“Come on, Lori. Remember, this is about you. Not pleasing anyone else. If someone interests you, talk to them. If they don’t, say you have to use the little girls’ room and leave.”
“What if no one here interests me?”
“Then you’re not trying hard enough.” Right then, a waiter walked by and Quinn snatched two drinks from his tray. “Or drinking enough.”
Lori frowned at the pink, fruity-looking thing in her hand. “What is this?”
Quinn took a drink and narrowed her eyes. “Sugar. Pure sugar with a side of alcohol.” Something over Lori’s shoulder caught Quinn’s attention. “My editor is calling me over. I’ll be back in just a minute.”
Before Lori could say anything, Quinn strutted across the rooftop to an elegant woman in a flowing black dress and stark black hair. Quinn had a bit too much muscle and was too petite to be mistaken for a model, but she was still one of the prettiest women there, and Lori smiled as a few of the heads turned to follow her progression.
“Should I be worried?” asked a familiar voice from behind her.
Lori whipped around to see Michael Devereaux right in front of her. “What—I mean— Why—”
He tilted his head and smiled down at her. “So I’m guessing this wasn’t planned?”
“Oh, no. It was planned all right.” Without another word to him, Lori turned and headed straight for Quinn. The scheming, evil, conniving, overambitious Quinn.
Her editor was mid-sentence when Lori tapped Quinn on the shoulder. “Excuse me, I need to talk to you right now.”
Quinn glanced over at Lori. “Can it wait?”
“Not really. I have a few questions.”
Suddenly, a huge grin broke out over Quinn’s face. Lori had a sinking feeling that he was right behind her.
“Oh, my gosh, Michael Devereaux, right?” Quinn stepped to the side and held out her hand. The editor put on an equally charming expression and took a step forward. Lori really didn’t want to turn around. Maybe if she just closed her eyes and imagined the safety of her apartment, she’d magically appear there. Safe and sound and far away from her scheming boss and roommate.
But when she opened her eyes, she was still on the damn rooftop and was probably about to embarrass the hell out of herself if she didn’t act like an adult and turn around.
She bit her lip and turned on her heel to find Michael staring right at her. Fantastic. This would be a great time for a freak thunderstorm. Or roof collapse.
“Mr. Devereaux. I’m so happy you could stop by on such short notice,” said the editor.
“My pleasure.” He finally took his eyes off Lori and allowed her to take a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “I probably would’ve come sooner if I’d realized the pleasant company I’d be keeping.”
His gaze once again fell to Lori, but she knew he had to be talking about all the pretty women around them.
Of course, Quinn had to be too observant for her own good as she noticed the tension between Lori and Michael. “Michael, did you know that Lori here works with you? She just started at DevX Tech a few months ago.”
Lori shot Quinn daggers with her eyes. “Actually, Mr. Devereaux and I just met on Friday briefly. Besides that, I don’t think he knew I existed.”
“I have to admit, I’m not able to get acquainted with all the new hires. But now that I know your skills, I think I’ll be calling you up a lot more often.”
Nope. Not happening. “Excuse me. I have to use the little girls’ room.” Lori pushed past Quinn and headed for the door. Ugh. She was so stupid. Here she thought Quinn was taking pity on her and helping out of the kindness of her heart. No. This was all to help her damn career.
But when she finally made it to the door that led inside, she saw Michael’s reflection in the glass. “Can you please give me a moment of privacy?”
“That depends. Are you planning on taking your drink into the restroom with you?”
Lori looked down and saw the pink fruity thing was still in her hand. She faced Michael again. “You’re following me. Why are you following me?”
“Well, you were running from me. I didn’t want to make a scene.”
“You flirted with me. I don’t want you flirting with me. People will think…”
“I wasn’t flirting with you.” She narrowed her eyes with him and he clarified, “I wasn’t flirting with you on purpose.”
“Great. An accidental flirt. Much better.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. His big, muscular chest that his black sweater seemed to drape over in just the right way to accentuate his muscles. Good grief, where did this guy find time to go to the gym? “What are you even doing here?” she asked.
“It was a last-minute invitation. Luke is having an article in the magazine next month and he wanted me to make an appearance for him since he’s out of town. What exactly brings you here?”
Lori scoffed at the memory of how she was tricked into coming. “Treachery. My roommate, the one in the pink dress, wants to get you in the article too. Something about hot billionaire brothers. I think she had the idea that since I work with you, I would help sway your opinion.”
“I do owe you a favor…”
“She is not on my list of people to please right now. She told me she was bringing me here to meet people and be social. Not get her where she wants to go.”
A knowing look crossed his face. “So this is about last night.”
“No. This is about me having fun.”
“And are you having fun?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.”
“Then do you want to get out of here?”
“Huh?” Did she hear that right?
“If you’re not having fun, why don’t you leave?”
“Okay, so maybe this is about last night,” she admitted. “If I leave, I’ll just end up going home, which defeats the entire purpose of going out. But if I stay, I have to deal with you.”
“Ouch.” He held a hand over his heart. “I didn’t realize I was that toxic.”
“You’re a criminal, okay? I don’t associate with criminals.”
“Hey, I’m doing it for my family, remember. That kind of makes me a martyr.”
“An arrogant criminal.”
He leaned in closer. “Why don’t we not mention that, okay?”
“Trust me, I don’t want to mention it. I’m just going to force myself to have fun and pretend you don’t exist.”
Michael moved to stand beside her as he gazed out at the other partygoers. “You’re going to have fun with these people?”
She tensed as his shoulder brushed hers. “What’s so wrong with that?”
“If I’m understanding this right, you know exactly two people here and you’re pissed at both of them.”
“I just have to walk up and say hi, right? Find some common interest? I hear it’s actually easy.”
Michael scoffed. “There’s nothing easy about it. That’s why Luke normally does these things and I stay in the comfort of the office.”
Lori frowned and looked him over. He hadn’t seemed introverted at all the few times she’d talked to him. “So you’re only here for Luke? It has nothing to do with all the beautiful women around?”
He raised a brow and glanced at her. “It might be what convinced me to come out. But if I wanted to be talking to one of them right now, I would be.”
A rush of heat shot through Lori at his words, and she inched away from him, unsure whether she was more disturbed by his words or her reaction to him. That’s what happened when she was starved for human interaction. Any pretty, rich, smart guy could walk off the street and make her swoon. Okay, so maybe Michael was the whole package except for that one teensy criminal thing, but that was definitely a deal-breaker. “What did I say about flirting?”
“Fine,” he conceded. “That one was on purpose, but can you blame me?”
Yes. She could blame him a lot. “Just…
go hit on a model or something.”
“I’m officially much more interested in you by now. Besides, I’m mad at the magazine.”
“Mad? What did they do?”
“They were using you to get to me.”
She snorted. “I think you used me first.”
“And by the laws of nature, that means I’m the only one allowed to use you.”
She jerked her gaze down and closed her eyes. She knew it wasn’t a sexual comment, but for some stupid reason, that was exactly where her mind went. “You’re a jerk,” she muttered, not sure whether she was talking more to him or her own dirty mind.
He chuckled. “Probably. But I’m probably your favorite person here, so…there’s that.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his unfortunately correct assumption. “You’re definitely a jerk.”
“So what are you going to do?” he asked.
“About what?”
“You going to stay and mingle? Run back home and keep doing what you’ve been doing? Or do you want to get out of here?”
Good grief, this was shaping up to be the strangest day of her life. “I’m not going out with you.”
“As friends, I swear. That way you get a chance to get out and actually enjoy yourself. I can convince you I’m not a complete tool. Win-win, right?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Michael held his breath as he waited for Lori to answer. This was a bad idea. Evelyn would probably kill him if she knew he was spending more time with her. But wouldn’t this be better? Instead of blindly hoping she wouldn’t mess everything up, he could keep an eye on her. Maybe even get her to like him enough so that she’d believe him when he told her he wasn’t the bad guy.
This newfound offer of friendship had nothing to do with the way her legs seemed endless in that short skirt or how damn sexy she was as she constantly chewed on her bottom lip.
“Just as friends?” she asked, as though she knew exactly what he was thinking.
Damn it. He had to get his mind out of the gutter. “My intentions are pure,” he promised. It was true. He didn’t intend to think about throwing her down on his bed, slowly stripping her panties down her legs, and sliding into her in one hard thrust.
But just because he didn’t intend to think it didn’t mean the thoughts weren’t there.
“Where would we even go?”
He shrugged. “Anywhere.”
The corner of her mouth turned up. “Anywhere? It’s a big city.”
“Hopefully somewhere I can use my money and power to impress you.” He had instant access at all of the most prestigious restaurants and clubs in the city. All she had to do was snap her fingers and he would get her anywhere.
“This isn’t some way to trick me into using my favor, is it?”
He held his hands up. “No favors used, promise. No matter what you ask, I’ll still owe you one after today.” She tightened her lips and he could tell she was about to say no, so he stopped her. “Why not? What could possibly make you rather spend the day with these strangers than me?”
She glanced around the room. “Well, for one, I still consider you a stranger. And two, I don’t think any of these people are likely to get me arrested.”
He shook his head. “Come on. You’re not going to get arrested for spending the day with me.”
“Maybe, but I still don’t like you.”
He clenched his jaw. Why did her low opinion of him bother him so much? It wasn’t as if he gave a damn what anyone else thought. “You really don’t know me.”
“I know enough.”
“Then maybe you should learn more.”
“There is one place I like to go.”
“Somewhere you’ve never been?” Helicopter ride over the city? Renting the entire top of the Empire State Building? All she had to do was say the word and he’d make it happen.
“No, I’ve been there a few times already. But it’s my favorite place in the city. The Natural History Museum.”
“The museum? Why?” Or rather, why with him?
She shrugged. “Hey, you said we could do whatever I wanted.”
“If you want it, you got it. Let me call my driver and he’ll be here in the next five minutes.”
She raised a brow. “Your driver?”
“Are you judging me?”
“No judgment here,” she said, even as a smile curled her lips. “If you’re too good for a regular old cab, that’s your problem.”
He laughed even as he dialed the number for his car company.
“I’m going to let Quinn know I’m bailing on her.”
“Will she be upset?” he asked as he waited for someone to answer his call.
“She’ll probably be ecstatic I’m leaving with you. I’ll be right back.”
He watched her move as he instructed the driver where to meet them. Even if this wasn’t her normal crowd, she seemed to fit right in. Her long black hair blew in the wind and his heart seemed to catch in his throat as she glanced over her shoulder at him.
Why the hell was he so attracted to her? It wasn’t as though she was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen, but she wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes either. And the features that had caught his attention last night were now highlighted on full display. Those crystal-blue eyes with such a unique color they almost looked fake. The perfect legs that were bare to the world. Not even stockings. If he moved his hand along her thigh, there would be bare skin against bare skin up to where her skirt flopped in the wind.
If she hit just the right updraft, he could see a hell of a lot more than leg…
She turned away from Quinn and walked back to him. He couldn’t help the predatory grin as she approached him. This was nothing like how he planned on this day going, but for once he was happy about things not going according to plan.
She held up her drink as she approached. “I’m just going to leave this unless you want it.”
Michael shook his head. He had a feeling that he’d want to be on high alert the entire time Lori was nearby. “You sure you don’t want to finish it?”
“Definitely.” She set it down on an empty table and led the way to the elevator.
Michael wasn’t normally the following sort, but he enjoyed hanging back a few feet to enjoy the sway of her hips. He held the door open for her and pretended to be the gentlemen as she moved inside.
“One of my secrets, and probably why I’m so boring to be around, is I can’t drink.”
He hit the down button at the elevator and eyed her skeptically. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t. I get sick before I ever get buzzed. Headache, nauseous, the whole nine yards.”
“Well, that sounds…depressing.” Considering a few of the boring as hell events he’d been to in the past few years, alcohol might be the only thing that got him through.
“It’s not that bad. I don’t exactly know what I’m missing. And I’ve tried. With mixed drinks, beer, vodka, whiskey. Believe me, I tried. But the last straw, no pun intended, was when I went drinking with Quinn a few months ago and got sick on people. Not a night I want to repeat.”
He grimaced. “Remind me not to get you drunk.”
The elevator hit the bottom level and Lori pressed her palm to her forehead. “I can’t believe I just told you that. I guess it’s a good thing this isn’t a date, right? The puking discussion normally isn’t first-date material.”
“Still better than talking about how you’re over your ex for an hour straight. Trust me.” The doors opened and Michael set a hand on her arm to lead her to where he’d told the driver to meet him. He half expected her to pull away, but she seemed willing to go with the flow.
“Oh no. Did that actually happen?”
“Yep. The last date I went on. She was so over him, she wouldn’t stop reminding me about it. It almost felt like I was a third wheel.”
They reached the door, and Lori pulled it open before he could do it for her. “That’s so strange. I’d think most women would be on
their best behavior with you.”
“I think you’re overestimating my appeal.”
“I doubt that,” she muttered as they reached the car.
The driver was already ready and opened the door for then. Michael motioned for her to enter first and he noticed her glance between her legs and the seat. With just a glance, he told the driver to go back to the driver’s side. “I won’t look,” he whispered behind her.
She glared at him. “This is why I wear jeans all the time, you know?”
“That’s a damn shame.” He set a hand on her waist without even thinking about it. Touching her just seemed so right. It was hard to imagine how he would keep the entire day platonic. Actually, screw that. She didn’t exactly push his hand off her. He’d noticed her gaze following him…the way she’d stared just a bit too long. No. His little obsession wasn’t one-sided.
So if he was attracted to her, and she was attracted to him, why the hell wouldn’t he touch her?
Then again, maybe she was unnerved by his touch, because it finally gave her the motivation to slide into the backseat, keeping her knees firmly together the entire time. “Not going to look, huh?” she called from the backseat once she was in.
He blinked and realized he’d been caught staring. Well, so much for gaining her trust. He followed her in and gave the driver directions for the museum. “That was also accidental.”
The car pulled away from the curb. Lori settled into the corner of the backseat and gave him a knowing look. “Hate to break it to you, but I’m wearing shorts under this dress. So you were out of luck either way.”
Way to crush all of his dreams with just one sentence. “I suppose I’ll have to control myself better then.”
“Mmmm-hmmm. I’m starting to think you don’t have much self-control.”
He had to stop himself from laughing at that one. “You have no idea. I thought everyone knew. I am the controlled one.”
“Lord have mercy on this city if you’re the good one. I can only imagine how bad Luke is.”
“Luke and Rourke. There’s two more of us.”
Touching The Boss (Billionaires In The City Book 5) Page 5