Page 7 of Velvet Sin
He groaned.“Why do you have to remind me I let some guy snap you up before I could?”She shook her head again, chuckling as she departed.
“Have you fucked your way through the entire strip?”I asked.
“Please.I have standards.”When I lifted a brow, he laughed.“Fucking around and actual fucking are two very different things.A woman has to be more than a nice set of tits and a firm ass for me to stick my dick inside.”
“If your business ever goes under, you should write greeting cards,” Aiden suggested.
“Forget greeting cards.You could create inspirational memes,” Vaughn decided, making us laugh as we finished our drinks.Like me, they were busy men.There was only so much time to sit around and pat ourselves on the back.
They promised to attend the opening party tomorrow evening, shaking hands before I headed to the bar to settle the tab.A handful of tourists hovered near the door, snapping photos and videos like it was their first restaurant.They looked ridiculous, but no one would call them out.Tourists kept the town running, after all.By tomorrow, they’d be forgotten, replaced by a new batch.
“Mr.West?Here you go.”
The bartender, barely twenty-five, handed me the bill.Unlike in LA, he didn’t seem like someone waiting to pitch a screenplay.Just a kid doing his job.
A warm, soft female voice floated my way from the other end of the gleaming bar positioned along the far wall of the dining room.“I’m sorry, we’re fully staffed at this time.But please feel free to upload your résumé to our website, under the careers tab, so we can get in touch with you when there’s an opening.”Then she shook hands with the woman she was trying to let down gently.
There were moments in life when time stood still.When the past and present overlapped in the most uncanny way.When things happened that were impossible to prepare for.
This was one of those moments.I stood at the bar, leaning against the polished brass rail for support, when my knees went out.
Impossible.
There was no fucking way.
The one person I was determined to avoid was the woman I told myself there would be no chance of running into in a city this size.
For a moment, I could barely manage to stand in one place and look at her.I had seen her online, but over the past few months had made it a point to resist the impulse to track her activity.The fact that I was generally booked solid in meetings, dinners, and phone calls helped a lot.There was nothing like a rushed opening to improve a man’s discipline.
Besides, seeing her online was nothing compared to being in the same room as her, even a room as large as this one.She didn’t see me, too busy being disappointed, her face falling.Sure, she fought to hide it, but I noticed the quivering chin.She never could hide anything from me.Ten years hadn’t changed that.
How could she be more beautiful than ever?Time had turned her from a hot, fresh-faced kid to a gorgeous woman.Chestnut locks framed her face, hanging just past her sculpted shoulders.I already knew from my occasional social media stalking that she didn’t have kids, and if anything, her body was better than I remembered—tighter but full in all the right places.
I hadn’t touched her in a decade, which meant there was no explanation for the rush of possessiveness that forced the air from my lungs.I had touched that body.Explored.I made her scream my name.She had once pulled out some of my hair, losing control while I licked her clit.How many times had that boring, sniffling little prick, Cameron, done that to her?Had he ever tried?
I could almost see his fingerprints on her skin—what I wouldn’t have given to wipe them all away.He’d spent the four years we’d known each other at UCLA doing everything short of standing on his head to take her away from me with his insults and jokes that weren’t jokes at my expense.Trying to make plans with her, inviting her to ski at his parents’ cabin.
Hearing about their marriage through mutual acquaintances had been a sucker punch, but in the end, he and I knew the truth.She would never have chosen him on her own if I hadn’t broken her.He was only good for picking up the scraps I’d left behind.
I now had a choice to make.This or that.Acknowledge or ignore.Life was good.It had never been better.Everything was in place.There was no room for complication, no time to dig up the dead and breathe life into ghosts.
I could have walked away.I should have let her walk away.She hadn’t noticed me.We could both go on with our lives like this never happened.
Naturally, then, I did exactly what I knew I shouldn’t.I caught up to her and fell in step beside her as she headed for the tourist-crammed entrance.I spoke aloud a name that, until now, I’d only voiced in my head.“Lenny?”
Her head snapped around, lips parting in a gasp before she found me only a mere inches away.Sapphire blue eyes widened and thick lashes fluttered over them, like she was trying to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating or having a bad dream.
“Oh,” she breathed out once she confirmed I was real.That was the best she could do.
“I thought it was you,” I offered, now wondering what the hell the point was.Why had I stopped her?What was I planning to say?I had no plan.That was the problem.For the first time in a long time, I acted without thinking, leaving me floundering a little while she rolled her shoulders back and lifted her chin.She didn’t know I had seen her come close to crumbling.
Her pouty lips parted so she could murmur, “It’s been a long time.”The sleek leather satchel she carried over one shoulder became her shield as she positioned it in front of her body, covering her blouse.
It had been a long time, but there were certain things the years couldn’t change.The line between her brows that deepened the more anxious she became, for starters.“Yes, it has.”
And this was the most awkward conversation I’d ever had.She didn’t offer a handshake and barely made eye contact.
Yet there I was, hungry for more.What was she doing looking for a job?And why was her ring finger bare?The hair on the back of my neck rose at the implication.Had she finally seen the light and realized she settled for the first thing that came along after we broke up?
