Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
I was glad when it was time to get ready for my meeting with Jed Burner. As I dressed, I couldn’t help but wonder what Lillian was doing at that very moment.
Jed Burner was already at the restaurant when I got there and he stood when he spotted me crossing the room. We shook hands.
As we ate, I quizzed him about his current job and how he had managed to turn it around that fast. It felt good to be free from the thoughts of Lillian.
“The kind of questions you’re asking are making me think you have an interesting offer?” Jed said as he tucked into swordfish and grilled potatoes.
I smiled. “I might have.”
Then I told him about the company that Chris and I were snooping around, and why we thought it was a winner with the right CEO. I looked at him pointedly.
“You are that CEO.”
He didn’t respond immediately, but when he did, he made the hairs at the back of my neck stand.
“That’s funny,” he said slowly. “I’ve just been offered the exact same deal.”
I felt my eyes narrowing. One thing I knew about Jed was that he told it straight. “By whom?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. The offer was made anonymously through an agency.
“When was this?”
“Yesterday. I said a tentative yes, but I’m not into underhand stuff so I’ll be doing some research of my own.”
“Yesterday,” I said quietly. There was zero chance it was a coincidence. Someone else had front run us and yet only Chris and I knew. A little voice in my head said, “And Lillian.”
Lillian knew.
She had typed up the letter for Jed. She had seen the file Chris drew up and my notes on the company. Suddenly, all the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place. Finally, I understood why she had not quit even though I had treated her far worse than the others. Even her scandalous behavior on my bed made perfect sense now. The little Matahari had been sent to seduce me and steal my business secrets, but the billion-dollar question was, who did she work for?
Jed wore an expression of regret. “I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing.”
I thought about Lillian lying on the hotel bed, her legs wide open, her eyes wanton and desperate, and her pink, dripping pussy throbbing for my cock.
“I’m not,” I said softly.
Chapter 20
Lillian
“The maiden felt the kisses, blushed and,
lifting her timid eyes up to the light, saw
the sky and her lover at the same time.”
Pygmalion in the “Metamorphoses”
Iwas determined to enjoy myself and not think about the insulting way he offered me the use of his credit card to do a spot of shopping. It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was a thing he did with women. A guilt assuager. It let him off the hook when he’d had enough of the unsuspecting women.
But I hated the fact that he believed he needed to do it with me. I wasn’t one of those women he could buy off with an afternoon of shopping.
I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to go for a dirty weekend with him. I didn’t need to spend his money to feel good about myself.
The tour was fun. I got to ride in a city bus and explore the city along with other tourists. Then I had lunch in a cafeteria at a brewery and made a couple of new friends with whom I exchanged numbers.
It could have been even more fun if my anger didn’t keep flaring up. His offer had cheapened the weekend and made it less special. Less enjoyable. It did nothing for my self-esteem either. No woman wanted to feel she was another one in the zillion faceless women he’d slept with.
The tour lasted another two hours after lunch and at four, I hailed a cab to take me back to the hotel.
In the cab I gave myself a stern talking to.
The weekend was meant to be fun, but it wasn’t going to be enjoyable if I didn’t let go of my anger. What did it matter if he thought he could buy me off with some expensive clothes? It was not personal. That was how he was. The important thing was that I’d said no.
The best thing to do was to erase it from my mind and focus on having as great a time as I could. I rarely got to do crazy things like take off for the weekend. And definitely not with a sexy, intriguing man like him. When would such an opportunity ever come again?
Probably never.
I pushed the door open to find him lying on the bed reading a newspaper and wearing nothing more than a pair of boxer briefs. He looked so delicious lying there. Against my will, memories of the previous night filled my mind.