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Buy what I wanted. Spa? I felt like I was in the moviePretty Woman. No, worse. I felt like my mother.
I could buy my own clothes. Pay for a massage. I was independent, not reliant on him, or I thought I was.
I was here as an accessory for Silas, physical proof that he wasn’t a creepy manwhore like his father. I was to prove he was a decent guy for Mr. Hyport to sign on the dotted line. I’d show up for dinner, meet the Hyports. Look pretty. Smile.
He set a hand on the bed and leaned in. Kissed me. I’d been thinking so hard that I missed him button his shirt and put on a tie.
“I’ll be back to get you at five-thirty. Meet in the lobby?”
I could only nod as he grabbed his suit jacket and left the bedroom. I heard the click of the suite’s main door when it shut behind him.
This was another role. I needed the right outfit. I had no doubt a cardigan and pearls would work for this as well, although with all the buttons done up this time. Just like my mother.
I wasn’t freaking out. Not at all.
46
SILAS
KnowingEve was here in town with me made all the difference in my meetings. I’d wanted to climb back in bed with her, do some of that multitasking pussy eating I’d done at the inn again. The dreaded dinner with the Hyports was now going to be pleasant because I had my wife by my side. I was eager to show her off, let them see how amazing she was. Independent, feisty, and had the same business savvy that I did and without the CEO father or hints of nepotism to get in her way.
With June manning Steaming Hotties back in Hunter Valley, Eve had a day of leisure. So far, she’d slept in. A massage, some shopping would be relaxing. She’d earned it because she worked too hard.
I was at my desk in the office given to me to use while in the Hyport building. I wasn’t on the top floor or anywhere near a corner office, but the view of the bay was impressive. If it wasn’t so cloudy, I would be able to see the Golden Gate Bridge.
Bradley knocked on the open door, then came in. “I have the information you wanted.”
Where I was fair, with blond hair and pale eyes, my assistant’s skin was the shade of Eve’s darkest roast coffee, his black hair trimmed close to his head. He was in a crisp gray suit and had a file tucked under his arm.
I smiled grimly at what he’d uncovered. Eve had easily distracted me on the plane from the details of her ex. A man was only so strong. But I needed to know.
“Tell me.”
He flipped the folder open.
I settled into the high-backed desk chair and listened.
“Cheney Douglas IV. Thirty. Grew up outside of Hunter Valley, skipped college to return to the family business. Parents are Cheney Douglas III and Enid Custer Douglas. Only child. The Douglas’s had the original claim on the DouglasGrove Mine back in the 1800s. Back then it was gold, but now they mine hard rock.”
“Meaning…”
He looked up from the report, met my gaze. “Meaning they gut the land for rock which is crushed and used for commercial and construction projects around the west.”
“Right. I read something about them from the land search for the James Inn. Go on,” I prodded, grabbing a stapler and fiddling with it.
“Parents don’t work. Just like Eve Hunter’s parents. They live off the gains of their predecessors.”
Mav, Theo, Dex, and I were all descendants of James family members who made a fortune but we didn’t kick back and do nothing. I’d go apeshit if I sat around and did nothing. So would the others. That didn’t mean I wanted to work remotely all over the world for the rest of my life either.
“Douglas is listed as CFO of the corporation, but I have yet to find proof of him accomplishing anything.”
I set the stapler down, lined it up so it was parallel to the desk phone. “No college or MBA and he’s the chief financial officer of a huge mine?”
That seemed far-fetched. Or nepotism. Or both.
He nodded. “Correct.”
“You’re saving the best for last,” I guessed.
