"You will get it back. I'm not interested in your startup. If you can make it through this mistake, I will just take some shares, and you can then concentrate on making your billions." I down my drink, stand, and hold out my hand.
Time to get out of here so I can check in on Lola.
Louie slowly stands, too. "But..."
"There is one way to do this, and I need you out and me in. Your name is mud in certain circles, so I will clean that mud."
His shoulders deflate as he puts his hand in mine.
And we shake.
I nod. "You will sign over the entire company to me. Effective immediately."
Chapter Three
LOLA
"Oh...shit!"
Voices grow and stop right outside the room with the copier.
Panic whirlwinds in my blood, turning my temperature up to boiling, and I don't know what to do. Its wings beat hard against me, and I try to think, get past the sudden buzzing in my brain.
I glance down as someone says "copier."
Fuck.
I chose this one because it is in the office supply room, the others are either in corners or in open-plan areas. This is one of the few in a room with a door that closes.
And now...
I glance down.
The roses on my panties seem to take on such brightness I can't look away.
I also can't move.
My bag is on the shelf with the reams of paper, and if someone comes in, I'm toast. It is either the panties on thedamn copier or me diving into my bag, looking like I'm stealing.
Fuck.
I drag in a breath.
The panties sit on the copier, arranged just so. The number one punched into the machine and?—
"I need to get this copied, Clay, hold on..."
Oh. God.
The panic inside beats its wings hard, and I slam the lid down, catching my thumb.
"Ow."
My thumb throbs as I drag it free.
A moment of silence.
Then a voice comes from just outside the door. "Actually, I will use the one down the hall. I think someone's in there doing...something."
