Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
I tuck his card in my purse. “What kind of job?”
“One of my companies is always searching for sales reps, if working with people is in your wheelhouse. If not, you could start in admin.”
I want to laugh and ask him how many companies he has, but I swallow back my amusement and the question, since I, too, am supposed to be wealthy. “I’ll consider it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
SAVVY
“That man isn’t interested in me, so are you going to tell me what your end game is here or not?”
We’re back in the hotel room and Oliver is in a worse mood than he was before I met with Charles, if that’s possible.
Sighing, he strips off his shirt and tosses it over the back of the chair. “I wasn’t planning on it yet, no.”
“What the fuck, Oliver?” I catch my gaze slipping to his broad chest and force it back up to his face, crossing my arms to remind myself I’m mad at him.
“I already told you. He reads people better than anyone I’ve ever met. The less you know, the more natural your reactions will be.”
“Is he your dad? Is that why you’re being so cloak and dagger about this?”
Oliver scoffs. “No. The only guy Charles is a dad to is a spoiled prick in L.A.”
I dig Charles’s business card from my pocket and toss it on the bed. The card reads, Coast to Coast Equities and Investments, and has a website and email address on it. At the bottom, in neat block print, he wrote Charles and a phone number in black pen. “Well, tonight he offered me a job and gave me his personal number to call if I ever ‘need anything.’”
Oliver snatches the card up and grins. “Well done. I thought it would take at least two more meetings.” He meets my gaze and taps the card. “You did it.”
“That’s what this was about? You getting his phone number?”
“No. It was about you getting it. Now we can intentionally not use it for a couple of weeks, and then next time he’s back in the city, you’ll call and tell him you think your ex is following you. He’ll invite you over and let you stay until you feel safe.”
“Why would he do that? He doesn’t even know me.”
“Because he’s searching for a wife for his son.”
“The spoiled prick?”
He nods and meets my eyes. “And you’re the perfect goddamned candidate, Savvy. You’re smart, sexy as hell, and have the name he wants for his spoiled-ass progeny.”
“That’s ridiculous. First of all, my family is broke as—”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Easy for him to say. “Second of all, how could you have known he’d be interested in marrying me off to his son just from looking at me?”
“Like I said, he’s predictable. And I was right. If he gave you his card, he’s already made his choice. He’ll invite the fox into the henhouse, and while you’re there, you’ll get back what’s mine.”
My skin goes cold, and I sink onto the edge of the bed. “You want me to steal from him.” Oliver isn’t saying anything he hasn’t already, but suddenly, what he’s asking me to do feels very different.
“No. I want you to get back something that belongs to me.” He sighs and softens his tone. “I’ve been telling you that since the beginning.”
But that was before I met the guy. “He’s not an awful man, Oliver. And I get the impression he has more money than God. Why would he steal from you?”
His expression cools. “You only think he’s decent because you don’t really know him. You’re right about the money part, but this isn’t about money. Again, the less you know, the better.”
I throw up my hands. “That again? So, let me guess—I’m going to go in there and use my Spidey-Sense to figure out what I’m supposed to take from him and where it is? Or should I just take anything shiny that will fit in my purse?”
“Everything I want is in a decorative chest on his guestroom dresser. No Spidey-Sense required.”
“A fucking treasure chest, then? Am I a pirate now? Sorry, I left my eye patch back home.”
“You’re hilarious.”
“And you’re crazy. I can’t steal a chest. As if no one’s going to notice me lugging that out of there?”
He folds his arms, and his pecs swell above them. “You’ll take the contents and leave the chest. Everything in it will fit in that big purse of yours, and there’s a good chance he’ll never even realize anything’s missing.”
I frown. “I’ve never stolen a thing in my life. Maybe I could just ask him for it. If you tell me how he ended up with something of yours, I could explain it to him and convince him to give it back.”
He cups my chin and tilts my face up until I’m looking at him. “I love that you believe you can use reason to get people to do the right thing.” His gaze drops to my mouth, and my heart stumbles into a run.