Page 38 of Raising Love
“Six grand, six words,” Leo countered, “and I’ll shake your hand.”
“Fifty-five hundred,” Vincenzo said next, “a handshake and your next drinks on me.”
Leo grinned. “Six grand, I’ll shake your hand, I’ll continue to pay for my own drinks, and I’ll even take a photo with you. Final offer.”
“Deal,” Vincenzo said, shaking Leo’s hand again.
Before I knew it, we were whisked off to a private office at the back of the club. Drinks were poured, papers were signed, and a thick envelope exchanged hands.
Minutes later, Leo was on stage, riling up the crowd with a few words that had them roaring with excitement. A photo op with Vincenzo followed before we were back in VIP, laughing about the surreal turn of events.
The liquor in my system had gone from energizing to sedating, and my feet ached from dancing all night in heels. I was ready to call it a night.
Leo called for our car, and within minutes, we were on our way home, the city lights fading behind us.
In the back seat, we were on our way back home to Greene Gardens when I said, “You just went to a club for an after-party but got paid six thousand dollars just to say less than two sentences on a microphone,” I said to Leo in the car. “What the hell?”
He grinned beside me, his dimple making a rare appearance. “What the heaven, actually.”
I laughed, and he joined in, his chuckle low and rich, vibrating in the quiet of the car.
“Does that happen often?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.
He nodded, slinging his head back against the headrest. “All the time. That’s why I love the club.”
I turned to study him for a moment. His Adam’s apple bobbed every time he swallowed, and the motion kept me mesmerized.
“That NBA check can go but so far,” he added, his eyes still closed, his voice lazy with weariness and tequila. “So I gotta… what they say? Supplement the income? My name is hot right now and it’s not gonna be hot forever. So every chance I get, I’m cashing in.”
I don’t know if it was the liquor or life lately, but Leo was looking different to me these days. He was always handsome—that much was a given. But I guess I’d never seen him outside of his unserious nature. Always behaving like life was a game. Tonight, though, at the club, the way he negotiated at the drop of a hat with such ease and confidence… it was magnetic. Attractive.
He turned his head, still resting back, to look at me. “What’s up?”
“Huh?” I stammered, caught off guard.
A small smile tugged at his lips before he licked them, his tongue gliding slowly over his lower lip. “You’re staring.”
“Oh.” I blinked, dragging my eyes away immediately. “Was I?”
“Mm-hmm,” he murmured.
“Sorry.”
“No need to apologize… Ivy League.” His tone was soft, teasing, but laced with something heavier, deeper, that I couldn’t quite name.
I turned my head slowly to look at him again, only to find him wearing a smile unlike any he’d given me before. It wasn’t mischievous or mocking—it was… intimate. Like he saw right through me and could read my thoughts.
Leo was always poking fun at me, centering on how uptight I was—a fact he didn’t know was one of my deepest insecurities. What I wouldn’t give to be able to let loose all the time, to embrace the kind of freedom he lived with daily.
But his smile tonight? It didn’t poke or prod. It didn’t belittle or tease. It felt like it was just for me. Warm. Knowing. And his eyes—they held something I hadn’t seen before.
His gaze fell to my lips, and I instinctively licked them, a nervous habit I couldn’t stop even if I tried.
The sound that escaped him was low, guttural—barely audible—but it shot through me like lightning. A zing sparked between my thighs, and I shifted in my seat to soothe the sensation. His eyes followed the movement, trailing from my lips to my neck, down to my chest, where they lingered on the rise and fall of my breasts. The weight of his gaze was like a touch, hot and possessive.
When his eyes finally lifted to mine again, they smoldered, even in the dim light of the backseat. My breathing hitched, coming faster and heavier, and I couldn’t tear my gaze from his.
What the fuck was happening? Was it the liquor? It had to be the liquor.
