Chapter 11
Damien
“Look at that ass,” Diego says as the waitress walks away. He makes no point of being quiet enough that she can’t hear him, and she tosses a look over her shoulder. Diego winks at her, turns to me, holds up his glass and says, “Cheers, brother.”
I clink my glass to his, and we both take a sip.
We are at Freya’s, a rooftop bar at one of our sister hotels on the strip.
Sometimes it’s nice to get away. To be above the city, away from the lights and the noise and the constant pressing of work.
Of course, Diego is here, so I can only relax so much.
“So?” he asks.
“So?” I parrot.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asks.
“Yeah. I think I’m going to get the ahi. Tuna sounds good tonight.”
“I’m not talking about dinner, dumbass,” he snaps, setting his glass down.
“Isn’t that why we’re here? Dinner?”
“I want to know what happened at the Velvet Lounge the other night.”
I say nothing.
“With your new assistant…?”
I blink.
“It was your first time out with her.”
I take another sip of my drink.
“Listen, if you don’t say something, I’m just going to make up a story, and the way I am going to describe her in next to nothing is not going to–”
“Shut up,” I snap, cutting him off. He’s not wrong. If he so much as mentions her curves or her lips or the way her breasts swell in her dresses, I’m going to throw him over the edge of this thirty-story building. “It went well.”
“Well? As in she did as she was told? Well? As in she put out? Well? As in she gave you a blow job on the circle couch?” he presses.
“Well as in, I’m going to keep her around. For now, anyway. It was only day one,” I answer. The waitress comes over and takes our order, giving me a much-needed break from Diego’s gossip addiction. This man is my best friend, but he’s a constant pain in my ass.
“Keep her around? You say that as if you were questioning it. The way you hired her on the spot tells me her resume was nothing short of flawless. And she’s very much your type. Why wouldn’t you keep her around?”
I make the mistake of answering the first part of the string of questions. “I never actually looked at her resume,” I admit, regretting it immediately.
“What do you mean you didn’t look at her resume?” Diego lets out a disbelieving laugh.
“I mean…I saw her, and I just knew,” I state.
But Diego, being Diego, doesn’t drop it. “You knew what? That you wanted to bang her?”
“I knew that she was right for the part,” I tell him.
“Okay, but how would you know that if you knew nothing about her?” he presses.
“Because. She figured out the job fast. She figured me out fast. From coffee orders to protocol. I never have to repeat myself. I never have to question anything. She’s devoted.”
The last word that comes out of my mouth surprises me a little. It’s not usually a word that I use when describing my assistants. But at the same time, I’ve never had an assistant like Annelise before either.
“So she’s the one,” he says, and my attention snaps back up to him.
“The one what?”
“You know, the girl you’ve been looking for,” Diego says with a grin as the waitress sets stuffed mushrooms in front of us that Diego must’ve ordered when I wasn’t listening. Either way, it smells good. Being pissed off must burn a lot of calories because I am suddenly starving.
“I’m not looking for a girl,” I remind him. “I’m looking for an assistant. Which, as you know, has been an uphill battle.” I decide to snag one of the mushrooms off the oven hot plate and pop the whole thing in my mouth.
“You? But your standards are so low.”
“I’m not looking for a relationship. Only a woman to play the part,” I say.
“I know, I know. I’m just having fun. Don’t worry, I know you won’t get too attached to her. With the way you test drive ‘em and roll ‘em out, I know better than to think you’ll like any of them too much.”
“She’s not going anywhere!” I clap back faster than I expect myself to, and Diego’s signature shit-eating grin crawls across his smug face.
He raises an eyebrow. It’s a challenge, but I’m not engaging. I’m done with this conversation. We eat more or less in silence; other than a few questions he has about actual work-related things. Then he reminds me of an owner’s party we are expected to attend at Top Golf.
“I hate golf,” I grunt as I take a bite of my ahi. It’s thinly sliced, perfectly seared and peppered. At least one thing about this lunch is bearable.
“It’s not real golf. All we have to do is hit golf balls off a platform while drinking beer straight from a keg while talking about whose hotel is the best,” Diego says.
“Okay, so I hate dick-measuring contests,” I mutter.
“Is there anything in the world you do like?” he asks.
“Eating in peace,” I say, and Diego shakes his head. But I can’t help but crack a small smile. As annoyed as I get, I do enjoy spending time with him away from the office.
I’d be lying if I said all this talk about Annelise doesn’t have my mind drifting back to her now.
Despite being ill-prepared for the night we spent together, she was incredible.
I was a little worried that she’d duck out once she saw the place.
I also wasn’t 100% sure she would show up at all.
But she did show, and she showed up. She did it with dignity and beauty. And she was delicious.
I swallow hard at the memory, thankful that the table is hiding my dick’s memory of that night.
I’ve never felt a pussy that tight, and that fitted me.
Well, maybe not never. There was one little sexy minx about five years back during a charity gala.
A girl whose name I could never remember after the fact.
She was bewitching in her mask. It was mysterious and sexy and fleeting.
It was amazing. Annelise definitely gave that experience a run for its money.
Focus, you idiot. Thinking about both of them at the same time will have your dick ripping clean through your slacks.
I take another bite. She’s not going anywhere.
If anything, I’m going to have to be patient about taking her back there.
It’s not that I’m not ready. I’ve never been so eager for anything in my life.
Annelise needs to be paced. She also needs a new wardrobe.
She deserves to walk around in brands worthy of touching that perfect body of hers. And she’s going to get just that.