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“It’s never short notice for me,” Josh said, and though the statement was arrogant, his tone wasn’t. He was stating the truth. No venue in New York, shit, probably the world, would turn down his business. That was just a fact.
Once upon a time, she'd have been in awe of that. Impressed at how he could maneuver through society.
But that would have been a long time ago now. She’d grown desensitized to wealth over her years with Jamie. Having learned what it could do, the doors it opened and closed, as well as the way it had trapped her in her untenable circumstances, she’d begun to view money as an evil.
Josh’s bank balance didn’t interest her, but from the taut tension in Elizabeth’s face, his mother definitely believed Samantha’s motives were centered in his wealth.
Which, though she didn’t particularly like him, was very unfair on his behalf.
Josh was an attractive man. Very attractive. Though she’d always seen that before, it was weird how she was noticing it more now. He had power, could hold a good conversation when he wasn’t being a jerk, had a charitable foundation he was actually interested in and took an active part in, and had a brilliant sense of humor if the laughter she remembered hearing coming from Jamie’s den when the pair hung out together was anything to go by.
Elizabeth was totally selling her son short if she thought a woman could only ever be interested in her son’s money.
Although, knowing the type of woman Elizabeth was, maybe it made sense. As a mother, most of her maternal interest was focused there. Why wouldn’t a potential wife’s be too?
That train of thought definitely saddened her.
Her father had been a jerk, but Samantha’s mother was a darling. Given a choice between any number of dollars and her mother, Samantha would always choose her mama. Because of her, she knew how to be a good parent. Knew her own worth too. And knew that her mother had always had her back—God rest her soul. Unlike Josh, who had several hundred millions padding his accounts, but an absent mom.
The rest of the conversation, and the meeting itself, was nothing more than a series of shots lobbed at one another. By the end, Samantha had a neck strain from moving her head from side to side. It was like watching a tennis match.
Samantha had always hated tennis.
When she thought about her relationship with her own mother she was relieved hers was nothing like Josh’s. When she had been with her mom, she could relax. Could find a strange sense of peace that came from being half-child again in the presence of adults.
God, she missed her.
Here, though, there was no peace for Josh.
He and Elizabeth were adversaries, fighting a war on a battlefield that had been established a long time ago. Probably long before Jamie and Josh had become such close friends.
When they finally escaped Elizabeth’s sleek penthouse, Samantha found herself split in two. She was relieved to be out of there, happy to be over that first hurdle, but she also felt sorry and saddened on Josh’s behalf.
That had not been a pleasant way to pass a few hours.
When they made it out of the apartments, entering the elevator that would take them to the garage floor, Josh didn’t say a word, just pulled out his phone and began texting somebody. In the mirrored box, she didn’t have to turn her head to study him, and though he’d never interested her before, she found herself watching the minutiae of his expression.
With his head bowed, the lights enhanced the gleam in his hair. He also looked more tanned, an impossibility considering how much time he spent indoors in his office building. A man like Josh didn’t get rich by sunbathing by the side of the pool. He just owned the pool, paid somebody to clean it, but probably barely used it.
/> Being rich and having stuff didn’t mean that stuff was always used. Her in-laws, for example, had several properties all over the States, and yet they never left New York. She didn’t understand the point of having several homes and not using them, but maybe that was proof of how bougie she was, and how she would never be on the same stratosphere as people like the Garretts.
As Josh read from his phone, she was quite charmed to see his lips move. The tell surprised her. She wondered what that meant.
Was he nervous?
Angry?
She supposed it didn’t really matter. Samantha intended to be around him long enough to fool her in-laws, but not long enough to learn such facts.
The elevator lights revealed other startling truths. Like how well his suit clung to his frame, lovingly sitting atop his body, without obscenely revealing his muscles. Save for now. His posture, and the lighting, helped her to see his belly beneath the cotton/silk blend of his shirt. Not only that, but she saw the faint lines either side of his eyes, as well as on his brow. He was only thirty-two, six years older than she was, but they were quite deep.
From stress?
He didn’t have a particularly mobile face, so she assumed so.
As the doors opened, his head shot up. She managed to avert her glance before he caught her staring, but when he saw his car idling outside the elevator, he murmured, “Ladies first.”
The chauffeur was there, waiting, and he opened the door for her. Josh rounded the back of the vehicle to climb in the other side.
