I hesitated, but only for the few seconds it took me to remember that this woman had stolen six figures from a charity account. She wasn't worth my guilt.
I took a seat, too, and calmly answered her second question. "Yes. That's what she said."
"She looked so great at the photo shoot! But I know she still smokes." Sunny's shoulders slumped. "I should've guessed that awful habit would catch up with her. Just like it did my grandmother."
A wave of sadness passed over her features. Her incredibly pretty features. I had to admit, Nora had been right about her... appealing nature, if wrong about her being an easy, perfect match for me.
Before I found out about the embezzlement, I might not have minded taking Sunny on a date to assess whether or not we could come to terms on a no-strings-attached arrangement.
But I didn't appreciate the conflicting sensations she aroused inside of me.
I was good at assessing people. Damn good. I wouldn't have made the kind of strides I did within only five years of being named CEO without a knack for breaking down the wants, needs, and motives of the people who sat down on the other side of my mental chess board.
This woman was a thief. She'd stolen money from the charity fund she was supposed to be administrating on her dead grandmother's behalf. That was a fact, printed out as clear as day inside the black file folder still lying open on the desk between us. But I couldn't shake the feeling that she was genuinely upset about my grandmother's supposedly deteriorating health.
That unfamiliar emotion twinged again. This time inside my gut.
But Max...Nora...the AudioNation deal. I'd be damned if I let myself get manipulated out of everything I'd work for on a baby-hungry grandmother's whim.
The high-stakes, multi-billion-dollar ends justified any means I took to ensure that Nora would never be able to pull a stunt like this on me again.
I reset my expression to impassive. "So, your answer to my proposal is…?"
"Yes!" She leaned forward in the pawn chair to answer with an adamant nod. "Of course, I'll pretend to be marrying you or engaged to you or whatever it takes. No more questions asked."
"Good. It's decided, then." I ruthlessly stamped down that unwanted emotion before it had the chance to bother me again. "I'll have the money transferred back into the charity fund, and I'll also have my assistant set up a weekly allowance to go into your personal credit union account."
"Oh no, I can't accept payment," she said before I could finish laying out my generous deal terms.
I inwardly jolted and outwardly squinted. "What do you mean you won't accept payment?"
"I mean, I'll do anything to ensure Nora's happiness. I don't need to get paid an allowance for that." She talked slowly, as if she were explaining her answer to a kindergartener, not the billionaire CEO who'd just handed her a get-out-of-Vegas-jail-free card with an allowance on top.
"Thank you for putting the money back in the fund. I'm so grateful, believe me. And I'm going to pay you back every cent, I promise. But..." Sunny shook her head, her expression both righteous and resolved. "I can’t, in good conscience, accept money for doing the right thing."
Is she serious?
"Good conscience? The right thing? You embezzled six figures worth of charity funds," I reminded her.
"Yeah..." She squirmed in her cold metal seat. "And that's why I can't take any more money. From Nora. Or you, her grandson. That's why I have to pay you back."
"But you don't have to pay me back," I pointed out. "I'm offering you a good deal with an allowance on top. I don't understand why you can't?—"
"I know you don’t. And, like I've already said, I can't explain it to you." She fretted her bottom lip. "I'm sorry for the confusion. Truly. And thank you for your generous offer. But I can't take it. I just can't."
I kept my expression an icy blank. Barely.
I'd dealt with thieves before. I'd negotiated with stubborn vendors. I even knew one or two people in my circle who could be called noble.
But I'd never in my entire Vegas life encountered a stubborn, noble thief.
"You're confusing the shit out of me," I informed her without any inflection in my voice. "And it's pissing me off."
She winced. "I'm not trying to, but I can't?—"
I held up a hand before she could finish another apology that would probably just leave me with more questions. "Youwilltell me why you stole that money. If not now, most definitely before this little charade of ours is over. So you might as well let me in on whatever you're hiding."
More squirming. It was like watching a pretty brown house cat politely try to stay put inside a frying pan. "Could we go back to the pretending to be engaged stuff?"
