Page 65 of The Winslow Brothers

I laugh.

“Okay, you lush. Stop chugging the truth serum, and let’s bang this out. Before long, some of the richest, most successful, powerhouse men and women in the world are going to be in this room, and I don’t think they’re going to want to hear about how crazy I am.”

All manner of suit-wearing men start to flood through the doors, many of them heading directly for the bar. A couple go straight for the table of hors d’oeuvres, but the rest are too busy mingling to focus on anything but one another.

One man, in particular, seems to have drawn a bit of crowd around himself as he talks and laughs and gesticulates wildly. All the men around him break out into a mixture of laughter and guffaws as he finishes whatever tale he’s weaving.

“My God, I need one of those,” Julie mutters under her breath, staring at him longingly.

There’s something familiar about his big, muscled frame, but I’m not entirely sure what it is.

What I do notice, however, is the sparkling metal on one of his very important fingers.

I turn away and warn her, discreetly looking out at one of the giant, eighteen-foot-high glass walls over the twinkling lights of Manhattan. “He’s married, Jules. Sorry.”

She doesn’t turn, instead choosing to keep ogling the guy shamelessly. “I didn’t say it had to behim.Just one like him…or twenty like him. Whatever.”

I grin. “I don’t know.” I glance back, away from the glitz of city streets and at the man in question with a craned neck over my shoulder. He’s got dark hair and bright eyes and a smile that could fill this entire ballroom, but he also has the air of a wild man—the kind that I’m not sure ever really settles down—and enough charisma that suggests women will always be hitting on him. I don’t know if I could handle being with someone like that, ginormous frame and huge, honed muscles or not. “He’s not really my type.”

“What?” she nearly shrieks, making me reach out to clutch her elbow, afraid she’s going to make a scene. “You’re joking me right now, aren’t you? Because if that man,” she says, pausing only long enough to point directly at him and make me reach out to grab the offending finger and turn it away, “is not your type, you really do have impossible standards, and I’ll think about just getting you a couple of cats now.”

I roll my eyes. “Just because I say one guy in the world isn’t my type doesn’t mean I’m ready for spinsterdom. Come on.”

“You come on!” she insists. “Do you see him? Or do I need to get your eyes checked?”

“Thatch!” someone else yells across the room, catching the subject of our conversation’s attention.

Julie’s still focused on me, waiting for an answer, but as my brain starts spinning over the shouted name, I finally make sense of the familiarity.

And boy is it comical.

He looks familiar because I’ve seen him inCosmopolitan, on the dreaded coffee table in Dr. Winters’s office.

For the love of everything.

“Julie, slow your roll, sister, because I know who that man is,” I say quietly, and she quirks a brow. “It’s Thatcher Kelly, for fuck’s sake.”

“Who?”

“The billionaire!” I whisper-yell.

Julie swings her head around sharply, and she compresses her chest with a hard hand. “Okay, he’s perfect.”

I scoff. “He’s also married to Cassie Kelly, one of the most beautiful women on the planet, and they have a, like, one-year-old kid or something.”

“How do you know all of this?”

I wave her off. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Thatcher Kelly is so far out of both our leagues, we’re practically on different planets.”

“Out of my league?” Julie shakes her head. “I’m not afraid of a challenge.”

“Jules! He’s married.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yes,boss, I know. Don’t worry, I’m not going after him. I’m just saying that I don’t set boundaries for myself without even trying. Nothing is unattainable, and it’d do you some good to get the same attitude.”

“What do you mean?”

“I meeean…don’t take no for an answer. Never give up on the first try. If you don’t ask, they can’t say yes. The only person capable of holding you back is you. And I, for one, don’t consider myself a cockblock.”

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