Two Bar Mitzvahs (13 page)

I stepped closer as she slid the bottom file out and opened it on her desk. From it, she grabbed two sets of standard agreements. After signing the obligatory liability releases, I handed her back the pen and one signed set. “Thanks for your help with the events. I’ll keep in touch through the week.”

Eager to return back to my sisters and Hannah, I left Suzanne’s office. Suddenly, I came to a jarring halt, nearly colliding with Madison, who stood right outside Suzanne’s office.

Fuck.
The hairs on the back of my neck raised. The instant adrenaline spike forced me to take a deep breath. “What do you want, Madison?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

I dropped her a deadpan look. “No. Enlighten me.”

She stepped closer. Too close.

I refused to back down from her and held my ground.

“I want you.” Her fingers touched my forearm, and it took every ounce of restraint I had not to flinch. Her head tilted. “I only didn’t want to get tied down before…”

Before fucking your way through Europe?

She opened her mouth, but I spoke first. “Not gonna happen, Madison. Accept it. Then we can all get these events done with minimal stress.”

“Why? Because you’re with Hannah now? Don’t you remember how good it was?”

“Yes, I do.” I lowered my voice to a near growl. “Right up to the point you told me what a slut you were.”

“I explained why. I’m better now. I’m done with all that. But I’m not done with you.”

I gave her a tired sigh, shaking my head. “What’s it gonna take to convince you I
am
done?”

Her lips twisted into a smirk. “Let me give you a taste. You know I’ll be better than the flavor of the month you’re hanging with right now.” She licked her lips suggestively.

I almost puked in my mouth. Then I shook my head. “Take care, Madison.”

It was an unreal struggle to remain professional (yeah, I got the irony of that after what an asshole I was at that ridiculous tasting), but I didn’t want to get dragged down any further by her tactics. I sidestepped around her to continue toward the end of the hall.

When I rounded the corner, my sisters came out of the ballroom. Kiki was in the lead with her cheeks puffed full, a napkin on her hand holding a pyramid of pigs in a blanket.

I stared in amusement.

She shrugged, mumbling around her mouthful, “What?
I’m
not Jewish.”

“Where’s Hannah?”

“She just went into the ladies’ room. We told her we’d meet her in the lobby.”

“Why don’t you guys head out? I’ll take her home.” Hannah appeared by my side before I finished my sentence. I wrapped an arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I’ll email last-minute items later tonight for Loading Zone’s event.” Although everything was lined up for the anniversary, I needed to triple check to be able to sleep at night.

Kristen nodded. “We’re set. Fire away when ready.” She waved, then joined my other two sisters, who were already involved in an unrelated conversation and didn’t bother to look up.

Once we were alone, Hannah nudged her hip into me. “You were gone awhile. Everything okay?”

I glanced down at her and gave a short nod. “Yeah. Suzanne had a problem finding our file.”

“Madison left the ballroom about a minute after you and Suzanne did.” Her tone dropped, heavy.

“Really?” My mind raced, wondering what might’ve happened.

Hannah pulled away and stared at me.

I frowned. “Nothing happened in the ballroom after I left, did it?”

Her brows drew together for a beat. “No.”

“Were you okay in there with Madison today? Did you feel like knocking Selfish Bitch on her ass at any point?”

She sighed. “I feel like knocking her down now.”

“I feel the same. C’mon. Let’s go find a way to work through our frustration.” I tugged her hand and led her out the back patio doors.

The moment we stepped outside, she jolted to a stop, tugging her hand out from my grasp. “I overheard you and Madison talking in the hallway.”

“Which part?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Does it matter? Why didn’t you tell me?”

I had no easy answer. Instinct? Protecting her? Self-preservation? I hadn’t a clue. “Not sure. Everything she says keeps pushing me further away from believing her. It’s actually pissing me off. Didn’t seem worth mentioning to piss you off too.”

She put her hands on her hips. “What affects you, affects me too. Of all the people needing to believe and trust each other, it’s you and me. A few months ago, you wanted to help me with Dumbfuck. Now you have to keep me in the loop to help you with Selfish Bitch. That’s how this relationship thing works. We support each other. Don’t cut me off so I’m not able to do that.”

I stood there a moment, absorbing her words. Then I gave her a hard nod. “You’re right. We’re a team in this. Sorry that I’m keeping too much shit to myself.” Stepping closer to her, I pulled her into my arms. “I’ve kept this whole thing with Madison a secret for so long, I’m just used to working through it on my own. Please be patient with me. I’ll work on it.”

She nodded, wrapping her arms around my waist. “That’s all I’m asking. Include me.”

“Deal.” I exhaled a relieved breath, then gave her a soft kiss. Pent-up energy pulsed through me, reminding me why I’d pulled her out here in the first place. “Where’s that spa area you visited the other day?”

“In a separate building, toward the back, why?” She glanced at me.

My guttered thoughts must’ve reflected in my eyes, because hers narrowed at me.

“Because I need to defile these grounds. And I need you.” I tilted my head with a smirk, eyes devouring her curves before meeting her gaze again. “Find me a dark corner.”

She hesitated, concern crossing over her face.

Determined, I tugged her forward again and finally broke through her subtle resistance.

I leaned down and pressed my lips against her neck. “Do they have a sauna?” I murmured as we crept into the spa’s unmanned lobby area.

She nodded and led me around the front corner. At the end of a long corridor, a door with a cedar frame and glass insert appeared. She yanked it open and steam poured out. I grabbed an armful of towels off the shelf and followed her inside. She turned around, then bit her lip.

I blew out a slow breath. She looked sexy as fuck.

I had an undeniable urge to mark my territory. Primal. Couldn’t explain it if I tried. Thank God I didn’t need to—Hannah had a sudden wild look in her eyes, totally onboard with it.

“Come here, Maestro.” I crooked my finger at her.

With a smile, she grabbed one of the thick towels, tossed it onto the floor, and dropped to her knees. “You first.” She pulled her top off and unfastened her bra before tossing both aside. Then she unbuckled my belt and ripped open the button fly on my jeans.

During a last flash of rational thought, I wondered if we should’ve gotten naked before the steam soaked our clothes. Then her lips surrounded me, and I groaned as coherent thoughts scattered.

She expertly worked away my stress and anxiety. I didn’t have to ask. She sensed what I needed, knew before I did.

And with a shaky exhale, I let sensations overtake me.

To say that Philly’s Society Elite and the Fifth Avenue Contingent were slumming it tonight was an understatement, but as far as I was concerned, they’d never looked better. Furs and jewels had been abandoned in favor of fair-trade garments and accessories. Hair normally pinned up had tumbled free into loose waves. And noses typically high in the air had come down tonight. All who attended our function embraced one another—and those in need—with the spirit of support.

Standing in a quiet corner in the shadows toward the back, my father, Ben, and I surveyed a scene that through our innovation, belief, and financial commitment had transformed Loading Zone from a rough idea scrawled on paper one night in my economics class into a successful reality.

We watched guests continue to file in as our few minutes of private celebration wound down before the public party revved up. My dad, dressed in fair-trade black linen pants and white embroidered dress shirt, raised his beer. “Gentlemen, we did a fine job. Smart decisions, great marketing, and imaginative operating practices have turned this place into something to be proud of. Congratulations, sons.”

We clinked bottle necks before I took a long pull from my Fat Tire, enjoying praise from a man who didn’t shell it out often.

Needing to find calm in the growing buzz of energy of the room, my gaze drifted over to Hannah. She stood near the end of the bar. Her and Daniel maneuvered her cake a safe distance away from the bar edge.

Hannah looked beautiful tonight. Her slim black dress had a high hemline, exposing the olive skin of her toned thighs. The material was cinched by a belt resting just below her breasts, then rose up over them, covering her curves only as far as was publicly decent.

My thoughts were anything but.

However I remained a patient man. Tonight’s focus was on others: the charity, the guests, the employees. There’d be plenty of time later to show Hannah how much I loved her dress.

I checked my watch and confirmed we were twenty minutes from the event start time. “You two ready? We’ve got a party to run.”

“Let’s do this.” Ben finished his beer, placed it on the tray of a passing waitress, and stepped onto the dance floor, mingling his way through the crowd.

Before I immersed myself in host obligations, I veered off and pressed behind Hannah, gently gripping her hips as I pulled her back into me. Dropping my face against the side of her neck, I growled low, “You look delicious tonight. I love it when you wear your hair wild. Reminds me of how sexy you look after hours of bed play.”

She laughed softly and shivered. With a slight turn of her head, she glanced up at me with a warm smile. “You look incredible yourself. I’ve never seen you in linen.”

“Don’t get used to it. I’m more of a jeans and T-shirt guy.”

She turned fully in my arms and stared up at me. In slow motion, she drew a finger along the muscle in my forearm, then bit her lip when she tucked the tip of it under the rolled cuff below my elbow. “It’s not the attire, but the man underneath I see and want.”

I smacked her ass, then kissed her deep and slow. “When the public party ends, our private party will begin.” With a sigh, I planted my hands on her shoulders and separated her body from mine before we got carried away.
Others first.
“The cake looks perfect, Maestro. Thank you.”

While we lingered for our last private seconds, I paid closer attention to the cake’s details. A likeness of our club—in all its rust-and-chrome, shabby-chic glory—stood on one end. On the other side, she’d depicted dark inner-city alleys, complete with towering buildings with graffiti painted on the walls. But both ends were barren of people. The closer your gaze drew to the center, the more people populated the scene. The middle featured a park, full of life from the green grass, trees, and geese floating on the lake to the people engaged in various park activities, like Frisbee, a softball game, and a picnic.

“This truly is a masterpiece, Hannah.”

A member of the press we’d invited stepped into view, edging behind the bar. “Mind if I start taking photos?”

For the next few minutes we posed for some of the night’s publicity shots. The party hadn’t officially started, but we were close. I took a deep breath and relaxed as much as possible for the short time with Hannah before I needed to migrate over to the DJ booth.

Guest headcount had almost reached capacity, but people sat at tables or stood on the dance floor, waiting. The low-volume soundtrack streaming through the speakers kept them all tame, and the waitresses hustled, making sure everyone had a drink in hand.

Once the obligatory photos were done, I glanced around and spotted Kristen waving us over. I put a hand at Hannah’s back and urged her toward my family and our friends who’d gathered up in the larger VIP section. “C’mon, Maestro. Showtime.”

Darren manned the DJ booth in the far corner of the room, and I wound through the crowd on the dance floor as quickly as possible to join him. At my nod, he faded the music down, then gave me the microphone.

I scanned the crowd, which hushed as the lights dimmed over them and brightened on me. I tapped the mic once to verify the thing worked before speaking. “We all want to thank you for coming here tonight. This weekend is special for us as we pass a milestone. One year ago today, Loading Zone opened its doors, marking the transformation from a decrepit, abandoned warehouse into a successful business.

“Not only did we provide valuable jobs—thumbing our nose at the local down economy—but we included each employee in a portion of the profits, making them a part of our family. And we’ve all worked hard to make every guest who comes here feel at home.”

A rolling wave of cheers and applause thundered through the room.

“But tonight is about more than Loading Zone. And the celebration serves as more than tonight’s good time. On the invitation, you were encouraged to wear fair-trade attire, from your clothes and jewelry to your handbags and shoes. For some, you only had to go to your closets. For many, you had to shop for the very first time from merchants who support fair wages and living conditions.