Page 2 of Back in Black

The girls bounced with enthusiasm. Gillian couldn’t take it. She asked the bartender for a martini. By the time she’d been served and taken a few fortifying sips, Drew was alone at the bar with Brett.

“You’re brutal, Drew.”

“Did you see those girls? Not only were they phony from head to toes, the damn giggles were wearing on my nerves.” He worked his shoulders, as if releasing tension. “Jesus, I do have some standards, you know.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“You want the whole list, huh? Well, it doesn’t apply here, but she has to be less than forty. Older broads are too independent.”

Brett laughed. “Those two together weren’t forty.”

“No, but young andnot stupiddon’t have to be exclusive.”

Brett grinned. “So what else?”

“She has to be childless, because let’s face it, the whole kid thing is a major pain in the ass. No way am I fucking anybody’s mother. And before you say it, yeah, I know, those two are still children themselves.”

Brett saluted him with his juice.

“On top of being good-looking and sexy, she has to have a modicum of intelligence—at least enough that I can carry on a conversation with her. And no squealing. God Almighty, I detest broads who squeal.”

Brett commiserated. “They were squealers.”

“Can you imagine how loud they’d be in the sack, riding out a big O?” Drew laughed. “I’d need fucking earplugs.”

Brett grinned. “Braggart.”

That nasty mouth of his, Gillian thought as she shook her head.Riding out a big O.Who talked like that? The things Drew said, the crude language he used, were not befitting to the force behind the fastest-growing sport in history. That mouth had gotten him into trouble, whether he realized it yet or not.

It was her job to clean up his act, to make him a more presentable figurehead for the SBC franchise.

Daunting, but maybe not impossible. She always enjoyed a challenge.

The trick would be to beat him at his own game, to always keep the upper hand, and to grow a skin so thick that her feminist core wouldn’t be damaged in the process.

She’d also have to remember that he was a grade-A jackass toward women, albeit a sexy one, so it’d behoove her to keep her emotional distance. Trusting him, in any way, would be a mistake. She could not let herself be drawn to him.

Sadly, he was the first man she’d found exciting in a very long time.

He was thelastman she could ever get involved with.

Picking up her glass, Gillian moved down the bar and slid onto the vacated seat beside Drew. Slowly she crossed her legs. While sizing him up, she removed the olive from her drink and bit into it.

Both men stared at her, not so much because of her looks, which she knew to be average, or her figure, which was a little more voluptuous than currently popular. But because she’d invaded their space—and was now staring back.

Drew swiveled around on his stool to face her fully. Without a word, he checked her out, lingering on her legs, her cleavage, and then her mouth.

When his gaze finally crept up to hers, he said in a low voice, “Hello, there.”

Oh, men weresoeasy. Smiling in triumph, Gillian held out a hand. “Hello.”

A very warm, firm hand, twice the size of her own, enveloped her fingers—and held on. “I’m Drew Black.”

“Of course you are.” Still smiling, she retrieved her hand from his. “Gillian Noode.”

“Nude?”

Of course he wouldn’t let that one slide. With a chastising look, she spelled, “N-o-o-d-e.”

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