"Have you learned anything else interesting?"
Again, she looked down at her napkin. Was I making her that nervous?
"If you're on my side, if you're going to be my assistant, I need to know what you know. I could hire someone else to investigate them, but if you've already done it, then maybe you could just tell me."
"One of your members, Alice Shrine, may have a conflict of interest. She's heavily invested in a real estate project that is currently being considered for funding by your company."
Motherfucker. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if all my board members weren't getting extra perks from being on the board. Wasn't the saying, ‘birds of a feather flock together’? It would make sense that my father would surround himself with people who thought like he did and wanted to milk the system like he did.
"Anything else?" I asked.
"I haven't found anything substantive on the others yet."
I sat back as my waitress set my drink in front of me. "Will you write up everything you have and get it to me as soon as you can?" Already, I could see myself using the Christmas slump to learn more about my board. It pissed me off that they were working against me, probably with my father, in an effort to fill their own pockets.
At the same time, I had a sense of calm. Perhaps now, I had leverage over them. If they were doing shady, illegal deals, I could get rid of them and get a new board.
"Yes, of course."
We gave our orders to the waitress. Nearly all the women I'd ever dated ate rabbit food. My ex-girlfriend, Allison, used to whine and moan when I wanted to come here for dinner. Ms. Pearson didn't seem to have that problem, at least not with me. She ordered the Burrito Tejanos stuffed with chicken, steak, and shrimp and covered in white queso. I didn't know for a fact, but I suspected it was the least healthy, fattest item on the menu.
When the waitress left with our orders, I took a sip of my drink, studying her over the rim of my glass. This woman had a body that spoke to my libido, but in the few minutes I'd been chatting with her, I found myself intrigued beyond just the sexual. What was her story? Why did a woman who had to be intelligent and resourceful end up here in Las Vegas, working for me? Not that Ms. Curtis wasn't intelligent or resourceful, because she was. But a woman as smart and good-looking as Ms. Pearson had to have a shit-ton of prospects for work back in California.
"What are you doing here?"
She gave me that startled look again, and I took another sip of my drink to douse the flame that erupted at the site of those O-shaped lips.
"You invited me."
My lips twitched upward. How could a woman so smart misconstrue what I was asking? She had a sort of innocence that I was finding charming.
"I don't mean dinner. I mean, in Las Vegas. Mrs. Curtis didn't give me all the details, but I know that you've left law school in California and are now working for me. How did that happen? Are you running from something?"
A little chill ran up my spine at the thought that maybe she was running from the law and now I was working with a criminal. Jesus, if that were true, what were the odds that my father and Mr. Keyes had set her in my path? Then again, maybe she was running from an abusive husband, in which case, I wanted to pummel him.
She took a breath and again toyed with her napkin. “You can't run from something when there's nothing to run from. If anything, I'm running toward something."
That piqued my interest even more. "Running to what?"
I was probably being too nosy, and if she didn't answer quickly, I’d back off.
She let out a long sigh. "A new life. My parents dictated every step in my life. The first time I stood up for myself, they told me I was betraying them."
"It takes a lot of strength to stand up to your parents." I knew that all too well. I'd been scared shitless to put my father in prison. But Amelia hadn't been. She was the one who did all the heavy lifting. She'd worn the wire and confronted him, getting the admission of his deeds that put him in prison.
She laughed softly, and there was that innocence that I’d seen before.
"To be honest, I might have given in. But the life they wanted me to pursue, I just can’t do that." She looked at me with soft gray eyes. "I couldn't give away my happiness just to appease them. Sometimes, I feel guilty about it. But—"
I shook my head vehemently. "Parents don't own you. And any parent who doesn't want you to be happy isn't a good parent."
"I hope you're right. My life definitely would be easier, but at the same time, as hard as it is now, it's also liberating. Everything I'm doing is through my actions. My choices. My decisions."
"How hard is your life?" Surely, I was paying her well enough to live. Granted, Mrs. Curtis made more because she'd been with the company longer. She'd also been married and then widowed, so I suspected she had financial support from her husband and his estate. Still, it was important to me that anyone who worked for me could make a living wage, at least.
"As I get my first paycheck, things will be a lot easier. I told you my parents were controlling, including controlling most of my finances. I lived at home." She looked down, her cheeks shading with pink as if she was embarrassed by that.
"Mrs. Curtis didn't tell you about the sign-on bonus?" I didn’t know where that came from. We didn't offer signing bonuses. But in that moment, I had an overwhelming need to make sure Ms. Pearson wasn't living too far on the edge.