I couldn’t believe my plan had backfired that spectacularly. She hadn’t even looked at the bracelet properly before metaphorically shoving it back in my face. In my experience, jewelry fixed everything with women.
Then again, Victoria was quite clearly not Nic. She would’ve kept the bracelet for herself, even if the only thing she did with it was pawn it the very next hour.
Disgruntled and angry, I stomped around my house and decided there had to be something wrong with Victoria. Obviously, she was taking the whole business thing too personally.
CEOs did it every day. Sometimes, we had to fire people. There was no way to avoid it.
While I’d known her answer to my question had been naïve, I hadn’t thought she was. She really was, though. Naïve and inexperienced.
I shouldn’t have made the overture anyway. If I’d known it would play out that way and that she’d be unable to see past what’d happened despite my apology, explanation, and gift, I’d never have gone there.
If nothing else, however, it had served as an unexpectedly necessary reminder that women were to be avoided. My ex-wife had taught me that lesson, and Victoria had reinforced it. From now on, if I wanted a woman, I wouldn’t approach it like I would if I wanted to date her.
When I had an itch I couldn’t scratch myself, I’d get it scratched by a willing and eager participant I picked up somewhere that wasn’t the workplace. This whole thing had been a fool’s errand, and I was even more pissed off with myself about it than I was at her for her juvenile reaction.
So stop dwelling on it then, I told myself firmly. Concentrate on the upcoming game and put her out of your head for real this time.
Before I’d gone over to her place, Victoria had been something of a loose end. The one who’d gotten away or whatever it was called. Since that loose end had now well and truly been tied up and there were no more what-ifs involved, I really hoped this would be the end of it.
If I never saw her again after that humiliating display in her apartment, it would be too soon. I’d thought she’d had a certain quiet integrity and poise about her, but I now knew I’d never been more wrong about anyone.
I’d built her up into something she wasn’t in my mind based on my first impressions of her. Perhaps she’d done me a favor by turning me down because regardless of how much I wanted to fuck her, there was no way things could’ve worked out between us if that was what she was really like.
I forced her out of my head. Every year, I had fun inviting the guys over to my place and beating them at poker. This time would be no different, and that was what I had to be focused on. Not some naïve, pretty girl with a few screws loose.
After the setup was done, I ushered the crew out and went back to my room to change. There weren’t many days in a year when I didn’t wear a suit, but this was one of those rare occasions where I could just be one of the guys.
Jeans, a long-sleeved Henley, sneakers, and I was good to go. I didn’t even comb my hair after I got out of the shower. I just brushed my fingers through it and called it a day.
Downstairs, everything was ready. Round tables had been set up, the poker sets were ready, and the cards were stacked. Chips and dip, together with other snacks, sat on each table but were also scattered throughout the house.
The bar was stocked, the caterers I’d gotten for food would be here shortly after we got started, and my special playlist was ready to go. This was the fucking life, so why was I sulking? Guys all over the world would give their left nuts and perhaps even their first-born children to have their houses transformed into casual casinos for the evening.
It was time for me to get back to appreciating the life I had and to stop with whatever had been going on in my head lately. It’s just been a long year.
That island getaway was starting to sound like the best fucking plan ever. Resolving to talk to some of the guys about it tonight, I grinned and went to get myself a beer.
As I closed the fridge, the doorbell rang and my friends started arriving. Raucous laughter and talking soon filled my house, and I finally started to relax.
Once everyone had arrived, we took our seats around the tables and the games got underway. Carl was at my table, but luck hadn’t come with him.
“Again, man?” I teased when he folded another hand. “Maybe I’ll get you a couple of lessons as a gift. You seem to need them.”
“I don’t know why I keep coming back to play with you guys,” he lamented, but there was laughter in his eyes when he twisted the cap off a new beer. “Maybe next time we should try a different game. I suggest Monopoly.”
Barry, our friend who just so happened to be a property tycoon, shook his head hard and fast. “Fuck no. I play that enough in my day-to-day. Besides, you’d lose at that too. No way any of you assholes would beat me.”
“Yeah, but then it wouldn’t just be Ben clearing us out every damn time,” Carl replied, shooting me a shit-eating grin. “The man needs to be knocked down a few pegs. It’s good to be given a lesson in humility every now and then.”
“I’m not the one who needs lessons,” I retorted, smirking when the river got flipped and I knew I had a good chance at winning this hand as well. “I’d kick all of your asses at Monopoly too. Bring it on.”
Barry gave me some shit for my comment, but a few minutes later, I laid my cards down and shut him right the hell up. “Read ‘em and weep, boys. Read ‘em and weep.”
I heard the doorbell ringing again, and I angled my wrist to check my watch before getting to my feet. “That’ll be the caterers. You can have a few minutes to lick your wounds before I come take the rest of your chips.”
The housekeeper appeared in the doorway, getting my attention by softly clearing her throat. “You’ve got a visitor, sir.”
Carl looked positively giddy all of a sudden, elbowing Barry in the side and murmuring something I couldn’t hear before looking at the door expectantly. I frowned, wondering what was up before shaking my head and returning to look at Jackie.
“You can let them in. Thanks.” I sat down again, figuring she had the caterers handled when a familiar face suddenly appeared next to her.
I was shocked all the way to my pinkie fucking toe when Victoria walked in, dressed as what I presumed was a Christmas elf. Her outfit was so tight that I had trouble not devouring her whole with my gaze.
It didn’t come as much of a surprise that the rest of the room had also gone silent, and I wasn’t the only one trying to keep my eyes to myself. An irrational flare of jealously went up inside me, followed by the insanely possessive urge to cover her in a really thick blanket so no one else would see what only my eyes should’ve.
Except for the tiny detail that she’s not even mine. The thought brought me back to reality, and I raised an eyebrow at her in question.
“What are you doing here, Victoria?” I asked, and something in my tone brought several curious gazes to me. Well, at least if they’re looking at me, then they’re not looking at her.
“It’s Tori,” she said, so automatically that I wasn’t even sure she’d really meant to correct me.
It wasn’t her who answered my question, though. Carl stepped up, grinning like a Cheshire cat as he clapped me on the shoulder. “I was trying to think of what I could get someone for Christmas when they already have three of everything. I couldn’t come up with anything other than an experience, so this is it. Merry Christmas, Ben.”
Confusion muddied my mind, and he laughed as he inclined his head toward her. “Tori here is your Christmas present. Well, not her obviously. But her performance.”
I was still confused until she suddenly produced a small speaker from somewhere and moved farther into the room. She set it down on the bar, hitting a button before turning to face me. Music filled the room and someone shut off the playlist I’d had going.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled when she took a deep breath, but then she started moving and the penny finally dropped.
She was one of those da
ncing telegram people one could hire over the holidays. They were all the rage this year. So many thoughts ripped through my mind that I couldn’t grab hold of any one of them. Not with her dancing the way she was.
The song she’d chosen was an upbeat remix of a Christmas classic. It was sultry and seductive even though it had a faster rhythm than the original.
Despite what I’d told myself about forgetting all about her earlier and despite how wrong I’d realized I’d been about her personally, I was as hard as a rock and struggling not to drool as soon as she really got into it.
Her hips swayed, her eyes alternated between being closed and being zeroed in on mine, and her hands ran along her curves in a way that made my fingers beg to do the same. Neither her outfit nor her dance was so sexual that it should’ve been having this effect on me, but my vision tunneled, and all I could see was her.
I wasn’t really a strip club guy, but I’d been to a few bachelor parties in my time. During some of those parties, I’d had lap dances. I’d never loved them, but I’d had a few.
None of those lap dances had gotten my dick to do so much as twitch, even though the women had been on my lap and so much closer than Tori was now. Tori was yards away from me, but my cock was straining against my zipper, and even without taking my eyes away from her, I knew mine wasn’t the only one.
Again, I felt the almost uncontrollable urge to get her the fuck away from all these prying eyes, but I couldn’t exactly get up right now. I also doubted she’d follow if I suddenly dragged her to my bedroom to continue her show for my eyes only.
All I could do was sit there and watch, trying to ignore my friends while I fought against my baser instincts. Her hands lifted to her sides, her fingers doing this curling thing as she slowly lifted them above her head while her hips gyrated.
I couldn’t decide where I’d rather look. When I stared at her hands, it was almost like I could feel them curling around my shaft instead of thin fucking air, but when I looked at her hips, it was much too easy to imagine them moving against mine.
Biting back a groan, I tried to be discreet when I pushed a palm against my crotch under the table. Jesus.
If this carried on much longer, I was either going to come in my pants like a boy who’d never seen a woman dancing provocatively before, or I was going to succumb and do my utmost best to get her into my bed in the next five minutes. Fuck the audience my attempts would have. All that would matter was getting her naked and finally, finally, getting to sate this need for her that had been growing since the first time I’d seen her.
Either way, my resolve to get her out of my head was screwed. After tonight, she’d be back in there for a good long time. If I didn’t do something drastic, there was no way I wasn’t going to go back for round two of utter humiliation by her hand—or mouth, as it had been.
Straightening my spine as her song started coming to an end, I steeled myself against what had to happen. The effect this woman had on me was dangerous, and I couldn’t allow it to continue.
No matter what it took, I had blown any chance I had with her right out of the fucking water.
Chapter 15
TORI
Benjamin Reed? Really? I almost couldn’t believe that on my first day he was one of the people I had to dance for. It seemed the universe had a cruel sense of humor, but a job was a job, and I couldn’t afford to get a bad review from one of my first clients.
The company had called late yesterday afternoon after Ben had gone to tell me I was hired. They had me come over to pick up a few more outfits to tide me over until I could get myself stocked up, and then the jobs had started coming through.
I’d almost chickened out when I’d seen the house the taxi dropped me in front of, but then I’d told the driver to wait five minutes for me and plucked up the courage to ring the doorbell. Although referring to this place as a house was wildly inaccurate. It was a mansion at worst and an urban, modern freaking palace at best.
Of course, I should’ve known he’d be around wherever there was such ostentatious opulence in this city. I wasn’t sure if it was his house, but it was a safe bet that it was. The housekeeper had addressed him while I’d been waiting, and he was the one to ask what I was doing here. Ergo, his house.
I’d come within an inch of backing out when I’d realized I’d be dancing for him, but then I’d felt his eyes on me, and I just gave into the music. He’d already taken one job from me. I wasn’t about to let him cost me another.
Plus, there was a certain satisfaction to this. Call it reclaiming my dignity by having him look but not touch the day after he’d tried getting me to date him. There was a sense of empowerment in having a flaming hot billionaire watching me with eyes full of hunger.
It inspired me to give one hell of a performance. I desperately wanted to be the one lording it over him for just these few minutes.
Every eye in the room was on me, and it wasn’t an immodest thought for me to have. Some of the guys looked amused rather than turned on, but they still watched me intently. Besides, I wasn’t dancing to turn anyone on anyway.
The person who had hired me, Carl apparently, had put in the song request when he’d called the company to hire someone. I was simply here doing the job.
Benjamin watched me the most closely of them all. If I looked hard enough, I was almost certain I’d see drool gathering at the corners of his mouth.
Since it had only been a few weeks since I’d accused Eliot of sending that dessert and wanting me as more than a friend, I didn’t want to jump to conclusions again. On the other hand, I knew very well that Eliot really did have a crush on me. Kari’s friends at the restaurant and my sister herself had told me so.
I really wasn’t the type who assumed every man wanted me. In fact, I’d been known to be blind to male attention more often than not. I was too curvy for most, and while I loved and accepted my body just the way it was, it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Be that as it may, I wasn’t stupid, and although it had been a while, I was no blushing virgin. I knew what a man looked like when he wanted a woman, and Benjamin wanted me right now. Badly.
I could almost see the mental images his brain was conjuring up of us going at it. Whether he was imagining doing it right here in front of whoever cared to watch or whether he was picturing taking me to his bedroom was the only thing I wasn’t sure of.
As much as I hated him, seeing him looking at me like that was making heat pool between my thighs and my lower belly clenched. His eyes were practically screaming SEX! NOW!
I was only human, and the boy—man—really was too attractive to ignore. Especially when he was in that primal, predatory mode that hinted at long, sweaty nights and promised more orgasms than I could count. And I’m really good at math.
While I’d never understood it before, I was starting to get why hate sex was a thing. It was supposed to be really hot too, which made it suddenly seem even more appealing. Damn it. Why can’t my stupid body want a nice, normal guy this viscerally?
By the time the song ended, my cheeks were flushed and my panties were drenched. I was still riding the high from my performance, and I expected a big round of applause. I knew I’d knocked this job all the way out of the park.
Instead of applause, though, all I heard was Benjamin’s laughter. He followed it up by putting his hands together in a slow clap, but no one else joined in.
It was like the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped by a hundred degrees. The air was no longer crackling with the sexual tension that had been building between Ben and me every time I’d looked at him during my dance, but with pure malice.
I almost saw the guards slamming up behind his gaze before he started speaking. He wanted me, but he desperately didn’t want me to know it. An icy expression replaced the heat that had been in his eyes just seconds ago, and his jaw clenched so tight that he’d have been able to cut the diamonds on that expensive bracelet he’d tried to give me.
“I can’t bel
ieve this is the career choice you’ve gone with,” he drawled, his tone as cutting as his gaze and jawline. “What’s wrong? You couldn’t get a job at the burger joint down the street from our office? You really had to resort to this?”
He spat the last word at me, flicking one hand lazily in my direction. Shock replaced every ounce of heat I’d been feeling between us, and my hands suddenly started trembling as he pierced my heart with a glare meant to eviscerate his opponent.
And without a doubt, that was what he saw me as at this very moment. An opponent he wanted to sweep clear off the damn board.
It seemed embarrassing me—humiliating me—in front of his friends was the way he planned on doing that tonight. Clearly, it wasn’t enough that he’d fired me or messed with me by showing up to ask me out. He seemed intent on shredding every bit of confidence I’d regained by getting another job.
My mouth opened, a thousand worthwhile retorts flying through my mind before I remembered that I couldn’t afford to lose another job. He might not have been the client, but Carl was, and he was Ben’s little foot soldier, wasn’t he?
If his boss snapped his fingers, there would be a review on my brand new profile, smearing me so badly I’d never be hired again. It took everything I had in me to swallow my pride, but I managed.
Because I was stronger than him. I didn’t need to assert my dominance in some bullshit way, and I didn’t need to cut him down to size just to feel better about myself.
Forcing a tight smile at the other people in the room, I grabbed my little speaker and walked out. I held my head high until the housekeeper shut the door behind me. Then I blinked back tears and tried not to crumple in on myself as I headed back to the taxi.
It seemed almost impossible that it had taken less than ten minutes for all that, but the driver was still outside and the meter was still running. He seemed as cheerful as he had been on the drive over when he twisted around in his seat, grinning at me.
“Where to next, ma’am?” he asked.
Love Your Moves: A Billionaire Valentine's Romantic Comedy Page 9