Page 7 of You, Me, and Forever

She chuckled and shook her head before reaching for the cocktail that I’d gotten for her. “I guess you are.”

We spent the next hour making small talk, which I normally despised. But this woman was witty and funny, and for whatever reason, I was enjoying myself. I ordered us another round and asked Benji to bring a couple of waters, because I got the feeling that she didn’t drink often by the way she gulped her drink and how her words were slurring the slightest bit.

Two women walked our way, and it was clear that they were intoxicated—they were shouting her name and shaking their hands around.

“Dominique, we couldn’t find you,” the blonde said, raising a brow as she perused me from head to toe. “Hey there, good looking. I’m Marilyn Monroney. The pleasure is all yours.”

For fuck’s sake.

This one was clearly using a bullshit name, too, but she owned it and had zero hesitation.

I extended my hand to her. “Myles. Nice to meet you, Ms. Monroney.”

“Myles. That’s a cool name,” the other woman said before she proceeded to hiccup a dozen times as she laughed. “Sorry about that. I’m Dr. Pamela Pepper. Are you here on business or pleasure?”

“Dr. Pepper, huh?” I looked at the woman sitting on the stool beside me, and her teeth sank into her bottom lip like she knew they were busted. “That’s quite a name. What type of doctor are you?”

“I’m a penguin heart surgeon.”

“Wow. I didn’t know that was a thing,” I said. “You both seem to have such interesting careers.”

“Dominique, you weren’t bragging about your diamond business, were you?” the blonde asked.

“You know, I just told him about all the imports and exports that I do,” she said with a smile.

“Yes. Our girl is quite the savvy business lady,” Dr. Pepper said, and I did my best not to blatantly laugh.

“We were going to head out,” Blondie said. “What are you going to do?”

A look passed between them that I couldn’t quite read.

“I, um, I’m having a good time, actually.” Dominique turned to look at me in question, as if she was asking if I would stay with her.

I couldn’t help but smile and nod. I wasn’t in any hurry to leave, which was saying a lot because I normally liked to get in and out of a place.

“Myles, is it?” Marilyn leaned forward, eyes all business now.

“Yep. That’s my name.” I smirked.

“Well, Myles ...” She glanced over at her friend and then back at me. “I track this girl’s location on my phone, and you should know that I’m the chief of police in the Big Apple. Yep, you heard that right. I run the show in New York City, so I’ve got everything about you right here in the vault.” She tapped her temple, and I laughed.

Partially because I lived in New York, and I knew the current chief of police, and it was most definitely not the woman standing in front of me.

And partially because Dominique was looking at me with the most mortified look on her face, and I fucking loved it.

At the moment, I didn’t even care that she’d given me a fake name.

We were just having fun, and she was sexy as hell, and I wasn’t ready for this night to end either.

“I wasn’t planning on breaking the law, Chief Marilyn Monroney. Just enjoying some drinks with my favorite diamond dealer.” I winked at the dark-haired beauty sitting next to me.

“Wow ... he’s so gorgeous,” Dr. Pepper whispered incredibly loud, which made them laugh.

They kissed their friend on the cheek, and Marilyn turned toward me one last time.

“Myles,” she called out.

“Yes.”

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