Banking the Billionaire (Bad Boy Billionaires Book 2)(65)

She was a dozen things at once, and I couldn’t f*cking get a single one out of my head.

“Mr. Kelly,” Susie called, and I turned at the sound of her voice. Her eyes moved upward dramatically, and I had the feeling they’d been studying my ass. “He’s just finishing up on a phone call, but you can go on back.”

“Thanks,” I said with a wink and smile. She flushed again, and only when she tried to surreptitiously hike her breasts higher in her bra did I realize that maybe I shouldn’t have done it.

It was just second nature. Like a facial tic. I wasn’t even sure I was in control of it.

Pulling my face to neutral, I moved past her space and down the hall, looking at the nameplates on the doors as I did. Wes didn’t have a huge staff here at the offices since the stadium was actually in New Jersey, but he kept the people he needed to interact with on a regular basis close. And for him, and his multifaceted entrepreneurship, that meant being in Manhattan.

Since he was still busy on a phone call, I had time for a little visit with one of my favorite women.

I knocked on her closed door before turning the knob and peeking my head in. Her lips curved into a smile when she saw me—a completely different reaction from the first time she’d laid eyes on me in the Raines Law Room.

“Hey, Georgia girl,” I whispered when I saw she had her phone up and in front of her like she was FaceTiming with someone.

“Hey, Thatch,” she said dramatically, and my eyebrows pulled together.

“Thatcher?” I heard from her phone and immediately understood. “What’s that motherf*cker doing there?”

I moved around the desk and into Georgia’s space until my big head came into the shot beside hers. “Hi, honey. Nice to see you too.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled at the same time. “I just didn’t know you were gonna be there.”

“Yeah, baby, I have a meeting with Wes,” I replied, and then noticed Georgia’s eyes go comically wide out of the corner of my own at the unexpected genuineness of my endearment.

“Oh, okay.”

“Hey, I meant to ask if you’re going to be home early tonight?”

Georgia’s head moved back and forth between us, but I tried not to notice. Instead, I watched Cassie look over her left shoulder and talk to someone out of frame and back again, her dark hair pulling across the top of her low-cut shirt as she did.

“Yeah, I should be done with this shoot in the next couple of hours. What about you?”

“Yep. I’ve got to run back to the office after this and work on a couple of third-quarter plans that I’m almost done with, stop by and open up for Frankie, and then I’ll be home.”

“Okay, I’ll see you there. Need me to pick up your dry cleaning on my way?”

“That’d be great, honey. I’ll get dinner.”

“Perfect.” Someone called for her attention in the background again, and she whipped her head back and forth once more. “I have to go,” she said directly to me, and she almost looked disappointed. “I’ll talk to you soon, Wheorgie. Let me know if you need me to do any last-minute stuff for Big Dick’s party.”

“I need you to cook,” Georgie teased, and Cass just flipped her off.

“Let me know if you need me to do something I’m actually capable of.”

“Like give blow jobs?”

Cassie smiled as she made a slicing motion across her throat.

I took the opportunity to interject. “I could actually use your help with one of those.”

“Just how many of those are on your to-do list?” she asked, pretending to be annoyed. “Every time I check one off, another one gets added to the bottom.”

“Yeah, it’s more of a perpetual to-do.”

I heard someone speed-talk about something from off to the side of her, and her eyes snapped back to us. “I really have to go now. Later.”

And then she was gone. I missed her immediately.

“Picking up your dry cleaning?” Georgie questioned, and I waved her off.

“Georgie.”

“No, Thatch, that was as domestic as I’ve ever seen my friend in the history of, well, ever, and she didn’t even seem pissed about it.”

“She’s just determined not to let me win in a war of wills,” I downplayed in an effort not to talk about it. I was pretty sure Cassie was on my wavelength, feeling all the things I was feeling, and I hoped my instincts were right.

“True enough, but this is not that.”

I took a deep breath and changed the subject. “Where are we with Kline’s party? All set?”

“Nice subtle avoidance,” she mocked. I shook my head and stared directly into her gentle blue eyes.

“I wasn’t trying to be subtle.”

“O-kay,” she agreed, the motion of her mouth exaggerated.

She turned to her computer and opened a document that had a checklist of party details two pages long.

“Jesus,” I remarked. It was supposed to be to myself, but judging by the aggressive eyes she turned my way, I hadn’t been successful.

“It’s mostly just the details of what I’ve been telling Kline. You know he’s too smart for anybody’s good, and I’ve been trying to avoid getting caught in a lie.”