admiration and the hope that I would impart the secret formula for bedding a billionaire.
I was dizzy from the bouncing conversation. "Get them drunk?" I made a face and shrugged.
The girls all laughed like I was kidding.
"Well, that's easy enough," Sarah said. "Especially here! But it can't be the whole truth. We've tried to ply Justin with booze before and come up empty-handed. Give us the details. Spill your love story!"
I fed them the approved story, trying to make it sound as romantic as possible. Which it wasn't, of course. How do you make the romance of the century out of two college acquaintances meeting up again, getting hammered, and tying the knot?
"Hmmmm…" Sarah pulled her mouth to one side. "The secret seems to be getting sent on business to the Reno fulfillment center. A city where quickie weddings can easily be performed twenty-four seven. And then getting them drunk. And wed."
"Exactly," I said, feeling mellow from my lemon drop.
Everyone laughed.
"So now we just have to get Riggins to take one of us to Reno on business. Easy, right? Should we draw straws to see who gets the honor?"
"Yeah, but Riggins isn't an easy mark. He holds his alcohol too well."
"And he likes the expensive stuff. The stuff out of range of our budgets."
"Unless he's buying!"
They nodded in unison, like a dance troupe or a group of Sea Gals. Just then Jus walked in the door next to a tall, immaculately groomed guy with a delicious head of hair, who was wearing the latest, trendiest in men's summer fashion. I knew in an instant I must be looking at Riggins in the flesh. His pictures didn't do him justice. He oozed charisma, if that was possible. Next to him, Jus just looked…young.
When Jus spotted me, his face lit up, transforming him. He waved and came toward us with Riggins in tow.
"Well, aren't we lucky?" Sarah whispered. "Here they come." She sighed as she eyed Riggins. "We'll all be hanging with you from now on, Kayla. You're our new bestie."
The men stopped in front of our booth. I was on the end. I slid out and kissed Jus, to mark him as mine as much as for show.
I hadn't realized just quite how well loved and loved to be loved he was. Once he ditched me, he would have no problem finding a new mate among his staff. Maybe I should even pick her out and throw him her direction. Anything to keep him from Ophie. My stomach tightened at the thought. There was that little green monster again. Selfish, selfish .
Jus introduced me to Riggins, who was polite and pleasant, but slightly aloof. Maybe he was just hard to get to know. I remembered the girls saying he was less approachable than Jus. But I thought it was more than that. He was evaluating me. Taking my stock as if his stock in Flash depended on it. Which it did. But he couldn't know how much.
Still, I supposed he wasn't wild about Jus marrying on the spur of a drunken moment. With presumably no prenup. To someone who could be a gold-digging woman who ended up with half of Justin's part of the company in a nasty divorce. And accompanying media blitz. When I put it like that, no wonder he was leery.
Riggins didn't know about the ironclad postnup, obviously. And I couldn't reassure him. We'd just have to tiptoe around each other until he grew to trust me. Or maybe until I left in a year with "only" ten million of Justin's pocket change.
The bar quickly filled with Flash employees getting off shift. Riggins, flashing his enigmatic GQ smile, ordered a round of drinks for everyone on him. And made an elegant, thoughtful toast to us.
Jus introduced me to more and more staffers until I was completely overwhelmed with names and titles and job descriptions and personal details. The way Jus knew every employee's name was impressive. And so personal. He treated each employee, no matter how new and lowly, as if they mattered to him and were an old friend.
He asked them about their assignments and whether they were happy. He asked about their families and their pets. He
I was dizzy from the bouncing conversation. "Get them drunk?" I made a face and shrugged.
The girls all laughed like I was kidding.
"Well, that's easy enough," Sarah said. "Especially here! But it can't be the whole truth. We've tried to ply Justin with booze before and come up empty-handed. Give us the details. Spill your love story!"
I fed them the approved story, trying to make it sound as romantic as possible. Which it wasn't, of course. How do you make the romance of the century out of two college acquaintances meeting up again, getting hammered, and tying the knot?
"Hmmmm…" Sarah pulled her mouth to one side. "The secret seems to be getting sent on business to the Reno fulfillment center. A city where quickie weddings can easily be performed twenty-four seven. And then getting them drunk. And wed."
"Exactly," I said, feeling mellow from my lemon drop.
Everyone laughed.
"So now we just have to get Riggins to take one of us to Reno on business. Easy, right? Should we draw straws to see who gets the honor?"
"Yeah, but Riggins isn't an easy mark. He holds his alcohol too well."
"And he likes the expensive stuff. The stuff out of range of our budgets."
"Unless he's buying!"
They nodded in unison, like a dance troupe or a group of Sea Gals. Just then Jus walked in the door next to a tall, immaculately groomed guy with a delicious head of hair, who was wearing the latest, trendiest in men's summer fashion. I knew in an instant I must be looking at Riggins in the flesh. His pictures didn't do him justice. He oozed charisma, if that was possible. Next to him, Jus just looked…young.
When Jus spotted me, his face lit up, transforming him. He waved and came toward us with Riggins in tow.
"Well, aren't we lucky?" Sarah whispered. "Here they come." She sighed as she eyed Riggins. "We'll all be hanging with you from now on, Kayla. You're our new bestie."
The men stopped in front of our booth. I was on the end. I slid out and kissed Jus, to mark him as mine as much as for show.
I hadn't realized just quite how well loved and loved to be loved he was. Once he ditched me, he would have no problem finding a new mate among his staff. Maybe I should even pick her out and throw him her direction. Anything to keep him from Ophie. My stomach tightened at the thought. There was that little green monster again. Selfish, selfish .
Jus introduced me to Riggins, who was polite and pleasant, but slightly aloof. Maybe he was just hard to get to know. I remembered the girls saying he was less approachable than Jus. But I thought it was more than that. He was evaluating me. Taking my stock as if his stock in Flash depended on it. Which it did. But he couldn't know how much.
Still, I supposed he wasn't wild about Jus marrying on the spur of a drunken moment. With presumably no prenup. To someone who could be a gold-digging woman who ended up with half of Justin's part of the company in a nasty divorce. And accompanying media blitz. When I put it like that, no wonder he was leery.
Riggins didn't know about the ironclad postnup, obviously. And I couldn't reassure him. We'd just have to tiptoe around each other until he grew to trust me. Or maybe until I left in a year with "only" ten million of Justin's pocket change.
The bar quickly filled with Flash employees getting off shift. Riggins, flashing his enigmatic GQ smile, ordered a round of drinks for everyone on him. And made an elegant, thoughtful toast to us.
Jus introduced me to more and more staffers until I was completely overwhelmed with names and titles and job descriptions and personal details. The way Jus knew every employee's name was impressive. And so personal. He treated each employee, no matter how new and lowly, as if they mattered to him and were an old friend.
He asked them about their assignments and whether they were happy. He asked about their families and their pets. He
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