Page 3 of The First Deal

A quick Google search told me that he was the co-founder of Limelight, one of the biggest music labels in the country. He had so many well-known artists under his belt, including the dreamy heartthrob Leo Birch, yet another age-appropriate man that I had zero interest in.

There was nothing about his personal life online, so it was hard to learn much about him. I liked that he was a private guy, but I didn’t like not knowing if he was available. I might have been the type of girl who liked wild, casual fun, but I wasn’t a homewrecker.

“Still nothing?” Juno asked me as I shoved my phone into my jeans pocket again and made my way around the bar, starting to pull chairs off of tables now that the floor had been mopped. We opened in an hour, but I was only scheduled to work until two. A nice short shift where I had started learning the set-up of the bar, something I needed to know if I stood any hope of stepping up my responsibilities at Kim’s and giving my boss a bit of a break. The poor girl worked her damn ass off to keep this place going.

I shook my head and shrugged. “Not a peep. I guess I’ll just have to call it a loss and move on.”

I wasn’t buying it, and neither was Juno. She laughed as she wiped down the bar again, the top forever sticky no matter what we used to clean it. “You’ve been daydreaming since the moment you laid eyes on him, you’re not forgetting about him for a second. Are you sure you remembered the right number?”

She had asked me that daily, but I was certain that I had. Like I had said to him, there was a reason I made a hell of a lot of tips. It wasn’t just that I was pretty. I was damn good at my job. If I could remember a twenty-drink order slurred at me by a drunk northerner, I could remember a phone number.

“Of course I did.” I leaned against the table he had been sitting at, spinning a coaster with my finger as I debated asking her for a favour.

“Before you ask, when my sister got in touch with him for us, she called his office, not his mobile, I can’t get his number from her,” Juno said with a knowing smile.

Dammit.

I tried not to check my phone again until the end of my shift and ended up locking it in the safe in Juno’s office to avoid temptation. She was a pretty relaxed boss and didn’t mind me being on my phone during working hours as long as the customers were happy, and the place wasn’t a mess.

Realistically, the hot billionaire wouldn’t contact me, but a girl could dream. And dream I did, picturing what it would be like to do filthy things with that man. Before I knew it, I had daydreamed my short shift away and was unlocking the safe and jabbing the unlock button on my phone, blinking repeatedly as three words sat in a text bubble on my screen.

Shane:Dinner? Shane Hudson.

He signed off with his name. How cute.

I quickly typed back a reply.

Hannah:That depends on when…

I didn’t expect it after waiting for three days for a reply, but his next message came through before I had even locked my screen.

Shane:Tonight. I’ll send a car. Shane Hudson.

Again with the name.

I giggled to myself, then shot another message, agreeing and asking when I would need to be ready for the car to collect me.

Trying not to squeal, I rushed out of Juno’s office, tossing the keys to the safe on top of the bar as she stared at me with an excited look in her eyes. “He replied?”

I nodded like one of those bobbleheads you see on people’s car dashboards. “We’re having dinner, tonight. I need to go and get ready.”

“Where’s he taking you?” Juno asked, pocketing her keys and leaning on the bar.

“I didn’t ask. It’ll probably be somewhere fancy though, right?” I cocked my head, wondering if he’d treat me to a flashy dinner, or if he was more of a homecooked meal kinda guy.

Juno looked me up and down. “Well, wherever he takes you, you’re going to look incredible. You already know what you’re going to wear, don’t you?”

She knew me well, even though I hadn’t been working for her for long, we had grown closer over the last couple of months.

I nodded. “Remember that black satin dress?”

Her eyes widened. “The one that hugs your hips and dropsreallow in the front. How could I forget? Han, are you trying to give the man a heart attack?”

“No…” I laughed. “That comes after the wedding, you know, once I’ve secured all of his riches as my own.”

“And you wonder why people think you’re a gold-digger. Han, you can’t say shit like that.” Juno laughed, shaking her head.

“I can, and I will. If he can’t take a joke, then I don’t care how much money he has. Add that to my list: old, rich, hung, and down to earth.” I grinned at her.

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