While Jayson ran to the bar, my hands were itching to stay busy. Slipping my phone from my pocket, I pulled up my contacts. Avery finally gave me her number this morning, but we still hadn’t texted each other.
She was working tonight, and I wanted nothing more than to crash thatdatewith a text from the man she was truly interested in—whether she would fully admit that or not, I knew it to be true.
Just as I was about to draft a text message, Jayson came back with the next round.
“Pays to be the best hockey player in this city when you get to skip the line, and the hot bartender remembers your order.”
“Exactly why it’s better that you order our drinks and not me.” I held my glass in the air and tipped it back.
“Besides your daddy issues, what’s the update on the pool girl?”
“I don’t have daddy issues, and her name is Avery, asshole.” I snickered.
Pointing his beer bottle at me, he said, “You’re the daddy, and Jackson seems to be giving you issues. Daddy issues.” He shrugged as if proving his point.
Jayson could be a punk sometimes. Hockey, getting laid, and his boys were his life. He didn’t take anything too seriously and that was one big reason I kept him around. He chilled me out and was the life of the party when I needed it most.
“The only issue I have with being aDaddyhappened last night when that word slipped from Avery’s mouth.” Normally, I wouldn’t kiss and tell, but I’d never been around a girl I wanted to brag about before. Or one I needed to talk to my friends about, for that matter.
“No shit? You saw her last night? And she called youDaddy? Oh, this is too good.” Jayson shook his head with a grin plastered across his face.
“And I fucking liked everything about it. Way too much.”
“Well, unlike your issues with Jackson, there shouldn’t be a problem there. You’re loaded as fuck, she’s young—sounds like its case closed.”
“It’s not as easy as you think. She’s … not able to commit.” I didn’t want to air Avery’s dirty laundry. She hid her job from me in the beginning for a reason. I couldn’t go around and divulge that information to someone she didn’t even know.
“What do you mean, she can’t commit? Does she have a?—”
“You have to be fucking kidding me,” I cut Jayson off, running my hands over my face, hoping that what I was seeing across the bar wasn’t real.
He followed my line of sight directly to the girl with the dark wavy locks, a tight as sin dress, and heels that made her long legs look even more delectable. Ice-blue eyes stared into mine with panic.
“Oh, shit. Dude, she really does have a boyfriend?”
Taking my friend by the shoulder, I flipped him around, so we were no longer facing her direction. Through gritted teeth, I mumbled the truth, “Not her boyfriend. She’s working.”
I let him put the pieces together for himself, and only a few beats went by before it all clicked. It wasn’t supposed to come out this way. Her work wasn’t my business to tell. But she was here, standing just feet away. How else was I supposed to explain why I couldn’t just walk up to her, grab her around the waist, and pull her in for a kiss?
Tonight, Avery wasn’t in the room with me. Sky was.
Shit.Shit. Shit.
What the hell was Spencer doing here? Out of all the bars in Vegas, how was it that we chose the same one for the evening? And what were the fucking odds this was happeningagain?
Technically, my client chose the bar.
“This is Sky, my girlfriend.” My client’s voice tore me away from the stolen moment between Spencer and me from opposite sides of the bar. When I looked in his eyes, it was as if no one else was around us. It was just me and him—no clients, no work, and no hidden identity.
“Hello, it’s so nice to meet you all. Cal hasn’t been able to shut up about how excited he’s been for this reunion.” I smiled through the pain of having to be focused on the task at hand—pretend to be this guy’s girlfriend for the night, dress a little risqué to make his ex-girlfriend jealous, and talk about how amazing he was in every aspect.
BARF.
But my mind was wrapped around the six-foot-four man staring at me so greedily that I could feel my skin begin to flame.As if I could brush away the way he made me feel, I gripped the back of my neck in discomfort, fidgeting with my hair.
“Sky, you alright?” Cal asked.
“Oh, yeah. Of course. Sorry, must have spaced out there.” I faked a giggle.
