Boy in the Club a boy & billionaire novel - Rachel Kane Page 0,34

He brushes his hand at me, a hurry-up gesture.

“Yes,” I say. “Yes, I’m available.” No risk, no reward.

“Perfect,” says the pleasant person on the other end, and just like that, my fate is sealed.

That’s a weird phrase, fate is sealed. What it’s supposed to mean is, your fate is fixed. Now you can’t change anything.

But now I’m thinking about it like it’s inside an envelope, sealed away so I can’t see it.

My fate is right there, I just don’t know what it is.

“What…what does he want with me?” I ask Graber.

“Why are you asking me? I have no more information than you do. Less, even.”

I look at the little clock on the kitchen wall. “Oh my god. What am I gonna do for the next four hours?”

“Fret, knowing you.”

There’s nobody at Mary’s desk when I arrive at the executive suites of Raines Holdings. I know it’s her desk because her name is on it, and there’s a picture of her and a guy I guess is her husband. I’m not sure what to do. Do I call Mr. Raines on the intercom? Do I knock?

“Oh shit, you’re punctual,” says a voice behind me, and I nearly jump out of my skin.

When I turn, it’s him.

In his natural habitat, Colby Raines is the most dangerous-looking man I’ve ever met. Jimi at the club tries to be dangerous with his stupid chains and his stupid teeth and his hints at ‘connections,’ but he’s got nothing on Colby, who looks like a spy in a movie, like his suit might contain a gun, a knife, a garrote. He holds up two cups. “You’ll have to forgive me, I had to go all the way down to the lobby to get these. I wasn’t sure how you take yours. Or if you even drink coffee. Or… Look, just come in, will you? Get the door for me.”

I’m expecting something terrifying. Something like the great glass floor of our interview, only deadlier. A sex dungeon with chains bolted to the walls. A jungle-room full of deadly snakes. What kind of painful surprise has he got in store for me?

But the office surprises me. It’s so comfortable. Two big couches near a window, a desk that is in the corner with a few extremely modern chairs, lots of light.

And it has a floor. An actual floor you can’t see through. No psychological tricks.

“This is nice,” I say, and he scowls.

“Is it? Yeah, I guess. My brother is the one who calls in the designers, I just nod and agree to whatever he wants. Look, the couches are more comfortable, if you’d like—”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“One of these is a latte, I think, the other is black, but they didn’t mark which one.” He starts to offer me one cup, then the other, then with a look of determination on his face, he holds both out.

There’s something disarming in the gesture. It’s like he feels as lost as I do. Which is especially strange since he has all the power in the room. He knows what we’re here for; I do not.

If he’s going to try to seduce you, he wouldn’t have brought you coffee.

“This is killing me,” he says as he sits; I’ve taken the cup from his right hand, and it’s the latte, which is fine with me. I think he’s talking about our situation, but he corrects that impression instantly. “Mary being gone is just— I mean, I know you have to let them have maternity leave, but you know, we built my dad a hospital room upstairs, I don’t see why we couldn’t have built a labor and delivery room up there.”

“So she could…work…while having a baby?”

He grimaces. “That’s terrible, isn’t it? I said the same thing to Dalton—he’s my brother, the one who picked all the furniture here—he nearly punched me in the head. God, I should have written notes for this. Put together an agenda. You don’t know how to use PowerPoint, do you? Can you make presentations?”

“Yes,” I say simply. “It was on my resume.”

“See, that’s what I need. Have you looking up at the presentation, instead of at me. Hey, do that, will you? Look over there, look out the window, instead of at me. Your eyes are too… They’re too something for me right now.”

My eyes? His eyes were so dark you could hardly see his pupils. Here, next to the window, with the late afternoon light, you could see unexpected flecks of gold in his irises, and I