Filthy Rich Alpha - Virna DePaul Page 0,81
with Cara filled him with joy.
What the hell was up with that?
A text from Jeannette caught him off guard. Big sis Deena says your balls are gone. Some woman has them. Do tell!
Before he could respond, another text came through. This time from his middle sister, Rachel. Cynic no more? Is love smacking you upside the head like a cold fish? Welcome to the real world, Big Bro!
Branden rolled his eyes. Deena shouldn’t have talked out of school, but the sisters had always been close. She never would have divulged information about work, but apparently had no problem informing their sisters he was seeing someone.
Two more texts flashed through, one from Bethany and the other from Leslie. The one from Bethany asked him to please invite his new girlfriend to the opening of her play, and the one from Leslie asked if she could be a bridesmaid.
Holy hell, what had Deena said in her texts to their sisters?
He’d always been deliriously happy in his bachelorhood. He liked being completely in charge of his own life. He wasn’t looking for a partner. He needed women, sure, for sex and companionship, but anything beyond that reminded him too much of his mother’s fruitless search for love.
He and Cara were only meant to be temporary, but the thought of her quitting and permanently walking away from made him want to punch someone again.
Suddenly his thoughts became clear. He’d focus on figuring out who was gunning for them and protecting her from any further harm. He’d figure out his confusing feelings for Cara. But he wanted Cara close by while he did so.
He picked up his phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Lee, what do you have for me?”
“Cara Michal used her credit card to book a flight to Buffalo that leaves on Wednesday morning at nine a.m.” Lee gave him the flight information and Branden wrote it down. “Then she used it to book a room at the Falls Resort, also in Buffalo. You want me to keep Howe on her?”
“Keep him on her until she gets on the plane. I’ll take over from there.”
“Figured that might be the case.”
“Thanks, Lee. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“No problem, boss.”
Branden hung up and then he made another call. This one was to a travel agent that he used for all of his travel needs. She always took his calls no matter what time of day or night it was. He paid her handsomely for it.
“Hi, Branden.”
“Hi, Greta, I need a favor.” He told her what date, airport, and flight number he wanted to be on.”
Greta laughed. “That’s very specific,” she said.
“Can you do it?”
“Of course I can,” she said.
“One other thing, can you upgrade seat S11 to first class?”
“Absolutely. Where are you staying?”
He gave her the name of the hotel and thanked her again. He hung up knowing how pissed Cara was going to be when she saw him on that flight.
He’d just have to make sure she got over it.
Chapter 23
Tuesday morning, Cara dressed and ate yogurt while standing by her living room window, looking absently at the ongoing construction across the street. The entire building was shrouded in black netting by now, the scaffold barely visible between it and the building’s walls.
They could be adding a new facade. It was the quickest way to revamp an older building and turn it around for sale or rental. But the constant din told her otherwise—maybe it was being gutted and turned into lofts. Cara wasn’t actually sure if it was originally office or residential space. The building had just been there, solid as a mountain, rather nondescript with not much in the way of architectural ornamentation.
Her phone, which was on the kitchen table next to her laptop, buzzed with an incoming text. After finalizing her vacation plans, Cara had stayed offline. She was too afraid the video of her and Branden would pop up everywhere, or that she’d discover another version, one that its creator had done more with, gotten really down and dirty, turned her into a flaming whore for his own delectation.
She didn’t actually need the laptop that much. She had her smartphone to read and send email. When it buzzed again, she put her yogurt cup down and picked it up. It was vibrating with a text from Iris marked Urgent. Cara tapped the little screen.
Sox had six!
The kittens. She was glad she’d delivered the scarf thing ahead of time. She responded. Great. Bet she’s glad it’s over. How cute