“Everyone!” Deacon Black, our boss, grabs our attention. “I’d like you to meet Leighton Redmond.”
Leighton Redmond, my ass. She looks no less sexy standing in the middle of the Blackbridge Security Office in black heels, a white blouse, and a black pencil skirt than she did in that damn sexy red dress she was wearing last night at the bar.
I stand from the sofa, drawing her eyes as she scans the room, a small, professional smile on her beautiful face.
“I’m trying to convince her to—”
“You!” she snaps when her eyes land on me.
Deacon follows the point of her red-tipped fingernail, his eyes widening when he doesn’t see it pointed at Brooks, the man who would normally pull such a reaction from a woman.
“You two have met?” Deacon asks.
“Briefly,” I respond, doing my best to hide all emotions because honestly, I don’t know how to react. I want to smile, but at the same damn time I want to yell at her for infiltrating my safe place. “Leighton? Or should I call you Ginger?”
She narrows her eyes at me, hatred filling every feature on her beautiful face, but then the walls go up, and the mask comes down, and I wouldn’t believe it if I wasn’t witnessing it myself. She just shoved it all away as if it never existed.
She turns to Deacon, a placating smile on her lips. “Sorry to waste your time, Mr. Black, but this just isn’t going to work out.”
Without wasting another glance in my direction, she spins on her heel and walks out of the room, leaving everyone staring after her with jaws hanging open. I watch too—the sway of her hips, that perfect ass of hers as tight as it was last night. I’m entranced, and it’s not the first time since I laid eyes on her.
“What the fuck did you do?”
I snap my eyes back to Deacon, scoffing to save face when he notices me staring in the direction of her ass. “Nothing she didn’t do first.”
We barely spoke to each other last night. She stood up. She offered. I accepted. I didn’t proposition her. We were on mutual ground. It was consensual. I was an asshole, but hell. Was she looking for a commitment in a hotel bar? Love matches could possibly happen in a hometown bar where happy hour lasts from open to close with Tuesday two for ones, but not a five-star establishment meant for business moguls needing to get their rocks off before an important meeting.
“You’ll fix it,” Deacon growls.
“You’ll have better luck turning water into wine. That’s never going to happen, boss. There will be more clients.”
“She isn’t a client, Gaige. She’s the headhunter we need to help start the newest branch of BBS.”
My face falls. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Like I said, fix it.”
Fuck.
Deacon leaves the room, heading toward his office as he mutters about idiots and why he feels like he’s running a damn daycare rather than a business with grown-ass men. He grumbles louder about leaving the damn hospital, leaving his newborn baby and his wife for this meeting only for it to be fucked up, and it makes me feel like complete shit.
“Let’s go,” I hear Jude urge Parker who is looking around the room with a wide grin on her face.
“This place is like a soap opera,” she whispers as they walk past me.
I stand there frozen, wondering where I need to go first. Wren is going to have the information I need, but I also feel the urge to apologize to Deacon. I’ve stirred up a shitstorm. I’m normally the one working hand-in-hand with Quinten to calm shit down, to get the man the things he needs, not cause more trouble.
I head to Deacon first, knowing Wren is already going to be working on what I need because he’s a nosy fucker and he’s aware of what just went down even though he’s shut away in his office.
I knock on Deacon’s door, but he already knows it’s me, so I shove the damn thing open and step inside. He’s going to give me shit, but then he’s going to settle down. I’ve never been on the receiving end of his ire before, and it makes me feel like a complete asshole.
“I can’t tell you who to fuck, Gaige, but I need you to move your hunting grounds a little further away from the office.”
“I was all the way across town, by the airport,” I answer.
His jaw clenches, and I know I can’t say a damn thing right now. Action is the only thing that will make this better.
“I’ll get her back,” I vow, and it’s the first time I’ve opened my mouth to him with something that may be a lie.
Sometimes I say things and I’m not sure, but there’s not a fucking chance this woman will ever agree to come back up here, not after the shit I pulled last night. But I know I have to try.