Lord of Rain (The Dragon Demigods #5) - Charlene Hartnady Page 0,39
Miss Goody Two-Shoes might have a little naughty streak. I hope so.
She puts her tongue into her cheek. I can see she’s thinking it through. “You might need to spell it out to me. I’m your PA. I can’t change the public perception of you.”
“You could help my cause. You see, I plan on laying low as much as I can, but if that’s not possible, on occasions such as this, I want you with me to shield me from…this is going to sound crazy…but from women, like the hostess at the door. I can’t…have them near me. Touching is out of the question.”
Her eyes widen. “What if you want to actually date someone?”
I shake my head. “Not going to happen! I only plan on attending business meetings and events…like this. Events and meetings you will have to attend anyway.” I shrug. “I could hire a bodyguard, but I can imagine the bad press if some goon was pictured manhandling some poor woman who was just trying to say hi, or who was planning to show me to my seat. I can already see those headlines.” I pause. “The problem is that plenty of women get handsy with me all the time.”
“I have noticed.” She winces. “It can’t be easy dealing with that, even though they’re all gorgeous.” Ashley Shaw has no idea how gorgeous she is. “I can see how the press twists everything around,” she goes on. “I guess I could help, since I’m going to be with you anyway.” She gets up and sits next to me. “I’ll make sure a man gets that seat.” She points to the chair to my left.
“That would be great,” I say. “All I need is one of the board members’ wives, or the B&H Accounting Director, who happens to be a woman, to sit next to me to start up the next scandal. You’d be shocked at how many of the general public take pictures, which they then sell to gossip websites.”
“It must be awful!” She’s looking at me in that strange way again. It’s not the sort of look I’m used to getting. Pity. No one looks at me like that. Except maybe my mom, at times. “You shouldn’t have your reputation ruined when you’re a good guy.”
Not!
“I ultimately don’t give a shit about myself. It’s my mother who gets hurt every time.” Now I’m thinking about my mom, and that just came out.
“Your mom?” Her brows go up.
I shouldn’t say anything more, but I can’t help myself. Miss Shaw leans forward. “I keep disappointing my mother.” I can’t believe I’m saying all this, but it’s the truth. I haven’t admitted it to anyone else. I’m not sure why I feel the need to tell her, but I keep going. “All this bad press is affecting her, and I hate that. I hate that every time she picks up the paper or a magazine, there are pictures of me with a different woman. Women I mostly don’t even know. Smear campaigns that…” I pull in a deep breath. “I haven’t been a saint over the years, but I’m not the bastard they’re making me out to be either. It’s affecting my mom. Her wellbeing. Her mental health. Her view of me. It’s making her unhappy, and I hate that. As far as I’m concerned, everyone can go to hell and say whatever they want, but my mom…” I shake my head. “She raised me on her own. I owe her everything.” I force myself to stop talking because I’ve said too much already. I want a physical relationship with this woman. I want to ultimately use her. When the time comes to put my cards on the table, I won’t mince my words. I don’t plan on telling her about Gabby. It would be too complicated. I will lay it out for her, though. I shouldn’t be going down this road…or any road, for that matter, but I will. I feel I must! It’s the only way. I’m going to use her, and she will use me in return.
Win-fucking-win.
Then we’ll walk away and never look back. Done deal! Hopefully, I’ll be able to go back to how things were before the harpy fucked me up. Back to being myself again. That’s all I want and all I need.
“I completely understand. I mean, not completely…” Her eyes widen. “My folks are still together, and I’m not under the scrutiny of the world, and I…”