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He grimaced. “Yeah. But she doesn’t know anything about this.”
“Oh, I know. There is no way Rylie would have kept something like this from me.”
“How are you not pissed right now, threatening to sue me for all I’m worth?”
She scoffed. “Please, did you think I didn’t know you were up to something? A millionaire playboy wants to be a hired groomsman?”
“Then why did you take me on?”
“For all the reasons I told everyone else. You run in the right circles and you look good in a tux.”
Dustin shook his head, laughing. “I guess those are valid. I could have ruined you, though.”
“Maybe. Or I may have ruined you. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter. We always have one more ace up our sleeve.”
She reached into the cabinet below her desk and brought out a large file. “When you gave all your commission to Rylie, I took the liberty of having you investigated. I figured you were trying to slip out of the non-disclosure agreement by not accepting payment. Let’s just say if you ever are tempted to expose my clients’ secrets, I’ll expose yours. Because as honest as you may be, we all have things we’d rather stay hidden.”
Dustin took in her deadly expression and gulped. “You know… I am really glad I didn’t cross you. You’re terrifying.”
She stuck the file in the drawer and closed it. “Thank you.”
“About Rylie…”
“If you’re worried I’m going to fire her over your office romance, you can rest easy. Since you’re tendering your resignation, it’s not an issue anymore.”
Dustin stood up. “Then I guess that is it. I’ll have my office cleaned out on Friday, and after the wedding on Saturday, we’ll be square?”
“Not quite yet,” she said, leaning her elbows on her desk. “I want one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I want a wedding deposit. In the event that you get engaged before turning forty-five, Something Borrowed is commissioned to help you plan your wedding.”
He almost laughed until he realized she was dead serious. “What if you go out of business?”
“Your money will be returned in full, same as if you never get married.”
“But if I do, you plan everything.”
“Every…last…detail.”
“This feels a lot like blackmail,” he said.
“Let?
??s call it insurance. It has a sweeter ring to it.”
Considering she could have rained a whole lot more hell down on him, this didn’t seem like a bad deal.
“I’ll cut you a check now.”
* * * *
After work, Rylie grabbed a cart from the front of the supermarket and headed for the pet aisle. She wanted to get another Kong toy for Raider and she was going to bake a special cake for Tonya’s last night of freedom. She’d asked Rylie earlier if they could do a sleepover at her house, and she’d been unable to come up with a reason why they couldn’t.
Well, she’d had a ton of reasons, but Tonya’s pleading look had demolished every single one of them.
She threw a couple of new toys into her basket and turned the corner, only to slam her cart into someone.
