Chapter Nine: New Girl
Lincoln
Sienna Stone certainly knows how to throw a party.
As soon as I enter the office building, I don't even recognize the place. Fairy lights are strung against every wall from floor to ceiling, white canopies of fabric hanging from the rafters above. A stage has been set up in the back of the large room decorated with flower arrangements no doubt provided by her best friends whom I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday.
I'm offered champagne by a waiter passing with a tray, and as I bring the glass to my lips I try to survey the room to find Sienna. The place is crowded with people I've never seen before, and yet I can just feel the wealth in the room. Designer gowns and fitted suits, the chatter of yachts and vacation homes lingering about as I make my way around the room. For once, I'm glad I decided on my best-fitted Armani suit that I owned. It's tailored to my body perfectly, and tonight, I wore a dress shirt that I left unbuttoned, a gold chain dangling around my neck that falls just above the serpent head.
Sienna's friend Carmen, the woman who called me eye candy yesterday, is mingling with a group of people as I approach. She's wearing a black gown that's embossed with silver sequins, her black braids looking freshly done and held back by a decadent head wrap. When her eyes lift to mine, she has a devilish grin on her face. "Well, well well," she hums, sipping her champagne, "look who it is."
"Carmen," I reply and bow my head in greeting, introducing myself to the others she's conversing with, "always a pleasure."
Soft classical music plays softly in the background as Riley approaches with a crab cake in one hand, and a napkin in the other. "Hello," she says quietly. I can tell she's much more reserved than Carmen, and I can also tell she's wary of my intentions with her best friend. Not that she doesn't have reasons to be concerned. I'm not looking for a relationship with her friend, but I don't think Sienna is looking for a relationship with me, either. I'm just wanting the opportunity to give her mind-blowing orgasms that she'll never forget, and does that make me a bad person? Probably.
To someone like Riley, I think it makes me a sleazeball. I've encountered many women in my lifetime, and just by taking one look at her, I can tell that she doesn't do one-night stands. She's the type of woman that likes to be catered to, and she can tell that I'm not a man who can offer Sienna that.
"It's nice to see you," I tell them, "I take it that both of you are responsible for the flower arrangements?"
Riley blinks, then nods. "How did you know?"
I shouldn't be trying to impress them because, really, what's the point? Normally, meeting a woman's friends would terrify the living hell out of me because that would mean things are getting serious, but we ran into them by mistake yesterday, not because Sienna wanted me to meet them, and I could tell that these two women mean the world to her just from being around all of them for five minutes. If I want any shot in hell at starting anything with Sienna, I have to get on their good side first.
"Yesterday I saw that arrangement in the display window at your shop," I say and point to a large vase on the stage filled with roses, peonies, and hydrangeas. "I only recognized it because I have dinner with my mother next weekend, and I was thinking of buying that one to give her."
A potential customer, and a potential billionaire customer at that. Riley's eyes lighten slightly, and then she gives me a tiny smile that's barely visible. "We can make the same arrangement again if you want."
"Fantastic. I'll swing by the shop this week?"
"Sure," Riley says, and although it's not a huge improvement, she seems to have let her guard down slightly.
I'm about to speak to Carmen, but a clinking of glasses fills the room, turning my attention toward the stage again. Sienna is up where the microphone is in a strapless satin mini dress. Her legs run for miles, and her dress is...red. The same shade of red that haunts my dreams at night. I'm scanning every inch of her when her lips curve up into a smile to look out at the crowd of the other hundred or so people here, and her lips are painted the same shade of red as her dress.
Oh, fucking hell.
I'm already hard. I mutter a cuss word and step behind a pillar as I try to think of anything but those red lips of hers all over my body. I want that red lipstick on every inch of my skin, a lingering sensation of hers everywhere I look.
"Hello everyone, and welcome. I am so honored to be celebrating the seventh anniversary of Stone Media Entertainment with you all. It's because of each and every one of you that this company continues to expand and accomplish bigger and better feats than I ever thought possible, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continuous dedication and hard work.
"I throw this party every year to celebrate you and let you know how appreciated you are. I know we're all excited to get the party started, so I'll keep this speech short and sweet, but truly, this party doesn't even touch the amount of gratitude I have for what you bring to the table. Cheers to you all, and here's to another successful year of limitless opportunities." She raises her glass and everyone cheers in unison, clinking glasses against each other's as my heart fills up with a feeling I can't explain.
The music changes from classical to upbeat funk, and as the crowd heads for the dance floor, I start to head for the bar until Carmen grips onto my suit jacket sleeve and brings her mouth close to my ear. "Please for the love of God give my friend the best sex of her life. Nobody is upstairs where her office is since the elevators are off-limits tonight, and I'm tired of her sulking. She needs to get laid."
I'm not sure if this is some sort of trap to see what my real intentions are, but I've never been a liar, and I don't plan on starting now. "I fully intend to," I whisper back, "Thanks for the heads up."
She squeezes my arm before she releases me, and when I reach the bar I order a shot of whiskey, gulping it down in one swig as I look out at the crowd. Sienna is conversing with a man and woman that seem as if they're married, and she's laughing at something the wife is saying. Her eyes meet with mine, and instantly the smile fades as she scans me from head to toe. The familiar pull that always seems to happen clicks into place, and she excuses herself to move to my side.
"You made it," she says. "Dinner should be served shortly."
I shrug and order another shot of whiskey. "I'm not here for dinner, Sienna, but thank you for the notice."
"Then what are you here for?" She gulps as if she doesn't know the answer already. The contract isn't signed yet though, and what if I'm reading too much into things? What if she isn't feeling the same way I'm feeling about her? What if it's all just in my head?
Over her shoulder, I see her ex, Reed, dressed in a gray pinstripe suit, his curls gelled back and blue-gray eyes flickering in our direction as he talks to a group of men. Sienna notices me staring and glances behind her, heat flooding into her cheeks almost immediately when she turns back around. "I don't get why he cares," she says, but then shuts her mouth as if she didn't mean to say that out loud.
Taking another sip of whiskey, I look her up and down again and say, "Have you seen the way you look tonight? I'm pretty sure every man in this room is staring at you, Sienna."
I'm speaking the truth. Her body is an hourglass in that skin-tight dress, and with her hair pulled up into a high, gelled-back ponytail, it makes her eyes into the perfect cat-eye shape, the eyeliner emphasizing the hazel shade. She's insatiable tonight, and in order to make sure this contract doesn't fall through, I have to make sure it's her that initiates this between us. I just have to set it up.
I arch a brow as she's staring at me completely speechless. "You know what would piss him off?"
She clears her throat, her eyes never leaving mine. "Hm?"
"If we made him jealous."
Contemplating my suggestion, she blinks a few times and glances behind her again before she says, "You're my client, Lincoln, and I'm around my staff. People are going to talk."
"Your staff is drunk," I say pointedly and stare out into the crowd. "I'm pretty sure they don't care about anything that's going on right now."
I'm trying not to seem desperate, but it's an effort to sit here and not reach over and pull her to me. I don't want her to know just how badly I need her to agree, because I fear if she did know, she'd never let herself near me.
"Okay," she says and swallows hard, "but how do we do that?"
Finally, thank fucking finally, I reach out and grab onto her arm, pulling her close to my chest. Her breasts are pressed up against me, and I feel her nipples grow hard against the thin fabric of my dress shirt. "Well, for starters..." I mutter lowly into her ear as I place my hand on the back of her thigh, just underneath the hemline of her dress, "I'm going to make it seem like I'm whispering something very dirty in your ear...And then..." I move my hand up, almost reaching what I've been dying to get my hands on all week. "Should I continue?"
She nods immediately like she doesn't even have to think twice about it.
I feel the silky fabric of her dress as my hand cups her ass, and a tiny gasp emits from her mouth that travels straight to my dick. She glances down at my hard-on that's now pressed up right against her pelvis since she's so tall in these heels, and those hazel eyes grow darker. So dark that I'm tempted to take her right on the bar behind us.
"And then..." My voice rasps from losing patience as I move her ponytail to her other shoulder with my free hand, bringing my mouth to the spot in-between her neck and shoulder, "I'm going to pretend like I'm offering to take you upstairs. Like I'm offering to take you on that desk of yours."
She whimpers, and holy fuck, I'm never going to make it. I'm going to cave. I need her to cave first, though.
"He's watching every single thing I'm doing right now," I whisper into her ear. "And I'm staring him down like a hawk. I'm letting him know through my eyes what exactly I plan to do to you, attempting to send him images of my head between your thighs, how I plan to lick you completely clean, Sienna with your naked body sprawled out on your desk. How he lost out on the sexiest woman in this room."
She pulls away abruptly, eyes blazing and panting profusely. "Okay, we need to..." She sighs and glances at the door that leads to the elevators. I'm holding my breath, praying to anyone who will listen for her to give in, but then her body goes still when she looks over her shoulder again.
Reed is with the new girl. The girl he cheated on her with. His arm is around her lower back, holding her close against his side, and I know right here and now that I've lost any chance I had at sleeping with Sienna tonight. Reed did this on purpose. His eyes meet with mine in a challenging stare, and I clench my jaw in response. He knows what a hold he has over her. He knows how badly he hurt her, and he's using it to his advantage rather than letting her be happy.
"I...have to get out of here," Sienna chokes out, and before I'm able to stop her, she walks briskly out of the doors toward the elevators.
Normally, when a woman walks away from me I let her go because it's not worth the fight for what I'm after, but as Sienna storms out with tears rolling down her cheeks, my body reacts before my mind is able to process it, and I find myself walking out those doors right behind her.