Page 21 of Pursued by the Player

“My pleasure.” He tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and leaned in close to her ear. “You look stunning in that outfit, by the way. And the way you shake your head at me. . .” He grinned at her skeptical look. “You remind me of my big toe.”

She scrunched her nose at him. “Your big toe? Why?”

He leaned in close to her ear and lowered his voice. “Because I’m going to bang you on my coffee table tonight.”

Before she could form a proper retort, he swept her into the restaurant. Wait staff fussed over them as soon as they saw the famous Jett Gorski, falling all over themselves to attend to his needs. Jett smiled and signed autographs, then asked for his usual private room. A giggly girl directed them around to a small room filled with flowers and an ornate fountain in a corner. While the table was set beautifully with elegant silver place settings, long white candles in intricate silver holders, a bottle of wine chilling in an antique looking silver wine cooler filled with ice, it was still overshadowed by the fountain in the corner.

“Well isn’t that…interesting.” Mel almost felt inappropriate for looking at it.

“What, you don’t like it? I think it’s beautiful, unique.” Jett chuckled, clearly amused at her discomfort.

“Well, seeing a naked woman was not entirely what I had in mind when I agreed to dinner at Chez Monique.” Mel instantly regretted her word choice.

“Funny, I had just the opposite thought.” Jett leaned down into her ear and lowered his voice. “Seeing a naked woman was just what I had in mind.”

Yup. She walked right into that one. It was obvious that Jett wasn’t talking about the statue in the fountain. The full frontal, fully nude statue of a woman with her ankles crossed, head tossed back, and arms outstretched to the sides. And even though he was a complete ass, she couldn’t stop the ripple of heat that coursed through her body.

“Well, I guess neither of us is getting what we expected tonight then.” Mel shot him a saucy smile, and a small burst of laughter erupted from his lips. “Oh, we’ll see about that. The night is still young.” Jett pulled out Mel’s chair and gestured for her to sit, helping to push her chair back in once she did.

Walking around the table, Jett took the only other chair at the small, round table, sitting across from Mel. As soon as he was seated the giggly girl was practically in his lap, menus in hand.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Jett said as she placed his menu on the table.

“Oh, no problem at all.” She giggled as he touched her arm and slid her gaze down to his hips. “If you should need anything else—”

Mel cleared her throat, drawing the bimbo’s attention away from her date. The woman smiled and leaned forward as she placed a menu before Mel.

“When you are done with him,” she whispered. “Let me know.”

Mel scowled at the redhead as she bounced from the room.

“Is everything okay?” Jett asked.

“Peachy.” Mel shook off the jealousy and opened her menu. Scanning the overly fancy lettering that was filled with so many swirls and swishes it was almost illegible, she found the ridiculously overpriced chicken dinner Liv had spoken of. But in fact, it was one of the least expensive items on the menu.

“I was told I just had to try the roast chicken. Liv insists.” Mel smiled inwardly. She wouldn’t tell him it was because she was dying to know what $200 chicken tasted like.

Jett shook his head. “There are much better items on the menu; the Foie gras is the best in the city.”

“I think I’ll pass.” Mel continued to read her menu as their waitress returned to the room. Didn’t she -just- leave?

“Are you ready to order, Mr. Gorski?”

Jett, without even looking at the menu in his hands, spoke to the waitress “We’ll have the Wild Fijian albacore sashimi with pea tendril salad to start. Can you bring that out while we go over the rest of the menu? I think the lady here needs a little more time.”

“Oh, of course, Mr. Gorski. Anything for you.” She batted her eyes so hard Mel thought she was going to flick her obviously false lashes right off.

“The lady,” she cleared her throat, “can speak for herself, and is ready to order, thankyouverymuch.” She turned to the waitress. “I’ll have the roast chicken.” Mel shortened the title of the dish by a good seven superfluous adjectives when ordering. “With the baked brie to start.” Mel shut her menu with a little more gusto than was needed, placing it on the edge of the table.

“Yes, of course, ma’am.” The waitress scribbled in her notebook, barely even looking at Mel, her attention always on Jett. “And for you?” More eyelash batting.

Ma’am?Bitch.

“I’ll have the beef tenderloin.”

“Medium-rare, as always?” She asked. “You know me so well.” He smiled up at her and the girl nearly drooled, spinning on her heel she started back out of the room. “I’ll be right back with those appies!”

***After placing the appetizers on the table, the waitress brushed her fingers over Jett’s arm, and he flashed her a seductive smile. “Thank you, sweetheart.” He found that a little seduction could go a long way. While he didn’t particular care to start anything with the wait staff, he knew that a casual smile or wink would get both him and Mel a little extra from the red head, and Jett wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. He just wanted to show Mel a good time. And after spending his whole life in and out of foster care to become a pro baseball player, he had learned the hard way that most people’s affection needed to be bought in one form or another. Money talks, and before he had any he perfected being charming. With no real family to speak of it was how he survived.

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