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Chapter Nine
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“Well, Dixon, it looks like I did it again!” Payton exclaimed. “I was able to get fifteen percent off the asking price.” A flashback of her and Jack having sex on her couch entered her mind for a brief second.
Dixon stood up, almost knocking his seat over. Payton was standing to his right, leaning up against the wall, looking fabulous in her dark, skinny jeans, and a white t-shirt. Swiftly, Dixon picked her up into a hug as he twirled them around. Gently putting Payton down, he replied, “I don’t even want to know how you do it.” He was so happy he looked like a little boy in a candy store.
“I told you—you want it, I do it.” Payton gave Dixon a smirk as he strolled over to the window in her office. She was pretty sure he understood she was not just talking about real estate.
“You are the best investment I have made yet.”
“And you haven’t even collected any interest.” Payton took a seat on top of her desk, slightly leaning back onto her hands, trying to look seductive. Purposely, she always cleaned off her desk when Dixon was around. She had never had sex on her desk or in her office before, and would not mind trying it out with him. It never hurt to be over-prepared.
“Let’s do lunch to celebrate,” Dixon replied as he headed toward the door.
She followed, forcing a fake smile on her face, disappointed it was only lunch and not sex. Lunch seemed to be one of the only things they did that was not work-related and yet their relationship seemed to be more than that to her.
*
Jack strolled intoPayton’s office with a coffee in hand. He knew that Payton usually went out for lunch, so he thought he would take advantage of her not being at the office.
“Good afternoon, Shannon,” Jack said, smiling, as he handed her a Starbucks coffee. “I was in the area and thought I would stop by and say hi.”
“Jack, what a nice surprise! Thank you for the coffee. Can you wait one second? I just need to run into the back room.” Shannon scurried away, wanting to check her hair and makeup.
Jack, taking advantage of being alone, slipped back to the front door and checked to see if the key he took from the previous night worked. Success!
“What are you doing?’ Shannon asked, causing Jack to stiffen up.
“I thought the door hinge might be off, but it looks fine, just a little sticky.” Jack moved away from the door and closer to Shannon’s desk, taking in the sight of her revealing shirt. After flirting with her for a few moments, which he considered his good deed for the day, he finally asked, “I had one thing to talk to Payton about come to think of it. Is she in?”
Slightly disappointed that he was asking about Payton, Shannon replied: “No, she is at lunch with Mr. Taylor at the restaurant around the corner.”
“No problem, I will give her a call later then. Have a great day, Shannon.” Jack kissed Shannon’s hand and left the office, knowing he left butterflies in her stomach. Some girls just made it easy, he thought.
*
Lilly sat backinto the black sofa in her office and scanned the room. “There is so much information. How is it that this family is still getting away with this stuff?”
Martin put down the folder he was looking at and stared at Lilly. The stare gave her the creeps. It was a look that said, are you stupid?
“This is one of the reasons why we may have trouble keeping this family in jail. This information can be confusing to others or not be represented properly.”
Martin’s tone didn’t match the expression on his face after her initial question. The tone had warmth, compassion and patience. Lilly had a hard time trying to gauge what Martin was truly feeling or how to take his mannerisms.
“To me, it looks like the family had their fingers in a bunch of different pies. I bet we may find some inflated appraisals leading to mortgage fraud, illegal property flipping, some identity theft and anything else that can go along with real estate.” Martin took off his glasses and cleaned them on his dress shirt. “I just hope that there is enough information to find them guilty by a jury.” Martin looked through his glasses to ensure they were clean and began reading through the folder in his hand.
They both had enough experience to know that even though there had been charges laid, it would still be difficult to find them guilty if they had a really good lawyer. This particular crime family had a way with getting off. Or worse, end up having some poor smuck taking all of the blame, leaving the family heads free. It was very frustrating. Without looking up again he announced, “You need a break; why don’t you go get us some coffee and then you will be refreshed and ready to go again.”
Lilly was stunned. One minute he seemed so nice and the next he ruined it with his demands. How did people work with the guy? But since he was senior, she obeyed.
*
“Cheers.” Dixon Taylorlifted his glass of wine toward Payton’s. Taking the first sip of her wine, she kept her eyes focused and locked upon his. She loved the fact that he accepted the challenge and did not allow his eyes to wander throughout the lounge.
They sat in the corner of the restaurant where it was easy to people-watch. The waitresses all wore black miniskirts and red tank tops. The restaurant was crowded with people at every table and the line up to be seated was out the door. In order to drown out the chatter, the speakers played, “I Love Rock and Roll” by Britney Spears.
“Was it mentioned where the people were moving?” Dixon asked, as he silently accepted defeat by taking a look around the restaurant.
