the blanket to my chin.
He exits the closet in faded jeans, tugging a white tee over his impressively broad chest, giving me only a moment more to admire his defined abs before it falls to the waistband of his low-slung jeans. “I was behind this acquisition but I was too wrapped up in that legal matter I mentioned to dive in fully.” He sits down next to me, his dark hair a rumpled, sexy mess that I’m pretty sure my fingers created. “Now, I’m ready to take it to the next level.”
“Don’t you have staff to research for you?” I ask.
“I do, but I’m not prepared to let my strategy out in the wild.”
“You mean Derek.”
“Among others.”
“What’s your strategy?” I ask. “I mean, unless you don’t want to tell me.”
“You’re about to help me research. I’m not exactly keeping you in the dark. As for my strategy, it’s pretty direct and simple, at least on the surface. Know everything about this business, my competition, and everyone involved in the industry.”
“Everyone? That’s a big order, isn’t it?”
“Which is why few people are as prepared as I am and that’s how I win my battles. I make sure I know everything about everyone I’m in business with.”
“And you use that against them?”
“There’s a fine line.”
“How fine?”
His lips thin, his spine suddenly a little straighter. “I’m starting to believe that depends on who you’re dealing with.”
“What does that mean?”
His phone starts ringing again. “I better talk to Jessica before she shows up here to get me and I have a few calls to make myself. Room service?”
“Great,” I say, and I have the distinct impression he’s not as worried about Jessica as much as I’ve hit a sensitive topic he wants to avoid.
“How about omelets?”
I nod and give him my order before he grabs his phone from his pants in the bathroom and then disappears into the hallway, leaving me with one thought. He always knows everything about everyone. There’s only so long before that includes me, which brings me back to what I told him this morning.
“Your bags,” Shane says, reappearing in the room, carrying everything the hotel sent me into the bathroom before joining me again. “I’m going to order our food now.”
“Great,” I say as he heads toward the door.
“Did Jessica set up a meeting?” I ask, not sure how to dress. Okay, I’m not even sure I have clothes that fit.
“We missed it,” he tells me. “She’s working on it and she’s pissed.”
“Chocolate,” I suggest.
“She’s more expensive than that,” he assures me and once again he’s gone. I’m staring after him, a knot forming in my belly.
What am I doing? I’m crazy about this man. I don’t want him to find out the truth about me. I want to tell him, but that doesn’t protect him. Damn it, I refuse to accept this situation as unchangeable or unspeakable. Throwing off the blanket and darting for the bathroom, I quickly shut the door and lock it, beginning to scavenge through the items Tai had brought me, weeding through makeup, face cream, clothing, and a flat iron, to finally find my purse, which I’d scooped up by the door and shoved in one of the bags. Grabbing it, I pull the zipper open and grab the two phones, focused on the one I’ve been willing to ring.
No messages.
“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.” I punch the call button, but after one ring I get voice mail. “You have to call me,” I say at the beep. “You have to call me or … I am going to be forced to take matters into my own hands.” I end the message and rest the phone on my forehead a moment, and the magnitude of one bad decision changing my life doesn’t escape me. And yet, I think, resting my hands on the sink and staring at my now wildly messy brown hair and pale skin, had I not made that decision, I wouldn’t have met Shane.
Giving myself a mental shake, I stick the phone back in my purse, and grab the other one, and this time I find a message that amounts to a temp service offering me a low-paying job. In so many ways, Brandon Enterprises is a blessing. A knock sounds on the door and I jump. “Room service said fifteen minutes.”
“Great,” I say. “I’m starving. I’ll hurry.”
His footsteps sound and I stuff my phone in my purse, bury it in the bottom of a bag, and remove the toiletries,