CHAPTER EIGHT
On a whim, I went back to Lost Weekend as soon as it opened up. People I’d seen there the day before had recognized Olivia; which told me that she went there often. Maybe I’d get lucky and run into her. I found a table and ordered myself a beer, looking at the early birds starting to filter in. I thought about the tactic I’d gotten Alex to help me with. Would Olivia be pissed at me interfering in her career? Or the fact that I was essentially putting her in a position where she had to choose to spend time around me to get ahead or avoid me and risk looking bad. It is kind of a dick move, I thought to myself, nursing a PBR. I didn’t want to get drunk before Olivia even showed up—if she was going to show up at all.
A few girls gave me looks, and I thought about what Dan had said. If I got Olivia on tour with us, I’d have to keep away from any other pretty faces or hot bodies I saw. That one looks like she’d be a lot of fun. Lots of moaning; probably loves to take it from behind…that one in the skirt, she’s all hot and heavy in the flirting but probably pouts if you want her mouth on your cock. My gaze lit on each of the women in the thinly populated club in turn. She’s into a guy going down on her. Not super good for the actual deed. Would I miss it, if I had to spend four months not even thinking about what it would take to sweet-talk some little minx of a girl onto the bus with me?
I thought about the night before with Olivia and a jolt of heat shot through me, straight to my groin. I closed my eyes for a second, taking a sip of my beer to try and cool myself off a bit. At least at the moment, I couldn’t imagine possibly missing the potential partners for the guarantee of an incredibly good lay. But you don’t know that she’ll ever have sex with you again; that’s kind of the point. What if you get her on the tour, and she goes frigid on you? I shook my head at my own thought, opening my eyes and blinking a few times to adjust. Olivia Grant didn’t have a frigid bone in her body—that much I knew. I’d have to handle her carefully, I’d have to prove I wasn’t just going to drop her as soon as another pretty face showed up, but just from one night with her it was obvious that she was the hottest fuck I’d find in months.
I caught sight of Olivia right about when I had finished my beer and was deciding whether to move on—go home, or meet up with one of the guys wherever they’d gone. She definitely wasn’t working; I grinned to myself at the sight of her in a short skirt and a pair of boots, with a filmy, thin-strapped blouse over it. The skirt wasn’t so short that she couldn’t bend over, but it definitely showed off her legs, and made me remember just what she looked like naked.
I watched her for a little while, working out my approach in my mind. Normally, I almost never had to really even think about how to approach a girl; normally, just walking up to them and making a little conversation was enough. But after the way she’d left me in the morning, and the way she’d responded to my text, I had to give it a little thought.
I saw her heading for the bar and started in that direction myself, moving from my table and walking up so that I’d arrive at just about the same moment she did, almost right next to her. Olivia looked a little distracted—which was to my benefit. I got to the bar next to her, and barely—barely—brushed up against her, while I leaned against the bar, my attention on the bartenders. “Nick?” I looked at her and grinned slightly.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I said. I held up one hand to indicate I was ready to order.
“Are you stalking me or something?” Olivia pressed her lips together, looking anything but pleased to see me.
“I’m here a few times a week, at least,” I said, shrugging. One of the bartenders, Rachel, came up to me. “Isn’t that right, Rachel?”
“You haven’t seen him here before, Liv?” Rachel shook her head. “Although I have to say usually Nicky either hangs out at the arcade machines or finds someone to go home with about twenty minutes after he walks in the door.” Not the best thing for Rachel to have mentioned just then.
“I hang out plenty,” I countered. “Just not on the nights you work.”
“My editor said that he got a call from your manager,” Olivia said, still halfway scowling at me. “You didn’t bitch about me, did you?”
“Nope,” I told her, shaking my head. Rachel put a PBR down in front of me and I picked it up. “In fact, you should meet with your editor as soon as possible.”
“Why is that?” Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. Rachel asked her what she wanted, interrupting our conversation. “Jack and Coke, please,” Olivia said absently.
“Because you might just have an interesting opportunity in front of you. Not one you’re obligated to take, but one that would put you in a very good position in your career,” I told Olivia. I grinned again; I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to try and talk my way into her bed—or talk my way into getting her into my bed—that night. “I’d be curious to hear your thoughts about it.” I raised my PBR and took a step back from the bar. “Think I’ll drink this and then meet up with Jules wherever he’s landed for the night.” I felt Olivia watching me as I left the bar to wander around the room; I made sure that as long as I knew we were both still in the building, I only talked to guys. I needed to make a good impression, after all.