Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Was she still unsteady in her heels? Yeah. But you barely even noticed that when you saw the rest of her.
I’d imagined what her body was like under her business casual clothes. But not even my most vivid fantasies came close to the reality.
Saff had definitely come dressed for the club in a curve-hugging bodycon dress that dipped just low enough in the front to hint at cleavage. But it was clearly her legs she’d chosen to show off with the short skirt that left most of her thick thighs on display.
Calvin followed my gaze, then looked back at me.
“That her?” Calvin asked, letting out a little whistle.
I couldn’t blame him.
She looked so good she made a man want to fall at her feet and beg to be allowed to worship her.
“That’s her.”
“You got you a little pocket princess,” he said before rushing out of the car to open my door.
“Thanks, Calvin,” I said.
Saff was busy checking out the line for the club, dread spreading across her pretty face—likely imagining standing on that line in the heels she clearly wasn’t comfortable in—so I got another moment to drink her in.
“I’ll find me a good parking spot. Just shoot me a text when you’re ready to hit the next club.”
“Sounds good,” I said just as Saff’s head turned and her gaze landed on me.
I swear it did so with impact, knocking the air out of my lungs.
“Hey,” she said, coming to a stop in front of me. “I’m not going to lie; I’m dreading that line.”
Even as I reminded myself to keep my damn hands to myself, I pressed one to the small of her back, feeling the heat of her skin through the thin material.
“We’re not going to be standing on a line,” I told her, walking her up to the bouncer.
His gaze moved over Saff, then toward me, but quickly back to Saff, something like confusion on his face. Almost as if he… knew her?
“Soren Vale,” I said when his gaze cut to me again.
“Yep,” he said, reaching to pull open the black velvet rope and allow us to pass.
There was some grumbling from the crowd, but as soon as we were one foot in the door, the music drowned out anything else.
I went ahead and used that sound barrier as a reason to keep my hand at Saff’s back, guiding her through the crush of the crowd, then up into the raised area of the VIP section.
“Heaven forbid you hang out with the common man,” Saff said as we slid into one of the rounded booths.
“We need to be able to talk,” I reminded her.
“What?” she yelled over the music.
I really didn’t need a valid excuse to scoot closer toward her in the booth. “We need to be able to talk,” I said, distracted by that strawberry sweet cream scent clinging to her skin, and the way her leg was pressed up against mine.
“Talk,” she repeated, and up that close, I could see the way her breath was picking up pace. “Can we drink?” she asked.
It was a terrible idea.
“Yes,” I said, flagging down the bottle service girl.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Saff
I knew we were supposed to be discussing business. But with my nerves skittering all over the place, I wasn’t going to be able to think straight without a drink.
It turned out that the ugly, uncomfortable, unflattering business casual clothes I’d been wearing around him had been a key part of my new persona. Stripped of those and strapped into a clinging club dress I’d needed to go out and buy—since I was generally a jeans and tee kind of chick—I felt neither like myself nor the businesswoman I was trying to appear to be to Soren.
I felt like a woman. One who was seated right up against a gorgeous man in a great suit, smelling like sin, watching me with those gooey eyes, and leaning in to be heard over the music, his breath warm on my ear and neck.
So when the bottle girl came back with champagne, I took my coupe and drank, even if I wasn’t a champagne kind of girl.
“Good?” Soren asked, mistaking my second greedy sup for appreciation when it was really just a survival tactic.
“We should have this on the menu,” I said, awkwardly trying to steer the night back into safer territory. “So, why did you want to come here?”
“Bar B has the best reviews of all the local clubs. It’s a perfectly middle ground between the more seedy establishments and the luxury ones.”
“Don’t knock the seedy ones.”
I’d spent many an enjoyable night in the local dive bars and clubs. True, I was usually working. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy a drink or two and the music.
“I’m not. They all have their place. But this is more what I have in mind for our club. It invites everyone from all different backgrounds, but has a decent cover charge and can charge premium for drinks.”