“I can help you with the job search. I could also pay the bills for you.”
“What would you want in exchange?”
He frowned and studied my face for a moment. He started to speak, then closed his mouth and shook his head.
“What?” I shouldn’t ask, but I felt desperate to know what he’d been about to say.
“Nothing. You wouldn’t owe me anything more than I’ve already asked.”
“No. I won’t just take your money. That’s not an option.”
He looked like he wanted to protest, but he didn’t. “Fine, but I will give you some contacts to help you find a job that’s more suited to you.”
Shit. Was he saying I wasn’t any good at this? No, he couldn’t possibly have been faking how much he enjoyed us being together. Why would he? If he wasn’t satisfied, wouldn’t he just say that. “You… um… don’t think I’m any good at my job?”
Remington shook his head. “You’re incredible at the job of satisfying me, but you don’t belong out there on the streets. You’re too innocent, and you’re going to end up hurt and taken advantage of.”
“I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for a while now.”
“I believe you. You’d have to be strong as hell to get through what you have, but I don’t think that’s where you want to be.”
I sighed. “You’re right.”
“Then let me help you.”
“If I’m going to get another job, I want it to be a legal, legitimate one. There’s no point in leaving what I’m doing for—”
He laid a finger over my lips. “Why would you assume I would find you an illegal job?”
“Remington, I may be innocent, but I’m not stupid. I know you’re involved in something that isn’t completely within the law.” I hesitated. I didn’t want him thinking I’d been investigating him.
“It’s true that not all my business ventures would be approved by law enforcement, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have plenty of contacts who could hire you to do something absolutely aboveboard.”
“I don’t want you to think… It’s not that I think I’m too good for that. I mean look how we met, but if I’m going to use the money you’re giving me to change things, I want to do it right.”
He brushed my hair back from my face, cupped my cheeks in his hands, and kissed me gently again. It was sweet, warm, and all-consuming.
When he pulled back, he was looking at me like I was something to be cherished. If I hadn’t already been falling for him, I sure as hell would have fallen headlong right then.
“Let me help you,” he said, voice low and rough. “I want everything to be right for you.”
“I’m fine with you giving me contacts so I can find a job, but I won’t take charity from you. I know you think I can’t handle things because I ran away, but I—”
“I think you’re handling things the only way you could. No one should be expected to work miracles.”
“I wish I could.”
He smiled. “Come on. Let me take you to bed.”
He stripped me slowly, then devastated me with sweetness and heat as though it were his mission in life to bring me pleasure. No man had ever treated me like I mattered so much. As I drifted to sleep, I knew I would dream of things that weren’t possible.
17
Remington
Over the next few days, I spent far too many hours working, though I had Loyola’s Patisserie deliver a king cake for Henri every day. I also made time to take Henri out to dinner, once to Arnaud’s with Corbin and a man we were hoping to recruit and tonight just us at Cafe Amelie. After dinner, he’d fallen asleep in the car, and I’d carried him to bed.
As I’d undressed and showered, I thought about how I could help Henri. We hadn’t talked about it again, but I was determined to find a way to take care of his mother’s medical bills. The money didn’t matter to me. I had more than I could ever use. Why should he be forced to suffer? The system that made it impossible for him to get out of debt was the same system that had led to me betraying one of the cardinal rules of families like mine and had provided X with a secret he could hold over my head.
Bob Gayle, a man who should never have been allowed to have a medical license had taken advantage of elderly people who couldn’t afford the prescriptions they needed. We still didn’t know how many had died because of his actions, so when I had a chance to get myself out of trouble by helping the police capture him, I gave them all the evidence I’d collected in my quest to shut down Gayle’s operation.
As far as I knew, no one had figured out what I’d done until X did. If he went public with that information, it would ruin me and my family. I didn’t think he would try that. Even though X had come out as the head of a security firm, the public still had no idea what the firm actually did. I could expose him as much as he could expose me.