“Yeah, you’re good,” Rourke said.
Planting her hands on the counter, she straightened her arms only to lose all muscle tone when Zairn Lomond came wandering into the room.
“Are you shitting me?”she asked, standing up just as Rourke raised a glass of wine into her line of sight.
“Evening, Roux,” Zairn said like he hadn’t just overheard his buddy screwing her.“Nice to see you again.”
Snatching the glass, her glare landed on Rourke.“You’re fucking me with our would-be donor in the next room?”
“He’ll donate,” Rourke said, beer in hand.“And he doesn’t care about sex.That’s Zairn Lomond, playboy extraordinaire.”The men shared a smile.“You should throw a party for Hope, Radley.Stuff those coffers.Expand those contacts.”
“I can’t throw a party until I have my consortium.”
“I’ll pay for it,” Rourke said.
“You don’t need a consortium,” Zairn said, sitting at the separate long island that had held the buffet the night of the party.“You just need the right foundation beneath you.”
“Our track record isn’t great so far,” she said.“Not easy to impress people when you’re set up to have sex within twenty paces of them.”
Zairn frowned.“Roux, I apologize if—”
“She doesn’t care about the sex,” Rourke said.“She doesn’t mind an audience.”
“I don’t care about my opinion of me,” she said because he was right that she didn’t care about the sex.“How do I tell my group we’re fucked on this because I got fucked—”
“You’re not fucked, not that way,” he said, resting a hand on the counter to lean in.“Zairn likes people who like sex.”
“Do I?”
“Sure,” Rourke said.“Kyst likes it, doesn’t she?You’re always fucking at it.”The seated billionaire bobbed his head on a blink, a concession maybe.“With you, Kintyre, and Collier living in close quarters, I’m surprised it hasn’t been going on twenty-four seven.”
“Lilya thinks we’re back in college.”
Rourke laughed.“That’s funny.”
“Why is that funny?”she asked but was ignored.
“The food on its way?”
“Yeah,” Zairn said and looked at his watch.“I don’t know what—”
Noise from the front of the house stalled him.
“Casanova!”a woman hollered.
Zairn smiled and called back.“We’re in the kitchen.”
Something hit the floor, many somethings maybe, and there was a shuffle before the clack of heels came closer.
“What the hell’s she been doing all day?”
On a head shake, Zairn raised an innocent hand.“I gave up asking months ago.”
Rourke laughed but stopped abruptly.“Wow,” he exhaled, his mouth opening as he nodded from his friend to the gorgeous blonde who just walked in.
“You like it?”the woman asked.
“He like what?”Zairn asked and twisted to look over his shoulder, only to then turn his whole body that way.“Wow.”
