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She looked at her wine and chuckled. “So much for having a normal conversation…”
“We could have a normal conversation—if you allowed us to. There’s no reason to hide anything from me. If I were going to turn you in, I would have done it already. The more I look at you, the more I want to keep you. Because of you, my sales will skyrocket. I can make something beautiful, but I need a beautiful woman to make it extraordinary.”
She swirled her wine and took another drink. “Are you close with your family?”
“Very. Family is everything in my culture.”
“They must be proud of you.”
My father always taught me to be a man who could stand on my own two feet. He said I could inherit his wineries when he passed away, but he didn’t want me to rely on it. So I pursued a dream. “They are. They are both open-minded about it, but it’s also a little awkward.”
“Because you design sex clothes?”
“Because I design the right clothes that make women feel sexy…which gives men the best sex of their lives. I wouldn’t be good at what I do if I didn’t understand my work on a very personal level. That’s what makes it awkward…so we don’t go into detail about what I do.”
“Understandable.”
“What were you going to school for?”
“Business.”
“And what did you want to do with that?”
“Human resources or marketing.”
I could see her in that role. She had the right confidence for it. She could run an office without breaking her stride. “Did you finish your education?”
“No. I completed two years before I dropped out.”
“Do you plan to finish?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ll never go back to America.”
I stared at her harder, hoping she would tell me the reason she was on the run.
When she looked away, I knew she wasn’t going to give anything up.
I was annoyed she refused to confide in me, even though she didn’t owe me anything. “Do you have a cell phone?”
She obviously hadn’t expected me to ask that because her eyes widened in surprise. “No, I don’t.”
“Why?”
“I have to give up personal information to get a phone. I can’t do that.”
This beautiful woman was all alone in another country, and she didn’t have a phone…it was ludicrous. “I’ll get one for you. It’ll be a company phone.”
“You’ve done enough for me, Conway. Don’t worry about it.”
“It’s not safe not having a phone. I’m getting you one, and that’s the end of the discussion.”
“You can take the cost out of my paycheck.”
I wasn’t taking anything from her.
“Has Lacey said anything to you?”
“No. She’s avoiding me right now.”
“I hope she comes around…”
“Couldn’t care less if she does. I’ll replace her with someone else in a heartbeat.”
“She’s a face of your brand. If she went to some other company—”
“It would be a step down, and she wouldn’t get paid as much. She’s a very prideful woman, so she won’t take that route.”
She leaned against the back of the chair but still kept her back perfectly straight. Her shoulders looked nice under the hot sun. She didn’t even need a spray-on tan because her skin was so beautiful. She glowed with her own light.
The only thing I would change was her outfit.
I’d have her wear my diamond lingerie. “Tell me your first name.”
She took a quick breath at the question but kept the confidence in her eyes.
“It doesn’t feel right calling you Ten, especially when you’re my number one. So let me call you something else.”
“Call me whatever you want.”
If we were alone together, I’d grab her by the neck and press her against the wall. My jaw clenched in response, and I narrowed my eyes in displeasure.
“Then call me One.”
“You deserve a better name than that. I don’t understand why you won’t tell me.”
“I don’t understand why you care.”
“You’ve inspired me more than any other woman. We have a connection—you feel it too.”
She kept up her rigidity.
“I want to know who you really are.”
“You’ve done a lot for me, and I appreciate it. You even seem like a good man. But I have too much at stake…I can’t afford to give my name. I can’t leave a trail. When you hired me, I was up front about it. You said you were okay with this. And now you’re going back on your word.”
“I’m not going back on my word. I just want to know you.”
“You do know me, Conway. You know me now, and you know my future. But you don’t know my past—and I want it to stay that way. It’s the only way I’ll live to see another day.”
Live to see another day? Who the fuck was she running from? “I can help you. I’m the most powerful man in the world—”
“One of the most powerful,” she corrected. “There are stronger and crueler men out there.”
