Chapter 13
JORDAN JORDAN
Spirito, Rome.
Two Years Earlier….
It was a particularly windy night. The bar had a nice buzz going on but wasn’t too crowded, which is why I was still there. Blaine had said he wanted an “authentic bar experience for a change, the reason why I’m sitting at the bar twirling a brandy and intimidating the bartender instead of being sequestered up in the VIP section.
I glanced around, looking for Blaine but he was nowhere to be found. Best guess, he had hooked up with a lady and they’d gone off somewhere. I should probably call it a night too.
I raised my glass to my lips and met the eye of the bartender again who visibly gulped and looked down, furiously polishing an already clean glass.
I studied her with some mild interest, wondering how many minutes it would take for me to talk her into coming back to my hotel with me. After all, I was only here because my best friend, who has now abandoned me, said nightlife and sex was just what I needed after the shitty day I’d had.
Thoughts of all the things that went wrong today crowded my mind and my mood soured again. I took my eyes off the cute bartender and just ordered another drink. She served me with slumped shoulders and a slight frown which I could only take to mean she was disappointed. I shrugged it off, downed my drink and asked for another. When she was about to pour it out, I stopped her and collected the entire bottle and refilled the glass myself. I didn’t plan on getting drunk tonight but I do need to clear my head.
Nothing does that better than good alcohol. Or sex.
Turning on the bar stool to survey the dance floor, my eyes caught a flash of red and I zeroed in on the lady dominating the dance floor. She was wearing this short bold red dress, far more color than any other female present, with impossibly tall heels which she somehow managed to balance perfectly on as she danced. Her hair gleamed in the lights when she tossed it while doing something sexy with her hips and I
noted the dress was backless too. Fuck me.
A quick glance around told me she’d caught the interest of other men in the bar too but I wasn’t bothered..
Tonight, she was mine. Even if she didn’t know it yet. I’m not a superstitious person but when her eyes shot up to meet mine as she went low, I could almost swear that there was something up there, and it was on my side. She gave me a slow, sultry smile as she got back up and walked, no, glided towards me. She stopped beside me and did that hair toss thing again, flipping her long hair to the side.
“Gin and tonic, twist of lime, and an olive,” she said smoothly, staring directly at me. No ploys, no taking corners. A lady who knows what she wants. I liked her already. I signaled the bartender, who for some reason was glaring at my new companion, and gave her the order
As the left to make it, the lady in red stared after her and turned back to me
“Your friend doesn’t seem to like me very much,” she said, her smooth voice like music to my ears.
“She’ll get over it” I replied, gesturing for her to take a seat on the bar stool next to me.
She did but faced me and leaned forward a little, giving me the tiniest glimpse of her cleavage. Forget what I said about no games; die was playing me like a guitar and, judging by the small smirk on those full lips, she knew it too,
“So what is a hot guy like you doing sitting at the bar instead of up there?” she gestured to the second level of the bar which housed the VIP section
I shrugged, “I just needed to unwind…Rough day“.
The bartender arrived with her drink and she shot her a megawatt smile as she took it.
“That’s a bummer. I, however, had a pretty successful day.” She replied and I raised my glass in a half toast
“Good for you.”
She smiled like a predator and stood up saying
Chapter 13
“I could think of a couple ways to help you unwind.”
She put a hand on my shoulder and I put one on her waist, pulling her
“Such as?” I challenged her, moving my hand in slow circles on her wer until she was standing in between my legs
Without breaking eye contact, she picked up her drink, sipped then crushed her lips to mine, sliding her hand down my back and over to the back of my head. It burned wherever she touched. The alcohol flowed from her mouth into mine, the cold tickling my throat as it went down.
The kiss shot straight to my groin and it took effort to not drag her onto ray lap right then and there.
She broke the kiss and leaned back, panting a little. I dragged my gaze from her lips up to the lustful look in her eyes, pleased that the kiss had affected her as much as it had me.
“If you couldn’t tell already, we’re going to be dynamite in bed” she whispered in my ear, making me laugh. Without further ado, I dropped cash on the bar without counting it and walked out with my hand on her waist.
Present Day,
I lay wide awake in my bed with images from that night flashing through my head on repeat and resigned myself to a cold shower. I’ve always had trouble sleeping, but ever since she revealed she was the mystery lady in Rome whose name I never asked for and who never asked for mine in return, it seemed to have worsened.
I’d planned to ask her what she’d done that was so successful but when I woke up in the morning she was gone and the clothes I’d abandoned all over the floor were folded neatly on the end of the side she’d slept on. Now I knew she’d relieved a certain socialite woman of her prized emeralds that very day.
I got up and walked to the bathroom to take that cold shower.
When I’d finished and put on some clothes, I got out my laptop to work a bit, already accepting that sleep wouldn’t come. I allowed a brief recall of Melanie as I’d last seen her -passed out on the bed with her hair spread all around her- before I shoved it aside and tried to focus.
I once again got to work attempting to figure out where that trickle of money was going and still I was making no headway. Although the finer details of accounting were not my forte, 1 prided myself on knowing a bit of everything it took to keep my empire running so not being able to trace such a small leak
was annoying. My ego wouldn’t allow me to call in an accountant or specialist either, so I was stuck.
A headache started to brew in the front of my head and I rubbed at it absent–mindedly, feeling myself getting agitated.
Then my eye caught a tab that was still open on my system and I clicked on it.
It was a draft of the letter I’d sent to Melanie informing her of her current employment. The thought of how amusing her reaction would be when she found out what it was had me relaxing again.
