This place was Mia’s suggestion, and it’s perfect. Tucked away. Private. Jon feels safe in this dimly lit cocoon of elegance. No tacky Halloween-season decor. Soft jazzy piano tunes. A lounge singer with a voice like smoke and whisky. Miles away from where he told Daisy he would be with prospective TerraWest investors from China.
“So howdidyou find my number?” he asks Mia, who is even more beautiful than he remembered. She wears a ruby-red velvet dress with her hair loose over her shoulders. The dress shows off the green of her eyes.
She smiles, sips her martini, and says softly, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way, right?”
He smiles. That this siren hunted him down is intoxicating. That she wants his body is driving him nuts.
She leans forward and his breathing quickens. “You know what that’s like, don’t you, Jon? Having a hunger? Relentlessly pursuing, taking what you want, what should be yours?”
“Is that how it is for you in banking?”
“It can be a mercenary business.” She traces the back of his hand with her fingers, her gaze locked on his. “What is it that you want right now, Jon, right at this minute? What is it that should be yours for the taking?”
He swallows. His skin goes hotter. “I think you know.”
She angles her head. The candlelight shimmers on her hair. Her green eyes bewitch him. “I mean, beyond sex. What do you feel is missing in your life right now? Because on the surface you seem to have it all, right? Attractive wife with a family fortune to her name. A baby on the way. And resort industry buzz says you’re tipped for the new COO position at Claquoosh Resort when it comes on stream.”
Jon feels a discordant clang in his head at the mention of Daisy, their unborn son, and the job that is no longer guaranteed him. He breaks her gaze and reaches for his drink, sips. For a moment he watches the singer near the grand piano. She’s crooning lyrics about taking risks in love.
“I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “I hit a nerve.”
“No. No, it’s fine.” He meets her gaze again.
She leans closer. Jon notices her cleavage. Heat pools in his groin—a throbbing kind of heat that makes him so hard it’s exquisitely painful. She feathers her fingers across the back of his hand again.
“I won’t go there again. Won’t mention your family. I just want to be clear about our parameters, Jon. I’m aware you’re a well-married family man. Yet here you are. And I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot and lead you to believe that there is something more...you understand what I mean?”
“I—”
But she silences him with her finger on his lips. “I, too, have a comfortable life.” She hesitates, as though unsure whether to divulge more. “A relationship. I want to keep that relationship intact, yet here I am. But I am clear in my own mind on the reason I’m here. Physical connection, no strings. How about you?”
His heart thuds like a drum. It sends blood pumping through his veins with a rhythmic pulse. It throbs with the same rhythm in his groin. He’s dizzy. Oddly dizzy. Like his entire world is narrowing onto just this siren named Mia in a ruby-red dress, and he can’t seem to think in a bigger picture. He feels woozy.
“Shame thing,” he says. “I mean,samething. No shtrings.” His words are slurring. How much have they both had to drink anyway? How many drinks did he have at dinner with the clients before he arrived? Still, he feels like another one, and he raises his hand to order refills.
The server replenishes their drinks, and Mia says, as she reaches for hers, “So you want both worlds? Family man and philandering man.”
“Don’t we all want it all?”
She laughs. He watches the pale column of her throat. He can’t seem to think straight at all. He sips from his drink, spilling a little down his front.
“Is talking about your job off limits?” she asks.
Her words hover in front of his mind, then slide away. Jon struggles to pull his brain back into focus. “Talking about my job is fine. It’s—” He laughs. And his laugh sounds funny to his own ears, so he laughs harder, then feels a little ill. He clears his throat and tries to explain. “I laugh becaush it was a done deal, and now...” He fades as he loses track of his thought. He sits in silence for a moment, trying to pull himself back into focus, trying to remember what he was saying. He sees two men in an alcove across from him and Mia. Are they watching him? From the shadows. Can’t really make out their faces, but Jon feels watched.
“What was a done deal?”
“What?”
She places her hand on his thigh. Moves it higher toward his groin. Jon suddenly feels uneasy. A little trapped. As if something is going wrong, but his brain is not warning him fast enough. Her hand goes higher, covers his erection.
“Jon,” she whispers, “you’re safe here, with me. It’s our secret. You can talk.”
“It’s nothing. Jusht—the company is conshidering hiring someone of color. Optics. I...need to show . . I best viable candidate for—for that posish—position.”
She watches him. His vision is distorted. Her red lips seem larger than they were. Her big eyes more green.
“How will you show them?” She cups his erection, and Jon can barely think with the hot pleasure of her touch.
