Page 30 of Talking Dirty with the Billionaire Boss

“Sidnie…” Felicity encourages her to add her surname.

“Just Sidnie,” she says. “I’m mononymous. Like Madonna.”

“Or Socrates,” David suggests.

Everyone laughs, except Sidnie. Her smile fades, and even in the flashing lights, I see her skin pale. Does she know about me and Felicity? I know there have been a few pictures of us online.

She recovers quickly though, smiles, and says to Felicity, “I’ve seen your pictures in all the magazines.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Felicity says, shaking her hand, and David does the same.

“Aaron wants to know if we have five minutes for a catch up,” David says to me.

“He said to go to Meeting Room Two,” Titus adds.

I hesitate. I don’t want to leave Sidnie alone.

“I haven’t seen you here before,” Felicity says to Sidnie.

“This is my first time,” Sidnie admits. “I’m here with the birthday boy.”

Felicity stares at her. The others look at me, eyebrows rising.

“What?” Sidnie says.

“It’s your birthday?” Elizabeth asks. “Happy birthday, honey!” She raises up onto her tiptoes and kisses my cheek.

“Sorry,” Sidnie says, obviously realizing her faux pas, “I forgot I wasn’t supposed to mention it.”

“It slipped out,” I say to the others, who are all smirking. “Don’t make a fuss.”

“So you wanna come?” Titus asks.

“Go on,” Sidnie says. “I don’t mind.”

“I’ll only be five minutes,” I tell her.

“It’s fine.”

I finish off my drink and leave it on the bar, then as I turn, bump into Felicity.

“Sorry,” I say.

“It’s okay.” She sidesteps, staying with me as I go to walk around her. “Mack…” she murmurs, “I just wanted to say how sorry I am. You know, for what happened at your office.”

I give her a cool look. “Okay.”

She glances at Sidnie, who’s talking with Elizabeth. “She’s pretty.”

“Hmm.” I don’t want to discuss Sidnie with her. “Are you a member here now?”

She flushes. “No. I’m here with David.”

I raise an eyebrow. He’s Elizabeth’s Director of Computer Science, young, talented, and ambitious, and not in a good way. He’s the kind of guy who’ll walk all over those beneath him if it means he can get higher on the ladder. A few years ago, he came for an interview at Koru Tech before he went to Elizabeth, but despite his excellent qualifications and obvious talent, I didn’t hire him because… well, I didn’t like him. I sent him a letter saying he hadn’t got the job, and he called my office and demanded to talk to me. When Nadine said I was unavailable, he was rude to her, and I’ve never forgiven him for it.

But saying anything of the sort will just make me look spiteful, so I just nod and say politely, “He’s a lucky man,” even though I don’t mean it.

“Mack?” Titus beckons with his head.

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