DECLAN
Shit.
The last thing I’d wanted to do was leave Lily’s side, but when the CEO of the damn studio summoned you with your jackass coworker, you went running. And run I did, away from the most beautiful woman in the whole entire room. She clearly had no idea I’d just left my heart in her hands, hoping like hell she wouldn’t drop it or toss it over the railing to the floor for someone to step on.
The look in her eyes had told me she was counting down the seconds until my lips finally touched hers, and I wanted to do a little dance just from learning that fact. Lily St. Claire wanted me to kiss her. And I was damn straight going to do it. Right after I sucked it up, played the game, and got this over with.
When I reached the last step, the two men were waiting for me, sly grins on both their faces.
“Richard. Marlo,” I said, giving them each a firm handshake before sneaking a glance up to where I had just stood with Lily.
She hadn’t come down the stairs behind me, but I couldn’t see her from my current vantage point, and I wondered if Marlo had been able to see her at all when he cockblocked me. It was a damn shame that she was hiding in the shadows because that woman was a sight to behold, an absolute vision. Then again, I liked the fact that no one else could lose their mind just from looking at her. She was mine to ogle, to daydream about, to make my move on once and for all.
“Great job, Declan. I wasn’t sure we’d come out on top for that one” he said, and I nodded in agreement.
“It got a little aggressive there toward the end,” I added for emphasis.
“But we won.” He clapped an arm on my back. “We always do.”
Richard continued to carry on about work, congratulating me on the deal I had just negotiated to purchase a new network to add to our ever-growing franchise. I didn’t want to talk about work tonight, but I obliged him because that was what you did when you worked for someone else—you adjusted your needs and wants to meet theirs.
I refused to call it ass-kissing, which was more than likely what it was, but I’d never seen myself as that type of guy, and I didn’t want to start now. I was a rock-star negotiator, great at my fucking job, and someone else could have easily blown the deal.
“So, I saw you upstairs with my assistant, Declan,” Marlo said a little too loudly in my direction.
I guessed that answered that question—he could see us both from his position on the floor.
I looked carefully at Richard, who was thankfully shaking hands with someone I didn’t know, his attention diverted, and I gave a tight-lipped nod toward Marlo, not wanting to broach that topic with him—or anyone else for that matter.
“So, boys, celebratory shots?” Richard was back in the fold before Marlo could get another word out or question me more.
“Really?” I let out a short laugh, remembering the last time he’d asked us to do shots with him.
It had been at an after-party for a movie premiere, and he made us do sake bombs until one of us yelled truce. Needless to say, the old man had won, and he never let us forget it. How the hell he had drunk all of us young guys under the table that night I never figured out, but I hoped we wouldn’t be having a repeat performance.
I’d had to call an Uber to take me home, and I spent the entire next day with my head in the toilet, wishing for death to come and take me. When Monday morning had finally rolled around, the big man had teased me relentlessly, calling me a rookie and shit. I didn’t need that again.
“You got a problem doing shots with your boss, Declan?” Richard teased with a smirk as he adjusted his glasses.
I cleared my throat. “Not at all, sir.” I waved a hand in the direction of the closest bar. “Lead the way.”
He patted both my and Marlo’s backs before walking briskly between us, the two of us following behind like a couple of well-trained dogs. To be honest, I had absolutely zero desire to do shots tonight, but once again, I found myself unable to say no to his request. If the big boss wanted to toss back copious amounts of straight liquor with his employees, then down them we would. It wasn’t like we really had a choice in the matter.
As we headed toward an overly crowded bar up ahead, my thoughts drifted back to Lily. I hoped like hell I wasn’t missing my chance with her and that she’d still be there when this was all said and done, like I’d asked. I also prayed I wouldn’t be a drunken fool by the time I got back to her. The last thing I wanted to do was get too inebriated to tell her how I felt. A little liquid courage was one thing, but being plastered beyond the ability to function properly was a line I had no intention of crossing. I had to get out of this in one piece.
“I think the boss is trying to get us drunk,” Marlo shouted toward me with a shit-eating grin on his stupid face.
He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his dress shirt, and I watched as a plethora of chest hair sprang out, no longer kept hostage by the thin material.
“Sure looks that way,” I said with an annoyed groan.
“What’s your problem, Maguire? Lily’s not going anywhere. And if she does, you know where she’ll be come Monday morning.”
That was the second time he’d brought her up in less than a minute. I tried to shrug it off, but Marlo irritated me more than anyone else in the office. Some guys you got along with, and some you just plain didn’t. Marlo and I fell into the latter category, and my dislike for him had been fueled once I learned he wouldn’t help Lily transfer out of P&D. Ever since then, I hadn’t been very good at faking niceties with him when all I wanted to do was punch him in the mouth.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, so how about you just shut up?” I ground out through clenched teeth as we came to a stop in front of a busty blonde bartender wearing a flapper dress that wasn’t loose like they typically were, but clingy and barely covered her ass. As a matter of fact, it didn’t cover it at all whenever she bent over.
Even at one of our classy affairs you couldn’t escape the typical LA woman looking for her big break, sporting a fake tan, fake nails, fake hair, and fake tits.
No, thank you.
“Stop being a prick.” Marlo punched me in the shoulder, and I bristled.
I will not lose my temper. I will not lose my temper, I chanted to myself silently, for fear that if I stopped saying it, I just might.
“Cheers.” Our boss shoved what looked like bourbon or whiskey into our hands.
“Cheers,” I said in return before sending the amber liquid down the back of my throat too quickly.
Bourbon.
Nothing burned the way bourbon did if you didn’t take your time with it. It wasn’t meant to be a shot that you tossed like it was your last chance at breathing. And those who did shoot it were idiots. Bourbon was meant to be savored, breathed in slowly through the nose, and then sipped at like a fucking gentleman who appreciated the value of time and a good drink.
“One more!” my boss shouted before ordering another round from the blonde, who was currently staring at me and batting eyelashes that couldn’t be real.
I tried to look as uninterested as possible, hoping she’d take a hint, but women like her tended to be a little relentless, used to getting what they wanted when they looked like that. Yes, she was pretty. But in a completely typical and store-bought way.
We drank another shot, again tossing it back the way it was not meant to be drank, and I needed to hydrate if this wasn’t going to end anytime soon. One more shot turned into three, and by the time I was allowed to leave the bar and get back to my Lily, I had no idea how much time had passed. My gut warned me that it had been too much, that I’d taken way too fucking long.
I sprinted up the winding staircase, stopping once or twice to make sure I didn’t fall. The stairs were blurry. My balance was wobbly at best.
Damn bourbon.
When I reached the open space at the top, my hopeful heart sputtered and then died. She was nowhere to be found.
“Lily?” I said into the void, glancing around the shadowy corners just in case she was hiding somewhere I couldn’t see, like she had done when I first left her.
But she wasn’t.
Running around the small area like a madman, I said her name, pulled back curtains, and peeked behind fake doors, but she wasn’t there.
She wasn’t anywhere.
She hadn’t waited like I’d asked her to. Then again, she wasn’t a pet I could command to stay put until I returned whenever it suited me.
But damn, I desperately wanted to finish what I’d started with her earlier. What if that was my only window of opportunity? Why did my boss insist on drinking so much bourbon? Why haven’t I learned my lesson yet? My head spun with the barrage of thoughts and the realization that I could probably use something to eat to help soak up all the alcohol currently swimming in my near-empty stomach.
Moving toward the ornate railing, I looked at the crowd below, my eyes searching for any sign of Lily’s red dress or her long, dark hair. There were too many people. Too many red dresses. None of them attached to her.
Marlo suddenly appeared at my side, a plate filled with appetizers in one hand and a drink in the other. “Here. Figured you could use something to eat.”
He shoved the plate at me, and I took it without question even though I had no idea why he was up here or why he was being somewhat pleasant. Maybe he was even drunker than I was. That was the only plausible explanation.
“Thanks,” I said as I stuffed the bread and seafood pastries into my mouth. “I needed that.”
“I figured. The old man likes to get us fucked up. I think he gets off on showing us how much better he can handle his liquor than we can,” he said, his words not slurring, but coming out far slower than usual. Like it had taken him a lot of effort to say them in the right order.
“I’m just glad he let us walk away while we were still standing this time.” I finished off the last item on my plate, feeling much better already. It was amazing what a few carbs could do.
“So, what are you doing up here all alone? There’s, like, a hundred beautiful women downstairs you could be sweeping off their feet,” Marlo asked, and I instantly became suspicious.
I didn’t want a hundred other women; I only wanted one. And he knew it. He was baiting me to say it.
Fuck it.
“I was looking for Lily,” I finally admitted out loud.
He didn’t look even remotely shocked. “Where’d she go?”
Shaking my head, I stared at him. “I have no idea.”
“She was up here with you earlier. I saw you guys kissing maybe?” he said, but it was definitely a question and not an assumption, which surprised me.
Marlo was always such a colossal asswipe, saying whatever asinine thought came into his head with no regard for the damage it might cause. I refused to let Lily be one of his verbal casualties.
“Yeah, she was up here. No, we weren’t kissing,” I clarified.
“Well, where’d she go, man?” he pushed.
I turned, a little defensive. We weren’t friends, but he was acting like a concerned one, and that confused me.
“I said I didn’t know.”
“You’re not even trying to find her.” He shoved me out of the way, his drink almost spilling as he looked past the railing where I had just stood, doing the same thing.
“Why do you suddenly care so much?” I asked, trying to figure him out.
Marlo wasn’t usually the guy I trusted with anything, let alone my personal life.
He turned to face me. “Because I know you’re into her. And I’m so sick and tired of watching you do nothing about it. The two of you just go round and round,” he started to explain before looking back down into the crowd. “Shit, dude.”
I ran to his side and stared down. “What? What is it?”
“She’s with Colton fucking Adams.” He jabbed a finger into the air and pointed into a sea of people off in the distance somewhere.
How had he spotted her so easily when I couldn’t even find her, no matter how hard I searched?
And just like that, my eyes landed on her and …
You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.