“No.” Her head snaps to me as she gives me puppy dog eyes again. “Nice try, but I’m going to get out of here.”
“Uh no. 6-1-1! You can’t. Under stipulation 4.2 you must stay at the designated destination no less than threehours.” Jaz points at me, her eyes getting glassy. “Those are the rules.”
Dammit.I look at Hot Suit Guy. “Name?”
He points to himself, a smirk still glued to his face. “James. Nice to meet you, Alex.”
“Okay, James. It seems we have a problem. I can’t leave for another two and half hours, and Taylor now thinks we’re a couple.” I glance over his shoulder at Taylor and grimace. “And he looks like he wants to kill me, sooo...”
“So, you need me to play along a bit longer?” He brushes a lock of hair behind my ear, and my body wants to melt.What the hell. “I have a meeting, but you can attend as long as you accept one condition.”
“Is this your favor?” I ask.
“No, your contract is valid for the one interaction with Taylor. Now we are off script with an additional favor on each end.” I huff but nod in agreement. I don’t really have a choice. “Great. Our potential client is a prick, but the company could use him. So, as long as you don’t do anything to make it go south, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Deal,” I say. Then I look down at my sweater. This probably isn’t the best attire for a meeting. I lock eyes with Jaz and she grins.
She strips off her jacket and hands it to Ashlyn. Then peels her black lace top off and holds it out to me. She puts her jacket back on over her leather bralette. I rip mysweater over my head leaving me standing in just a white lace bra. I grab the see-through top and slide it on.
Ashlyn’s eyes bounce back and forth from Jaz and I. “Hot. Love it. Ditch the sweater.” I raise my eyebrows. She knows I’m not made of money. “I’ll buy you a new one for fucks sake.”
I’m about to drop it when James takes it from my hands. “It’s fine. It can come with us.” His eyes rake over me with the same intensity as before.
I guess he likes what’s under the oversized sweater.
He takes my hand, and we make our way towards the VIP section.
“Have fun!” Jaz yells.
“Do everything I would!” Ashlyn yells, laughing.
God, I can’t take her anywhere.
When we pass the bouncer at the entrance a cocktail waitress runs over. “I can get you a new whiskey, unless you’d prefer something else.” She waits with her hands gripped together like she’s waiting for James to yell at her.
“A top-shelf bottle of red will be fine.” He makes to walk us to his table, but she stops him again.
“That’s ten thousand dollars. Are you sure?” Her voice squeaks at the end. Poor girl.
“Perfectly fine. Just add it to my tab. If that’s all, we have a meeting to attend.” He waits for her to take off for the bar before we move again.
“You didn’t have to get the most expensive bottle.” I say. I’m starting to feel like I’m way out of my depth here.Especially wearing yoga pants.Why didn’t I make better choices?
James squeezes my fingers. “The boss won’t mind.”
“Finally! You’re back. We should get started,” says the man who came over during the drunk idiot fiasco. He gives me a quick glance with a quirk of an eyebrow, but I see James shake his head out of the corner of my eye.
“Who—who’s this lovely lady?” The short man slurs as he falls into the pretty woman next to him. She tries to slide away, but she doesn’t have much room left before she hits the floor.
James sucks in an irritated breath, squeezing my hand slightly. “Patrick, this is Alex.” He nods to each person sitting at the table. “Alex, this is Patrick, our potential client. Ryder you met at the bar.” Ryder waves at me. “Alester is our tech wiz, and Jessica is a potential new hire.”
Ryder leans in close. “Nice to meet you, Alex. What is it you do?”
My hands start to sweat. I try to pull free from James before he notices, but he grips me tighter, giving me a couple reassuring pulses. “She’s not here for a job interview, unfortunately. Let’s get down to business. We all have a busy night.” James says as he slides two chairs together, then motions for me to sit next to him.
I zone out as they start talking about contracts and the background of Patrick’s company. He seems like a rich slimeball. The cocktail waitress brings the bottle of red with enough glasses for the table.James fills one for me and leans close, grazing my fingers when he passes it to me.
I almost drop the damn thing when he refuses to break eye contact, my heart is racing like a teenager on a first date. What kind of voodoo is this man using on me?
