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)
I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with that information with Bastian or Serano. How did he know then?
Had someone seen me?
And, if so, how much had they seen?
“The bouncer,” Renzo said. “He’s one of my associates. He said he thought he saw you, but your hair was different.”
He had been giving me a weird look, come to think of it.
But if Renzo had someone working at that club, I guess it was a good thing that it was someone who was outside. There was no way the bouncer could have seen what happened on the dance floor.
He could have seen—
“He said you stormed out at some point. And Vale chased after you.”
“We had a disagreement,” I said, shrugging it off.
“About what?” Renzo asked, those keen eyes pinning me.
Crap.
“You know me,” I said, waving a hand, trying to play it down.
“That I do. And, Saff, I thought I made it clear that you can’t go fucking this job up just because you can’t control your temper.”
Yeah, it wasn’t my temper that was the problem.
“I’m not fucking anything up. We had a perfectly amicable meeting and got most of the design plans hammered out.”
“Luckily, once the papers are signed, you don’t really need to be seeing Vale. At least not until the club is open.”
“Don’t you think it would be weird for me to be hands-off, then suddenly all over the place when it opens?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Besides, don’t you want me to have some of our people hired there? I can’t do that if I’m not involved in everything.”
“Alright. But if you start butting heads with him, I need to know you will take a step back and de-escalate the situation.”
“When have I ever given you a reason to doubt my ability to handle my job?”
“We both know your temper can—”
“Renz, don’t.”
“You once lit a man’s tie on fire.”
“Well, he was never late again on a payment, was he? And his beard grew back.”
“My point is, you can—on occasion—go the nuclear option when all the situation calls for is a little nudge, not a scorched earth policy.”
Alright.
Well, he had me there.
Even if he didn’t seem to grasp why I needed to handle my crew and our business with a firmer hand than he did. Why I often had to do something unhinged to get the same result that he might get with a few firm words.
“Fine,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “But this isn’t some asshole who tried to fuck over the family for three months in a row. This is just a businessman. I’m not going to light any part of him on fire.”
“Or sever anything. And his balls stay uninjured.”
“You drive a hard bargain,” I said, getting a chuckle out of my boss. “I know how important this is. I haven’t even raised my voice to him. And he was thoroughly un-kicked in the balls when he walked out of here.”
“Glad to hear it. Now, I got a message from my wife.”
“Which must be about books.”
A much safer topic than Soren’s balls. That had left un-kicked, sure, but likely quite blue.
“She wanted me to remind you that the ‘alien’ book came out today, so you need to get a copy so she has someone to talk to about it.”
“Oh, right. I completely forgot.”
“Is this one of those books that she’s gonna want to reenact?” he asked, eyes bright.
“Oh, definitely. It’s gonna be a complete fuck-fest.”
“Better go get myself some electrolytes on my way home,” he said, rising from his chair. “Let me know when the paperwork is signed and filed.”
“Will do.”
Renzo made his way out, and a few moments later, I walked out of my office, depositing the two mugs on Bass’s desk. “These mugs are too heavy.”
“They hurt your delicate wrists?” he teased. “Didn’t I hear you once dangled a man over a roof?”
“Well, I was only holding one leg,” I said, getting a little chuckle out of him. “I’m heading out.”
“Where to?”
“To buy a book.”
And lots of batteries to put in Mr. Good Vibrations.
Maybe if I gave that thing a real workout, I wouldn’t be so susceptible to Soren’s charms next time I saw him.
Or, at least, that was the lie I was telling myself as I walked to the bookstore.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Saff
I had myself convinced that I was all good on the desire front as I slipped into the navy blue sheath dress to go to Soren’s office.
With its knee-length skirt, high bodice, and uncomfortable cap sleeves, I felt surprisingly unsexy, despite the tight material.
In fact, I was so distracted by the weird, scratchy material as I rode the elevator up toward Soren’s office that I wasn’t even thinking about the man himself.
The only plus to the outfit, as far as I was concerned, was the fact that I got to wear blue ballet flats instead of heels.
“Miss Amato,” Teresa greeted me as I was tugging at the neck of my dress that felt like it was choking me, even though it wasn’t even close to a turtleneck.