by Lynne Silver
A little later she, Amy, and Lisa sat outside under a wide, blue canvas umbrella sipping at delicious drinks. They were at a trendy hotel’s outside pool bar. The warm November air made the candles and torches lining the pool and tables dance and flicker. “I thought we were going to dinner,” Amy said.
Lisa gave her a disbelieving look. “It’s eight o’clock. I don’t think restaurants around here start serving dinner for another hour. Well, maybe if you’re a tourist. Are you sure you grew up here?”
“South Miami,” Amy muttered. “Whole different world.”
Cat’s stomach gave a rumble. The scraps of food she’d snacked on while moving were long digested. “I’m hungry, too. Can we order appetizers?”
“No,” Lisa said.
“No? But I’m starving.” Amy and Cat were about to mutiny.
“We don’t order them. We wait for someone to send them to us,” Lisa said.
Amy obviously had no idea what Lisa was talking about, but sure enough, five minutes later, the waiter paused in front of their table with a small plate filled with tiny bites of thinly sliced raw fish on a piece of toast. A man at the bar was pointed out as their benefactor, and Lisa smiled and waved, which he took as an invitation to saunter up and pull over a chair.
“Ladies. I’m Nico.”
He was very good looking if you went for the dark rico-suave look, which Lisa did, judging by the amount of cleavage she was allowing to spill out the top of her dress, as she leaned over to greet him. “Hi, Nico. I’m Lisa, and these are my friends, Amy and Catherine.”
“Un placer,” he said easily in Spanish, and then gave an infinitesimal head gesture to two other men at the bar who were at their table in seconds.
Cat scooted back from the table to make room and did her best to flirt with Nico, Juan, and David. Although all three were handsome, none got her engine revving the way she’d feel if it were Ian’s forearm brushing against hers.
The six of them sat around the pool area for an hour drinking and chatting until David asked what their dinner plans were. Cat was surprised when Lisa said they were meeting friends up the street at Okto, the hottest sushi bar in town.
“I…” But Lisa interrupted her before she could say they didn’t have a reservation and were never getting into Okto. Cat shut her mouth, confident in Lisa’s ability to work the situation. When numbers had been exchanged, Cat, Amy, and Lisa rose and left the men to find their next set of flirting victims.
“What’s wrong with the restaurant here?” Amy whispered in Cat’s ear as they walked through the cavernous lobby, minimally decorated with low leather benches and modern glass sculpture. “If I have another drink on my empty stomach, this night will end early.”
“We have to be seen around town,” Lisa said, overhearing Amy’s whisper. “We can’t stay here all night. Come on.”
Cat and Amy exchanged eye rolls and followed Lisa out to the valet stand where they waited a surprisingly short time for Lisa’s car, given the crowd pulling up to the hotel.
“So,” Lisa said, taking her eyes off the road to wave an excited hand at her passengers. “Do I do good work or what?”
Amy and Cat laughed. “Oh, Mistress of Free Drinks, you are my master,” Amy said.
“Told you,” Lisa said. “And now time to work on Cat.”
Cat stiffened in the back seat. “Work on Cat what? I’m good.”
“Nope. Good isn’t great. We’re getting you who you want.”
“Ian?” Amy asked.
“Yep,” Lisa said.
Cat was vigorously shaking her head, even though her so-called friends in the front seat didn’t see.
“Ooh,” Amy said. “How are we getting them together? What’s the plan?”
“Um, hello, you two. I can hear you back here,” Cat called to the front seat. “I told you, I don’t want Ian.”
“Bullshit,” Lisa said.
“Well, he doesn’t want me,” Cat said quietly.
At this point, they’d pulled up to their next destination and were waiting in the valet line to give over their car. Suddenly, Cat wanted to stay in the quiet, dark back seat and not go into the restaurant, even if it was reputed to have the best sushi in all of Florida. She could go to every trendy spot in Miami and get drinks brought to her by gorgeous men, but only one man mattered. Ian.
“Again, I call bullshit, but we’ll find out for sure tonight,” Lisa said.
“How?” Amy asked.
“Yeah, how?” Cat repeated.
“I may have texted a few people. Sent a few key photos of Cat at the bar tonight,” Lisa said. “They should’ve hit Ian’s phone by now, and we’ll see by his reaction where you stand.”
“You’re evil,” Amy said. “I love it.”
Cat released a little moan at the thought of Ian seeing photos of her flirting with other men at a bar. True, that erasing Ian from her emotions had been her entire plan for the evening, but when faced with reality, she found she didn’t want him hurt; if indeed he would hurt at evidence of her seeing other men. His behavior all week had been so confusing, she had no idea what his reaction would be to the photos.
Amy and Lisa exited the car and the valet slid into the driver’s seat, turning to give Cat a raised brow and a head nod at the open door next to her. No choice but to follow her friends, who were now teetering on the edge of the no-friend zone thanks to their meddling. “Do we have a reservation? I thought there was like a year waiting list to get a table,” she said, half hoping they’d be turned away and have to call it an early night. With a pit stop at a Chicken Stop for some chopped grilled chicken breast with their yellow rice.
“There is no chance anyone without a reservation is getting in,” Lisa answered. “Unless your college roommate is the hostess.”
Cat grinned as they entered the dark restaurant and Lisa was practically tackle hugged by a tall woman with stick-straight hair in a sheet down to her ass. Her hair was longer than the hem of her turquoise dress. And the heels…holy crap. Cat thought hers were hard to walk in, but this girl’s were like walking on stilts, and she had to be on her feet all night.
They waited about two minutes before being led to a table in the middle of the restaurant. There were no booths. This was a see-and-be-seen kind of place. If someone wanted privacy, they’d have to do a full-buyout of the restaurant like that rapper Nixie had done for his birthday. She was starving for any food, but sushi, especially quality sushi, sounded amazing. It was a treat she hadn’t been able to afford in a very long time. Even tonight she planned to only order one roll and hoped it’d tide her over until later.
They had just placed their order when Cat felt a presence behind her that had her looking up. Amy and Lisa had wide eyes as they looked to a point above Cat’s head. Amy’s hand squeezed Cat’s knee.
She turned around, and Ian stood behind her; he didn’t look happy. Her stomach gave a little quiver at his appearance. His pale green button-down, with the sleeves rolled up to show off his strong forearms, was the perfect color to highlight his strong jawline with the hint of beard.
“Get up,” he said with no other greeting.
Cat remained seated. “Excuse me? We just ordered. I’m not going anywhere.”
Ian jerked his chin to the side. “They’re making up a table for the four of us.” Even with a college roommate as the hostess, they’d only been able to score a table for two at which the three women were squeezed. There’d be no room for Ian if he wanted to join their party.
Cat looked around, and sure enough a table was being cleared, unhappy people were being moved, and it looked like the restaurant staff was preparing a table for four in a primo spot of the restaurant at which every other patron could see the occupants of the table.
Lisa kicked her under the table, and she got the message. A man in a suit, who was likely the manager, hurried over. “Mr. Lawrence, your table is ready.”
Ian didn’t verbally respond, but he smoothly shook the man’s hand and Cat had to
guess whether money exchanged hands, because it was too hard to tell. “Let’s go,” he ordered her, Amy, and Lisa.
Amy and Lisa had taken a step toward the new table, and Cat started to follow her, but Ian’s hand halted her. “You didn’t say hello,” he said, looking seriously down at her.
She blinked back at him. “Hello?”
A shadow of a smile passed across his lips. “You have a lot to learn.” Before she could question him, he bent his head and kissed her hard and deep on the lips. Her body started to melt into his, but he pulled away and guided her toward the table where Lisa and Amy waited.
It took a few seconds for the power of the kiss to wear off, but as soon as it did, Cat got pissed. Ian Lawrence had a lot to learn about women. How dare he march into a restaurant, interrupt her dinner with friends, force them to move tables, then kiss her like it was his right? Talk about mixed signals.
“Smile, baby. Or people are going to think you’re pissed,” Ian said, then easily picked up her drink to have a sip.
“I am pissed,” she hissed back.
He grimaced and set her drink down. “What the fuck are you drinking? It’s sweet.”
“Get your own drink.”
“Believe me I will. And you don’t get to be pissed. I’m the one that’s pissed.”
“You? Why?”
“What were you thinking going to the Delamer for drinks on a Friday?”
“I wasn’t aware it was illegal, or that I had to check in with you to get my plans approved.” Her heart pounded at sparring with him like this, but she had to hold her own. He was used to everyone jumping to do his bidding. Exhibit A, his little controlling maneuver in the restaurant tonight. He’d managed to move an already-eating party to get his desired table. No, Ian Lawrence, definitely needed someone to say no to him. He was like a spoiled child, except remove the child part. There was nothing childlike about him. He was all man.
Ian looked at Lisa. “I assume you were behind the plan.”
Lisa grinned at Ian. “I go to Delamer nearly every Friday. Why shouldn’t I take my friends with me?”
He scowled, unused to having not one, but two women not kowtowing to his wishes. He turned back to Cat. “Women drinking at the pool at Delamer, particularly on a weekend, is a neon sign that you want to be taken back to one of the hotel rooms.”
She glared at him, chin up. “So?”
“And letting strange men buy you appetizers, well, you might as well have kneeled at their feet under the table,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
Amy’s eyes widened, and for a minute Cat thought her new friend was going to burst into nervous giggles.
“That’s unfair,” Lisa said.
“I don’t give a shit. It’s true,” he said.
“What business is it of yours where I go or where I sleep? If you wanted my time on a non-work night, you should’ve asked,” Cat said.
“I’m asking now.” He looked calm. “Within five minutes of your arrival there, I got three calls and a text from so-called friends informing me that my new girlfriend was already stepping out on me.”
She swallowed, and then grabbed a big gulp of her too-sweet drink. She wouldn’t give Ian the satisfaction, but she agreed with his drink assessment. The sugar high was kicking her ass more than the alcohol content. “But I’m not your girlfriend. Why do they think we’re a couple?”
His eyes narrowed, and she forced herself to hold his gaze. “Because I danced with you and brought you to my table. Everyone thinks you are, and if you’re spotted hooking up with strange men two nights after we kiss at Skye, you make me look like a punk.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, and she meant it, but she’d be damned if she’d let public opinion dictate her actions.
“Anyway, that’s why I hauled my ass out of a meeting to meet my girl and her friends for dinner. So pretend to be happy to see me.”
She didn’t have to pretend. She squeezed his thigh under the table, at least as much as she could squeeze. The thing was like a rock of solid muscle. “I am happy to see you.” All of her earlier thoughts on moving on from Ian were revealed as lies she told herrself to deal with reality. Now that her reality included Ian, she was happy.
His dark look locked on her face. “You serious or are you playing with me?”
She licked her lips, then shook her head. “I’m not a tease, Ian. I think you made it clear what you want, and I’m on board. But I want to be wooed.” The quivering in her lower belly increased at the slow sexy smile that broke out on his face.
“Wooed?”
She nodded. “Every woman in Miami falls into your bed too easily. It’s gone to your head. If you want me, you have to prove it and prove that you can be trusted. In the future, if you want my time, I expect to be asked. In advance.”
For a long moment she held her breath and waited to see if her audacity would pay off, and she released it when he leaned in and his jaw scratched at her ear lobe. “Good decision, baby. You want wooing? You won’t know what hit you.”
She turned slightly to brush her lips against his, and for a moment the rest of the restaurant patrons melted away and there were only her and Ian. She had a feeling she was about to be wooed, Ian Lawrence style. God help her, it made her swoony.
Ian wasn’t going to romance her with roses and moonlit walks on the beach. He was going to order her around, dominate her, and use his body to seduce her until she succumbed. They hadn’t even gone on an official first date, and she was already officially wooed. She had to hide it from him.
He broke the moment when he murmured, “I think I really have to fire you this time.”
She jerked back in her seat. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I’m your boss.” He shrugged. “Don’t know what to do about that other than fire you.”
“You’ve never slept with one of your employees before?” Lisa asked daringly, admitting that she’d been unashamedly listening to their conversation.
Ian turned to her. “Yes, but they knew the game. They knew it was only sex.” He turned back to Cat. “But you’re different.” The smile playing around his lips seemed as if he was joking, but the look on his face told her he was deadly serious.
“How’s that?” she asked, thrilled inside that he acknowledged she wasn’t a notch on his bedpost.
“You’re the kind of girl men bring home to meet their mothers.”
“I’ve already met your mother,” she pointed out.
“Touché. But if this thing between us goes somewhere, I’m not comfortable being your boss. You want more of me, and hell, yeah, I want it too, but as long as I’m your boss, my conclusion is no. We can’t happen.”
She had no response. It took some mighty big balls to speak this openly in front of not only her, but her friends, too. Lisa and Amy looked shocked. Highly amused, but shocked. “Can we talk about this later?” She gave a pointed look at her girlfriends.
Ian continued on, ignoring her wish for privacy. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that,” he said, “but I want to start this thing clear and honest. No games. No bullshit, and no more going out for drinks and flirting with other men as long as people think we’re a couple. Got it?”
She turned to Amy and Lisa. “Can you excuse us a second?” She rose and strode to the back of the restaurant where there was a small dimly lit hallway leading to the bathroom. It wasn’t exactly private, but it was better than being on center stage. Without being asked, Ian had followed her here.
“Ian, you know I need the money. The job with you is more than I’ve ever made. Don’t ask me to choose.”
“It’s because of Danny, isn’t it?” he asked.
“What does my brother have to do with anything?”
“He steals your money and you still give him more money to pay off his dealers, hence you’re always broke and will never get ahead.”
Her spine stiffened. “That is not true.”
His brow rose, but he remained silent.
&
nbsp; Maybe it was a little true, but what was she supposed to do? Abandon her brother? “What I do with my money and for my brother is none of your business. Danny was your friend, and you’ve done nothing for him in years. You don’t get a say.” When he laid a palm on her cheek and bent slightly, she realized she was on her toes—not an easy task in stilettos—and had a finger in Ian’s face.
“Baby,” he said. “You’re right. I’m an asshole for saying anything about firing you.”
Mollified, she stepped back.
He grinned. “How about we go on a first date and then worry about the rest? Deal?”
She swallowed back her defensiveness about Danny and found a smile. “Deal. But as long as we’re laying our demands on the table, I’ve got one more.”
He met her gaze. “Shoot.” They both fell silent as they waited for another diner to scootch by them and enter the bathroom.
“If you decide you’re done, tell me. Don’t ghost out of my life again,” she said.
He winced, and then nodded. “Deal.”
She took a step to head back to the table, but he yanked her wrist and tugged her back. “We didn’t seal the deal.”
Before she could process his words, his lips were on hers and her spine hit the wall of the narrow corridor. He smelled like his aftershave and she tasted her sweet drink on his tongue. It was more potent on his mouth than in her glass. She could get drunk on one sip of Ian Lawrence.
His hips pressed against her belly, and she knew she’d be going home with him tonight. Seven years was too long to wait for another naked dance with him.
She brushed her fingers against the short hairs where his neck met his scalp and he groaned into her mouth. Distantly, she noted the person exit the bathroom and step behind Ian as if there weren’t a couple in a scorching embrace.
As one half of that couple, she didn’t care if the entire restaurant came marching through. She wanted more of Ian’s mouth and more of his tall, strong body pressed against hers. His burgeoning erection teased her, hinting at a gift she’d have to wait to unwrap.