“I’m really not hungry, Umberto,” I replied. It shouldn’t have been true. I hadn’t eaten since the previous day. But the sight of him chewing turned my stomach.
“I told you, Gingerbread, call me Bert. All my friends do,” he said. He placed a heavy hand on my thigh. His fingers were short and sausage-like. “I want us to be friends.”
“Oh, Bert, we’re already friends,” I said brightly.Liar, liar!“But about the food… Would you be terribly offended if I turned it down? It’s getting late.” I desperately wanted to get home. He’d booked me till 10 pm. That hour had long since come and gone.
“Nonsense. I already ordered. The chef is Italian, like me. Great cuisine, you’ll love it.” He waived a waitress over and ordered another glass of red wine for me.
I groaned inwardly but smiled while I nodded patiently. The night was turning out to be longer than I’d imagined.
Hang in there. Think about Mama and Emilio. They need you.I calmed myself by thinking of the paycheck I would get for this date from hell. With any luck, I’d get a decent tip.
Chapter 5
Prince Walker
Isat in the back of my limo with Jane. I was too deep in my thoughts to pay much attention to my secretary’s attempts at small talk.
“I just love Cristal,” she warbled. She reached for another glass of champagne. If she was surprised that I had agreed to go to Andy’s charity gala she didn’t show it. I didn’t usually show much interest in philanthropy. Between work and play, who had time, anyway?
I heard her toast quietly and down it in one gulp. Probably readying herself for a long night of being ignored.
We pulled up in front of the house of my best friend, Andy Geller. The valet opened the door, and I got out first. I extended my arm to Jane as she climbed out to stand beside me. I made an effort to compliment her dress, and she gave me a woozy smile.
“Sheesh, look at this place,” she said as we made our way up the front stairs. I glanced down at her. We’d just arrived, and she was already slurring.
“Are you okay?” I asked with a frown.Goddammit.This was highly unlike her.
She gave a nod, then looked around. “Think I could find the ladies room around here?”
Realizing she’d had one glass too many, I let her excuse herself to find the bathroom. She had on a diaphanous white dress, studded with faux diamonds. It clung to her figure, outlining her shapely curves. I would have had my cock inside her if she was not working for me. But I’d never involved myself in messy office affairs like some of my idiotic friends. They always ended up in bad lawsuits, worsened their companies’ reputations and affected their companies’ shares.
God, I’m becoming like Dad.
In a tailored tuxedo, I knew I made heads turn with my presence. There was a hush as I entered the front hallway. I ignored it. I also ignored the fact that a gentleman would have waited for his companion to return. I’d never claimed to be any such thing. Jane would catch up.
I went into the banquet hall to find Andy, stopping along the way to greet a few familiar faces. The usual crowd of privileged assholes. And the sycophants who generally hung around them. It set my teeth on edge.
By the time I found Andy I was irritable. Until I took in the sight of the women he was talking to. The older of the two, a loud, cougar-looking type, wore too much make-up and her black dress was too tight. Carefully dyed hair and the over-arched brows of Botox betrayed her age. She may have been a beauty in her day, but now I just got the sense of someone clinging to youth. The beauty by her side was the one who caught my attention.
She had on deep red, backless dress. Her face was pale and lovely under the bright lights of the corridor. Black hair was swept up on her head. It left her neck and shoulders bare, aside from a glittering red choker. And she looked as disinterested in the conversation as I imagined I would have been.
I loved disinterested women. I made it my business to light a flame in them.
I grabbed a glass of wine off the tray of a passing steward and leaned against the wall in wait. When Andy was done with them, he walked over to me. Seeing the look on my face, he smirked.
“Getting an eyeful of the Delavigne women?” he asked. I raised a brow.
“Maybe,” I kept my tone neutral. I aimed a look their way, in time to catch the girl’s eye. She stared for a fraction of a second then turned away. Playing hard to get. I felt a tightening in my groin.
“Mama Sophia will probably make a go at you herself,” Andy chuckled. “But her real aim is to get her daughter married off. Angelique Delavigne is a model, but it won’t be long before she reaches her sell-by date.”
I gave a dry chuckle. A social-climbing mother who wanted to find a wealthy catch for her daughter? The city was crawling with them. But the girl’s eyes appealed to me. A bright flicker of intelligence had shone in those blue depths. Smart and sexy. An even better combination.
I shrugged and turned my back on the pair. Feigning boredom. If I played my cards right, maybe I’d get to fuck both. The mother wasn’t bad to look at either.
“Prince… Mr. Walker, I’m so sorry!” Jane’s breathless voice broke into the conversation. I glanced down to see her at my side. She was clutching a bottle of water.
“Feeling better?” I asked. I didn’t really care either way. But the last thing I wanted was her making a spectacle of herself.
