“You think I know I’m beautiful?” I arched an eyebrow at him.
He lifted one broad shoulder and took another sip of his drink before replying. “Yes, I do. You carry yourself with confidence and you speak with it, too.”
“That’s an odd thing to say, but thank you, I guess?”
“We’re in an odd situation, and you’re welcome.” He set the glass back on the counter. “It was merely an observation.”
“Why are we in an odd situation? I mean, other than being somewhere neither of us really wants to be but both of us have to stay at.”
“Well, that’s the big one. But I also wasn’t expecting to have a conversation with a waitress at a strip club and actually enjoy it.”
“Good point. I wasn’t expecting to have a conversation with a patron of a strip club and actually enjoy it.” Sighing when I noticed a man at one of my tables glaring at me while waving both arms, I picked up my tray again. “Since I am a waitress at said strip club for now, though, I’d better go. Lord knows if I had a fraction of the cash flow of this place, I would have walked out the door right now.”
“You know,” he reached into the inner pocket of his very expensive-looking, definitely tailored jacket and extracted a business card, “if you’re looking to use your brain and not your body to make money, call me on Monday. I could use someone like you. If your girlfriend wouldn’t mind, that is.”
I took his card, smiling as I slid it into the side of my top. “I have no idea why you’d make an offer like that to a total stranger, but I’m taking you up on it.”
“Good.” He returned my smile and gave me a slight nod before turning on his stool to face the bar instead of the club.
I shot him one last glance as I walked away, but he was staring thoughtfully into space as if he was in his own office instead of at the club. I didn’t know him, but it looked like he had been honest about not really wanting to be here.
Honesty was an important trait to me. It was also obvious that he was successful. People who weren’t couldn’t afford suits like his. And surprisingly, he had been nice to me.
All things considered, I could do worse in a potential boss. I only had to hope that his offer had been real because if so, the business card currently digging into the side of my breast might just be my ticket out of here.
Chapter 7
Marco
Early on Monday morning when I arrived at the office, it surprised me to see Addy already waiting for me. She sat in one of the chairs in my reception area, her back ramrod straight and staring directly ahead of her.
With her ankles hooked together and her hands primly in her lap, she looked like an entirely different person from the spunky waitress I’d met on Friday night. She had pulled her blonde waves into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck, and her makeup was natural, but there was no mistaking it was her.
Gone was the dramatic eye shadow and the black leather, but she was still beautiful. I would have been lying to say I hadn’t thought about her over the weekend. She was off limits to me, of course, but that didn’t mean I could shut off the fantasies that had started the second I laid eyes on her.
They would fade eventually, though. I had been serious about being able to utilize someone like her in my company. Unrequited physical attraction wasn’t going to stand in the way of that.
I had told her to call me on a whim. My gut had said that she would be a good fit for the company, even if I didn’t know in which capacity yet.
There was something about her I liked, a pluckiness and earnestness I hadn’t come across in a while. She also hadn’t seemed dimwitted back at the club. In fact, there was a keen intelligence in her eyes I was curious about.
“Addy,” I said as I stepped off the elevator. “What are you doing here?”
She looked up at me, then stood and smoothed out the deep purple dress she was wearing. It gave her eyes an almost violet glow, which unfortunately made her even more attractive. I shoved it down, though.
“I know you said to call, but I thought it was better if I came here so we could talk in person,” she said without an ounce of hesitation. “If you don’t have time for me right away, I’ll wait until you do.”
“No, that’s fine.” I liked that she was a go-getter. “Come into my office. We’ll talk. How did you find me and how did you get into the building?”
“Your card had your full name and email address on it. There’s this really nifty little invention called the internet I fed your information into. It spat out quite a lot about you, Mr. Marco Ricci. Billionaire transport tycoon who has recently acquired one of the largest shipping lines out of China.”
“I’m impressed.” I smiled as I swiped my card across the reader and waited for the light to flash green before stepping into my office. “What about the other question?”
“Oh, I just told your security guys I was here for a job interview with you.”
“You’re resourceful,” I said, pushing the door open and motioning for her to precede me. “I could definitely use that.”
“So you’ve said.” Her voice was softer now, her eyes wide as she came to a stop just inside the door. She pivoted to face me fully, her brows climbing. “This is your office?”
I frowned as I flicked my gaze across the space. “Yes, why?”
“It’s bigger than my apartment.” She turned around again, then walked to the bank of windows that provided one of the
