Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (186 page)

Chapter
Two

Kenley had no idea who the guy standing in
front of her was, but he was looking at her like she
should
know, which was weird.
 
And kind of disconcerting.
 
She racked her brain, trying to remember if maybe she’d run into him at
the hotel or knew him from high school or something.
 
But she was coming up blank.
 

She certainly would have remembered someone
this good looking.
 
He was the kind
of man that made women catch their breath and turn their heads.
 
Dark hair, dark eyes, a strong jaw with
just the right amount of stubble. He looked a little bit like a pretty boy, but
the small scar on his chin along with the fact that he was dressed in a pair of
jeans and a navy blue hoodie kept him from looking too polished.

He was obviously hitting on her, what with picking
up the straw wrapper like that and offering it to her.
 
But why? Her hair was a mess, she was
wearing black yoga pants and a cream-colored t-shirt, and she knew her eyes had
circles under them from spending the afternoon crying in her hotel room.

“So do you want the straw wrapper?” the guy
asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

“Thanks,” she said and took it from him, mostly
because she didn’t know what else to do.
 
She was kind of mesmerized by how good-looking he was.
 
Their hands brushed, and she felt a
shiver of electricity slide up her arm.

He sat down next to her without being invited.

“You doing work stuff?” He gestured to the list
she was writing.

“Uh, no,” she said quickly.
 
She put the napkin into the Expera
folder and slid them both into her beach bag.
 
Hopefully he didn’t share the
bartender’s talent for upside down reading.

“You sure?
 
Because if you’re doing work stuff, it’s okay.”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay.”
 
She thought he looked a little disappointed.
  
But that didn’t make sense.
 
Why would he be disappointed that she
wasn’t doing work?
 
Maybe he really
did think she was someone he knew?
 
Or maybe his friends had dared him to do this, and he was looking for
some kind of out.
 
She turned around
and scanned the bar.
 
But it was
empty except for the bikini-clad college girls who had moved on to doing
drunken, giggling body shots off each other, much to the delight of the
bartender.

“So are you here by yourself?” the guy next to
her asked.

Kenley thought about lying.
 
It was decidedly loserish to be on
vacation by yourself, but she couldn’t think of a cover story quick
enough.
 
“Yes.”
 
She hesitated.
 
“Are you?”

“For the most part.”

“For the most part?
 
Is that some kind of guy code that I’m
supposed to decipher?”

“Some kind of guy code?”
 

“Yeah, like ‘for the most part I’m here by
myself, but come and meet my girlfriend and the three of us can have some
fun’?”
 
Now
that
would make sense.
 
When it came to threesomes, guys were notoriously not picky.
 
Maybe he thought she was an easy
mark.
 
Or maybe his girlfriend had
picked her out, thought she was just attractive enough to sleep with but not
enough to be a threat.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
 
He took a handful of peanuts off the
bowl on the bar and had the decency not to look confused.
 
Kenley hated that, when guys acted all
surprised if you hinted that they might be up to something nefarious like
cruising around for threesomes.

“That’s too bad,” she said, deciding to mess
with him a little bit.
 
She ran her
finger around the lip of the glass holding the margarita the bartender had
brought her.
 
“I tend to get crazy
when I get a little rum in me.”
 
She
licked her finger and waited for him to look impressed.
 

“There’s no rum in a margarita,” he said.
 
He looked at her drink and frowned.
 
“And besides, I sent you a pina
colada.”
 
He turned back toward the
bartender and started to motion him over, an exasperated look on his face.
 
It was the kind of look that made it clear
he was used to getting what he wanted.
 
It wasn’t arrogance exactly– it was more like he wasn’t going to
settle for getting pushed around.

“It’s okay,” Kenley said, reaching up and
pulling down his arm.
 
“I like
margaritas better anyway.
 
And
either way I’m not going to sleep with you.” Even through his bulky sweatshirt
she could feel the curve of his bicep.
 
Her heart started racing and warmth flooded her cheeks.

“Oh, really?” he said, turning to her with a
grin.
 
“And what makes you think I
want to sleep with you?”
 
He moved a
little closer to her, and Kenley got a whiff of some kind of cologne.
 
It was dark and musty, and she felt heat
pulse through her body.

“Don’t you?” she asked, leaning in closer to
him.
 
“Isn’t that why you sent me a
drink?”

“I don’t just sleep with women the first night
I meet them,” he said.
 
“I’m not
that kind of guy.”
 
But she could
tell he was teasing her, that he was exactly that kind of guy, that he did
sleep with women the first night he met them, and that he wasn’t used to
getting turned down.

But she definitely wasn’t going to have sex
with him, no matter what kind of alcohol he bought her, or how good-looking he
was.
 
Kenley just wasn’t the
one-night stand type.
 
In fact, her
sexual experiences were limited to that of the long-term boyfriend
variety.
 
And in her twenty-nine
years, she’d had three of them.
 
Jack in high school, Adam in college, and
most recently, Jeremy.
 
She was
pretty much a serial monogamist.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like sex.
 
In fact, she loved sex.
 
But sex with strangers had always seemed
like it would be too awkward and fumbling.
 
And where were people even meeting the guys they were having all these
one-night stands with anyway?
 
At
parties?
 
At bars?
 
Kenley worked late every Friday and
Saturday night (or at least she had when she’d actually been employed), and on
the rare occasions she did show up at a bar, she was always looking tired and
disheveled -- definitely not like the kind of girl you’d want to take
home.
 
Not that she looked like the
kind of girl you’d want to take home now.
 
Although maybe the fact that she was wearing yoga pants made her seem
like the sort who didn’t value herself enough not to engage in random sex with
strangers.

“It’s good that you don’t sleep with people the
first night you meet them,” Kenley said.
 
“Because I don’t either.”

“Perfect.”
 
The man nodded.
 
“Then there
won’t be any confusion when we don’t sleep together.”

“Definitely not.”

“So do you want to know my name?” he
asked.
 
“Since we’re not going to be
sleeping together?”

She shook her head.
 
“That makes no sense,” she said.
 
“Why would I want to know your name if
we’re
not
going to be sleeping
together?”

“Hmmm.”
 
He tilted his head and thought about it, then nodded.
 
“Good point.”

They sat there for a second, not saying
anything.
 
His knee was so close to
hers that Kenley thought she might explode. She felt flushed and she kept
thinking about sleeping with him.
 
Now that they’d been talking about it, she couldn’t get it out of her
mind.
 
Which was ridiculous.
 
She hardly knew him.

She needed a distraction, so she motioned for
the bartender, who sighed loudly and then pulled himself away from the girls
doing body shots.
 
“I’ll have
another margarita,” she said.
 

She needed something to cool herself down.
 
The alcohol was actually probably making
her hotter, and what she really wanted was a Diet Coke.
 
But she couldn’t order a Diet Coke,
because then whatever this guy’s name was would think she didn’t trust herself
to order alcohol, that if she got too drunk she’d go back on her promise and
have sex with him.

“Another margarita?”
 
The bartender was looking at her
blankly.
 
“Weren’t you just drinking
a pina colada?”

“She was supposed to be,” the guy next to her
said, “but you fucked it all up.”
 

“Sorry.”
 
The bartender looked slightly scared.
 
“Do you want another one?”
 

“Yes,” Kenley said, sighing,
 
“Why else would I have called you over
here?”

“No, I mean, do you want another
margarita?
 
Or another pina
colada?”
 
He rolled his eyes, like
he couldn’t believe he had to deal with her obvious stupidity.

“Whatever,” she said, waving her hand.
 
“Just bring me something.”

“That kid’s a pain in the ass.”
 
Her not-going-to-be-a-one-night-stand
shook his head.
 
Then he lowered his
voice.
 
“I might have to beat his
ass.”

“Do you make a habit of beating up bartenders?”

“No,” he said,
 
“but he got smart with you.”

“So you were defending my honor?”

“Is that okay?”
 
He swiveled his bar stool toward her,
and somehow, without even realizing it, she’d turned toward him as well.
 
Their legs intertwined, and he laid his
hand on her leg casually, like they were old friends.

“I don’t know.”
 
She pretended she was thinking about
it.
 
“I mean, you don’t even know my
name.
 
Now you want to beat someone
up for me?”

“What’s your name?”

“Kenley.”

“Kenley? That sounds made up.”

She reached into her bag and pulled out her
license.
 
She held it up in front of
him, making sure to keep her finger over the picture.
 

“Kenley Mitchell,” he read.
 
He went to take it, but she snatched it
away and slid it back into her wallet.

“Afraid I’m going to see your picture?” he
asked.

“No,” she said.
 
“I’m afraid you’re going to see my
address.”

“You think I’m going to stalk you?”

“Good chance.”

He nodded, like it wasn’t out of the realm of
possibility.
 
Kenley appreciated the
honesty.

“So now that I know your name, can we sleep
together?” he asked.
 
A cocky grin
played on his lips.
 
They were still
turned toward each other and Kenley’s face flamed.

“No,” Kenley said.
 
But even as she was saying the words,
she was wondering why not.
 
Wasn’t a
one-night stand something everyone should experience once in their life?
 
Here was this totally hot guy, right
next to her, basically coming right out and saying that he wanted to sleep with
her.
 
She could do a lot worse.
 
And besides, what had playing it safe
gotten her?
 
Nothing.
 
Her job was gone, she had no boyfriend,
hardly any friends….even all the money she’d been so careful to save had been
blown on this trip.
 
“Actually,” she
said, and took another huge sip of her drink for courage.
 
“Maybe we should.”

***

Chad was startled.
 
The girl from Expera that he’d been
trying to get to sleep with him had now suddenly said that maybe they
should.
 
It was surprising for a few
reasons, mostly because he hadn’t thought she had it in her.
 
It had only taken him a couple of
seconds of talking to her to realize she was one of those good girls, the kind
that played it safe.
 
He could tell
by the way she had first reacted to the suggestion of sleeping with him, and
the way she’d gotten flustered when he touched her leg.