Waterfall Kisses (The Kisses 9)

“I love you.” I squeezed his hand. I wiped at my eyes, wanting to change the subject. I had enough of deep emotions for the day. I needed to laugh, not cry anymore. “I should tell you something, though. Since we're not keeping secrets anymore.”

“What?” Concern crossed his face at my serious tone. “You can tell me anything.”

“I totally ate your sandwich that day in the office last week. It wasn't the secretary. It was me,” I confessed.

Leo laughed, breaking the tension building in the car.

“I don't know, Charlotte,” he said, smiling at my joke. “I was very fond of that sandwich.”

“I'll get you another. An even better sandwich,” I promised, loving that he was joking with me again. Things were slowly righting themselves in my world.

“You already have,” he replied. “You've given me so much.”

The car pulled up in front of the beach mansion Bastian and I were staying at. I frowned, thinking we were supposed to be going to Leo's place. That's where the doctor was meeting us.

“Murdoch? What are we doing here?” I asked.

“Charlotte, I need to ask you a favor,” Leo answered for him. “I need you to call an emergency board meeting.”

“A meeting?” I repeated. I was expecting that he needed me to go get Bastian or that he wanted t

o stay with me for the night. I wasn't expecting him to ask me for a board meeting. Especially because he could call a board meeting on his own. He didn't need me to do it for him.

“Yes. An emergency board meeting.” He smiled hopefully. “In Miami. As soon as possible.”

“Okay...” I frowned, not yet understanding what he was doing. “Why don't you just call it? And, you don't have to call a board meeting to tell Bastian and Gabe about this. Just come inside and tell them right now. It'll suck, but they'll understand.”

He shook his head. “I need you to do it. I need you to be worried about my personal history interfering with my work.”

“I do? But why would I do that? I don't believe it does...” Slowly, what Leo was doing dawned on me. “Oh, I get it. I'll call the meeting and Toby's going to panic. He might even do something stupid. Like confess to the blackmail.”

“And hopefully the slush fund theft.” He squeezed my hand, giving me confidence in his plan to catch Toby red-handed. “Plus, since we'll be in Miami...”

“We'll be in US jurisdiction,” I finished. I pulled out my phone and dialed the familiar number of Bastian's secretary. “Hi Gladys, I need to call an emergency meeting of the board...”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I hadn't been able to eat anything all morning. My stomach was made of knots and snakes, and the snakes weren't happy about the knots.

I stood in front of the main table in the empty meeting room and tugged on the non-existent wrinkles of my suit jacket. I'd been tugging on it all morning to the point where I was afraid the shoulder seams might give out. It was just nerves. I'd been in hundreds of important meetings, but this one was different. This wasn't just money on the line. This was Leo. I was nervous. Crazy nervous.

I just had to stick to the plan.

I took a deep breath and went over to the coffee station on the side of the room. A big pot of fresh coffee was already sitting and waiting. I took one of the mugs and poured the dark liquid along with my requisite two creams and sugars. Maybe some caffeine would help me settle.

“Hi, Charlotte,” Toby greeted me. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I hadn't heard him come in. Luckily, my coffee was sitting on the counter so I could stir it, or it would have ended up all over me. That wouldn't have helped my nerves.

“Hi, Toby,” I stuttered. I did my best to smile, but what I really wanted to do was rip his head off. Here he was, smiling and acting all friendly, when in reality he was blackmailing his employer. “How are you?”

Toby reached for a mug. He was already sweating and I doubted hot coffee would help him. “I'm doing fine. I'd rather be out on a beach than here, but...” He shrugged. “That's the job, right? Got to do what the boss man says.”

“Yeah,” I half-heartedly agreed. I swallowed on a dry throat. “Hey, Toby? Do you know if Leo's used the CEO slush fund for anything recently?”

Toby wiped his forehead with his sleeve before dropping a creamer in his coffee. He refused to raise his eyes to mine, instead staring into his drink. “I'm not sure. Why?”

I did my best to keep my face calm. I suddenly had a new respect for actors. This was hard. “The accountants are on me for it. There's money missing from the account.”

“Well, it's a slush fund, right? Money's always moving around in those.” Toby sipped on his coffee. “Besides, they're billionaires. I doubt it's anything. It's not like they're going to miss a few dollars out of their Scrooge McDuck swimming pool vaults.”