“Oh, excuse us,” Chyna trilled, batting her long lustrous eyelashes.
He nearly rolled his eyes. This was what he had been expecting. “It’s not a problem. I was just helping, Alexa, find you,” he said, smiling politely at Chyna.
“Ohhhh,” she said. Her eyes moved from Alexa back to him. “Well, thank you for that. She’s hardly ever able to find me on her own.”
“So, she told me,” he said dryly, glancing back over at Alexa. Really. Time to ditch this chick. She wouldn’t have even noticed if they had already left. What was the hold up?
“It is time for me to go,” Chyna said faking a yawn. Yes, go! “I guess I should check out. I’m sure you can find your own way home, right chica?”
Alexa glared at her friend, and Ramsey wondered why. They were going home together. It was time to leave.
“Can you excuse us for a minute?” Alexa asked him.
As he nodded reluctantly, she yanked Chyna out of earshot from him. God, he hoped she was telling her to get the f**k out and quickly. His place at the Plaza was calling his name, and he was pretty much ready to f**k her in every room in his suite. Maybe multiple times in one room. After all he had the bed and the floor in the bedroom, there were two chairs in the den, a shower and bath…
He wasn’t sure how long their conversation lasted as he envisioned what he had planned for her, but they soon returned. Alexa looked sheepish. What was that about?
“Sorry, we have to get out of here,” she said as she turned toward him.
“We?” he asked incredulously. She pointed between her and Chyna, and his face transformed at the realization that she was going to leave without him.
Fuck! She had to be joking! He had put in all the effort. He had done all the right things. Okay, so maybe wanting to f**k her because she looked like Parker wasn’t exactly the right thing, but she had been after him anyway. It wasn’t like she was all sweet and innocent. And now she was going to leave him hanging? What the f**k!
“Sorry. I know you have that meeting,” she added quickly. He knew she was lying. She didn’t care about his meeting and neither had he. “Maybe we can meet up some other time.”
“I’m leaving the city tomorrow,” he told her, trying to keep the sexual frustration out of his voice.
He couldn’t push her. She was pretty set even if she did look sorry. He didn’t need her regret. He needed her in his hotel room. He responded warmly anyway, “But maybe I could get your number and the next time I’m in town we can meet up.”
Chyna grumbled something in her ear, but she swatted her away. She clearly didn’t want to hear a voice of reason. “Sure. Here’s my number,” she told him.
She quickly punched her digits into his Blackberry and then dragged Chyna to the door. He watched her walk out of the club in a state of shock.
How did he keep letting Parker just walk out of his life without a fight?
CHAPTER 5
STARVING
Ramsey had to remind himself that whoever that girl was, that Alexa, she wasn’t Parker. She just happened to look like her. And he had been about to use her. Man, he was f**ked up.
He glanced down at the screen, where she had put her phone number under just the name Alexa. He smirked as he recognized the Georgia area code. She did have a Southern accent.
He should probably delete the number. He wasn’t going to call her anyway. When he sobered up, he would realize how big of a mistake this all was. If he was already recognizing it now, then it would be ten times worse tomorrow. Or maybe he wouldn’t care. He didn’t normally care about anything, especially not some girl who had refused him a one night stand.
Ramsey sighed, running his hand back through his blonde hair, and walked back to the bar.
“You look like you got hit with a ton of bricks,” Lacy said, pushing a drink toward him, “and you probably need that.”
He nodded not acknowledging her statement.
“Did that girl actually turn you down?”
Lacy sounded disbelieving, and he didn’t want her to think that. He very rarely was turned down. Actually, when was the last time that had happened? He couldn’t remember. Maybe it hadn’t happened. Not until Alexa.
“I could go for that pie,” he said, swirling the drink around, but not indulging.
Lacy turned and looked at the clock. “It’s only two.”
“So, get out of it.”
“It’s Saturday, and it’s swamped,” she told him. “I’ll make another couple hundred in tips alone tonight. No chance.”
“Lace, the money. Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not letting you pay.”
“I’ll be buying the pie.”
“You have such a way with words,” she said, rolling her eyes.
He smirked wishing he could put more effort into it, but he was glad he didn’t have to with Lacy.
“Fine,” she said, giving in. “I’ll meet you out front.”
Ramsey nodded, relieved that at least something was going as planned, and left the club. It was surprisingly nice to leave the ever-present din behind him. After Alexa’s departure, all he wanted was to forget ever thinking about Parker. Thinking about Parker only stirred up old feelings and old memories. It brought up why he had bought the clubs in the first place, and didn’t let him escape in them as easily. After what had happened tonight, he needed a bigger distraction than that.
Since he figured he had awhile to wait for Lacy, he pulled out his phone and dialed Bekah’s number. He wasn’t sure if she would be awake at this hour, but he might as well let her know about the interview…or lack thereof.
She answered on the first ring as if she hadn’t even been sleeping. Strange. “Hey,” she said, her sugary sweetness melting through the phone.
“Hey, your interview never showed,” Ramsey told her.
“Yeah, he called and said he had to cancel. Something came up,” Bekah told him. “Did I not mention that?”
“No, you didn’t,” Ramsey said through gritted teeth.
“I hope you didn’t wait long for him,” Bekah said in her sugar sweet voice.
“I didn’t. Is he rescheduling? I’m only here until tomorrow.”
“No. I think I’ll make him wait. He has promise, but he’s going to have to come to Atlanta if he wants the interview this time. Maybe I’ll give him a month,” she said with a giggle.