Chapter 5: A Distraction with Red Lips and a Sharp Tongue.

~Sebastian’s POV~

The second the jet touches down at Teterboro, I already know Lucas is going to be a problem.

He is leaning against the black SUV waiting on the tarmac, looking like he owns the damn world. His sleeves are rolled up, and he is grinning like the bastard he is. The late afternoon sun catches in his dark hair, and the wicked glint in his emerald eyes tells me he is about to be insufferable.

I barely step off the plane before he’s pushing off the car with a lazy smirk.

“L.A. treated you well, I take it?” His voice drips with amusement as I get closer and he sizes me up. “Tell me, did you at least fuck someone interesting this time, or was it the usual silicone obsessed, daddy issues crowd?”

I shoot him a bored look, step past him, and slide into the backseat without a word.

Lucas laughs like the asshole he is before sliding in next to me. “Ah, so it was the usual. Jesus, man. You’ve got to do better. I keep telling you, you need a real challenge. Someone who’ll make you sweat, keep you on your toes. Maybe a little crazy, but the good kind, you know, the kind that makes you regret it but then has you crawling back for more.”

I pull my phone out, skimming through emails, ignoring him.

Lucas kicks his feet up on the seat across from us, arms spread like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “Then again, that’s not your thing, is it? No attachments. No drama. Just a quick fuck, and then you’re out before the bed even cools.” He pauses, then narrows his eyes at me, sharp, assessing. “You seem off. What happened? Someone finally left you with blue balls?”

I scoff, still focused on my screen. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oh, but you are distracted.” His smirk deepens. He taps a finger against his temple like he’s onto something. “Your dick's had more action than Wall Street this year, yet you’re sitting here all broody. Who was she?”

"No one." Because that is the truth. Because she is a woman who should already be forgotten.

Except she isn’t.

I close my eyes briefly, and fuck... I see her. The perfect curve of her lips, soft and full, slightly parted in anger. The fire in her blue eyes. The way she stood toe to toe with me, unyielding, instead of melting like every other woman.

I open my eyes and exhale sharply, pushing her away from my thoughts.

“See?” Lucas snaps his fingers. “That. That right there. Who the fuck is she?”

“No one,” I bite out. “Drop it.”

Lucas raises his hands in surrender, but his smirk remains. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say. But if a woman actually managed to shake your ice cold ass, I’d love to meet her. Hell, she might be my new favorite person.”

I shake my head, staring out the window as the city skyline comes into view. I don’t do complications. And she screams complication.

About two hours later, we arrive at the venue for the meeting. Harrington is exactly what I expect; a self absorbed bastard in his late fifties, dressed in a three piece suit that probably costs less than my watch but carries himself like he owns the goddamn city. He sits across from me in the dimly lit private dining room of the restaurant, swirling his whiskey like he has all the time in the world.

Well, I don’t.

“This deal is a long term play,” he says, his voice smooth but laced with the kind of arrogance that comes from being surrounded by his yes puppets for too long. “Patience will yield higher returns than immediate action.”

I lean back, swirling my own drink, watching him. “Patience is just an excuse for scared men who don’t know how to execute.”

Harrington’s lips twitch. “And aggression is for hasty men who don’t know how to sustain power.”

Across from me, Lucas raises a brow, but I don’t take the bait. I know what Harrington is doing. He's dragging this out, trying to get me to agree to terms that will benefit him more than me.

I place my glass down in a slow and deliberate manner. “Your offer is weak.”

Harrington’s jaw tightens. “It’s strategic.”

“It’s bullshit.” I say.

This meeting is getting boring as time goes by.

Harrington's nostrils flare slightly, and for the first time, his smooth exterior cracks. “I don’t do business with men who fail to see the bigger picture.”

“And I don’t do business with men who overestimate their fucking leverage,” I counter.

Tension thickens, the air charged with the weight of two powerful men refusing to yield.

Just then, a waiter walks by and places a fresh drink onto the table. A glass of iced tea. It shouldn’t mean shit. It’s a goddamn drink. But the sight of it yanks me back too fast, too strong.

Her voice, sharp and biting, but still sweet and melodious. Her eyes. The way she stood there with her chest rising and falling in anger with that iced tea of hers drenched all over her shirt.

Fucking hell.

I grip my whiskey glass, irritation flaring through my veins.

She’s in my head and I don't like it.

I blink, shifting my focus back to Harrington. “I don’t think this is going to work out.”

Harrington’s brows furrow. “You’re walking away?”

“Seems that way.” I push back my chair, standing, adjusting the cuffs of my sleeves. “I don’t waste my time on deals that don’t meet my standards.”

Harrington opens his mouth, but I don’t wait to hear whatever desperate attempt he’s about to throw at me.

Lucas stands as well, amusement flickering in his eyes. “Well, that was fun.” He says the moment, I walk up to him.

As we step out into the main area of the restaurant, Lucas leans in. “So, uh… not like you to walk away from a deal that still had room for further negotiation."

I say nothing to him.

Lucas lets out a low whistle. “Oh, this is gold. You’re seriously distracted, aren’t you?”

I shoot him a look. “We’re going to the bar.”

Lucas grins, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Now that’s more like it. Let’s get you laid before whatever voodoo this mystery woman has put on you gets any stronger.”

I don’t argue. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I need to bury myself in someone—hard, fast, deep.

Fuck the lingering thoughts. Fuck the goddamn distraction.

I need a woman beneath me, with legs spread, begging, moaning my name until nothing else exists. Anything to erase the face of a woman who shouldn’t be haunting my fucking mind in the first place.