Page 4
Okay, lady boner is back in full effect.
He shrugs, smirking at me. “But that’s just me.”
“Hmm,” I smirk, hiding my intrigue by taking another sip of my drink. “So, if I am not his girlfriend, who do you think I am?”
“I would say family, but you’re too good looking to be related,” the man takes the drink reserved for Joseph and takes a sip. “So, no offense, but did he hire you? I only ask that because I know there is no other way you would be around such a tool.”
“He did, but I’m not a sex worker, if that’s where this is going,” I state firmly, because I don’t fuck my clients. It’s a hard and fast rule, but it's not because I’m a snob. Power to all the sex workers out there; they do great work. I just don’t have the patience, or ability to fake being turned on when I’m not.
“Never assumed that,” he corrects, his side glance makes my stomach flip in ways I didn’t know was possible. “I was going to guess girlfriend for hire.”
“You’re good,” I smirk, finishing my drink and looking over at Mike again. Joseph and Mike are now enthralled with a blonde girl with perky tits and an amazing figure. She giggles a little too loudly, but for now their attention is off of me. I turn back to the handsome stranger with a coy smile. “What are you offering me Alexander?”
His large hand slides across the bar and he trails a finger slowly up my exposed back. “Have you eaten tonight?”
I lick my lips, my voice dropping down to a husky purr, “I’m not really hungry for food.”
“I never said I was going to feed you food,” he whispers, as his eyes trail down my body like a caress. “So let’s try this again, Red.” His warm breath rushes across my skin. “Are you hungry?”
I catch my breath, making eye contact with Mike across the room as his eyes narrow on me. “Famished.”
“Good girl. Follow me,” he commands and for some reason I feel drunk enough to follow, but then I remember there is twenty thousand dollars at stake. I can’t afford to leave. I won’t be able to afford the semester.
“You’re going to have to wait two hours,” I rush out, despite my clit pulsating with need. “If I leave early I won’t get paid for the night.”
His hand slides away from my exposed back and he pulls me into the dizzying spell of his cologne, the heat of his body against mine and smiles so wickedly, I quiver.
“How much is it?” He growls, as if the thought of me not being his frustrates him.
“Twenty thousand dollars.”
He smirks, looking over at Mike and then grinning at me with a million dollar smile. “I’ll double it. Plus tip, but you have to spend the night with me.”
My heart is pounding in my ears, but I look over at the increasingly hard stare of Mike, the furrowed eyebrows of Joseph, the passing glances from Thomas, and the answer is clear.
“Deal.”
2
ALEXANDER
I didn’t want to come out tonight. Not even a little. These firm parties are all the same: stale champagne, fake laughs, men congratulating themselves for breathing. I tried to get out of it, but when the head of Veritas “strongly encourages” something, it’s never a suggestion. So I dragged myself into the city, into this over-decorated ballroom that smells like wealth, desperation, and boredom.
And fuck… I would’ve hated myself if I’d skipped tonight.
Because then I wouldn’t have seen her—standing with a group of pretentious pricks who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, or leaning across the bar, flirting with a bartender who definitely didn’t know what to do with a woman like that. I wouldn’t have seen the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever seen in my life.
At first, all I noticed was the delicate curve of her neck and the warm, soft color of her auburn hair—pulled into a loose, messy bun that somehow looked both careless and intentional. Thick curls slipped free, brushing the nape of her neck and framing her face like an artist had placed them there by hand. A few tendrils curled toward her jaw, softening her expression in a room filled with sharp edges and sharper egos.
Every woman here is polished to perfection, lacquered until they shine like marble.
She’s the only one who looks alive.
Then she turned slightly, and I finally saw the rest of her—the elegant stretch of bare skin down her spine, the tight fit of her sapphire blue, backless dress, the plunging V that made retaining eye contact an act of willpower. The dress didn’t just flatter her; it obeyed her, clung to her like temptation itself had been sewn into the seams.
I knew I was staring too long. Too hard. It didn't matter.
The kind of temptation even the most disciplined man would fall to his knees for. So of course I stalked across the room to get closer. Any man with a pulse would have.
