Page 143 of Open To Negotiation

Her honey blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail, light freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. Her hazel eyes avoiding mine like usual, I was intimidating with my wide shoulders, tattoos covering my arms and hands, and a scowl on my face. She was wearing her normal uniform of a black T-shirt and a skirt that was a little short.

She was fucking stunning.

I was guessing she was about five-seven. I would tower over her at six-four, but I’d only ever been sitting when she was around. “I’m Sutton. I’ll be your server tonight, can I get drinks started for you?”

After we ordered, Knight and Quinn both turned their attention back to me.

“I don’t need an assistant.” Quinn shifted uncomfortably.

“Yes you do,” Knight cut in. I knew for a fact they had this argument a few times already over the last couple of weeks. “Work is piling up, your responsibilities have increased and there are too many people who want to get a hold of you. An assistant is going to make your life easier.”

“I don’t see why we needed to meet here.” Quinn tried deflecting.

We paused as Sutton came back to the table with our drinks and took our food orders. My eyes lingered on her as she walked away.

“You’re going to hire her.” I turned back to meet Quinn’s surprised face, her eyebrows raised. Not an unfair reaction considering if I was her, I would also think I was insane.

“Our server?” I leaned forward and rested my arms on the table. She held my gaze, it was like we were able to communicate without words, I could do the same with Knight. “Why?” She sat back and subtly leaned into Knight’s side.

Those two gravitated toward each other, always shifting to stay in contact. They had been like that since the day I first met her, ignoring the rest of the club and talking for hours, just the two of them.

“You need one.”

She sent me an annoyed look. “I have a list of people with eight to ten years of executive assistance experience sitting on my desk right now sent over pre-vetted from the London office and you want me to hire her?”

“Yes.”

“Why, Ash?” Quinn pushed.

Knight was thankfully sitting there silently, I could tell he was watching me closely though, getting a read on the situation. We’d been in enough meetings together for us to gage each other this way. But he wouldn’t let me do anything that would harm Quinn in any way, even if it was just an inconvenience to her.

I couldn’t exactly answer Quinn. I wasn’t certain why I felt like this about Sutton, but I was good at reading people and I could see something in her. Sutton seemed tired and since I'd started coming here, she was always on shift.

I’d come in here late one evening after landing and decided I needed some food. It was the closest to me when I made the decision and one of the only places open that late.

Since then, I’d come in more often than I wanted to admit. She didn’t seem to have a set schedule I’d seen her in here various times throughout the day.

“Q.” I didn’t know how to vocalize why this woman had caught my attention, but I needed to do something. Getting her closer to me, in a safe workspace, was the best I could do at this point.

Sutton returned to the table with a breadbasket, and I raised an eyebrow at Quinn, waiting for her to do something. She sent me a confused look before she put on her charming smile and turned to Sutton.

“So… Sutton, how long have you worked here?”

The woman taking over my dreams for weeks smiled at my best friends. She was a little less rigid than she was with most of her tables which was exactly why this needed to come from Quinn and not me.

I felt a little bit like a weirdo watching her so closely, but I was not stalking her, she’d just gotten my attention. And that wasn’t something that happened often.

“About six months,” Sutton replied.

“Do you like it here?” I didn’t know how I expected Quinn to go about this, but I didn’t expect this direct line of questioning.

“Uhhh, it’s fine.” Sutton looked around, slightly suspicious.

“Oh, we aren’t those mystery shoppers or anything. I think I’d be terrible at it actually.” Knight tried to hide his laugh by picking up his glass and taking a sip. This was her thing, she babbled and over explained things. “These guys own some businesses and we’re looking at restaurants to gather ideas for ours.” She didn’t lie exactly, we were restaurant shopping for our private club that should be ready to open in a few months, but we would not use this place for ideas. Maybe ideas on what not do to. We were catering toward more high-end customers. “Décor, menus, lighting, that sort of thing,” Quinn said with a wave of her hand.

“I work at another restaurant. This one is far better if that helps.” My gaze locked on Sutton’s face. She worked two jobs, tiring, but it didn’t seem to explain her constant look of exhaustion.

There was something else and I wanted answers.