Page 38 of Desire Me

“Salv, shouldn’t you be mingling and greeting your customers? This is your opening night.” I ask, taking a sip of my water.

He smiles, making his usually hard face appear softer. “As pretty as this face is, I don’t show it off often. You see that clean cut muthafucker with the beige suit on?” he points to a man behind me. I turn to get a look at the guy.

The man looks to be in his late thirties with dark brown hair, and a slight beard and mustache. He isn’t extremely attractive; his face is pleasant but forgettable.

“Yeah, what about him?” I say, as I turn back to the table.

“His name is James and he’s the face of most of my businesses. I get to keep my privacy and he gets to look important. It’s a win win situation.”

I understood the need for privacy. Nico does a great job of keeping himself out of the media. He has an entire team that works to keep his face off the internet. Which is why when I searched, I only found bad side profiles or blurry long-distance shots. The only person that does have a media following is Mason, but I think he does something in politics.

“Don’t let him fool you, Ms. Best,” Mason says taking a sip of his drink. “If Salv could get away with plastering his face across billboards he would.”

“Most Definitely.” Kaz says in a heavy accent. He hardly ever says more than two or three words.

“Nobody asked you to co-sign, you silent bastard,” Salv says to Kaz and the entire table laughs.

A few minutes later the waitress comes back for our food order. Up until now, Mason’s date has been mostly silent.

“And for you?” the waitress says to the beautiful light brown skinned girl after taking everyone else’s order.

“I’ll have your garlic infused boiled Maine lobster with a side Caesar salad.”

The waitress flips her electronic tablet closed. “Okay.”

“I’m not done,” the girl says holding a hand up to the waitress. “I’ll also have your 12 oz Wagyu. Medium rare. A side of loaded baked mashed potatoes, steamed seasonal vegetables and a bottle of your most expensive Merlot. Oh, and it’s all on his tab.” She points to Mason.

My mouth falls open, not because she ordered two of the most expensive things on the menu, but where the heck is she going to put all that food. She’s tiny in size and height.

Mason chuckles when the waitress looks to him to verify what the lady ordered. He nods his head sending the waitress on her way.

“If you think to punish me by digging in my pockets, Ms. Montgomery, you’ll be digging for a long time.”

I don’t miss the sneer on his face as he says this. Ms. Montgomery glares back at him.

“Spoken like a true rich, privileged, white man,” she says rolling her eyes.

“Are you determined to make tonight miserable?”

“Yes,” she replies to Mason. “Let’s not act like I actually want to be here.”

He chuckles, completely unbothered by her antics. In fact, everyone at the table, besides me, seems unbothered by the girl admitting to being forced to be here.

Mason leans toward her and talks in a lowered voice for our table only. “Keep talking, Mia, and I will fuck that attitude right out of you.”

Mia smirks. “I doubt you have the stamina, old man.”

I choke on my water; Nico has to pat my back to get me to recover. Meanwhile, he, Salv, and Kaz are laughing their asses off.

“It’s official,” Salv says once he finishes laughing. “I like her.”

Despite Mia’s fiery temper with Mason, she’s actually really nice and funny. She and I talked most of the night. We even laughed at the ‘brothers’ as they made fun of each other. The night went by in a blur. Two hours later it was time for us to go.

“I have to go the restroom,” I say to Nico as I stand.

He gets to his feet too.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

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