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I snort a laugh and lean across to run my fingers through her soft hair. “Are you wearing this down for me tonight?”

She lifts a brow. “If I say yeah, will you buy my dinner so I don’t spend all that I’ve saved in rent on an entrée?”

I run my tongue across her bottom lip, and she gasps in surprise.

“You’re cute when you’re feisty. But for the sake of my inflating dick, can you be a good girl tonight and not give me backchat?”

She’s wearing the black dress she wore that first night in Lloyd’s, and that, combined with the knee-high leather boots and badass attitude she’s giving me, I’m about ready to blow in my pants. Judging by the way her skin pebbles over her bare arms, I conclude we’re both feeling similar.

On a wink, I release my hand from her hair and throw open my driver’s door, the cold December air hitting me straight in the face, bringing me down to reality as I round my truck and swing her door open.

“Are you nervous?” Kendra asks, clearly sensing my shift.

When she steps onto the sidewalk, I take her jacket from over her arm and wrap it around her shoulders, pulling the collar—and consequently her—toward me. I’m not nervous about seeing my dad, but I am over my girlfriend meeting him.

The wind swirls around us, whipping her hair around my face, her classic scent pulling me deeper under her spell.

“I don’t want you to go into tonight thinking he’s anything like Mum, Darcy, or Jon. Elliott Thompson is the kind of person you’ll hate. The only part of me that’s anxious about tonight is making sure you know I’m not the same person he is.”

She frowns, and I reach up and smooth my thumb over the crease forming between her brows.

Fuck, I hope she’s as crazy about me as I am her.

“And to answer your earlier question”—I interlace our fingers and walk toward the entrance as the doorman pushes it inward and we step into the warmth—“your dinner’s already covered. I only need one thing from you tonight.”

“What’s that?” She shrugs off her jacket as the host makes their way over to us.

I lean down to whisper into the shell of her ear. “Those cute little gasps you make when you unravel for me later.”

“So,tell me, Kendra, do you see yourself playing across the pond one day?” Dad leans forward and refills our water glasses, and I watch as my girlfriend visibly stiffens from beside me.

We’ve only been in his company for fifteen minutes, but in that time, he’s managed to patronize his girlfriend, Debbie, on at least three separate occasions. The second she saw me, she flushed, and it was at that exact moment the pieces fell into place—she was his secretary back when he and Mum were still married. I remember her face from the days when he hauled me down to the office, trying to convince me that my future was in finance.

So far, all she’s done is take sips of her wine and smile sweetly at my dad while he focuses his attention on us.

“Maybe. I had an opportunity a year ago, but I didn’t take it at the time.” Kendra reaches into the middle of the table and plucks a breadstick from the shared pot.

“Not interested in following in your brother’s footsteps then, no?”

What the fuck is this? Quiz Kendra night?

I clear my throat and decide to bring Debbie into the conversation, given my dad has fuck all intention.

“How do you like New York, Debbie?”

From the corner of my vision, I watch as Kendra relaxes, the focus away from her and finally elsewhere.

Like a deer being hunted, Debbie startles and looks across at Dad.

Please tell me you aren’t seeking permission to speak.

She clears her throat and fidgets with the knife and fork in front of her, never meeting my eyes. “Well, we haven’t had much time for sightseeing. Your dad has been busy with work. But, yes, it’s really nice. Definitely a lot of people here.” She giggles nervously. “It really is the city that never sleeps?—”

Like she never existed, Dad cuts across her. “I have to say, I’m surprised you haven’t made more changes, given the success you’ve been enjoying, Jack.”

I wouldn’t describe Debbie as petite, but she loses several inches as I watch her shrink back into her seat.

Fucking prick.