And he wanted to pass Dana and her pals off as his VIPs? “Are you joking?”
“No.”
“Right.” She chuckled. “Well, I’ll be sure to mark it on my calendar. See you around, Alex.” As Dana turned, he touched her elbow, a quiet plea that compelled her to stop and confront the fireworks exploding behind her eyes.
“Dana, I’m not joking. I’d like you to come.”
He was serious.
Did she even have the right wardrobe for this kind of party?
“I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.”
“What’s there to think about?”
“Well…I’ve arranged a whole itinerary for my sister and her friends.” She’d even had it laminated but she left that detail out. “I made plans to take them clubbing Thursday night.”
“Great. So do it at my club.”
“But—”
“But what?”
“Thursday’s tomorrow.”
“Yes, it is.”
If she told Anise and the girls about this, they’d flip. Bea would kill her if she said no. And yet something warned her away. “I hate to change our plans at the last minute.”
Alex cocked a golden eyebrow. Even he knew how ludicrous that sounded. Who in their right mind would give up an Alex Markov party for some other club? “It’s not the last minute.”
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I do appreciate you asking.”
He drew closer and pretended to pout. “Why don’t you want to come to my party, Dana?”
Why didn’t she?
At the very least, she could rationalize it as a chance to network. In her line of business, having Alex as a connection would be extremely beneficial. Through him, she could arrange all sorts of perks for her convention delegates and he would no doubt appreciate her sending customers his way. It made sense.
As long as both of them could manage to forget his passing acquaintance with her vagina.
Why wasn’t she jumping at this opportunity?
Perhaps it was because when she looked at Alex, the last thing she thought of was networking. The man looked like sex and moved like sin. He gave her very dirty thoughts, ones she had no right having, especially in her current frame of mind.
The truth was every time she looked at Alex, she experienced the sizzle Anise had described.
And yet she’d fallen into a comfortable routine of alternately hating and mourning Tommy. Without her realizing it, her ex had taken up the bulk of her mental energy and he wasn’t even in her life anymore.
How sad was that?
She shouldn’t feel badly about partying with the gorgeous hotel owner. So he was nice to look at. So what? She’d taken note of his lean muscles and the sharp cut of his jaw. There was no mistaking the fullness of his lower lip and she could admit she’d already wondered how he got the little scar at the outer corner of his left eye.
He was the sort of man who made a woman wonder.
No, her reluctance had nothing to do with Alex’s party.
It had everything to do with Alex.
