I sipped at my whiskey as I watched them struggle silently. It was a battle of wills and I was concerned that Dominic had met his match as Sugar practically vibrated in her seat. “If you’re that worried, you could sit on my lap.”
Barrett scowled at me. “Jesus, Holden. I’m trying to show her that we’re not perverts.”
A small giggle escaped Sugar and when we looked at her, she waved her hands in front of her face and shook her head. “I could die from embarrassment. Let’s just get this over with so I can run home.”
“I read your blog. Every part of it.” Barrett sat on the coffee table in front of her once Dom moved. “I think if you worked for us, running the socials, you could create enough buzz about the new restaurant that we’ll have a wait list months long before we lay the first tile.”
“You read my entire blog?”
“It’s brilliant. You’re a great writer. You’re funny and smart. There’s a voice that reads so clear. We’ll give support for the blog, in whatever way you need. You can advertise your blog, as long as you’re clear that it isn’t connected to us, like we’re kindly trashing other restaurants. You’ll have access to whatever you want, whenever you want. We have a guy that does the social media now, but he was just assigned from another department. We never put much effort into this side of the business before.”
Sugar edged forward on the couch, but I could see it wasn’t a need to run that drove her. There was excitement in her eyes that gave away just how amazing the job sounded to her. She gripped her hands together and licked her lips. “I’m not trained in marketing. This isn’t something I’ve ever done before. It’s not even something I’ve ever thought of doing.”
“And?” Barrett shrugged. “You’ll work closely with us, at least in the beginning. I’ll help on the marketing side of things. Holden can give you access to his kitchens. If he’s willing.”
Sugar in my kitchen? I slowly nodded as my brain sent a few thousand explicit images racing forward. “Willing and eager.”
Ignoring me, Barrett moved on. “And Dominic can talk you through whatever else you might need to know.”
“I’d be working closely with you?” Sitting back again, she blew out a deep sigh and shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Sugar. What’s not to know? You’ll help the business, of course, but you just said yourself that you lost your job. You need this.” Speaking gently, Barrett did his best to not offend her.
Sugar closed her eyes and her fingers unwound from each other to tap out a pattern on her thighs. She seemed deep in thought as we watched her, but she didn’t rush herself. After what felt like an eternity, her fingers stilled and her eyes opened to focus on each of us, one at a time. “I’ll take it on one condition.”
Dominic put his glass down on the bar top and nodded. “Go on.”
Another lengthy pause and then she dropped the bomb. “No funny business.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I couldn’t help that the most passionate I’d sounded all evening was at the idea of not having any funny business. I was pretty sure we had the same definition for funny business, and I wasn’t liking where she was going.
“It means no funny business. I can’t do that again. Not and still be able to face Samantha.” With her eyes downcast, it was clear in that moment how guilty Sugar felt for sleeping with Samantha’s father.Iwasn’t Samantha’s father, though. “It’s not smart to mix business and pleasure, anyway.”
I grunted. “At least we can agree that it was pleasurable.”
Barrett ran his hands through his hair and nodded. “Okay. You’re in control, Sugar.”
17
***SJ***
IfeltlikeIwas putting myself on a diet while standing in the middle of the most delicious candy store. It didn’t help that none of their allure had faded in the light of day. If anything, each of them seemed even better looking. Knowing what they could do to my body just added fuel to the fire that had been growing inside me since I’d walked inside Dominic’s wildly impressive house and spotted them.
I took a calming breath and blew it out slowly. I was doing the right thing, putting a stop to anything more that might happen. One time could be considered an accident. Maybe. More than once was definitely a giant choice to say fuck you to my best friend.
“Okay. I want the job. I really, really want the job.” I chanced letting them see just how excited I was and grinned like an idiot. “More than I can even begin to explain.”
Holden groaned and moved to sit next to me. He patted me on the shoulder and made a face that was very close to pouting. “Nothing is going to comfort my broken heart, but knowing you’re excited for the job eases the jab, I guess.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m sure your broken heart will be just fine.”
“When do you want to start?” Barrett drew my attention back to him. “It can be as soon as tomorrow, or if you need more time, in a few weeks.”
Hope bloomed for the first time in longer than I wanted to admit. I wanted to get out of Dad’s house as fast as possible. I wanted to regain some semblance of myself.
“I got talked into driving my grandma to a party in Richmond tomorrow. I thought I was a jobless loser at the time, so the prospect of getting drunk with a group of golden oldies sounded really great. The day after would work for me, though.”
“Do you need a driver? How will you get back if you’re drinking?” Dominic had been putting out big boss vibes since I walked in and I was struggling to not roll over and expose my belly to his commands. It was embarrassing, really.