“Sure.” I forced a smile, wondering if his hostility was on account his balls had probably shriveled up and he could no longer get hard. “If you could let her know I’m here, that would be good.”
Knowing perfectly well being treated like the help would piss him off, I chuckled as I headed to the bar. Besides, chances were Presley had eyes on us already with her fancy surveillance system. And I wasn’t leaving until we talked.
Presley
“BOSS,” BENNETT RAPPED at my door, “got a minute?”
A minute was exactly what I didn’t have.
I’d spent more of my evening in my office than I’d have liked, trying to refine my pitch for Diablo’s expansion. My plans made harder considering my head wasn’t a hundred percent in the game. I hated I was distracted; I’d been so good at keeping my personal life out of my head when I walked through the club doors. But tonight . . . well, it had been more than a challenge. And while most people would have been content with managing one of the most successful clubs in the city, I wanted more. I refused to let my plans be derailed by my deadbeat ex or by my possibly—not that I’d felt that way last night—poorly chosen one-night stand.
Sighing, I pushed the button under my desk that unlocked my office door. The security in the club had always been next level, but since Lewis, the ex in question, had recently taken up breaking and entering, I was glad for the extra measures. “You get thirty seconds, and the clock is ticking. Don’t make me fire you tonight.”
Bennett knew I was kidding, on top of being the head of my security team, we’d also become pretty good friends. And while he stood close to seven foot and weighed more than a compact car, underneath that scary exterior was a mama’s boy who had an amazing heart. Lord, the guy even took her to church on Sundays, though he’d probably kill me if I’d ever mentioned it at work.
His big mouth spread into a grin, his eyebrow raising as he walked in and closed the door behind him. “You threaten me every night, Presley. One of these days, you’re either going to have to follow through or I’m going to start thinking you ain’t got the balls.”
“C’mon, B. You know that, despite my appearance, balls aren’t something I lack.” I smirked back. “Which is why I’m going to open up Diablo 2.0 in the Meatpacking district, and convince David to let me buy in.”
I hadn’t breathed a word to anyone other than Bennett about my plans for the expansion or the cash-for-capital strategy I was working on. But while David Cheng—the billionaire who had more money than he could ever use in fifty lifetimes—didn’t need my investment, I was done building someone else’s empire.
Bennett rolled his eyes. “Stop trying to make the rest of us look bad. Jesus, at twenty-six, all I was thinking about was getting laid and having a good time. I thought only closet nerds and teenage geniuses wanted to be entrepreneurs.”
“Who says getting laid, having a good time and being an entrepreneur have to be mutually exclusive?” I laughed. “And considering you had your own security firm at twenty-six, I’d say we aren’t all that different.”
He shrugged, raising a brow. “You think we should get married and have kids? Settle down?”
“That’s the worst proposal I’ve ever heard. You didn’t even get down on one knee,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes.
Bennett laughed. “You know that wasn’t what I meant.”
I loved how uncomplicated things were with him, how we could toggle between business and personal stuff and none of it felt awkward. He knew about Lewis breaking into my apartment, and how a few months earlier he’d pulled a gun on me, which had me finally kicking him out for good. But he didn’t coddle me, making sure I knew he was there for whatever I needed, without making me feel like the scared little girl everyone assumed I should be.
“So . . . is that why you interrupted me? To tell me I should have a better work/life balance?” I asked, honestly surprised that he’d come to my office solely for a philosophical chat.
He smirked, the cocky look on his face making me slightly unsettled. “Nope, just wanted to see if you’d pulled a fire alarm. Clearly, you haven’t checked the monitors.”
Goddamn it.
I hadn’t checked the monitors, too buried in spreadsheets, cost reports and prospective real estate sites to give them the attention I usually did. But I swear, as much as I loved and appreciated him caring, if the hovering didn’t stop, my parents were going to find themselves short a son.
“Tell Tibbs—”
“Not your brother.” Bennett cut me off, grinning wider. “It’s the other one. The one whose tongue hits the floor every time he gets eyes on you. Caught him sneaking in the staff side entrance and was ten seconds from laying him out. Of course, I didn’t know if you wanted the pleasure.”
Jared. Leighton.
Of course.
Because sending me a text to apologize after we’d had sex was what every woman wanted. Especially when it was from the guy who featured in almost all your teenage fantasies. The same guy you’d harbored deep and dirty thoughts about for longer than was reasonable. And boy, every single one of those dirty thoughts hadn’t even come close to how good it had been.
Pity he had no spine and cared too much what anyone else thought. I’d have totally been into cueing up my fantasies and playing them out, one by one.
“You thought I might want to lay him out?” I rose slowly, wondering if it was somehow written all over my face that my ride home hadn’t stopped with the drive. There was no way anyone could have known considering I hadn’t told a soul. Unless Leighton had opened his big mouth, and judging by his need to keep it between us, I’d say that was highly unlikely.
“Presley, don’t pretend like making men piss down their legs isn’t a turn on for you.” Bennett laughed, my body relaxing as he continued. “You love it, so if you want to read him the riot act, I’ll let you do the honors. Just make sure he comes through the front from now on. Not like we ever make him or anyone else from your brother’s company pay the cover.”
That was true, which begged the question why he’d been trying to sneak in. Oh, and I still had no idea why he’d come in the first place, unless it was to humiliate me further by telling me to my face what a mistake last night had been.
“Do me a favor and escort him in. I assume he’s alone?” My skin tingled, knowing if he’d been with someone, Bennett would have already mentioned it. Which meant the conversation—or confrontation—was going to happen with just the two of us.
Good.
“Yep, he’s without the entourage. I’ll send him in.” Bennett chuckled, heading toward the door.
My eyes flashed to the monitors I had been ignoring, seeing him at the bar.
Hell.
If I thought sleeping with him was going to stop me from being attracted to him, I was sadly mistaken. I remembered exactly how that six-foot-three athletic body had felt against mine, with his gorgeous blue eyes looking down at me. They were so clear, almost translucent, but could fill to an inky black when I screamed out his name. It was like I could still feel his lips against my skin, still see my fingers raking through his sandy blond hair. And as much as I wanted to pretend it hadn’t been the best sex of my life, I couldn’t deny that it had been even better than my fantasy.