She scowls. “I’m not responsible for his schedule. You’re more than welcome to check with Cora—”
“Perry!” I call out across the lobby when I see him exit the elevator. “There you are!”
Now that we’ve smoothed things over since the lunch from hell, he’s back to his usual self. He saunters my way, a grin on his handsome face. Knowing it’ll just give the office something to gossip about, I hug him and whisper, “Pretend you’re thrilled to see me.”
“There’s my favorite girl,” he says loud enough for Deborah to hear. “What’s up?”
“Just missed you is all. What’s on the agenda?”
I pull away from our hug and hook my arm in his. We walk past the executive assistants, not looking at them. I chatter to him about my new bedspread that I can’t wait for him to see. By the time we make it to his office, we’re both no longer able to smother our laughter. He closes the office door and takes his seat. I drop down into the one across from him.
“Well, that was dramatic. For my brother’s benefit?”
“He’s not here.” I frown, crossing my arms over my chest. “Apparently he’s going on a date with Layla.” I say her name like Perry says Tate’s.
“Layla who?”
“Reynard. According to Deborah, he’s moving on from me and using Layla to steer the attention away from our filthy sex scandal.”
He studies me as he takes in this new information. “Win’s not moving on from you. He’s just being a pissy bastard.”
I haven’t told Perry about that night Win came over, our deal, and his subsequent leaving before upholding his end of said deal. He still thinks his brother is mad about Leo. I’m pretty sure we’ve moved past that. At this point, I think Win strategizes all day on ways to be annoyed with me so it’ll be easier to push me away.
“Let’s look her up,” I tell him, standing to come around to his side of the desk. “I want to see what makes her so damn interesting to him that he’d be having a second lunch with her.”
Perry turns on his laptop and opens Facebook. He types in her name, quickly finding her profile. Since he’s Perry, he friend-requests her and she immediately accepts, giving us access to her life.
“Your pretty face and last name are good for something,” I tease him. “Now let’s see what this lady looks like.”
Ugh.
“Not gonna lie, Ash, she’s hot.” Perry laughs when I scoff. “Not as hot as you, of course.”
“You’re a dick. Focus.” I swat his hand away from the touchpad and use my fingers to navigate our search toward her photos. “Married. Ew.”
But it doesn’t take long to find out that her husband passed away. They had a yacht named Layla Love and the pair stand proudly in front of it. The smile she wears in that picture is missing from the more recent ones. Guilt twists in my gut.
“Pretty, rich, and sad.” I let out a sigh. “I can’t hate her on anything except that she’s got his attention while I don’t.”
“She’s not his type,” Perry says in a reassuring tone. “Trust me.”
“Hmph.”
“Too sweet. He likes his women filled with fire.”
And a fucking freak like him.
“She looks kind of vanilla,” I agree. “I bet yacht sex was her thing.”
“Yacht sex is everyone’s thing.”
“For boring rich people, yes. You’re not much older than me, Perry. Tell me you don’t have yacht sex. Gross.”
“Do yacht blowjobs count?”
I elbow him and go to the search bar, changing it from Layla to Leo Morelli. This time, Perry smacks my hand away. He closes the app on his computer and glowers at me.
“What?” I demand, hands flying to my hips.
“That’s not how we get information, dumbass.”
“We literally just got information about Layla that way.”
“Don’t say her name like that. Makes you sound bitchy.”
“I say Layla the same way you say Tate.”
“Tate.” He grimaces. “Okay, so they do sort of come out the same way.”
“I rest my case. Now, tell me how we can drum up more information on Leo.”
He scrubs a palm over his face in exasperation. “How did I get stuck on babysitting duty again?”
“Screw off.”
“Seriously. Haven’t you gotten into enough shit because of Morelli?”
“I just hate sitting around twiddling my thumbs…waiting for something to happen.”
“You think Winny is playing at something big?”
“It’s the only logical reason as to why he could ignore this.” I wave a hand down my outfit that had a guy on the elevator earlier stammering all over his words as he tried to keep his gaze from my cleavage.
“You play dirty. Just like him. This is why you’ll have all his babies one day.”
I try to ignore the flutter in my stomach at the thought of being pregnant with his child. It’s too sweet of a fantasy. Quickly, I lock it away and stay focused on the present.