“You want to trade or something?” Chelsea asked. She gestured her gnawed at sandwich toward me, which was dripping mayo-soaked lettuce on her plate.
“Considering you ate your way in from the edges to the center, I’ll pass.”
She shrugged. “I like to save the best bite for last.” Chelsea pointed to a chunk of thick bacon. “That bad boy is going to be worth the wait.”
I grinned. I’d never put too much thought into eating. Apparently, Chelsea had strategies for how she attacked her meals. Of course she did.
“About last night…” I looked up, not sure where I was going but knowing I needed to say something.
“It was just what it was,” Chelsea said. She took a heaping bite of her sandwich, speaking around the food. “We’re adults, right? We can still be professional.”
“Yeah, right.”
“So you still haven’t even told me why we’re in Savannah.”
“We’re going to wine and dine an athlete tonight. Trevor Castle. Have you heard of him?”
She set her sandwich down, dusted off her hands, and gave me a dry look. “Have I heard of the best new tennis player since Federer? No. Doesn’t ring a bell.”
She dropped the act and clapped her hands together then let out a little squeal. “Does this mean we’re meeting Trevor tonight?”
Until that exact moment, it had. Now I was second guessing myself. I hadn’t considered Chelsea’s past as a tennis player. I also hadn’t thought too hard about Trevor’s playboy status. He was single, and rumor was that he left a trail of satisfied women in every city he passed through.
Rumor also had it that he was being courted for acquisition by none other than my ex-girlfriend, Trish. And no, that fact had nothing to do with me trying to land him for Rose Athletic.
“I was going to have you stay at the hotel, actually,” I said.
Chelsea glared. “What? You just told me I’m going to be doing real work. Shouldn’t I be tagging along to see how the master himself does it?”
Annoyingly, she had a point. “I’ll consider it. But you would need to dress for fine dining if you planned to come. I’m guessing you didn’t pack anything appropriate.”
Chelsea’s eyes could’ve set a large pot of water to boil in seconds. “Considering my lovely boss didn’t tell me anything about fine dining… No. I didn’t.”
I hated how weak I was becoming for her. Just a few days ago, I would’ve grinned and taken it as an easy out. Problem solved.
Now, all I could think about was how badly she seemed to want to prove herself. I’d begun to paint the picture of her past. Of how she’d been sidelined when her real opportunity to chase her dream had come. Some asshole had knocked her up and left her to clean up the mess, and I still had no idea who or why. Asking her now would’ve only complicated things more, so I kept my mouth shut on it.
I did know I was going to hate myself if I was part of shutting down her next dream, as ridiculously sentimental as that was. “We have a few hours. You can take one of my company cards and go find something appropriate.”
She waited. “That’s all? How much am I allowed to spend? Where is this dinner, exactly?”
“Frankly, I don’t care. But you’re representing Rose Athletic. Your first lesson in acquisitions is to look the part. Athletes can sniff out incompetence from a mile away. You need to look like money, so they’ll believe you’re already making it.”
“Would you come with me and help me pick?”
“You think I don’t have anything better to do?”
She paused for a long moment, cheeks reddening. “You could come into the changing rooms with me.”
Fucking hell. There was no way I could agree to that. Absolutely not.I followed Chelsea into the changing room at a fancy little designer boutique on Main Street. My dick was already pathetically hard, and the way she was shyly sneaking looks at me was only making it worse.
“This is a terrible idea,” I said quietly. There was a small army of women outside the fitting rooms waiting to give Chelsea more dresses to try. At least that would stop me from getting any ideas about taking things further.
“You don’t like the green?” she held up the dress and worked her lips to the side. “I think it’s nice.”
“I’m sure the dress will be fine. I’m talking about this. Us.”
“Wow. Already graduating to ‘us?’ Do you normally fall head over heels this quickly?”
“Chelsea. I’m being serious.”
“I know. You always are.” Without a moment’s hesitation, she slipped out of the skirt she’d been wearing.
My already hard dick went so stiff it hurt when I saw the black lace panties she was wearing. I sucked in air through my nose, trying to calm myself.
Chelsea caught my eye, then flashed the sexiest fucking smirk I’d ever seen. She pulled her shirt over her head, and I couldn’t take it anymore.