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All I need to do is keep my wits about me until I’ve had two shots. Then I can race to my room and dream dirty dreams about him.
CHAPTERFIVE
Daniel
Gina downsher second shot as soon as the bartender places it in front of her.
I haven’t touched either of mine yet.
“Done,” she declares with a swipe of her tongue over her bottom lip. “I’m going to call it a night.”
What the fuck is the goddamn rush?
I’d take it personally, but who am I kidding? This is personal. Gina can’t stand me. That started somewhere between when she showed up at my door in the middle of a sleepover I hosted a decade ago with a woman whose name I can’t recall and the day I ordered her to dump that loser, Brogan McCabe.
Looking back, I realize ordering her to do anything is a cardinal sin. The woman is fiercely independent, has a brilliant business mind, and is worth at least a few million dollars she earned by strategically using social media to her advantage.
“It’s still early, Gina. What’s the hurry?”
She glances at my wrist and the silver watch that is almost always there. She hums the chorus of a familiar tune as she tilts her head to the side. “I remember that watch.”
“I remember that song,” I say. “You used to sing that when you were a kid.”
She tries to shield the grin on her face by swiping a hand over her mouth. “Everyone sang it when I was a kid.”
I hum a few bars before I launch into her favorite line from the song written by a pop star that topped the charts more than fifteen years ago. “When our hearts are aligned, magic happens.”
Her eyes widen. “You do remember.”
I’d continue singing, but won’t subject the people around us to that, so I chuckle. “It’s catchy.”
Sighing, she drops her gaze to my watch again. “Your dad gave you that on your eighteenth birthday, right?”
I nod.
Before I can say another word, her left hand lands on my wrist. “I’m sorry you lost him, Daniel. He was one of the best men I ever knew.”
He ranks as the best in my books, so I nod again.
“You said at dinner that you wanted to make every one of his wishes come true.” She pauses. “Was one of those wishes that you’d work in finance?”
That’s a broad term to explain how I earn a living, but Gina’s well aware of that. Her brother and I partnered with a mutual friend years ago to launch a firm that now handles the fortunes of many billionaire clients. Becoming a wealth manager was the smartest career move I ever made.
“He wanted me to make a lot of money doing something I love,” I clarify.
She mimes making a check mark in the air with her index finger. “Mission accomplished on that wish.”
I stare into her brown eyes, wishing I knew what to say to keep her in this spot for another minute or sixty.
I fail miserably when she slides off her bar stool. “Enjoy your shots, slow poke.”
Just as I reach for one, she picks it up and drinks it.
I laugh. “You’re welcome, Gina.”
Her tongue darts out to catch a drop of lingering liquor from her bottom lip. “You should be thanking me, Lawton.”
I drag my gaze from her lips to focus on her eyes again. “For what?”
