Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

“I have a booth in the back. Follow me.”

“When did you get a booth?” I asked.

“This afternoon.”

“They weren’t all booked?”

“This is my city, remember?” Penn said by way of explanation.

Amy watched me with keen eyes. I knew exactly what she was thinking. I held up a finger to keep her from saying anything. Or for my brain to go back to where his lips had just been.

The three of us followed Penn to a circular booth with bottle service. A bartender was already popping the cork on a bottle of champagne, and I laughed as I saw Lewis seated.

“Lewis!” I cried.

I was happier to see him than I’d thought I would be. Of all of Penn’s friends, he had been the friendliest and most welcoming. Well, aside from Katherine, but I wasn’t entirely sure that she didn’t have ulterior motives. And it didn’t sit well with me that she had called me her project. I’d enjoyed our time together, but I wanted to be friends, not someone she had to doll up all the time.

“Hello, gorgeous.” Lewis dragged me into a hug and then pushed a glass of champagne into my hand. “Drink up and tell me who these lovely ladies are.”

I introduced him to Melanie and Amy. He zeroed in on Melanie’s scandalous outfit and grinned.

“My seventeen-year-old sister,” I added quickly to the introduction.

Lewis’s eyes snapped up, and Melanie huffed. “You don’t have to tell everyone, Nat.”

No, I didn’t. But she was still my little sister, and I would protect her as much as I could.

Lewis turned to Amy instead. “What’s your drink of choice?”

“Tall, dark, and broke,” Amy said with a wink. “Sorry, handsome.”

Lewis howled with laughter. “I must admit, that is one I have never heard before.”

“Well, I’m Amy Montgomery. It’s a pleasure. Know any broke artists who like to draw nudes?”

“I think we’re going to be good friends,” Lewis said. “Dance?”

Amy laughed in surprise. Usually, her brush-off worked on most guys. “Definitely. You’re too cute to say no to.”

“Cute,” Lewis said, as if wounded. “Kiss of death.”

“Ah, you’ve heard my nickname then,” she said and then dragged him out to the dance floor by his tie.

Melanie downed a glass of champagne and then pointed in their direction. “I’m just going to go…”

“Stay close to Amy. We don’t want to lose you.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Melanie said with an eye roll.

“Just be safe, okay?”

Melanie grinned at me as she disappeared into the crowd.

“She’s not going to be safe, is she?”

“I have the bouncers watching for her already, so she can’t leave without me knowing. And they’ll stop her at the door. She’s perfectly safe here.”

I stared up at him in shock. “You already thought of all of that?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. We’ve had to do it before with Lewis’s younger sisters, Charlotte and Etta. They hated us for it, but it kept them from doing anything really stupid.”

“That’s actually…kind of sweet.”

“Yeah?”

“In an overprotective way,” I said, raising the champagne glass to my lips.

His hand brushed my waist. “Come dance with me, Natalie.”

I surprised both of us by putting my hand in his without complaint and letting him guide me out onto the dance floor. I didn’t know what had compelled me to do it. Maybe it was Amy’s comments. Maybe that kiss was still stuck in my head. Or maybe it was just how much fun we’d had all day, but I didn’t want to argue with him. I just wanted to enjoy myself.

We moved into the center of the dance floor where Lewis and Amy were dancing mere feet away. My eyes were locked on his chest as his hands moved to my waist. I didn’t know what to do with my own for a second, as if I’d lost all capability to process being this close to him. Then, my hands were on his chest, guiding up the firm pecs and to his shoulders. I tilted my chin up to look into that handsome face, and he smiled as if we were the only two in the room.

Our bodies swayed in that moment with a remembered fluidity. Hips rocked side to side. Movements synchronized to the music. Heat coming off of our bodies despite the evening chill.

His lips looked so inviting. And I needed to stop staring. Because I was the one who had said that I didn’t want him. I was the one who had walked away from this.

I tried to turn in his arms so that I wouldn’t have to face those intense eyes. But he held me in place.

“Don’t,” he said.

“Don’t what?” I breathed.

“I like to be able to look at you.”

“You’re a real charmer. You know that?”

He grinned and tugged me even closer so that we were chest-to-chest. He shifted one of my legs between his and moved his hips in a way I distinctly remembered. My pulse quickened in tempo with the music, and I forgot all about us being in public or anyone else around us. I had no concept of time. Only that we were still dancing. My feet ached, and I needed another drink. But neither of us pulled away.