Page 52 of Sins of a King

“I do. Excuse me, I’ll go get one.” He leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “Don’t move, I’ll be right back, okay?”

I nodded, and he headed toward Jake and cocktail central.

“Oh my God,” Shawna breathed. “Who’s the guy? He’s hot.”

“No idea,” I answered, taking a sip of champagne. “I tossed my necklace at him.” I fingered my strand and looked for the guy in the crowd.

“Well, I think you should go for it,” Alia said.

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” Shawna asked. “It’s not like you have a boyfriend.”

I shrugged but didn’t reply.

Shawna sighed all dreamy. “If you don’t want him, can I have him?”

The dark stranger returned and smiled at me. “So where were we? Oh yeah, you were going to tell me your name.”

I laughed. “Barrett.”

“I’m Eric.”

A person bumped into me, causing me to domino into my new companion, dousing us both in champagne.

“Crap,” I muttered. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault.” Eric shot a glare at the drunken guy who was gently being coerced to the front door by security. “You spilled your drink.”

“I’ll get another,” I said, attempting to move away toward the bar, “and I’ll get us a couple of napkins.”

“No,” Eric said. “I’ll go. One glass of champagne coming right up. And some napkins.”

“How about a scotch?” I asked. “I really don’t like champagne that much.”

“Whatever you want.” He left with a wink.

“He’s nice,” Shawna said. “I wish I could meet a nice guy.”

“You can,” Alia said.

“I always pick the wrong ones. Eric,” she sniggered. “Like Prince Eric fromThe Little Mermaid.”

I saw Eric work his way through the crowd, coming toward me. “Let’s cheers again,” he said, handing me a glass of scotch.

“Here, here,” Alia said.

As we sipped our drinks, Eric engaged me in conversation, but my eyes wandered around the club. I kept hoping Flynn would randomly show up, and we could spend the rest of the evening flirting and talking and moving forward in our strange relationship. I wanted him despite our circumstances, despite his mysteriousness, despite him basically being my boss.

“You okay?” Eric asked, rotating his body away from Alia and Shawna just slightly, so I was forced to turn with him.

“Hmmm? Oh, fine.”

“You seem a little distracted.”

“Sorry.”

“I really enjoyed your performance,” he said.