Facade
He put his hand on the small of my back and led me away from the crowd.
“You’re being stupid for not keeping me close, Mr. Steele.”
“Still mad I didn’t let you sleep in my bed last night, Miss Williams?”
“This has nothing to do with sleeping anywhere near you, and you know it. Just because you want to cover up this charade, it doesn’t require keeping me at arm’s length. This is your life we’re talking about.”
He led me over to the bar where the two of us picked up a glass of wine.
“I have everything under control, Miss Williams. You have proven yourself to be a valuable asset, especially with the research you’ve done. Enjoy your drink, let me schmooze some investors, and then I’ll be back.”
“I should be with you. There’s no reason for you to keep me in this corner,” I said.
“There is. If I take you over there to those investors, they’ll be taken with that dress and the way your sultry voice rolls facts right off the tip of your tongue. I need them to give me money, not drool all over their shoes.”
I blinked several times as my gaze hardened on his face.
“If you didn’t want me turning heads, then don’t put me in clothes that do,” I said flatly.
“Survey the room. Count windows. Clock exits and read people’s minds. Isn’t that what you do?” Derek asked.
“At your side, yes.”
“I’ll be right back,” he said as he set his wine glass down.
The man was infuriating. I was at this formal dinner party, watching some award be presented to Derek to inflate his ego in some field that meant he built something that was useful for someone. Big whoop. Derek wanted me in these shitty clothes to blend in, and now he was pissed that I stood out even more. I knew how to blend. I stay close to the walls, stick with the shadows, and fucking watch people. It was what I did. Putting me in a getup like this and then getting mad when I stole the room was a grown man pitching a temper tantrum because a woman was prettier than him.
I was stuck guarding the life of a fucking man-child.
I sipped on my wine while my eyes scanned the crowd. I kept a close eye on Derek as I took stock of the rest of the people in the room. Most I recognized from my extensive research on the company’s networking pool, but some I didn’t. I committed their faces to memory so I could question Derek on them later and then back whatever he told me up with my own research.
For some reason, I still didn’t trust the man.
Out of the corner of my eye, I kept my attention on Jacob. The COO of Steele Inc. was here, no doubt supporting his friend accepting some kind of award. I saw his eyes on me, raking up and down my body as he stood with a whiskey neat in his hand. If he thought he was being inconspicuous, he was sorely mistaken. His gaze had been hard on me for the past six minutes and forty-two seconds, and it showed no signs of letting up.
Until he spotted Derek on the move.
I saw the two of them head to the restroom together, and I made my move. I didn’t care who the fuck Derek was going to be alone with, it wasn’t safe. Everyone was a suspect until I could narrow them down and assess what was really going on.
I stuck to the wall, creeping along in the shadows until I was standing around the corner from where the two of them were stationed.
“Who the hell is that woman?” Jacob asked.
“My new personal assistant,” Derek said.
“I didn’t see any new personnel paperwork cross my desk,” Jacob said.
“Because she’s a personal hire.”
“A personal hire talking statistics about the business?” Jacob asked.
Fuck. Our cover was already about to be blown because Derek didn’t do the one thing he should’ve done.
Added me to the fucking system.
“I just hired her not too long ago,” Derek said. “Settle down.”
“Derek, look. You’re getting death threats from people who are telling you to step down because of sins or whatever the hell they’re saying. They’re getting past your fucking gates. And now you’re letting random women be hired for positions I’m not consulted on?”
“In my defense, we hire random women all the time. They’re called first-time employees,” Derek said.