“A scheming reptile, huh?” mutters the union boss. “Takes one to know one, I guess.”
“We’re all scheming in our own ways. Some of us are just better at not getting caught.”
A few women step off the elevator behind me, their voices carrying down the corridor. Thinking on my feet, I press my phone to my ear, nodding at a pretend caller on the other side, dropping the device as soon as the women disappear into the bathroom. But it gives me an idea. A bad one. Another bad one. But the information being handed to me on a silver platter is too valuable to pass up. Before I can talk myself out of it, I open my camera app and make sure the flash is off. Listening to make sure the union boss and deputy mayor are still engaged in their hushed conversation, I sneak the very edge of my phone past the edge of the wall and snap a photograph, my heart slamming loudly against my eardrums.
No break in their conversation. I got away with it.
Just as fast, I turn on a heel and speed walk for the elevator, exhaling a sigh of relief when the metal door slides open immediately. I get inside, staring at my reflection is disbelief. “That was a stupid risk,” I whisper. “That was so utterly stupid and pointless, because you can’t show it to Karina. You’re going to get fired.”
I’m unsettled. Angry at myself for being so impulsive. Normally I would retreat into myself. Handle these feelings on my own. But when the elevator doors open to the party once more, I find myself eager to be around Gabe, Tobias and Banks. I find myself craving their company. Craving the distraction and maybe even the comfort they’ll provide.
And when I step off the elevator into the cool, dark purple atmosphere of the party and I’m pinned by three sets of eyes, it’s obvious they’re more than willing to provide those things.
Chapter Ten
Tobias and Banks are still in their positions at the bar, visibly relaxing once I’m back. Gabe has joined a conversation with a few men who are definitely part of the construction crew. They’ve already removed their tuxedo jackets and rolled up their sleeves. The conversation appears easy-going, none of the ridicule Gabe expected. Thank God.
I don’t want to interrupt when the evening is going unexpectedly well, so I give in to the magnetic force dragging me toward the bar. I’m off-kilter after my eavesdropping session upstairs. My blood is still pumping at an intense pace and Banks’s presence will even me out again. Tobias? He’ll be there, too. There’s no way he’ll even me out, but maybe he’ll piss me off and distract me from what I’ve just done and heard.
Distract me from wanting to do something about it.
I head in the direction of the bar and fold my hands on the hammered brass surface, enough of a distance between me and Banks—and me and Tobias—that no one will wonder if Gabe’s date has gone astray. There is a cocktail menu sitting on the bar and I pick it up, perusing the list of signature cocktails while prickly warmth spreads down both sides of my neck, disturbing my concentration. It’s Tobias. It’s Banks.
Without exchanging a word with me, I know what they’re thinking. Needing.
I glance sideways at Tobias and find him grinding ice in his cheek, his gaze pinned to my neck, and I cross my ankles tightly, a long, winding ribbon of lust unfurling down to my toes. It’s almost impossible to keep my expression schooled as I transfer my attention to Banks, watching him circle the tip of his middle finger on the bar in a mini pool of condensation, his throat moving in a rough swallow. My heartbeat reaches my ears and thickens, nipples swelling against the front of my pink dress.
By the time the bartender approaches and asks me what I’d like to drink, I’ve pretty much forgotten my name, but manage to order something called a French Kiss. I would blame the sudden pulsing weight between my thighs on the sexy atmosphere, but they also did this to me in my sandwich preparation station at work, so sorry, girl, that isn’t going to track.
On my left, Banks chances a step closer to me, resting his forearms on top of the bar.
Tobias follows suit from the right. Actually, he takes two cocky, sauntering steps in my direction, a martini raised to his lips. Banks’s ego must give him no choice but to rise to the challenge, because he closes in another two feet or so.
“Stop,” I whisper, pinning each of them with a look. “I’m here with Gabe.”
“Then why are you over here in between us when you’re supposed to be playing his supportive new love interest?” Tobias asks.
“Tobias,” I return smoothly. “Please tell me more about how a love interest is supposed to behave, so I can do the exact opposite.”