I watched her pull her phone from her pocket before she sighed.
“No call?” I asked.
“I have no idea what’s taking them so long to get back to me,” she said.
“Well, there are two wonderful guest rooms if they don’t call tonight. And there’s my bed, if you don’t like sleeping alone.”
“See, if you would’ve chopped off that last part, I might’ve found you to be a decent person,” she said.
“Ah, but decent is boring. I prefer excitement.”
“At the expense of decency, I’m sure.”
“You sound like you could use a drink,” I said. “Care for a glass of wine?”
“Are you going to give me a choice?”
“Do you want one?” I asked.
“You really think you’re something, don’t you?” she asked.
I stopped in my tracks and turned to face her.
“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” I said.
“You think you’re the biggest hot commodity out there.”
“I do get compliments on how hot I am, yes.”
“Pompous and arrogant. And for what?” she asked. “You run luxury hotel chains that cater to all sorts of lecherous needs without any sort of regard for how it makes you look.”
“You make it seem as if I don’t enjoy my look.”
“So you like your image? You like being a womanizer, Mr. Aaron? Is that the kind of role model those children in there need?”
“You don’t get a say so in that,” I said lowly. “You don’t get to tell me what those kids do and do not need. You have no idea what they’ve been through. What my sister has put them through.”
“Then you can see why I’m waiting for CPS to confirm for me that they really want to pass them off to the likes of you.”
“What is your problem with me?” I asked as I walked back towards her. “Because I have a feeling this doesn’t have anything to do with my hotels.”
“Your kinky fetish rooms? I think it has something to do with it.”
“What? Didn’t have a good experience in one? Maybe you should’ve left it on the comment card.”
“I would never dream of visiting one of your hotels,” she said.
“Ah, so you’re upset that you can’t afford it.”
“I don’t hate you because you have money, Mr. Aaron.”
“Oh, so we hate now. What kind of role model is that for the kids in your classroom? Do you all sit around in circles singing kumbaya? Do you try to get them to understand that money isn’t everything? With their Louis Vuitton backpacks and their diamond-studded earrings and their hair being done by the best in the city for five hundred dollars plus a tip?”
I was standing so close to Emma I could feel her anger. See her rage behind her eyes. Her chest was heaving and her skin was flushed red.
She was very upset.
But it wasn’t at my money.