Page 52 of One Taste
“You look way too much like an angel to be a devil.”
Turning, I find Mr. Jones himself standing behind me. A smile plays at the corner of my lips as Brielle tosses me a wink.
“Maybe I’m both,” I tell him as I spin and take in the man before me. He’s tall. A nice stubble covering his jaw. His hazel eyes crinkle in the corners when he smiles.
“I’m Brian,” he says. “Would you like to dance?” He tips his head in the direction of the dance floor off in the far corner.
“Sure.”
We move to the music and I let my eyes close as Brian places his hands on my hips while we dance. He’s got some moves and isn’t overly aggressive. We dance a few songs before he offers to buy me another drink and we head back to the bar. I glance around for Brielle and find her close to where I left her chatting with a group of people.
“So, tell me a little about yourself,” Brian says as we wait for the next round.
We exchange basic information over the next hour and I like him. He’s nice.
“Listen, as much as I want to ask you if you want to head back to my place,” he says a little shyly. “I’d rather take you out on a real date first. So instead, how about I ask for your number?”
A date? A date is nice. It’s the respectful thing to do. So, why does a part of me feel a tad bit of disappointment that he didn’t ask me back to his place? Not that I would have went. But I don’t know, it feels like some sort of letdown.
Taking his soft eyes, sweet smile, and look of anticipation as my answer. I decide making the slow steady approach is the best way to go. Jumping straight into bed with someone sure as hell didn’t work in my favor last time.
Sebastian
Part of me wants tohug Veronica and the other part wants to strangle her for even putting the idea in our heads.
“You’re sure?” Madison asks with hope and skepticism in her voice.
Veronica nods. “Yes, the Cartwrights have nothing to do with this.”
“How do you know?” She may sound certain in her claim, but I want to know exactly how she knows.
“As I mentioned, an associate of mine handles their private investigations. I was able to convince him to tell me if you were a subject they were looking into,” she explains. “You’re not.”
It sounds too good to be true. “So that’s it?”
She uncrosses her legs and then recrosses them before leaning forward and smiling. “That’s it.”
Her smile irks me. It’s not like she just let us know who is doing this, only who isn’t, so why the look of satisfaction?
“Except that we still don’t know who is behind this,” Madison says reading my thoughts. “The tabloids confirmed it’s the same person who sold all the photos? It’s not different people just seizing the opportunity for some extra cash?”
Veronica sits taller, clearly not happy with Madison pointing out she still hasn’t actually done her job. “The same person sold the photos of you to theEnquirerand theStar. I don’t have a means of confirming it was the same at both publications without a suspect, but I don’t doubt it was the same person. The competition from magazines to drop the photos first increases the value through a bidding war. As for the online gossip sites, they’ve run the same photos pulled from theEnquirerandStarbut have also pulled images from social media. It’s clear that those were gathered from tags and hashtags.”
Inhaling deeply, I blow out a frustrated breath. “So, we have nothing.”
“This is a process of elimination, Sebastian, darling,” she sighs as she stands from the couch in my office. “Without a list of potential enemies looking to sabotage you, I don’t have much to go on. I’m working through employee files, but you have a lot of employees. I have people scouring internet comments about you to see if anything pops up there. I’m doing what I can with a limited amount of information and no motive.”
Madison follows her to the door. “Thank you, Veronica. Please call if you find anything new.”
“Of course.” She kisses Madison’s cheek. “You both do the same.”
Madison turns from the door as soon as it clicks closed. “Well, at least it’s not the Cartwrights. The last thing we need is those ruthless assholes after us.”
“Thank god for silver linings, right? It’s been over a month though, and she hasn’t found anything useful for us.”
“There haven’t been any new photos so give her some more time, Sebastian. The situation isn’t worsening,” Madison tells me while gathering her files and notepad from the coffee table. “Right now, we have to get to the budget meeting.”
She does make a point. There have been no new photos of me getting my dick serviced so that’s a definite plus. I guess my routine of jerking it in the shower thinking about Devin’s pussy is working for my image. My cock, not so much. A smile sprawls across my lips when I realize I’m about to spend the next hour or so in close quarters with her.
