“I’m seriously not,” she said again, before turning to Vaughn. “I know this isn’t your chapter, but do you think you could give us a quick tour?”
Vaughn nodded. “Sure. The LA members have opened some of the rooms for tours and such tonight anyway. We’ll start on the second level.”
“Great,” Kiara said a little too enthusiastically. When she’d finally agreed to a night out, she’d assumed she would catch up with her friends before their trip to Dubai and maybe have some good old-fashioned adult conversation since the majority of her day was spent around children and babies. What she hadn’t signed up for was the most intense eye contact she’d ever had. His eyes had seemed to penetrate right through her, and all she’d wanted to do was tell him to keep on peeling back the layers.
If he could do all that from across the room without even saying two words to her, she didn’t want to know what would happen if they actually spoke.
* * *
“Who are you looking for?”
Trey turned to face his brother Max. “No one. Just checking out the crowd and seeing who arrived.”
Even though they were members of the same chapter and were heavily involved in Prescott George, they weren’t particularly close. Their brother Derek was a member as well, but only because their father insisted on paying his membership dues. Trey had always wondered if Reginald paid Derek’s dues because he genuinely thought Derek would be a great member, or just for bragging rights to say that all three of his sons were a part of Prescott George.
“The turnout is great,” Max said. “Great idea, Trey.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” When Trey had initially presented the idea of having Rent-a-Bachelor as a fund-raising effort to support their big Christmas bash for the chapter, he hadn’t expected so many members to be on board given the crazy few months they’d had. Surprisingly, the vote had been unanimous.
Max smiled as he glanced down at Matthew. “And who is this little guy?”
“This is Matthew, Carmen’s son, and the reason I had to put you guys on hold a couple days ago when Reginald called.” Trey looked from his nephew to Max. “Actually, I was hoping I would see you
