Chapter 2
2
Saturday
Southampton, New York
I look out over the water, taking a minute to appreciate the killer view from the palatial deck of Noah’s Hamptons house. The whole sky is lit with fiery shades of red and orange. Tonight we’re celebrating the best quarter we’ve had yet. And the backdrop fits. I get the eerie feeling that something monumental has opened up or shifted somewhere out there in the universe—which is fucked up. The sky is absolutely on fire with cosmic power tonight.
Would you listen to yourself, asshole?
I don’t usually stop to consider shit like “cosmic power” or sunsets in general. In fact I can’t remember the last time I took the time to notice the color of the sky .
I’m not sure why I’m feeling philosophical tonight. Maybe because we’ve worked our asses off and are finally beginning to reap some serious rewards for all our colossal efforts.
Invested Enterprises was my brother Cash’s creation, but Noah and I have put just as much blood, sweat and tears into the company’s success as Cash has.
Cash had something to prove. At first I came along for the ride, because it was a challenge and it was also an escape hatch from the family business. Maddox Enterprises was founded by my great grandfather. It’s well known to be one of the most profitable investment companies in New York State history. Not a bad legacy, sure. But trying to work there with my father, before he dropped dead of a whiskey, cigar and meanness-induced heart attack—as well as my three older brothers and the long list of ancient executives—was a little like trying to conduct business in an overcrowded pond full of blood-thirsty sharks.
The layers of stifling expectations were so entrenched, it was like pulling teeth just to present any inkling of a new idea. The decrepit old board members, some of them relics from our grandfather’s era, saw every modern concept as a threat to their traditions and, even worse, to their gigantic investment portfolios. We tried to tell them we could have taken those portfolios to the next level, but it was no use.
Alexander was always going to be CEO of Maddox Enterprises because he’s the oldest son. Noah is the second son and the most accepting of all of us. If nothing better had come along, Noah probably would have stayed and made a good career out of being second-in-command while also keeping the peace because that’s what he does.
Cash was the one with the most strained relationship with our father. The thing he craved most of all was to be out from under the thumb of A.J. Benjamin Maddox III. And because our father was so convinced Cash would fail, it lit a bonfire under Cash like nothing else could have. Cash was hell-bent on making IE succeed no matter what it cost him.
Noah and I understood that. We wanted the company to thrive as much as he did, because it meant we were no longer indebted to Maddox Enterprises, not only for our jobs but for our entire fucking identities.
For me, as the youngest of four sons, I was always an afterthought. I was never going to have any kind of role that was about me and not just my last name. So as soon as Cash offered another option, I was eager to jump the family ship.
But building a company from the ground up has been fucking hard work. We’ve had every imaginable curveball thrown at us and we’ve caught most of them, but not all. The company floundered a few months ago when we were investigated for an insider trading accusation, which turned out to be Cash’s jealous bitch of an ex trying to get revenge. When that story broke and we could assure our investors that the problem was nothing more than a petty argument that was now over, our company went into overdrive. As painful as the fiasco was at the time, the spike of publicity turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us.
Business is most definitely booming.
The live band starts up from the corner of the patio, the humid summer air carrying the sound. I grab a glass of champagne from the lined-up flutes being poured by the bartenders and make my way toward the hub of the party, which is revving up.
For most of the year, this place is wasted on Noah. He’s the most chilled person I know, the kind of guy who prefers a low-key bottle of red by the fire to an all-night rager. But this house is showy as fuck and built for parties.
Maybe with the newfound success of the company, Noah will finally start to let loose a little.
He’s surrounded by a group of women who are draping themselves over him for a photo and it makes me laugh. I kind of like this side of him. Since Noah is a romantic and now that Cash and Alexander are both head over heels for the women of their dreams, my brothers like to joke about how I’m the only ladies’ man in the family now. Which isn’t entirely accurate.
But I’m definitely not feeling it tonight.
In fact I haven’t been feeling it for a while.
It’s not that I can’t get women’s attention—at least ten are ogling me right now. It’s just that some internal switch seems to have flicked recently and I’ve suddenly become incredibly fucking…picky.
The sunset tonight is only making it worse. It’s a beautiful night. It would be nice to feel something other than just a surface-level tendency to go with the flow because you can.
I’ve been called the “smoke show” and the “pretty boy” Maddox brother—irritating, but I often get featured on magazine covers and I have more followers on social media than all three of my brothers combined, possibly because none of them could care less about being seen. I don’t mind it.
I don’t post often. Maybe a few times a month, and my posts usually make headlines. I’ve always been athletic and I’m ripped as fuck from years of hockey training during college and, ever since, a punishing sixty-lap swim every morning followed by weight training. I have blue eyes and dark brown hair. I’m 6’2’’ and built. And I tend to get noticed.
The media talks me up as a person who knows how to have a good time. I guess it’s not a terrible reputation to have.
And then there’s my money. I was born with more than I could ever spend in several lifetimes and I’ve managed to quadruple it since I turned eighteen.
It’s easy for us. We learned how to read investment spreadsheets before we learned how to read comic books. Our father made damn sure his sons knew their way around a portfolio. He considered anyone who couldn’t double their money every three years a dim-witted idiot. It was a crime worthy of being disinherited, so we paid attention .
So I’ve lived my entire life with the knowledge that I can have any woman I want, whenever I want, wherever I want. It’s obviously a win-win.
Which is why I can’t figure out why I’ve been so badly off my game lately.
I’ve wondered if it’s because two of my brothers are sickeningly in love, so much that it’s changed their entire personalities. The two most stoic, uptight people I know are whipped so hard they spend all their time following their new fiancées around like lovestruck puppies, buying them mind-bogglingly expensive jewelry, luxury apartments and month-long trips to the tropics. And these are workaholics on steroids who have never taken a vacation in their lives.
The thing that gets me the most is that they’re so fucking happy .
It’s got me thinking.
What would that feel like? To fall in love like that? To be so besotted with one person that you want to spend not just all your time with them but the rest of your goddamn life .
It’s hard to imagine.
“Hi, Colton.” A girl I hadn’t noticed sidles up to me, twirling a long strand of bleach-blond hair.
“Hey.”
“We met a few weeks ago. At my friend’s party in Soho. Do you remember me?”
“Sure.” Nope.
“My name’s Mandy.”
“Right. I remember.” Not even close .
Charm usually comes naturally to me. I’m the cruisey, easy-going member of my family, the one who’s first to laugh and who has, until now, been perfectly content to bask in my reputation as a fun-loving playboy having the time of his life.
I don’t remember meeting this girl.
And I don’t particularly want to.
Her fake lashes blink at me, her brown eyes full of hopefulness and visions of a life of ease, with two point five kids raised in some eight-bedroom saltbox mansion in this neighborhood, their trust funds fully in place before they’ve even been conceived.
I’m not feeling it at all. “I’ve got to go talk to my brother, but maybe we’ll run into each other later on.”
“Oh. Okay.” I brush past her disappointment before she feels compelled to give me her number.
Making my way toward the bar at the far end of the porch, I have the sudden urge to get inebriated.
What the hell’s wrong with you? That was a slam dunk.
As I said, I’ve been off my game lately. Which is starting to piss me off.
I don’t want another meaningless fling tonight.
Why the fuck not?
Because I want to know what it feels like to experience something real.
I look out over the crowd.
I know most of the people here, of course, and there are the inevitable hangers-on, who have crashed the party to get close to Noah, Cash or me. There’s a buzz in the air, the kind that only comes when you’re coasting on the high tide of victory.
We don’t intentionally hire only outrageously good-looking people, but you wouldn’t guess it from standing here on Noah’s patio. With the sunset as our backdrop, we could all be movie stars.
And yet I can’t find even one person who appeals to me in the way I need them to appeal to me tonight.
What the fuck’s going on?
I see Cash at one of the tables, his fingers entwined with Dusty’s. Those two would annoy the hell out of me if they weren’t so perfect for each other. Cash is totally besotted and I can see why. Dusty is gorgeous, with a cute Texan flair and a softness that’s rubbed off on my brother. He’s calmer when she’s around.
Dusty whispers something in Cash’s ear and he bends down to kiss her with a tenderness I’ve never seen in him before.
Alexander is equally annoying with his new fiancée, Ivy. Never in a million years would I have expected either of them to fall this hard.
I know it’ll never happen to me. And I wouldn’t want it to. I can’t think of anything worse. Being tied to one person like that for the rest of eternity would be a nightmare.
Still, it would be interesting to feel it. Just once.
A crazy, head-over-heels love that blinds you to everyone else .
I’ve never felt anything remotely like that. Not even close.
Cash sees me watching him and raises his flute at me in a silent toast. I’m in his good books for the work I’ve put in this quarter—which, believe me, isn’t always the case. Cash didn’t sky-rocket this company to where it is by going easy on anyone, especially his little brother.
Cash stands, getting the attention of the crowd almost immediately.
“Thank you for coming tonight, everyone,” he says, his deep voice making it clear he’s the boss even when mildly intoxicated by both lust and Mo?t. “You deserve to celebrate tonight. And you have my deepest gratitude. We owe our success to each and every one of you. You’ve put your trust in me and my brothers over the past two years and we’ve achieved things even I wasn’t sure were possible. So here’s to Invested Enterprises. And by the way, you’re all getting a huge bonus in your next paycheck. Cheers.”
Gasps of celebration erupt from around the patio and I can’t help but feel proud of them—of us .
And now I can get on with the rest of my night and find the most beautiful woman at this party to take home with me. I need to get over whatever dry spell seems to be taking over my love life.
I spot Sloane, which is easy to do since she’s five ten, taller than most women, even without the sky-scraper heels.
My assistant is, objectively speaking, a good-looking woman. And not my type at all .
She’s also the one woman who has access to my entire life at her fingertips.
Sloane smiles and waves to me. We’re all in a good mood tonight.
A woman is talking to Sloane, with her back to me.
She has dark, glossy hair that spills down her back. She’s slim, wearing a dress that hugs her curves and leaves her tanned, toned arms bare.
Chances are I’ve met her before.
But no. I’d remember that hair, which is long and silky, cut in layers. The shorter layers have a jaunty little wave to them. It’s an unusual haircut and it’s sexy as fuck.
I make my way over to them.
As I get closer, I check out the girl’s outfit, which isn’t something I would usually take a lot of notice of. I’ve lived my life in New York, surrounded by rich, beautiful women. They’re all fashionable. But this friend of Sloane’s has a sophisticated flourish to her look.
As I make my way through the crowd, I’m forced by all the people I know to do my duty as a Maddox. Mingling, saying hi, sharing a joke. But I’m in laser-focus mode. Some invisible force is tugging me toward the girl.
I want a better look.
Sloane and the mystery girl are obviously friends, judging by the way they’re leaning in, like they’re telling secrets.
I’ll choose to ignore the fact that Sloane notoriously refuses to introduce me to her female friends .
I guess I can’t entirely blame her for that. I’m very up-front about the fact that I don’t do commitment. At all. Never have. I make sure women know that from the word go. I’m up for a good time, but when the night ends—which it always inevitably does—the night ends. I make sure they know I won’t call before I offer them a second drink. They’re fine with that, every single time.
That doesn’t, however, stop each and every one of them from thinking she’ll be the one to change me. To convince me she’s the one worth reforming for. And when that doesn’t happen, they start acting like I’m the worst guy alive when I follow through on every single one of the promises I made when I first met them.
That alone seems to be enough to ensure that Sloane doesn’t think I’m a good match for any of her friends.
To be fair, I probably wouldn’t want a woman I cared about platonically sleeping with me, either, unless all she’s interested in is the best night of her life.
I realize how arrogant that sounds, but I’m just talking from experience. Before you run for the hills and write me off as an asshole or a man-whore, let me explain one thing. I’m honest, I’m fun, I make people laugh like they haven’t laughed in a long time, they often tell me. They can be themselves with me.
But when we get to the bedroom, I’m no gentleman. I’m careful and very thorough in all the ways I need to be. I’m also hung like a fucking Spartan. And I know how to use my gifts .
That’s just the way it is. I happen to be very, very good in bed. This isn’t me singing my own praises. This is the talk of the town. Which Sloane loves to point out to me every chance she gets. I swear she keeps a digital scrapbook of the quotes.
Colton Maddox is the best lay on the planet , according to one Victoria’s Secret supermodel, a headline Sloane insisted on reading to me. He was gone by morning but, girlfriend, I have been SHATTERED in the best kind of way, enlightened beyond recognition, and I’m still high on my three-orgasm endorphin rush. Baby, come back to me.
Or something like that.
Or, according to a starlet I met at a movie premiere a few months ago, Colton Maddox, CALL ME, you sexy beast! Holy Amazeballs, Batman, I need another night with you. Pretty please with whipped cream on top ! Once was never going to be enough, you bad, bad boy. You just can’t DO those things to me and then disappear like a hot, ten-inch, dirty-talking ghost, it’s not fair!!!
And so on.
Sloane warns her friends to steer clear of me, but there’s an intrigue she can’t control. Women fall for me at the drop of a hat and there’s nothing Sloane or anyone else can do to curb their enthusiasm. I’m a piece of A-list billionaire prime beef and half of them are madly in love with me before they’ve even met me.
It is what it is.
I can overhear the girls’ conversation now, and I grab a bottle of champagne from an ice bucket .
“So how’s stuff going with work?” I hear Sloane ask the girl.
“Today is actually the start of my first vacation in a year,” the girl replies. She still has her back to me, but the soft husk to her voice is strangely magnetic. It’s the kind of voice that could calm your worst fears or talk you off a ledge. “I’ve got two weeks off.” Mystery girl takes a sip of her champagne and I see her shoulders visibly relax. So wherever she works is stressful, then. Some instinct that feels new to me doesn’t like this.
It’s then that I get my first look at the girl’s face.
I don’t want to sound dramatic here, but with the backdrop of the red sky and the setting sun dipping into the sea, leaking its liquid fire all over the surface of the water, painting her skin, her hair and her face with its golden effect, she looks like some kind of otherworldly fire-lit angel. Her face is insanely beautiful. Her eyes are silver, catching the reflected glow of the sun like bottled lightning, rimmed by sweeping lashes. She’s petite and fine-boned and, in contrast, her lips are almost ridiculously full and lush. Something about the bee-stung plushness and the perfect pink of them reaches into me and grips both my heart and my cock like tight fists.
Fuck.
She notices me and she blinks up at me, her silver eyes widening a fraction.
I can honestly say I have never been so mesmerized in my life. Her dark, gold-lit hair frames her face, with those curls of the shorter layers adding a playful softness and the longer strands hanging to frame her breasts, which are high and full with the faint outline of her nipples barely showing through the fabric of her dress.
Fuck me.
I notice again the style of her outfit. I happen to personally know many of New York’s top fashion designers and I get a lot of invitations to their shows, to liven up the front row. I don’t pay attention enough to know who this designer might be, but it doesn’t look familiar. It looks new and cutting edge, with details of pale suede and off-white fur. Even I can tell that it’s well-made in that way that well-designed clothes should be: they make the person wearing them look fucking amazing.
This girl would look gorgeous in a paper bag, but the dress takes her beauty to a whole different level. She’s hot and sexy and naturally glamorous, like she wakes up looking like this.
“Don’t you dare look at my bestie that way, Colton Maddox,” I hear Sloane scold me through my dazed infatuation. “You can’t have her.”
We’ll see about that.
I feel strangely starstruck and drunk on the vision of her.
How can anyone be this fucking beautiful?
“Lila, meet my devastatingly handsome but completely insufferable boss, Colton Maddox.”
So her name is Lila .
“Don’t believe a word she says. I’m not insufferable at all.”
“Really,” Lila says softly, like she doesn’t believe me.
“Colton, meet Lila Bailey, my gorgeous, talented and exceptionally off-limits best friend.”
“Lila, the pleasure’s mine.” I take her hand carefully, leaning to kiss her cheek because I can’t resist. Her skin is cool and silky-smooth. The scent of her hair, all floral spice and lemony freshness, is so mind-numbingly appealing it makes me dizzy. I have a savage urge to wind the long strands around my fist and tilt her head back so she’s fully under my power before tasting her insanely inviting mouth.
“Nice to meet you, Colton.” Lila smiles, pulling her hand from mine.
For a second I’m speechless—and this might be a first—by the sweetness of her smile and her neat white teeth, but there’s something reserved and knowing behind her eyes. Sloane, no doubt, has warned her about me. If she’s Sloane’s “bestie,” Sloane probably gushes every chance she gets about how terrible I am, how I leave a trail of broken-hearted women in my wake wherever I go.
Even if Lila is as intrigued as I am, her eyes lingering on my face, my chest, and lower—as she’s biologically hard-wired to do—she’s already made up her mind about me. “Sloane’s told me a lot about you.” There’s a pause before she says it. “All good, of course.”
“Of course.” I slide a look at Sloane, who gives me an overly sweet smile. I can’t stop my assistant from gossiping about my night life, and it never bothered me before, but right now I find myself regretting that she knows every damn thing about me.
Damn it, Sloane.
I immediately get the impression that Lila is inexperienced. And a little bit world-weary, like she’s been burning the candle at both ends for too long. Not unusual in New York, of course, but I don’t like that she has the faintest bruise-like shadows under her silver eyes.
Is she okay? Is she working too hard? Does she have anyone to take care of her?
It’s an unfamiliar feeling. To not just care about these details, but to feel the concern leeching deep into psychic fresh dirt, taking on a manic edge.
“Beautiful night for it,” Sloane comments.
“Yes,” I agree. “The perfect night to celebrate our success.” I top up both their glasses and my own, clinking my flute against Sloane’s, then Lila’s, grinning at the stunning little minx, because I can’t not grin at her. She’s so fucking gorgeous, her beauty is somehow making me feel like I just won one of life’s holy jackpots.
“Okay, one more drink, but that’s it,” Lila says. “I’ve got a long drive tomorrow.”
“Where to?”
“My friend’s getting married in L.A. next weekend. It’s going to take me all week to get there.”
“You’re driving to L.A .?” My brain is working in the background behind this slightly shocking piece of information. Who drives to fucking L.A.? And the spin of my thoughts is taking me into brand new territory. This could be your opportunity to spend time with the most beautiful woman you’ve ever met. To convince her you’re not a serial-dating villain. To show her that instead, you’re the man of her wildest dreams. “By yourself?” I’m not even going to acknowledge that last thought. I don’t know where the fuck it flew in from.
“Yeah, well, I have this phobia about flying.” She laughs lightly, and the sound does weird things to me. Those invisible fists gripping my heart and my cock squeeze tighter. “It’s lame, I know, but it’s a hang-up I have. So I figured it could be a chance for me to check out a few places I’ve always wanted to go, along the way.”
Her voice is angel-soft but with a light smoky husk to it.
I wonder what it would sound like moaning my name. I have a sudden, feral need to find out.
“Like where?”
“Nashville. I’ve always wanted to go there. Aspen, maybe for a night or two, but I hear it’s super expensive. The Grand Canyon’s on my bucket list and it’s sort of on the way. So maybe I’ll try to fit that in too. And Vegas, believe it or not. I don’t even gamble but I feel like I should at least see it once in my lifetime.”
Against my will, my brain is continuing to concoct a plan.
A bus. One of those super-sized tour buses with lounges and upstairs bedrooms. I could show her these places in total style. I could blow her mind with how much fun she could have, and how much luxury I could lay on. For a whole week, she could be all mine.
“Are you sure you don’t just want to fly, honey?” Sloane asks. “I used to hate flying too, but I just take a sleeping pill now and it knocks me right out.”
Lila admits something she’s clearly been holding back from Sloane. “I’m actually thinking of going back to L.A. for good.”
“No.” Sloane takes Lila’s hand. “You can’t.”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure yet, but things aren’t really working out for me here like I’d hoped.”
Which means you’ll never see her again if you don’t act on it. She’ll slip right through your goddamn fingers and you’ll always wonder.
Sloane is upset by the news. “But it’s so sudden, Lila. You can’t leave for good .”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, Sloane. I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while. L.A. is home and I’m…” She glances at me briefly but then overrides whatever hesitation is holding her back. It might be the combination of the champagne and the fact that Sloane’s warnings have made her decision to steer clear of me resolute. She tells us more than I might have expected. “Well, the guy I’ve had a crush on forever is going to be at the wedding. And my best friend from college—the one getting married—has offered me a room in her soon-to-be new husband’s house in Malibu, not that I’ll probably take her up on it, but it’s nice to have the option short-term. So it feels like the timing might be right. ”
“What guy?” Sloane asks. “You never told me about a guy you’ve had a crush on.”
“Honestly, he’s no one. Just a guy I used to basically be in love with even though nothing ever happened between us. I’m kind of dreading seeing him.”
There are a few things I can use here. She’s single. She’s pining for a man who must be the biggest fucking idiot on the planet. And if nothing happened between them and she’s been pining for him all this time, that could mean…any number of things which I try not to fixate on or over-analyze.
“I’m hardly fantasizing about a romantic reunion with my old unrequited crush,” Lila laughs again, but there’s regret in it. “It’s probably going to be totally awkward.”
“ Or ,” Sloane gushes, “he’ll realize what he’s been missing out on all this time and he’ll fall madly in love with you.”
The idea of it makes my blood turn hot and it’s an unfamiliar sensation. What the hell? Is this… jealousy ? Whatever it is, it’s intense. I want to kill the fucker.
Lila shrugs lightly. “Highly doubtful.”
“All you have to do,” Sloane insists, “is to turn up all super-hot and outrageously sexy, like in this insane dress you’re wearing right now or one of your other designs—like that catsuit on your Instagram, oh my god. The guy won’t stand a chance.”
Of course he won’t. And neither do I. Note to self: look up Lila Bailey’s Instagram .
“It’s extremely unlikely,” Lila says. “Compared to Mr. Hotshot Lawyer in Pasadena, with my two minimum wage jobs and tumbleweeds rolling through my love life, I’m definitely not looking like the best option on paper.”
“Girl, those details are irrelevant,” Sloane insists. “Don’t you dare sell yourself short. Have you looked in the mirror lately? You could have any man you wanted. You just haven’t met the right one yet.”
The more I watch her the more mesmerized I become. The girl is absolutely stunning.
“That’s the thing,” Lila says. “Maybe I have met the right one but he just didn’t want me. I know it’s ridiculous. I really should have moved on a long time ago. And I thought I had, but then as soon as I heard he was going to be there…oh, god, why am I even talking about this? The whole thing is ridiculous.”
So she’s never dated because she was waiting for some asshole from her past to notice her.
Sloane looks around, whispering conspiratorially to Lila. “You know, if you wanted to let off some steam before you see this guy again, to take the edge off those nerves, you could…you know, have a little fun tonight. We’re surrounded by hot, rich assholes. Any one of them could be yours for the taking.”
I’m gripping my champagne flute so hard I have to make a point of not breaking it.
“What a way to sell your colleagues.” Lila bites back a smile .
“I mean, they’re not all assholes.” I know Sloane’s not including me in that half-compliment.
Lila laughs. “As if I’m going to have my first one night stand with some random guy just so I don’t completely embarrass myself in case I happen to connect with Troy, who’s actually with someone else but apparently they’re ‘not exclusive’, according to Jessie. It’s so pathetic. Someone please save me from myself.”
I grip the back of a bar stool to stop myself from yelling I volunteer as tribute at the top of my lungs. I can’t suppress the raging urge to save this stunning little stranger from the douchebag named Troy. What kind of Class A moron would overlook this drop-dead gorgeous girl when she was crazy about him?
“Wait,” says Sloane. “What do you mean, ‘your first’…?”
“It’s nothing. Forget I said that.”
But Sloane is nothing if not persistent. “Lila, do you mean you’ve never…at all…even once…?”
Lila’s face turns bright red and she glances at me before shielding her eyes from me, as though that’ll stop me from overhearing. To Sloane in a hushed plea: “Would you stop? That’s the very last thing I would want your billionaire devil of a boss to know about me.”
I can’t even get offended by that. I am a devil. And she’s an angel.
“Seriously?” Sloane squawks under her breath. My assistant is good at her job, but tact is not one of her strong points.
Sloane takes Lila’s mortified silence as a yes.
“Holy shit,” Sloane exclaims in her hushed whisper. “You’ve been saving yourself for this guy?”
“No. Well, not exactly. I just…haven’t found someone better yet.”
“Girl, you could cash it in now. Here. Tonight. Do you want me to introduce you to some of the lesser-assholes?”
“Of course I don’t.” Lila’s expression is layered. Sadness, almost. Exhaustion. “I decided only a couple of days ago that I’m going to drive back to California on what might end up being a one-way trip. I need to focus on that and not get distracted.”
“Lila, it’s such a long way. Are you sure you want to do this? God, I’d offer to come with you if I didn’t have work.”
I’m tempted to offer Sloane the time off. But another idea is gaining momentum and it doesn’t want Sloane anywhere near it.
Lila twirls a strand of her hair. “I thought things would fall into place for me here in New York, but the reality is, they haven’t. I think the open road and some head space is exactly what I need, to figure out my next move.”
Sloane contemplates Lila and I can tell Lila’s about to be lectured by my well-meaning but very bossy assistant. I’m on the receiving end of it every damned day, so I know the warning signs and when to run. Lila, it seems, does not .
“It all sounds very Thelma and Louise, Lila—without Thelma—but the reality is you’ll be spending your nights in shitty motels, eating dinner alone, spending huge stretches on the road with all those big trucks and endless traffic. All day every day of driving is extremely tiring. It’s not even safe , Lila. Plus there are predators out there. Lots of them. Is your car even reliable? Maybe you should at least consider taking a bus. I don’t think you’ve thought this all the way through.”
Lila sighs. “I have thought it all the way through and unfortunately it’s my best option. I’ve given it a year, Sloane. You’re basically my only real friend. I’m still not even close to breaking into the industry. And my car only makes that clunking sound when I turn the air conditioner on. It’ll be fine. The weather’s cooler now. I want to take the time to drive, anyway. I think it’s what I need.”
Sloane begins to relent. “If you’re really sure, honey.”
“I am.”
None of this is remotely acceptable.
Anything could happen to her out there on the open road by herself. Even if she does make it to L.A. without breaking down or worse, the thought of her showing up to that wedding dressed in some sexy little number to try to win back a dim-witted asshole who most definitely doesn’t deserve her makes me feel like bending a crowbar in half before impaling him with it.
A waiter shows up with a tray of tequila shots he’s passing around. Sloane picks up two of them, handing one to Lila. “Well, if it’s our last night together for a while, we need to at least drink to your journey. And your conquest. You too, boss.” I grab one and Sloane clinks her shot against mine, then Lila’s. “To the fall of Troy.”
Lila giggles and shakes her head. “I’m really going to regret this, but what the hell.”
They both drink their shots, Lila struggling with it. I tip mine back. They’re generously-sized shot glasses. Doubles, if I’m not mistaken.
As I watch Lila’s hair lift gently in a passing breeze and I catch the floral scent of her, I suddenly get the unfamiliar feeling that I’m in serious trouble. My brain is on auto-pilot and its plan is fully in place. I have no idea why I suddenly feel compelled to be this little stranger’s white knight but I’m feeling it hard .
Someone calls to Sloane from across the patio. One of the girls from Noah’s office.
“Oh god, I forgot I was supposed to send Laney those documents. I can do it from my phone. I’ll be right back, Lila.” Sloane eyeballs me and I expect her to give me her well-practiced speech about my many character flaws but for some reason she doesn’t. “Behave,” is all she says before slipping away. “And talk her out of driving to California by herself.”
I have no idea if Sloane could feel it. But I can. This fizz of electricity that’s hanging in the air between me and the gorgeous girl whose lips are so lusciously flawless I’m having a hard time not kissing her lustily right here and now.
I take heart from the fact that her cheeks have those soft flags of pink and her silver eyes are locked on mine.
“Do not let me have any more shots,” Lila says. “I still haven’t finished packing and a hangover will definitely not help me. Besides, tequila makes me crazy.”
“I’ll have one of my drivers make sure you and Sloane get home safe,” I tell her. “The bride must be a good friend for you to trek all the way across the country to go to her wedding.”
“We’ve been best friends since we were ten.” She blinks up at me. Her eyelashes are naturally long and lightly curved, framing those stunning, light-filled, soulful eyes. “She just found out she’s pregnant. To some guy she really likes but hardly knows. Even though I’ve never met him, I get the feeling things are going to work out for them. He’s got plenty of money and he’s nice to her. He has a stable family and a nice house. I just hope she gets everything she’s ever dreamed of. She deserves it.” Her eyes are filled with emotion. She’s definitely feeling the alcohol now and I have the urge to protect her in ways I’ve never thought about before but that are burning me with their ferocity.
“And what about you?” I ask her. “What do you dream of? Besides the loser who let you go.”
Her mouth quirks with regret. “I’m sorry I told you all that. It’s stupid. Just a guy from my past who I honestly never thought I’d see again. And I was relieved about that. But now it turns out he’s going to be at this wedding and I can’t really not go just for that reason. I’m the maid of honor.”
“He must be the stupidest man on the planet, to not notice you when he had the chance. There’s clearly something wrong with him.”
“Oh, there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s like the poster child for good decisions.”
“If you weren’t one of his decisions, honey, I’d have to strongly disagree.”
Her expression is hard to read but I can almost hear what she’s thinking. That she’s half dreading seeing him and half hoping it might be different this time. She’s still mired in some mindfuck with a guy who never gave her the time of day.
It’s not right. She’s too beautiful to be ignored.
“Are you still in love with him?” I brace myself, but I’ve already decided—and I have no idea where the fuck this is coming from, because it’s a complete U-turn to the way I’ve lived my life until this exact moment—that I’m going to be the one to change her mind.
What the fuck, Maddox.
“No. I’m not in love with him. It was a long time ago. I just want to see him again so I can lay all of it to rest and get on with my life. I thought I’d already done that but I haven’t met anyone else and maybe I’m still holding onto something. This is my chance to finally let it go. ”
I’m not convinced. And I suddenly can’t handle the thought of her not letting it fucking go.
“The thing is, I’m terrible at reading signals or signs,” Lila confesses, the tequila now having its way with her. “That’s part of my problem. I think it might be the reason Troy friend-zoned me in college. And why I’ve had such bad luck with men. If I don’t up my game, I’m doomed to be single forever.” Her gorgeous face twists into a sulky pout and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my goddamn jaded life. “Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear another word about my pathetic sob story.”
“It’s not pathetic. It’s romantic. You just wasted your efforts on the wrong guy.”
She blinks up at me again, twirling a finger through a curl of her silky hair. I want to grab handfuls of it as I fuck that sweet little pink mouth.
The worst part about this whole clusterfuck is that there’s a very real possibility she would be better off with Troy. She said it herself: I’m a devil. I’m the guy who breaks every woman’s heart. It’s my whole identity and there’s no reason to think I wouldn’t break Lila’s too.
I don’t know if it’s the color of her lips or the fire in her eyes that has me slayed, but for the first time in my life, I crave something I’ve never had a reason to crave before. I want to be a better man than fucking Troy.
I know that if I confess my sudden knight-in-shining-armor tendencies to this perfect little stranger, she’ll probably laugh in my face. So I take a slightly different tact. “Do you have a plan?”
“What do you mean?”
“How are you going to play it? You can’t go in there all subservient and self-conscious. You have to stride in there like you own the place. Like you expect every man there to get on his knees for you.” Which they all will anyway, even if Lila doesn’t realize it. There’s no way in hell any straight man in their right mind wouldn’t want to devour Lila Bailey.
But she can’t see this.
“That’s the problem,” she admits. “I don’t even know where to start. I have zero experience seducing men.” She blushes again and I try not to think about how badly I want to make her whimper and writhe with pleasure.
My cock is hard and hot but I ignore it. “So the wedding is next weekend?”
“Next Saturday.”
“Well, then, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“What’s obvious?” Blinking at me innocently.
“You need a driver. Someone to keep you company.” What the fuck are you offering right now? “And if that person can give you lessons along the way? Then it’s a win all round.”
“Lessons?”
“Here’s my offer.” Tequila, do your job. Make her say yes. “I’ll drive you to California and, along the way, I teach you how to seduce a man. How to flirt like a pro. How to read signals. I’ll teach you how to get any man you want. I’ll even teach you what to do with him once you’ve got him—so well, he’ll fall completely, totally head over heels in love with you.”
Like this one. And only this one.
I don’t even try to interpret the shit going on in my brain right now. It must be the tequila having its evil way with me.
And I barely know what I’m offering. All I know is I’ve got this inexplicable need to be close to her. The thought of letting her walk away, possibly for good, and straight into the arms of some clueless asshat who doesn’t appreciate her is unbearable.
“Wow,” she breathes. “That’s a big promise, Mr. Maddox.”
I’m going to be her travel companion. Somehow, between now and L.A., I’m going to change her mind about Dipshit Troy.
The waiter returns with another tray of drinks. This time it’s flutes of champagne. I take two, handing one to Lila.
“Not for me,” she says.
“You have a driver now. You can be hungover in the passenger seat. Have one more with me. Then I’ll have my driver take you girls home if you want.”
She relents, taking the flute, but she doesn’t drink it. “You really are a devil, you know that?” She looks so damn lovely I basically feel like I’m in the process of being zapped by a slow-moving lightning bolt that’s infusing me with a super-powered, full-blown obsession.
“So, we’re doing this?” I’m trying to act like my world won’t implode if she says no.
“You really think you’re that good of a driver—and teacher?” She clearly thinks I’m joking about the offer.
“I know I’m that good, sweetheart.”
Her bell-toned laughter kills me. “So what exactly are you going to teach me?”
“Everything you need to know.”
“How?” Coquettishly, without even meaning to be, with a sweep of those long lashes.
She might not think she knows how to flirt, but the way she touches her tongue to her plump bottom lip when she’s unsure…it’s pure torture. I’m fucking hooked.
I feel her eyes on me, studying me. “What do you get out of this, then?”
I lean in close. So close that I can smell the sweet smell of roses and ripe peaches on her skin. I take a sip of my champagne before answering, enjoying that I can see I’ve riled her with just one look. My mind might be scrambled, but she’s not immune to my charms.
“I get the opportunity to take some time away from work and see some of this great country of ours, of course.”
“Of course.” Clearly amused, Lila takes a sip of her drink, like she’s waiting for the part two of my answer. So I take my cue, leaning in even closer, catching the spark in her eyes as they lock with mine.
“And I get to spend time with the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” I reach out to trace the outline of her delicate jaw with one finger, keeping my voice low. “If I get to kiss you just once along the way, I’ll consider it to be the best road trip of my life. And when I demand more—and I will—I’ll expect you to do anything I ask.”
“Oh yeah?” comes the sassy but breathless reply. She still thinks I’m teasing her.
The problem is, I’m dead serious about all of it. “Oh yeah. Because the demands I’ll make will give you the kind of pleasure you never even knew existed.”
Her silver eyes get wide. My urge to kiss her is so strong it physically hurts. But I don’t want to scare her away.
She laughs. “Wow. You’re good, I’ll give you that. Those lines are expert level. I’d say you’re definitely the right man for the job.”
“And you’re already better at this than you think.”
I take her hand in mine, squeezing it lightly, as though to seal the deal.
Sloane is making her way back toward us and I murmur to Lila, “Let’s keep our deal under wraps for now.” Sloane will have my head on a platter if she finds out, but I’m facing bigger issues than the wrath of my assistant.
I’m relieved when the band cranks up several gears and a few more people join our circle.
It’s probably the alcohol—I’m half hoping it is the goddamn alcohol and I’ll come to my senses any minute. I can’t take a week off. Especially for a girl I’ve known for exactly twenty minutes. Then again, Cash just took two weeks off. And that was before we’d even fully resolved the issues we were having, which I ended up solving for him.
I haven’t taken any time off for over a year.
Whatever excuses I might be making or not making evaporate when Lila smiles at me. And I know for sure that I’m in deep, deep trouble. It’s the kind of trouble that somehow feels so fucking good I simply don’t care.