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“Why can’t I just tinker him?”
“Because the job isn’t just the donation. They have to interact. Someone, somewhere, obviously believes that this interaction will have a trickle-down effect. Why? I don’t know. The IBA doesn’t get that information.”
I could feel my heartbeat ratcheting up. I wasn’t ready for this. Two? This could be a mess. What if I tried to juggle them and they called me out as a fraud?
Kaden moved his fingers in a soothing gesture. It was probably all for show. No way he was trying to help me, right? It wasn’t as if I’d told him I was uncomfortable.
“I do this, I get the house?” I asked, working my way up to heading over there.
He smiled slightly. “Already have the accountants handling it. We overbid. Cash deal. We waived inspections and contingencies. It’ll be closed in a matter of days.” He was scanning the crowd while I stared at him.
“You bought it already?” I asked, my voice sounding small even to my ears.
“Of course. Your terms were the house.”
“I didn’t hold up my end yet. What if I can’t tinker them?”
“Then it’ll be payment for a different job,” he said, shrugging. “It’s not that significant.”
The house might not be a big deal to him, but it was life-changing for me, or at least someone I cared for.
“No. Of course not.”
I nodded, stepping away and toward the mark, before I started acting like an idiot and profusely thanking him.
I grabbed a glass of wine off a passing waiter’s tray, downed half of it, and worked my way in closer until I was at the mark’s left-hand side. He glanced my way, causing a lag in the conversation as he tried to place me. The women surrounding him didn’t seem to have any interest in doing anything other than kicking my ass out of their little group.
I needed flesh-to-flesh contact. Hand or face? Definitely hand. I laid my fingers on his wrist, making sure they touched his skin directly.
I could feel the connection instantly, see the attention shift as he suddenly didn’t notice anyone in the room but me.
“Roger?” I said, having no idea where the name came from. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I believe we’ve met before.”
He smiled warmly. “Have we? I can’t imagine I’d forget a face like yours, but you do seem oddly familiar.”
Reels and reels of images rushed through my head, nearly knocking me over. That hadn’t happened before.
“The Bentley event a year ago?” I asked, going on a hunch.
His smile got wider. “I do remember you. You didn’t have time for me because of that pesky date of yours.” He glanced around the room. “I’m hoping you lost him?”
“Luckily, I came alone this time.” I nodded toward the side of the room. “Do you have a moment? I’d love to introduce you to someone.”
“For you? I’d walk through hell.”
Hopefully that wasn’t where he was heading.
He covered my hand with his, shifting it to the crook of his arm as he extricated himself from his group of admirers.
“Now who is this person you’d like me to meet?”
“She’s right over here.”
“She? You had me worried for a minute it might be a man. I’m not sure I’d handle that well at all.”
Roger certainly didn’t waste any time laying it on, and I didn’t think it was the lure of being tinkered.
I brought him over to the woman, her name suddenly coming to mind as if I’d forgotten it, instead of never knowing it.
