Men disappointed. They promised things and took them away. They let you down. They only wanted sex, and then once you’d given it up, they disappeared. At least Damon had made the sex enjoyable.
No. Bad. You do not need to be making a pros and cons list. You shouldn’t even be considering whatever it is you’re considering.
I could point to the money or the opportunity all I wanted, yet there was part of me that wondered if what really had my hopes up was the chance to find out if there was anything worth saving in him.
I never claimed to be a smart woman.7DamonChris sat across from me at a posh restaurant downtown. It was the sort of place where every dish came with a “story” and illustrated some moment of the chef’s childhood. Personally, I preferred to keep my food simple, and this sort of place drove me up the wall. My brother loved it.
It also meant the servers spent way too damn long droning on at the table. Tonight, our waitress was a young, pretty brunette who couldn’t seem to decide if she wanted to eye fuck me or Chris more. He was eating it up, of course, and I wished she’d just leave us to eat our ridiculous, edible flowers and sugar-glass bubbles, or whatever shit my brother ordered.
He smacked his lips theatrically, then pointed to his plate. “Seriously. It’s like you can picture Chef Torrone under the table while his grandma was making bread. I can almost see the flour drifting down around him.”
“That’s wonderful. Now that your stomach is full, can we discuss this properly?”
My brother lifted his napkin to wipe at his already-clean mouth. “If we must.”
“You’ve become a liability to your sponsors. I’m getting calls every day. They’re threatening to pull their deals with us.”
“Then we get new ones.”
“These are the new ones. You can only screw up so many times before you run out of options, Chris. Either you shape up and start at least playing by some of the rules, or you’ll lose them all.”
“I like women. I like to party. I fail to see how that separates me from every other professional athlete with shoe deals and TV spots.”
“Most recently? You liked a woman in a public park in full view of paparazzi. If we want to dig into history, like, say, a month ago? Then you also partied with certain illegal substances while cameras were rolling during an award ceremony. Do I need to continue, or is my point setting in?”
“You have to ask that often, don’t you?”
“What?”
He smirked. “Is your point in yet? When it’s so small, you’ve probably got to double check with them.”
“Could you at least pretend to take this seriously? We’re talking about millions of dollars on the line. In case you forgot, that matters to both of us.”
“What are you proposing, exactly? Some sort of celibacy stunt? Like I go two weeks without fucking?”
“I don’t know yet, but we’re going to need to come up with something.”
“Hey,” Chris pointed past me. “Isn’t that your little friend?”
I spotted Chelsea at the entrance of the restaurant. She was trying to explain something to the hostess while gesturing in my direction. The hostess looked toward me, then sent a young man in a suit to talk to me.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, sirs. That young woman claims there’s something she needs to give you.”
I hid the smile I felt threatening to come. I shook my head. “I’ve never seen her in my life. Please make sure she doesn’t bother us.”
The man nodded, then went back to the hostess, who said a few clipped words to Chelsea. I only had time to see her shoot me a glare of pure ice before she was escorted out of the building.
“What was that about?” Chris asked.
“I told her to meet me here.”
He shifted his eyes to the side. “Right. And then you had her removed from the building? Any reason in particular you’re tormenting the girl?”
“None that should worry you.”
“Well, at least you’re showing an interest in something other than counting money. I guess I should be happy.”
“I’m not showing an interest. I’m making a point.”
“If the point is that you’re an asshole, then trust me, there’s no need to go to all the effort.”
“As much fun as this is, I’m going to head back to the office. One of us has work to do.”
Chris reached across the table and pulled my mostly untouched plate to his side. “I only let you believe I don’t bust my ass. It’s part of my charming image. As soon as you’re not watching, I’ll be working, too. On this French model. She doesn’t even shave her legs. It’s very exotic. Scratchy, but exotic.”
“Charming. Right. Do me a favor and focus on having a personality that doesn’t cost me millions of dollars for a change.”