As soon as I walk in, a huge man, dressed head to toe in black, stops me. “Miss Santoro?”
The use of my mother’s maiden name makes me cringe. I need to legally change it to something else. Something Iwant.
I blink up at the man, almost instantly getting lost in his eyes as he stares at me with a firm authority that I recognize as a bodyguard.
“Yes, I am.”
He nods. “Mrs. Savage is over there. I’ll lead you over.”
Biting my bottom lip, I smile instead of telling him he doesn’t have to do such a thing. Bodyguards tend to follow their own rules, whether you want them to or not.
As he leads me across the crowded bar, I look for Jordyn and smile when I spot her waving at me from the far end, where it’s blocked off like a VIP section at the actual bar. I’ve never seen that before, but that’s pretty cool.
Another hulking man stands nearby, who is another obvious bodyguard.
Damn.
I guess I didn’t realize Jordyn needs constant protection, but it makes sense. It’s not hard to do an internet search and find out she’s worth billions of dollars.
“I’m so glad you came!” she practically screams as she jumps off her barstool and gives me a hug. “Oh my God, you’re so stunning. I might need to borrow that dress.”
Borrow? This woman could have any piece of clothing made for her with the snap of her fingers, and she wants to borrow my clothes? Then again, I would love to take a peek in her closet, too. I’ve never gotten to do that with a girl before. My mom would have lost it if I had ever brought home borrowedclothes from a friend. God forbid we have anything considered secondhand in our house.
“Only if I can borrow that dress, because I love it,” I tell her with a grin and hug her back.
She laughs. “Absolutely. Let’s do it.”
We get comfortable on our stools, and another woman approaches, smiling. Jordyn points to her. “Lacey, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is Lacey. She also goes by Ace.”
Quinn’s smile grows wider. “Hi! Nice to meet you. What can I get you to drink?”
After I give her my drink order, she gets to work making it right in front of us while Jordyn starts chatting.
“I hope it’s okay that I invited you out. I realized afterward that you might feel pressured because I’m your boss, but I want to reassure you that you never have to meet with me outside of work unless you want to. I remember from your interview that you were moving here from Seattle, so I figured you might want to make friends here in Vegas.”
Shrugging, I mouth a thank you to Quinn as she hands me my drink. “Of course it’s okay. I was more worried you’d fire me because I, uh…”
“Fucked my brother-in-law?” Jordyn asks with a smirk, then laughs. “Like I told you earlier, I’m a girls’ girl. You do your thing. Besides, seeing Kian covered in glitter was so fun.”
Quinn laughs and nods while she mixes a drink for another customer. “It really was.”
Oh my God.
My shoulders shake as I try to control my own laughter. “I wear extra when I go dancing because it deters most men, and it keeps married or taken men far away.”
Jordyn’s mouth falls open, and her eyes light up. “That is fucking brilliant.”
“So smart,” Quinn says.
Heat rises to my cheeks, and I glance down at the lemon-drop martini I ordered. Guilt has been swirling inside me all weekend about leaving without so much as a goodbye.
“It was really his birthday?” I ask again, taking a sip from my glass.
Oh, damn, that’s good.
“Yes.” Jordyn sets her drink down and turns toward me. “He didn’t tell you, though. So you had no way of knowing, obviously.”
Did he get what he’d hoped for? I may not have known it was his birthday, but I did give him exactly what he said he wanted. No names, one night.
