The words that fluttered from his lips to mine warmed me in ways I’d never experienced before. They solidified for me every choice I’d made in my life up until this point, and they made me more comfortable and excited for the future I was embarking upon. This man had captured every single part of me, and I knew for a fact he would do everything in his power to protect the woman he was cradling into his body.
“You never have to worry about that.”
Wild Daddy
Her Billionaire’s Baby Book 2
Ellie Wild
1
Gray
“You’ve got a major problem.”
I perked up my ears for the first time in this long, boring meeting. “What problem is that?”
My lawyer, Tanya Fallon, leaned toward me. “Have you heard a word I just said?”
I shifted in my seat on the couch. “Sure, I have. You said I’ve got a major problem.”
“Before that,” Tanya snapped. “If you don’t clean up your act in a hurry, you’re going to wind up in court. Maybe you don’t care about that, but I think these other folks do. This scandal is all over the headlines—again.”
She waved her hand at my PR team standing in a half-circle around me. Jason Frasier the press agent, Serena Faulk in charge of social media, and Pete Koch, my publicist, all glared down at me.
I squared my shoulders to meet the daggers shooting out of their eyes. “I don’t care what that woman said. I did not slap her ass.”
Tanya crossed her arms. “Are you sure about that?”
“Of course, I’m sure,” I shot back. “I would definitely remember that.”
“I don’t know,” Tanya went on. “You go to that club just about every Saturday, and you’ve pulled stunts like this before. Why should I believe you now?”
“She just wants money,” I told her. “She’s a gold-digger just like all the others.”
Tanya cast a sidelong glance at the rest of the team. Serena didn’t even bother to hide when she rolled her eyes. Pete bit back a rude smirk. He wouldn’t look at me. Not one of these fuckers believed a word I said.
So, what if some little sleaze-bag called me a bunch of dirty names and ran screaming to the tabloids? So, what if she accused me of sexual advances and told the police? I’d faced situations like this before. All she wanted was a fat settlement. That would shut her up just like the rest of these women hounding me.
When your brother becomes the President of the United States, people come out of the woodwork. Especially people who want money.
And I had lots of it.
Tanya slapped a file folder on my desk. “Listen, Gray, we’ve been through this before, but we’re going to play it differently this time. We’re not going to just pay this girl off.”
I started out of my seat. “Not pay her off! Are you nuts? That’s basically telling the world I really did slap her ass.”
Tanya shrugged. “If you hadn’t done exactly the same thing a dozen times before in the last six months….”
“I have not done exactly the same thing,” I spat back.
“You may not have slapped some silly little waitress’s ass,” Tanya replied, “but you’ve gotten yourself in hot water enough times over girls in bars. You can’t keep your hands to yourself, and you think you can buy their silence when they get mad at you. If she decided to take this to a judge, he’s going to take one look at your record and lock you up. Do you hear me? You’re looking at time in jail. And even though your brother won’t want to help you. Now do I have your attention?”
I pulled my head down between my shoulders. This couldn’t be happening. How could an innocent pat on the butt get me jail time? And I hadn’t even fucking done it!
Tanya smacked her lips. “I thought so. Now you’re going to listen to me. We are not just going to pay this girl off. That won’t work. Even if she accepted the settlement—and we have no guarantee she will—you would wind up in the same situation a few weeks from now, and we would be back to square one.”
“So, what do you suggest?”