“Hey, I wanted to speak to you, Stefan. Do you have a minute?”
Caught with my pants down, literally, I nodded without thinking and sat back down. “Yeah, sure. What do you need?”
“I just wanted to apologize again for us getting off on the wrong foot. And thanks for putting me with Lola tonight. She’s been so great in helping me get my bearings.”
As Shay spoke, I remembered who I was dealing with. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but something in the way she sounded put my suspicions on red alert. “That’s good, and don’t worry about how we started off. It looks like you’re getting settled in fine. Just stay close to Lola for a while.”
“Sounds great. Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”
There was no way to mistake the sexy tone in her voice. I’d had enough women hit on me to know Shay was offering more than just learning how to make a new drink. Standing from behind my desk, I walked toward her until we stood no more than a foot away from each other. Looking down, I saw a distinct sparkle in her green eyes.
“Like what? Do you have something in mind?”
Her tongue slid across the seam of her lips before she smiled, and her eyes met mine with a look I recognized from every woman I’d ever slept with. “Lola said you like it when your girls are go-getters. I just wanted to show you I was.”
Leave it to Lola to break the new girl in just as I liked. This was why she was my best worker. My eyes scanned Shay’s incredibly hot body for a long moment before I returned my gaze to meet hers. “Well, Lola’s right. I do like go-getters. I think you’ll work out here, Shay. Just follow Lola’s example and we’ll get along just fine.”
“That’s great. Thanks! And if you want me to do anything…” Her voice trailed off and she tilted her head to the side. “Just let me know. I’m a quick learner on top of being a go-getter, Stefan.”
Her thinly veiled proposition threw me for a second, and by the time my brain reset with an answer, she’d turned on her heels and headed out the door back into the club. My bet with Kane was going to be over before he could warn, “Don’t touch any of the dancers,” which I had every intention of ignoring.
This girl was all but mine. It was almost too easy.
But I’d been a good boy for a few weeks, so I deserved easy.
CASH AND Kane sat in their usual spots on opposite sides of Cash’s desk as I strolled in to our one o’clock Monday afternoon meeting at twenty minutes before two. These weekly get-togethers did nothing to help me run the club, so as far as I was concerned, they were optional. That I showed up at all should have meant something.
Unfortunately, neither of my brothers saw things that way. As I took my seat next to Kane, two pairs of blue eyes shot me death stares, intended to make me understand how fed up they were with me and my disrespect for the weekly meeting.
One problem—I didn’t care.
“Hey, guys! What’s up?”
“Stefan, we have this meeting every Monday at one o’clock. You’re nearly an hour late,” Cash said through gritted teeth.
“You know how I feel about this whole meeting thing, big brother. You could always just give me the notes and we’d all be happy.”
I felt Kane lean closer to me and turned my head to see him glaring at me. “Stefan, we’re tired of carrying your immature ass around here. Cash may be willing to take your bullshit, but I’m not.”
My half-brother’s tolerance for my carefree outlook on life had become extremely limited these days. He used to be more like me. There was a time when he and I would get piss drunk every night and even though he never hooked up with any of the girls we had working for us, he still knew how to have a good time. God, I missed those days.
I looked across the desk at Cash and saw his patience had just about run out too. I needed to diffuse the situation or I risked Kane beating the hell out of me, which he could in a heartbeat, unfortunately. While Cash and I might be an equal fight, a fight with Kane would likely be me getting my ass handed to me or at least knocked around a bit.
Certainly not the way I wanted to begin my week.
“I get it. I’m sorry. I promise to take these meetings more seriously.” Seeing the look of disbelief on their faces, I raised my right hand and added, “Scout’s honor.”
Cash rolled his eyes. “Stefan, we’re done already. I have a meeting at three, so I don’t have the time to rehash everything Kane and I talked about. Maybe not knowing what the hell is scheduled for the next week will make you realize showing up at the owners’ meeting each week is important.”
He stood from behind the desk and buttoned his black suit coat, a clear sign he was leaving. I wanted to ask what meeting he had since I imagined it had something to do with Olivia and their engagement. Just the mention of her could put a smile on his face. I didn’t like when Cash was pissed at me, even if I didn’t show how much it bothered me. Ever since he and Olivia got serious, he’d been in a pretty forgiving mood with me and to see him so angry now because of something I did made me feel like shit. It was stupid, but it did.
Before I could even ask how she was, he marched past me and out into the club, leaving me with an angry Kane who now sat with his arms crossed and glaring at me. Well, if you couldn’t piss off both your brothers by midday on a Monday, you weren’t much of a younger sibling, right?
I turned toward my half-brother and shook my head. “What? You going to lecture me now?”
“On what? How immature you are? How there’s no way in fucking hell I’m ever going to let you take over the top floors, even if you do get in that girl’s pants?”
“Speaking of that, you’re going to be running the bar soon, so get ready.”
Now he rolled his eyes just like Cash had and stood to leave. “Whatever, Stef.”
Jesus. Why couldn’t I have been an only child?
I followed Kane out to the bar. “Hey, are you planning to just not talk to one of the owners of this place? I think you’re going to have to speak to me at some point. I mean, we are equal partners here.”
“What do you want?”
Rounding the corner of the bar, I pointed to the upper floors. “I want to know you’re going to hold up your end of the bet since she’s just days away from giving in.”
Kane grimaced and shook his head. “Assuming I believed that, there’s no way Cash is going to let you take over anything after you’ve shown your inability to manage much else than liquor orders and girls who pour drinks.”