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I dressed casually in slacks and a fitted T-shirt with loafers, using my jewelry to elevate the look, then headed out. He wanted to meet at The Tipsy Grill, which was more than cool with me. Jax’s bar down by the beach was one of my favorites. He’d created his own whiskey line and his wife, Mia, had created her own wine. She had a wine bar that I’d taken Cheyanne to a while back, and the combination of her strawberry wine with her husband’s whiskey was out of this world.
It only took me about fifteen minutes to get to The Tipsy Grill, and when I arrived, Dru was already there. Because there was no smoking inside, he’d snagged a table on the patio. At the sight of me, he set the cigar that was between his lips in the ashtray and stood to shake my hand.
“Wassup, C?”
“Can’t call it. What’s good?”
“Man, life.” His lips spread into a grin, and my curiosity immediately piqued.
“What’s got you smiling like that?”
“You’ll see in a moment. I met this fine ass shorty in Memphis last weekend, and her and her best friend came here for the weekend. I told her they could meet us here.”
Before I could stop myself, I was releasing an irritated sigh. Normally, I wouldn’t mind being Dru’s wingman, but I needed time to mentally prepare. The women I usually ended up entertaining for him were boring or not interested in the same things as me, and it was mentally taxing, holding conversations with them for an hour or two while he did his thing.
“Man, why did you have them meet us here of all places? You should have told them somewhere adventurous that wouldn’t require talking.”
Sucking his teeth, Dru gave me a dismissive wave of his hand. “Forget all’at. I’m tryna get shorty full of this whiskey so we can walk that short walk to the Rose Valley Hotel. That’s where they’re staying, and she’s already told me what type of time she wants to be on.”
“If that’s the case, why didn’t you just meet her there now and leave me and her girl out of it?”
“Because she doesn’t want to send her out alone. All I need is like an hour or two, C. That’s it.”
“Aight, man. Let me go in here and get me something to drink.”
“Hol’ up.” His hand went to my chest as he looked behind him and into the bar. “What you want? I’ll get it for you.”
“Okay, now you’re just being weird. Since when can’t I go get my own drink?” I had a hard time figuring out whether I was more amused or irritated by his erratic behavior.
“If you go in there and see who’s inside, you’re not going to help me out with this.”
“I told you I got you. Who is it?”
With a sigh, Dru stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Cheyanne.”
Damn.
I could see why he thought that would change things. From the moment Cheyanne started working for me, I’d made my desire for her clear to Dru and my parents. While Dru was all for me going after her, my parents wanted me to keep things professional, to avoid a scandal. I assured them I’d never do anything to make Cheyanne uncomfortable or risk my reputation. That had been the case until two weekends ago when I grabbed her ass. I still couldn’t believe I’d done that shit.
While I didn’t regret it, it was risky as hell, and that wasn’t me. Regardless of how much I liked her, I truly valued Cheyanne’s place in my business. I wouldn’t say any one person was irreplaceable, but if I lost Cheyanne, it would take a miracle for me to find someone with at least a third of her experience, capabilities, and dedication. And that made her irreplaceable to me, because I refused to have to go through all that if she left.
“I’m sure Chy is in there doing her own thing. I got you, bruh.”
He eyed me skeptically, making me laugh before nodding his agreement. “Aight but hurry up. They should be here soon.”
I couldn’t deny how excited I was to see Cheyanne, even if it was just in passing. She’d been on my mind all day, but seeing her in person felt like a piece of me that had been missing was returned. Her long, curly hair was in its usual middle part style. It looked like she had on a cream-colored linen short set that looked good as hell against her skin. The makeup she wore was natural, accentuating her beauty. And when she smiled… it literally took my breath away.
As hard as it was, I decided I wouldn’t go over to her immediately. I recognized the woman she was with from a few pictures she’d shown me. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was a cousin on her father’s side. When I heard her gasp as I headed for the bar, I looked in her direction, and her eyes lit up at the sight of me.
Seeing her happiness because of me made my heart warm and my dick hard. Unable to resist, I made a beeline for their table. She stood, meeting me halfway.
“I can’t believe you’re out and about, Mr. My Saturdays Are for Golf and Sleep.”
Chuckling, I pulled her in for a brief hug. She smelled good, as always. Today, she smelled like raspberries and vanilla.
“Dru is forcing me to be his wingman, so I didn’t have much of a choice.”
“Oh, well that should be interesting.” With my hand in hers, Cheyanne led me over to her table. “Selena, this is my boss, Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones, this is my cousin Selena.”
