Copyright © 2020 by Laurelin Paige

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Contents

Foreword

Foreword

Also by Laurelin Paige

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Let’s stay in touch!

About Laurelin Paige

Dear Reader,

I’m excited to introduce you to my new world, the world of the Sebastians - a wealthy, powerful family with so many opportunities for angsty billionaire love stories. I hope to bring you more from them in the future, and this is the beginning.

This free novella is actually the first section of Man in Charge, book one in the Man in Charge Duet. Enjoy it and your first taste of Scott and Tess and the Sebastians.

The Sebastians own this city. Hell, they own the whole world. All I want is one little piece of it, a corner that I can call my own. 

Be sure to sign up for my newsletter to get FREE books from bestselling authors and up-to-date information on my latest releases.

xoxo,

Laurelin

* * *

Foreword

DID YOU KNOW…

This book is available in both paperback and audiobook editions at all major online retailers! Links are on my website.

If you’d like to order a signed paperback, my online store is open several times a year here.

Also by Laurelin Paige

Visit my website for a more detailed reading order.

Man in Charge Duet

Man in Charge

Man in Love

* * *

The Dirty Universe

Dirty Filthy Rich Boys - READ FREE

Dirty Duet: Dirty Filthy Rich Men | Dirty Filthy Rich Love

Dirty Games Duet: Dirty Sexy Player | Dirty Sexy Games

Dirty Sweet Duet: Sweet Liar | Sweet Fate

Dirty Filthy Fix (a spinoff novella)

Dirty Wild Trilogy: Wild Rebel Coming 2021

* * *

The Fixed Universe

Fixed Series: Fixed on You | Found in You | Forever with You | Hudson | Fixed Forever

Found Duet: Free Me | Find Me

Chandler (a spinoff novel)

Falling Under You (a spinoff novella)

Dirty Filthy Fix (a spinoff novella)

Slay Series: Rivalry | Ruin | Revenge | Rising

The Open Door (a spinoff novella)

Slash (a Slay spinoff novella)

* * *

First and Last

First Touch | Last Kiss

* * *

Hollywood Standalones

One More Time

Close

Sex Symbol

Star Struck

* * *

Written with Sierra Simone

Porn Star | Hot Cop

* * *

Written with Kayti McGee under the name Laurelin McGee

Miss Match | Love Struck | MisTaken | Holiday for Hire

One

I was holding my phone up, looking for a signal when I heard it. A soft mewling. The kind of sound a kitten makes when it’s in trouble.

Perking my ears, I scanned my surroundings. Behind me, four metal silo-shaped structures huddled together. Below me, the crowded rooftop bar pulsed with high energy. In front of me, the Empire State glowed prominently in rainbow colors (in honor of the LGBTQ rally happening that weekend), but the abundance of flashing club lights from the venue made the famous tourist site pale in comparison. It was loud too, which was part of the reason I’d snuck up the steel staircase to the building’s highest level, wanting to make a phone call. The other reason being that I had yet to get more than one bar to show on my screen.

The mewling, I determined, had to be coming from the silos, whatever they were. I imagined they housed mechanical items for the building—electrical, air conditioning, whatnot. Some top-notch architect had for some reason decided that bronzed cylindrical towers with tops that looked like Asian rice hats was the best way to pretty up the industrial equipment. Seriously, trendy New York City design style was beyond my grasp. They were weird, as far as I was concerned.

And they were also on the top of a building with sixty stories so the likelihood that I’d heard a lost cat was relatively slim.

The sound had stopped, anyway. It had probably been just a squeak of a generator or I’d imagined it. I went back to my phone. Two bars now when I faced this direction. I climbed the remaining three steps to the official top level. Three bars! That would work.

Except, now I heard the cat again.

Twice more. It definitely wasn’t mechanical. I lowered my phone and crept cautiously around one of the silos. If it wasn’t a cat—which it couldn’t be this high up, right?—then what was it? Did rats make those noises?

I cringed at the possibility. There was honestly no reason to look for the source.

But what if it was a cat? Maybe the hipster bar kept one up here to take care of the mice. It wasn’t the most ridiculous idea, and my curiosity was piqued, so against my better instincts, I continued around the curve of the second silo.

Then I froze.

It wasn’t an animal making those noises—it was a woman. She was about fifteen feet away, her back pressed against the brick wall that framed a smokestack on the other side of the silos. Her eyes were closed, her cocktail dress gathered up around her waist, and the sounds she was making were whimpers of pleasure, not distress. Probably due to the man standing in front of her. More specifically, his hand working between her legs.

And, wow, he was really working it if the expression on her face was any indication.

Quickly and quietly, I scuttled back around the silo and let out a slow breath. I didn’t know if I should laugh or...well. What other reaction should I have? Certainly the instantaneous buzz of arousal between my thighs wasn’t appropriate.

So laugh it was. A silent laugh, so as not to disturb the “lovers.”

When the impulse at humor had passed, though, the buzz was still there. It had been way too long since I’d gotten laid. My last real relationship had ended the previous summer, then there’d been that one rebound hookup over the Halloween weekend, and since it was currently early September... Oh my God, it had almost been a year. No wonder I was so intrigued by the rando couple getting it on in a dark corner of a rooftop shindig.

The vicarious stimulation was too alluring. Softly, I tiptoed back around the silo, my body pressed against the edifice so I could just...peek.

Whoa. The sight was just as sultry the second time as it had been the first. More so now, when the woman’s hips bucked up against his hand. It was downright filthy, the way he held her arms over her head, the way they didn’t kiss, the only points of contact between them at her wrists and the place between her legs.

The next time she moaned, I almost moaned with her.

I made a note to self—apparently you think voyeurism is hella hot.

So hot that I’d forgotten all about why I’d come up here in the first place. So hot that my own pussy throbbed. So hot that I didn’t think to slip back into hiding when she let out a final gasp and shuddered out her orgasm.

It was obviously when I should have left. Okay, I should have left earlier, but since I hadn’t, this was the time. Yet, I stayed, entranced by the nonchalant attitude of her man as he pulled a hankie from inside his tux jacket and wiped off his hand before tucking it back into his pocket. Didn’t even offer it to her.

It was evident the woman noticed. She scowled as she adjusted her dress, but her smile quickly returned. Throwing her brown tresses over her shoulder—dark but not as dark as mine—she sidled up to him, her hand lowering toward his crotch.

“Come on, Eden. You’re finished.” While I couldn’t make out everything from my vantage point, I could clearly see him move her hand off of him.

“But you’re not,” she purred.

He stared at her for several seconds. I wished he was facing me so I could see his expression. It was so hard to spy on people who weren’t cooperative.

“I’m not interested,” he said finally. A dismissal, clear as day. I could tell that without having to see his face. “Only reason I got you off was so that you’d leave me alone.”

Ouch.

This guy was a real asshole.

Or was he? He had given her what seemed to be an extremely proficient orgasm before blowing her off. Of course I couldn’t know enough to make the judgment from what I’d seen. But it was hard not to imagine details of the scenario as I stood by figuratively eating popcorn, and in my imagination, the guy was both fantastic at the sex and at the assholing.

The traits seemed to come in pairs from my experience.

Eden harrumphed, but she seemed to know when she was defeated. “Your loss. You know I treat you good.”

“Yes, I do know. That’s the problem.”

Oh, yes, definitely a prick. The kind of guy who needed strange. The kind of guy who only messed with a girl once and moved on. Considering that the entire bar had been rented for an elite event, the one roaring on below us, I had this guy totally pegged. Rich. Entitled. Playboy. Eden would do best to walk away.

Her smile fell away, and she straightened her spine, her eyes throwing daggers. “You’re an asshole.”

My word exactly, Eden.

Playboy shrugged. “I warned you.”

“You warned me knowing that by doing so you would come off as exactly the opposite. You know what? You deserve your misery.”

She looked about to leave, which was my cue to skedaddle, but I hesitated when he reached out and grabbed her arm. “Eden, wait.”

Her face softened with relief. Like she’d been hoping he’d stop her. I knew that hope. I was pretty sure Eden knew what she was in for when she’d gotten involved with this bastard, but still. It was hard not to empathize.

He let go of her arm and reached out to touch her face. Just when I thought playboy might not be so bad after all, he said, “Clean up before you go down there. Your mascara is smudged.”

Eden jerked away, and with no further words, she stormed off.

Stormed toward me, actually.

Fuck.

I scurried around the silo, far enough around that she wouldn’t see me as she descended the stairs, but not so far that the asshole would see me on the other side. Then I waited, listening for his footsteps so I’d know when it was safe to come out of hiding.

The asshole had a real quiet step, apparently, because I didn’t hear squat. So I counted. To two hundred to be sure enough time had passed. It was a long two hundred, too, because I lost count a couple of times when an image of the sexy scene I’d walked into jumped into my head.

I was definitely adding get laid to my to-do list. This was ridiculous.

Finally, I poked my head around the silo to where I’d last seen him standing.

No one was there. I took a few more steps to be sure. He was nowhere in front of me. I sighed with relief.

“Looking for someone?”

I jumped at the voice behind me. Whirling around, I saw him standing in the shadows where I’d been just a few seconds before.

There was no way he’d known I was there. He couldn’t have. He definitely couldn’t have known I’d watched him. Quickly coming to that conclusion, I played innocent. “I thought I heard an animal. A cat in trouble. I was just looking around.”

Awesome, Tess. That didn’t sound super defensive at all.

“A cat. On a rooftop this high.” He was rightly incredulous.

“It was odd to me too. Hence why I was looking.”

“Huh.”

I was sweating with nervousness. I hadn’t forgotten that I was at this event under false pretenses, and though there was no reason for this guy to question that right now, the fact put me on guard.

And not necessarily on guard in a good way. Because I should have stuck to my story—it was a true story, after all—and been on my way. He was still lingering in the shadows, his face cloaked in the dark. It wasn’t like he was trying to stop me.

But there was a challenge behind that single syllable, an unspoken dare and anyone who knew me knew I wasn’t the type to walk away when the gauntlet was thrown.

I took a step toward him. “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t believe me?”

He shrugged, the same couldn’t care less shrug he’d given Eden. “I just meant huh.”

“Oh.” Maybe I’d imagined the dare. This whole adventure was a mistake. Why did I think I could pull this off without freaking out? I might be the kind of person who stood up to a challenge, but I wasn’t an idiot, and coming to this party tonight had been crazy idiotic. And now I was making up drama where there wasn’t any. “Okay, then,” I said, turning away from the mystery man.

The same way he’d reached out with his hand to stop Eden, he reached out with his voice to stop me. “See, I think you did come looking because you heard something. Then you found something else. And instead of walking away...you stayed.”

I pivoted back toward him. “I didn’t—” I cut off abruptly. He’d stepped out of the shadows, and now, for the first time, I saw his face.

And it was stunning.

Take-your-breath-away stunning.

Panty-melting stunning.

No wonder Eden had been gah gah over him. Everyday men didn’t look like that. He was cover-model material. Pressed to describe him in words, I wouldn’t have been able to explain what about him was so attractive. It was the whole package. The way his features knit together. His high cheekbones. The chiseled jaw evident under a well-trimmed beard, some shade of brown. His inset eyes—it was too dark to grasp their color, but the placement was perfection. And while it hid a lot from the backside, the tailored tux he wore showed enough from the front to see that he was very well-defined. Like, the kind of defined that not only owns a home gym but also spends time in it.

I’d been so surprised by him, so unprepared, that the words stumbled out before I had a chance to rein them in. “Oh, wow, you’re hot.”

Heat rushed up my neck into my face. My olive skin didn’t show blush too easily, but the blood still ran upward when I embarrassed myself. And this was super embarrassing. Too embarrassing to even figure out how to fix.

While I was kicking myself and dying of shame, he swept in, smooth as a cucumber. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

And now he was hitting on me.

After he’d just gotten off another woman. I’d pegged him accurately, that was sure. Player with a capital P.

I laughed, half nerves, half incredulity. “That’s not. No. We’re not. Uh-uh. Thanks, I’ll just be leaving now.”

I was too flustered to get all the way turned around this time before he halted me once again. “No, wait. I apologize. I didn’t mean to come on strong. You said it first, so I took that as an invitation.”

I considered for a beat before I responded—something I knew I should do more often. Okay, right. I had decided he was a playboy, but I didn’t necessarily have proof. I had been the one who’d verbally vomited on a total stranger. I was definitely the one out of line.

“I did do that,” I admitted. “I’m sorry. It just came out.”

“No need to be sorry.” His smile was like gold the way it gleamed. Hypnotic. He could convince a lot of women to do a lot of stupid things by flashing that beauty.

I hoped “a lot of women” didn’t include me. But I was also realistic, so I was on high alert that it probably did.

And yet I was still standing there.

“Add that to the fact that you did stay through what you found up here.” He was determined to make me admit to what I’d seen. It was a guess. He was feeling me out.

Really, though, was there a reason to deny it? I was more curious where he was taking this conversation so I merely said, “And?”

“And that combined with your comment on my appearance gave me a different impression of where this interaction might be going.” He prowled toward me. Literally. Prowled.

It was ridiculous how sexy a man could look just taking a handful of steps.

Even more ridiculous was how affected I was by it.

And, oh my God, it had taken me a beat, but had he really just said that?

“Please,” I said groaning in irritation that was meant for me as much as it was for him. “Because I accidentally walked in on your little sexcapade, you think that means I must want a sexcapade of my own?”

“No, of course not.” That nonchalant shrug again. “It’s the fact that you watched.”

Another rush of blood to my cheeks. His back had been to me the entire time. Eden hadn’t even seen me, and she’d been the one facing me. Was I wrong? Was there something reflective I’d missed on that brick wall. I swiveled to study where he’d been standing. I looked back to where I’d been standing.

Nope. No way. He hadn’t seen me. I turned back to him with a gloating smile. “You couldn’t know that.”

Then it was his turn to gloat, because of course I’d just given away that I had indeed watched. “I was determining consent,” I said on impulse.

“Looking out for your fellow woman.”

“Exactly.” I felt noble about the lie. As though I’d really been a hero instead of a peeping Tom, only concerned with whether or not Eden was being raped.

His smirk called bullshit, but he played along. “I hope you came to the conclusion that there was indeed consent.”

“On her part anyway.” I might have thought it was a dig when I first said it, but after the fact, even I knew it sounded like I was flirting.

Fuck. Maybe I was.

His expression seemed equally unsure. “I wasn’t forced into anything. But yes, you’re right. She didn’t have my full attention. You, on the other hand, do.” Unsure or not, he was awfully brave.

I had a thing for stupid-hot brave players.

And fooling around with one was definitely not on the night’s agenda. I had to step away. “Okay, that’s fine,” I said, my head all jumbled and dazed. “Yep. I’m just. Thanks but no thanks. I just came up here to make a call and yeah. I’m going to go do that now.” I had the sense to leave then. Even more sense to call over my shoulder, “Please don’t follow me.”

All right, maybe it wasn’t sense that had me taking that last peek in his direction. I wanted to know if he was watching me walk away.

Call me an idiot because I was pleased to find he was.

Two

Teyana answered on the first ring. “Tell me everything.”

My head was still caught back in the silos with the irritating and irritatingly hot stranger. I probably should have waited for my temperature to cool before making my call, but I’d been eager to get on the phone so I’d look like I was doing something if he did happen to follow after me.

But he hadn’t followed, and now I was stuck having to try to word.

I let out a sigh-groan. “Everything would be better if you were here,” I said, which was the truth, but not something I would have said with such whine if I’d had my senses about me. Immediately, I tried to smooth it over. “I mean, I know it wouldn’t be better for you, but it would be better for me, and I’m not trying to make you feel bad, I just like being with my friend.”

Ugh, I was shitty. Worrying about my feelings and how sucky it was to have to be without her instead of focusing on the fact that she was actually physically suffering. I usually had a better grasp on the ways to be a good friend to someone with a chronic debilitating condition, but every now and then I failed big time.

“I’m sorry,” I added, wishing I’d said that first.

“Hey, don’t do that.” As she was often wont to do, Tey slipped into the role of comforter. “I am well aware that my flare-ups are not just inconvenient for me.”

“But that’s the thing—they are only inconvenient for me. For you, they’re so much more.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “They’re craptastic. I really do wish I was there with you instead.”

That had been the original plan, for both of us to come together. Actually, when I’d seen the invite in my boss’s mail, my plan had been to toss it in the trash and think no more about it, but Tey had grabbed it from my hands, her eyes bright with an idea.

“The invitation is for Kendra,” I’d pointed out.

“They aren’t going to ID people at the door. It says to bring the card for entry. This is all we need to get in.”

“I wouldn’t have anything to wear.”

“You’re house-sitting for a woman who has the largest selection of clothes outside Fifth Avenue. I bet some of her gowns still have the tags on them.”

I’d considered it then. Kendra had loaned me and Teyana clothes a million times before. Ever since the three of us met and became friends when we were pursuing our master’s at Georgetown. Though we weren’t quite as close as we’d been then—becoming her employee after graduation had changed the dynamics of our relationship—she would likely still have let me borrow something if she’d been in town.

Of course, if she’d been in town, I wouldn’t have been perusing her mail and wouldn’t have known about the party in the first place.

Tey must have realized my acquiescence was flickering. “Come on, Tess. When in our lives are we going to get to go to a party hosted by the Sebastians?”

The Sebastians were American royalty. With their money divested in everything from steel and oil to media and tech, they practically owned the city. Their name was on as many buildings as the Rockefellers, including the Sebastian Center—the headquarters for most of their businesses in New York.

A party hosted by the fabulously rich was definitely tempting.

“Kendra wouldn’t take us if she was here,” Tey pressed on. “This is once in a lifetime!”

And because she’d been right about that, and because I’d been feeling more than a little bitter toward Kendra as of late, I said yes.

But then Teyana had a flare-up that had sent her to bed in the fetal position. I’d only agreed to still come so she could live vicariously through me. I’d been friends with her long enough to learn that sometimes the only thing I could do for her illness was live my own life to its fullest. In a lot of ways, Teyana being sick had pushed me further than I would have gone on my own.

That fact only made me feel guiltier.

“How are you feeling?” I asked now.

“Dizzy, and it feels like someone is repeatedly stabbing a long serrated knife between my ribs, but mostly I’m bored. Please un-bore me and tell me about the party.”

“Well.” Honestly, I’d barely been at the party at all. I’d strolled from one side of the rooftop to the other, snagged a few exotic appetizers from trays as they passed by, and then snuck up the roped-off staircase to try to call her.

But that rendition of my evening wasn’t going to un-bore her, so I tried to fluff it up. “Everyone’s dressed up, of course. Everything designer. I actually feel dressed down and I’m wearing Dolce and Gabbana.”

“I saw the pic you sent. You fit in, trust me.”

I looked down at the pink skirt of tulle. “I look like a ballerina.”

“You look prima and hot as fuck. End of subject. What else?”

“The music is club style. I thought it was going to be all classics and Frank Sinatra but they have a mean beat going. I saw a couple of gray-hairs cutting it up on the dance floor, and I was actually impressed.”

“I’m snoring here, Tess. Were you cutting it up on the dance floor with them? That’s what I want to hear.”

Of course I hadn’t been dancing. That was Teyana’s scene. I could have fun too, but I was more often the girl with her hand raised at the front of the classroom. It was why we worked so well as friends, and why I liked parties better with her at my side. It really wasn’t fair that she was the one of us who was sick when she was so outgoing, and I was so not.

I wasn’t going to go down the guilt-trip road again, though. What else could I tell her? The sex scene I’d witnessed, but I wasn’t going to give her the good stuff first thing. “I didn’t dance, but I ate! The food’s really good, too. And weird. I couldn’t name half of what I’ve put in my mouth.”

“I’d appreciate that last sentence more if you weren’t talking about food,” she teased.

Okay, maybe it was time to bring out the filth. “Oh, I did watch a woman get finger-banged by a hot player in a fitted tux.”

I could practically hear Teyana sit up with excitement. “Hallelujah, that’s what I’m talking about. Please, please, please tell me there’s more to this story. I need every single detail.”

I laughed. “There isn’t a lot to tell, unfortunately. I was looking for a quiet place to call you and came across them. Then, when I probably should have left them to it, I stayed for some reason.”

“So you could tell me, obviously.”

“Obviously. But when she was done, he dismissed her like she was nothing. And then—get this, Tey. Then, he had the nerve to hit on me.” I was still blown away by his gall. And a bit flattered, which was fucked up because he probably hit on women all the time. Probably he’d already forgotten me.

“So you’re meeting up with him after you hang up with me, right?”

“Uh, hardly.”

She made an exasperated sound that was so heavy I felt it halfway across the city.

I couldn’t believe her. “You want me to go hook up with some sleazy rando who got it on with another woman already tonight?”

“It doesn’t have to be him,” she said. “But someone. For God’s sake, you haven’t been with anyone since Alejandro—”

I cut her off. “Not true. There was that guy at the Halloween party last year. Bob. Or Bobby. Whatever his name was.”

“Which was almost a year ago, please, baby. You need to get laid. For me. Do it. Go find a mega-rich asswipe and don’t call me again until you’re the one who’s getting finger-banged.”

It wasn’t that easy for me. I knew sex was just sex, but I was a feely type of girl, which made for lots of tears considering the guys I seemed to fall for. It would be better if I was more like Tey. She could jump into bed with a guy she just met and never think about him again, no problem. In order to protect myself, I’d learned to hold out for the more romantic approach which meant at least three dates, and he damn well better call me after.

On the other hand, I’d had a couple of one-nighters that had ended just fine. When I’d gone in knowing what it was going to be, like with Bobby, I was able to walk away with no expectations and my heart intact. And it had been fun, too.

So maybe Tey was right. Six straight months of Match.com had led to nothing but a string of dates I’d rather leave forgotten. I had such a bad taste, romance wasn’t even on my radar at the moment. Letting loose for one night might be a good way to reset.

With promises to do just that, I hung up. One thing was certain—if I was going to have the kind of fun Teyana hoped I’d have, I was going to need to hit the bar.

* * *

An hour and a half later, I was feeling the effects of three Mai Tais and the two shots that had preceded them. Conversation had definitely gotten easier. Though I’d sat myself at the main bar, I’d had several engaging interactions.

Currently, I was hitting on a hottie with green eyes and a wicked dimple. Or he was hitting on me. Whichever, it was promising.

“There she is again,” Green Eyes said, ducking his head. “I swear she’s not going to stop until she finds me.”

I casually looked in the direction he’d nodded toward. He’d told me he was hiding from a woman when he’d first sat down next to me, but I hadn’t quite decided if that was the truth or a line. I scanned for a woman who appeared to be looking for someone. “The blonde?”

He peeked up. “The woman next to her.”

“Oh. The one old enough to be your grandma.” I frowned. “Is she trying to get into your pants?” Green Eyes looked to be about my age, which was closer to thirty than I would have liked, even though it was still three years away.

“No, no, no.” He paused as if imagining it. “God, no. Not anything against Adrienne Thorne, just…”

“It is rather a large age difference.”

“More than thirty years, I think.”

I laughed. “So if she’s not after your manhood, why are you hiding?”

“It’s stupid, really,” he said with a blush. It was adorable how he could be so male and also vulnerable. He might not have the same effect on me that the asshole playboy had earlier, but if Green Eyes invited me home, I wouldn’t be mad about it.

He wouldn’t have to know I was thinking about someone else.

“I know stupid,” I assured him. “Your stupidity is welcome here.”

He smiled, letting his dimple fully shine. “I appreciate that, thank you. Adrienne is after me because she heard my company’s looking to back a nonprofit. PR and philanthropy and all that. We’ve put it in our budget but haven’t yet found the organization we want to sponsor. Anyway, she believes her charity would be the quote unquote perfect fit. It’s not. I’d prefer to let her down in an office setting rather than ruin her evening.”

My ears perked as though I were Pavlov’s dog and a bell had rung. “Now would probably be a bad time to tell you that I match businesses with nonprofit sponsorships.”

Well, I didn’t. Kendra did. She built the company herself—her idea, her vision, her family’s money as the seed. Me, I was more or less a glorified assistant, not what I’d set out to achieve when I’d accepted my scholarship to Georgetown, but it was a good paycheck, I didn’t have to move back home, and in this day and age, wasn’t that all a person could hope for?

Point was, I was involved enough in the ins and outs of the business that I knew how to sell it, and even though I’d been turned down by Kendra on several occasions when I’d asked to let me do just that, I was confident that I could do the job.

The dimple disappeared from Green Eyes’ face.

“I’m sorry,” I said, realizing my faux pas. “Here you are trying to enjoy your night, and I’m turning it into business.”

“That’s not what I was thinking at all. I’m actually interested. Like I said, we’re after a sponsorship. In fact, we’re behind our deadline at selecting one. I just thought maybe it was too presumptuous of me to try to pursue that at a party.”

Oh, I liked this guy. Willing to turn pleasure into business at the drop of a good opportunity—that was my kind of man.

On the other hand—I looked down at my empty glass—I had consumed quite a bit of alcohol. And Teyana would kill me if I walked out of this with a deal rather than a fuck.

Besides, I couldn’t do shit without Kendra and not only was she out of town for who knew how long “finding herself,” but there was also no way I was admitting to her that I’d stolen her invite.

“Tell you what,” Green Eyes said, apparently sensing my hesitation. “I don’t have a business card on me. Give me your phone.”

Without questioning him, I unlocked my cell and handed it to him.

He tapped away on my device. “I’m adding Julie Sanchez to your contacts. That’s my assistant. Call her next week and schedule an appointment. What was the name of your organization? I’ll give her a heads-up.”

It wasn’t enough time for me to think up a lie so I told the truth. “Conscience Connect.” Maybe I could pass the info on to Kendra without telling her how I got it. It was part of my job to find leads for her after all.

“Fantastic. I look forward to discussing more.” He gave me back my phone, his eyes focused somewhere behind me. “Meanwhile, I’ve been spotted. I have to get out of here. Hopefully we’ll see each other again later.”

His last words were full of all the heat I’d been looking for earlier in the conversation. Too bad there wouldn’t be a later. Now that I’d given him Conscience Connect, a hookup was out of the question. It would be too easy for him to figure out who I was—or rather who I wasn’t—and friend or not, I wasn’t about to risk my position with Kendra.

But maybe if I hooked up her company with his...

“Wait,” I said, realizing I’d neglected to get some crucial information. I skimmed the crowd. “I don’t even know your name.” I was talking to myself, though, because he’d disappeared.

“I’m pretty sure you can just refer to him as Mr. Sebastian when you call his secretary,” the bartender said. “Can I get you a refill?”

I ignored the question and the fact that he’d been eavesdropping because I was currently freaking out. “He was a Sebastian?” My face felt hot and it had nothing to do with the alcohol I’d been drinking. I’d been talking to a celebrity. A Sebastian in the flesh. Thank goodness I hadn’t known before. I would have definitely said something stupid.

It was possible I’d said something stupid anyway. I scanned back through our conversation looking for anything cringeworthy. Everything I could recall was pretty banal.

This definitely meant I couldn’t pass the info on to Kendra, though. I’d already tried to suggest approaching the Sebastians on several occasions, and she’d instantly nixed it every time. Something about their family being too close to hers, wasn’t appropriate, blah blah blah. I wasn’t a rich girl. I didn’t understand all the rules of society.

Too bad because Mr. Sebastian and I had had a connection. I was pretty sure I could have sold him. What a deal that would have been.

“Oh my God, he was a Sebastian,” I repeated to myself.

“There are several of them around here,” a voice said at my side. An annoyingly delicious and familiar voice. “Dime a dozen.”

I turned to find myself face-to-face with the stupid-hot player, and damn if he wasn’t even hotter close-up. “You,” I said, a bit scornfully because I was feeling contemptuous about the way he lit every nerve in my body on fire.

“You,” he said in turn. His tone seemed to both appreciate my scorn and know full well the source of it. “I was hoping we’d meet again.”

“I was hoping we wouldn’t.”

“Funny, I don’t believe you.”

He wasn’t an idiot, and the truth was glaringly evident. I couldn’t stop staring. My eyes were magnetically drawn to him. He was so gorgeous, it made me need to take a seat, and I was already sitting. His hair was lighter, I realized, than I’d figured in the dark. Brownish-red with golden hues, so perfectly messy in distribution that it had to be natural. His eyes were a killer blue. I’d always been a sucker for blue eyes. And for stupid-hot player types. It was like he’d been ordered up for me specifically, a Tessa Turani cocktail guaranteed to make me mind-numbingly drunk from just looking at him.

“Can I buy you a shot?” he asked, as if I needed alcohol when he was in my system.

Somehow I managed to pull my gaze away. “It’s an open bar.”

“In that case, I can afford to buy you two.” He summoned the bartender who hadn’t gone far, that nosy little spy. “Four shots of…” Blue Eyes looked at me. “Tequila all right?”

How had he known? “The source of many a bad decision.”

“Tequila it is.”

He was so smooth. Much smoother than the liquor would be, I knew from experience.

Yet, I didn’t object when the bartender put the four shots in front of us, along with a shaker of salt and a bowl of limes.

Just seeing the setup made me want to take my clothes off. Or maybe it was Blue Eyes that did that. He knew how to fill a tux, and I had a feeling he looked even better with it off.

He and the bartender knew exactly where this was going. How dumb was I?

I held up a single shot. “A little obvious, don’t you think?”

“That I want to be one of your bad decisions?” He lifted one as well. “I thought honesty was deserved after what we’ve been through together.”

“As if we’ve gone through a bonding experience.”

“I found it incredibly bonding. See, you watched.” He leaned in close, lowering his voice to a rasp that only I could hear. “And I find that very, very hot.”

A shiver ran down my spine. Yeah, I needed the tequila. Skipping the salt, I shot the first glass back then reached for a lime. I cringed, not just from the sour taste but from the words he’d said and my reaction to them.

I shook my head. “And you’re bonded with women that you find hot?”

“Temporarily,” he grinned. “Yes.”

That smile was a serious weapon. “There’s that honesty again,” I said, pretending that I wasn’t doomed. “I should give you credit for it.”

“You should.” He poured back his own shot, no salt, no lime. He was letting me know he was hardcore, in case that did it for me.

Of course it did. My type to a T.

Perhaps it was because he was so perfectly my weakness that I continued to fight it. “Just because I watched didn’t mean that I found it hot.”

“But you did.”

“I never said that.” I’d said I found him hot. It wasn’t the same thing.

He shrugged as if the semantics didn’t matter. “You didn’t have to.”

No, I didn’t. I was a puddle of wet for him. He didn’t have to put his hand between my legs to know.

I swiveled toward him, finally giving in. I lifted the second drink up so that we could clink them together when he lifted his. We shot them back together, and though I tried to resist, I broke down and sucked on the lime.

I could feel his eyes on me as I did, scorching with their intensity. I could practically hear his thoughts. She’ll taste like citrus when I kiss her.

I had to cross my legs to ease the ache. “Who said you were the reason I watched?” This time I was flirting. Teyana would be so proud when I told her later. “Maybe it was Eden I found hot.”

“It wasn’t.”

He’d gotten closer, somehow without even seeming to move. Instead of two people sitting next to each other, we were two people sharing one space. His body pressed against the outside of my thigh. I could feel that touch everywhere. My nipples steepled like antennas attempting to draw more of that electricity in.

He reached out to brush a lock of my hair behind my ear, then let his fingers trail down my neck.

“You’re rather sure of yourself,” I whispered.

“Tell me your name. I’ll make you sure of me too.”

I stood up in a sudden panic. “No. No names.”

“I didn’t think it was possible, but I’m even more turned on.”

On my feet, the world felt a hell of a lot less steady. It was the alcohol, of course, but also it was him, this charming brute of a man. Saying charming things and smiling his charming smile and gazing at me with his charming blue eyes.

Dumb and doomed. That was me. “I think I should leave.”

“Let me take you.”

I knew I couldn’t agree to that. Letting him take me to the apartment I shared with Teyana in Jersey City would be as bad as giving him my name. Besides, I was staying at Kendra’s, and I definitely couldn’t lead him there.

But I’d had enough drinks to make it difficult to think straight, and if he was offering to take me to his home, we both knew the answer wasn’t no.

Three

My trip to the lobby would have been embarrassing if I’d been sober enough to recognize it. Walking was impossible without holding on to Blue Eyes’ arm, which I clutched onto for dear life. Truth be told, I would have clutched it anyway. It would have been a shame to ignore it once he’d offered it. Even with the material of his tux between my hand and his bicep, I could tell it was a very nicely shaped bicep.

I’m pretty sure I told him so in the elevator because Blue Eyes turned to the elderly couple who was riding with us. “She has a thing for toned biceps.”

“I actually do,” I said with a smile.

The returning smile from the couple wasn’t quite as polite.

When we were out of the elevator, one glance at the distance to the outside doors, and I knew I wasn’t going to make it, even with the help of toned biceps. “Hold on,” I said. Pressing a palm to his chest for support, I bent over and worked off one of the sky-high sandals, then the other. “Much better,” I sighed when my bare feet met the marble floor.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a no shoes, no entrance policy.” But from his tone of voice and the glint in his eyes, I gathered he was more amused than concerned.

“Better get me outside then quick.”

He didn’t waste a single second ushering me out of the building. When we got to the curb, he only had to nod to the doorman, and his car pulled up, as if it had been waiting for him. Blue Eyes was smoother than I’d realized—I hadn’t even seen him pull out his phone, and he must have called or texted ahead for such quick service.

I would have remarked on the fact if I hadn’t been so distracted by the car itself. “A limo?”

“The Maybach’s in the shop.”

I assumed it was a joke, but it might not have been. Considering he’d actually been invited to the froufrou party upstairs, he might very well have owned a high-class Mercedes. More likely, he’d rented the limo and was simply trying to impress.

I was impressed. I was also stubborn enough not to let on. “I suppose it will do.” I handed my shoes to Blue Eyes then slid across the back bench. “Comfy.”

“Glad you approve.” He was smirking when he joined me. And despite all the ample room in the vehicle, he sat pretty darn close.

I had to catch my breath. “Well, hello.”

“Hello yourself.”

This close, in the confines of such a small place, I could smell his rosewood cologne. Or maybe it was sandalwood. I wasn’t experienced enough with male fragrances to be able to correctly identify more than the fact that it was woody, and it smelled nice. And that it was the kind of scent that made me heady and outside myself.

That could also have been the copious amounts of liquor.

Whatever the cause, I knew then that I was in real trouble with this boy.

A well-mannered voice boomed through a speaker near my head. “Destination, sir?”

Blue Eyes reached past me to hit an intercom button, then he looked to me, as though waiting for me to say something.

Oh, fuck. He wanted my address.

It was appropriate, I supposed. Allowing me to direct where this would go next instead of making assumptions. Even drunk I recognized it as admirable.

I was a little annoyed at the same time. I resented having to be the one to make the decision and almost wished he would have just given the order to go to his place, and then I could have feigned shock and dismay while secretly being thrilled and relieved.

So it was my job to say the words. Take me to your place. It was on the tip of my tongue.

But I was headstrong and wanted a little more of the chase. “Could we just drive around awhile?”

“You heard the lady.” His grin said he didn’t mind more of the chase himself.

The car jolted into motion, the swerve out of the drive into traffic throwing me in his direction. He caught me in his arms, and my heartbeat stuttered. There was so much wild energy between us, I could barely handle being held by him like this. And we still had all our clothes on. Doomed, I say.

“Doomed?”

Shit. Hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

Needing to take hold of my dignity, I pulled out of his arms. “Wasn’t ready for the car to start. Aren’t there seatbelts in these things?”

There was a seatbelt, it turned out, but as soon as I started examining the vehicle’s interior, I found many other features to appreciate. “You have a printer? In your car?” I shut the cabinet that had revealed the computer and charging station and opened another to find a television. This was not like the party limo from my trip to Vegas. “What’s on your side?”

“The fridge. The bar. Can I get you something to eat? Some water?” He was studying me like he wanted to devour me. It was his restraint that made me squirm the most.

I wondered how Eden had borne it as well as she had. She’d come away from their encounter with a bit of smudged makeup, but she was at least able to hold her head up. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to leave this car at anything but a crawl.

The encounter with Eden back in my head had me suddenly wary. “Was she your girlfriend?”

“Who?”

It was amazing how patient he was with my subject jumps, as though he was ready to follow anywhere I led.

“Eden.”

“Oh. No. No.” He dragged the last no out like the idea was ludicrous.

I believed his answer, but I’d known manipulative men before. The kind who rely heavily on the questions worded. You asked if she was my girlfriend, not if I was married. “Your wife?”

“Nope.” He guessed my next question before I asked. “No one else is either.”

I had already checked out his hand and found neither a band nor a tan line. Even just a one-night encounter, I refused to be party to infidelity.

I pivoted so I was facing him. “So nobody has reason to later say you cheated by being in this car with me?”

His hand found its way to rest on my knee. Lightly, above my skirt. Nothing scandalous, and yet I felt thoroughly scandalized. “That kind of accusation would require something to happen between us. Right now, all I’ve done is offer a beautiful woman a ride home.”

“I’m not going to be distracted by the charm, you charm...whore.”

He laughed. “Charm-whore?”

“I know, it didn’t even make sense in my head. And you avoided the question.”

His eyes moved from mine to the hand on my knee that was now toying with the tulle, as though he were inspecting the fabric instead of casually planning his voyage underneath. “I am not currently obligated to anyone in any way.”

“Okay.” I relaxed a little. Let myself start to accept that I was really going to do this. I was really going to let this filthy hot rich man have his filthy hot way with me.

I never let my guard down easily, though, and I was curious by nature. “Then how did that hookup even transpire? You weren’t into her, you weren’t obliged to her...why would you even…?”

“Do you really want to spend this time talking about Eden?”

I shivered as his palm met the bare flesh of my lower thigh even though the touch itself was searing. “I just…” What had I been saying? What had I been thinking? “I mean, if you’re that nice to a girl you aren’t interested in, how nice are you to a girl you like?”

“Lucky you, you’re about to find out.” He bent forward then, and I raised my face thinking he was coming in for my lips. Instead, he landed on my jaw, and, whoa. Somehow that was even more electrifying, the press of his open mouth against my skin, an almost kiss. A tease. A taunt.

I turned my head to chase after him, but he’d already moved on, lower, to my neck. Without thinking to do so, I tilted my chin up, giving him better access. Of course, as soon as I gave him that, he’d advanced again, peppering kisses down my décolletage before kissing along my breasts where they swelled above the dress.

He was fast, giving me no time to adjust to one sensation before giving me another, and yet it also felt achingly slow. I arched my back, a silent plea for him to discover more of me, all of me. My nipples ached with a need so urgent, I half wished he would tear the bust of my dress down so he could get to them. I didn’t even care that it wasn’t my dress that I’d be sacrificing nor that I didn’t have the five grand to pay Kendra back for its destruction.

Fortunately for my future self who very much wanted to keep her employment, Blue Eyes had other plans. Abruptly he shifted, and next thing I knew, he was on the ground in front of me. On his knees, his mouth in my lap kissing first above my navel before moving to the apex of my thighs.

Even with the layers of tulle, I felt his mouth there, pressed against my clit, and if I hadn’t been before, I certainly was wet now.

“You smell incredible,” he said, his voice rough, like my scent had a potent effect on him.

Holy hell, he was dirty.

And I was there for it. I pressed my knees apart, making space for him.

“Is that an invitation? Because I can’t go any further unless it is.”

Oh, he was good. “Don’t tell me you’re the kind of guy who makes a woman ask for it.”

His fingers circled around my ankles, and even so far away from where I wanted them, I felt the jolt on my pussy as though they were there instead. “You had been awfully concerned about consent earlier.” He trailed the tips of his fingers up the side of my calves, to the outside of my knees.

“I was concerned when it was Eden. Personally, I prefer a little less give and a little more take.”

That was all the permission he needed. With a firm yank, my ass was pulled to the edge of the bench, then my knees pushed together, which confused me until I realized his goal was the removal of my panties. I was at once grateful that I’d worn my prettiest white lace and also regretful when he stashed them in his jacket pocket, and I realized I’d never see them again.

Worth the price, I decided when my knees were pressed open again, my dress pushed up, and I saw the expression on his face.

Devastated. That’s how he looked. Completely devastated, in all the good ways.

Now he knew how I felt.

Reverently, he stroked the tip of his finger down my seam. “This is a pretty pussy.”

My skin felt hot everywhere. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. I couldn’t decide if I was mortified or just really fucking turned on. I decided to lean into the latter. “Yeah?” I asked, wanting to hear it again.

“Oh, yeah.”

I wanted him to say more, but then he leaned forward and traced his tongue along the same path his finger had made, and suddenly there was only one thing I wanted his mouth to be doing, and it wasn’t talking.

“Taste as good as you smell,” he said when he’d reached my opening.

“Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.” So much for not wanting to give. I was practically begging.

He chuckled, but went back to task, the vibration and his beard rubbing my pussy in just the right way.

I let out a whimper as he parted my folds and zeroed the tip of his tongue in on the buzzing nerve bundle. Only a handful of licks in, and I was already seeing stars. Magic. He was magic, and I was unraveling faster than a spool of thread in the possession of a kitten. My thighs shook, my pussy clenched, my clit was on fire. Had oral sex always felt so good? It couldn’t have. I would certainly have remembered it, would have encouraged Alejandro to perform it more often instead of only the four or five times he did during our two-year relationship. There was something else at work. The amount of alcohol I’d had, perhaps. Or the length of time since I’d last been laid.

“That’s why,” I said, deciding the latter was definitely the reason.

Magic man between my thighs lifted his mouth but replaced the pressure on my clit with his chin. “Why what?”

Oh, wow. The scratch of his beard against my sensitive skin was as mind-blowing as everything else he’d done. I stretched my hands above my head, giving into the pleasure. “Why it feels so good. Because it’s been so long.”

“So long since...what?”

I couldn’t even mind that he was chatty, not when he was still doing magic. “Since I got laid.”

“Has it been a while?”

“Too long. And so this feels super amazing.”

And now his finger was helping out, circling around the rim of my opening, teasing it with entry. I bucked my hips, urging more. Urging him inside.

His mouth returned to my clit, this time instead of a stroke of his tongue, he sucked and, damn, I was instantly close to coming. “That’s why it feels good,” he said with a not-so subtle hint of sarcasm. “No other reason.”

Who was I fooling? Certainly not him, and even intoxicated I knew that I was only barely fooling myself. That last little thread of self-deceit vanished with the next little trick of his mouth, some sort of lick, flick, and suck combination that took me to the edge.

The edge where he left me when he sat back on his knees. “Because it’s been so long.”

“Okay, okay, you’re good!” I was desperate to get him back, to finish me off, and I would have said anything, including, apparently, the truth.

“Good?”

“Really, really good.” The words were far from adequate, but he had mercy on me and picked up right where he’d left off, pushing me off the ledge into an epic spiral of a climax. I cried out at the release, my body seizing as the pleasure rippled over me, leaving me panting and boneless and euphoric all at once.

Blue Eyes, I learned then, was not only a magic man, but a cruel one. Because he wasn’t finished with me. His tongue and mouth worked with even more fervor, and his fingers were no longer shy, plowing into me two, three at a time with delicious assault.

There was no more talking, though. My ability to speak had been taken away. Everything that tumbled from my lips after that was nonsensical single syllables and pure sound.

And while thoughts of Eden were far from my mind as well as any desire to make this encounter more than what it was, what it had to be—a one-night stand—a fleeting curiosity swirled through the chaos of pleasure: if Blue Eyes finger-banged girls he didn’t like and went down this spectacularly on those he did, just how well would he treat a girl he loved?

Four

I woke up to the sound of a jackhammer.

I sat up, startled, and immediately regretted it when my stomach lurched from the movement. Thank God the room was mostly dark. Even the small slit of light coming from behind the blackout curtains was enough to make my eyes hurt. My head, too. Though most of that pain seemed to be associated with the terrible hammering.

I rested back against the wall and closed my eyes, trying to calm the headache and get a sense of balance before figuring out how to deal with the world. I took a deep cleansing breath. In. Out.

Wait a minute.

It was only a handful of seconds later when my eyes flew open again. Having spent the last several days at Kendra’s, I’d gotten used to waking up somewhere other than my own bed. But not only wasn’t this my bedroom, it also wasn’t hers. And I hadn’t the faintest recollection of arriving there.

I scanned the room for something to jog my memory. I was alone. Nothing was familiar. Not the rustic wood floors nor the plush gray rug nor the tall modern lamp at the side of the bed nor the sleek black wall behind me. Definitely a male’s room. Everything about it screamed man, including the vague musky scent. It wasn’t until I’d spotted my dress—rather Kendra’s dress—draped over the back of an armchair I’d never seen before in my life, that I realized I was naked.

I clutched the sheet around me in what was likely a much-too-late attempt at modesty. What had happened last night? I remembered the party. The shots. Blue Eyes. The limousine.

Oh my God, the limo.

Three incredible orgasms—or was it four? After that, everything went blank.

I would have been less irritated at the fact that I’d obviously gone home with Blue Eyes if I had the pleasure of remembering it.

The jackhammering stopped suddenly, though the pain that accompanied it still vibrated in my head, and I was pretty sure it hadn’t been an actual jackhammer but something more domestic. Coffee grinder?

Shit. He was making breakfast. The whiff of bacon in the air confirmed it. And though the idea of a man making breakfast was very appealing, there was no way I could stay for this. I’d taken too much of a risk even getting in the car with him. He could have found out that I hadn’t actually been invited to that party, and if word got back to my boss… Not to mention that he was a stranger, and I hadn’t told a soul where I was going.

Well, he’d said he wanted to be one of my mistakes. Congratulations, Blue Eyes, you just may have landed the top spot.

I had to get out of there. I didn’t have any idea what the layout of the apartment was, but maybe I could slip out while he was distracted. After a quick trip to the en suite bathroom, I put my dress back on as quickly as I could without throwing up. My shoes and purse were next to the chair, as if they’d been laid out for me. My panties, I suspected, had been tucked away as a souvenir because they were nowhere in sight. My phone was almost dead, but I was able to shoot off a quick text to Teyana.

Went home last night with the pervert from the roof. Tell you more later. If I disappear, here’s where I was last.

I sent her a GPS ping giving her my location, then tucked my cell in my purse, grabbed my shoes, and tiptoed out of the room. A short hallway led to a living room. A formal dining room was next to that. Both were immaculate and spectacularly designed. I didn’t have to be an art aficionado to guess that the multicolored modern painting on the wall cost a fortune. The floor-to-ceiling windows let in the perfect amount of light to show it off. One thing was for sure—Blue Eyes had cash. Which made sense. He’d actually been invited to the Sebastian party, and from what I’d learned from knowing Kendra, those rich folks tended to hang out in packs.

As much as I wanted to stay and explore, top of my agenda was sneaking out unseen. I had two options for my route of escape—another hallway or a swinging door that led to another room, likely the kitchen.

Hallway it is.

A couple of yards down this one, and another hall broke off to the right, this one leading to—hallelujah—the front door. I’d made it.

Except, halfway there, a figure stepped out from a door to the right, another entry to the kitchen, apparently. Blue Eyes had looked good in a tux. Wearing nothing but gray sweatpants, he was absolutely sinful. Rock-solid abs highlighted his bare chest. A perfectly toned arm held a black coffee mug, which he held inches below his devilish smirk.

“Sneaking out?”

“Uh…” I smiled guiltily.

He took a casual sip from his mug, appearing to not be at all bothered by my intentions to leave without a goodbye. “I made eggs and bacon, if you’d like a bite to eat before you go. Fresh orange juice and ground coffee too.”

It was tempting. Even though the sound of food made my stomach churn, the image of him cooking for me, serving me, got my pulse racing.

Honestly, he just got my pulse racing in general. The chemistry between us was wickedly charged. Whatever had happened between us last night, it hadn’t been enough to run the heated energy to its end. A fleeting image of what might transpire if I stayed flashed through my mind—me bent over his kitchen table, his body pressed to mine as he entered me from behind.

Nope, nope, nope. “Sorry. I’m running late,” I lied.

“On a Sunday?”

“Church.” My face went warm. Did I really suggest I was going to church? Once it was out, there was nothing to do but run with it. “Really devoted to my congregation. Never miss a week. I’m going to have to go home and change first, though. So…”

His lips twitched with amusement, and I wondered for half a second if he was going to call me out on the fabrication. Then he said, “I’ll have my driver take you.”

“Already called an uber.” I dug out my phone from my purse and waved it in the air. I hoped I had enough battery to actually call for one when I got downstairs.

“Cancel it.”

How did he manage to be both commanding and pleading at once? My chest fluttered in response. Why did I have to have met him the way I did? If my deceit wasn’t tangled up with our meeting…

But there never would have been an occasion for me to meet a man like him at all without my deceit. That’s how it was for girls from my side of the tracks. We had to hustle just to get the scraps.

My hesitation or my expression must have told him all he needed to know. “Okay. No ride. You don’t want me to know where you live. I can take the hint.”

Good.

Why did it feel so bad? And not the good kind of bad. The kind of bad that I was sure Blue Eyes was really good at being.

“Well, then.” I forced myself to cross to his door. When he was behind me, I paused to slip one shoe on, then the other.

He didn’t move. I could feel him watching me, the heat of his gaze searing into my backside. “At least tell me your name,” he said after several seconds had passed.

“No reason to know it now.” My hand was on the knob.

“I don’t accept that. Without your name, how am I supposed to see you again?”

Bingo.

But I didn’t want to be that blunt. It wasn’t his fault I had to cut this off right now. In other circumstances, I would have been all over his invitation for breakfast. I would have been all over him period. Knowing it was an impossible fantasy, I threw my head over my shoulder and gave him one last flirty smile. “I don’t know, Blue Eyes. Maybe you’ll find me anyway. You seem like that kind of guy.”

I had the door open before he took his first step toward me. “Blue Eyes? Is that how you’re going to refer to me when you think of me in the future?”

I paused before turning toward him. I wanted to ask him why he was so sure that I’d think of him, but I didn’t have the energy to deny what we both knew was the truth. “It’s your most notable feature,” I said instead.

I let the door go, but it didn’t shut in time to block off his last words. “In that case, I’ll remember you as Pretty Pussy.”

I walked on shaky knees to the elevator. If I’d had any sense at all, I would have run.

Five

“I’m dying. Literally dying.” Teyana leaned on our kitchen island, the tomato and salt sandwich she’d been making abandoned as she’d become engrossed in my story of the previous evening, particularly the parts about my mysterious one-night stand.

“Considering how often you say that, I think you might not have a good grasp on the meaning of the word dying and/or the word literally.” Often when she used the term she was curled up in the fetal position with pain. Today she was bouncing with excitement. I was happy to see she was feeling better.

She rolled her so-dark-brown-they-were-almost-black eyes at me. “You know what I mean. I can’t believe you had such an incredible night. Good for you. You needed it.”

I resisted the urge to feel bad that I’d been having my incredible night while she’d been miserable and focused on enjoying the retelling for her sake. “You’re right. I did need it.” I reached over the island to grab a tomato off her plate. I’d already been to Kendra’s to drop off the dress and change before coming out to Jersey City, and I was only now getting an appetite. “Too bad I got so drunk. Best sex of my life, and I don’t even remember it.”

“How do you know it was the best sex of your life then?”

“Based on what I do remember, there’s no way it wasn’t. He knew exactly what he was doing. Three times.” Just remembering made my panties damp. Pretty Pussy, he’d said. I really should have named him Filthy Mouth instead of Blue Eyes.

Tey sighed dreamily. “I don’t think I could come three times with my vibrator. This man must be a god.”

“Or a devil. Is it possible to be both?”

“I think you’ve just described every man you’ve ever dated more than two weeks.” She smacked my hand as I reached for another tomato slice. “There’s too much salt on that for a healthy person, Tess. Cut up your own if you want some.”

Feigning a pout, I reached for a banana in the fruit basket instead. “He really was exactly my type. Which means it’s probably a good thing that I’m not seeing him again since my type always leads to disaster.”

Tey brought her sandwich up to her mouth and paused before biting into it. “Disaster is not inevitable with the guys you like. It’s just how it’s worked out.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I didn’t want this to lead to another one of her lectures about being patient, there were loads of fish in the sea. It was hard to hear it over and over, and not to be snide, but it wasn’t like she had a steady man of her own at the moment.

I also didn’t think it was a good idea to keep talking about Blue Eyes. Thinking about him did a number on my libido. I was already looking forward to alone time later tonight when I was back in Kendra’s guest room. For now, I needed to think about something else.

Maybe a banana hadn’t been the best choice.

I shook the thoughts about the phallic shape of the fruit in my hand and took a bite. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I met a Sebastian.”

“You what?” She had to set down her sandwich. “Are you freaking serious?”

“Yep.”

“Which one?”

“No idea.” I quickly told her about my encounter with Green Eyes, including how he’d programmed his assistant’s info in my phone.

“Give it here.” Teyana reached her hand out for my cell.

I hesitated for a minute wondering what she was up to, but curiosity won out, and I unlocked the screen before giving it over. “What are you going to do?”

“This.” She dialed the number and put it on speaker so we could both hear.

“There won’t be anyone there on Sunday,” I said as the phone rang.

“I know, but there will be a voicemail.” Sure enough, the ringing switched over to a prerecorded message that announced we’d reached Julie Sanchez at the office of public relations for Sebastian Industrial Corporation.

“That wasn’t helpful.”

But she wasn’t done. She quickly clicked END on the call then pulled up my internet browser. Less than a minute later, she had the SIC website’s leadership page loaded. She scrolled through several positions filled by various Sebastians—Blue Eyes was right; there were a ton of them—until she landed on the name next to Vice President of Image and Outreach. “Scott Sebastian,” she read. “That has to be the head of PR. Dammit, there’s no image. Was he cute?”

“Scott Sebastian,” I repeated, trying to picture the man who’d wanted to talk shop. “I guess he looked like he could be a Scott. And, yes, he was fine with a capital F. He was really flirty. If he hadn’t been hiding, I think I could have gone home with him.”

“Oh my God, you settled!”

I shook my head, laughing. “I wouldn’t have traded Blue Eyes for the hottest Sebastian in the world. Besides. It was risky enough going home with just another attendee at the party. If I’d gone home with a Sebastian and then he’d found out that I’d snuck my way in—”

“He wouldn’t have found out, and if he did, do you think he’d really care?”

Yeah, she was right. I was being paranoid. “Better to be safe than sorry.” But now I was thinking about the other opportunity I’d been denied because of caution. “Why did I have to meet him like that, Tey? He’s looking for a charity for Sebastian Industrial to back. I could have pitched to them.”

“You still could. You have his number. Set up a meeting.”

“And then what? Even if they decided to go with one of the charities I presented, I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere after the initial pitch without Kendra.”

She thought about it for too long, the expression on her face saying she was taking this way too seriously.

“Whatever you’re thinking, Tey—”

She interrupted me. “If you pitched them the Dysautonomia Foundation, you could do it without Kendra. Didn’t Sarah offer you a job there? You could quit working for Kendra and work for them directly instead of being the liaison.”

“Okay, no. No.” There were so many immediate problems, I couldn’t let myself entertain the idea. “First, they’d have to choose the Dysautonomia Foundation from the portfolio of charities I offered. If they chose any other, I’d be screwed.”

“You could make them pick it. Your enthusiasm would sell it alone.”

I ignored her. “Second, I wouldn’t even know how to do a pitch meeting. I’ve only been on the backend.”

“You could wing it. I saw you ace several projects in school that I know you put together on the fly.”

“Third, I don’t want to quit working for Kendra.”

“Don’t you?”

Here, I hesitated. The thing was, I could wing it. And I did have a passion for promoting the Dysautonomia Relief Foundation. I’d been trying to get Kendra to hook them up with a major sponsor for over two years now, pretty much as soon as Teyana got her dysautonomia diagnosis. But it wasn’t just because of Tey that I supported the foundation. It was a good organization with lots of promise. I was convinced the only reason it hadn’t been picked up yet was because Kendra wasn’t selling it right. If I were the one presenting it, I knew I could sell it.

And one day Kendra would let me pitch it. She would. I had to believe that. Otherwise, all the years I’d stuck by her side were just a waste of time. “If I wanted to leave her, I would have taken the job Sarah offered.”

“You’re too loyal,” Tey said with a sigh. “Kendra does not deserve that kind of loyalty.”

“Maybe not.” But I was loyal to Teyana too, and I couldn’t risk the foundation's chances of being chosen by doing this underhandedly.

I expected the discussion to be over. It’s certainly where it should have ended.

But Teyana didn’t give up that easily. “Then you’d stay with Conscience Connect. That works too. Land the Sebastians, and there’s no way Kendra can let you go. Plus, she’d get to see what you can do, and she’d have to give you more responsibility. Win-win all around.”

“I don’t know…” I could already imagine a plethora of things that could go wrong. I’d seen Kendra work on deals that signed instantly. Others required weeks and weeks of hardcore negotiation. I’d learned enough from the sidelines that I was fairly sure I could seal up the former with no problems. I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to handle the latter.

Maybe if I knew I had enough time to work it out...

Tey read my mind. “How long is Kendra out of town?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“She was gone, what? Two months when she broke up with that guy three years ago.”

“But only two weeks when she broke up with that girl she was dating last year.”

I watched her fingers tap on the counter. She wore fingerless gloves, even though the air conditioning wasn’t on and it was well in the nineties outside. Her particular syndrome made it hard for her body to regulate temperature, and often her extremities were blue and icy regardless of the weather. Other symptoms that accompanied her illness prevented her from working a full-time job, yet she wasn’t bad enough to file for disability. Without help from the Dysautonomia Relief Foundation, she wouldn’t be able to afford to live.

How many other women could be helped by the DRF if they had corporate sponsorship? Could I really try to fight for it?

“This latest disappearance wasn’t even due to a breakup,” I said, wondering if Kendra was distraught enough to keep her away for long. “She said she’s torn between two lovers and needs time for her heart to decide.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her prosey bullshit.” Her tone was spiteful. She’d apologize eventually. That was how it usually went, anyway.

I chewed on my lip, giving her a few minutes to eat her sandwich and brood in silence.

I understood why Teyana was so bitter toward Kendra, but it still made me sad. Once upon a time we’d all been friends, when we were in school and our social statuses were on a more even playing field. That was before Tey got sick. Before we realized just exactly how well-off the Montgomery family was. It wasn’t until after graduation that we discovered that our education, though exactly the same on paper, wasn’t equal in the real world. Kendra Montgomery had doors opened for her at every turn. Tey and I had to fight from the ground up, and six years later, we hadn’t gotten very high up the ladder. And it wasn’t about the color of our skin since I was the whitest of the three of us.

At first Kendra seemed to care. She’d given me a job. She’d donated money to the DRF in Tey’s name so she would be guaranteed funds. But she also stopped hanging out with Teyana all together. Seemed a friend with an ailment was too much work for her. She preferred to write a check and walk away.

I’d been stuck in the middle. I appreciated that it was Kendra who made it possible for Tey not to have to work full-time, but I hated how she’d broken Tey’s heart and destroyed her self-confidence. I couldn’t admit out loud that I still hoped they’d patch things up one day. It was another reason why I wasn’t ready to leave Conscience Connect. I was still holding out for the dream ending all around.

My phone rang on the kitchen island where Tey had left it. She was closer so she glanced at it first. “Speak of the devil.” With a scowl, she pushed the phone toward me.

I looked at the screen for confirmation. RESTRICTED, it said. The only person who called me from restricted lines was Kendra. I let out a sigh then, knowing she’d hear it in my voice if I didn’t, I put on a bright smile and answered. “K! How’s the vacation?”

“It’s not a vacation when you feel like I do.”

Tey came around the island so she could stand close enough to listen. Her bitterness did nothing to dampen her curiosity where Kendra was concerned.

“I’m sorry you’re so miserable.” It was hard to know what else to say when Kendra wasn’t forthcoming about either her relationships or her emotions these days. It had been years since she’d told me the name of anyone she dated let alone how she felt about them.

Luckily, my guess was right on the nose. “Miserable is exactly the right word,” she said.

At my side, Teyana huffed. “She wouldn’t know real misery if it bit her in the ass.”

“Shh,” I mouthed. God, I hated this. Hated the war between them. Hated not knowing how to push forward with my boss. Hated that I had an opportunity for our company, and nothing I could do about it.

Except, I could do something about the last thing. “Hey, I’m glad you called,” I said, making my decision to bring this up on a whim. “I had an opportunity come up for the company that I wanted to pass on. I was…” I paused, deciding how to dance around the truth. “At a party last night—friend of a friend of a friend—and I happened to meet someone there who works for the outreach division of Sebastian Industrial. He said they’re looking to back a charity right now, and even gave me a contact so I could set up a meeting for you when—”

“No,” she snapped. “No meeting. I am not pitching to Sebastian Industrial.”

“Then let me do it. I know it might be uncomfortable for you since they’re family friends, but since they asked for the hookup, and if I’m the one meeting with them, it’s not like you’re pushing anything on them they don’t want.”

She made a noise that sounded like a bit-back laugh. “You’ve never pitched before.”

“Because you’ve never let me.”

“I’m certainly not letting you pitch to the Sebastians on your first go around. That would be setting you up for disaster. I care too much about you to just feed you to the wolves like that.”

“Care about you my ass,” Tey whisper-hissed.

I gave her a stern look, and while I was suddenly wishing she wasn’t there for this conversation, I also realized I wouldn’t be charging on without her there to support me. “So then I’ll put them off for six months or so. When you get back, you can show me the ropes—”

Kendra cut me off. “I said no, Tess. I said no last time you brought them up, I’m saying no now. What part of no is it that you aren’t understanding?”

Now it wasn’t just Teyana sneering. She was right—Kendra didn’t deserve my loyalty.

Part of me wanted to hang up on her right then. But acting rashly would only feel good in the moment. “Wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t at least pass on the opportunity,” I said with gritted teeth.

“You’ve done that now. Moving on. I called you for a reason. I’m getting a new bed. It’s special order and won’t be there for another three or four weeks. I gave them your number to arrange delivery. Make sure the old bed is disposed of, please.”

That was something else Kendra always did after a big breakup—replaced her bed so she wouldn’t have to deal with the “memories.”

“What a waste of good furniture,” Teyana said with disgust.

I was usually put off by how she squandered her money as well, but right now I was focused on the other information she’d given. “Will do. So you’re still planning to be gone for another month then?”

I could practically hear her eye roll. “I don’t know, Tess. I’ll be gone as long as it takes to figure out which one I want to break up with and which one gets to have me. These decisions take time. Hold on a sec, will you?”

I exchanged a look with Tey while Kendra had a muffled conversation with someone else. Did she realize how self-important she came off? It was cringeworthy.

It was only a handful of seconds before she returned. “Gotta go, Tess. My concierge is here to take me to my mud bath.” She’d hung up before I even had a chance to say goodbye.

I frowned as I threw down my phone. It wasn’t fair. Sure, Kendra’s life had started out hard. She’d been three years old when her parents found her in an orphanage in South Korea while there for a philanthropic visit. But she didn’t remember anything from then. All her memories were of the spoiled, first-class life she currently lived.

Meanwhile, Teyana was the smartest, most genuine person I knew. Her ambition was as big as her pockets were shallow. If it weren’t for her illness, she’d have made it to where Kendra was, without any handouts. That’s how amazing she was.

But here we were. Kendra lived like a princess, Teyana faced chronic physical limitations, and I was once again being pushed back down the ladder I so badly wanted to climb. If I were at the top, I thought not for the first time, things would be different. There was so much good I could do.

And if Kendra refused to help me, I’d just have to do it without her.

I could feel Teyana studying me. “You better be thinking what I think you’re thinking, Tess Turani.”

“I’m thinking it’s going to be a late night,” I said. Good or bad, my mind was made up. “I have a pitch presentation to prepare.”

Six

The following Friday, I rode the elevator to the twenty-seventh floor of the Sebastian Center. I was a mess of nerves. My mouth was dry, my skin sweaty. The butterflies in my stomach were so active I thought I might fly away.

Everything about this idea was wrong.

I regretted it as soon as I’d called to make the appointment Monday morning with Julie Sanchez. As promised, Green Eyes had informed her I’d be calling. She was ready for me with a meeting time already set aside, only it was for three weeks in the future. It was too far away. There was too much of a chance that Kendra would be back by then.

I knew I should have walked away then. An immediate roadblock did not bode well for the rest of the plan. But since I was already on the phone with the woman, it wasn’t like I could just back out.

“We could wait until then,” I’d said, thinking as fast as I could. “But I have an amazing opportunity for a partnership that I just know is going to be gone by then. I’d really hate for SIC to miss out.”

Julie had put me on hold for several minutes. Just when I’d thought I should hang up and change my number, she returned to the line. “Friday at ten. Mr. Sebastian can give you thirty minutes.”

So here I was, on my way to what was likely to be a total disaster.

Be confident, I told myself for the fiftieth time that morning. Teyana had told me it another hundred and fifty times before that. It was the only way I had a chance of selling this. The only way I had a chance of not coming across like a total fool.

But it was hard to be self-assured when nothing about me was me—my clothes, my shoes, and the briefcase I carried had been borrowed from Kendra’s closet. Even my laptop had been one she’d purchased for me. Only the presentation on it was completely mine, and considering the fact that I’d never fully prepared one of these pitches on my own and had definitely never delivered one, I was finding it difficult to place any faith in it.

No. I could do this. I could be this. You have to leap to land, Tess. So go ahead now and leap.

By the time the doors opened at my floor, I had done a pretty decent job of composing myself. I threw my shoulders back, held my head high, and walked through the glass doors into the Public Relations office.

Then I saw the receptionist and froze.

It was Eden, the woman from the roof. The woman I’d watched Blue Eyes finger-bang and dismiss like yesterday’s newspaper. She worked here?

Of course she did.

Because that was my luck and this was a ridiculous idea and because she’d been at a party hosted by the Sebastians so why the hell wouldn’t I expect that she was part of their circle?

I almost turned around and left.

But she was already staring at me, a welcoming smile on her face, and I remembered suddenly that even though I’d witnessed her in a private moment, she hadn’t seen me. All I had to do was keep my cool, and this would be fine. Everything would be fine.

“How may I help you?” she asked when I finally forced myself to cross the several yards to her desk.

“Yes, I have an appointment with Scott Sebastian.” I managed to sound poised, which in turn made me feel poised. I glanced at the clock on the wall behind her. I’d hoped to be early, but it seemed I’d made it just in time. “Tess Turani with Conscience Connect. Ten a.m.”

Her brows knit as she studied her screen. “Oh. There you are. You’re not meeting with Scott; you’re booked with Brett. He’s waiting for you in the meeting room. I’ll take you back there.”

“Ah. Okay. Thanks.” I waited for her to come around the desk then followed the clip-clip of her heels down the marble hallway, glad to be behind her so she couldn’t see my confusion on my face. Julie had said my appointment was with Mr. Sebastian. Had something come up? Or maybe it had been Green Eyes’ plan all along to pass me off to someone else. It was silly to expect that the man on top would have taken a meeting like this personally.

It didn’t help settle my nerves, though. In fact, it increased my apprehension. It made me realize I didn’t have any clue how this pitch would be vetted. I’d been hoping to tie this up as fast as possible, but if I wasn’t meeting with the head honcho, it was probably unlikely that this Brett guy would be able to sign off on anything today. Would he be the one who would pass the information on to Scott? Or would I have to come back and pitch again? If it was the latter, how soon could that happen because time was not on my side.

Dread tickled at my chest as Eden ushered me into a meeting room. There were so many unknowns. So many ways this could fall apart. So many—

My panic turned to surprise as I came face-to-face with Green Eyes. “Hi!”

“Hi.” The warmth in his greeting echoed mine.

I was really glad to see him. But also really baffled. Was he Scott Sebastian, the man in charge of PR or Brett, the man Eden said I’d be meeting?

“Is something wrong?” he asked, apparently reading the puzzlement on my face.

“I just…” I took him in. He was dressed in a tan suit that made his eyes look more brown than green and stood at the opposite end of a conference table—a small one, meant to accommodate four or five people at most. If he was Scott—and he had to be because he was a Sebastian, right? How many Sebastians were there in the same department?—then maybe we were going to be joined by more people shortly, including Brett. Or maybe Scott had scheduled me with Brett and then managed to make time for me himself.

Whatever had happened, he was here, and he was waiting for me to say something coherent. “I just didn’t expect to be meeting with you,” I said. “I figured you’d pass me off to someone else.”

“Hope it’s not a disappointment. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again.” He stepped toward me and held out his hand. “I don’t think we were ever properly introduced. Brett Sebastian.”

“Tess Turani.” I took his hand as the pieces came together. Brett. So he wasn’t Scott. He looked more like a Brett, actually. Then, was he not in charge? More likely, the website was outdated. “Good to formally meet you. And not a disappointment at all.”

“Glad to hear it. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you again at the party Saturday. I looked for you later, after Adrienne Thorne finally left.”

“You did?”

“I did.” There was no mistaking what his intentions were with that statement. Especially since he still held my hand, much longer than he should have for a simple introduction between two people about to do business.

My stomach began to knot. He was attractive, yes. But I hadn’t come here for a booty call, and I definitely hadn’t come here to try to win his persuasion with feminine wiles. I wanted to climb the ladder on my own two feet, not on my back.

Before I had to decide how to handle his flirtation, Brett abruptly dropped my hand. “And that’s as far as I’m going to go with that. I’m a firm believer that business and pleasure are not good bedfellows, and I’m very intent on conducting business with you. Perhaps there will be a time for pleasure later on.”

“Thank you. And perhaps.” I was relieved, and though I didn’t feel the same spark now that I had when I’d been tipsy, I would consider a date with him when this was all over.

Unless of course this whole charade blew up in my face, which was still a very strong possibility.

Too late to worry about that now.

“Should we get started?” he asked.

“Yes. Of course.”

He waited for me to sit before he unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down across from me. His gaze settled on me intently. “You have the floor, Ms. Turani.”

And, wow. Having the full attention of a Sebastian was more stressful than I’d imagined.

It was also more exciting.

It gave me a sudden shot of adrenaline. I’d landed an opportunity to sell to one of the most powerful men in the city. Now was my chance to prove I deserved it.

I opened my briefcase—Kendra’s briefcase—and pulled out one of the booklets I’d had printed the day before. Since it was just the two of us, I decided to forgo the laptop. My PowerPoint was solid, but I knew I would do better on the pitch without all the bells and whistles. I needed to connect with him personally.

In fact, my whole presentation seemed overboard now. Suddenly, I knew my angle. “I put together a portfolio of all of the charities I thought might be suitable for SIC.” I handed him a booklet. “Each of them are worthy and notable and would be a fine fit for a company as prestigious as yours. I’m happy to go over the pros and cons, walk you through what a partnership with each would look like. Or we can skip all that, and I can tell you why Sebastian Industrial would be making a huge mistake if they chose to team up with any charity other than the Dysautonomia Relief Foundation.”

I hadn’t stuttered or tripped over my words once. I was so nailing this.

Now all he had to do was tell me to skip all the bullshit and tell him more about the DRF and I’d have this thing in the bag. My heart hammered in my chest as he flipped through the booklet, waiting for his response.

After a handful of eternal seconds, he looked up at me encouragingly. “I’m definitely curious about the latter. Unfortunately, there’s a whole team to convince, and they’ll probably want to hear about every single one of your charities in great detail before making a decision. I apologize in advance for how long and drawn-out they’ll make it.”

My stomach dropped. There was so much he’d said to be distressed about. I picked the first one to focus on first. “A team?”

“Just five others. They won’t see anyone until they’ve been vetted, which is what we’re supposedly doing now. Just a formality, really. And a chance for me to tell you what to expect during the process. This portfolio you’ve put together is right in line with what they’ll need to see. If you have a slide presentation, I’d recommend that as well.”

“Okay.” I’d been thrown, but that didn’t mean I still didn’t have a handle on this. I forced myself to take a breath and pivot. I’d already been prepared for the possibility of meeting with a group to begin with. This was no big deal. “I do have a presentation. PowerPoint. Should I set that up now?” There was a TV screen on the wall, but I had a hard time imagining five other people around that small table with us. Maybe we’d move to a bigger conference room.

He returned his attention to the booklet. “No. I don’t need to see it. Based on this, I’m sure it’s fine.” He glanced up at me and must have realized the misunderstanding from my expression. “Oh, you mean set up for the team. They won’t be joining us today. We’ll have to schedule something for that.”

My mouth went dry. I’d had to push to get this meeting as quickly as I did. “How soon could we make that happen?”

“I think we can squeeze you in early next week. Julie mentioned that you thought this was time sensitive. I’m guessing that has to do with that charity you’re pushing most?”

“Yeah. Um.” Pull yourself together. “They’re actively seeking a sponsor. I’d hate for you to miss the chance to work with them when I know they’d be a perfect fit.”

He closed the booklet and clasped his hands together in front of him. “If it were up to just me, Tess, I’d say sign us up right now. I know we’ve just met, but I have a gut instinct for these things. Just flipping through your material, I can tell you know what you’re selling. It’s already much more organized than some of the other pitches I’ve heard recently.”

I swallowed, trying to clear the ball in the back of my throat. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“I mean it, too. I’m sorry I don’t have any authority to make that happen.”

His candidness gave me courage to return it. “Really? That just. That surprises me, I guess.”

He looked at me strangely. “Oh, because of the name? Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Wait. What?

“I’m one of the lesser Sebastians,” he said in explanation. “Not a descendent of Irving. Ida, his sister, was my grandmother. I’m just a cousin. Much less powerful, much less formidable.”

“Oh.” Then, when I’d fully digested what he’d said, “Ohhhh.” God, I was an idiot. I’d heard his last name and just assumed. I was even more stupid for not spending any time learning about the Sebastian family tree. This past week in preparation, I’d been so focused on researching the business itself, looking for the best ways to move into the future with the DRF that I’d completely missed investigating its past.

I vowed to myself to do that before the next meeting.

And what was that last thing he’d said? “Formidable?”

He waved a dismissive hand. “I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want you to worry needlessly about your presentation. You’ll only have one of the greater Sebastians in the room, and he’s not one of the ones who bites.” He reconsidered. “At least he doesn’t bite too hard.”

I was not soothed. I wasn’t a fan of powerful men who bit at all.

Brett’s gaze moved suddenly to something behind me. “Ah, here he is now, in fact.” He stood up and addressed the person behind me. “Great timing. We were just talking about you.”

The dread from before returned in a flood. I knew before I stood up, before I turned around. I could feel it on my skin, the way it felt charged, like a current running through my veins. I knew in my bones that it was him.

Somehow I made it to my feet. Somehow my knees didn’t give out as I turned to him. Somehow I managed not to fall apart when my gaze met his ocean blues. They were even more devastating than I’d remembered.

He smiled, a smile so smooth it was hard to believe he even recognized me. Except he did recognize me. His mouth might have been able to keep the fact hidden, but his eyes fell on my face with heated familiarity. His eyes sparked with triumph.

And Brett was completely unaware. “Scott, this is Tess Turani. She’s with the charity liaison organization.”

I let Blue Eyes—Scott—take my hand in his. His grip was the same as Brett’s, maybe a little firmer, but the effect he had on my body was entirely different. It was like being plugged in. Like one hundred and ten volts were running through our touch.

“Yes,” he said, a faint grit in his tone. “When I heard you were meeting with Conscience Connect today, I decided I had to stop by and see who your contact was since I knew there was no way Kendra would reach out herself. Nice to officially meet you, Tess...Turani, was it?”

“Uh-huh.” It was the only sound I was capable of producing. I’d slept with him. And now I was going to have to work with him. And he was a Sebastian.

“There are several of them around here,” he’d said when I brought up the name at the party.

I wanted to hit myself.

And he knew Kendra! The mystery man who’d given me the best sex in my life was here and he was a Sebastian and he was the man in charge, and he fucking knew Kendra.

“Thank you, Brett,” he said, his hand still clutching mine. “I can take this from here. Could you shut the door on the way out?”

“Oh. Sure. No problem.” Brett seemed surprised at being dismissed. But he was a lesser Sebastian, as he’d said, and there was no way he was going to refute it. Halfway out the room, he did turn back. “Tess, I’ll have Julie call the number on file to set up that meeting for next week, if that works?”

With my eyes still locked on Scott, I cleared my throat. “Yes. Please. Thank you, Brett.”

Then the door was shut and it was just me and Scott.

“Looks like I found you,” he said with a wicked smirk.

Yep. I was totally doomed.

* * *

Ready for more?

The story continues in Man in Charge.

The Sebastians own this city.

Hell, they own the whole world.

All I want is one little piece of it, a corner that I can call my own.

So when my boss runs away to “find herself”, I seize the opportunity and dive head first into the Sebastian’s glamorous universe. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted—fast paced and high stakes—and, even though I don’t fit in, I’m excellent at faking it.

Until I come face to face with the man in charge, Scott Sebastian, the arrogant, playboy heir with the mind of a devil and the body of a god and a mouth I can’t stop thinking about.

He’s infuriating. He’s a distraction. He’s the man who wants me in his bed as much as I want to be there.

And, if I get too close, he’ll be the one person who could expose me for what I really am—a fraud.

Get Man in Charge now!

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About Laurelin Paige

With millions of books sold, Laurelin Paige is the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Fixed Trilogy. She's a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there's kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn't seem to complain, however. When she isn't reading or writing sexy stories, she's probably singing, watching shows like Killing Eve, Letterkenny and Discovery of Witches, or dreaming of Michael Fassbender. She's also a proud member of Mensa International though she doesn't do anything with the organization except use it as material for her bio.

www.laurelinpaige.com

laurelinpaigeauthor@gmail.com

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