Page 38 of Filthy Business

Benedict:Not since your last expansion. Drinks are on you. But if you decide to rub your new hot toy in my face, I’m heading home.

I smiled at the jealous bastard—smug and content.

Until I thought of my Iris among the wolves.

They were probably circling around her.

???

“This is nice. Why haven’t you brought me here before?” Benedict said, looking around the bar.

“Mmm,” I replied, staring at the far corner where Iris sat.

She wore a tight, ribbed navy dress with a matching short jacket. It was so fucking sexy on her, yet entirely appropriate for work—except for those pointed fuck-me red heels and the matching lips and nails.

I clocked every appreciative look she received and silently noted each one of those bastards’names. It was time to speak to Li-hua and start hiring more women. Gender equality mattered to me.

“Are you even listening to me? No wonder your marriage didn’t work out,” Benedict muttered.

“Sorry, I thought I saw someone from work,” I said, trying to focus on Benedict again.

Lucky bastard—his lighter brown hair hid the grey, but his miserable face made up for it.

“What have you been up to?” I asked, sipping my drink while he eyed me suspiciously.

His head snapped around to where I’d been staring.

“She is here, isn’t she? Which one is she?” he asked, twisting around in his chair.

I leaned forward and slapped his shoulder.

“Don’t make it so fucking obvious,” I snapped.

“You’re just using me. This is emotionally damaging to my self-esteem.”

Why couldn’t I have had a normal friend?

I glanced at Iris, but she hadn’t clocked us yet.

“Oh, damn. Is it the hot blonde? The one in that sexy—”

I kicked his leg.

“Ow—fuckkkk,” he hissed, turning around and rubbing his shin.

“Watch your mouth. She is my future wife,” I said with a smirk.

“What?! It’s been two to three weeks. What did I tell you?” he said, wide-eyed and horrified.

“There is more to Iris than meets the eye, my friend. The bonus is that she’s completely the opposite of Leona. And if I’m lucky, she’ll be pregnant in a few weeks’time,” I said, patiently waiting for the implosion.“I mean, the amount I’ve come inside her—it should be a given.”

He gaped at me, stupefied into silence.

“Have you lost your goddamn mind?” he finally gasped.

He stared at me as if we hadn’t known each other for the last twenty-seven years. I clinked my glass against his and gulped the aged Macallan down.

“You barely know her, Magnus. What are you thinking?”