“Maybe.” I bite my lip.
“Then maybe I’ll be there.”
Did he just accept?
With that, Kayne picks up his phone from the table and drops it into his pocket. I just watch him like a dumbstruck fool.
“Until tonight,” he says, then steps away from me and starts for the door. “Oh, and Ellie.” He stops short right next to me so we are shoulder to shoulder. “The next time you want to get my attention. Bend over. Your tits are nice, but I’m more of an ass man.”
He then leaves.
With me nailed to the floor.
ISHOULD HAVE SAID NO.
I should’ve just blown Ellie off then apologized for it the next time I saw her. Blaming it on a business issue that needed my immediate attention. But I didn’t. Because right now I’m standing at the bar in the middle of a trendy downtown restaurant waiting for Ellie the way a dog would wait for a bone.
I’ll give it to Mark. He knows where to throw a party. You had to walk through a pawn shop to get into the place. The first floor is a lounge. The second is where dinner is served. The diners can look down over the railing at the patrons mingling on the white leather couches shrouded in florescent light. Like a legal peep show.
Only in fucking Manhattan.
I’ve already said hello to Mark and some other employees of his. I was introduced to some of his other clients as well. Very kissy kissy, shaky shaky business shit. It goes with the territory. Now I’m sucking down bourbon like a drain in a distillery, regretting that I’m here. I regret even more that I told Ellie she has nice tits. Good going. Then, just to add fuel to the fire, I told her I was an ass man. If she only knew how true that was. It’s exactly why I shouldn’t be here. Ellie is too sweet. Too playful. I would never want to take those traits away from her. She reminds me of a frisky kitten tangled in a strand of yarn. She has no idea how tangled she’ll be if she gets involved with me.
I slug some more bourbon. If she’s not here by the time I finish this drink, I’m out. I suck down the last drops of alcohol in the glass and get ready to jet.
That’s when I spot her. I stop dead in my tracks as she walks toward me. She’s wearing a scrap of material I think she’s trying to pass off as a dress. It’s all skintight, long-sleeved, and super short.
“Hi.” She greets me with a bright smile. “Are you leaving?”
I jingle the keys in my hand. I should say yes. I should bolt out of this room and never look back. But instead I say, “I was beginning to think you stood me up.”
“Never. I’m a woman. We’re always fashionably late.” She bats her eyelashes flirtatiously.
Not if you were my woman.
“Buy you a drink?” I ask as I greedily ingest every sexy inch of her in that skintight dress.
“Yes please, a vodka and tonic with lemon.”
“Lemon?” I curl my lip.
“Yes.” She giggles.
“Most people drink it with a lime.”
Ellie shrugs. “I’m not most people.”
You certainly are not.
I order our drinks just as Mark appears from the masses. “There she is. My magic glitter in high heels.” He holds out his arms like she’s a Broadway diva who just gave the performance of her life.
He’s definitely a little trashed. It’s only when Ellie turns to kiss Mark hello do I notice the back of her dress; a huge oval cut-out is exposing her bare skin. Holy shit. It’s provocative as hell, and I nearly choke.
“So glad you could make it, Kayne.” He shakes my hand and tells me again—for the third time. “Take care of my little Ellie here. She’s leaving us soon, and I won’t be able to find my ass without her.”
“Aww,” Ellie coos. “That is the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Hold on to your knickers, kid. If you’re even wearing any under that dress. It barely covers your bottom,” he muses.
