“I’m sorry, Roman. She insisted on calling,” Monica said from somewhere in the background.
“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “What’s going on, Soph?”
“I miss you,” she whined. “I miss you and Sasha.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, angel, but we’ll both be home soon. I thought you would have fun with Monica this weekend.”
“I’ve been trying. She’s hard to please,” Monica said, making me laugh.
“All women are,” I joked.
Sophia and I talked on the phone for a couple of minutes before Monica, and I finally talked her into hanging up so I could get back inside. I was only gone for a few minutes, but in that time, Sasha had already picked up an admirer.
He was a man who looked younger than I, dressed in an expensive suit, with tanned skin and jet-black hair. He was leaning against the bar beside her, smiling as she replied to whatever he asked her. As she talked, his eyes roamed every inch: her face, her breasts, down her legs, and back up. I never thought of myself as a jealous guy, but as I approached, that’s all I could feel. It burned my throat and caused it to feel thick like something was stuck there.
The back of Sasha’s dress dipped just as low in the back as it did the front, so when I came to a stop beside her and put my hand on the small of her back, it was skin on skin, and she responded immediately, but looking over at me with relief pouring out of her green eyes.
“Did I miss anything?” I asked her, looking only at him.
His brows lifted, and the smile fell from his lips because he knew he’d been wasting his time by talking up a woman who was already taken.
“Nothing at all,” Sasha replied. “Roman, this is Beck. He’s waiting for a table too.”
“Beckett Tucker,” he said, holding out his hand. “You’ve probably heard of me from my company, BT Technologies Unlimited.”
I had heard of him and his company, but he was still new and wasn’t worth shit. Not in my eyes anyway. I didn’t bother shaking his hand. Instead, I turned my attention to Sasha. “Why don’t you go and check on that table?”
She gave me a small smile as she nodded, and she turned away.
Once she was out of earshot, I picked up my untouched glass of bourbon and threw it back, swallowing the contents in one gulp.
“Small tip,” I said, turning my attention to him. “Before you settle in beside a woman you’re planning on hitting on, make sure she isn’t taken first.”
He scoffed. “I saw you walk in with her. I just figured I could take her from you. At least, if she’s standing by me, she won’t look like she’s standing next to a guy who could benefit from a night of sleep and maybe a job.”
My back straightened, and he squared his shoulders. He was preparing for me to start a fight, but that wasn’t how I fought anymore.
“Who did you say you were again?” I rubbed my jaw.
“Beckett Tucker, CEO of?—”
“BT Technologies Unlimited, that’s right,” I said, cutting him off. “You have a big meeting in the morning, right? You’re about to acquire a large company from China. Well, large to you. Mid-size to the rest of us,” I corrected myself.
He furrowed his brows as he studied me. “How’d you know that?”
“See, if you’re going to run in this circle and play stupid games, it’s important that you know who all the players are.” I held up my hand and flagged down the bartender.
“Yes, sir?”
“I want to buy my new friend here a drink.”
“What can I get you?” she asked him.
“Give me the entire bottle of your most expensive tequila.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but I turned to him and said, “You may as well party like the frat boy you are tonight because your meeting tomorrow morning has been cancelled. In fact, you may want to make sure your college roommate hasn’t rented out your room yet because you’re going to need to go back to school for a new degree. Nobody in the tech world will ever work with you after I’ve talked with them.” I started toward the hostess booth, where Sasha was waiting for me. I smiled as I made a mental note to make some calls after dinner.
“You’re smiling,” she said, taking my hand as I stepped up to her side. “And I thought you were mad.”
