Page 22 of Heartless

“Well, thank you for the smile, Miss...”

“Rodriguez. Veronica Rodriguez.”

“Thank you, Miss Rodriguez. I had a lot on my mind tonight and many decisions to make.”

“Well, if one of those happens to involve looking for some company tonight, I’m available,” she says, leaning close to me.

She reaches up and boldly touches the curls in my hair, raking her hand across the back of my neck as she stares into my eyes.

I smile and then glance back down into my drink.

“I don’t think I should do that.”

“Why not?”

“I’m vulnerable right now,” I tease, winking at her.

“That’s the perfect excuse for why you should accompany me across the street to my hotel,” she says, winking.

“Can I get a raincheck on that?”

“Sure,” she says, recognizing the brush off for what it is. She reaches into her purse and grabs a pen and a card.

She leans over the bar and scribbles something on the card before handing it to me as she gets off her bar stool.

“R and E Properties. Veronica Rodriguez. Broker and Realtor. What does the ‘E’ stand for?”

She smiles brightly at me as she tugs her purse up her arm.

“Estes. My best friend and partner, Emilia Estes.”

“Ms. Rodriguez, I’ll be in touch.”

I stare at the card in my hand, and by the time I look up again, she’s disappeared.

“That was really nice, O,” I hear on the other side of me.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, turning to face MJ.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You’re a married man in a place like this—”

“A place like this? Somewhere that I come quite often?” I grit out.

“Flirting with women.”

“I always flirt with women. You know this. It’s never been a problem.”

“Do you always allow them to touch you, too? The way that she was all over you, I’ve never seen you allow a woman to do that to you before.”

“What the fuck, MJ? Are you following me? Spying on me?” I ask.

“Should I have a reason to?”

“I don’t know. You tell me,” I say, tossing my drink back.

“Just wanted to see how you play it when I’mnotaround,” she tosses back.

“Same way I would if you weren’t.”

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