But Yom didn’t budge. He didn’t so much as twitch back in the direction of his booth. “Did your father tell you that my brother and I are buying the team from him?”
My stomach clenched.
“Mr. Carrington and I don’t really talk anymore,” I replied tightly. “But if that’s what you want, congratu?—”
“That’s only the beginning of what I desire,” he said before I could finish, his eyes flashing with heat.
A tense silence stretched between us, thick with unspoken words and memories I wished I could erase.
“Don’t you want to know what else I desire?” he asked, his gaze steady, challenging me.
My heart fluttered.I shouldn’t.
“No,” I answered firmly. To him and myself. “I don’t care to know anything about you anymore.”
His expression hardened. “Bitterness doesn’t suit you, Lydia.”
He glanced down, his gaze lingering on my cleavage. “This dress does not suit you, either.”
He hooked a finger underneath one of the spaghetti straps. “Not nearly as well as the lingerie I bought for you. Remember how you modeled every single piece for me? It took weeks to get through the collection because I kept ripping my gifts off of you.”
Yes, I remembered. I’d naively spun around like an idiot in his so-called gifts while he…
A sudden, hot anger blazed to life, and without thinking, I gripped my glass of wine and threw it right in his face.
“Go to hell, Yom. And take your shitty innuendo with you.”
I shoved away his hand and reached for Tess’s. She barely managed to set her own glass of wine down before I dragged her out of the bar with his piercing gray gaze burning into my back.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Tess squealed as we burst into one of those indoor courtyards Vegas does so well. “I can’t believe you did that!”
Neither could I.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I said, fanning my flushed face. Vegas kept the temperature ice-cold, even in summer, but I still felt overheated as what I’d just done sank in—like a scary Russian-sized lead weight. “I didn’t mean to just… lose it like that.”
“Oh, don’t be sorry.” Tess held up her hands, looking absolutely thrilled. “I am nothing but jealous right now. I wish I could’ve done the same thing to my ex, but, you know—shared custody. Anyway, I’m sure whatever he did, he deserved that drink in his face.”
“I don’t know… I don’t know if I should have done that.” A surge of panic rose in me as I looked around. “Do you see him? Or anyone who looks like bodyguards coming after us?”
Tess glanced over her shoulder. “Nope, just a group of guys in pink sasha x kashaconcert tees.”
I let out an audible breath of relief.
Tess grinned. “But, come on, admit it. That felt good, right?”
Now that my heart wasn’t pounding in my ears, I could admit, “Yeah. Yeah, it did.”
A new idea hit me. “You know what? I don’t have to give the keynote until lunch tomorrow. Let’s find another bar and just get… I don’t know… completely wasted. I never really let myself do that in college. Then I got so busy with Paws & Claws, it felt like I missed my chance to party.”
“Say less.” Tess’s grin was all in. “I spent my twenties setting up a shelter for teen moms. Then I unexpectedly became a single mom myself. I can’t even remember the last time I wasn’t responsible as hell. I have three words for you.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “Sign. Me. Up.”
“Yes! Let’s go!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, despite not having even gotten in a sip of my pinot. “Vegas, baby!”
“Vegas, baby!” Tess threw her hands up, shouting right along with me. “Let’s party!”
And party we must have…
The next morning,I jolted awake to find myself naked in my hotel bed, lying on my right arm at an awkward angle that I already knew would leave it sore all day.
