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Now, the question is, does he know me because I’m world-famous, or does he know me because Julia told him about me?
He clears his throat. “I’m Jay Raymond.”
“And?” I snip before swiveling my gaze back to Julia. “Who is he? What’s he doing here?”
“Jay’s an old friend. We travel together.” She slides off the counter, her affect far too casual for the situation. “Jay, this is Gus Winter. He’s…” She looks in my direction and cants her head like she’s trying to figure out who I am to her.
Tell him I’m your Daddy.
“He’s doing work with Davis,” she decides. “We met recently. I told Gus to meet me here.”
Jay’s glare is impressive, I’ll give him that. But that’s the only credit I’ll offer. He makes my instincts ring in the worst way, even when he’s standing a few yards away from me.
“What for?” Jay asks, still eyeing me skeptically, taking in every bit of me—trying to find some flaw, I’m guessing.
Good luck with that.
Julia raises a shoulder. “He’s coming with us to the pool,” she declares without asking me first. “Right, August? We’re meeting up with some people. Come have drinks.”
I don’t want a drink. I want to bury myself in her tight body until she’s sobbing for release and apologizing for sneaking out in the middle of the night. If I’m not doing that, I’d rather be sleeping off the flight from London. But there’s no way in hell I’m letting her out of my sight with this guy around.
When I don’t answer immediately, Jay motions at the door and says, “Well, I guess he’s not int—”
“Of course,” I reply, not backing out of the stare down. Never. “Anything you want, Julia.”
***
The three of us leave the suite and make our way to the Sofitel’s pool, where there’s a small group of people already seated at two of the cabana tables.
When we’re close, Jay calls out, “Hey everyone, great news. Julia invited this old dude to absolutely obliterate the vibe,” and he gestures at me. Luckily, nobody reacts to Jay’s performance.
I recognize one of Julia’s friends. He’s a Davenport, I believe—Gregory’s younger son. When he sees me, he lowers his sunglasses and peers at me over the tops with his mouth agape. “This just became the greatest vacation ever,” he murmurs—and I have no idea what the hell he’s talking about.
The other four people at the table are all hot women in bikinis, who I can’t imagine are there at Julia’s request. No wonder she summoned me. Otherwise, she would be stuck here with these two rich fuckboys, surrounded by woman vying for their attention.
Everyone introduces themselves to me, and once they realize who I am, the mood changes entirely. Those women, like they can sniff out net worth, immediately begin to focus on me rather than Jay or Peter. Hair tossing and giggling and chewing on cocktail straws while they watch me—the works. Luckily, Julia doesn’t seem to think any of them are serious threats, so I don’t mind the attention. Plus, the resulting grimace on Jay’s face is so satisfying, I feel like I’ve added ten years to my life.
Peter Davenport adores Julia, which immediately makes me like him. He hangs on her every word, and doesn’t seem to care that the women are suddenly more interested in me. He’s much more preoccupied with making fun of the startup his older brother, Gray—Davenport-Ridgeway’s future CEO—is apparently working for. We end up having an interesting conversation about startups, and Peter and Julia ask me a lot of questions. Jay, naturally, looks like he couldn’t be more bored with the conversation.
“Well, if you ask me,” Julia comments while she absentmindedly squeezes the lime on the rim of her cocktail, “all these companies are just working towards IPO, but haven’t thought much further beyond that. It’s like they want to get the valuation out into the world, and then start pushing towards long-term strategic planning—but then what? Like Snapchat, for example.”
It’s official: I’ve never seen or heard anything sexier than a stacked blond in a ridiculously small bikini criticizing startup culture.
“When did you learn about IPOs?” I ask, trying to mask the admiration from my voice.
“The other day,” she admits, clearly hiding a smile. “I listened to a couple podcasts, and then Davis recommended a book to me by Reeves Wiederman on—”
“WeWork. Yep. I’ve read it,” I fill in, beaming. “Did you like it?”
She nods too.
“Good for you, Julia,” I murmur, unable to take my eyes off her. A month has passed since the last time I witnessed her gift for magically revealing in-depth knowledge of business news. Every time she does it, I want her to ride my face while she tells me more.
I’m now worked up and dying to get her alone. By some miracle, the cabana attendant comes over at that precise moment with the bill. Immediately, Jay nods at Julia, who is ready to take it—but Peter and I both grab for it. I’m faster.
“You don’t have to pay,” she protests.
“It’s no big deal. I’ve had a good year,” I tell her, winking before I write my room number on the check.
