Hard and Fast: Italian Stallions, Book 2, page 3
Yeah right.
“Someday, maybe,” she said, fighting hard to keep the sadness from her tone.
Jasper reemerged, holding his hands up for her inspection. “All clean.”
“Excellent job, Jasper.” Then she jerked her head toward Gage. “Say goodbye to my boss, Gage.”
“Bye, Gage.”
Gage smiled at Jasper. “Good night, Jasper.”
The three of them reentered the main room of the restaurant, Gage returning to his date, while she and Jasper trudged back to their own table.
“How do you feel about some dessert?” Rhys asked them when they reclaimed their seats.
“Yes, please,” Jasper said loudly.
Penny nodded. “Sounds good.”
They all placed their dessert orders when the waiter stopped by, then Penny let the others at the table do the majority of the conversing for the rest of the evening.
Her gaze kept flitting back to Gage and Marjorie, observing the way the other woman flirted, flipping her long hair over her shoulder, batting her thick eyelashes, laughing and leaning close.
Every move Marjorie made seemed so natural, so…feminine. And it was obvious Gage was attracted to her, his attention focused solely on his beautiful date.
Penny had started observing Gage more closely of late, her lifetime membership to the locker room still holding strong. He often regaled the nerd circle with stories—okay, he bragged—about his sexual conquests, so she knew there weren’t too many nights Gage went to bed alone. Though he’d also pointed out he did not do sleepovers.
Toby and Rich had started a list of “Gage Excuses,” keeping track of all the clever, sometimes creative reasons Gage had given his dates for leaving right after doing the deed. Something Penny told them was juvenile and stupid. Not that they listened. Instead, they insisted they were just compiling the data for their own future dates.
Which always made her snort. As if Toby or Rich would ever need an excuse—or use one. If a woman ever let one of those guys in her bed, she’d have to hire a moving company to get their asses out the next morning.
However, the more she heard—and witnessed for herself—the more she realized that Gage understood what made women tick.
He was an expert when it came to her sex, while she—despite being a damn female her entire life—felt like queen of the cluelessness.
She mentally compared her outfit to Marjorie’s, her too-loud, too-buttoned-up shirt and jeans versus Marjorie’s black minidress that left nothing to the imagination. Then she glanced across the table at Jess. Even her friend had taken special pains tonight, wearing a simple but elegant white blouse that hinted at the cleavage below—something she’d noticed both Tony and Rhys appreciating—and crisp black slacks.
Jess, like Marjorie, wore her hair down and loose, both women managing those soft waves that looked effortless, but no doubt required a hair dryer and curling iron and would involve her needing to put her Switch down.
As if that would happen.
Her cute little town on Animal Crossing needed tending. Those bugs and fish weren’t going to catch themselves.
And while Jess’s makeup wasn’t as overdone as Marjorie’s, it enhanced her beauty. Penny ran her hand over her chin, aware that if the zit residing there got much bigger, it was going to need its own zip code.
She took in the way Rhys was holding Jess’s hand, the way he squeezed it familiarly, the way he gripped it like he couldn’t sit next to her without touching her. The way Tony toyed with her hair.
Then she looked back at Marjorie, at the way Gage kissed her cheek before they rose to leave. The way he helped her put on her jacket. The way he wrapped his arm loosely around her waist.
She wanted what Jess and Marjorie had. Wanted it with every fiber of her being.
Silently, she made a vow, right then and there, that she would do anything, change anything, to get what she wanted. And she gave herself a deadline.
Because she wasn’t going into the thirties as a single woman or a virgin. Which gave her one year and one month to get her shit together.
But she needed a tutor, an expert, someone who knew not only what made women attractive to men but someone with bedroom skills as well, someone who could teach her not only how to flirt but how to seduce.
She took one last look toward the door as Gage and Marjorie left.
Penny knew exactly who to ask.
Chapter Three
“You and I need to talk.”
Gage looked up as his older brother Matt stormed into his office.
“Knock, knock. Come in,” Gage said sarcastically when his brother walked straight up to his desk. It didn’t take a genius to figure out Matt was pissed. Not that his brother’s disposition ever stopped him from poking the bear. If Gage waited for Matt to be in a pleasant mood before making jokes, the two of them would never speak.
“I think it’s time you and I had a come-to-Jesus meeting.”
Gage pretended to look at his calendar. “Sorry, but I don’t have the next come-to-Jesus meeting scheduled until next Tuesday at ten thirty.”
“Goddammit, Gage,” Matt said, sitting down in the chair across from his desk. “Can you try to be serious for a minute? We’ve got two issues to resolve, and I need you to listen to me and really hear what I’m saying.”
Gage waved his hand. “Fine. What’s bothering you?”
“You gotta stop shitting where you eat.”
Gage sighed, suddenly aware this apparent issue they were having was the argument he’d been expecting. “Lovely expression. People just don’t use that one enough, which is a real shame. What else is on your mind?”
“I mean it, Gage. I just spent the last hour breaking up a damn cat fight between your two girlfriends.”
Gage frowned. “First of all, I don’t have a girlfriend, and you know it. Secondly, there was a cat fight and you didn’t call me? Where’s the love, bro?”
Matt lifted his gaze heavenward, as if discovering religion and foolishly believing that praying to God was going to help. “Gage,” he started.
“Who was fighting?”
“Marjorie Douglas from accounting and Connie Raymond from HR, who, as far as I’m concerned, should have known better than to date the fucking boss.”
Gage sighed. “I went out with Connie last week. Just for dinner and drinks. Nothing more. That woman’s a billionaire hunter, which I figured out about five minutes into the evening. It was a one-and-done date, something I explained when I dropped her off that night. Didn’t even kiss her good night. I haven’t talked to her or replied to a single one of her fifty-seven texts since then.”
“Well, she seems to think the two of you have started something really special, and Marjorie is stealing her man.”
“Jesus. Went out with Marjorie a couple of nights ago. She’s a sweet little thing.”
“Did you sleep with her?” Matt asked.
Gage let his grin answer that question, to which Matt closed and rubbed his eyes wearily. Before his brother could say anything else, Gage let him off the hook.
“Marjorie was cool with the one-night stand. Something we established before I went back to her place.”
“She alluded to the fact she wasn’t planning on seeing you again, but Connie is going to be a problem if you don’t intervene.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“And…” Matt persisted.
“No more company hookups.”
Matt looked up, surprise evident in his expression. No doubt he’d expected a fight, but Gage had already made up his mind to stop putting his USB in the company computer.
It was Beaumont who’d planted the seed, made him realize he’d been flirting with disaster. He hadn’t lied about not pursuing women from work, that it had been the opposite, but he was now wondering—given this morning’s cat fight—if Penny hadn’t been right about how a scorned woman might seek revenge. Marjorie was cool, but Connie could be potentially problematic.
“You’re not just saying that?” Matt asked, suspicious that Gage was lying to escape the argument.
“Nope. I’ve seen the error of my ways.” He raised three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
Matt snorted. “Like you’ve ever been a Boy Scout.”
“What’s the second problem, Matt? I’ve got a meeting in half an hour.”
“The second issue is the bigger one. Frost Incorporated is trying to steal Penny Beaumont.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Caught wind that they’ve reached out to her a few times over the past month, promising Penny her own team of analysts and engineers to lead and mentor. IT is your domain, so I don’t have to remind you how fucking brilliant that woman is in cybersecurity. The world is lucky she chose to use her talents for good rather than evil, because she’d make one hell of a hacker. As it stands, in just six years, she’s saved—and made—this company millions with her management system on zero trust, her automation to respond to network anomalies, as well as the—”
“You don’t have to list all her accolades to me. I know how valuable she is.”
Matt pointed his finger at him, stressing his last point. “Find a way to make sure she stays put. Stock options, perks, flexible hours, I don’t give a shit. Just figure out what she wants and give it to her.”
Gage was furious. He’d just hung out with Beaumont at Rich’s apartment last night for D&D. They played video games a couple times a week. And while he still couldn’t believe it, he’d thought they were becoming friends—and he liked it. The idea that she’d been planning to desert the company without so much as a word had him seeing red.
“I’ll deal with Beaumont.”
“See that you do.” Matt rose and held his gaze for a moment. Sometimes Gage got the feeling his brother always had something more he wanted to say to him, but whatever it was…it never materialized. Their conversations were strictly limited to work, neither of them seeking to discuss anything personal.
Matt had been a distant bastard for nearly a decade now, the close relationship they’d shared as kids a thing of the past. Not that Gage could assign all the blame for that to Matt. Nope. He, Matt, and his other brother, Conor, had been steadily walking away from each other ever since—
Gage shut that line of thinking down in an instant, making sure it remained locked in the vault.
“Anything else?” Gage asked.
Matt paused for a second then shook his head. “No. That’s it.”
He left the office, closing the door behind him.
Gage took a few moments to collect himself then turned back to his computer, pulling up the file he needed for his meeting. He clicked on the button to print it, but nothing happened. Opening the paper tray, he found it full.
He recalled Matt’s information about Beaumont and picked up his phone.
“Beaumont, get to my office. Now.”
He stood up, walking over to the large window that offered a breathtaking view of the Philadelphia landscape.
By the time Beaumont arrived, knocking on his door, he was cool, calm, and collected.
“Come in.”
“You summoned, lord and master?” she asked, standing in the doorway, clearly annoyed by his gruff demand on the phone.
“Lord and master has a nice ring, but I thought we established Daddy as my chosen nickname from you.” He grinned when her eyes narrowed.
“Hell will freeze over.”
Today, she was wearing ripped jeans that looked like they’d gone through the shredder a couple of times and an ugly brown sweater with a line drawing of a cat printed on it. She was also wearing those godawful glasses that reminded him of Edna Mode from The Incredibles, and she had her hair pinned up in Princess Leia buns on the side of her head.
He’d actually started making it a point to run into her every day just so he could see what crazy getup she had on. Her sense of fashion—if it could be called that—was always quirky and entertaining.
Gage pointed to his printer. “My printer is broken.”
Despite his annoyance about her potential desertion, he was amused by the way she shot him an irritated look.
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “Seriously. I have a meeting in twenty minutes.”
Beaumont strolled over to his printer and slid the paper tray open.
“I already checked that,” he grumbled.
“You say that like a lack of paper wasn’t the problem previously.”
“One time,” he stressed, holding up one finger.
“I don’t understand why you don’t call Alex. He’s the hardware guy.” Even as she complained, she started pushing buttons on the machine.
“Alex takes too long to fix shit, always talking my damn ear off. I told you, I have a meeting in twenty minutes. You’re quicker.”
“And in the meantime, you’re losing thousands while I’m here tinkering with a printer instead of doing—you know—my job.”
Gage grinned. “Let me know when I’m losing millions and I’ll worry about it.”
“I’m just saying, fixing printers isn’t part of my job description,” Beaumont grumbled.
“Of course it is. It falls under ‘other duties as assigned.’”
She shot him a dirty look as she dropped to her knees and ducked beneath his desk to check the connections.
Gage took the opportunity to check out her ass. He’d been called a lot of things in his life, but a gentleman wasn’t one of them. He’d never really looked at Beaumont as someone he’d be sexually attracted to, but there was no denying…she had a great ass.
“What the hell have you been doing?” she asked. “Half your shit is unplugged.”
Unable to resist, Gage joked, “Let’s just say you’re not the first woman to crawl under my desk today.”
Beaumont peeked her head back out, piercing him with another glare. “Gross.”
Gage laughed. “I’m kidding. We hired a new cleaning crew last week, and I’ve noticed things have been getting unplugged. Didn’t think to check that.”
“You need some serious cable management. Well,” Beaumont said from beneath the desk. “I think it’s all good now.” She climbed back out and rose again. “What did you want to print?”
He pointed to the document open on the screen. She tinkered with his machine for a minute or two, clicking a bunch of buttons, then hit the print icon, and gave him a voila hand gesture when the printer started shooting out paper.
“You up for some Warzone tonight?” he asked.
“Really? It’s Friday night. I would have figured you’d have a date.”
Apart from Connie and Marjorie, Gage hadn’t been doing a lot of dating in the last couple months. He hadn’t lied to his brother about both women asking him out. If they hadn’t, he certainly wouldn’t have approached them.
Dating had grown stale, the idea of going through the whole drinks/dinner/seduction routine just to get laid, tedious. Hell, sex didn’t even interest him all that much nowadays. It felt as if he’d fucked himself out. He’d done it all, and now it was just…boring. He could take care of his own business with his hand in the shower every morning and it felt just as satisfying.
How fucking sad was that?
“No date. Not tonight. So what do you say?”
“I’m not sure I’m available,” she said, though he knew for a fact the woman never dated. “After all, you still owe me twenty bucks from the last time we played.”
He chuckled. “I’m good for it.”
Lately, the two of them had been putting small wagers on their games, the competition heating up. He and Beaumont were evenly matched.
“Actually, let’s make it more interesting. Double or nothing,” he added.
She paused, sinking her teeth into her lower lip, and he suddenly found himself wondering if she really needed the money. Then he considered the offer from Frost. He knew her salary here was more than decent, but maybe there was something he didn’t know.
“I’m just kidding.” He reached into his back pocket for his wallet. “I can pay up now.”
Beaumont waved her hands. “No. I was thinking…”
She stopped talking, and he could tell she was suddenly nervous, something he hadn’t seen from her as often in the months since they’d become friends. The silence drifted long enough that most people would have found it awkward and sought to fill it with meaningless jabber, but he knew it wasn’t unusual for Beaumont to go quiet while she sorted through her thoughts.
So he waited.
“What about instead of double or nothing,” she said at last, “we change the wager?”
Gage’s curiosity was piqued. “What do you mean?”
Beaumont’s cheeks grew pink, and once more, she fell silent.
He’d heard some of the things the guys in IT talked about—hell, he’d added his own risqué stories to his share of the conversations—and Beaumont always took it in stride. Sometimes it was easy to forget she was a woman. But now…
“Are you blushing?” he asked.
Her hands flew to her face. “No. I mean…it’s hot in here,” she lied.
“What do you want to wager, Beaumont?”
“Favors. If I win, you have to do what I ask. If you win, the same.”
“Favors? Just random favors, or did you have something in mind?” It was clear there was something Beaumont wanted, but she didn’t want to say. However, he wasn’t the type to walk into a wager like this blind.
Beaumont shrugged. Another lie.
“I need to know the stakes before I agree.”
She sighed, her gaze suddenly glued to the floor. “I have a milestone birthday coming up in a month.”
“Oh yeah? About to hit the big three-oh?”
She shook her head. “No. Twenty-nine.”
Gage chuckled. “Pretty sure that doesn’t count as a milestone.”
She lifted her eyes just in time for him to see them roll. “My brother said the same thing, but you’re both wrong. This is going to be my last year in my twenties, which means I only have one more year to make this decade count. So far, the twenties have sucked.”
“You want me to throw you a wild party or something? Because I could get behind—”
