Surrendering(31)

They walked through a great room, media room, a formal ballroom and a game room with an enormous bar, where she met two other very attractive men that worked for Dev playing pool. Ren was also there, lounging in an oversized black leather chair, but it fit his large frame perfectly.

“Kate, this is Manny Juarez and Thane Jensen. Manny, Thane, this is Kate Martin. Manny and Thane work for me.”

She shook each of their hands. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you too, ma’am,” Manny quipped. Thane just nodded. He seemed like a man who could get his point across without even talking. “Please, call me Kate. Ma’am is reserved for my mother.”

Manny graced her with a gorgeous smile in return. Wow, she was the ugly duckling in this group.

She turned her attention to Ren. “Hi, Ren. Too bad you couldn’t join us for breakfast. Leo’s a fantastic cook.”

Ren patted his stomach, smiling. “Don’t I know it. Didn’t Dev keep you entertained enough, doll? If you’re bored with him already, I’d be happy to keep you company.”

Thane snipped, “Come on, ladies. Stop flirting with Dev’s woman and get back to the game. I need to finish whooping your ass, man.”

Dev’s woman? What the hell?

Manny laughed. “Dream on, asshole. You just wanna wind this up so you can tap that sugar you found last night.”

“Fuck you.”

“No thanks. You’re not my type, dickhead.”

Kate suddenly felt a weird pressure in the room, like the other day at the police station. Dev glared hard at Thane and Manny.

“No one leaves tonight.” Both men straightened, all playfulness gone. They both spoke at the same time. “Yes, my…sir.”

Manny whispered to Thane, “Looks like you’ll be doing the ol’ five knuckle Olympics tonight, dude.” That earned him the bird.

Dev directed his next comment to Ren. “And you…fuck off. My company is perfectly entertaining.” Ren shook his head, smirking.

Ooookay…time to lighten the mood. “Hey, I’m not too bad at pool. Maybe one of you would like to take me on later?”

Manny’s shit-eating grin returned. “Just say the word, babe.” His eyes flicked to Dev’s and the grin quickly faded.

Tension immediately crackled in the air and something significant seemed to pass between the two. Dev might as well have pissed in a circle around her. Asshole. She was unreasonably attracted to him, yes, but he didn’t have any ownership over her and she certainly wasn’t his “woman,” as Thane indicated. If she wanted to play pool with them, she would. Hell, if she wanted to do anything with any one of them, she would…if she were attracted to any of them. Sadly, she wasn’t.

“You’re on, Manny. See you tomorrow. Anyone else have the gonads to take me on?”

Ren laughed hard. Manny joined in and Thane just gaped at her.

“Come on, love. We aren’t through with the tour yet.” Dev placed his hand on the small of her back, gently ushering her out of the room. Before exiting, she stopped, turning back to the guys.

“Oh, and I expect you to bring your A game. Don’t go easy on me just because I’m a girl.” Dev stiffened beside her. Guess he didn’t want her playing with his employees. Well, tough shit. She would do whatever the hell she wanted.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Manny replied, his smile widening once again. Oh…this was gonna be fun!

They resumed their tour. The whole house boasted tall ceilings and large, expansive windows that spilt in a vast amount of sunlight. While they didn’t go in them all, Dev also told her he had seven bedrooms and eleven bathrooms. There were two dining rooms, one larger than where they ate, and a massive kitchen with granite countertops, all stainless steel Electrolux appliances, a subzero refrigerator and a twenty-foot island. A suspended hanging rack full of copper pots and pans completed the look. She loved to cook. Maybe she’d get an opportunity to do it tomorrow in a kitchen that would make even Giada jealous.

She loved the entire house, but her favorite room was an office with three walls full of books from floor to ceiling. There was an eclectic mixture of genres both fiction and non-fiction, from poetry to fantasy. She noticed even a couple vampire romance novels, which she thought was rather funny. There were the classics, like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Tale of Two Cities, and Dracula and many books she’d never heard of before. She could spend days on end in there. Dev allowed her ample time to wander around each magnificent room, never making her feel rushed.

They ended in a gym that was nicer than most public ones and she was dying to try out the state of the art treadmill. Since she’d been spending so much time with Dev this week, she’d been very remiss in keeping up with her workouts.