Page 37 of Black Sheep
The flush I felt earlier spreads, wrapping me in embarrassment. In a small voice, I add, “I take it she wasn’t completely right?”
When I look straight forward, I catch Warren’s gaze in the rearview mirror as he chortles.
“Got it. Good to know.” My mouth presses into a tight line as both men continue to laugh until Cannon is seconds away from needing a tissue to wipe the tears from his eyes.
“I don’t know who your friend is, but I owe her a drink. Goddamn, it’s been a long time since I’ve laughed this much.”
“I’m so happy I’m able to entertain you,” I tell him with my tone so brittle, it’s nearly to the point of cracking.
With a shake of his head, Cannon turns to look at me. “I’m not laughing at you. Just ... the idea that I would touch someone who worked for me—and limit myself to one night with every single woman I’ve ever met, if I even had time to date—is ludicrous. Your friend can’t know jack shit about men.”
I puff up, throwing my shoulders back, and immediately defend Randi. “I’ll have you know that Downtown Randi Brown is actually quite the expert when it comes to men.”
As soon as I say her name, I want to yank it back.Oh my God. I’m a journalist. A journalist never names her source. What the hell am I thinking?I could kick myself right out of the damn car as it goes so silent you can hear the pounding of my heart.
Cannon’s expression morphs from mirthful to serious in the space of one beat. “Downtown Randi Brown, the woman who applied for a job six times, and then on the seventh, I had to tell her that there was no way she was going to work at the Upper Ten?”
“Wait. What?” The question bursts from my lips, fueled by shock.
A slight smile curves Cannon’s lips once more. “Yeah, and now this explains a hell of a lot.”
Inside, I’m reeling because Randi never told me about any of that. And now it makes sense.Randi wanted to sleep with Cannon.
“I had no idea,” I whisper.
Instead of mocking me, Cannon softens his expression. “You didn’t have any way to know. Randi’s an interesting woman, and not one to take no for an answer.”
“She calls herself a dude with tits,” I say, my voice turning wooden.
Cannon coughs out another laugh. “She gets high marks for self-awareness then.” He shakes his head, absorbing the information we’ve just exchanged, and I start to relax into the seat. “And nowIknow why she was so insistent she get the job.”
Warren maneuvers the Bentley into a parking spot, and Cannon nods to the food cart on the sidewalk.
“You want to start this date over with New York’s best gyros?”
Eager for a reprieve, I nod. “Absolutely.”
23
Cannon
We both have beef gyros wrapped in our hands when I spot a blacked-out Mercedes that looks out of place. As soon as Warren parked and let us out to get food, the Mercedes made an abrupt turn to park crooked in a loading zone across the street and about fifty feet down.
Come on, Enzo. You gotta be better than that if you want to watch me without being seen.
Then again, maybe he doesn’t give a shit about stealth. Maybe he wants me to see him so I know he was given orders by Dom to make sure this date was the real thing. There’s even a chance the orders didn’t come from Dom. It’s possible Lorenzo is trying to prove I’m full of shit, and he’s the better man for the job when Dom steps down.
Either way, he’s not going to get the information he’s looking for.
This date, regardless of how it started out, is turning into one of the best nights I’ve had in years. And not only because the woman I’m with is smart, funny, and beautiful, and I want to peel that black dress off her and exhaust her in bed until she curls against me and finally lets her guard down.
But despite what Randi Brown told her, I don’t shit where I eat. I never have. That lesson has been pounded into my head by Dom.
Is that why he sent Enzo for recon? Because he knows I’ve got a rule about never touching an employee?It would explain his skepticism and forcing us out on this date.
And now that I’ve spent time alone with Drew, it’s only whetted my appetite for more. Good thing rules are meant to be broken.
Instead of moving back to the car where Warren waits near the back door, I lead Drew to a bench vacated by a woman who pushes her stroller down the sidewalk.
