He reaches out, encouraging me to lie back into his chest. ‘It’s that woman Stella, from Lara’s party and the hunt. She hates me for being with you. She’s malicious.’
His chest vibrates against my back as he chuckles. ‘Do you really think Stella would get back at you for taking me off the market by entering into an intellectual property battle with you?’
I laugh with him. ‘I guess not. There’s an obvious person in Trina. I thought about her a lot. I’m waiting for her next move. But what would she know about games and IP?’
‘And it’s way off the mark in terms of her motivation. She wants to pull the lid off a pan of bribes; stealing or copying a game isn’t going to achieve that.’
Now I laugh harder. It’s completely inappropriate but his muddled saying in the midst of him being serious is just too damned cute.
‘What can possibly be so funny right now?’
‘Baby, what you just said was a whole other level of mess. I think you meanliftthe lid, notpulland God knows what a pan of bribes is. For an intelligent man, you?—’
His hands move to my hips, his fingers digging in until I squeal. ‘Say sorry.’
‘I’m sorry.’ I giggle. ‘Seriously, though, there is one other person. I don’t know how he’d know about the game necessarily but he definitely wouldn’t need sight of my registration plan to know what I’m thinking.’
‘Jack.’
‘He was my boss for a long time, Gregory. He might be a sick bastard but he taught me a few things in that time.’
‘And me putting him behind bars gives him a damn good reason to want retribution.’
‘Yep. I can’t piece everything together but he fits the bill of seriously pissed off and knowledgeable about the market and the legals behind everything.’
‘All right, lady, you’re starting to wrinkle; let’s eat.’ He pushes me up, standing and climbing out of the bath. The conversation might be over but his own thoughts are just getting started and he needs space to mull it over. I get that. It’s how I work, too.
I follow him out of the tub and let him wrap a white towel around my shoulders after he’s tied his own around his waist. ‘What did you want to talk about?’
‘My mother wants to discuss wedding plans with you. She’d like you to have lunch with her at the weekend.’
‘Already? We’ve only just gotten engaged.’
‘Well, she thinks she could pull something together soon, like in a month.’
‘A month? That’s insane.’
‘Hey.’ He holds my chin. ‘I waited long enough to find you, Scarlett Heath; I don’t want to wait any longer to make you mine. Please don’t fight me on this.’
I can’t resist his plea and my head is really too busy to start fretting about anything else. ‘I’ll meet with her,’ I tell him. But I’m not conceding.
‘Good. The other thing is, you need a dress for the charity gala on Thursday.’
‘Oh, crap, I forgot about that.’
‘I’ve made an appointment for you with Julia and Lucas tomorrow.’
‘Gregory, I don’t need another new dress. I can’t buy something new every time we go somewhere; I’ll be bankrupt.’
‘That’s fine because I’ll be paying, withourmoney, and on this occasion, you absolutely do need a new dress. It’s our first public appearance since the engagement and given the hype surrounding me at the moment, there’ll be a lot of eyes. I want you to feel comfortable and a beautiful new dress to match my gorgeous fiancée will help that.’
Whilst I hate to admit it, what he’s saying does make sense. I want to look good but not for me: for him. I want him to be proud of me and that’s hard enough in a room full of stunning and insanely wealthy women. ‘Fine.’
He clears his throat theatrically. ‘That’s it? That’s all the grief you’re going to give me?’
‘It’s a one-off and don’t push it, Ryans.’
‘Fine. Jackson will pick you up from work at six and take you. I have something to take care of tomorrow.’
