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“So all I need to do is land a big part on some loser movie and you’ll give me a blank check to save the theater?” she asks.
I fight the urge to laugh in her face. “Sweetheart, I don’t care if you take the check and buy a small island.”
“Please don’t call me that,” she says sternly.
“Whatever you say…” I wink at her. I know she likes it. They all do.
“I don’t get it.” She gives me the once over as though she’s really looking at me for the first time. “What’s in it for you? I get a paying gig and you lose millions…”
Oh, a feisty one. It gets me even more riled up.
“He’s in it for the game, can’t you tell?”
Zachary West. Ole buddy, ole pal. Always the worst fucking timing. I plaster a smile on my face just to stop the annoyed groan from coming out.
He throws his arm around my shoulder–easy for him because we’re pretty much the same height–and pats my chest. It looks like a show of affection, but I know he’s shooting the shit. Probably got bored with his whore and saw me over here with Cara, who’s the exact opposite…
“This is a closed business meeting, Zach,” I jerk my shoulder to get him off me. It works, but only because he obliges.
He grins at me, eyes almost closed under the weight of it. His usually slicked back blonde hair is all out of shape, bangs flopping around his face as though he isn’t the CEO of one of the country’s leading tech companies.
He’s obviously had far too many. Just my luck. There’ll be no reining him in now.
“Business? Yeah right,” he sniggers. “Olympia sent me over here to come get you. It’s time for your close up.”
Olympia. That’s her name. I glance over his shoulder and see her staring at us. She waves seductively, but I’m already bored senseless. How could I possibly be satisfied with her after the juicy offering that just landed in my lap?
“Why don’t you take her and go get started.” I’m giving him every signal to leave us the fuck alone, but Zach isn’t even looking at me.
Not surprisingly, he can’t tear his eyes from Cara. I can’t blame him. She’s the hottest woman in this place, hands down. And she’s not even trying. I think… maybe it’s because she isn’t trying that makes her so hot.
“You shouldn’t trust this man.” Zach pokes me in the chest with his stubby finger. “He spends all his time playing games with people, which makes him the best at it.”
“And who’re you?” Cara gives him an incredulous glare. At least she has sense enough to question a blazing drunk.
“He’s nobody.” I shove Zach back and step between them. “He’s just messing with you.”
“No, that’s what you’re doing,” Zach speaks up from behind me, trying to force himself over my shoulder.
I give Cara my most winning smile while fending him off with one arm. “You’re going to trust the guy who’s drunk in a strip club while the sun is still out?”
“I don’t trust either of you,” she says, hugging her purse closer. “But…”
Ah, there it is. When Zach crashed our little soiree I felt a little nugget of doubt crawling into my mind. Cara is a sensitive creature and who knows what could set her off and send her running? But that little nugget is dissolving quickly now that I can see the look in her eye. The one that tells me I still have her right where I want her.
“Don’t do it. He’s better at this than you are.” Zach refuses to give it up. Asshole. I nudge him hard with my elbow, and he recoils instantly, holding his ribs. “Ow, fuck off, Bear. That hurt.”
“Good. It was supposed to. Now, are you going to let me finish up here, or what?” He may be plastered, but Zach knows the look I’m giving him. What it means.
He laughs, shaking his head as he straightens back up. “Everyone’s so goddamn thin-skinned today. You better fix that attitude before you get back there.”
Cara shifts her weight from one foot to the other, deliberately avoiding Zach’s gaze as he saunters by.
“Bear?” she asks, once she’s sure we’re alone again.
I wave it off. “Stupid nickname from back in the day when I jerked around on Wall Street. But let’s not get sidetracked. You were saying?”
“Blank check…?” she tilts her head, giving me what she thinks is a no-nonsense stare.
