CHAPTER 4: SEBASTIAN
1695 Words
Do you want another cocktail?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Not a good idea.”
I nodded. I’d had too much already, and she definitely didn’t need any more.
“Drink enough on the way over?”
She studied me again, like she was sure I was judging her.
“How much have you had to drink tonight? Or was it just this one?”
“Would it matter if I had more?”
“I happen to think you didn’t have much at all.”
“Why not?”
“Because, like I said, you seem older. Wiser.”
“Morina, don’t you know that means I could show you a thing or two?”
She stared at me for about five seconds before answering. She took in my suit again, my shoes, probably even my hair before she mumbled something like To hell with it before saying,
“I’m kind of in the mood to see if you can really do that.”
“Meaning what?” She sighed.
“It means I want to get out of here with you. This isn’t my scene. This”—she waved in front of me, then around the room—“isn’t really living. It’s a boring second to a lot of what the world has to offer. Linny of all people should know that. She’s a travel blogger, you know.”
“Linny is also a woman in love. That seems to trump a lot of things to most people.” She looked her friend’s way and winced.
“Right, and I hope it works out. But I’m not here for love. Just a good time and maybe to forget life a little.”
I wouldn’t tell her that I hoped it didn’t work out, that Chet wasn’t a man to be associated with, that I wouldn’t really be associated with him after this deal, whether I closed it tonight or tomorrow.
It wasn’t my place. I was getting out of this town and moving on to tie up the rest of the deals in the state. She sighed and turned back to her glass.
“Maybe I do need a drink to pass the time.”
She was so damn bored. And she’d lumped me into the boring category with the rest of this club where people thought they were somebody. Truth be told, I was bored too.
Bored with my existence and the fact that I was probably living the same damn life my father had. Sure, I was trying to clean up the dirty businesses he’d invested in and make a better name for the family, but maneuvering numbers and partnerships wasn’t of interest to most. It wasn’t even of interest to me.
“Do you think Dante knows signs?” she asked quietly, probably more to herself than me.
“He knows a little of everything.”
My friend, who was also my second cousin removed, was well traveled. He claimed going around the world centered him. I needed centering too, but I didn’t really believe in any of the bullshit that came with deep breathing and yoga and star signs.
“How did you two meet?” she asked, like I was going to sit there and give her tips on how to date Dante.
“We’ve known each other since birth. Our families are distantly related.”
“Huh.” She narrowed her eyes at me and scanned my body.
“I don’t really see it.”
“See what?”
“You’re so …” She waved at me like it was obvious. “Unapproachable and … broody, maybe?”
I rubbed at my jaw and stared at her, trying to figure out her angle.
“I’m neither of those things.”
“In your line of work, do people come up to you and talk like they aren’t scared of you?”
“No, because they are scared of me. I’m the boss.”
“Well, then my perception of you stands. Unapproachable, broody, and I’ll add that you probably don’t frequent clubs like this unless you’re working.”
“And you do frequent clubs like this?” I eyed her again. Her outfit downplayed her figure but she wasn’t hiding that she was good looking.
Admittedly, if you got past her belief in horoscopes, she was probably one of the better women in here tonight. Lower maintenance with a body that was real, curvy, appealing. She shrugged and turned, leaning her elbows on the tall bar table behind us. We both stared at the clubbers buzzing around. She tapped her boot on the ground.
“I probably shouldn’t wear shoes like this in VIP, especially when I’m standing on glass that overlooks two floors of people.”
“Are you concerned that we’re on glass?”
“Maybe more concerned that we think we have the right to be standing on others.” She shrugged and scuffed her boot back and forth.
“I’m wearing cheap shoes and have a good friend who has a connection. What makes me any better?” Her words shot through me.
I’d said the same thing time and time again to my father growing up. I was just like everyone else. He’d remind me that I wasn’t. I was an Armanelli, and I’d take his place one day. That made me much more important in his eyes.
In mine, I’d wanted equality. Always. Yet here I was, standing over Miami, ready to take on another business deal. This one would solidify a power shift that I’d known was on the horizon. I’d become the most powerful man among my business associates.
It put me in a position where I wouldn’t be mixing with people like her. I frowned at the physical discomfort I felt as my gut twisted thinking about it.
“Your shoes are fine.”
“Your shoes probably cost more than my car.”
She pointed to my Italian leather Oxfords. They’d been custom made and shipped directly.
“They’re just shoes.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Come on, how much did they cost you? More than five grand?” I scoffed at the small number and her eyes widened.
“Oh my God. They do. Why? What is wrong with you?”
There wasn’t a reason for me to be defensive and yet …
“Most women in this club would be happy to hear I’m well dressed.”
“Most women in this club are looking at you precisely for your money.”
“And what are you normally looking for at a club like this, Morina?” My eyes narrowed on her but not because I questioned her identity anymore.
Dante normally reached out to our tech guy and my brother who were able to hack into any criminal database. I knew she was clean and a real person.
Still, I couldn’t pin down her motives for being here or her intentions in talking to me. She didn’t fit the mold of the normal woman out.
She was beautiful in a unique way with her wavy hair askew and not properly brushed. Her curves were real, and I knew her ass would barely fit in my hands if I gripped it now.
My d**k stirred more than it had with the women who’d made their way over to me earlier tonight. Interesting. And she was appealing in a weird, ridiculous way, and yet, I hadn’t been interested in much in a long time. Her gaze darted around the club, like she was looking for Dante again.
“I’m looking for a nice guy—someone who gets me—to have fun for a night. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“A one-night stand?” I murmured, surprised.
“So?” Her head snapped back to glare at me. Cold fire in her blue eyes.
That look on her was straight out of a f*****g magazine. She was one of those brilliant-when-being-f****d-with types.
“And you think Dante is going to do that with you?” I pushed her to see where her head was at.
“He seems laid back enough to have a good time. And frankly, I have every right to a good time. Don’t I?”
She didn’t know my friend whatsoever.
“You realize he’s my security, right? So he has to be trained to fight someone if they were to approach me aggressively.”
“So he’s got a banging bod?” She took a deep breath. When she breathed it out, the fire in her eyes had extinguished.
She hit me with a big smile and waggled her eyebrows at me.
“I could get down with a good bod.”
Why did I suddenly want to prove to her that I worked out too?
“You do this a lot?”
“One-night stands? Well, no. Not really.” She shrugged.
“Linny’s my friend, so I said I’d come out with her, but honestly I don’t think there’s anything in this big city world that will bring me much more happiness than what I’ve already found in my own town.”
“Not even a miraculous one-night stand?”
She looked me up and down, trying to act like she didn’t see anything appealing. Yet I saw the shiver, the way she licked her lips.
“If you’re insinuating that I’d find that with you, I don’t think so.”
“Really?” I lifted a brow.
“You’d be surprised the things I’d show you.”
“What? With you being older?” She crossed her arms.
“I find that affects stamina.”
I chuckled at her indirect slight. She looked younger than me but only by maybe ten years. This girl wasn’t someone I would normally entertain, but her words, the way she dismissed me, and the way she pegged me so quickly were the last straws on my shitty day.
“Let me show you then.”
“Show me what?”
“What you’ve been missing by staying in that small town of yours.”
- Writer
