The Love of Money II

He lifted his beer slightly before taking a sip. “I’m not saying Marcus should give up the opportunities he has now ... only that he shouldn’t lightly shrug off the beauty of a long-lasting bond with another. Beauty fades, and the libido wanes. Carnal pleasures are fleeting. Companionship is something that truly lasts.”

The table went quiet for a few moments.

“Well said,” Jonah murmured.

Chandler tilted his beer toward him in acknowledgment and drank in silence.

“Bro,” Dillon finally said, breaking the quiet. “If you don’t at least bang Tara before you settle down and get whipped, I’m gonna be so disappointed in you.”

“Well, you might be in—”

“Heeeeyy!”

Dillon cut me off as he jumped to his feet and pointed toward the gardens, where six lithe, feminine figures emerged from the shadows of the garden.

The one in front was Honey. She wore a simple wraparound skirt paired with leggings and a loose-fitting top that stopped just above her waist, leaving a few inches of bare midriff visible. The shirt’s plunging V-neckline showed off a generous sweep of cleavage.

Flanking her on her left and right were two women whose presence mirrored the gentle grace of Jonah’s girlfriend.

The first moved with the coiled energy of a storm at bay—tall, all muscle and honeyed skin. Low light caught in the curls that framed one side of her face, the other shaved close in a sleek undercut. She was dressed in a shimmering gold bikini accented in red, with a bangle on her ankle and nothing else. When she smiled, it was slow and knowing.

The woman beside her was her opposite—long and lean. Her face was a study in angles, complementing a slender yet strong build. Every line of her body was as pale as it was sharp, as though she’d been carved from moonlight. Bare feet whispered against the stone with each step, platinum hair braided down her back. She held herself with a silent poise that seemed to quiet the very air around her.

Behind them came the others—a slow ripple of color and contrast. One with deep auburn curls and a smile that radiated warmth, with hips that always seemed to sway a little. Another, small and dark-eyed, with a blonde pixie cut that made her look about five years younger than she probably was. And last, a dancer whose dark waves and liquid movements drew our lustful stares. Her body was built for sex with hips so exaggerated from her thin waist that she almost looked like she stepped out of a comic book.

All together, they looked like they’d been summoned from some hedonistic realm.

“You boys ready for some entertainment?” Honey asked.

Without waiting for a response, the women moved toward us.

Dillon stared in awe. “Yo ... what the fuck is this?”

Jonah watched in curious amusement. “She said there was going to be a surprise. I didn’t know it was going to be this.” He looked at me. “Do you recognize any of them?”

I shook my head. “They all look new to me.”

“Rose sends her regards,” Honey said, giving me a smoky, sultry smile, “and wishes she could be here. But we had some friends who wanted to meet you. I hope that’s okay.”

My immediate thought was for Natalie. She was somewhere in the building, hanging out with Emily. My sister and my potential ... whatever Natalie was supposed to be ... had decided tonight would be a good time to get to know each other a little better.

If she came to the rooftop, what would she think of this situation?

I had to remind myself that if Natalie were going to be my girlfriend, she would have to be okay with this sort of thing.

Honey’s gaze swept from me to Jonah, then to Vikram.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she purred. “You all have permission to play.”

Vikram looked unconvinced. “Venus—”

“Said that if you don’t cut loose and have a little fun, she’ll break up with you. Feel free to text her if you want.”

Vikram pulled out his phone to do just that, but there was already a message waiting for him. He looked up at me, eyes wide. “She ... she’s right.”

I looked back at Honey and smiled. “By all means ... welcome to the party.”

Honey curled her fingers into the collar of my shirt and tugged me closer to her as three of the women slinked past us. For a second, I thought she was going to kiss me, but she simply stared up at me with her pale green eyes. “Erin told me to make sure you end tonight fighting for your life, so you forget about everything else.”

“That’s going to be a tough promise to keep.”

The soft tilt of her head as she smiled at me suggested that she was up for the challenge.

And then she slunk past me and slid behind Jonah so that he was sandwiched between his girlfriend and the extremely curvy Brazilian woman.

The tall, slender woman with silver-white hair and pale skin encircled her arms around Kwan, moving like liquid in time with a beat that I had just now realized was coming from the speakers installed in strategic places on the rooftop. Someone had initiated music.

The first one I’d noticed with coffee-colored skin and a toned, athletic physique had taken Dillon a little further away from the rest and was currently grinding against him.

The pixie-haired blonde had crawled onto Richie’s lap and was running her hands up his chest as she proceeded to initiate a lap dance.

That left the lush Latina woman, with her generous curves and voluminous hair, to approach me, her amber bedroom eyes radiating heat as her mouth curled up in a flirtatious smile. Reaching me, she hooked her index finger in the collar of my shirt, already stretched by Honey, and pulled me into her.

She was just a few inches shorter than me, with one of the wildest, thickest manes of wavy hair I’d ever seen on a woman. She wore several bangles on her wrists that jangled with every movement, large hoop earrings, a red skirt, and a white shirt that fell off her shoulders. Her midriff was left bare, showing that she had a flat, but feminine belly, which made her double D’s and generous ass look even more prominent.

She spun and pressed her back to me, her lush ass grinding into my crotch. She leaned her head back onto my shoulder, and I had to push my face through her hair to see her properly. Her hands wandered up my sides, down my hips as she swayed to the music.

“I hear that you’re the man of the hour,” she said, the slightest bit of a vague accent ... Dominican, maybe?

“It’s been one hell of an hour, then,” I said, comfortable enough by now with meeting new women like this that I didn’t hesitate to place my hand on her hip and then slide it around to press my palm into her lower belly, encouraging her to grind back against me as I matched her rhythm. Our hips rolled as one as she cast her eyes up at me, smiling a wide, genuinely pleased smile that I’d fallen into step with her so quickly.

“How do you know, Honey?” I asked, dipping my head down to lay my lips on her bare shoulder.

“We take an aerial silk class together,” she said.

“Not a dancer?”

She bit her lip and then spun around, her large breasts brushing my chest. Her arms draped around my shoulders. “Nuh-uh ... that’s Amara, Saskia, and Camila.”

As she said their names, she pointed to the athletic one with Dillon, the tall, slender blonde with Kwan, and the curvy one ganging up on Jonah with Honey.

She turned her honey brown eyes back to me. “I don’t dance for work. Only for fun, and you look like you could use some fun.”

“I could,” I said, “But first ... I think my friend is feeling left out. Would you mind dancing with him?”

She glanced over her shoulder at Vikram and then at me. “Sure, baby, but only if you promise to dance with me later.”

“You couldn’t keep me away.”

The girl, whose name turned out to be Liana, had to coax Vikram out of his chair by literally tugging on his tie like it was a leash, but eventually he followed her out onto the makeshift dance floor, where all the others were getting into it.

Except Richie, who was full-on making out with the cutie pixie blonde while she straddled his lap.

Maybe he would be fine without Megan.

I settled back in my seat next to Chandler and took a long pull on my beer.

“That was very good of you,” Chandler said.

I shook my head. “Vikram doesn’t strike me as the type to go for a lot of opportunities like this.”

“That boy is smitten, and he’s afraid to mess up a good thing.”

“He should be. She’s a knockout.”

Chandler nodded in agreement, and the two of us watched as the girls and guys gyrated, ground, and danced with each other to the low thrum of dance music.

Eventually, Chandler leaned toward me and said, “Really though ... how are you, my boy?”

“About as well as can be expected,” I said with a shrug.

“Still no word from Tanaka since the crash, I take it?”

I shook my head. “No. I sent him a pretty strong message, but nothing.”

Chandler looked grim.

“What?”

“Several of VistaVision’s advertisement deals have fallen through, and three major sponsors have left. Two project heads are also threatening to leave. Our luxury entertainment sector is likely to see the largest drop in revenue in two decades.” He took his eyes off the ladies to look at me. “All that to say, shareholders and board members are out for blood, and suddenly, being the CEO isn’t as enjoyable as it once was.”

Once again, guilt clawed at me. “I’m sorry, Chandler. I didn’t know it would get this bad.”

“I did warn you that the man holds a grudge,” the old man said, “but this is hardly time for ‘I told you so.’ Anyway ... it’s not really your fault, now is it? You didn’t know that Carla would betray him. Taking her under your protection so soon after the betrayal might have been a little premature, and sleeping with her most assuredly was short-sighted. At the end of the day, though, the man simply can’t take that he was outplayed by his wife and a young man with no experience in this sort of thing.”

“He really does have a lot of pride, doesn’t he?”

“I would consider it his greatest flaw,” Chandler said, then changed his mind. “Well... second greatest. His first, being his taste in women.”

Watching Jonah getting pawed by Honey while Jonah and Camila openly made out, I chuckled. “Come on ... she’s not that bad once you get used to her.”

More like ... once you used a firm hand on her. Helen’s little display had been more than enough to sober her up and get her to cooperate with us. While she was still an entitled, opportunistic brat, she didn’t hesitate to give me whatever information she could.

“Speak for yourself, boy,” Chandler spat.

“Do you want to step down?” I asked, still watching the others. Poor Vikram didn’t know what to do with his hands as he danced along with his partner. Meanwhile, she kept a firm grip on his tie and used it to control his motions as they moved across the floor partially. She was confident, with thick brown, wavy hair flying around in her wake. Vikram looked half-scared out of his mind.

Meanwhile, Richie was making awkward progress with his companion. She was all tight body and lithe grace, moving across his lap with slow, deliberate movements that belied the strength of her core—a study in feminine strength and grace.

“If I knew where this would go, I would not have taken this job,” Chandler admitted, watching along with me. “However, I’m committed. I don’t think I would be all that offended if you asked me to step down, but as long as I’m there, I’ll do the damn job.”

I glanced at Chandler, more convinced than ever that he was a real one. “I won’t let this go on forever, man.”

He finally looked back at me. “That would be much appreciated, sir.”

Camila broke away from Jonah, said something to the couple, and then turned to approach where Chandler and I were sitting. I thought she was about to come for me, but instead, she approached the older man. She stopped so that her legs brushed his knees as she leaned forward, placing a hand on the armrests as she leaned forward, her breasts threatening to spill out of her top.

Her chocolate brown eyes flashed. “I think you need to join us on the floor, amor.”

Chandler didn’t quite look uncomfortable, but there was definitely some unease in his shoulders. “Thank you, young lady, but no. I’m afraid I’m too old to be dancing like that.”

She tsked at him. “You’re only too old when you say you’re too old. You look in decent shape. You’ve got to use that body if you want to keep it.”

The way she said that last line left it unclear exactly how she meant Chandler to use it.

“Chandler?” I said.

He glanced at me.

“Go cut loose a little,” I said. “That’s what this is for.”

I wouldn’t have insisted if I thought he preferred men or was uncomfortable with the idea of being with a woman like this. Still, Erin assured me that Chandler was most assuredly not gay. Psalter, who had done due diligence on most of my employees, informed me that while he didn’t maintain a relationship, he saw the same woman once a month, staying at her house. According to him, it was an escort.

“There,” Camila purred. “You see? Even he agrees with me.” Like the one who had taken off with Vikram, she utilized his tie to coax him out of his chair as well. Chandler went reluctantly, glancing at me as he joined the others.

Within fifteen minutes, Venus joined us on the rooftop, taking over from the girl Vikram had been dancing with. Jonah and Honey were dancing with their arms around each other as if no one else existed. Kwan and Saskia were sitting at the far end of the table, drinking beers and talking. My friend had her thick braid cradled between his fingers, thumb sliding up and down its ridges as their heads were close together. Derek and his partner were nowhere to be found, and Richie was in deep conversation with the cute girl with the pixie cut.

Now that she was freed up, Vikram’s original dance partner returned to me and plopped down in my lap.

“Lost your partner?” I asked.

“If you want to look at it like that,” she purred. “Oooorrr, you could say I found the right one.” She traced a finger across one of my collarbones until it disappeared under my shirt.

“Not sure I really feel up for dancing,” I said.