He nodded and stood, pressing his palms flat against my desk. “Right now, you are Jasper. If he’s a shit about it, I’ll do it.”
I sighed and nodded, knowing that when Jasper found a reasonable solution there was no arguing with him. “Fine.” I scribbled a note on my tablet to talk to the middleweight contender and looked back at my brother.
“Anything else?”
“Yeah. Terry said some guy tried to mug you?”
I wasn’t surprised at all Terry had told Jasper about the parking lot incident, but I was surprised he’d downplayed it because I saw the look in that guy’s eyes. He meant to do me harm.
“Yep. It’s a good thing Terry spotted me and said something totally sexist and condescending to get my attention.”
Which I realized last night over my third glass of wine; he’d done on purpose to get a reaction out of me.
As if I needed another reason to be attracted to Mr. All Wrong For Me. Still, I made a note to send Terry a thank you gift.
“Anything on Mueller?”
“Not yet.” When there was something concrete to tell, I would. “I’m approving another assistant for Maisie. She’s buried in guests wanting her to do everything. Shes one person. And this fight has the place booked full of high rollers for weeks at a time on both sides of Fight Night. She needs the help.”
“Fine,” he said with an easy smile. “Who knew she’d be so capable? Nothing but compliments from the big spenders.”
They loved Maisie and handed out the most lavish gifts that it was borderline inappropriate for an engaged woman.
“I’m surprised Virgil hasn’t gone full beast on any of them yet, especially that Greek dude who bought her a pink jet.”
“It was a small jet,” he said as if that made any difference at all. “Well she did get him and his teenage daughter tickets and backstage passes to Lady Gaga. Besides, Virgil is the one who’ll fuck her on that jet.”
I groaned and shook my head. “Seriously, Jas? Gross.”
He gave an unapologetic shrug and a matching smile. “They are two adults in love Kat; they have sex. You do remember what sex is, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do. It’s when I spread my legs like this and grab a cock like this—” I cupped my hands in a crude gesture that had my brother on his feet and marching toward the exit. I laughed and smacked the desk.
“Anything else?”
“No,” he growled and turned in front of the still closed door. “I’m just a call away if you need anything, Kat. Anything.”
“I know, Jas. Thanks, and stay safe out there.”
“Always,” he said with a nod and patted the spot where he kept the copper gun Dad had left him in the will.
When Jasper left, I turned my attention back to work, but of course, thoughts of Terry began to creep in again. Jasper’s fault. On what planet did brothers and sisters talk about their sex lives? Definitely not this one.
Maybe it was time I started making room in my life for personal things. Like sex. And orgasms.
They were great. At least I remembered them being great.
Chapter Four
Terry
One of the good things about living and working in Glitz compared to Las Vegas was the lack of traffic at the end of the day. Ten minutes from Midnight Mass to home, max, no matter the time of day. My house was nothing like Ashby Manor in terms of size, grandeur or décor, but it was mine. Even though Sadie had offered me a spot at the Manor, her way of showing that she saw me as a legit member of the family, it just didn’t feel right.
Not anymore.
It wasn’t the same as spending every day and most nights there when I was a kid, because Dad was busy chasing ass and Mom was busy chasing that next high. This was different and no matter how often Sadie brought it up, I stood strong.
Now that I was a grown man, I loved my privacy.
Located only about a mile away from the gates of Ashby Manor, my place was bigger than I needed, but until a few months ago, Emmett had been my reluctant roommate. I liked having the space to roam around when I couldn’t sleep, when I needed to think. Besides, I’d spent my childhood in studio and one bedroom apartments and having more space was a luxury I could now afford.
My space was open and bright with lots of windows that allowed plenty of light to come inside when I wanted to, and the remote controlled black out blinds meant I could have privacy when I wanted it. My favorite spot in the house was the floor to ceiling windows just off the kitchen, where I could watch the sun sink below the horizon and the stars twinkle in the sky.
It was late evening and the blinds were activated just in case any enemies thought I’d be an easy mark away from the Manor. They could try; I had enough weapons stashed to make sure they didn’t live to regret it.
The sound of the doorbell took my gaze reluctantly away from the view of the small manmade lake behind my house, the glittering reflection of the stars as they popped in the sky. I took my time going downstairs, ignoring the second more urgent ring to check the security screen before answering.
Two kids who couldn’t have been more than twenty stood on the doorsteps in what looked like chef’s whites. I opened the door to their smiling faces and shook my head.
“Not interested.”
The guy’s smile faltered easily, but the girl wasn’t intimidated in the least. She stepped forward, her smile even brighter.
“Gourmet for Hire, at your service. Everything is prepped, as requested, for your gourmet experience. The only thing left is for Jack and me to plate it up. Then we’ll be on our way,” she said, hanging onto the charming smile
