Page 183 of Roberto

“It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.”

BULLSHIT!

No Westerner we’d ever thrown out of De Sade had been so humble.

They always screamed variations onDo you know who I AM?!

Usually it was,Do you know how much I’m WORTH?!

As though money was everything.

“Given the status and wealth you project, I find that hard to believe,” I said.

He gave me an unfriendly smile. “It’s a family business, so it’s not like I’m the CFO of a major corporation. If I were mistaken for one of my veryfewemployees, all of whom are excellent at what they do – as I said, it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.”

…hm.

Clever answer.

“Let me change the question, then,” I said. “How would you feel if someone asked you to fetch them coffee? Or do some other menial job?”

“So you consider your employees’ work to be menial?”

He was good at arguing, I’d give him that…

But I wasn’t in the mood to be argued with.

Especially after the German.

“No… but whenI’mthe owner, and since my employees’ work is sexual in nature, I don’t like to be propositioned for whatever it is you think you canbuyme for, Mr. Rosolini.”

He looked flustered at my reaction. “I wasn’t – ”

Before he could continue, I stood up abruptly.

“Since this is my club, and since you didn’t actually pay for my drink, I think our time is at an end.” I gave him a fake-as-hell smile. “You’re welcome to ask any of myemployeeswhat they’re willing to do, but I would advise you to ASK… rather than assuming you already know. Good evening, Mr. Rosolini.”

And I turned around and stalked off.

My blood was pumping, my adrenaline was up –

And I’d actually said what Iwantedto say instead of playing the demure little flower.

I didn’t realize it at the time – it took about ten minutes for me to get over my anger –

But I’d actually sort ofenjoyedthe interaction.

It was far more interesting than being asked what my name meant or being told I was beautiful.

And hehadbeen quite handsome.

Too bad he was an asshole…

Just like all the rest of them.

73

The remainder of the evening passed uneventfully.

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