Tobias scratched his jaw and looked away in disgust as girls in short, barely there dresses tittered around him. They primped their hair, touched their lips and cheeks, and batted their caked eyelashes. They leaned forward with their legs crossed, and their in-your-face breasts threatened to spill out of their Band-Aid designer couture, strips of fabric that teased and hinted at naked flesh.

Flirtation filled the air in the rooftop terrace of The Oasis.

Eager hopefuls, desperate to mingle with rich and moneyed young men, surrounded Xavier and his cronies, hopeful that they would get not only their drinks bought, but breakfast, lunch and dinner tomorrow. And more.

Tobias lifted his glass of whiskey and drank it in one go. What the fuck was he doing here?

His brother had raved on about the new twentieth-floor rooftop bar and restaurant, recently opened by one of his friends. The Oasis had a Moroccan-style influence, with its red drapes and jewel-toned fabrics draped over walls, its metallic hanging lanterns and amber-colored lamps, and comfy booths plumped up with oversized cushions. It was a welcome change from the cold grayness of winter in New York.

“Over here!” Xavier shouted to the pretty young waitress who had brought over a new tray of drinks. Tobias had lost count of the number of whiskey shots he’d had, preferring that to the champagne that Xavier had ordered so freely. The waitress put a glass down in front of him.

“Two more!” Tobias demanded, before grabbing the glass and downing it in one swig.

It wasn’t the cold he felt as much as the desire to numb himself. He looked around the rooftop terrace; it was full, but not heaving. Full of perfect people, moneyed people and plenty of tits, ass and legs on full view no matter in which direction he stared.

They all looked happy; in a state of intoxication, high on seduction or drugs, or probably both.

He didn’t belong. And he didn’t want to be here. The disconnect he felt was easier to bear when whiskey was his partner. “It’s new, hip, trendy, and hard to get into,” Xavier had crowed when he’d first mentioned it to him. It probably was all of these things but none of them mattered to Tobias.

“Slow down,” Xavier insisted, leaning close up behind his ear.

“I’m having a good time,” Tobias replied. Unable to turn his head around completely to face his brother, he turned his head to the side instead and found himself staring at the woman seated next to him. He picked up another glass of whiskey.

“Why don’t you talk to Larissa?” Xavier shouted into his ear. “She’s the one you’re staring at, in case you didn’t know. She’s been trying to get your attention for the last half hour.” His younger brother patted him on the shoulder and disappeared with a skinny but buxom beauty dressed from head to toe in black.

Tobias stared at the long-haired vixen in a silver dress. The front of her dress was cut low, right down to her belly button, and for a second he was intrigued as to how she managed to keep the thing from falling to her waist. She stared back at him, shining in the glow of his attention and flashed an inviting smile.

“So, you’re Xavier’s brother?” She leaned towards him suggestively.

God, no. No conversation, or anything else. He didn’t reply.

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” She swept her hair onto one shoulder; it was a thick cascade of curls, strategically placed to reveal perfectly tanned shoulders. Savannah’s hair was shorter, he recalled. Up to her shoulders, and it wasn’t as shiny or as groomed.

And she was out with Matthias somewhere, right now.

He looked around for the waitress. Where was his second glass of whiskey? “Excuse me,” he said and got up. The waitress had only given him one drink and he was in dire need of another. The woman beside him looked crestfallen.

“Do you want a drink?” he asked.

Her face instantly brightened. “I’ll come with you.” She got up quickly, the dress threatening to slip off her shoulders. His eyes weren’t admiring the naked flesh on show, but more the manner in which she had managed to keep clothed despite the odds of her dress slipping off. Glue? he wondered, and was almost tempted to ask if that was how she managed to keep the dress up.

“I’ll get it,” he growled instead, eager to lose her fast. “What do you want?”

“What I need … is to get some air,” she drawled.

Sweetheart, we’re sitting outside. He shrugged. Tobias hated places like this; it was the kind of place where people came to be seen. That was their idea of a good time. He swiftly cut through the medley of tables, heaters and beautiful people in his determination to get to the bar inside, not stopping to wait for the woman who seemed desperate to accompany him.

On the way, he was stopped by the waitress who had served their table. “Is there something I can get you, sir?” she asked, staring up at him, and giving him the kind of look that suggested she had more to offer than merely alcohol.

“Nothing I can’t get myself,” he replied calmly. It was then that he became aware of the woman who had followed him. She attempted to take hold of his hand but he pulled it away quickly and made his way to the bar.

Years ago, he and Ivy would have come to a place like this, for drinks and then dinner somewhere ridiculously overpriced and exclusive. Or even a KFC. He’d loved that about her. She’d never been the type to frequent an establishment just to be seen.

It was a shame that most of the women he met these days seemed more concerned with his money and his name. He had no interest in them, or any desire to start anything with them. They barely registered on his radar.

And yet Savannah Page had somehow wormed her way into his consciousness over the last few weeks without him even realizing, and these last few days she had stolen into his thoughts and stayed there. He would see to it that he had his time with her alone, next week when they returned to work.

He saw the bar area up ahead and noted that it was relatively empty. Just as he strode towards it, he noticed her, and he stopped to stare.

She was here?

Savannah.

Ahead of him, facing the bar, and surrounded by a group of people, stood a woman with the same brown tousled hair just below her shoulders. He scanned the crowd rapidly looking for Matthias and others he might recognize.

Turning around, he slipped a hundred-dollar bill to the leech on his back. It was a small price to pay for freedom. “Get yourself a drink.”

“But I—” She was silenced by the look he gave her, a half-pout starting to form on her Botoxed lips. But she snatched the bill and slunk away without a word.

He made his way over to the group and touched the woman’s shoulder, wondering, at the same time, what he would say to her. She turned around and blue eyes—the wrong color—widened in appreciation.

“Hi,” the woman smiled widely at him, probably thinking she’d been hit on.

“Sorry, I mistook you for someone else.” His hopes vanished as fast as her smile.

“Tobias?”

A familiar voice behind rescued him from the awkwardness of the moment. He turned around when he felt a hand on his arm. It was Candace.

“What are you doing here?” she asked happily.

“The same thing as you, probably,” he replied coolly.

She blinked at the woman he had mistaken for Savannah. “Are you together?” Candace asked, nodding her head towards the woman.

“No.” He stepped away and headed towards the bar with Candace in tow.

“I didn’t know you were coming here tonight. It’s hardly your kind of place.”

“It isn’t. Xavier dragged me here.”

A group of girls walked past, one almost brushing past him, and murmuring a suggestive, “Sorry,” as she did so. Candace’s face set like hard cement as Tobias ignored the intrusion which was a regular part of his life. A crowd of people at the nearby table laughed loudly among themselves while Beyonce’s voice belted out one of her ballads.

“Where are you sitting?”

“Out there.” He nodded towards the roof terrace.

“I’m with a group of friends over there.” She nodded behind her shoulder, and he barely glanced in that direction.

“Did you come with Matthias?”

“Matthias?” She looked surprised. “Why would I? I haven’t been at work since last week.”

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