Page 29 of Open To Negotiation

“That’s disturbing but go for it I guess.” Jaxson looked at me after her comment and I shook my head. Anything I found out about her, I wanted it to be because she told me, seemed like the feeling was mutual.

“You don’t care about our money?” Asher ignored Jaxson and Quinn.

“I didn’t grow up with a lot of money. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care about money, but I’ve worked hard to create a comfortable life for myself. I’m not looking for a quick buck. If I wanted to snag a rich sugar daddy, or something equally as gross to say, I would have done it already.” They held their staring contest for a few tense beats before Asher sat back, crossed his leg over his knee and shot her a small quirk of his lips.

“Look at you cracking grumpy Asher.” Oli clapped him on the shoulder as all the tension left the rest of the group.

“Wait,” Quinn said looking at Oli, then Asher, and then at me. “He’s the grumpy one? I thought you would have reserved that title.” Humor danced in her eyes as Oli snorted.

“Well, Asher is generally more of an asshole than a grump,” Noah replied.

“Hmm,” Quinn looked between Asher and me, “I can’t see the difference.”

Asher sent me a look as the guys laughed and I knew she’d won him over for now. He wasn’t quick to trust, neither of us were. But she just got his respect which was something that most couldn’t earn from him.

The conversation turned as Jaxson started talking about our favorite London based football team, the Warriors FC, who were currently in the first spot in the premier league.Quinn leaned back into the couch as Will got her drink order and went over to the bar. He didn’t need to ask the rest of us, we mostly drank the same thing and all knew to speak up if we wanted something different.

“So…” she leaned into me a little and looked up at me, “did I pass the test?” I let out a single gruff chuckle as she smiled softly at me.

Damn, that smile did something to my chest. I almost moved my hand to my heart to try and press out the tension, either that or to check if I was having a medical crisis.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said as she let out some of her musical laughter.

“Sure…” She took her vodka soda from Will and turned to face me a little more. None of the guys seemed to notice since they were engaged in their own conversation, which was fine by me.

“I feel at a bit of a disadvantage,” I said as I turned my shoulders to face her too and took a sip of my whisky.

“Oh yeah, why is that?”

“You know a lot about me now. I know nothing about you.” I swirled the ice in my glass.

“You didn’t have Jaxson do a background check or something?” She tucked one of her legs up on to the couch.

I liked how she was dressed tonight, it was hot and did things for her body, her slight curves on full display. She seemed confident in her own skin which I liked. If you went downstairs it would be full of women wearing much less clothes and not carrying themselves as sure as she did.

Although, with her shoulders bare, I could see the freckles dotting over them like constellations. It was a herculean effort for me not to reach out and trace them. They were fucking distracting.

“I didn’t, so tell me more about yourself.” I shot her a look as she opened her mouth. “And not how old you are or your occupation or where you’ve travelled since I know all those things already.”

She shook her head, but she wasn’t truly annoyed since I saw her fighting off a smile. “I’m not that interesting, I don’t know what you want to know.”

“You didn’t grow up with money?” I honestly didn’t care what she talked about, I just wanted to keep her talking. I was like a man who’d been without water for days and every piece of information quenched my thirst.

“No. My mom was a teacher, third grade, and my dad, well…” She took a long sip of her drink and then cleared her throat. “If you asked him he would say he was an entrepreneur, but really he’s gone from one bad idea to another.

“He would sink all our money into something new. My mom would let him and then he would fall into a depression when it didn’t work out. My mom finally got tired of it and they had a messy divorce when I was in high school.” She bit her lip, almost like she wanted to stop herself from talking. I would need to let her know I found her propensity for babbling on charming.

“That’s shit,” I commented and took another drink. I didn’t mean for this conversation to put a sad, distant look on her face. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Nope. Just me, which is why I was used as a pawn in said messy divorce.” She shrugged a shoulder like it was no big deal.

“My father is a piece of shit.” She looked up at my comment and waited as I worked to keep my own surprise off my face. I didn’t talk about myself but here I was, volunteering real information. “I lived with my mum full time when I turned two, they were never married. She moved us here to start a new life on our own.

“I never heard from him really, he sent money in a birthday card that he just signed his name to but that was about it. We moved back to London when I was eleven, but she always thought we’d come back here”

“And you’re here now.” She gave me a sympathetic smile and reached out to put her free hand on my knee. She probably guessed that something had happened since I was talking past tense about her.

“She got sick and passed away less than a year after we moved back to London.”