From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(86)

“Talk to Mia. Case is going crazy. He wants to spend some time with her. I’ve seen the way she looks at him. Find out why she’s so scared and calm her down,” he whispered. “Just one dance. I think that would help Case a lot.”

Okay, so he was only manipulative in other’s best interests. Kai was right. Mia was twelve kinds of hung up on Case. So why wasn’t she paying attention to him tonight? “I’ll do what I can.”

He winked and brushed his lips over hers before she joined her girls.

The minute they walked out of the VIP lounge and into the private bar, the music volume dropped and Kori could hear again. Thank god.

Sarah turned the minute the door closed. “He’s a dick.”

Jared had been true to his word. He’d accepted Kori’s request that Sarah be included and then proceeded to ignore her in favor of any other woman who wanted to talk to him.

“I’m sorry.” The whole night was one big waste. Why anyone would want to sit in a club all night where they couldn’t hear well and no one seemed to be getting along was way past her understanding. “I think maybe he’s more of a player than we thought he was.”

She’d hoped Jared would come around. Sarah was strong enough to handle the press. Kai was right about that, and he’d been right about letting Sarah make her own decisions.

Sarah shrugged and walked over to the bar. Earlier there had been a bartender present, but Jared had explained that he preferred to mix his own drinks and tipped the guy to go away. Kori was certain that was because Jared was fairly paranoid that everyone was some kind of undercover reporter waiting to sell him out to the tabloids. He might be right, but it would have been nice to have a bartender.

“I thought we were going to the ladies’ room,” Mia said, looking back toward the door.

“Oh, that was my way of not having to bring anything back for the guys,” Sarah explained. She uncorked a bottle of tequila and poured out a shot. And then another. And another. Luckily the limes had already been sliced and someone had thoughtfully left out a saltshaker. “Drink with me. Please, I need my bitches. I got the cold shoulder from Hollywood hottie and now I have to watch him flirt with skanks all night.” She pointed Mia’s way. “Don’t you start with they might not be skanks. I’m not in a fair or forgiving mood.”

Mia’s shoulders squared and she stepped up to the bar. “They are obviously skanks.”

Ah, the solidarity of womanhood. Kori picked up the remaining shot glass, but not before giving her thumb a nice lick and letting Sara salt her up. There was a proper way to do a shot even in times of distress. It’s what lifted them up from the barbarians. Not the animals. Animals were often nicer than people. But she was fairly certain barbarians didn’t properly shoot tequila. She held her glass up. “May he get an STD from sleeping with skanks.”

“Here, here,” Sarah agreed. “And may this liquor help Kori’s * feel less enflamed.”

Unfortunately, Mia had already started her shot when that little line was uttered. She nearly spit out her tequila.

Damn, but she might need more than one. Kori did her shot, managing to not choke before she bit down on her lime and sent Sarah a look that hopefully could freeze over hell. “Really? We need to advertise?”

“You let Kai do that?” Mia grabbed a bottle of water. “Seriously?”

“He’s my boyfriend and we’re…very open to certain types of play,” Kori admitted. “I’m going to take it this is one of your hard limits?”

She wasn’t going to get all bent out of shape. Mia wasn’t looking at her like she was the whore of Babylon or anything. The pretty blonde was fairly new to the scene. She was finding her way and that often meant asking questions.

Mia took a long drink. “No. I made it soft, but I don’t do any of the sex stuff with my training Dom. Javier is nice and all, but I’m interested in a relationship, not casual sex.”

Javier was a line chef at Sean Taggart’s restaurant. He was known as Top’s manwhore du jour. “Yes, you should keep it friendly with him. I don’t think he does relationships.”

“What about Case? Are you trying to bag a Taggart?” Sarah asked, pouring herself another drink.

“I don’t know. I’m going to admit that I am very attracted to him, but he scares me, too. I don’t like the fact that he seemed to hate me one day and the next he’s asking me out,” Mia admitted. “It seems fishy to me. He’s been almost too nice lately.”

“Cut him some slack,” Kori said quietly. “He’s still in mourning.”

“I get that, but I think something’s going on. And I’m not sure I completely trust Jared’s crew.” Mia leaned against the bar.

“Because he’s a dick,” Sarah agreed.

Mia shook her head. “No, I’ve been doing some digging. His entourage has some serious issues. Did you know that Lena chick threw hot coffee all over a woman who was hitting on her last employer? She was working for a big-name actor and the rumors are she had an affair with him. Well, at a promo junket, she decided one of the reporters was getting to close to her man and she tossed a Starbuck’s in her face. Lena spent some time in ‘rehab’ after that.”

That was some juicy gossip. “How do you know that?”