Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 112701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“I never wanted you to feel obligated to work with Cavendish Group. We’re friends.”
And that’s the truth of it. In this life, I’ve been used far too many times by people I trusted. They didn’t care about my friendship or affection. They wanted me for what I could do for them. Call me jaded, but I have a right to be.
“And that’s precisely why we should’ve teamed up from the beginning. You did with Drew. How am I any different?”
“Drew is a client. What she’s proposing would require you to bring your clients to work with us for the Diosa brand.”
“Exactly. It’s a potential opportunity for my clients. One that many would jump at the chance for.”
He’s right. I’m an arse.
Paxton owns a boutique agency, representing talent across the United States. A partnership with him makes perfect sense, and Raven was the one to move on it.
In a less than appropriate way, but I guess, given the circumstances, she needed to establish a connection with Paxton, and whether she realized it or not, humor is an immediate way to grab his attention. Based on his reaction, he found this beyond hysterical. She’s clearly already won him over.
“Don’t reach out to her until I say so.”
“Why?”
That one word holds so much confusion and something that sounds like annoyance.
“I’m interested to see what she has in mind where Factor Talent is concerned. This would be a huge partnership, and I’d like to be present.”
“Don’t bullshit me. This has nothing to do with you wanting to be present, dipshit. You can lie to yourself all you want, but don’t kid a kidder.”
“You’re a git,” I snap, hating his perceptiveness with the situation.
“That makes two of us,” he says. “She seems to have a good head on her shoulders, Charles. Don’t run her off.”
“I haven’t yet, have I?” I bark down the line.
“I’m sure you didn’t react well when you saw her in the office.”
The bloke knows me far too well. He was there through many of my disappointments in life and the reason I ran to the States to begin with.
“I could’ve handled it worse.”
He snorts. “That’s your way of saying you were an asshole.”
“I was angry. I assumed she knew who I was from the beginning.”
He tsks. “Let me guess, you thought she orchestrated it all. Thought she went into that closet on her own.” He laughs. “That was my doing, brother. I told her to go down that hallway. When I saw your text, I realized my error could have put her in the wrong room.”
“You took your time,” I drawl, recalling that several long minutes went by from when I sent the text to when he opened the door.
Long minutes in the dark with Raven. Her body fit perfectly against mine. The way she melted into me.
Too damn perfectly.
“I figured you weren’t hating being locked in a room with a beautiful woman.”
He isn’t wrong. I would’ve gladly taken Raven against that door. I’d wanted to do just that the entire night. But something had happened before Paxton interrupted us. She’d already pulled away. Why?
It doesn’t matter. She works for me, which means she’s off-limits. With everything going on within the company, I need her. Diosa needs her. The past needs to stay in the past.
“Anyway, she’s not Tabitha. Remember that.”
I bristle at the mention of she who shall not be named. He knows better than to bring her up, yet he has.
“I’ll be happy if I never hear that she-devil’s name again.”
He sighs heavily. “I know. But you need the reminder. Not all women are out to fuck you.”
“She did more than fuck me, mate. She obliterated me.”
Tabitha was my Achilles’ heel. I was in love, and she took advantage in the biggest way.
“She’s an evil bitch, but Raven . . . she’s not the same.”
That might be true, but it doesn’t matter. As long as she does her job and does it well, that’s all I care about. It’s all I can care about.
“And you can tell this from a few minutes in a packed club?”
“It’s my job to read people. Raven Bennett is good people, Charles. Be good to her.”
“She’s my employee,” I snap, growing tired at Paxton’s need to beat a dead horse.
“Whatever she is, treat her well.”
“Go enjoy your fruit, bastard. Don’t arrange the meeting. Not until I tell you too.”
“Oh, I will.”
The line goes dead, and I’m left staring at the photo of Raven’s gift.
What the hell possessed her to look up Paxton in the first place?
Does she have a thing for him?
Even more reason to ensure I’m in that meeting.
Not because I have an inappropriate attraction to her, but because this partnership is important, and I won’t have Paxton putting the moves on her and ruining everything. This is about saving her from him.
Keep telling yourself that.