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“Keith and I’ve been friends since college,” he said. “I trusted him as much as I’ve ever trusted anyone.”
“Your mistake.” But there was something about the slump in those big warrior’s shoulders, the burnished shadow in his wolf’s eyes that got to her.
“Don’t let yourself get sucked in,” Duke had said. “Every jackass has a sad story.”
The sandwich had crumbled in her fingers. She dropped it untouched in the trash. “You’re not the first employer who’s been ripped off by a trusted employee. It happens all the time.”
He curled his hand around the ankle he’d hooked over his knee. “I should have seen what was going on.”
“Your so-called security people should have seen. That’s why you hired them. But they’re probably taking a cut.”
His head came up, and he bristled with hostility. “My security people are top-notch.”
She gave him a faintly pitying look. “So rich and yet so dumb.” It felt good to see what he couldn’t. “The reality is that you’re so used to everybody bowing and scraping that you don’t understand most people only show you their best side. You’ve forgotten how many creeps there are. All your fame has made you a babe in the woods when it comes to living in the real world.”
She expected a hot dispute. Instead, he set her pig aside and drilled her with his eyes. “Who hired you to follow me?”
She steeled herself. “That’s confidential. Don’t ask me again.”
He uncoiled from the couch. “Let me get this straight. Even though I have the best lawyers in the city on your ass, and even though your two-bit detective agency is barely surviving—yeah, I did some investigating of my own—you’re still not giving me the name of your client, is that right?”
She had to hold her ground, no matter how much she wanted to cave. “What part of ‘unethical’ don’t you understand?”
“Oh, I understand, all right. So let me put it another way. Turn over the name, and I’ll hire you myself.”
She gaped at him. “For what?”
“For your suspicious nature. I’m a fast learner. It’s obvious I need another set of eyes in the club. Just for a couple of weeks. Someone who can see what I’ve been missing. Security to check on my security, if you will.”
This was her dream job. Exactly what she needed right now—a client with deep pockets offering work that would be both interesting and challenging. Her head spun. There was only one catch. A big one. “And all I have to do is . . .”
“Turn over the name of your client.”
At that moment, Piper hated Deidre Joss. Deidre’s stubborn insistence on anonymity was going to ruin Piper. She should just tell him the truth.
But she couldn’t. She stalked across the carpet to the door, fighting the ache in her chest. “Nice talking with you, Mr. Graham. Too bad you have to leave.”
“You’re not going to do it?”
The urge to give him the name he wanted was so strong she had to clench her teeth. “I don’t have your money, or your power, or your fame, but I’ve got ethics.” Ethics. She’d never hated a word more.
“Once you step over the line, you can never step back. Remember that.”
Duke had probably been talking about sex, but the fact was, if she gave in on this, she’d be giving away her self-respect, and she wouldn’t do that for anything or anyone.
Graham came closer, dangling the golden carrot. “Think of all the money you could make on this job . . .”
“Believe me, I am!” She flung open the door. “I did you a favor. Now do me a favor and get out of here so I can finish packing and move into my cousin’s shitty basement and come up with another way to stay in business without selling my soul.”
The sadistic bastard grinned. A big grin that took over his rugged face. “You’re hired.”
“Are you deaf? I told you! I’m not selling out my client.”
“That’s why you’re hired. Meet me at my condo tomorrow morning at ten. I believe you know where it is.”
And that was that.
***
