Chapter 3: Meet and Greet

Taylor's Pov

She looked even sexier when she was angry. This chick had a huge set of balls; she tried to burn holes through me with those green eyes of hers. I couldn't believe she actually hit me, me Taylor fuckin' Reese, she must not know who she's dealing with. I watched her storm off; she had curves in all the places that men love. 'Definitely fuckable' I thought to myself. Her skin was like coffee when you add too much cream and damn she was soft. I was tempted to follow her over to the bar so I could get under her skin some more, but that thought was interrupted when heard cackling coming from behind me. I turned around to see Scarpa and Marbles standing there laughing their asses off.

"Damn that had to hurt! I saw that slap coming from a mile away." Scarpa chided.

"You sure do have a way with the ladies Taylor." Marbles was practically choking on his words from all the laughing he was doing.

"Yo Chris, do you know she is?" I particularly asked Scarpa because he knew the names and numbers of half the girls in here. The guy was a real Casanova; he could get a woman to do anything.

"No, but I can find out for you." Chris said with a grin while eyeing the woman in question at the bar.

I knew that look on his face. He wanted to do more than find out her name, he wanted what most of the guys in here did and that was to get between her legs. She'd probably go for him too, she looks like the type to go for the pretty boy in a suit. I was far from that. Don't get me wrong I consider myself a decent looking guy, and I know my body makes women go crazy, but I'm not the one they take home to meet their fathers. "Just her name Scarpa, nothing else." I looked him square in the eyes so he'd know what I meant.

"Hey Taylor!" Carla yelled over the music. "Matty needs you upstairs!"

I took my eyes off the woman at the bar and headed up to the office with Marbles and Chris behind me. When we stepped inside Chris and Marbles flopped down on the couch. I took the chair behind my desk. Matty had his face buried in papers as usual. The guy really needs to get laid. "What's up? I was kinda in the middle of something downstairs."

"Yeah in the middle of getting bitch slapped by some chick." Just as Marbles was about start his annoying laughter again a pencil came in contact with his head. "Ow! Christ Taylor, you could have put my eye out." He said rubbing his forehead.

Matty just laughed and looked at me. "I don't even want to know. Anyway, did you take care of that thing for my pop earlier?"

"Yeah, that's what took me so long getting here. Teddy held me up with more shit." Teddy Deserve is Benny 'Chains' right hand man. I trust him about as far as Marbles can throw him.

"Good, one less thing we got to worry about. Oh reminds me, the new manger is here. I offered the job on the spot. We need all the help we can get since I can't give this place all my attention with everything that's going on." This whole club thing was Matty's idea. I was happy for him when he told me about it; Benny's lifestyle wasn't for him. This gave him meaning in life aside from being his father's errand boy. I was just a silent partner, pitched in on the money side and made sure the day to day ran smoothly.

"Did you do a background check?" Nobody is who they say they are these days. Some people learn that the hard way and end up with an extended stay at Rikers.

"Trust me Taylor, she's cool. She used to work for Murphy back in Philly."

"She? I thought you said you were hiring a guy?" I asked.

"It was a mix up… long story." Matty picked up the office phone to page the bar. He said some brief words to whoever was on the other end and the hung up. "She's on her way up now."

"Is she hot, please tell me she's hot." Scarpa pleaded from the couch.

"You'll see for yourself, she seems like a nice girl and she's smart too graduated top of her class at Penn."

"So she's a dog?" All excitement was gone from him as he sat back and loosened his tie.

"I didn't say that Scarpa. Just because she's smart doesn't mean she's ugly, if this were true your sister would be a fuckin' astronaut." It was my turn to do the laughing. Scarpa's sister wasn't exactly a beauty queen. He and Marbles didn't find it too funny though.

Chris pointed his index finger at Matty, "I wouldn't talk if I were you, I've seen the women in your family."

The guys argued and joked back and forth for a bit, I joined in on a laugh here and there. My thoughts kept going back to woman that slapped me. The sting of it still lingered on my cheek; hell she probably left a handprint. What I don't get is why the hell am I still thinking about this girl. Normally on the rare occasion of a woman turning me down I'd just move on to the next one that's more willing. But this one's different, maybe it's because I want to fuck her, 'Yeah that's it.' It sure as hell couldn't be anything else.

Gia's Pov

I sat there nursing the martini Marcy had just mixed up for me. Normally I wouldn't drink on the job, but tonight I was making an exception. I was still piss at that overgrown touchy feely idiot. I don't know what pissed me off more the fact that he kissed me, or that fact that part of me actually liked it. Anyway that's neither here nor there, he was gone and I'd probably never see him again. Which suited me just fine, my hand is still stinging from slapping him. I checked my watch, 'three more hours until I'm out of here'. A nice hot bath and aromatherapy candles were calling my name.

Marcy strolled down to my end of the bar with a huge grin on her face. "So… what made you change your mind about that drink?"

The feisty red head is a nosey one I see. She leaned against the bar waiting for me to answer her. "Not a what, a who. Some asshole that thinks he's gods gift to women." I continued to sip on my drink while jotting down some ideas for the club.

Marcy let out a slight groan. "Don't they all. What'd he look like?"

"Well let's see, he was tall, tan, and had muscles everywhere. Oh and his voice, I can still hear his arrogant gravely voice in my head." After I finished my description Marcy bust out laughing in my face. "What the is so funny?"

"Oh nothing." She poured a shot for the woman sitting next to me while trying to stifle the giggles coming from her lips.

I watched her walk over to Carla and whisper something in her ear. Then Carla looked at me and erupted in laughter. 'What is this?' The two women in question came over to me "Okay seriously, what hell is going on? I enjoy a laugh as much as the next person."

Marcy shook her head and put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll find out before the night is over."

The bar phone rang and Carla answered it. After a really brief conversation she hung up and walked back over to Marcy and I. "Matty wants to see you in his office Gia."

"Looks like you might find out sooner than we thought." The two bartenders exchanged similar looks and smiles.

"I'm not even gonna ask." I took one last sip of my cocktail and removed myself from the stool. My butt was sore and I wasn't even sitting long, 'note to self, get comfortable bar stools.'

Making my way through the crowd and past the velvet rope that blocked off the stairs, I kept trying to figure out what was so funny. I hate not being let in on a joke especially if it's a good one. The upstairs level was going at a much slower pace than downstairs. There was a few people casually eating and drinking while relaxing on the plush couches. They still had a view of the dance floor on the lower level, but the soundproof glass blocked out all the noise. I went through a set of double doors, then down the dimly lite hall until I reached Matty's office. Before I knocked I listened for a second. I heard a mixture of male voices coming from inside. After I smoothed out my dress and fixed the stray piece of hair that kept falling in my eye, I knocked on the door.

When I heard Matty yell for me to come in I opened the door and greeted him with a smile. "Hey Matty you wanted to see-" 'What the fuck!' I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. There he was, the asshole from the dance floor. I didn't expect to see him again and from his wide eyes I could see that he thought the same thing, especially not here. Our sights locked dead on, his face went stone and unreadable. The man did a good job at hiding his emotion. He broke his stare when he reached for a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. 'Look at him, standing there like he owns the place.' I half smiled when I saw the red mark that graced his cheek.

Matty gave me a confused look but shook it off. Then he pointed his hand in the direction of Mr. touchy feely. "This is my business partner Taylor Reese, he owns half the joint. Taylor this is our new manager Gia Brooks."

My jaw dropped for a brief second with his words replaying in my head. 'So maybe he did own the place.' I looked over at 'Taylor' who was keeping his cool brandishing a cocky smile; the jerk was enjoying this. He took another puff of his cigarette and then put it out in the astray on the desk that I'm guessing belongs to him. Then he walked over to me. I stuck my hand out to meet his, "nice to meet you Mr. Reese." 'Oh god this is so awkward.' I put on the fakest smile I could muster up.

He shook my hand and nodded. "Call me Taylor." There it was, that gravely voice that was like velvet. He held onto my hand longer than he should have while openly ogling me.

I smiled again, and then discreetly snatched my hand away. "Sure thing Taylor." 'Someone please kill me now.'

Matty got up from his desk and stood next to me putting a friendly hand on my back. He turned his attention to the two men sitting on the couch. "I would like you to meet a couple friends of mine." He pointed to a short guy with messy brown hair, "This is Johnny, but we call him Marbles."

The short one stood from the couch tripping on his feet along the way. "Hi I'm Johnny but everyone calls me Marbles." He spoke to my breasts more so than me. I cleared my throat to bring his attention up, 'men, always thinking with the wrong head.'

"Matty just said that moron." The other guy on the couch stood up and smacked Marbles in the back of his head to knock him out of his gaze. He was extremely handsome, like male model handsome. He wasn't built like Taylor, but he was in shape. From the looks of it he had on a Hugo Boss suit and he wore it very well. "Sorry about my cousin here. When he was born the doctor smacked the wrong end." I let out a small laugh. "It's a pleasure to meet you Gia, I'm Chris, Chris Scarpa." I put out my hand to shake his but instead he raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it.

'Very smooth.' I thought to myself. "The pleasures all mine." I heard an irritated groan, Chris's eyes diverted from myself to Taylor standing behind me, with a sly smirk he released my hand and returned to his form position on the couch. I turned in time to see the stone expression shooting daggers at us.

"So, any problems so far? Is the staff treating you okay?" Matty asked on his way back over to his desk.

"No, nothing I can't handle." Taylor's cold eyes locked on me without missing a beat. "I seem to be getting along with everyone one."

"Great." Matty shifted through the papers in his desk drawer pulling out a stack of folders and handed them to me. "Here, this is your headache now. It's all there, schedules, payroll, distributors and everything else you'll need to know." He looked like he wanted to jump for joy letting this huge weight off his shoulders.

I peered at the files both shocked and amused. When he said he had some paperwork for me I was expecting no more than maybe a few sheets of paper, but this looked like some ones file cabinet exploded in my arms. "Wow Matty. You know there's this new thing called a computer. It's perfect for storing information such as this."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well I prefer the old fashion way, you can do whatever you want to them."

"Looks like I have a lot of work to do so I'm gonna get to it. It was nice meeting you gentlemen." I moved to the door struggling the pile of impending headaches.

Chris jumped up and opened the door for me. "It was nice meeting you too Gia, look like I'll be seeing a lot of you."

"Looks like it." I said flashing my best smile before I walked out. Transferring all this stuff onto my laptop was going to be a pain. It was going to take days so I had to get on it, but not before I have a talk with a couple of bartenders about their sense of humor.

This is a very awkward situation; the asshole who couldn't keep his hands to himself is my boss. Great, now I know I have the worst luck in the world. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't find him attractive. He didn't speak much back in the office, hell with a body like his who needs words. 'I wonder if he's single.' With guys these days you can never be too sure. I couldn't shake thoughts of him every since he kissed me on the dance floor. 'Wait a minute, you cut that out right now.' Sleeping with the boss is a definite no-no, that could get messy, and I Giana Brooks don't do messy.