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“Jeremy Weston.” I take his hand in mine because being an asshole won’t get me what I want. Charm will. “I was just about to invite Linny back to my table. I’d love if you both joined us.”
“We’re here with friends,” he says, his hand dropping mine to grab hold of Linny’s. He brings it to his lips and feathers a kiss over her knuckles. “We should get back to them.”
“Stop by my table if you get a chance, Linny.” I smile past the envy. I don’t want his lips touching any part of her. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Her eyes narrow slightly. “I’m sure your date would prefer to have you all to herself tonight, Mr. Weston.”
Jealousy looks even better on Linny than anger.
I want to push her against the brick wall, kiss her hard and fuck her even harder.
“You’re talking about the blonde woman in the black dress?” I inch my brow up. “You noticed the two of us together?”
Her hand comes up to her hair, tugging on a strand. “She’s lovely.”
“I was talking about introducing you to my business partner, Rocco Jones.” I ignore Roland and keep my gaze on her. “The woman I brought with me tonight is my cousin. Her name is Cindy.”
The look on her pretty face is priceless. It’s relief mixed with confusion.
“We should get back to Harmony and Reuben.” Roland pulls on her hand. “It was good to meet you, Jeremy.”
I can’t say the same, so I don’t say anything at all. The nod of my head does all the talking for me.
I watch them walk away, my gaze pinned to Linny’s ass. I chuckle because I may not be going home with her tonight, but Roland isn’t either.
The way she turns back to get one last glance at me is all the reassurance I need. She still wants me and now that we’ve established that we’ve fucked, it’s only a matter of time until it happens again.
Chapter 25
Linny
The only productive thing I did all weekend was telling Roland that our second date was our last.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it Friday night. I was emotionally exhausted from coming clean to West.
I knew that when I said his name, he’d take it as an admission. It was.
There were so many people at the Nova tasting party that after Roland and I left him in the corridor, I didn’t see him again.
When it was time to leave, I told Roland I’d text him on Saturday. We said goodbye outside the restaurant the same way we did a week before. Our hug this time wasn’t any less stilted or awkward.
Harmony watched from where she was standing a few feet away with Reuben.
Once she was back at her hotel for the night, she sent me a text message telling me that she’d made a mistake thinking Roland was the guy for me.
On Saturday, over brunch at Crispy Biscuit, I told him that I thought we’d make better friends than lovers. He agreed with a confession.
Our first date at Nova was supposed to be his fifth date with another woman.
He’d made the reservation more than a month ago and when she broke off with him that afternoon, he asked Harmony to see if I was available.
We parted with the promise that we’d stay in touch, but it won’t happen. I won’t reach out, and I doubt Roland will either.
“You’re here bright and early, Linny.” My dad walks into my office with two cups of coffee in his hands. “I picked up your favorite from the café around the corner.”
My dad still thinks I drink my coffee the same way I did back in high school, with five teaspoons of sugar and almost as much cream.
I’ve scaled it back since. I order it without anything added since all I’m really looking for each morning is a caffeine jolt.
