Leo was going overboard with his need to earn his keep and protect me. He’d worked as my bodyguard and head of security for the past four years since he’d left the Marines and started training to be an MMA fighter. He’d also been my best friend since childhood. Yet, I’d never seen him as concerned for my safety as he was now. But he was right that I had no connection to the man hosting tonight’s event. One of my tech firm’s longstanding clients invited me as he celebrated his daughter’s engagement to some guy I’d never met, a guy whose father was rumored to be one of the most ruthless crime bosses in the city. The owner of this mansion. The one with the supposedly less-than-spectacular security.
“Relax. Let me do my job,” Leo insisted. He followed the server, who weaved quickly past the mingling guests and disappeared through a set of white swinging double doors near the back of the expansive room. And I followed Leo.
“You’re almost doing it too well tonight.”
Leo paused at the open bar just a few feet from the double doors. “Two vodka martinis, extra dry,” he ordered from the bartender. He leaned against the bar so he had a full view of the room, then returned his gaze to the double doors. “You’ll thank me one of these days when I actually save your ass.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but the same server appeared through the swinging doors again, this time followed by a second waiter. Each of them balanced trays filled with finger foods. Which reminded me that I’d skipped dinner to meet with a new client at the office, and was fucking starving now. That bite of asparagus only made me want more. As the second waiter slowed down near us, I took one of the small plates and plucked up a tomato bruschetta onto my plate and popped a bacon wrapped mushroom into my mouth.
“Let’s go,” Leo said, taking the drinks from the bartender and handing me one.
Taking a swig of the vodka to wash the canapé down, I nodded. “Mmm. Good pairing,” I muttered, slipping through the doors—one definitely not meant for guests—and followed after him. I looked around the kitchen, seemingly decorated to give a commercial feel, with stainless steel and granite everything, and lit by bright halogen lights above several food prep stations. “You do realize that we passed by a perfectly good set of French doors that open onto a garden patio, as well as a long sliding glass door to a swimming pool in the backyard, don’t you?”
He shook his head, gazed about the room while he responded. “Those won’t do. A high traffic area is never the best way out.”
“Not that I need to know the intricacies of your security protocols, but…why?”
A soft smile played at the sides of his mouth for a split second. A rare sight. “Haven’t you heard the saying, always have a discreet backup exit when you visit the home of an underground crime lord?”
There was the usual dry humor of my best friend, although he wouldn’t show that side of himself on nights like these when he considered himself to be ‘on the job’.
I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “No, can’t say that I have.”
“Serving staff and caterers usually have easier access to a door that opens onto a driveway. At a party like this, the food’s cooked and prepped off-site. They need to be able to park close to
the kitchen or prep area, to lug their food and supplies back and forth from their vehicles. And it’s usually a short distance from the house. That isn’t always the case for landscapers and pool staff.” He looked back at me and ran an impatient hand through his short brown hair. Took a big gulp of his drink. “Just give me a few more minutes. Once I have something lined up, feel free to go mingle, toast the bride-to-be, talk shop with clients, drum up business with potentials, pick up a sweet piece of ass to take home with us, drink yourself under a table, or whatever it is that you do at these things.”
“All of the above, although usually not in that order,” I said lightly after he turned at a bend ahead of us.
“This is serious, otherwise I wouldn’t—” Leo abruptly stopped speaking and froze.
“You wouldn’t what?” I asked his back, and as I got around the corner and made it to Leo’s side, I realized why we was suddenly wearing lead shoes.
A tall, fit, beautiful brunette.
I took one look at her, and all the air left my lungs.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
The stunning woman stood less than ten feet away. She was sexy as sin. Dark sultry eyes, olive skin, and a gorgeous face framed by raven, shoulder length hair. She wore a black cocktail dress that showed off every line and every curve of her lean, toned body. And those legs. Fuck, they were a mile long, propped up by sling-back stilettos that added several inches to her height.
I could already picture those heels digging into my back as she wrapped those legs around my waist while I fucked her.
I tore my gaze away from her just long enough to glance at Leo. The appreciative expression that raised his eyebrows, lifted the sides of his lips, and made the skin crease beside his eyes told me volumes. He had to be thinking the same thing as me.
She was just our type. No, she wasn’t just our type. She was ours.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” she greeted us politely when she took notice of us, one hand hovering over the lid of a container she was likely opening before we’d shown up. Her tone brimmed over with professionalism, but I knew right away she was checking us out. Brazenly, too. Her eyes dragged down Leo’s body and up mine, her deep red lips parted, and her tongue traveled across her luscious top lip for a second longer than what’d be considered normal. “If you’re looking for the door to the patio, it’s back where you came from and to your left.”
“It’s not the patio we’re after,” I answered in a murmur.
“Oh. Well, if you don’t mind waiting a few minutes, one of my servers will be back shortly. They can show you to whatever part of the house you wish.”
I moved forward a couple of steps and leaned against the marble countertop covered with stackable covered food warmers. My guess was extra servings of those savory bacon appetizers were inside. While my mouth watered, it wasn’t for the food.
“I believe my friend and I have found exactly what we were looking for,” I told her. Up close, I could see the softness of her skin, the long line of her neck.
She looked up at me through those dark lashes. “Which is?”