That was the last thing Ivan heard before he walked away from them.

“Somebody looks real popular tonight,” Maya teased him. She noticed girls paying a lot more attention to Ivan than they did the members of the Black Eyed Peas that evening.

Ivan told her, “Yeah, well…they’ll get over it.”

As usual, Ashley disappeared early to call him later. Ivan had told Carolyn to do the same. However, when he walked out of the club with Lucina, she changed her normal program on him.

Instead of hanging out and entertaining the Black Eyed Peas, Lucina told him, “I don’t think I’m gonna make it home.”

He studied her face and asked, “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I’m tired and I need to talk to you.”

Ivan said, “All right. We can do that tomorrow.” He was already thinking about Carolyn speaking seductive Spanish to him from under the sheets. She was asking him for it.

“No, I need to talk to you tonight,” Lucina insisted.

“What about?” Ivan pressed her. “It can’t wait until tomorrow? I thought you said you were tired.”

Lucina took a breath. “It’s personal, Ivan,” she told him.

He had no idea what that meant. He took a breath of his own. “All right, Lucina, but I’m tired, too. I’m always tired after these parties,” he lied.

“Are you really?” she asked him. She knew damn well Ivan had stores of excess energy. She had been around him for nearly a year, and they had spent some long hours together.

Ivan ignored the question. He didn’t even look tired. At the start of the evening he had been dropped off in front of the crowd in a white two-seater Aston Martin. So he had no room for Lucina to ride back with him. And as his driver waited for him at the curb, with eager women still waiting and watching, Ivan told Lucina the deal.

“Well, I only have a two-seater tonight. And it looks like you let the limo drive off already.”

She said, “I told him to. And I’ll have Maya drop me off at your apartment building behind you.”

Ivan looked confused again. “And how are you gonna get home tonight?” He surely wasn’t taking her.

“You can drive me home in the morning,” she told him.

Ivan grinned and shook his head. He didn’t even think about trying Lucina anymore. At that point, he figured she was only getting in the way, cock blocking.

All right, so I guess it’s just not meant for me to have Carolyn tonight, he assessed for himself. I didn’t need to go there anyway.

He shrugged and said, “Okay. You got it your way, then.”