think of is her creamy skin under my hand and her moans as she came against my thigh.
“Earth to Scotty . . . beam your ass back here with the rest of us,” Robbie says, drawing my attention back to him. “What’d you come up with?”
“What?” I reply, my eyebrows knitting together.
Robbie rolls his eyes. “You said ‘yes’ while you were mentally off on a trip . . . thought that meant you came up with something.”
I shrug. “Didn’t realize I said anything. Was just thinking. Not about this, though,” I say, touching the stack of papers on my desk that we both recognize as our team’s proposal.
Robbie’s eyes open wide, incredulous. “You’re thinking, but not about this? What the hell, man? This could be catastrophic.”
“I know,” I growl at him. “I’m just distracted. But we’ve got this. I’ll figure it out.”
Robbie laughs. “Distracted? You? That’s funny, man. You’re like the most focused guy I know. Hyper-focused . . . to the point of it being a clinical condition. What’s got you daydreaming if it’s not business?”
I don’t say a word, not willing to share how fucked up my brain is. First rule of business, don’t show your hand . . . not even to friends. But Robbie is a friend, a good one who can read my poker face like a pro because he’s had years of experience doing it.
“The girl! The fucking bartender!” he says gleefully.
“Shut the fuck up, man,” I order, more his boss than his friend. But he ignores the warning tone.
“So, did you fuck her? I just assumed you’d gotten your pipes cleaned and it was back to business as usual. You do it on the bar or bent over one of the tables? Please tell me you didn’t hit it on the floor. The cleanliness of that wood was sketchy,” he says irreverently.
“You looking for details?” I ask, my voice harsh. At his grin, I relent. “Nothing happened. I helped her clean up the bar and made sure she left safely . . . alone.”
As I say it, my fingers dig into my thighs under the desk, not letting Robbie see my frustration with how things had played out. I’d come so close to giving her what she wanted so badly. Fuck, who am I kidding? What I wanted. But she pushed me away over a tattoo? It still doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. I’m tempted for a split second to spill the truth and get Robbie’s take on it, but I refuse to let him see me as some pussy that’s pining over a girl after a passing encounter, so I bite back the words.
“Right. Man, I’ve known you too long for you to run that line of lies by me without bullshit flags waving left and right,” Robbie insists. “You expect me to believe that you, Scott Danger, cleaned tables in a bar and let her go without sealing the deal?”
“Believe whatever the fuck you want. It’s the truth.” My words come out cold and crueler than I intended. Robbie shifts in his seat at the change in my demeanor, suddenly uncomfortable. He’s pushing against the line, one I don’t want to cross.
He retreats, back to safer verbal territory. “Fine, whatever you say. But magic pussy aside, we do need to address this Lightspeed situation head on. You got a plan? Because Chase sure as fuck does, probably one that’s going to upstage both you and Liv. And you know Ice Queen has one to upstage both her brothers, just to spite you for having penises while she’s stuck with a man-eating vagina.” Robbie shudders, knowing my sister’s reputation for being a cold-blooded killer when it comes to sex . . . leaving a puddle of besotted men in her wake after she’s done with them. I don’t want to know why or how. She’s my sister, and most of the time, I don’t even really like her, so I definitely don’t need to know her sex life secrets.
I nod, knowing he’s right. But this is uncharted territory, and one wrong turn could leave us adrift in these choppy waters. Or worse . . . crashed and stranded, left with no option but to follow Chase into the doldrums of his plan. “No shit, Sherlock. They’re both just as manipulative as I am, so they’re going to be on their A-game. The level of competition has never been this high. The stakes have never been this important. My brother’s hold