He glances at the guy on the floor. “Get that piece of shit out of here and don’t let him back in ever again. You hear me?”
“Yes, Mr. Cavanagh,” another bouncer replies.
Jen stares at me with her mouth hanging open, and all I can do is shrug at her. I have no idea what the hell’s going on either. The stranger steps closer to me, his dark eyes burning into mine.
“I-I, h-he grabbed me.”
He frowns. “I saw. Are you okay?”
I nod, my tongue darting out to moisten my dry lips. “I’m fine.”
“You have a habit of getting into trouble wherever you go, Lily?” he asks.
“H-how do you know my name?”
“You met a couple friends of mine today,” he says, amusement dancing in his eyes.
Oh, wow. He’s Ezekiel freaking Cavanagh, business partner of West Archer and Xander King.
“Before you recklessly tried to mow me down in the lobby of my building,” he adds.
“What? I did not.”
A smirk tugs at his lips, and damn, it makes him even more intimidating than he was a few seconds earlier. He’s teasing me. Jackass. “At least let me buy you and your friend here a drink for the inconvenience of having to do our bouncer’s jobs for them.”
“You don’t have to. We’re good,” I say, taking Jen’s arm and signaling we should head to another part of the club.
Jen stays rooted to the spot, her gaze trained on Ezekiel. “I’d love a drink.” She flutters her eyelashes, and that smirk of his grows wider. Oh, I see what this is now. He’s into Jen. Most guys are. She’s stunning.
“Come join us at our table.” He nods toward the private booths on the balcony—the ones that cost upward of ten thousand dollars a night to sit at.
“Ooh, yes please.” Jen glances at me and silently claps her hands together, and I barely resist the urge to roll my eyes. I guess we’re going to his fancy-ass booth then.
Jen’s kneeling on the plush velvet bench and peering down at the crowd. “Wow! It is freaking incredible up here. You can see everything.”
“You sure can,” the guy from the elevator today, who I now realize is Xander King, says with a grin.
She turns to face him and flashes him her killer smile. From the moment she saw Xander sitting in this booth, Ezekiel—or Zeke, as he introduced himself—has been well and truly sidelined. I can’t say I blame her. Xander is ridiculously hot. Like you’d walk down the street behind him drooling at his ass hot. Not that Zeke isn’t every bit as alluring, but in a different way. Dark and dangerous and brooding. The ultimate bad guy. But where’s West Archer, the devil himself? Also known as the third member of their Unholy Trinity, which is what my colleagues call the three men who are about to take over Grayson News Corp, the company I work for. At least that’s what the rumor mill’s been saying.
Zeke pours a glass of champagne and hands it to me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here before.”
Those dark eyes narrow, and I scoot back a little as I murmur my thanks and take a sip. I feel like he’s trying to see into my soul, and all he’ll see in there are the things I keep hidden. “Do you know every single person who comes to this club?”
He shakes his head and laughs. The sound is dark and unnerving, and it sends a shiver of excitement down my spine. “But I would definitely remember you.”
I suck in a stuttered breath. Is he flirting with me? No. He’s an absurdly sexy billionaire. I’m dreaming. I must be.
“Lily?” A voice cuts through the steady thrum of the club. My pulse races as I drink in the delectable sight of West Archer. The devil himself, looking sexier than hell in a perfectly tailored suit and a crisp white shirt. I knock back the entire glass of champagne and hope for the second time today that he doesn’t recognize me as the ten-year-old girl he met all those years ago.
Chapter
Six
XANDER
The look on West’s face when he sees Lily sitting at our booth is priceless. I wish I could take a picture. It’s not often we see the ice man lost for words, at least not in public anyway. He stares at her, and then his gaze flickers between me and Zeke and finally to Lily’s friend. A hint of a scowl creases his forehead, but he recovers quickly, and I doubt anyone but Zeke or I noticed.
“Hi,” Lily says softly, giving him a little wave. Meanwhile, Jen spins around, plonking her ass on the seat for the first time since she climbed into the booth. Her eyes almost bug out when she sees West. I stifle a laugh. Handsome fucker tends to have that effect on people.
He clears his throat, all his attention on Lily now. “Hi. It’s … interesting to see you again.”
I suppress a grin. He thinks I invited her up here. I know it.
Lily sinks her teeth into her pillowy bottom lip, and it makes me want to do the same—right before I sink them into her juicy, round ass. “It’s interesting to see you too.”
West opens his suit jacket. His nostrils flare and the thick vein on the underside of his jaw pulses. He’s so fucking into her. He comes over and puts his lips by my ear so nobody will hear what he says. “Lose the fucking friend.”
I bite back my grin. Oh he is so fucking into her. West takes a seat, sandwiching Lily between him and Zeke.
“Well, this is fun.” Jen giggles and tops up her glass from the bottle of Dom on the table. “How do you all know my best friend here?”
“She tried to viciously and brutally run me down with her bicycle today,” Zeke replies, deadpan.
Lily gapes at him. “I did not. I bumped into you by accident.”
He cocks his head and lifts his glass to his lips. “Semantics.” He takes a sip of his Scotch, and she smirks at him.
I stretch my arms over the back of the bench seat and stare at her until she makes eye contact. When she does, I wink at her. “We shared an elevator. Most interesting two minutes of my entire day.”
Her cheeks flush pink, and it’s goddamn fucking adorable. Is she too innocent for us? Would she run as fast and far as she could if she had any idea of the filthy thoughts that are running through all three of our minds right now? Although if she is as innocent as her sweet blush makes her seem, then that might be even hotter, because what I wouldn’t give to corrupt her.
“She delivered me a steaming pile of elephant shit,” West says with a shrug.
She glares at him now. “I did not.”
“Figuratively speaking.” His lip twitches, his tell that he’s fighting the urge to laugh.
Lily rolls her eyes and turns to her friend. “I delivered a package to their building today.”
“And now you’re at our club. And in our booth,” West says, his narrowed eyes raking down her body. Poor girl doesn’t stand a fucking chance and she has no idea.
Lily’s blush creeps down her neck. “Well, your friend Zeke here invited me.”
West glances at me, and I nod to confirm it’s true, not missing the puzzled frown that flickers across his face. Yeah, surprised the hell outta me too, buddy.