Page 8 of One Night with the Player

LEO

Icouldn’t let her leave like that, not after realizing the feelings I had for her hadn’t been one-sided. “Olivia, wait.”

“Let her go.” The woman with the dark hair who’d stepped in earlier stopped me.

“Who the hell are you?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Someone who knows how hard it was for her to pick herself back up and keep going the last time you decided to jump ship.”

My anger dissipated at the implied accusation. Whoever she was, Olivia must have told her about our past. “I’m trying to make up for that now.”

“Really? How so?” The woman crossed her arms and studied me with eyes as dark as coal.

“I want to do things right this time. Told her I’d pick her up at seven tomorrow night. You’re close, right?” If I could get this woman on my side, maybe she could help me convince Olivia to give me another chance.

“Oh, don’t go getting any ideas.” She let out a husky laugh. “I’m Team Olivia. You won’t get any help from me. If you want to win her back, you’ll need to come up with some ideas on how to woo her all on your own.”

“Woo her?” That sounded old-fashioned, not my style at all.

“Yes. Wooing is a lost art form. It’s important, though.”

“Got it, thanks.” I wasn’t sure if Olivia’s friend was jerking my chain or if there might be something to this wooing shit. Didn’t matter. I’d for sure be checking it out since I needed some sort of in. I held out my hand to shake hers in thanks for the tip.

“You’re not off the hook for that ten grand yet. Do you want to pay that via charge, cash, or check?”

“What did you say your name was?” This woman didn’t seem to take shit from anyone over anything. As much of a pain in my ass as she was turning out to be, I was glad Olivia had someone like her in her corner.

“Shiva.” She held out a hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Shiva. It sounds like you know much more about me than I know about you.” I didn’t like being at a disadvantage in business or in my personal life.

She shook my hand briefly before pulling away. “I didn’t catch that ,Mr. Steele. Did you say cash?”

I chuckled. Yeah, Olivia was lucky to have a friend like Shiva. “Tell you what. You make sure Olivia is ready to go at seven tomorrow night, and I’ll have that money wired over to whatever bank account you’d like.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That wasn’t part of our agreement.”

“Too bad she didn’t stick around to renegotiate.”

Shiva crossed her arms over her stomach, her eyes cutting through me like a dull blade. “You got your fifteen minutes of her time. Now it’s your turn to hold up your end of the bargain.”

“What’s your relationship with Olivia? Are you friends? Co-workers?” I wasn’t trying to be a complete dick, but I hadn’t become successful without testing the limits.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and recently started talking about becoming business partners.” She continued to eye me through narrowed lids. “Why does that matter?”

“What kind of business?” I didn’t know Olivia was working on a start-up. Though, apparently I didn’t know much about what she was into now based on what I’d learned about her tonight.

“What kind of business is none of your business.” Shiva shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “There are a lot of guys in the crowd out there tonight who’d probably be happy to kick your ass if they heard you were taking advantage of one of the dancers.”

“I’m not taking advantage. I’m trying to help. Businesses need start-up capital. Make sure Olivia is ready at seven tomorrow night, and I’ll double the amount I transfer into her account. What do you say?”

“I don’t know. What do you want with her? It sure feels like I’m pimping out my friend here.” Shiva shook her head.

Sensing I was about to lose my chance with Olivia, I reached out and rested my hands on Shiva’s shoulders. “I just want to talk to her. We had something special between us once, and I blew it. I stayed away from Broken Bend for so long because I didn’t want to hurt her. But now I know, no matter how much time goes by, my feelings for her are never going to change.”

Shiva shrugged off my hands. “If you hurt her again, I’ll come after you.”

Seeing the raw anger in her eyes, I had no doubt she’d make good on that threat. “I have no intention of hurting her, I swear.”

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