“One night stands? Well, no. Not really.” She shrugged. “Linny’s my friend so I said I’d come out with her but honestly I don’t think there’s anything out in this world that will bring me much more happiness than what I’ve already found in my own town.”
“Not even a miraculous one night stand?”
She looked me up and down, trying to act like she didn’t see anything appealing. Yet I saw the shiver and the way she licked her lips. “If you’re insinuating that I’d find that here, I don’t think so.”
“Really?” I lifted a brow. “You’d be surprised the things I could show you.”
“What? With you being older?” She crossed her arms. “I find that just affects stamina.”
I chuckled at her indirect slight. She looked younger, but only maybe 10 years younger than me. This girl wasn’t someone I would normally entertain but her words, the way she dismissed me, and the way she pegged me so quickly was the last straw on my shitty day.
“Let me show you then.”
“Show me what?”
“Just what you’ve been missing staying in that small town of yours.”
3
Morina
Linny’s eyes narrowed when Bastian said we were leaving. “I don’t think you’ve done near enough talking for you to go anywhere.”
Was she insinuating that I was losing the bet or was she nervous about me leaving with a man I’d just met? “We’ll talk more on the drive.”
“Drive to where?” she asked, leaning away from her boyfriend. So, definitely the latter.
“I–”
“Totally right for you to be concerned about your friend. Here’s my card.” Bastian handed over a business card that was all black but had his name and contact information on it.
I peered at it and lifted a brow. “Sebastian Armanelli? Fancy name.”
One corner of his mouth lifted just a hair. I couldn’t quite tell if he was amused or irritated with me, yet I liked the look all the same. He continued as if I hadn’t said a word, “If something happens and you can’t find her in 24 hours, hand that over to the police. And call the number now.”
Pulling her phone from her purse, she punched in the numbers. His phone rang instantly.
“You have my personal line and I promise, your boyfriend would help you find me. He likes you more than he does my family.”
The man was trying, more than most men would, and I wasn’t quite sure why. I’d surrounded myself with a lot of people who didn’t go against the tide. If it pulled them, they went. I didn’t find fault in that, but now I had a man actually trying to spend time with me, it shook something in me.
I studied Bastian’s arm when he offered it to me. “Maybe, I shouldn’t go. This is a lot of fuss just to prove my statement wrong.”
“Yet, I’m the one making the fuss. So, let me decide how far I’m willing to go.”
Effort.
Why was it so attractive? And why was I so scared of it?
They said curiosity killed the cat and I guess I was about to find out exactly how. There was something behind his dark eyes that pulled me, like he was searching for something more than the club had to offer, that he wanted to show me that we could find it together.
I sighed and waved to Linny. “I’ll put my location share on with you, okay?”
She nodded and motioned for me to call her.
Leaving the club was much faster than entering. Bastian beelined through the VIP crowd and pulled me down a different darkened staircase. A car waited at the bottom right outside a back door. “Well, that’s convenient,” I mumbled.
“Perks of my lifestyle, I guess.” He waved off his driver and opened the door for me.