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I give him a considering look as we descend the short staircase into the dark wood lined bar. No loud music, just something low that fits with the mood of drinks and conversation.
“No flash? No glamor? No hot babes for you to take your pick from?”
“My life isn’t just all that,” he says as we go to the bar and take a seat. “Sometimes it’s good to know places where no one gives a shit about you.”
He orders an Old Fashioned and I do the same for convenience.
“Tomorrow we need to get you a different wardrobe. And with meetings, don’t simply be on time, be early, prepared, and ready to work.”
Ryder leans in, those dark eyes warm on me. “Are we really talking work?”
“This isn’t a date.”
“I don’t date.”
No, I’m betting he doesn’t. He hooks up. “You hired me, and we need to get the basics down.”
“Boring suits, we can do that if I must. But they need to be beautiful.” Again those eyes touch on me, this time my mouth and I’ve never wanted to lean in and steal a kiss before in my life like I do now. Because I’m betting he tastes even better than he looks. “And I know how to work. I know how to make an impression. The right impression. More so, I know how to do a job.”
“Your reputation doesn’t reflect that.”
“So?”
“So, it needs to.”
He sighs. “There are more interesting things we could be doing than talking about this.”
His words hit hard, and my breath stalls in my throat.
“Don’t flirt.”
“I’m just being me, Perry, that’s all.”
Or he’s pushing my buttons. I don’t believe for a second he’s being him. I’m not the type—if he has a type—he flirts with.
What am I thinking? Of course he has a type. Beautiful. Confident. Natural attention beacons. Like Jillian, like Lacey, like the woman in the red dress, like every single one I managed to track down and speak to. He might not go for a certain build or coloring or height, but he goes for absolute stunners. Every time.
The drinks arrive and Ryder places a hundred on the bar. I glance at him.
“I’m not showing off. It’s what I have and this place doesn’t do plastic or digital. It’s old school.”
I pick up the drink and take a sip for something to do. It’s perfect. I’ll give the man this, he likes quality.
“Tonight’s about the rules. I’ll go over them again tomorrow—”
“No sleeping about, no flirting and not even with you, work hard, be early and you’ll be fitting me with a gilded cage right after the shopping spree.”
“I was thinking plain iron bars.”
“You have no soul. Gilded.”
“Tacky.”
He clinks his glass to mine. “We’ll agree to disagree.”
“I’m not getting pulled down into your charm.”
“You think I’m charming.”
