Then I moved on.
The party seemed to have filled in more. I wove through the mingling crowd, wondering if the fucking couple had vacated the bathroom yet. Kara and Vincent were in a small group near the windows. She’d tucked herself to his side, but when her eyes flickered to me, she tried to merge herself with his ribs.
Unoffended, I gave her a smile and strode directly to the bar to fill my wineglass. Then I found some cheese and crackers, which I folded inside a paper napkin, and carried my loot back to the cozy den.
As much as I would have liked to nose about this glorious condo, I had manners, so I would refrain. Though some might say eating crackers on a stranger’s couch in a room I hadn’t been invited into was rude in and of itself, and I wouldn’t argue that point.
But no one was around to tell me I wasn’t allowed in here, so I kicked off my heels, sank down on the cushions, and relaxed.
Chapter Two
Luca
My head throbbed. With each beat of my heart, it expanded and contracted, skull, gray matter, the whole package.
It had been a long day. A long two weeks, if I was counting. And there was no end in sight. I’d accepted that, but today’s series of meetings had been the cause of the spike in my skull.
If my head had been pounding less, I wouldn’t have bothered getting on the elevator to my condo. Riding my bike in this condition wasn’t smart, though. That wasn’t to say there wasn’t a time in the recent past I would have thrown caution to the wind and gone for a ride anyway.
As the consultants had drilled into me today, my age of recklessness had ended.
I stepped off the elevator and opened the door leading to my entryway, where I was greeted by lights, music, people. Somewhere in the recesses of my tired mind, I remembered my cousin, Vin, who was here from Italy for an undisclosed period of time, had asked if he could have a few people over.
This was more than a few people. At least fifty strangers were milling around my living room.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was typical Vin. He had friends, acquaintances, and business partners on every corner of the globe. The last time he’d visited Denver and stayed with me, he’d had a party twice this size.
He probably considered this showing restraint.
If my brain didn’t feel like it was being liquefied, I would have poured myself a drink and joined in. As it was, I had no inclination to make small talk. I was all talked out.
As I stood there, surveying my home, Vincent moved through the crowd, coming my way. A petite brunette who had attached herself to him came with him.
“Luc, you’re here,” Vin boomed. He leaned forward, cupping my face and air-kissing both my cheeks. “Come in, get something to drink. There’s food in the kitchen.”
I pulled back from him, frowning. “You realize this is my place, right?”
He laughed, throwing his head back. “Of course, of course. Have you met Kara?” He pushed the small woman toward me. “Kara, this is my cousin, Luc.”
His woman’s cheeks flushed as she raked her big brown eyes over me. There was interest in her gaze, which immediately turned me off, even though she was attractive. Disloyal women were one of my biggest turnoffs, and considering she was here with Vin, she shouldn’t have been looking at me like I was an option for her.
I kept the introductions short and broke away from the two of them. Hunger gnawed at my stomach, so I used that as an excuse to duck into my kitchen. Obviously catered food lined the counters. Every surface was covered with some type of dish.
“Jesus, Vin,” I muttered as I grabbed two bottles of beer from my fridge and the box of prosciutto pizza from the counter.
I took my food and drinks to the part of my condo where I spent most of my time. Even more than my bedroom lately, though that hadn’t been entirely by design. Suddenly working twelve-hour days had taken more out of me than I’d expected. I often found myself startling awake in the morning on my couch in the den, having passed out cold the night before.
Striding by the strangers standing in my halls, I shut myself in the den, locking the door behind me. There was a light on in the bathroom. I didn’t remember leaving it on, but I wouldn’t have put it past myself.
Not bothering to turn on any other lights, I put my beers and pizza on the tray atop the ottoman in front of the sectional, kicked off my shoes, and yanked the tie off my neck. Once that was tossed aside, I unbuttoned my shirt partway and rolled up the cuffs.
Only then did I sit down and release a long exhale.
A glint of light coming through the center window brought me out of my moment of respite. That window was the bane of my fucking existence, with its forever-breaking automatic blinds and direct line of sight to a glaring spotlight on top of a high-rise tower.
Two nights ago, I’d solved the problem by nailing a throw to the window frame since I didn’t have time or the will to call a repair person. Why wasn’t it working now?
I started to get up to see if it had fallen down when I noticed the lump on the other end of the couch. A lump covered with my fucking throw blanket.
“Who are you?” I barked.
The lump stirred, and a soft sound, something like a moan, came from them. The person beneath the blanket straightened, and the light spilling from the bathroom illuminated them.
Her.
She found me in the dark and jumped slightly. “Oh, hi. I think I fell asleep.” Then she pointed to the corner I’d started to settle in before spotting her. “Fair warning, this couch eats your energy like a snack. I wasn’t even tired when I sat down, then boom, I was out like a light.”
I knew that, of course, since the couch belonged to me. But I found myself staring at this woman, trying to understand her presence in my home. In my personal space.
“What’s your name?”
She’d just lifted her wineglass to her lips and answered me around it. “Sasha.” She took a long sip then raised a brow at me. “What’s yours?”
Interesting. She didn’t know who I was. Either that, or she was playing coy. Generally, women in my social circles in Denver recognized me, if not by my face, then by my name. To be completely honest, my name was recognizable far outside of this city too.
“Luc,” I answered, which wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the complete truth either. If she truly wasn’t aware of who I was, I wanted to keep it that way. It was easier for me.
She nodded toward the pizza box. “I stole some crackers, but I’m impressed with your plunder. Is that a whole pizza?”
“It is.”
“Well”—she scooted forward, her eyes darting from me to the box—“are you going to share? Some of us are starving.”
“I was planning on eating it all myself.”
She shifted closer to me and the pizza. “That isn’t nice, Luc. If I’m going to share my hiding spot with you, it’s only fair you share your food. I promise to only eat two or three slices.”
Reaching an arm out, I snapped on the table lamp beside me, then turned back to my intruder. In full light, she was even more gorgeous than I’d suspected. And I’d suspected she’d be beautiful. A woman didn’t have the type of easy confidence she did if she wasn’t used to moving through the world on a path made by all the lesser beings who willingly stepped aside for her.