“It’s a good thing my meeting is over because now I’m hard as a rock picturing you with a remote-control vibrator.”
“Not my fault,” I said cheerfully, feeling better about everything. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Grant. My friend is here and w
e’re heading downstairs for a ‘you sprained your ankle today’ cocktail.”
“Enjoy your night.” His voice went lower. “Keep the gifts. Do whatever you want with them. Just don’t let them go to waste.”
I shivered because his tone was clear. He really was picturing me with the vibrator. A shot of heat went through my body. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Ending the call, I fanned myself. “Dakota, I’m in trouble.”
“I think this is a classic example of ‘you’re fucked.’ Literally.” She grinned at me. “I say go for it.”
“He didn’t mean to send the vibrator or the bracelet. His assistant misunderstood.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Can his assistant send me a package too? That is one pricey vibe and I can’t afford that.”
I laughed. “Like a vibrator outreach program for struggling artists?” I set the box on my dresser and ran my hands over the velvet box. For sure, the bracelet had to go back to Grant. I couldn’t keep that, no matter what he said. “Let’s go grab that drink.”
It was a good thing I had Dakota to distract me or I would not have been able to shake thoughts of Grant Caldwell the third.
He was an intriguing man, very different from other men I’d been involved with.
I couldn’t wait to see him the next day and that annoyed me.
I needed to tell him no to whatever it was he had to ask me.
The answer needed to be no.
Chapter 5
I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
I wasn’t going to lose my position at Caldwell Enterprises and I needed Leah to be my fake girlfriend. Sure, I could hire a total stranger if she said no but there were two reasons I didn’t want that to happen.
One, we’d had sex already so the chemistry between us was real and could easily be put on display.
Two, I wanted Leah.
Plain and simple. I didn’t want to fake date someone else. I wanted to fake date Leah.
Because I found her adorable and sexy and amazingly upbeat.
A lot of women would have been too offended to accept my explanation for the care package. Leah had seemed to take it in stride and had seen the ridiculousness of it without being upset. I couldn’t even imagine what the hell she’d thought when she’d opened that box of mixed messages. Darren needed to work on his cohesion skills. One of these things is not like the others.
Andre was pulling up in front of the building Leah had given me as the theater address. I hadn’t really paid attention to the address when I’d given it to him and now I stared up at it in consternation. “Are you kidding me?”
“What? Is this the wrong location?”
“No.” I straightened my tie and smoothed my beard. “But I bought this whole block. Every building but this one. They are holding out and it’s tripping up my redevelopment project. But I plan to win the fight otherwise everything I already bought is useless. This is right in the damn middle of the block.” The whole issue was one of those that should never have been a problem and now was a giant money-sucking pain in the ass.
“Just throw cash at them. They’ll cave eventually.”
“That’s the plan.” I opened the door. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
“You said that yesterday.”
I paused with one foot on the curb. “Fuck off,” I said mildly.