Chapter 11
Jameson
Megan’s wary amber eyes glow, enhanced by her smoky eye makeup, as she gazes up at me.
It’s brutal how relieved I am to see her again.
“I’m sorry you wasted your time coming here.” Her voice is soft but firm, her arms wrapped protectively around her waist. “But I’m not coming back.”
I’m not surprised when she resists.
She left my place without a word to me or her brother, so we couldn’t try to stop her. Cole is already in LA, and when I spoke to him on the phone a while ago, I didn’t mention she’d left, but he didn’t either, which meant that he had no idea.
He did suggest that maybe I check in on her tonight, though. It’s Friday night, after all. He wants her happy but mostly safe right now, tucked in at my place, yet he didn’t seem to like the idea of her sitting all alone in her room at my house.
He’d like it even less, I’m sure, if he knew she was going out clubbing in the big city her second night in town, without anyone looking out for her.
That makes two of us.
“Have dinner with me.”
She blinks at me, surprised.
I’m determined to start this over right, though.
And get what I want.
I probably should’ve asked her to have dinner with me in the first place, when I met her in the street, but I’d been caught off guard.
I had no idea I’d ever be seeing her again, and get another chance, but here we are.
Things have changed.
For starters, there’s no way she’s going out tonight without me. She’s too vulnerable to having some rebound fling with the first asshole who makes a move, and I can’t have that.
It’s counterproductive to my goal.
“Have you eaten?” I prompt when she seems low on words.
“I… No, I haven’t. We were going to eat out.”
“I know a great place.”
“Why? Why are you asking me to dinner?”
“Because your brother and I are tight. And I want to apologize for what happened this afternoon.”
“You mean, firing a very nice man so you could give me his job, and not telling me?”
There it is again. That subtle fire of hers.
The one that makes my fingers twitch with the need to tangle themselves into her hair and squeeze until she gasps, opening her mouth for my?—
“Yes. That. I didn’t think it through. Cole wanted you to have the job, so I gave it to you.”
She softens, her shoulders relaxing a little. “I do appreciate that.”
“Then have dinner with me. Give me a chance to start over.”
She considers, with a glance over her shoulder at her friends. Her ride. She takes an excruciating moment to decide, but I can feel it, the moment she decides to give me another chance.
“Okay. I mean, yes. Just let me go tell them.”
“Of course.”
She goes over and leans into the open back window, saying something to her friends that I can’t hear. Her black velvet leggings hug her perfect ass, and my cock swells.
I take a deep breath, stuffing down the sexual attraction by sheer force of will.
I can’t believe how drawn to her I am. I know it’s the challenge. She’s beautiful, but it’s the abstinence from sex that’s fucking with me.
I need to keep it under control. Even if I didn’t have the challenge to deal with… there’s still Cole to think of.
His little sister is dear to him, and she’s clearly off-limits.
When she comes back over to me, her cheeks are flushed, and I wonder what her friends said to her.
“I do have one condition,” she announces, eyes flashing with challenge. “You have to give Romeo his job back.”
She means it.
I kind of like that; she’s negotiating.
But fuck, there’s a part of me that wants to put her over my knee for talking to me like that, spank her until she gasps out a please.
My hands fist in my pockets, squelching the urge. Not happening.
“Of course I’ll hire him back,” I say smoothly. “I need a gardener. And my new one just quit.”
* * *
Locke sweeps the door open for us, and I guide Megan into the restaurant, my hand on her lower back when she hesitates, surprised by what she sees inside. We step into the expansive room with its curved wall of windows, the panoramic view of Coal Harbour and the mountains beyond.
It’s breathtaking, but we’re the only ones who’ll be enjoying it tonight.
Not only is the restaurant empty, it’s unfinished. Scaffolding and equipment from the painters and other tradesmen who work here during the day are scattered around the edges of the room, the recently constructed bar covered in sheets of plastic.
Only one table has been set up, with two chairs in front of the windowed wall, right in the center. It’ll be the prime table when the restaurant opens.
Right now, it’s all ours.
As Locke stands watch by the door, the manager greets us and leads us to our seats. The restaurant will have its grand opening with the rest of the Vance Bayshore resort nine months from now, but a small team is already working to perfect the menu and table service.
Tonight, they’re here for me. For us.
“Perhaps your guest would like the northwest view, Mr. Vance?” the manager offers, drawing out the chair on the right for Megan.
“Thank you, Sylvie.” I pull out my own chair and wait to seat myself once Megan takes the seat she’s been offered, the one with the best view: the sparkling Lions Gate Bridge stretched across the water, the dark ridge of the mountains, and the strip of lights on the ski hill, twinkling along the spine of Black Mountain.
Sylvie makes recommendations for wine that will pair with the chef’s creations this evening, and once I’ve selected a bottle, she leaves us.
Megan’s gazing out at the view in awe. “You own all this?”
“My family owns this resort and all the real estate along this drive. My siblings and I. I hope you don’t mind the unfinished state of the restaurant. I promise the food is incredible.”
“When does it open?”
“In April.”
“And you already have staff and incredible food?”
“When you want things done right, it takes time.”
She takes that in.
“On the other hand… sometimes you need to move quickly, or you miss an opportunity.”
“That is true.” Her voice softens with a tinge of what I take to be regret.
We’re interrupted briefly as a waiter arrives to present me with the wine I’ve selected, offering a taste and then pouring us each a glass. As soon as he leaves us alone, I ask her, “Who were those girls you were going out with?”
“My friend Nicole and her friends. That was her apartment you found me at.”
“And that’s where you were planning to stay tonight?”
“I am staying there tonight.”
She won’t be, if I have a say. She seems to believe otherwise, but the night is young.
“Is it a nice apartment?”
“Well, it’s kind of hard to tell under all the stuff.” She breathes a slightly exhausted-sounding laugh. “She lives with three roommates.”
“I see. And that seems like a reasonable place to call home?”
“As reasonable as any option I’ve got.” Her amber eyes flash; that spark of challenge again. “How did you find me, by the way?”
I’d love to watch that defiant look melt into ecstasy as I shove my cock into her.
Christ.The sex thoughts are rampant tonight. Every time she looks away, I’m mentally groping her. Undressing her.
Bending her over and fisting her hair, wrapping my hand around her throat…
It takes me a moment to understand what she’s asking.
I clear my throat. “It wasn’t difficult. Your taxi driver was very vocal, at a certain price.”
Her eyes widen. “That’s unethical.”
“Ethics often fall low on the priority list when money is involved.”
“And that’s sad.”
“Is it? If you ask me, a lot of people have a toxic view of money in the other direction.”
She considers that. I notice she hasn’t touched her wine. “How so?”
“Money itself shouldn’t be resented or feared or misconstrued as evil. Especially not when it’s a means to most things in life.”
“Most?”
“Everything except those few things that money can’t buy,” I clarify.
“And what are those things?” she asks, like she’s checking to see if I know what they are.
She wouldn’t be the first.
“Freedom, to a certain point. Life, to a certain point. Immortality, certainly. And, of course, love. Or any true emotion.” I lift my wineglass and nod toward hers.
She lifts it for a sip, and her face lights up.
It’s fucking magical.
“Wow.” She moans a bit, licks her lip, and my cock hardens. “That is so much better than the shots.”
My mouth quirks in an unexpected smile. “You did shots?”
“Oh, yeah.” She cringes adorably, her lips plump and wet as she takes another sip.
I stare at her, oddly perplexed, as my cock throbs. How can one woman be so effortlessly cute and fucking sexy at the same time?
It disarms me. I’m not sure I like it.
I glance at my watch. “It’s not even seven thirty.”
“Is there a proper time to do shots?”
That has me thinking. “I suppose it depends on the shots. And why you’re drinking them.”
“We drink them before we go out on the town, to make the boys cuter.”
My jaw clenches as I bite back my response to that.
The corner of her mouth twitches. “I’m kidding. Actually…” She takes another sip. “We probably drink them to make it easier to talk to the really cute ones.”
My molars grind. The thought of her flirting with random guys at the bar…
Fuck, no.
I can’t have that.
Cole won’t have it either. Not right now, when she’s so vulnerable.
And besides that, Megan Hudson is clearly not a woman who needs some “cute boy” in her life.
What she needs is a man.
Doesn’t she realize that?
I inform her, “I have a question for you, Megan.”
“Okay…”
“What if we got engaged?”