Her mom surprised her dad this morning, flying in from Scotland. They were taking Gray out to dinner at a swanky steak restaurant that a friend of Bran’s owned. It was a good thing they had the connection. Otherwise, she and her parents would never have been able to get in at such short notice.
She was able to shake off her embarrassment about sending the sexy picture after Ciar messaged her before lunch. He’d told her that he’d dreamed about her. When she asked what he dreamed, he said that it was too X-rated to text a woman he hadn’t even taken out on a first date.
She’d been walking around with a stupid grin for hours now. Her parents should be here any minute. Picking up her phone and clutch, she went to the front of the house to wait. She had worked on a plan for opening Ciar’s new high-end pub. He’d purchased the property a year ago and hired O’Connor Hospitality to help make his dream a reality.
It was an exciting project and one that she’d already spent countless hours on. Her mom had given her the project, ofcourse, as she and Ciar lived next door to one another. They planned on finalizing a schedule over the Colorado holiday.
She received a text notification and assumed it was her folks. Her stomach flipped when it was from the man she couldn’t stop thinking about.
Ciar: I wish I could take you to dinner.
Gray: Me too, but it’ll be nice to spend time with my parents. I bet I’ll have a better time than your stuffy business meeting.
Ciar: Oh, you will. Can I call you tonight?
Gray: I’d like that. My parents are pulling up. Don’t have too much fun without me. x
She grabbed her purse and ran outside.
four
CIAR
Ciar was pissed.Furious that he hadn’t insisted to his boss that he needed to cancel tonight’s dinner. He might have touted the evening to Gray as a business meeting, but the spoiled princess from Saudi Arabia on his arm would call it something else.
Anders, the sonofabitch, had ordered him weeks ago to make sure Daria Khan enjoyed the evening. Her father was a wealthy royal who made his money in technology. He planned on buying up as much of Old Oak & Park Royal in West London as possible. Old Oak & Park Royal was one of three of London’s largest industrial boroughs.
If his boss landed that account, the entire firm could retire filthy rich in a few years. So, he understood why the “date” was important. Usually, he wouldn’t even blink at the ask, but sitting next to a woman in a romantically lit dining room when that woman wasn’t Gray was incredibly distasteful and felt like cheating even though he and Gray weren’t dating. Not exactly.
He was only required to chat her up, feed her ego, ply her with drinks, and make her believe he worshiped every insipid word that puked from her mouth.
He didn’t have to touch her, but she seemed eager and willing to touch him. From the moment his car had picked her up from the Fitzwilliam, she had treated him like a paid escort instead of the highly sought-after real estate mogul he was.
At least he’d made her fly to Dublin instead of taking her out in London, which is what she’d wanted. He’d done his research on her socials. She would have tried to drag him to one of London’s notorious after-hours clubs, where drugs and public sex were encouraged.
He didn’t do drugs, and though he’d been relatively open to sexual encounters where maybe a few wandering eyes might have watched, he was not interested in exploring any kink with the self-absorbed woman doing her damnedest to get her long-nailed, spindly fingers as close to his flaccid dick as possible.
He’d been sick for two days over tonight, and every time he’d texted Gray about his “boring” dinner meeting, he felt worse. He’d dreamed of her for two years, and to suddenly have the chance of having her for himself—he didn’t want to screw it up.
While Daria was ordering another disgustingly sweet mixed drink, he slipped his phone from his pocket and quickly texted Anders.Never again.Then he texted Gray.
Ciar: How’s dinner going? I can’t wait for you to call me later.
While he watched the waving dots for her response, Daria slid her hand once again over his thigh. Her hand felt like a crab’s pincer.
“I need to take some pics for IG. Here and in the back of the car. My assistant will meet us after dinner. She’s much better at getting the lighting right.”
He was about to tell her he wasn’t interested while watching the waving dots still wave on Gray’s end. When he pulled his eyes from the screen to ask Daria to fuck off in as PG a way as he could manage, he instead watched in frozen horror as a smiling Josephine MacGregor and her scowling husband stopped beside his table.
The married couple parted…Gray.Oh Christ, Gray.She was holding her phone, her eyes riveted to Daria’s hand, practically molesting his crotch with a look of utter devastation on her beautiful face.
“Ciar, what a surprise. Gray was just telling her dad and me about your Colorado trip. How fun for everyone.” And then, because Josephine unfortunately had manners, she turned to Daria, whose fake nails were still in ball tickling distance, stuck her hand out, and said, “I’m Josephine O’Connor,” then looked at MacGregor, “this is my husband, Thomas, and my daughter Gray,” she added, tugging Gray forward.
Daria, true to her nature, said, “A pleasure, but I’m sure I’ve never heard of you.”
MacGregor was not a man to take someone insulting his wife and daughter lightly. The look he was throwing at Ciar was brutal and promised consequences. He couldn’t even care, so sick about Gray witnessing the travesty at his table, he couldn’t think.
He finally blurted out, “It’s very good to see you. Josephine. MacGregor.” He nodded to them both before meeting the steely gray eyes of Gray. “Gray.”
