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Stepping between them to interrupt their Hallmark moment just to make sure it wasn’t some kind of ruse on his part, I said, “You’re not going to cuss her out, are you? Because let me tell you one thing, buddy. Kaitlynn did not know who you were when you two met in that courtyard on Halloween.”
Ezra jerked to a halt and blinked at me as if I’d lost my mind for even suggesting such a thing. Or maybe he was trying to figure out who the hell I was. In either case, he whirled toward Kaitlynn, rasping, “You told them?”
“No.” She crossed her arms self-consciously over her chest. “You told. Your sister. Who allowed this guy to eavesdrop on you…” She pointed Shaw’s way. “And then he went and spilled it to everyone and their dog.”
“She’s totally exaggerating,” Shaw whispered loudly. “I didn’t tell anyone’s dog.”
Ezra sent him a short glare before glancing at his sister and sighing. Then he turned back to Kaitlynn. “I apologize. That wasn’t very well done of me to spread gossip that way. Knowingly or otherwise.” He shot another short glare Shaw’s way.
And just like that, Kaitlynn melted. “It’s fine,” she answered, clearly as much under his spell as he was under hers. They kept talking it out, making up, and realizing Ezra was totally not upset with Kaitlynn for being the stepdaughter of his hated co-CEO.
When he realized the rest of us were openly listening in on their conversation, he stepped toward Kaitlynn, touching her elbow so he could murmur, “Can we talk? Alone.”
I swear, the sun damn near twinkled from Kaitlynn’s eyes as she nodded. “My apartment’s close. We can go there.”
And so the two left together, taking all the juicy drama and excitement with them. As soon as the door closed after their departure, Camille glanced at me. “Wanna bet on how much they actually talk at her place?”
“Hell no,” I muttered. “He’s probably already got her panties off.”
As we shared a knowing laugh, Isobel’s strangled cough reminded us we were talking about her brother.
Whoops. We sent her an apologetic wince and promptly booked it out of Rosewood together.
Once on the street, Camille tucked my bouquet that Kaitlynn had shoved at her earlier into her new basket she’d just purchased and shrugged merrily. “Hmm. I guess I get the flowers after all. Gran will love them.” Then she smiled at me brightly. “I was headed to go visit her now, actually. Want to walk to your building together?”
And so I walked back home with Camille, not sure if my visit to Rosewood had helped me solve my dilemma with Diego in any way, but thinking hmm, maybe it’d helped me make a new friend.
I hoped so, anyway. Camille seemed cool.
Chapter 11
Hayden
I stayed off Lana’s radar for three days after my failed attempts to find the proof I needed to destroy her. That gave my private investigator more time to gather all the information we needed to turn Fin Tin in to the authorities. So I had an appointment with a detective at the police department this very afternoon after work.
With the evidence I had for him, there was no way he could be a good cop and not pursue the issue. He’d at least try to contact Finley. And if he did that, Finley would no doubt roll over on Lana and reveal her part in all this. Before that happened, however, I wanted to have at least another true search through her things to see if I could find as much proof as I could about her involvement in any misdeeds.
My biggest obstacle was finding the time to search.
She hadn’t seemed to realize I’d been the one rummaging through her desk on Saturday, so I still had a key to her place. I just needed to wait for the right opportunity to visit again, when she wasn’t home.
It’d have to be during office hours, so I could be assured she’d be away at JFI. But that also meant I’d have to leave work for a while. And this week, with the big portfolio presentation on Friday coming up, my time at JFI was swamped. I could maybe only slip in an hour or so of hunting time, which wasn’t nearly enough to complete a thorough search.
Dammit.
A ding from my computer alerted me to an incoming email message. I glanced up, frowning when I found it was from Brick. Strange. He didn’t send me emails. He was much more the face-to-face-contact kind of person and usually just walked down the hall to visit whenever he wanted to talk.
I opened the message, startled to find another surprise. There was a shoe design attached with a brief note from my brother, saying he’d come up with a shoe idea and thought I might be interested in it.
Since Brick headed the Purses department, he was by no means a shoe expert. Shoes were my area. So I was doubly curious to see what he thought signified as a decent shoe.
Opening the attachment, I lifted my eyebrows, intrigued by the initial overall look. Very eye-catching. And current.
I sat back in my chair and tapped a couple fingers against my chin, taking in more detail while considering cost, production, comfort, practicality. The silver rivets definitely added aesthetic appeal, but located where they were, would they bite into the ankle and induce blisters?
Every angle needed to be deliberated.
Picking up a pen, I clicked it repeatedly, thinking about production next. Would the supplies be too pricey to make these shoes JFI-worthy as well as affordable and therefore accessible to a larger bandwidth of customers? Hmm. I did a quick tally in my head and decided, yes, this shoe was definitely doable.
