Page 98 of Insatiable

He stifles a smile and shakes his head.

Base looks me up and down, then looks at Lu. “Fuck me,” he groans. “Kade, would you kill me if I had a threesome with your sister and her best friend?”

I laugh.

Kade’s scowl turns deadly.

Luciella slaps his head with her purse and tells him to shut up.

25

STACEY

The busy club is large enough that we’ve barely seen each other. Kade and Base stay at the bar while the latter flirts with everyone. Me and Lu sit at a booth, and I think I’ve drunk all of her shots.

Luciella yells over the music that Tylar is flying over, that she finished work early and has a week off. She thinks she’s lying, because Dez is also flying over to meet his friends.

She doesn’t like this very much.

“Why is it such an issue if they’re together?”

She looks mortified. “Imagine I went there with Base! He’s my brother’s best friend.”

“Right, I get that. But Dez isn’t your brother.”

She chews on her cheek. “I just don’t want things getting complicated. What if they broke up, and it was messy? It would be awkward. If he cheated on her, I’d kill him. I’d tell him to stay away from my house, and then it would cause a war between me and my brother.” She shrugs. “I don’t want any of that.”

I understand, kind of. If she feels that way about Tylar and Dez, she’d hit the roof about me and Kade – past and present.

Base falls into the booth beside Lu and throws his arm around her. “You up for that threesome yet, ladies?”

She shakes her head, trying to hide the smile on her face without moving his arm. “In your dreams.”

He winks at her. “Dreams can come true, princess.”

And I take that as my cue to leave. “I’m going for a stronger drink.”

I know Base isn’t serious. He wants Luciella – not me.

I order a vodka as a young man in a fitted black suit, his golden hair styled to perfection, appears beside me; he smiles as he gives me a second glance, leaning against the bar and looking me up and down.

I thank the bartender and sip my drink through a straw, ignoring him.

“Gerald,” the guy says in his strong American accent. “This lady’s drinks are on the house.”

I nearly choke. “What? No.”

“I’m the owner. Someone as beautiful as you shouldn’t be paying for drinks.”

My brows rise. “And why would you do that?”

Shrugging, he drags his gaze up and down the length of my body again. “I’m a nice,generousperson.” He winks and takes his drink before he vanishes onto the dance floor.

A firm hand lands on my hip, sending instant flutters down low as a familiar voice whispers in my ear, “You need to stop flirting with my half-a-million-dollar target.”

I don’t turn around, but I do tilt my head a little, my eyes on the owner of the club, who’s now laughing with a group of girls. “He’s worth half a million?”

My breathing stops as he pulls my back to his chest, the slit of my dress giving him access to skin-on-skin contact as he moves his hand lower. “The more dangerous, the more I get paid.”

---