16|Her

Levi finally figured out what was different about Mark halfway through the main course.

It was his hair.

Three months ago, his friend had a faux hawk. But he'd cut all his hair now, and his bald head glistened under the shimmering chandelier.

Mark's new look reminded Levi of a younger Samuel L Jackson. He had the foul vocabulary to match, too, but their table of hoteliers didn't mind. They were all enraptured by him and his stories, hanging on to his every word as he recounted his glory days as Rock Union University's fly half and Chassis' early struggles before it became a powerhouse. By the time the waiters wheeled in their dessert, they were all eating out of his palm. But, Mr Rice was still on the fence about jumping into bed with Van Holt Industries, and Levi suspected it was all his fault. Mark had given him one job today: to keep the young Mrs Stephanie Rice happy.

He was failing miserably at the task.

He didn't shower Stephanie with as many compliments as she had clearly expected, and pointedly shook off her advances at every turn. She wasn't his type. He liked them more natural-looking. She was far from it.

Once or twice, Levi caught Mr Rice glaring at him as if he was somehow responsible for his wife's lack of restraint.

He felt sorry for the guy. He saw it all the time at these events, the older men with their beautiful trophy wive, forgotten as soon as a young stud stepped into the room.

"So Levi, I hear you'll launch a new game in summer. Our son is such a fan, and he'd be so thrilled if he could get a signed copy. What do you think?" Stephanie asked when the conversation moved away from the struggling tourism industry.

"Can you do us this one favour, please?" She continued, batting her lashes at him. Levi doubted they were real. They were far too long and too thick to be real.

"So?" Stephanie pressed on as her breast implants heaved dangerously close to his face. "What do you think?"

Levi thought they should buy the game like everyone else. But if the meeting fell through because he didn't want to give away a complimentary copy of Speed Freak, Leviticus would never forgive him, so he smiled sweetly at her and gently pushed her hand away from his thigh. "Sure, we can arrange that."

"We'll do you one better," Mark jumped in, and Stephanie lit up like a light bulb. "How about we have your son as our special guest at the launch event? How old is he?"

"Eleven. Send all the details to my husband's assistant. We'll definitely be there."

Levi nodded, even though the game was not age-appropriate for her pre-teen son, and he tried to explain this to her.

But Stephanie glossed over all the foul language and nudity, choosing to focus on all the good things Speed Freak had taught her only spawn.

"His motor skills have improved, and his eye-hand coordination is out of this world, all thanks to your games. I just admire how he can sit there for hours and focus on the game," she said, resting her chin on his shoulder.

Levi expected Mr Rice to disagree with his wife's somewhat laid-back parenting or, at the very least, tell her to keep her hands to herself. But the businessman simply shrugged his bulky shoulders and gave him a resigned smile, his message loud and clear—Stephanie was his problem. For the evening, at least.

When it became obvious that there was no convincing Stephanie her son shouldn't play any Chassis games, Levi zoned out. His eyes rested on a young woman around his age—maybe younger—on the dance floor.

He only noticed her because he felt as miserable as she looked in the arms of the man who took the evening's biggest prize.

She turned to say something to her date, and Levi felt the air swoosh out of his lungs as time and space ceased to exist, and the only person in his orbit was her.

She reminded him of the flowers in the Namaqualand desert his parents once took him and Colleen to see. They were ten or eleven, and he didn't even care about nature then, but he'd found it amazing that something so beautiful and delicate could bloom in such a barren place.

He was too far away to tell the colour of her eyes, but from her tawny complexion, he guessed they were brown. It was the fire he saw there as she tried to push her date's hands away that got him. They blazed with fury she struggled to hide even under the weight of her dazzling smile.

At that moment, as Levi gawked at her, taking in every little detail about her, from how she self-consciously touched her hair to her complete unawareness of how beautiful she was, everything about this evening made sense.

There was a reason he had to be here tonight, why he left his developers, the patch deployment and his office couch to come and ass-kiss his father's business associates.

Her.

Beneath the weight of her bright smile, which could light up all the rooms in this place, there was a sadness and vulnerability so raw, so intense, it called out to him in a way he had never felt before.

If it was any other place, any other day, and his life wasn't such a mess, he would have crossed the room, taken her in his arms without hesitation and whisked her away.

"So tell me about the new game. I'm sure Bertie will have tons of fun playing it." Stephanie leaned even closer, pulling Levi's attention back to their table.

Her expensive perfume nauseated him. It was a pretty scent, but not so much on her skin. It didn't help that she'd practically bathed in it.

"I think Mark can tell you all about it," he said, his eyes drifting back to the woman on the dance floor.

"You can stop staring at her now," Mark whispered for his ears only. "You are pissing Stephanie off."

"Screw Stephanie," Levi replied, matching his tone.

"I'm sure I've seen her somewhere," Mark said. "Doesn't she look familiar?"

Levi shook his head.

He would have remembered if he'd seen her before because she looked like the woman he should take home to meet his parents. Maybe not Leviticus, but definitely his mom.

She was beautiful. Not the 'swimsuit model' beautiful he was used to, but the 'I've been waiting for you my whole life' beautiful.

Levi knew it was game over for him then. "I think she's my future."

"Dude, you are not making any sense. You need to focus. We are here on official duty, not to ogle pretty little things."

Levi opened his mouth to explain that he wasn't ogling her and that what he felt was much deeper than 'ogling'. But words failed him.

Surely Mark would think he has gone nuts.

Heck, he thought himself insane.

But he'd never been so aware of anyone in his life. His body was practically humming from the pull he felt towards her. He had to meet her.

"I have to meet her," Levi growled under his breath as he watched her squirm in her date's arms.

He needed to go over there and take her away from the surgeon.

"Jesus, Levi, and say what?"

"I don't know. But can't you see she's miserable? She doesn't want to be with him. Look at the way she's trying to pull away from him."

"You don't know anything. For all we know, maybe that's how they get their jollies on."

"Don't be an ass! She doesn't want to be with him!"

"And you are going to do what? Go riding in on your white horse and save the day?"

"If I have to! Anyone with eyeballs in their head can see she's uncomfortable."

"It's still not your business. Let it go. Your business is right beside you, and you'd better give Stephanie all the attention she wants."

Levi accepted a glass of whiskey from a surly waiter doing his rounds and eased back in his seat. If he couldn't meet his future, he might as well drink himself silly.

He took a sip and felt the roar in his ears subside a little. When he glanced at the dance floor again and found her gone, he was oddly disappointed and somewhat relieved.

Mark was right, he told himself as he knocked back his drink. He was overthinking and seeing things. He hadn't slept in days. His emotions were all over the place because of Colleen.

Yes, his instinct to swoop in and save the woman was misplaced. He didn't need unnecessary distractions.

"Would you care to join me for a dance?" Stephanie asked as she brazenly grabbed his crotch.

Confused by his intense reaction to a woman he has never fucked, and irritated with Mark for pimping him out to a plastic doll, Levi pushed Stephanie's hand away hard and stood up, glaring at her. "No. I don't care to join you for a dance, and I certainly don't appreciate being fondled!"

Shocked gasps rumbled around the table as Stephanie fumed and pouted in her chair while Mark looked just about ready to murder him for blowing Leviticus' only chance.

Mr Rice, though, looked unfazed.

He studied Levi carefully for the longest minute in history before he raised his whiskey glass. "Let's set up that meeting with your father, shall we?"

Levi stared at him, utterly dumbfounded by this sudden development.

"Levi!" Mark clenched his teeth and nudged him with his elbow, ready to sell their souls, his drink already up in the air.

Still baffled, Levi picked up his glass, unable to understand how they'd moved from Stephanie grabbing his dick to booking time for his father in the hotelier's calendar.

"To a new partnership!" said Mr Rice, still calm as ever, his eyes betraying nothing.

A waiter appeared with a fresh tray of drinks, and for the next few minutes, Levi numbed himself with his last glass for the night because he was the designated driver.

After appropriate time had passed, he excused himself; he needed to get some air.