Tall, Dark and Irresistible (Tall, Dark and Sexy 2)
Chapter One
When a woman used desperate and proposition in the same sentence, it was a good indication that he was potentially dealing with someone a little unhinged or he was about to get lucky. Either way, Leo Stone was intrigued.
Leo looked up from reading the phone message that Heather, their receptionist at Prestige Car Services, had thrust at him the moment he’d walked into the office. “Did she really say she was desperate that I’m the one who picked her up from the airport, and that she had a proposition for me? Or was that your creative interpretation of the conversation you had with”—he glanced back at the paper for the woman’s name—“Peyton Bishop?”
Heather laughed. “I swear that message was written word for word, and she even sounded a little . . .well—”
“Crazy?” Eric—his good friend and business partner—supplied as he stepped out of his nearby office and leaned against the doorframe, an amused smile quirking his lips as he added his two cents to the discussion. “Or maybe a little mentally unbalanced? Or psycho?”
Heather rolled her eyes at Eric’s exaggerated descriptions. “No, she sounded a little awkward and uncomfortable on the phone. Like she wasn’t happy about the fact that she was being so pushy, but it was very important to her that Leo was her driver.”
“Did you mention that I no longer pick up or drive clients around?” At one time, he and Eric were the only two drivers, but over the years, their company had grown exponentially and they now employed enough full- and part-time chauffeurs to cover their fleet of vehicles, which gave them more time to focus on building their corporate clientele base.
“Yes, I told her all that, but it didn’t matter,” Heather said, tucking her dark brown hair behind her left ear, which also flashed the new engagement ring her boyfriend had recently put on her finger. “She was very persistent.”
“And did you also tell her that it would be far cheaper for her to use Uber or Lyft for a ride from the airport instead of using our car service?” he asked, wanting to make sure this woman, Peyton, knew what she was getting herself into cost-wise. Their cars were high-end in order to cater to wealthy businessmen and customers who preferred a more luxurious ride, and they paid the price for that comfort and indulgence.
“Yes,” she said again, this time with exasperation for his excessive interrogating when she knew her job. “I gave her a quote of what it was going to cost. I’m telling you, she was adamant that Leo Stone be the one to pick her up, but if it’s something you really don’t want to do, then I can always get one of our other drivers to stand in for you and he can tell her that you weren’t available.”
Leo shook his head. “No, I’m free tonight, so I’ll do it.” To appease his curiosity about this determined woman more than anything.
“Stalker alert,” Eric said, coughing out the two words.
Leo smirked at his good friend since college, goading him right back. “Well, she clearly has great taste, since she asked for me over you.”
An abrupt gust of laughter spilled out of Eric as he clutched his stomach. “Okay, yeah, you might want to take a can of mace with you. You have no idea what a desperate woman is capable of, though I have to admit that I’m dying to know how she’s going to proposition you. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll finally get to end your six-month-long dry spell.”
In deference to their secretary, Leo resisted the urge to flip off his friend for his crass comment. Unlike Eric, Leo had standards and didn’t stick his dick just anywhere. “I’m sure it’s not a sexual proposition, so get your mind out of the fucking gutter and mind your own business, asshole.”
“Hey, this is my business,” he retorted with a grin.
“Whatever,” Leo said, turning back to Heather. “Do you have her itinerary?”
“Yep.” Heather produced a printout with the woman’s information on it. “She’s arriving at San Diego Airport from New York at 5:40 this evening, United flight 2837. I’ll text you the details so you have it on your phone and can easily access it. Oh, and I already printed up a placard for you with her name on it.”
She handed him the cardstock with the company’s logo on top and the name PEYTON BISHOP in bold letters below for him to hold up as he waited in the pickup area for her to exit the luggage terminal. He didn’t know a Peyton Bishop from New York, but she’d clearly heard of him. Maybe he’d been a referral from a few years back when he was still a driver for the company? It was the only thing that made sense.
“What car would you like to take so I can put it on reserve?” she asked, pulling up the roster of vehicles still available for the evening. “We have the Cadillac Escalade, the Lincoln Town Car, the Mercedes Benz, the limo, or the Audi.”
As much as he’d enjoy driving the sporty Audi, he had no idea how much luggage this woman had, and the trunk space in that car was minimal. “I’ll take the Escalade.”
“Done.” Her fingers flew over her keyboard as she input the required details into the company’s standard order form.
Eric crossed his arms over his chest and tipped his head in amusement. “So, you’re really going to do this, huh?”
Leo shrugged. “Sure. Why not?” He couldn’t remember the last time anything had piqued his interest more than this woman’s request—or any woman in ge
neral. If anything, he figured it would make for a fascinating evening.
* * *
Peyton really wasn’t in the habit of propositioning men, but she was genuinely desperate for Leo Stone’s help. Whether or not she’d be able to talk him into being her stand-in boyfriend for the next week while she was in town for her cousin’s wedding remained to be seen. There was no telling what he’d do once he discovered the lengths she’d gone to to convince her parents that Leo Stone was indeed the man she’d been dating for the past nine months.
As she followed the mass of people heading toward baggage claim, which took her closer to her fake boyfriend, who had no clue he’d been cast in the roll, the nerves swirling in her stomach increased. She really should have just told her parents that she’d broken up with Leo, but with her father’s recent quadruple bypass and Peyton’s mother telling her how relieved they were that she had someone taking care of her in the big, scary city of New York, Peyton hadn’t been able to bring herself to end the fictitious relationship she’d gone to such great lengths to create in the first place.
At a time when her father’s health was precarious and he was still recovering from his surgery, she hadn’t wanted to worry her parents that she was heartbroken over her “breakup” and alone again in the city. Oh, not to mention that she’d yet to tell them that she’d lost her job as a junior apparel designer because the company she’d worked for for the past two years had gone bankrupt. She was currently jobless and living off her dwindling savings because she refused to ask her parents for any additional money since she’d moved to Manhattan almost three years ago to prove that she could be independent and make it on her own. So far, she’d been successful, and she wasn’t about to cave and ask for their financial help. At least not yet.