Katie saw through my first asshole immediately. Oh, Axe was hot, and he was bad. Reformed prisoner. But Katie has good instincts, and never called him back on Friday when he tried for date two.

Then there was Brian Friday night. If Axe was the president of Bad Boy Inc., then Brian was middle management. Katie agreed to see him again on Saturday for a day date, but I got a message last night that she was not interested.

Which means she likes the idea of a bad boy. Not the bad boy himself. She wants a guy who works out, wears hot ripped jeans and white t-shirts on the weekends, but has a brain and a legitimate job Monday through Friday.

Like me. If you can call what I do a legitimate job.

Except this secretary bitch right here… all these bitches in here… all they see is Axe. They have no idea who I am. They have no idea what I do. And they have no interest in finding out.

And that’s OK with me.

I take the secretary’s hand and whirl her to the beat of the thumping music. And then I pull her close in one quick move, crashing her against my rock-hard chest. She’s a little stunned from the quick change and even more so when I hold her tight. We do a little slow dance. I watch those faces all around me for the look.

That look that says, Awwww. I want to take him home. He’s bad, but good at the same time. He makes her fist his junk on stage and then slow-dances to the beat of lust in a room full of heat.

Fletcher Novak is a keeper, they sigh.

But Fletcher Novak is taken. They just have no idea because no one looks hard enough. All they see is this guy here, because that’s all they want to see.

Stripper.

Player.

Liar.

Asshole.

And they love it. So fuck this girl in my arms with her head resting on my chest like we are high-school lovers shuffling around on prom night. I don’t give one shit about her. She’s a job, just like all the rest of them here in this room.

She’s just another job to me.

Chapter Twenty-One

Elizabeth was her name. But she’s gone now. Fletcher marked her as his the first act and that was that. He never took his eyes off her. And by the time the last act came along, he never let her go either. She disappeared backstage with him and never looked back.

“She’s the new employee?” I ask Cole, both of us looking at the curtain with disbelief. “Your assistant?”

Cole grunts and then reluctantly turns back to me. “I’m sorry your dad cancelled. I know how much you wanted to see him.”

“Yeah,” I say, a little sad about the fact my father didn’t show. It’s like he’s lost all interest in me lately. “I am.” But I’m not here to talk about my dad. I’m here to get a date with Cole tomorrow night. “I miss him. It’s been months since he’s had time for me.”

“Well, being a billionaire hotel mogul keeps him busy, right?” Cole’s eyes dart to the curtain when a stage hand appears to start cleaning up the equipment. And the other guys are all lined up for their lap dances. That will go on for a while.

“Where do you think she went?” I ask, just to see if he’s jealous of Fletcher.

“He’s probably fucking her backstage.”

“What? Do you think?” I fake it. Sorta.

“Why?” Cole snaps. “You like that asshole too? You think he’s sexy? He’s hot? He’s worth the hassle he comes with? Why didn’t you fire him?”

“I didn’t have to. He quit. I asked him to come back and do this show for my dad tonight. And the reviewers.” I look around for their table and two of the women are already in line for a lap dance. “I guess they want the full experience.”

“Yeah, well, if he wanted to impress them, why didn’t he stick around for the lap dance?”

“Are you”—please, God. No. He can’t really like that girl. She was just… there. Right?—“dating Elizabeth?”

“Dating? God, no. But she’s on company time, Tiffy. What kind of employee goes off to fuck the star stripper?”

Hmmmm. I have nothing for that one. I did it myself. In fact, I bet Fletcher took her up on the roof. I bet he’s getting that blanket out of the trunk right now. Telling her he’s never fucked anyone on it because he makes them stand.

Asshole.

“He’s bad news. You fire him tonight. Your father’s not coming out here. I know that for sure.”

I scrunch my eyebrows together. “I’m supposed to be here for another few weeks to get things in order. He doesn’t even want to visit me?”

Cole reaches across the table, his interest in the backstage curtain on pause, and takes my hands in his, giving them a little squeeze. “It’s not about you, Tiffy. It’s just business.”

I force a weak smile. “I know.” And then I get an idea. “You want to go grab some dinner tonight? I haven’t eaten yet.”

He gives the backstage one more glance. “Nah, I’ve got work to do. Let’s go say hello to the reviewers and let them know to contact us if they need anything.”

And before I can even register that he shot me down again, he’s dropped my hands and walked off towards the two in line.

Hmmm. He’s way too preoccupied with his missing assistant.

I spend the next thirty minutes pretending that I’m not noticing how Cole is wasting time to see if Elizabeth will reappear looking well-fucked. But that’s what he’s doing all right. His conversation is directed to the reviewers but his attention is only on the backstage curtain. Like she’ll come out from there.

This is not turning out how I imagined it. “Hey, Cole,” I say, inching my body towards his until our arms are touching. “Wanna have dinner with me tomorrow since you’re busy tonight?”

The reviewers are preoccupied with their turn in line for lap dances, so they aren’t listening. But Cole shoots me a dirty look and shushes me into silence.

God, I’m losing bad right now. I need Fletcher’s help. He’d know exactly what to do. But he’s on the roof with that tramp.

It pisses me off almost as much as it does Cole. I need him and he’s busy fucking someone else.

Asshole.

“OK, well, I’m tired. So I’m turning in for the night. See you tomorrow?”

“Sure, Tiffy. Goodnight.” Cole walks off towards the backstage curtain.

I turn on my heel and walk off as well. I spy Claudio in line to get a lap dance with Steve. And I should put a stop to that, but I need to find Fletcher. This is not working. He promised me it would work.

I head straight up to my floor on the penthouse and turn right towards the door to the roof. There is no stone in there to prop it open, but my keycard opens all the doors, and I don’t see why this one would be any different. It opens. So I creep up the stairs and prop my head against the door as I crack it just an inch.

Silence. Just some residual party noise from the pool down below.

I slip through the door and tiptoe to the garden shed.

And stop dead.

What if I see him?

I bite my lip and a sick feeling takes over my stomach as I realize I don’t want to see him. He was fucking me in there a few days ago. Who knows how many other girls he’s had up here since then, but I never knew about them. This would be catching him in the act. And today, out on the rocks, I almost got the feeling he liked me. Maybe not desired me. Not the way he did the other night when I was his conquest. But still. I have this idea that we’re friends. That maybe he’s doing this because he really does think I’m pretty and I deserve a good guy.

I let out a long breath. Jesus Christ. I’m fantasizing about him. Just like all those other girls do. And he made it perfectly clear it was a one-night-only thing.

Tiffy, my inner voice says in that calm way I’ve trained it to do, better to know for sure that he’s a lying, cheating player than let this dream of capturing his heart go on any longer.