Mr. President

There’s something about the way he called me babe just now that makes my skin crawl.

Somehow, I don’t think he’s telling me the whole story.

The police commissioner doesn’t go around investigating common criminals, so what exactly has Lester pulled me into? I have enough trouble as it is running my club, I don’t need more bullshit to worry about. If he didn’t have the power to shut my club down with a snap of his fingers, I’d tell him to fuck off right now.

“Lester, I don’t like this. I have a business to run and—shit!” Austin strolls inside the bar with that confident grin of his, walking toward me as if he owns the place. He’s wearing dress pants and a crisp white shirt, his smart eyes finding mine as my heart starts to race. “Listen, I have to go, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Destiny, don’t you --” I hear him say, but by the time his words reach me I’m already pressing my thumb over the screen, ending the call.

“You’re early,” Austin says as he sits across me. God, he looks even more handsome during the day than he looks under Python’s lights.

“I always like to arrive fashionably late, but I made an exception for you today,” I tell him with a smile, tucking my phone inside my purse as all thoughts of Lester and his schemes vanish from my mind. “O

f course, that means you’re paying.”

“Sure. But I always like to get my money’s worth,” he shoots back, that devilish grin making my heart beat faster.

Python, huh?

Game, set, and match. It’s time to dance.

Oh, this is going to be fun.

66

Austin

I take one hard look at the mirror in the elevator as it goes up toward the 29th floor. Destiny’s probably already there, and I want to make sure that I look my best.

No, you didn’t hear me wrong.

I mean, I always look my best, and I’m not one to worry about the way I fucking look…

But today I’m meeting her for brunch.

It’s a fucking special occasion, okay?

But no. Don’t you dare read too much into it.

I mean, I don’t even date. I don’t even do this—brunch, what a fucking joke.

But I just had to ask her out.

Something came over me while talking to her at the Python bar.

Actually, it was right when I saw her for the first time. There was something about her… She looked fucking stunning, sure, but it was something more than that.

She looked like someone with fucking ambition. A woman with ambition, strong enough to go after what she wants… and get it.

That’s why I offered her a position at Python so fast.

You probably think that I’m some dumbass that just hires anyone who walks up to me in a skirt, huh? Well, you’re wrong, babe. I’m everything but a dumbass. In fact, I’m pretty smart; you don’t get to run a club like Python by being an idiot, that much I can tell you.

And you walk up to me in a skirt? Sure, I’ll fuck you. I’ll fuck you real good with my giant fucking cock.

But I won’t be hiring you. I won’t trust you with my business.

Destiny, though?