AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She reached for it, and Skyler, the most horrible, worst assistant ever, yanked it away. “Uh-uh. Talk first. This doughnut is truth serum.”
The battle was real. Sugar in exchange for a confession. Hope’s resolve waned, and Hope sank into her chair.
Skyler broke off part of the chocolate pastry and edged it toward Hope.
“You’re coldhearted.”
“Persuasive.” Skyler nodded. “I prefer to think of it as persuasive.”
“Cunning,” Hope corrected.
“Whatever works.” She took another bite. “Go ahead. It’s going to be better than you remember. They’re still warm, but they won’t be for long.”
Bested by an assault on her sweet tooth, Hope sighed and took a bite. Warm and gooey, the icing exploded in her mouth. “God.”
“I told you. You should always trust me. Now… Back to your admirer. From what I could see, he wanted to devour you.”
Hope stared at Skyler above the doughnut poised in front of her mouth for the next bite she was sure to need. “You couldn’t have seen all that.”
“Au contraire. I was facing him as I was walking down the street. There were like a million people heading to work—”
“Or ten.”
“Whatever.” Skyler shrugged. “You were his entire universe.”
“That’s an exaggeration.”
“Nope. Not at all. He stood there watching you forever. Quit keeping me in suspense. I need a name.”
Stalling, stalling, she popped the doughnut in her mouth and chewed. When she couldn’t stall anymore, she braced for the inevitable. “Rafe Sterling.”
“Our client?” Skyler dropped her pastry. “That Rafe Sterling?”
As if there could be two even in a city the size of Houston.
“Shit. Shit.”
Hope nodded. “One and the same.”
“Oh, shit.”
That was about right. “Yeah.” Hope took another bite. “I’m going to need the other half.”
“You are going to need a full dozen. I should have gotten you a latte, too. I’ll get Tony to stop on his way in.” Skyler shoved both doughnuts across the desk. She typed a text message into her phone, then said, “Okay. Tell me everything.”
“Uhm.” There were things Hope would not reveal to another human being. “No.”
“No? Crap on a cracker, it has to be bad.”
Hope chose her words carefully. “If you’ll recall, I had to be the one to call him to find out if he was a sadist.”
“Right.” Skyler glared. “Come on, Hope.”
“He wanted to discuss it in person. Over dinner. That’s how it started.”
Skyler waved her hand, brandishing the doughnut. “So how did it end? Somehow you went from dinner to a public groping the next morning?”
Hope slunk down in her seat.
“Sorry.” Skyler didn’t sound the least bit contrite. When Hope failed to respond, Skyler widened her eyes. Her voice filled with wonder and awe, she asked, “What happened in between? Is he a sadist?”
“Let’s say I…” How much to reveal that would satisfy her assistant but not give away secrets? “I learned a few things about what that might encompass.”
“Such as?”
“There seem to be a whole host of behaviors that could be considered sadistic by some and pleasurable by others.”
“Did he—”
“I’m not answering anything else about what happened after I left the office and when I returned.”
Skyler was silent for a moment. Then she tried a different approach. “What did the Colonel think of him?”
“She tolerated him.”
“Ha! Which meant he was at your apartment.”
“I told you—”
“River Oaks? He lives in River Oaks, right?”
“Uptown. And that’s the end of what I’m saying.” Hope forced an edge of finality into her tone. “Back to business.”
Skyler nodded. “What does this mean for our contract with Mrs. Sterling?”
After everything Hope had learned about his family’s dynamics, she understood why Rafe’s mother had hired them. Time was of the essence. This morning’s call from Celeste had reinforced that. “Nothing has changed. To my knowledge, we haven’t been fired. Which means the mixer is still on.”
