“Really?” Liam looked over my shoulder. “Because he’s coming this way.”
I barely swallowed a squeak. “Great. But first I need another drink.” I turned.
“I can get you one,” Liam offered.
“No, it’s fine.” I pushed deeper into the crowd, and away from Liam Kensington and Zane Roth, or any other person with lots and lots of zeros at the end of their bank accounts.
I needed to get into that office. Now.
I heard a burst of laughter from a group nearby and circled around them. Then I bumped into a hard chest.
“Oof.” I looked up.
Jesus, it was the final billionaire bachelor—Maverick Rivera. God, what was with me attracting all these billionaires today?
Rivera was too rugged to be called handsome. He had a heavy scruff, bronze skin, and was attractive in a rough kind of way. He was also the inventor of the Riv3000.
“Sorry,” I said.
The man scowled. “You should watch where you’re going.”
I kind of liked his surly attitude. “And you shouldn’t take up so much room.” I sidestepped around him.
Man, I’d gone my whole life never meeting a billionaire, now here I was running into them all over the place.
I headed down the stairs and hurried down the hall. I passed a couple kissing. Wow, they were really going at it.
Moving past them, I paused. I took out my lock pick from my tiny handbag, quickly opened the door, and slipped in.
It was dark in the office, with only the city lights filtering in through the windows.
I turned on a lamp on the desk.
My camera was embedded in the pendant on my necklace. I lifted it and started taking shots. The door, the furniture, and the safe.
It was set in the wall and looked so unassuming.
I leaned in close to get several more shots of it.
Then I glanced around, and took shots of the window, the ceilings, the air vents, the walls.
Finally, I turned and stared at the safe.
“I’ll get you to sing for me.” My fingers itched. I did love a challenge.
I heard laughter in the hall. Crap. I needed to go.
I turned off the light and opened the door, quickly sliding into the hall. Then I hurried back toward the living room.
Right. Get through the party and get out of here.
I turned a corner and slammed into a hard chest.
This chest was covered in a snowy-white shirt. A fabulous cologne that reminded me of the sea hit my senses.
Uh-oh.
“Are you okay?” a deep voice asked.
I looked up into familiar hazel eyes.
Zane
Zane had been searching the party for another tantalizing glimpse of the woman in the tiny, green dress.
He was trying to find a distraction to get the big, gray eyes of his bathroom attacker out of his head.
A woman came out of the hall and collided with him. He grabbed her elbows.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She looked up. Large, gray eyes widened.
“You,” he breathed. Was he dreaming? Hallucinating?
Her hair was different, and he wasn’t sure the sleek, silver-blonde suited her any better.
“Um…”
“You snuck back into my place?”
Her gaze never looked away from him, bold, direct. “Yes?”
“You asking me, or telling me?”
She straightened, a spark in her eyes. “Well, obviously I’m here.”
He slid his hands up her toned arms. She was tall, long, and sleek.
Zane lowered his voice. “Couldn’t stop thinking about me?”
She cocked her head. “That is so arrogant. You think if someone sees you, then they can’t stop thinking about you. Dreaming about you.”
He grinned, feeling a sharp bite of excitement. “I never said anything about dreaming.” He lowered his head and heard her breath hitch. “Have you been dreaming about me since you stripped me naked and knocked me over?”
She sucked in a breath. “I didn’t…” There was a struggle for control on her face. “I didn’t dream about you.”
He stared at her pink cheeks. “Liar.”
“I didn’t!” she whisper-yelled.
“You are a really bad liar.”
“Actually, I’m a pretty good liar.”
Someone bumped into them and Zane lifted his head. It was a business associate who Zane had been purposely avoiding.
The man smiled, showing a mouthful of perfect veneers. “Oh, hey, Roth, I wanted to talk to you about—”
“Not now.” Zane took his mystery woman’s hand and dragged her away.
“Hey, that was rude,” she said.
“It’s a party, and he was about to be rude. He was going to ask me for a loan.”
She was quiet for a moment. “That is rude.”
“There are people clamoring for a minute of my time every day. Asking for money every day.”
“Hmm, I guess it’s rough being insanely wealthy.” She spoke in a deadpan voice.
Zane fought back a smile. He liked this sassy woman—who didn’t simper, tell him what she thought he wanted to hear.
He pulled her up the stairs and onto the terrace. He tugged her away from the guests standing by the door and pulled her to a quiet, shadowed spot by the railing. It had a great view of the city and the park, and he often stood here when he needed to clear his head.
She turned to take in the view, but Zane was too busy looking at her.
She was beautiful, but not in a conventional way. She didn’t have that careful, plucked-and-pruned look like many of the women inside. She had high cheekbones, long lashes, and those fascinating, cloud-gray eyes.
“I want to know your name,” he said.
She dragged her gaze off the view and cocked her hip. “Well, we don’t always get what we want.”
“I do.”
“It’s good for the soul to hear no sometimes, Roth.”
“Is that a rule?”
She shot him a hot look and he felt it in his cock.
A group of people nearby laughed and she turned her head. “You’re missing out on your party. You should be over there, talking to your friends.”
“Most of these people are acquaintances, at best.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Hell, a lot of them annoy me.”
She cocked her head. “By asking you for money?”
Zane nodded. “Or a meeting, an introduction to someone, or backing for their amazing project. They want to shortcut the line and get an easy pass, usually off the back of my hard work.”
“Hard work? Don’t you billionaires just sit around in your plush corner offices and sip champagne all day? Or go sailing, or something?”
“Ha-ha.”
“I imagine it takes a lot of hard work to keep an empire like yours running.”
“It does.”
Something moved through her gray eyes. “Well, don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you for money.” Her teeth flashed. “Of course, if you have a spare million lying around and you don’t know what to do with it…”
He laughed. A server passed by with a tray of canapés. Zane waved a hand and his mystery woman snagged one. She eyed the small piece of baguette topped with crème fraîche and a dollop of orange.