Against the Rules

“After you.” I gesture toward the waiting car.

“You left quite a mess behind you,” she observes as the doors are closing. I catch a glimpse of Rydell, Talia, and the customers whose wine glasses I stole. They’re all standing, pointing, and shouting. “That must be a really good bottle of wine you stole.”

“Watching me, were you?” I’m delighted. This is going to be so easy. By the time we reach the first floor, I’ll have proposed and we’ll be making wedding plans on the drive back to my house where I will make love to her for the first of many times. I’d rub my hands together but they’re full.

“It was hard not to. You stole wine from a table, insulted a famous supermodel, bumped into a waiter who spilled pasta all over an actor—“ she ticks each sin on her fingers—“and you swiped two wine glasses.”

“All I’m hearing is that you couldn’t keep your eyes off of me, which is the same. You’re gorgeous and I’m taking you home with me tonight.”

I don’t see the blow coming. For the record, she hits hard.

Chapter 2

Lucia

“You smacked him?” My cousin B.J. asks with a shocked expression. I snag a grape off the meat and cheese board she brought home tonight. It is one of the few perks of her current job. With our financial situation being what it is, neither of us are complaining.

“Twice.” I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never hit someone in my whole life. I’ve never considered myself a violent person before and now I’ve gone and hit someone two times. Not just anyone either. He’s kind of sort of my new boss. Though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know that yet. There’s a high possibility that he may have been drunk. That would be the only explanation of why he acted the way he did tonight. My only hope is that he doesn’t remember but I don’t think I’m that lucky.

That’s what I get for going to that stuffy place anyway. I’d been hesitant to begin with, feeling out of place with all of those beautiful, rich people. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. They didn’t outwardly gawk because that would be rude and they didn’t want me to know they looked down on me, but I could tell they were all thinking it. I should have left sooner and none of this would have happened. I’d only popped in to see B.J. As stuffy as the place was, they had killer food and she often sneaks us some.

“Wait. You smacked him twice?” She bursts into laughter. “Don’t say anything else, I’m opening the wine for this.” She pops up from the sofa heading into our small, eat-in kitchen to grab a wine opener.

“I left a bottle on the table. No box wine for us tonight.” Not only did I hit my new boss, I also stole the bottle of wine he was carrying. One that I’m sure costs more than I make in a month.

“Hey, I like box wine.”

“Me too, but we might as well drink the fancy shit I snagged from Finn after I smacked him.”

“Twice. You forgot to say twice.” She comes back into the living room with the bottle and two mismatched wine glasses. “Now. How did you end up smacking your new boss twice?”

I groan at the word boss.

I give her a rundown of what he’d done and said. “He thought I was just going to fall into his bed.” I roll my eyes. This was a major let down. I’d been pumped to work for Finn O’Hare. He’s made a name for himself in the investment world. I was shocked when I got one of his prized personal assistant positions. He has three. Can you believe that? I don’t know why someone needs three personal assistants, but I’d been more than happy to snag one of the spots. No one had to ask me twice.

“The first smack I think shocked us both. Then he grabbed my wrist.”

“He grabbed you!” B.J. starts to get up. I did hit the man.

“Yeah, and then kissed my palm. Said I could hurt myself and that I shouldn’t do it. So when he let go I did it again to prove I can hit him all day and be just fine.”

“This is wonderful.” B.J. is now laughing so hard that tears have arrived. “I can’t wait for your first day.” I didn’t think it was possible for her to laugh harder, but I was wrong.

“Stop.” I say the words but her laugh is a bit infectious and I can’t help but smile. “What are the odds that my new boss would be there tonight? I mean really!”

“Pretty high, actually. You know the type of people that come in and out of there.” I don’t know them, but I know of them. Two very different things. B.J. is the host and handles all the booking and strange requests that come in without blinking an eye.