Page 43 of The Boyfriend Experience

The entire marketing department took a poll asking what my dad would think about that stunt. This was the first summer after he died. And “Rolling over in his grave” came out on top.

But I wrote in “Laugh like the Devil” as one of the choices and that one came in second.

He would’ve laughed. I know it.

I have lots of people around me and even though I drive them nuts ninety-five percent of the time, that other five percent is all love. They appreciate my crazy. They respect my talents as a brewmaster. They might not like my marketing ideas, but in the end, they have to admit, my reputation as a wild card intrigues people and gets them in the door.

But I still feel alone.

Especially now. With all this Hanna bullshit going on. I wish my dad were here. I really do. It would be nice to be taken care of again. It would be a relief to be second in command instead of captain of the ship.

“Well.” I sigh, walking down the catwalk towards the stairs. “He’s not here, Oaks. So you just have to deal with shit on your own.”

I descend the stairs and just as I’m stepping onto the creaky hardwood floors the elevator opens and Lawton and another guy I don’t know step out.

“How did you get up here?” I ask. But while those words are flowing past my lips, I notice what Law’s wearing.

Brown slim-fit khaki pants, a light blue denim button-down with a white t-shirt underneath, and a pair of brown cap-toe oxfords with a lovely distressed-black patina on the leather.

I blink. Three times. Because even though this look really isn’t one I typically go for in a man, he looks hot.

“Oaklee Ryan, meet Eduardo Montes de Oca. He’s an elevator security specialist and he hacked your security in less than a minute.”

Eduardo—who is tall, young, handsome, and built a lot like Lawton so I assume they must work out at the same gym—nods to me and says, “Your system sucks,” in heavily accented Spanish.

“Oh,” I say. “OK. Well, I guess we should fix that.”

“Got it covered,” Law says. “He’s gonna take a look at everything while we have lunch up on your rooftop terrace.” That’s when I notice he’s got a bag in his hand that says Capitol Hill Bagels on it. “Can he have your keycard so he can do a thorough evaluation?”

“Um… sure.” I walk over to my purse on the couch, dig through it until I find the keycard, and hand it over.

“Gracias,” Eduardo says. Then turns back to the elevator, gets inside, and disappears when the doors close.

“I told you it was horrible,” Law says. “But he’ll take care of it. Don’t worry. By the end of the week that shit will be locked up tight. Now how do we get to the roof?”

I’m a little stunned. Not because it’s presumptuous of Lawton to take it upon himself to deal with my lackadaisical elevator security, but because… his whole persona is one of power. He took away my ability to make this decision on my own.

He… handled things.

Just what I asked for before he appeared.

And it feels good.

CHAPTER TWLEVE - LAWTON

She points to the stairs and says, “Up there,” to indicate how we get to the rooftop terrace. So I follow her, smiling the entire time because she’s wearing the outfit I chose.

Last night was… wow. So many words to describe last night. Unexpected comes first. Because I had no intention of fucking her when I woke up yesterday morning. She’d made it pretty clear that this game was not about sex and I took her word on that.

But she was drunk.

And that makes me feel very guilty. Like I took advantage of her somehow.

“So hey,” I say, once we reach the catwalk and she heads down it towards a bedroom. “I’d just like to apologize about last night.”

She laughs. “Why? It was pretty fun.”

“So you remember it?”