Goddess of Vengeance - Jackie Collins [117]
‘You were a defence attorney?’ Lennie asked, and he too seemed genuinely interested.
‘Yes,’ she managed. ‘With Saunders, Fields, Simmons and Johnson in Beverly Hills.’
‘And you switched because?’
‘I was . . . uh . . . one of the defence attorneys for Ralph Maestro. It became . . . complicated.’
God, she was actually sitting in a nightclub in Vegas chatting away to the Lennie Golden.
‘I can imagine,’ Lennie said, reaching for Lucky’s hand and squeezing it.
Apparently they are the perfect couple, Denver thought. Still in love and don’t care who knows it.
Could she and Bobby ever achieve that kind of closeness?
Yes! Stop wimping out and embrace what we have together.
Before she could give herself more of a pep talk, here came a test in the form of a curvy brunette poured into an equally curvy outfit. The girl approached Bobby from behind, covered his eyes with her well-manicured hands and cooed – ‘Guess who?’
To his credit Bobby didn’t panic, he stayed calm, removed the girl’s hands and glanced up at her. ‘Hey, Gia,’ he said, without taking a beat. ‘Have you met my girlfriend, Denver?’
Gia’s smile froze. Denver could almost see the thoughts flying through the girl’s head. Girlfriend? What’s that about? Bobby’s a player. No fun to be had here.
‘No,’ Gia said at last. ‘I wasn’t aware that you—’
Not allowing Gia to finish her sentence, Bobby was on his feet, walking her away from their cabana.
‘Hazard of the business,’ Lucky remarked dryly, noting Denver’s discomfort.
‘Excuse me?’ Denver said, trying to sound light-hearted.
‘Girls throwing themselves at the good-looking boss,’ Lucky said.
‘It doesn’t bother me,’ Denver said, attempting to sound breezy and unconcerned. The last thing she wanted was Lucky feeling sorry for her.
‘It doesn’t bother me either,’ Lucky replied. ‘Girls are always coming onto Lennie. Or at least they used to.’
‘Hold up,’ Lennie interrupted, shaking his head. ‘Waddya mean – used to? I gotta fight ’em off with a stick.’
‘Sure, baby,’ Lucky crooned. ‘And you better make sure that stick stays in your pants or else!’
‘Or else what?’
‘You know what.’
The two of them giggled like a couple of in-heat teenagers. Denver felt like an intruder on their intimacy, she’d never witnessed two people so into each other.
Bobby returned to the table. Handsome Bobby, so damn hot in a black shirt and pants. Dark hair, intense eyes, strong jaw-line. Yes, he was a babe magnet, no doubt about it.
‘Sorry, sweetie,’ he said, sitting down.
‘Old girlfriend?’ Denver questioned, although old girlfriend sounded all wrong – shouldn’t it be young sexy girlfriend who looks like she recently stepped out of a Victoria’s Secret catalogue?
‘We went out a coupla times,’ Bobby admitted. ‘Nothing serious. And I can assure you it was way before you and me.’
‘You and I,’ Denver murmured, adding a succinct, ‘I have ex-boyfriends too, you know.’
‘I do know that,’ Bobby said, playing along. ‘And I’ve got the urge to smash ’em in the face if they ever put in an appearance.’
‘You do?’
‘If I have to.’
They exchanged a knowing smile.
‘So what am I supposed to do about your exes?’ she asked, feeling better already.
‘Ignore ’em,’ Bobby said. ‘It’s you I’m with, and that’s the way it’s meant to be.’ He put his arm around her and pulled her close. ‘I’m hoping you feel the same way.’
‘Yes,’ she murmured. ‘You know I do.’
* * *
Giggling hysterically, Cookie and Max piled into a cab, a dour-faced Ace along for the ride. He wasn’t happy about getting stuck with Cookie, but he was pleased enough to escape from Gerald M. and his adoring entourage. Hanging with those kind of people was not his ideal. ‘Where we going?’ he asked.
‘There’s this club for under twenty-ones. No alcohol served, but awesome sounds,’ Max offered, thinking that a riotous time on the dance floor was exactly what they all needed. ‘Harry’s new friend, Paco, is deejaying there sometime tonight. We gotta go check him out.’
‘What’re we waitin’ for?’ Cookie said, scrolling through