After spinning away from Tina and lowering my voice, I advise Keke the reason for my call. “I need to send a gift. Friday night at eight o’clock.” The sound of her jotting down my order in a diary that’s manned by three security officers every night, even with it being locked in an uncrackable safe when I mutter, “She needs alotof experience in this industry. Her recipient is a vile, abhorrent man, and although the exchange will occur in public, hewillwant to take matters further.” The sheer actuality in my tone leaves no doubt to the honesty of my reply. I need to lure Col out long enough to see me with a date. Dinner with a woman way out of his league is the best way to achieve that, but there’s no way he’ll let her leave without first trying to get his money’s worth. “But if you forward her headshot to my security team, I’ll ensure she leaves the premises both safeandalone.”
“I know just the woman,” Keke assures after taking a minute to swallow down the urge to bring out her southern twang. She feels edgier when people know she isn’t foreign like half the women on her ledger. “Shall I advise the gift is from you?”
“No. Let him believe she is interested in him of her own accord. He’ll be less arrogant that way.” When Keke hums in agreement, I tack on, “I’ll forward a movement sheet to you Friday afternoon. It will assist you in tracking down the gift recipient. A table is already booked.”
“Good.” This is one of the things I like about Keke. She is direct and to the point. She doesn’t pussyfoot around any more than me. “If I don’t hear from you before then, I’ll contact you Friday afternoon. Have a pleasant day, Mr. Holt.”
I return her farewell before tossing my phone onto my desk and unbuttoning the buttons of my suit jacket. I’m planning to commence winding down for the evening, but Tina has other ideas.
“Your exchange with Logan is creating quite the gossip.” She bounces up from the safe, plants her backside on the edge of my desk, then mutters, “A billionaire being shot down by asuspectedmillionaire has tongues wagging.” Her snarl of the word ‘suspected’ exposes she doesn’t believe the claims I’m not as wealthy as Cormack and Logan. “Did you sign him up?”
I curtly nod. “Contracts are being drafted as we speak.”
“We should celebrate?” Before I can tell nothing is set in stone, even if the ink is dry, she plucks a bottle of champagne off my makeshift bar, then fills two whiskey glasses with the pricy liquid. “Life shouldn’t just be lived. It should be celebrated.”
After handing me a glass, she clinks her rim against mine, then downs the champagne as if it is tequila. Since I’m not a fan of the bubbly concoction, I move to the bar to replace my drink with whiskey while asking, “How did you meet Logan?” Curiosity is fueling my interrogation not a wish to know Tina on a more personal level.
Tina doesn’t see it that way. As she bats her lashes at me, she announces, “It was during my last trip home. We hung out a little, then when he mentioned he was looking to invest, I hinted that Ravenshoe would be a good place to look.” She shrugs like a heap of admiration isn’t in the remainder of her reply. “I told him he couldn’t go wrong partnering with a man like you. He believed me.” While peering at me with gaga eyes, she mutters, “That’s not surprising. You continue to wow me every single day.”
Conscious she wants to switch our celebration location to a room with a bed, I down my generous nip of whiskey before placing my glass onto the bar and walking to the coat rack in the corner of the room. Even if Isabelle weren’t occupying my thoughts at all times of the day and night, Tina’s hopes of another wrestle beneath the sheets still wouldn’t occur. I made a mistake the night I let whiskey talk on my behalf. Every day we breathe air allows us an opportunity to learn something new. Mine the morning after taking Tina to my apartment was that bedding a member of my staff isnevera good idea.
“Isaac…” The need in Tina’s voice sends a tick racing across my jaw instead of cock. She sounds desperate, and her pitch makes sense when she adds, “Who is she?” I spin to face her just as she asks, “And is she worth all this effort? You nearly lost a staggering investment forher.” After swallowing in fret about the glare I hit her with for referencing Isabelle in a derogative manner, she pushes out with a huff. “I just wish you’d stop letting her pull the wool over your eyes.” She slips off my desk before moseying my way. Even in her dour mood, her hips swing with every step she takes. “You race off for her, yet you’re back in your office not even thirty minutes later.” The quiver in my jaw amplifies when she fists my tie and tugs me forward. “I know for a fact you lastfarlonger than that.”
Too frustrated by the purr of her words to think rationally, I snatch up the hand she careens toward my face before it gets close to cupping my jaw. Although she is a valued member of my team, she is precisely that—an employee. She doesn’t make my heart beat faster or my cock twitch. Nothing she could do to me would make me experience one-tenth of the rush of euphoria my body endures when Isabelle is within sniffing distance, so she should quit before she loses more than her gigantic ego.
“It’s late,” I snap out, mindful saying what’s truly on my mind could have me sued. “And I have important meetings to attend later today.” I pull her hand down from my face before assisting her to take a step away from me. Once I have some much-needed distance between us, I put on my coat before saying, “I suggest you use my time out of the office wisely.” My annoyance that I must have this conversation with a valued member of my team is heard in my voice when I add, “What happens in my personal life is not a reflection on my business aspirations. If I wish to leave a gathering mid-meeting to attend a more urgent matter, that decision issolelymine to make. I worked relentlessly to get my empire off the ground, and I’ll do the same if it falls while endeavoring to put the same level of effort into my private life.”
With Tina’s eyes close to bursting, I button up my suit jacket, dip my chin in farewell, then head for my office door. I’m already suffocating the urge to make sure none of the tears I saw welling in Isabelle’s eyes fell during her race out of my office. I don’t need Tina reminding me how desperate the desire became when I watched Isabelle’s flee on the surveillance Hunter has wired around my nightclub.
I want to save Isabelle from additional pain, but the only way I can do that is by staying away from her. That’s a bitter pill to swallow for a man as assertive as me, one I don’t see myself accepting for much longer, especially when Col’s first gift arrives later this morning.
It isn’t a date. It’s the knife Nikolai requested I return to him and a note that will expose him for who he truly is. Col’s greatest trick is convincing people there’s only one of him. He forever forgets about the spawn he mistreats more than the foot soldiers paid to jump on order and that it only takes one disgruntled prince to topple the monarch.
With Dimitri not yet ready to step up to the plate, that leaves plenty of room for Nikolai to take a swing for the top job. Russians will never run my town, but I don’t need to inform Nikolai of that just yet. The best part of valor is discretion, and I have that by the bucketloads.
37
The nasally screech of my date’s voice pierces my ears when she gushes about the crystal table setting of a restaurant I’ve owned the past five years. She claps her hands together before twirling on the spot like the tightness of her clothes isn’t restricting.
Tatiana is gorgeous, but her inability to hold a conversation has me double-guessing Keke’s recommendation. She said one night with Tatiana would make me the envy of every man in town. She failed to mention the possibility of permanent hearing loss or extensive dental work for how often I grind my back molars together to stop me from retaliating to Tatiana’s numerous suggestions for us to skip dinner and go straight for dessert.
No, her dessert reference has nothing to do with the many sugar-ladened stores on the main street of Ravenshoe. There’s only one meal in her sights, and it’s the only thing not on the menu.
“Thank you,” Tatiana gushes with an excessive flutter of her lashes when I pull out her chair before draping her napkin over her lap.
I’m not usually known for my suaveness, but with the hostess ushering my prearranged guest to his table, I’m bringing out a charm usually reserved for behind closed doors.
“Would you like something to drink?” I ask Tatiana after dragging my eyes away from Col, who’s being eyeballed with more than zeal as he makes his way across the packed restaurant floor.
He looks flustered.
I can’t help but smile while wondering what has him so worked up.
“I could think of something far more enticing to drink than a glass of champagne,” Tatiana replies while tiptoeing her rake-thin fingers up my chest.
Keke was right when she said her antics would attract the eye of almost everyone in the room. Not only is Col eyeballing our exchange, but so is Isabelle, who is standing at the end of thetable, looking far too ravishing in a mouthwatering mini dress to be a mundane police officer’s date.
Ryan Carter is batting way out of his league, and ittakes everything I have not to announce that to him after finishing my assessment of Isabelle’s barely covered physique.
