Chapter 30
M organ and I had more than a few drinks that evening to celebrate the idea that had come to mind and its potential effects.
As we drank, we shifted to less serious topics, including which girls we were chasing, what shows we’d recently been watching, and what we planned to do with all the money we’d soon be making.
I mentioned that Claire had probably come on to me, but I emphasized that I was being overly cautious after what happened with Layla.
Morgan did not seem flustered or bothered by what I had said in the slightest and just told me to be careful.
It was an easy enough recommendation, and when Morgan left, I was feeling all sorts of giddy and excited. We had a long-term goal, one that would make us both wealthy and satisfied. We would win out over Edwin Hunt, whose deals had become too short-sighted to succeed against our long-term plan.
But in the state of drunken arousal that I was in, I did something that Morgan had warned me not to do but I did anyways.
I set up drinks with Claire the next night.
It wasn’t like I was blacked out when I made the suggestion. It wasn’t like I was surprised when I woke up and saw I had suggested drinks at 8 p.m. that evening. In fact, I was much closer to being sober when I made the text than drunk. I knew exactly what I was doing.
I just wanted to celebrate, even if the celebration put me in a position of something resembling danger. I just told myself to be careful and to keep Claire at arm’s length if she tried to flirt.
I tried not to think about why I had really messaged her too much, knowing if I did, I probably wouldn’t like the answer. I wouldn’t like the idea that I was feeling a bit lonely and wanting the intimacy, no matter how fake it was, from Layla.
Nevertheless, when the evening rolled around, I made sure to dress my finest, throwing on a crisp white button down shirt, nice slacks, some sharp, black wingtip shoes, and a nice but not extravagant watch.
I shaved my neck but not my face, the better to give the appearance of some sexy scruff, and made sure I wore my finest cologne.
I may have said I didn’t want to attract that kind of attention from Claire, but it sure didn’t seem like it.
I didn’t mind, though. I could always say I was just dressing to impress a business client. Even if the truth…
I didn’t let my mind go into it too much, however.
I realized how much I had shifted since my first encounter with her, when not only had I not seen her as someone I could pursue, I didn’t even find her all that attractive.
Funny how things changed so quickly… and so desperately when I wasn’t getting any because of my work and my social life.
When I showed up at the bar, I flashed a big smile as I saw Claire in the back.
Notably, she wore a slightly seductive dress, one that revealed more of her chest than before.
She was far from sexualizing herself as Layla had, but it was a sharp departure from the business, button-down Claire that I had known up to this point.
“Glad you could join,” she said as she hugged me. “I began to think you would never make the offer.”
Ouch. But… playful. That’s a departure.
“Well, I did make the offer, we just had to work on finalizing it.”
I was speaking to the business offer that served as the pretense for us meeting up tonight. I had a bad feeling about where we were actually heading. And honestly… the feeling wasn’t that “bad.”
We sat down and I was surprised to see Claire slide me a gin and soda.
“I know what you like, why wait?”
Well, at least part of her was true to form. I took a sip, savored it, and smiled at her.
“Well, I think this is going to be the start of something delightful,” I said. “It’s hard to have a bad night when you’re indulging in a drink as good as this.”
“I would say so,” Claire said. “So Morgan told me you were in San Francisco.”
Morgan told you, huh? I wasn’t sure whether to be alarmed or not by this bit of news.
I was more curious as to whether or not Morgan and Claire had discussed me in any further detail.
Going to San Francisco in and of itself was far from a big deal.
Going to San Francisco and gossiping about me in further detail… that might have meant something else.
“I did,” I said. “When business beckons, we have to move.”
“Seems like it’s less we and more you,” she said with a soft chuckle, a rare addition of emotion considering her normal silence and straightforwardness. “Chance Hunt, criss-crossing the country, making deals, left and right.”
She was becoming far more comfortable talking to me like this. This was not even the same Claire McLendon I had met in her office. Of course, that Claire had employees in earshot of her. This Claire…
“Well, I could say the same for you, Claire,” I said.
I was slowly shifting into “fuck it” mode in which I would just let the night take me wherever I wanted to, consequences be damned.
I knew doing anything beyond hugging her was asking for trouble as an investor, let alone all of the emotional trouble I’d carried with me in the past, but what was one night going to do to us? What was one hookup going to do?
“How so,” she said, flipping her hair to the side.
“You are doing what I wish I could do,” I said. “Running a successful business.”
To my surprise, Claire let out a much stronger laugh than I ever could have anticipated from her, even if I had told the world’s funniest joke. It seemed so out of character for her, I was left wondering what, exactly, I had said that was so funny… and, more importantly, why it was so funny.
“What?” I said.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “Running a business is much harder and much more stressful than it looks. I don’t ever go out. Dating life? Forget it.”
She could not have dropped that nugget of information by accident. She knows exactly what she’s doing.
“I’m going to someday walk away from Rising Sun with a lot more money in my pocket than I started, but you see this? How I look? This is hiding the stress and burden of having to care for that business and my employees. Your money is going to save me in a way I could never thank you enough for.”
I smiled but felt very uncomfortable at that statement.
I had a feeling this was dangerously tilting toward a Layla-esque situation, except this time, the tables were turned.
Claire was the vulnerable one. I swore on the spot that I wouldn’t take advantage of whatever she said, but how could I not?
If she told me something about her financial situation that could lead to a better deal…
Would I be man enough to pretend not to have heard her? If Morgan found out, would he have done the same? Or would we have both sought to take full advantage of Claire’s oversharing for our own benefit?
“Well, tell me the story some other time,” I said, holding out my glass for a cheers. “Let’s instead focus on the good times here, shall we? Be present. Sway with the music.”
She looked at me askance, even as we clinked glasses together.
“What?” I said, pretending to be playful but desperately hoping Claire did not linger on the topic of business still. I almost wanted to kiss her purely to prevent her from putting me in the same spot of power Layla abused with me.
“This is so unlike you, Chance,” she said. “You’re the quiet, dark, mysterious brother. Morgan is the talker. Morgan doesn’t know when to shut the hell up. You’re the one who watches and charms.”
I bit my lip to prevent myself from saying something that surely would have crossed the line into blatantly flirtatious. I was this close to saying “how could I not stare at someone as beautiful as you?”
A few more drinks and I would be well on my way to saying such a thing.
Fortunately, I was only on my first drink, not my fifth.
“Sometimes I like to change things up, especially as business continues to grow and I can reach a position like you.”
It was… mildly flirtatious. Perhaps just risque enough for a business conversation, but not so much so as to be construed as inappropriate.
“Very well,” Claire said. “Hold on, I need to use the bathroom.”
She got up, put her hand on me supposedly for balance, and walked forward. I noticed as she moved that she had probably had more than one or two drinks up to that point. I knew right then this night was going to end with one of us making a move.
The only question is if I would be moving to meet her on making the move, or if I would be strong enough to avoid making the move.
I went into the tank in my thoughts, reminding myself that I needed to be strong and not keep making move on my business colleagues.
Part of being a man, I told myself, was being able to say no to women as much as it was seducing the ones I wanted.
Anyone could say yes to an interested woman—it took a true man with true self-value to know how to say no to a woman he shouldn’t have slept with.
That ended, though, when Claire came back and put her hand on my shoulder.
“Oh, I drank a bit,” she said with a chuckle.
She paused, looking into my eyes for several seconds. It was incredibly obvious what she was hoping for in that moment. She was hoping I would lean forward, close my eyes, and press my lips onto her.
That was not going to happen.
“You should probably take a seat, then,” I said. I could see the disappointment in her eyes, that sense of half-disgust that I had not given her what she wanted.
Which, I shortly realized as she leaned forward, showing me her cleavage, made her want me even more. This was going to be a real challenge tonight.
You know, would it really kill the deal if you slept with her? You haven’t had sex since Layla. You need someone… why not Claire? She’s cute and harmless.
But what if she says something? Do you want to be in a position like Layla?
So don’t take advantage of her, you fuckhead. It’s not that hard.