Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,277

me so well…

Me: What do you want?

If he wants a favor, fine. I’ll do it.

Roarke: My condo at noon today.

Me: No.

Roarke: No you won’t meet me?

Me: If I have to meet you it has to be in public.

Roarke: I can’t have people overhearing what I have to tell you.

I don’t reply. This is a non-negotiable for me. I can’t risk falling back into his bed.

Roarke: Fine. I’ll arrange for a secluded table at Torrio’s. Final offer.

Me: Fine.

Roarke: Try to come with an open mind.

Me: Are you bringing your girlfriend?

He doesn’t respond to my question but I see the three dots appear.

Roarke: Noon.

I toss my phone on my desk, my eyes staring at the time on my computer. I have three hours before I have to be there. After this, there will be one more favor. I should tell him to go to hell. But I’ve seen a lot of different sides of Roarke and one is his persistence to get what he wants. I wouldn’t put it past him to cancel the venue in order for me to hear him out, and we have a contract that says he’d be within his rights to do it. Bastard.

Three hours later, I walk in Torrio’s to find Roarke sitting at my table.

Some nerve, this guy.

I step down the stairs surprised at how empty it is in here, but then again, I’ve never come here mid-day before.

He stands up from the table when I approach.

“I thought we needed to be secluded?”

“Since they don’t open for four more hours this is what we’re using.” He nods to the booth.

A waiter I’m not familiar with brings over a Vesper.

“This gentleman doesn’t know what I want. Could you get me a gin and tonic instead?”

He nods, taking the Vesper with him.

“You’re angry at me, not at him,” Roarke says.

“I think I was polite.”

“You weren’t.”

“Thank you, Mr. Etiquette, I’ll remember that,” I quip. I sit back in the booth, my hands in my lap.

“After he brings you a new drink I’ll tell you how what you saw isn’t what you think.”

We wait in silence.

“Funny how you think I’m the one at fault.”

His eyes dig into mine. “You know what, before we start I want you to look back over the last month or so. I want you to remember how I was with you. I never lied. I was upfront about everything. My past. No one in this city knows my past, but you, because you came to Woods Parlor and saw it firsthand.”

I cross my hands over my chest. “You probably hired them all.”

He huffs and rolls his eyes. “Fine. Yes, Hannah. I hired an entire town to act like my family. I put those pictures in the glass case for you to find. I even made sure it was Liv that waited on us. I get that you have trust issues. I have them myself, but I would at least hear you out.”

The waiter comes over and places a gin and tonic with a lime on a small dish in front of me.

“Thank you. So sweet.” I’m overly pleasant to him.

Roarke gets an even more pissed off look on his face. I’ll admit that I kind of enjoy that look because it makes him appear even sexier. Funny how the tables have turned.

Once the waiter is a good distance away, Roarke pulls out a business card from the inside pocket of his suit and slides it over.

One Million Degrees. I pick up the rectangle cardboard in my hand and read it over. A non-profit.

“I’m on the board.”

“Good for you.” I place it down. “Do you want a pat on the back?”

He blows out an exhausted breath.

“I’m really trying here, Firecracker, but you’re not.” The hurt in his voice, as well as his pet name for me, cut me as deep as it did when I saw that woman holding a bra and panty set that she was going to model for him later that night.

“Fine.” I sip my gin and tonic. “Carry on.”

“The woman is receiving services from One Million Degrees. She left an abusive relationship and she’s been working and going to school at night. The program helps people like her get a fresh start, so they can do something positive with their life. I’d taken her to Bloomingdale’s to get her a suit for an interview she had coming up. I’m not really supposed to go that above and beyond but I know what it’s like to walk into an interview room and