“I’m not sure it was me. You know what they say about him.”
Knitting her brows, she frowned. “I know, but I think there’s more to him than that.”
Olivia was very much like her soon-to-be mother-in-law that way. “Well, we aren’t anything super serious like you and Cassian, so don’t have us walking down the aisle just yet. We’ve just been hanging out. That’s all.”
“I understand, but both Alexandria and Stefan made sure to tell me to put you on the list for invitations to the engagement party. You might be just hanging out, but they like you.”
“You know I’m leaving at the beginning of next year, right? When is the party?” I asked, pretty sure she knew when I was scheduled to leave. Olivia gave me the impression that she knew far more than she let on.
“December 6. I know you’re leaving right after the holidays, so I hope to see you there. Not only would it mean a lot to Stefan and Alexandria, but it would mean a lot to Cash and me too.”
“Well, then. Seems all the Marches and future Marches want me there, so I’ll be there.”
“Less than a month and counting,” she said with a smile. “I have to catch up with Cash, but it was nice talking to you, Shay. Come back and see me sometime. My office is right next to his.”
Olivia walked away, and I couldn’t help but feel like everyone thought this thing between Stefan and me was much bigger than what I thought it was. Not that I didn’t enjoy being with him. The funny and sexy sides to him were definitely parts I liked, but what about the player part? The memory of that side to him never left me.
“Hey, you look a million miles away. What’s up?”
I shook myself out of my thoughts and saw Stefan standing in front of me. Quickly, I wondered if I should bring up what everybody thought. Maybe he’d said something about us that I should know. As this idea trudged around my brain, I couldn’t help but think that I should just enjoy myself and let this thing between us go wherever it was meant to.
“Just daydreaming. How are you? Everything good with your mother?”
“Yeah. She’s feeling better. The doctors think she might be able to go home tomorrow or the day after.”
“At least you know she has something to read,” I teased, receiving a smile in return.
“I know. I went a little overboard. I tend to do that with people I care about.”
“It’s nice to see a man who treats his mother well. They say you can tell how a man will treat a woman by the way he is with his mother.”
I knew Stefan’s history belied everything I’d just said, but seeing how he was with her had impressed me.
“Then that’s a good thing for me. Maybe that will cancel out the other things you don’t like so much about me.”
“Maybe. You better get going. Something tells me we’re giving off a couple vibe here, and if Lola sees that, she’s likely going to interrogate me the entire night.”
Stefan’s brows knitted in anger. “You do realize I own this place and she’s my employee, right?”
“Yes, but she already sees me as competition, so adding fuel to that fire can’t be a good thing for your business. Or for me.”
“Did she give you a hard time the other night? Is that why you wanted to be up on the fourth floor?”
I couldn’t hide my disappointment at losing the only friend I thought I had at Club X. “Yeah,” I said quietly. “She’s very territorial about you, and I guess she felt like I was intruding on her property. I thought we were friends, but I guess not.”
Stefan’s frown deepened. “Then maybe it’s time she spends a few nights up on the fourth floor to get that idea right out of her head.”
Reaching out, I squeezed his hand resting on top of the bar. “You don’t have to defend me, Stefan. I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.”
“Maybe I want to defend you.”
“I just don’t want you to do anything that would create a problem here. She’s your head bartender and losing her over this would be foolish.”
“Over what? You? I don’t think that would be foolish, Shay. You’re an even better bartender than she is, so if Lola decides to leave, the club won’t suffer.”
“I’m not going to be here forever. It’s best to keep that in mind when you make decisions regarding her.”
I watched as his eyes filled with hurt at my allusion to leaving and felt bad, not because I had to leave but because he clearly didn’t even like hearing about it.
“Right.”
“And we agree we should keep whatever we’re going together on the down low?” I asked with a chuckle. “I mean, if you can’t really explain what you’re doing with someone, maybe you shouldn’t make it obvious.”
Somehow, I’d become a blabbering idiot in the past few minutes, but I had a vibe that if Lola found out Stefan and I were together in any way, she’d make our lives a living hell. No longer my friend, she likely wouldn’t see any reason to keep the peace.
“What if I don’t want to keep us on the down low?” he asked defensively.
“Stefan, there’s nothing wrong with keeping your private life private. It won’t take away anything from what we’re doing if no one but us knows. It actually will make it more special, like a secret only we share.”
He looked unconvinced, so I said, “What if I ask you to do this for me?”
His eyes softened and he smiled. “You already know my weakness, don’t you? If you ask me to pretend like we aren’t together, I’ll do it, but I don’t want to hide being happy.”
“I don’t want you to hide your happiness. Just that it comes from anything involving me.”
Stefan hung his head for a moment and then looked up at me with that puppy dog look I couldn’t help but fall for. “Okay, but in return for doing this, I want you to come to my place tonight. Those are my terms.”
He was so cute. Trying to stifle a smile, I said, “I didn’t realize we were negotiating, but okay. I agree to those terms.”
“Good. Be ready to leave after the bar closes. Until then, I promise to look like the same guy I’ve always been.”
Stefan flashed me a sexy smile and winked before turning and heading toward his office. Almost as if we’d gotten lucky, Lola walked in just as he closed his office door. Her eyes lit up when she saw me like they always had, but now I knew I had to suspect her every move since she’d decided I was the enemy as much as Mika.