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“I do it all the time and I'm fine,” she insisted.

He grabbed hold of her face with a familiarity that made an ugly emotion rear its head.Jealousy?From the sounds of it, Tommy was happily married to Dan. And yet… Fuck. Yeah, that’s what it was. Jealousy. Over someone I didn’t even know. I had absolutely no right to feel jealous.

“You’re killing me,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want to get dinner?”

Her laughter rang over the terrible crowing of the band on stage. “I’m sure. We’ll do this again though.”

He sighed dramatically and gave me a determined look. “Walk her home. Get her contact information. We’ll set up a meeting next week.”

Pepper slapped his chest. “You can’t just do that.”

“I can,” he said.

“I don’t mind,” I said. “I could stretch my legs.”

“He’s hungry,” she argued like I wasn’t there.

“I am,” I said, staring directly at her. “But I’ll eat after I walk you home.”

Her cheeks reddened.

Tommy grinned, clearly feeling victorious. “Wonderful. In that case, I’m going to leave business to you, my dearly beloved boss.”

“Tommy, my darling,fuck off,” she seethed.

His grin didn’t falter. He held out his hand and I shook it. “See you next week, Salt. I’m gonna go play with my husband.”

“Have fun,” I chuckled.

He left us alone in the hall. The moment he was out of earshot, Pepper huffed, shooting me a dark glare. “You don’t need to walk me home.”

“You have all the money in the world,” I said. “Why won’t you just take an Uber?”

“Because I like the walk.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Like I said, I don’t need an escort. I’m almost forty, for god’s sake.”

My brows shot up. She didn’t look like she was almost forty. And really, I didn’t care if she was.

If anything, it only made me want to fuck her more.

“How old are you actually?”

If looks could kill, I’d be dead. “Thirty-seven.”

I rolled my eyes at her, and she scoffed.

“Did you just roll your eyes at me?”

“Yeah, I did.”

Her glare intensified. “What are you, twenty?”

“Twenty-five.” I enjoyed the way her expression twisted with shock.

“You don’t look twenty-five,” she muttered.

“Well, look at us. Two peas in a pod already,” I said easily. “And I don’t really care if you don’t want me to, I will be walking you home.”

Her pretty lips pulled into a thin line. “Fine.”

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