because I had work to do in one of our offices in the city. Bates was managing another just down the road. The trouble with having a big company was two people weren’t enough to keep it running. Neither one of us trusted anyone else to delegate any high-profile work, so it always fell to us two.
Bates clinked his glass against mine. “How’d it go with Siena?”
She’d been on my mind a lot lately. It surprised me how she could walk into my home and remain professional, when our initial meeting had been anything of the sort. Maybe she was just trying to get a job at the time, but no woman kissed like that unless she enjoyed it. The fact that I had no idea what she was thinking or what she wanted was a turn-on in itself. Women were so brazen with me, throwing themselves at me with little respect for themselves.
Siena was different.
“Took her on a tour of the house. She already has a lot of ideas.” I stared at the TV in the corner and ignored the woman who was staring at me from across the bar. I had a whole phone book of women I could contact for a dirty night. There wasn’t much excitement in the chase anymore. Like an animal that already had a carcass by its side, there was no reason to go out and keep hunting.
“Married?”
“No idea.” I never asked because I didn’t care if a woman was married. Her husband could hate me all he wanted, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he didn’t want his woman to hook up with someone else, he should be a better husband.
“Boyfriend?”
I took another drink. “Does it matter?”
“I suppose not.” He rested both of his arms on the table as he fisted his glass.
I still wanted to fuck this woman, but I didn’t have any claim on her. I’d never made a claim on any woman in my life. It would be strange to start now. “But since she works for me, lay off.”
“Her job won’t last forever, so that’s fine.”
Even when she was finished, I didn’t like the idea of her screwing my brother. Bates would be down for a one-on-one, so he could give her exactly what she wanted. “Let this one go, Bates.”
Instead of taking a drink, he lowered his glass and looked at me.
I felt his stare on my face but ignored it.
He kept up the look. “If you want her, why haven’t you done something about it?”
“Already did.”
He ignored his drink altogether, far more interested in our conversation than booze—which was a first. “So, she really did turn you down. That’s a first—and Cato doesn’t like it.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“Well, what did happen?” He turned on his stool so he could look at me better, ignoring the TV I was looking at along with the pretty women in the bar.
“Saw her in a club. Kissed her. Took her back to my place—but she bolted when she saw Christina.”
“So she’s that kind of girl.” He nodded slightly. “Not the adventurous type.”
“I suppose.” I took a drink.
“How did she end up being your art buyer?”
“One of my men said she was the best.”
Bates, the most paranoid person on the planet, simmered with hostility. “You don’t think that’s an odd coincidence?”
“Yes. I asked her the same thing. I noticed she’d been following me for a while.”
“How long?”
“A few weeks. She was at the bakery outside one of our offices, watching me. I caught her off guard and confronted her about it.”
“Interesting.”
“In the end, it seemed like all she wanted was this job. Claimed to be researching me so she could figure out exactly what I liked and didn’t like.” I wasn’t the kind of man who believed people so easily, but her story fit. She was clearly passionate about her job, and she’d been at the gallery for many years. “She’s ambitious and driven—and was willing to do anything to get the job.”
“Except a threeway.”
I shrugged and took another drink.
“I don’t know about her, man.” Bates turned sinister, the anger slowly coming into his eyes. “We can never be too careful.”
“I agree. But I think she’s harmless.”
“You just think she’s harmless because she’s beautiful.”
“No.” The more beautiful they were, the more dangerous they became.
“I’ll keep an eye on her. Don’t trust her.”
“Fine with me.” As long as he wasn’t fucking her, I didn’t care.
“If you want this woman, why haven’t you made it happen? She was just