“Because I’m really good at orgies?”
Her face turns red. Probably out of annoyance or a murderous rage, because she isn’t laughing. I’m probably safe from murder, though. She needs me to pay her.
“I’m not going to be part of this idiocy,” she says finally.
“But you won me,” I point out, secretly amused and pleased that her main objection is to the orgy, not the rest of the date. Does this mean the invulnerable Ms. Parker is softening toward me?
“Only because you asked me to help! What was I thinking? And what were you thinking? A drunken orgy, when you can barely stand up after three drinks?”
It takes all my willpower to keep my mouth shut. It isn’t her fault she thinks I’m a lightweight. I sort of misled her into thinking that when she first started working for me. I was trying to figure out how she really felt about me and pretended to be out of it with alcohol so she could openly share how she felt.
Unfortunately, she didn’t. The woman’s harder to crack than a bank vault.
“That’s why you need to be there to keep an eye on me.” I smile. “I’ll double your bonus.” There. I’m not entirely unreasonable. “And I’ll give you overtime pay for the Vegas trip.”
Her face is pinched. I see a very large no being placed into a catapult, ready to be hurled in my direction.
My ego twitches as her impending rejection prickles. Women love me. They spend money to be with me. But here’s Evie, who’s actually pissed off that she has to spend the weekend in my presence in Vegas! Which I’m going to pay for!
She inhales harshly. “Okay, I might be out of line here, but we shouldn’t have to jump just because Barron said so.”
“Yeah. But believe me, it’s better to jump now than have him show up in person.” The old man is much more difficult to reason with face to face. Especially when he sets his mind on something. He doesn’t understand why everything he wants didn’t fall into his lap yesterday. “Unless you want to tell him you’re the reason we aren’t going to Vegas like he asked us to?”
Are you fucking kidding me? is etched on her face. “But he probably doesn’t know about the date plan. I mean, the details… Right?”
“I wouldn’t bet on that. He probably knows everything.” You don’t become rich and powerful by lacking information.
She levels an accusing finger at me, her eyes narrow. “You did this on purpose.”
“I didn’t know that Georgette was—”
“There will be no orgy, drunken or otherwise.”
“Okay.” It’s an easy point to give up. I don’t even really want an orgy. I want the eminently adorable Ms. Evie Parker.
“And I want my own room.”
“That won’t do. It’s supposed to be a date, remember? Who gets two rooms?” And why would I want her to have her own room anyway?
Her eyes go into slits. “You owe me triple the bonus!”
Ha, she’s giving in. “Of course.” She’s selling herself short. She should’ve demanded ten times the bonus.
“Along with hazard pay.”
I throw my head back and laugh. She kills me. “Sure. Just pack an overnight bag. Despite what you think, we’re going to have fun tonight.”
Chapter Thirteen
Evie
“I don’t know why Barron asked us to do it. Or why Nate feels like he has to do exactly what Barron said when we could just go out to dinner and be done with it,” I complain loudly as I pack a bag for the overnight trip to Vegas.
Kim’s voice is tinny on the phone speaker. She’s still in the office. “Because it’s Barron who asked. You do not say no to that man. Unless you want to end up worse than dead.”
“What could be worse than dead?” I demand, my mouth going slightly dry.
“I don’t know. But I kind of want to find out, so why don’t you just ignore him and see what happens?” Kim’s tone is half serious, half sarcastic.