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Chapter 1 - Eli
I was tired of the VIP section with my buzzkill friends reminding me I had to interview new assistants tomorrow, asking me if I’ve had enough to drink. Acting more like babysitters than friends. I cleared out, leaving them to worry by themselves on the plush velvet couches. I winked at one of the cocktail servers as she raised her tray full of shots for me to take one and knocked it back as I left the roped off area and went downstairs.
The music was loud, and I could feel it bumping through the soles of my shoes. There was a time I actually had fun at these places. I came to blow off steam after a long work week, as a reward for getting all my deadlines met. I used to laugh with my friends instead of ignoring their judgmental glances like I do now. The dance floor was a treat, not a chore.
I knew the buzzkills on the upper level were right and I shouldn’t have been there on a Tuesday night. It was one thing to drag my ass into work half out of it on a normal day, but I really did need to find a new assistant since no amount of raises or begging could keep Alfred from finally retiring. I suppose he deserved to be free of me, after being assigned to me by my dad right after I graduated college and joined the family publishing business full time.
Another cocktail server whipped by with her tray high in the air and I reached up to grab another shot. I wanted to stop thinking about work and losing one of the only people at the magazine who understood me and gave me a firm kick in the ass when needed. I felt like tomorrow would be an ass kicking, but he’d have to deal with the interviews with me at half speed. I got my work done and the magazine my dad left me was doing fine. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was skill, but I hadn’t run it into the ground. Maybe it was my ability to keep everything locked away in a tight little box while I was in the office, and then force myself to forget about it at places like this when the box got too full and threatened to burst.
“Hey, stranger.”
A pair of delicate hands on my waist made me turn around to see who was talking to me. Blonde hair with purple tips, a painted on purple dress. I felt a pang of guilt for not remembering her name even though she’d been back to my apartment with me. Maybe it was last week, last month? I’d been getting in trouble for calling women by the wrong name, and my mood was already going south fast. I didn’t need a whiny pout if I got it wrong. I knew I didn’t have enough luck that getting it wrong would just make her go away.
“Hey, you,” I said.
She leaned closer and went for a kiss. I turned my head at the last second, remembering she was kind of a pain in the ass in the mornings. Her lip turned down, but she tugged me toward the dance floor anyway, not ready to give up. I heard my older brother Will’s voice telling me to stop engaging at all if I didn’t want a relationship. It wasn’t as if I didn’t want one, I wasn’t a kid anymore. Twenty-nine would be a fine time to settle down. But not everyone met the love of their life in middle school and never had eyes for anyone else after that like Will did. Fate doesn’t often let you find someone as great as his wife, Callie. Even then, fate took her from him, from all of us, so what was the point in trying?
Thinking about my sister-in-law, the kindest, most selfless person I’d ever known, just made me want to disentangle myself from what’s her name who was now clinging to my arm, even more.
“Dance with me,” she wheedled, rubbing her body up against me. Not going to lie, parts of me were tempted. But the thoughts of Callie and my dad, and the looming interviews the next day had put me in a mood that couldn’t be salvaged by grinding on a dance floor.
“Not right now. I’m headed to the bar,” I said. Her eyes dropped to the shot glass I still had in my hand. “See, it’s empty.” I held it up and shook it, then turned toward the bar, praying she wouldn’t follow.
My prayers hadn’t been answered in a long time. Her hand curled around my elbow a second later, as she scurried on her tottering heels to keep up. Normally tenacity like that would pay off. Not tonight. I saw an empty spot at the bar and walked faster, wedging myself into it and signaling for the bartender to hurry the hell up.
“Get me a cute umbrella drink,” she said.
There was no room for her, so she pressed herself against me from behind. She really did have an amazing body, and the fact I was so uninterested pissed me off. I turned around and she smiled, wrapping her arms around my neck. The time for subtlety was over.
“Not tonight, Tina,” I said, untangling her hands from behind my neck and placing them firmly at her sides.
Her eyes shuttered with anger. “First of all, it’s Tanya, you ass.” I was surprised I was so close and shrugged, waiting for the rest of her tantrum. She dug her fingers into my shirt. “Why are you being like this? I saw you watching me when you were upstairs. Come on, stop being such a jerk and dance with me. You know you want to.”
“You were imaging things,” I said. I didn’t want a scene, but I wasn’t about to be coerced into something, either. “I’m just not in the mood tonight.” I left ‘for you’unspoken, but I could tell by the look on her face she heard it all the same.
I gently shoved her away and turned back to the bar, where my scotch and soda was waiting for me. I heard her huff and stamp off, then sipped my drink, trying to get all my scattered feelings back in their little box so I could salvage this night. If I went home alone now, I’d toss and turn all night, just me and my thoughts and memories. Couldn’t have that.
I peered around the different people all gathered like wild animals in a watering hole and my eyes settled on a small group of women who were deep in conversation. As if they sensed me looking at them, they glanced my way, bursting into raucous laughter and circling up again. So they’d witnessed my scene with Tanya. Great. Especially since one of them was exactly my type. Curvy and confident looking, with sleek dark hair cut in a bob that swung around her chin to reveal a neck I very much instantly wanted to kiss. Her full lips curled around her martini glass and I was mesmerized watching her swallow the drink. After she set it back on the bar, she glanced over at me again, an appraising look in her eyes. What color were they? Would they darken when I touched her? Because I wanted to touch her.
Okay, back in the game. She broke eye contact first and went back to chatting with her friends, but I could tell by the tension in her body, her amazingly gorgeous body, that she was still aware of me. I couldn’t have looked away. I was already sliding the straps of her dark red dress down her soft shoulders, dragging my finger across the line of her cleavage, dropping my head to taste her…
I pulled myself closer to the bar. I was hard as a rock just looking at her. A moment later, she started walking towards me and I ruthlessly shoved a guy to make room for her. Her body swayed as she got closer and I let my eyes roam, enjoying the show as much as her smirk to let me know she enjoyed me watching her. The man I just pushed out of the way reeled back, knocking her into me. My hands tightened around her waist to keep her from tumbling and when her full breasts brushed against my chest I knew I had to have her. The feel of her under my fingertips nearly made me burst. I was so shocked by the strength of my lust after being so completely turned off by Tanya, that I had to close my eyes for a moment. Regroup.
Her hands slid down my chest and she let go, steady on her feet again.
“Well, hello,” she said with a laugh. “I’m Marti.”
A natural laugh, that showed a real sense of humor, not a forced one. She wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest and, when I looked down at her again, she met my eyes boldly. Even in the dark bar I could see her eyes were blue, and they dropped to my mouth when I licked my lips, her pupils dilating enticingly. Jesus, if she looked any lower she’d see how much I wanted her.
“Eli,” I said, taking her elbow and helping her onto the barstool next to me, so she wouldn’t be trampled by people going to the dance floor.
I should have pulled her out there to get that body of hers up against mine, but I wanted to know more about her. I was also at a loss for words, afraid anything I said would sound like a cheesy pickup line.
“Trouble with the natives?” she asked with an arch look.
I shrugged. “It’s a curse.” I returned her look. After all, she’d approached me.
She burst out laughing and shook her head. “So hard to be king of the jungle.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm, but her eyes still danced with interest.
