Page 109 of Burn With Me

“Should I buy into the sex toy industry? Get a mold of my cock done and dildos made so that the women of New York still have something to look forward to?” I quip.

She grips my tie and pulls me closer. “You can have a mold made for us. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be fucked by two men at the same time.”

Her comment takes me by surprise, and she nips at my lips before letting go and stepping back. “Now go, I have tables to take care of.”

I’ve never been a fan of naps until now. It’s like she’s back to her usual self.

Letting out a chuckle, I shake my head and walk down the hall to Carmela’s office. When I open the door, I see her working on her computer while my uncle has his set up on a smaller table that’s been pulled over to her couch.

“Where’s Mick?” I ask, shutting the door behind me and heading straight to the minibar to pour myself a drink.

“He’ll be here in a bit. We have a crisis. I need your Englishman on a call,” my uncle responds without looking away from his screen.

“Why couldn’t we have met at the office if we’re working?”

“Because we weren’t supposed to be working. I need to talk to you three, but this just came up. Some asshole in Chicago is trying to withhold information about a company we’re buying. I need you to call and pretend you're interested to see if you get different numbers.”

Snapping into business mode, I speak with my smooth English accent. “Get them on the phone.”

Carmela stops typing and looks over at me. “That’s impressive. If I didn’t know you were standing right there, I’d have never guessed that was you.”

“That’s the point,” my uncle and I say simultaneously.

As the call is picked up by a secretary and patched through to the person in charge of the sale, I get settled on the couch, ready to bring my A-game and not let my uncle down again. “Here we go.”

Ginny

“We’re too slow to keep everyone. You can go home early if you want,” Jacqueline’s annoying valley girl lilt sounds behind me.

By the time I turn to answer her, she’s already walking away, mumbling under her breath, “Not like you need the money, anyway.”

Guess it was more of an order and not an option to leave.

Returning to dumping out the salt and pepper shakers that crowd the table in front of me, I look up to catch the attention of the kitchen manager, Jakob, who is talking to one of the cooks. “Do you guys need anything brought down to storage?”

“Nah, we got it. It’s a slow night. We’ll probably end up closing early,” he replies.

“Sounds good.” Placing the last of the empty shakers into the tray for the dishwasher, I bring it to the back before heading down the hall to the lockers where we keep our stuff.

“You’re Jackson’s new girlfriend, aren’t you?” I hear behind me.

Turning, I see Senator Mick Charles walking the same way toward Carmela’s office. I stop and reach my hand out to shake his. “Yeah, that’s me. I’m Ginny. Nice to meet you.”

In all the time I’ve worked at Decadence, and now at Désirer, I’ve never been introduced to Mick. Truthfully, he kind of grosses me out. I don’t understand how he and Scott are friends. But if Jackson and I are going to stay together, I will have to learn how to deal with men like Mick.

“Nice to meet you, too. Scott is very fond of you. Nothing but nice things to say,” he croons. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s being charming, but it comes off as creepy.

I don’t respond, and we fall into step until we reach the office, where he opens the door, and I continue on my way.

Only, as soon as the door is open, I hear the unmistakable English accent of the man who left me crying on the floor of Désirer last night.

“... like a great deal to me. Are you sure there are no other companies interested? It was my understanding there was an offer on the…”

The air leaves my lungs as Mick shuts the door, cutting my stranger’s voice off. All the sound is sucked from my head—replaced with the deafening thud of my heart against my ribcage.

My stranger is here?

Why?

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