“This is exactly the kind of forward thinking you’ll get at CreativEdge,” I tell her. Looking between her and Leon, I continue. “Our marketing team is highly competent and up-to-date on the current trends and ad creatives that really deliver value. If they are working for me, it’s because they’re the best. I don’t accept anything less.”
Pam’s eyes land on me, sizing me up. “I hope that doesn’t mean you’re a difficult person to work with.”
I smile graciously and lean back in my seat. “Not at all,” I lie. My staff hasn’t dubbed me Satan for no reason, but I keep that little tidbit to myself.
Brielle chuckles softly on the side of me, covering it up with a sip of her water.
We finish dinner, and I pick up the tab for the table.
“Thanks so much for letting us crash your Valentine’s Day,” Brielle says, ending the night with a hug to both Leon and Pam. I watch Leon’s hand placement as they embrace, a protectiveness sweeping through me. He’s a complete gentleman though, barely skimming her back and making sure his hand landed on her dress instead of her skin.
I shake their hands before helping Brielle back into her coat at the front door. “Yes, thank you.”
“I’ll get in touch with the information for the tour,” Leon says. All I can do is smile and nod.
The valet brings their truck around first, and we say goodbye one more time.
When he brings my car around, he reaches to open the passenger door, but before he can, I stop him in his track with a hard stare. He backs away discreetly, leaving me to open the door for Brielle.
I round the car and pull out into traffic before I speak.
“What the hell happened back there?”
Her head snaps to mine, her red lips parted in surprise. “What do you mean? I thought that went well, especially by the end.”
“And before the end, when you told them that I love, what was it… fishing and cabins?” I glare at her from the corner of my eye. “Do I look like someone who loves fishing and cabins?”
Her surprise evaporates, and she recovers quickly. “How would I know? Maybe you’re a big outdoorsman when you get the chance.”
“I’m not.” My voice is almost lethal. Now that we’re out of that hellish dinner and I don’t have to put on a show, my annoyance is building. I take it out on Brielle, and considering it’s her fault anyway, I don’t feel too bad about it. “And why the hell would you invite yourself along? This was a one-night thing. Come to dinner, pretend we’re in love, and never speak of it again. What possessed you to think that I want you to come to a weekend trip in the fucking woods? What’s your endgame here, Brielle?”
“Simmer down, Sa… ir… Sir.” She darts her eyes away nervously at the almost slip. If I weren’t so frustrated with her, I’d probably smirk at that. But then she continues, and my blood is boiling again. “You were about to lose them entirely. I saved it.”
The audacity is ripe right now.
“You probably ruined any chances I had. We could barely get through two hours, and you signed us up for two days,” I hiss.
She folds her hands in her lap primly. My attention snags on the peek of her creamy thigh under her open coat. I pull my gaze away quickly, focusing on the road ahead of me.
“Well, we have some time to figure it out. Now that we have a base established, we can build off it.”
“Is that what you’re trying to do?” I ask. My hands flex on the steering wheel. “You’re looking for a way to get close to me, hoping to hook your claws into a wealthy, successful man so you can get out of a roomshare in the ghetto?”
I don’t believe that’s the truth, but I can’t see any other motive. She claimed that she was trying to save the deal on my behalf, but why? It isn’t like she knows me any more than I know her… which is very little.
The look she gives me is pure venom. I can see seething from the side of my eye, but I don’t bother to face her.
“Pull over,” she says. When I don’t listen, driving past lot after lot, she says again, louder and more forcefully, “PULL OVER.”
It’s almost 10:00 p.m. in the dead of winter. The darkness is dense and heavy, even in the city with lights all around us.
“No. I picked you up. I’m dropping you off.”
She huffs out an unamused laugh. “I cannot believe you. To think… I actually thought…”
Whatever it was she thought, she doesn’t say. And I don’t ask.
It isn’t like this would be the first time a woman has tried to manipulate me into spending time with her, trying to force a relationship on me that she knew wasn’t going to happen. I can’t be too careful.
