CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Reynolds
I was sitting at the premiere table with the Salazars.
We were waiting on Nadine to come out. She was the last set of the night.
I’d been struggling most of the day with whether to be part of the auction.
It would be career suicide if it leaked somehow that I’d ‘bought’ a woman to be my mistress. But I wasn’t that worried about that.
I knew that the people who would be most likely to report that I’d participated in the auction were members of this club. They’d have a lot of explaining to do about how they knew what I was up to in the club. And nobody wanted to be sued by the Salazar family for breaking the NDA.
I took a long sip of my whiskey. No, my reservations were about whether she could hold my interest for months.
It was rare women kept me intrigued longer than a week or two.
Nadine, though. She seemed different. She felt different.
I couldn’t get my mind off her. I wished I could just fuck her a few times and see if I still felt that way.
I wasn’t sure I was willing to take the risk of falling out of lust with her quickly. Although, I guessed as long as I gave her whatever was promised in the contract, it didn’t matter how long I stayed with her.
I looked up in surprise as Enzo Salazar walked up, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
All of his brothers stared at him, too.
“What?” he asked, a slight smile on his face.
“Why are you here?” Nico asked.
“It’s none of your fucking business, little brother, but it just so happens I felt the need to see some dancers tonight.”
“Fuck that,” Javier snorted. “You’re here for Nadine.”
“I don’t deny it,” Enzo grinned.
“You have a thing for her, don’t you?” Leo asked.
Enzo just shrugged. “I appreciate a beautiful woman, that’s all. Plus, she was pretty good at giving me a hand job without even trying.”
Everyone laughed.
“You’re a stronger man than me. I don’t think I could’ve stopped her,” Leo said.
“She would’ve stopped when she realized what she was doing, idiot. I just didn’t want to come in my pants like a high school kid. Still, I sure didn’t hate it,” he grinned. His eyes met mine. “And she’s fun to watch, right Mayor Taylor?”
“Hell, yes,” I said and lifted my glass.
Everyone else did, too, and then we took a drink.
Leo looked upset. “Nico, let me bid in the auction. Change your policy.”
Nico turned to him with cold blue eyes. “The rules are there for a reason. I’d like to fuck her, too. We all would. But that doesn’t mean it’s fair for us to be in the auction. It sends the wrong message.”
Leo slammed a fist on the table and got up to leave.
“Next up is Nadine,” a voice said over the loudspeaker and the audience clapped.
Leo sat back down. “I’m not missing this.” He glared at Nico. “Even though I’m still pissed at you.”
Nico adopted a relaxed position in his chair, but I was on edge.
I didn’t like Leo’s interest in Nadine one bit.
Based on the conversation I’d had with him earlier, I thought he was giving up on trying to get into the auction.
Had he been full of shit? He was a handsome motherfucker, and he was a lot closer to her age than I was. Would she rather have him?
Why did the thought of the two of them together make me sick to my stomach? I knew the truth. I wanted Nadine more than I’d ever wanted another woman, and I didn’t know what to do with the feelings she stirred up in me.
I watched as Nadine did her routine. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I watched her the whole time. When she was dancing, if that’s what it could be called, with the male dancer, I fucking wanted to kill him. But I still couldn’t look away.
After her set ended. I took a deep breath. Then I downed what was left in my whiskey glass and raised my hand for another.
Enzo excused himself for the night, and Nico left to join Carmen to talk business. After her big announcement, they were sure to be busy. I knew I was ready to pull out my wallet.
“You gonna try to fuck Nadine, Reynolds?” Joaquin asked.
He was direct. “I, um, am thinking about doing the auction for her.”
The table got quiet.
“Really?” Javy asked. “I want to do the auction if Bethany ever does it, but Nico says he won’t let me.”
“I think we’re all clear on Nico’s position on any of us bidding,” Leo said, bitter.
I saw a strange look flicker across Joaquin’s face when Javy mentioned Bethany, and I wondered what that was about.
Not my business.
“Let’s mess with Nadine. It’ll be fun,” Leo said, suddenly, his face brightening.
“Not in a mean way, though, right?” I asked. I wouldn’t soon forget Carmen’s warning.
“Of course not! We love Nadine.” Leo sighed. “There she is. Man, I’m jealous of you. If I could have her, I’d be all over that.”
I turned and saw her talking and laughing with another table of men. She’d changed into her hostess uniform, but she still had her stage makeup on.
I swallowed hard as I took her in. She had long, chocolate hair with streaks of honey and caramel running through it.
Her eyes were big and beautiful, and her lips were plump and inviting.
My eyes scanned her body, taking in her large breasts, pushed up to be even more tempting.
My mouth watered. I’d love to spend hours on those.
I kept glancing down, skimming over the small waist, the plump ass, and the long, toned legs. She had a true hourglass figure.
And I wanted to spend a long time worshipping it.
I found myself smiling as I saw her toss her head back and laugh at something the man was saying. My eyes dropped and noticed his hand on the small of her back, low, near the top of her ass.
I clenched my fist.
“How are we going to fuck with her?” Javy asked.
“Follow my lead. It’ll be about Reynolds. She knows us too well to fall for anything much.” Leo said.
Joaquin made a face. “Are we sure she doesn’t know Reynolds? From that picture it looked like they were pretty cozy at the gala the other night, and she has already dropped a drink in his lap…”
I just grinned. “I’d have loved to have gotten a lot more cozy, let me tell you.”
“Hey, y’all!”
And there she was, bright and happy. My eyes traced over her face, unable to look away.
“Hey, Nadine,” all the Salazars said.
She nodded at them with a big smile. “Hey, Mayor Reynolds,” she said, glancing at me shyly as she set out glasses of whiskey in front of us.
I was ridiculously pleased that she’d singled me out. She hadn’t done that before.
“Reynolds is his first name, Nadine. Not his last name,” Javier told her.
“Oh.” She looked surprised. “What’s your last name?” Nadine asked.
Before I could answer, Leo spoke up. “It’s Longbottom.”
I almost spit the sip of whiskey in my mouth across the table at Leo. I choked a bit, and Javy slapped me on the back a couple of times.
The look on Nadine’s face was priceless. “Longbottom? Like…Neville in Harry Potter?”
She surprised me. She didn’t look like the Harry Potter type.
“Yep,” said Joaquin. “He’s a little embarrassed of his name, though, so we just call him Reynolds.”
She looked at me with kind eyes. “I get it a little bit. My name is Nadine Walker, and I think we all know that sounds like someone’s ninety-year-old grandma.
And my best friend’s name is Ray Ann Pinkoe, but she goes by Jelly.
I’m not really sure why. But I know why she doesn’t like going by her last name.
By the time we were in middle school all the boys were calling her ‘pink ho’ instead of her name.
And, well, I’m from Puckins, Georgia. Well, that sounds like Fuckins, and the kids from over in shitty Wilkins were always teasing us… ”
“Nadine,” Javy said, interrupting her while trying to hide a smile, “how about talking to our new friend Mr. Longbottom here for a bit?”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” She turned and smiled at me, and I felt all the air leave my lungs. And the words left my brain.
Fuck. I hadn’t been nervous around a girl in… maybe ever.
“I’ll just call you Reynolds, though. I can tell Longbottom might be a sore subject for you, and…
” she suddenly cut off her words and narrowed her eyes at me.
“Wait a minute. I just remembered the article with the picture of us called you Mayor Taylor.” Those brown eyes of hers locked with mine, and I swear I could drown in hers.
She gave the Salazar men a mock frown. “Y’all better quit messing with me! What if I’d seen him across the street in town one day and yelled out ‘Hey, Mr. Longbottom’ to the goddamn mayor? Y’all suck,” she stuck out her tongue at them.
All of us quit laughing and stared at her pink tongue. I wanted that tongue wrapped around my cock. I glared at Javy, Leo, and Joaquin since they were staring at her with their lips parted, clearly lost in the same visual images I was experiencing.
She laughed, oblivious to our dirty thoughts. “Oh, y’all are too much.” She turned to me. “I’m really sorry about that night and the dirty photo all over social media.”
“Oh, angel, it’s my new favorite picture. I think I’m going to have it framed.” I winked at her. “And if I’d gotten to do to you what that picture made it look like I was doing, you would never have forgotten my name. I guarantee it.”
Nadine blinked at me and turned a little pink. I loved it. My God. How long had it been since a girl blushed at something I’d said? “Come here, Nadine. Let me tell you a secret.”