Page 315 of Dark Love

“Excuse me? First, you tell me that I’m trouble. Then you drink my drink. Now you’re telling me that my hot boss wants to ask me out.”

You’re definitely trouble.

“My boss isn’t interested in me at all.”

Every man that looks at you is interested. They’re just afraid of taking their shot and missing. “You’re wrong.”

“Am not.”

I want to kiss those pouty lips. Focus… “Fifty bucks says he asks you out within a month.” It’s an unfair bet.

“I don’t gamble.”

“You don’t gamble, and you don’t drink. What do you do?” Women like you don’t exist in my world.

I lift my glass to my lips to avoid reaching up and brushing a finger across her wrinkled brow. “You should leave.” Before I can’t control my baser impulses.

“Fine, I’ll go, but you need to answer one question first.”

The hurt look she gives me is better than the alternative. “What?”

“What kind of cookies do you like?”

Cookies… she’s back to asking about cookies. “Chocolate chip.”

“With or without nuts?”

“That’s not one question.”

“Fine. But you’ll be stuck with whatever I pick… Um…” Her eyes go to where my arm is still wrapped around her.

Every part of me protests letting her go.

“Thank you again.” She walks out of my life forever…

Ejected

Dahlia

Do I go back to the table or to the bar to get a new set of drinks first? The table. Definitely the table. The girls are at a table by the opposite corner with a clear view of where I was sitting. They aren’t even pretending not to watch me the entire time I weave through people.

“How do you know Vex?” Diane doesn’t wait for me to even sit down before she starts questioning me.

“Vex?”

Her eyes bug out, and her jaw drops open. “You just sat down at the biggest crime lord’s table in Urbium, and you don’t even know his name.”

Crime lord? “How can you say that? He seems like a perfectly nice man.”

The girls burst into laughter without explaining the joke.

Fine, he might not look like a nice man. But he’s really kind and slightly confused about what trouble means.

“Prue, that man broke a guy’s fingers for grabbing a girl's butt on the dance floor without permission,” Mindy fake whispers.

Okay, so he really doesn’t like a woman being sexually assaulted. “Still not getting the evil crime lord vibe.”

“Broken fingers are nothing. He beat a guy bloody and broke both legs after the creep tried to roofie a girl in here.” Diane’s whisper is actually close to one.

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