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Jake’s rumbling laughter cuts through the cold and hits me dead in my chest. Warmth spreads throughout my body when the panic passes and I process what’s really happening.
He’s carrying me.
One arm around my waist.
The other under my knees.
Looking down at me with a smile.
Closing his eye on a wink.
Teasing me with his words. “Those heels are for my viewing pleasure, baby. Not for walking on ice.”
Lord, please let this restaurant have ice chairs. Because I’m pretty sure these pants are for his viewing pleasure, too.
“I’ll probably go to hell for saying this, but I’ve never found praying hot until now.”
“H-how did you know I was praying?”
He laughs. Bites his lip to stifle it only to end up chuckling. When he sets me down just outside the entrance, he grabs my chin, tilts my head back and gives me a handsome, devilish smirk.
“You said, amen.”
Of course I did.Chapter Fifteen“Go Penelope!”
“Go Penelope!”
“Go Penelope!”
The crowd of people gathered around me chant my name as I stand on the bar of Chicago’s most elite night club and do The Running Man. I wave toward Amber and Mary, Jim Canton’s two daughters, to join me on the bar. Then everyone on the dance floor below joins in. Now the entire club is doing The Running Man.
Turns out, all Jim’s daughters needed to persuade them to sell their stock was to see the numbers in black and white. When Jake slid the envelope containing his offer across the linen tablecloth to Amber, the oldest daughter, her eyes went wide and she screamed. Then she showed it to Mary who also screamed. It took several minutes for their father to calm them down.
Everyone was staring. It was weird. And I was sad because I didn’t get to see how much the offer was. I mean, how much can an irrigation system cost?
Jim wanted to go back to the hotel room with Jake to review the paperwork before everyone signed and made it official. His daughters wanted to celebrate. So we all went back to the hotel and the guys went to the room. Me, Amber and Mary went to the hotel bar.
Things got a little crazy after that.
Jake, in a moment of stunned excitement, had very stupidly given me his credit card and told me tonight was on him. He’d also called Cam to come to the hotel bar to “look after us” and make sure we didn’t get into any trouble. When the girls told Cam they wanted to party Chicago style, he told them he knew just the place.
That was hours ago.
Now, I’m drunk.
The sisters are drunk.
Cam is trying to get lucky.
And Jake just walked through the door.
Black suit. Black hair. Square jaw. Swaggered walk. Eyes searching. Scanning. Appraising. Following the chant. Lifting up, up, up, and finally settling on my face. I beam at him, though I half expect him to be angry at me for…something. Getting the Canton Sisters drunk and convincing them to dance on a bar seems like something he wouldn’t approve of.
To my surprise, his lips turn up on one side in a sexy grin. I’m trying to stay in tune to DNCE’s Cake by the Ocean. But that damn face of his has a way of rendering me stupid.
The same man who treated us like royalty the moment I flashed him Jake’s black Amex card, walks up and greets him. Moments later, Jake is escorted to our VIP suite on the second floor. He disappears a moment from my view and my smile falls. Then it’s back when I see him lean over the rail, drink in hand and immediately find me with his eyes.
I’ve got it so fucking bad….
I look up and give him a little wave. He wiggles his fingers at me and smiles. I’ve never seen him so content. I wonder if he’s always like this when he closes a deal. Or if it’s just this one in particular. I make a mental note to ask him later when we’re alone. Maybe in those sleepy moments when we’re cuddling in post-coital bliss.
“I’ll be back!” I shout to the sisters who are too busy making a Cam sandwich to care.
I hold out my hands to two dudes below me and they’re more than happy to lower me to the floor. I can’t tell you what they look like. I don’t know. Don’t care. Doesn’t matter. They won’t compare to Jake.
The music dulls as I head up the stairs to the VIP suite. He’s watching me when I finally make it to the landing.
“Nice moves.”
“I know right?” I do The Running Man just for him. Then I switch to my river dance. By the time I snap my fingers and pull out my pistols, I’m touching his chest with the tips of my finger guns.
“That river dance of yours, though….”
