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“The choice is we back off, or we allow an outsider in,” said Zeke, disgruntled. “The trash vortex is now three times the size of Texas. And I want that cult bust.” His entire posture now said I’m willing to compromise.
“Everlasting is as much about the wives as the husbands. What society wife doesn’t want the chance at beating age through gene therapy, being beautiful forever without needing a plastics guy. If this were any other scam, at any other time, I could tough it out.”
“By tough it out, he means he’s getting hit on,” said Rory.
“It’s a huge distraction and a risk if some husband takes offense or some wife cries foul. No easier way to lose my place of influence in a social circle I’ve been adopted into than mess with their sexual politics.”
“I’m with Cal,” Rory said, “A One Night Wife is a safety feature. Same as a Mysterious Stranger is a shortcut and a Prince for Sale is a door opener. These tactics work for a reason, and Cal is right to want to be in the best position possible to pull off Everlasting. If Fin isn’t in on the con, then she’s easy to cut loose and there’s no risk to us.”
Halsey leaned forward. “You’ve done a background check on her? No cops or lawyers or thug relatives. No roided out ex-husbands or boyfriends?”
“Nothing remarkable. Her ex is Win Oxley-Prescott. Trust fund douche. He couldn’t muscle the attention span to be a threat. Her business partner is Lenore Bradshaw. Jeffrey Bradshaw’s daughter.” That got a laugh out of everyone. Bradshaw was such an amateur.
Time to vote. “All in favor of bringing in an outsider on a limited brief for the Everlasting scam, that outsider being Finley Cartwright, raise your hand.”
His own went up, followed by Rory’s and Zeke’s, Sherin’s and Tresna’s. “We’re not making a habit of this. Fin works the Everlasting scam and then becomes a stranger to us,” he said. That would be the best outcome for her, no matter how much he’d like it to be different.
Halsey’s hand stayed up. “This is an extraordinary event, not a new precedent.”
Cal voiced his agreement to that and quit the room to give them time to complain about him, heading back to his office with his ears ringing. The door was still closed, which was a good sign.
He opened it to find Fin sitting on his office chair. The seat was reclined. She had her hands folded behind her head and her feet, ankles crossed, in those dotty shoes up on his desk. “You’ve messed with everything haven’t you?” Nothing that could cause him any harm, and she couldn’t get into the pc unless she was an ace hacker and he’d somehow failed to discover that fact.
“Pretty much. I was bored. Good luck finding your stapler.”
“Just tell me where you hid the leftover cheese.”
She laughed too honestly to be deceiving him and snapped her fingers. “A missed opportunity. I’m going to learn so much from you, Cal Sherwood.”
He stalked around his desk to find she’d drawn on paper and taped it to his screen. “Is that…?” He peered closer. Arms, legs, a man, a woman. A beast with two backs.
“Yes, I was watching porn while you were away.”
“Porn.”
“Sure, since it’s the only action I’m going to get around you. Or do you have a rule against me enjoying myself while we work together?”
He was going to need a whole set of new rules to deal with Finley Cartwright, to pull off Everlasting, restore his family’s trust, make amends with Rory, and rebuild his own fortune. But no one said it couldn’t be fun.
Fin wanted him to have fun.
He picked up the red marker she’d used and leaned across her, made an amendment to her line drawing; some shading, a few extra key lines, a little more explicitness in the genital area, making Fin drop her legs to the floor and gasp when he said, “Now you’re watching porn.”
Chapter Eleven
A line drawing of two people screwing shouldn’t have made Fin’s face change color, but it was the way Cal took her silly stick figure sketch and made it shockingly rude that set her face alight. How was she supposed to work with him and not want him if he was going to provoke her like that?
“I’m never telling you where I hid the cheese.”
He grinned. So damn pleased with himself. “You already told me.”
“You’ll only know when it starts to go off.”
“Ah, Finley. One of your lessons is going to be about tells. You have various tells. Your laughter is one. I can tell when your laughter is real, when it’s concealing another emotion, or whether you’re using it as a weapon.”
She squinted at him. “You can tell all that from a laugh?”
“You’ll be able to as well when we’re finished with you.”
