“Stop being prudish.” Rita whispered, while she slid off her stool.
Lacey grabbed her hand over the bar, desperation filling her when she realized the other woman was leaving. She was scared of what she would do if she was left alone with him. “I am not prudish. I’m— I’m just not going to engage in frivolous, meaningless sex.”
“Why the hell not!?” The woman whispered to her. “Sounds like a damn good deal to me.” Rita winked at the bartender.
Lacey exhaled, annoyed with her friend. “Valentine’s Day is not about sex.” She pierced her lips together and made her way on the other side of the bar to face her friend.
“For you, this Valentine’s Day, it should be. He’s handsome, sexy, brooding, mysterious…”
“Rude, uncouth, cynical…”
“Dark, dangerous, and completely different from these tie-wearin’ junior partners that you usually go for. I think you’d be doing us all a favor if you just admit that you so want to suck his cock right now.” Lacey gasped and Rita let out a wicked laugh.
Lacey growled, smacking her friend with a flyer. “I can't stand you! You're not help—” The rest of the word caught in her throat when she felt his heavy presence behind her.
Rita scooped her drink off the counter. “I'm going to talk to this bartender.”
“I think the bartender's married.” Lacey whispered through clenched teeth.
Rita raised an eyebrow. “I don't see a ring. Look,” she said, leaning into Lacey’s ear. “He doesn’t have to be your future husband, you know. Just let him take some of the pressure off your damn shoulders for a few hours. You better get on him before one of these other thirsty females do.” She laughed, taking a sip of her drink and sauntering away.
After a moment, Lacey chanced a glance over her shoulder. The man was leaning casually on the bar, his attention facing forward. She turned to face toward the bar too but kept looking at him periodically out the side of her eye.
She pressed her hand over her stomach to still the wild butterflies inside.
His low, heavy voice cut through the chaotic murmur of the space around them. “Drink?”
|6| NO FUCKIN’ CUPID |:|
Lacey felt him looking at her. She’d come to the conclusion that there were no casual glances with this man. His nearness was palpable, weighted as if her entire being wanted to be connected with his.
“No, thank you.”
“Can’t hear you.” He leaned toward her, making her look at his face.
She took a breath. “No, thank you. I don’t want a drink.” She found those dark bottomless eyes gazing upon her steady, casual. It made her upset that he appeared so calm, unaffected. Was she the only fool losing all sense of reality here?
He flagged the bartender and ordered his drink.
She glanced over at him and frowned when she saw the red mark on his face from where she hit him earlier. Guilt took her.
She cleared her throat and leaned a little closer to him so he could hear her over the noise. She was only going to do this one time. “I’m sorry.”
He adjusted his lean on the counter opening up toward her. She felt the shift in energy.
“For what?”
She looked him in the eyes. “For hitting you. I shouldn’t have done that.” Releasing the guilt felt good as she looked down at the polished wooden bar.
“There’s a way you can make it alright.” She heard the mischief in the low reverberations of his voice.
“Keep dreaming, Sinn.”
He laughed and his attention fell to the glass of liquid placed in front of him.
His attention shifted, and the silence made her look over her shoulder with curious eyebrows. “What are you looking at?”
He nodded but said nothing. She turned away from him to look out at the crowd.
“You see the guy in the maroon sweater vest talking to the chick in the hot pink dress?”
She looked around for a moment but didn’t see who he was talking about. She gasped when she felt his hand slide around her waist and maneuver her where he wanted her. She had to focus on breathing or she would stop. “Right past the couple in the white.” He said in her ear.
She nodded. Her body was stiff, on the outside anyway. She could feel the heat pouring off him. He was so close behind her. His scent, a heavy masculine musk, laced with soap and cologne wrapped around her. She swallowed the saliva that had collected in her mouth. He had to know he was driving her mad.
“He’s trying to get her to like him.”
Lacey made a grumbling sound and glanced back at him over her shoulder. He gazed down at her mouth, which prompted her to look at his too. “You should take a clue.” She said looking away from him.
She moaned when he pulled her back toward him. Her butt settled in against the front of his pants. He moved some of her hair away from her ear with his face and spoke. “He’ll never succeed.”
“You don’t know that,” she said with a breathy whisper.
“Look at her body language. She’s not interested, and he knows that, which is why he’s trying harder. She’ll stay until she finds a viable way out.”
“Looks like two people just trying to get to know each other. Most people are genuinely looking for—” She gasped when the palm of his hand ventured lower down her front.
“Wrong.” He said matter-of-factly. “Most people, most guys, are genuinely looking for some ass.”
“I don’t believe that.” She looked at the couple. It was safer than keeping her focus on him. “You should help him.”
“What?”
“If you don’t think he will win her over, then help him.”
He frowned down at her. “I’m not a fucking cupid. This silver spoon munching dick bag needs to earn his own keep.”
She turned in his hold receiving a brief startled look from him. His arms flexed a little pressing the two of them closer together. “Help him and I’ll agree to your proposition.”
He looked down at her for a long time but she couldn’t tell what was going on behind those impossibly dark eyes.
He released her abruptly, tossed back his drink and walked away wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. She watched in panicked silence as he made his way through the crowd toward the couple.
“Lacey? Hey Lacey. Oh, there you are.” Daria rushed up to Lacey and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the bar.
Lacey resisted trying to watch what was about to happen. She gasped when Devlin grabbed the pink dress woman’s butt. The guy in the maroon vest pulled her behind him and approached Devlin with anger on his face. Lacey couldn’t make out the conversation with the distance and the noise but she could tell the man was shooing Devlin away. Lacey held her breath afraid her dark guest would hit the man and start some chaos, but he just backed away instead with a smirk.
“Lacey!”
“What? What is it?”
“Claire is here, and she wants a short interview with you. I put her in the office away from the noise.”
“Interview? I-I—”
“It’s okay. Just a few simple questions, an opportunity to talk briefly about the event.”
The event? Oh, yeah. Her event. Her mind was not focused. She didn’t want to look like a babbling fool in front of Claire.
“Yeah, okay.” She gathered her thoughts and her wits and walked through the office door Daria was holding open. She offered a hand to the blonde woman waiting for her, standing in a simple black dress and holding her phone up. “You must be Claire. I’ve heard so much about your segment in the magazine. Honestly, I’m a lurker myself.”
The woman giggled. “That’s refreshing, considering you’re in my target demographic.”
Lacey frowned, taking a seat and gesturing to Claire to do the same. “I am?”
“Of course. A successful professional woman in her prime!”
Lacey smiled. That was a smooth way of saying old, single, boring woman.
“Ever since last year, hearing such w
onderful things about your Valentine’s Day singles’ event, I couldn’t wait to interview you. Similar to the past couple years, it’s packed, filled to the gills with smiling, laughing faces. The live music is a good touch. How do you plan such a successful event?”
Lacey took a deep breath and looked to the ceiling for help. “I suppose I’m a planner at heart. I like things to be a certain way; so, I manage it relentlessly until I get just that. That’s the nuts and bolts. As far as the turn out, well, I can hardly take credit for that. Word of mouth is my silent partner.” Lacey smiled hoping the woman would get her joke.
Her laugh made Lacey nod and look down at her hands.
“Would you consider yourself a true New Yorker?” Claire wanted to know.
She shrugged. “I would agree that the Big Apple gave me a little grit and assertion, which is necessary for a woman to get what she wants.”
“Understood. Then the final question is: what will happen to your event once you find that lucky guy?”
“Oh, I will always host it. Just because my heart finds solace, doesn’t mean I get to turn my back on all the others still on the search.” There was a part of her that felt she might be the cat lady, and never find someone. She knew it was just fear, but most fear was grounded in something.
“Very well said. Thank you so much for inviting me out and spending a couple of minutes with me.”
“Yes, of course. Please take some time to enjoy yourself.” They shook hands and Lacey was out in the bullpen again. It was packed, thick with people, and the night had only begun.
After spending an obnoxious amount of time acting like she didn’t know precisely where the damn man had been every moment of the evening, she spotted Devlin standing at one of the bistro tables talking to a pretty blonde woman. What was this, blonde number five hundred sixty-seven?
She closed her eyes and turned away from the crowd to gather her rational mind. What was her problem? She was starting to question whether she knew herself at all. The Lacey she thought she had known for, well, her entire life, would have forgotten about Devlin Sinn right after she slapped him across the face for his despicable proposition.
This unknown Lacey who felt foreign, yet, so familiar was intoxicated by the flurry inside her stomach at the thought of this creature touching her. She was aroused by the blatantly honest, raw, crude nature of his proposal.
The deal she made for him to help the guy in the maroon vest win over the woman in the pink dress, was that for them? Or, was that for her? Was there something in her that knew he’d have the balls to follow through with it. Was she secretly hoping he’d end up in her bed, trapped between her thighs, with his resounding moans in her ear? For some reason it brought out her primal instincts, instincts she hadn’t even known were there.
She pulled her eyebrows together, adjusting a flower bouquet. She couldn't explain why the thought of Devlin Sinn making his indecent proposal to another woman irritated her. That's what he was good at, seemed born to do: irritate her.
She smiled and nodded at a woman who had been coming to her event ever since she had started hosting it on Valentine’s Day five years before.
The damn man was impossible! Even considering his offer was insane, but Lacey couldn't get it off her mind. Hooking up after one too many drinks was one thing, but making the conscious, sober decision to take a stranger, a tall dark and sexy stranger who screamed bad, home?
He was a man who shouted: I am not boyfriend material, don't you dare bring me home to meet your mother. If you don’t, however, put too many expectations on me, I will make your toes curl. I will make you forget who you are for one night. When you're with me there is only this one night.
She spotted Devlin doing the Devil's work on an unsuspecting blonde in a tight blue dress that hugged her every curve. He found Lacey's eyes while he whispered something into the woman's ear. A smirk pulled the corners of his lips, those dark eyes a black hole that Lacey had been sucked into. She wasn't sure when she told her body to go to him, but the next thing she knew she was tapping the woman on the shoulder.
|7| AN EXCHANGE OF SORTS |:|
Devlin cringed.
Fucking Valentine’s Day. Why the hell did everything have to be hearts and reds and pinks and shit? It was trying too goddamn hard, but women loved this shit. So, it worked for him.
He made his way back to his favorite little vantage point near the back of the crowd from the bar scaring off two corny accountant types from his spot. He glared down at them and they scurried off in a hurry.
He hadn’t seen his sexy little hostess since he did the vest wearing pussy guy a solid. His sexy little hostess might be avoiding him, but he hadn’t given up just yet. He knew he was wearing her down, even if she didn’t know it yet. If he got one more face-to-face with her, he knew she would finally give in to her own curiosity.
“Hey there, handsome.”
He looked at his forearm first when he felt the woman’s light touch, before he met her light brown eyes. They weren’t quite as magnificent as the fiery hostess’s, but were still pretty. She had long blonde waves cascading down the back of a baby-blue knee-length dress that hugged her like a glove. Bright pink stilettos graced her slender feet.
“Hey.”
She smiled up at him, her eyes glistening while she took him in. “You are fucking gorgeous. Thank God you look out of place here.” She looked around at the rather dense crowd. “All the right guys saying all the wrong things,” she mumbled.
He smirked, finding her interesting. “What should they be saying?”
She met his eyes and held them. “If they were smart? Nothing.”
He liked her already. If his gorgeous hostess was going to stay a prude, he wanted options.
“Agreed.”
The woman leaned into him, reached over the table to retrieve a pencil and paper, jotted her number on it and tucked it in his pocket, making sure to fondle him a bit too.
Straightforward he could do. She was high on the fucking list.
Devlin and the blonde brought their attention behind them when she was tapped on the shoulder. He smiled when he found irate brown eyes glaring at him like he was a coffee stain on a white tablecloth.
The blonde woman huffed, bringing his attention to her by running her hand down the front of his pants. Then she walked away.
The pretty hostess rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest. “And here I thought I was special.”
“You were my first choice, but I'm willing to settle.” He watched her flushed cheeks and jittery hands as they straightened piles of paper and put the pencils back in the little clear container on the table.
The corner of her mouth lifted when she stood upright again. “Let me guess what you said to her.” She cleared her throat. “Hey, baby. So, I heard blondes have more fun. You wanna hook up in the bathroom?”
He laughed and looked down at his boots. “Looks like you missed your calling. You should pick up chicks.”
“Who said I don’t?”
His eyebrow raised. Interesting . “I wouldn’t mind being a fly on that wall.” He knew she was being difficult, probably, because she knew she could be, but there was no secret wish that escaped the Devil’s ears. Besides, he didn’t know she had a sense of humor.
She stood up straight. “What are you doing here?”
“Some people like honesty.”
She crossed her arms and raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Honesty? This is a Valentine’s day event and you don’t even believe in Valentine’s Day.”
“‘Course I do.” He said, watching her reaction. “I believe that Valentine’s Day is the most lucrative fucking scam on the market. But hell, what better way to meet women that have already drank the Kool-Aid.”
She frowned and looked away from him as if she were bored with the conversation. “Your cynicism is so predictable.”
“Then why do you keep coming back, Lacey?”
She looked at him, shock evident on her pretty fa
ce, but she recovered quickly. She smirked, crossed her arms over her chest, and straightened up. “If someone doesn’t keep an eye on you, you’ll stir up even more trouble.”
Excuses . He smiled inside. Whatever she needed to tell herself. “By all means, keep both eyes on me.” The corner of his mouth lifted as he imagined her keeping two hands, both of those shapely legs, and her pair of pretty lips on him, wrapped up and pressed against him.
She laughed a little bit.
“What amuses you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “You.”
“What about me?”
She nodded, letting the noises around them fill the gap. “You know what I think?”
No , but she was about to tell him, and in the process let on more than she’d planned. He crossed his arms nonchalantly waiting for her to overshare. “Enlighten me.”
“I think you’re afraid of love, Devlin Sinn.”
He laughed inside because he had figured her ass out already. A doe-eyed believer. Probably reads those sappy ass love stories too.
Perfect. Ripe for the pickin’ .
He shrugged. “You hide behind it like it's some damn prince on a white horse. It’s fucking bullshit.”
“Hide?!” she snapped.
His chest buoyed at her sudden rage. He wasn’t sure why, but he loved seeing her feather’s ruffled. Her nostrils flared as her brown eyes focused in on him. “I've no reason to hide.”
“Sure you do.” He gestured around them. “Everything planned down to the ‘T’. Every doily, every ribbon, every streamer precisely in place. You're afraid of being out of control.”
She crossed her arms. “Now that’s bullshit! I see what you’re doing trying to turn this all on me.”
He kept calm. “You covet love, true. But it's more appealing from far away.” He picked up a doily and turned it around in his fingers.
She frowned, glaring at him. “I don't like you, Devlin Sinn.”
He laughed, this time out loud. “I'm not asking you to like me.” He held onto her eyes.
Lacey's Night of Sinn Page 3