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Did he still feel it necessary to warn me about women?I felt offended, and at one time his warning may have been warranted, but over the past few years I had changed. During my playboy years, most of the women I’d met had either wanted to fuck me or saw my family wealth as their ticket to a better life. It was mainly due to those points I felt suspicious about allowing any girl to get too close.
Charlotte’s parents were the only family who had wealth on a par with us, and God alone knew the reason why she had targeted me when she was already in love with my brother. I had never understood that, but I had often wondered whether it had been to punish Sawyer for his life on the road with his band, or I had been chosen because she knew my brother and I had never seen eye to eye and using me would have had a greater impact on him.
I guessed my lifestyle prior to that had made her believe I was an easy mark, but it was my free-living lifestyle that had made me aware how easy it would have been for people to believe I was the one at fault and believe in Charlotte’s story.
A knock on my door distracted me from my thoughts.
“That was quick, my father has only just left,” I informed Rhea, a strikingly pretty woman around fifteen years my junior, and a high-flying prodigy within our firm.
She grinned and shrugged. “I thought he’d already asked you to go to Denver when he sent me to pull the last three years account spreadsheets for us to go over a few days ago.”
“Hm. He did… nope, just asked a few minutes ago.”
“Okay, so anyway, Denver, I have the numbers here,” she said, clutching her tablet to her chest and a pile of printed out columns and graphs for me to write over.
“Great… numbers,” I groaned, and she chuckled.
“Numbers are sexy,” she replied, wagging her eyebrows.
“Sixty-nine, maybe… as for the rest,” I quipped scowling, and her jaw dropped open in shock.
“Okay, I wasn’t expecting that one, but as you’ve contradicted yourself, let’s hope you’ve gotten that number out of your system.” She mock scowled, biting back a smile. Chuckling, I stood, shrugged myself out of my suit jacket, and draped it over the back of my high-backed chair. Walking around my desk with my hand out in the direction of the soft gray leather couches in the meeting area of the office, Rhea took my silent cue and headed over there.
Wandering behind her, I watched how organized she was when she got there, as she neatly laid the papers out on the table and sat down with legs together to one side in a very feminine pose.
“Coffee? Water?” I offered. Rhea shook her head as she busied herself, pulling relevant charts to the front and shifting others to the back from her various piles. I helped myself to coffee and sat down beside her.
“Okay, there’s a lot to take in before next week, so I hope there’s no other hot woman waiting for your attention, apart from this one.” I smirked at her ‘other hot woman’ comment; it was a sassy confidence, but true. Rhea Ellison was a force to be reckoned with, dressed like some femme fatale in her slim tight-fitting skirt, which matched my couch, her sexy, black, almost-sheer blouse with a lacy cami peeping through, and her Louboutin shoes that she wore like her personal trademark around the office.
“No, no other hot female at present,” I confirmed, flirting back. She grinned that I hadn’t taken offense. “You have my undivided attention, educate me.” When Rhea raised her eyebrow, I didn’t have to wonder if what had passed between us was banter or a genuine flirtation.
Office romances were frowned upon by my father’s firm and being one of the bosses I had to lead by example. However, both Rhea and I had naturally flirtatious natures. It was a game we played when no one was around, it brightened up both of our days, but we had always stayed on the other side of the line. Harmless flirting aside, I was lucky with the working relationship we had and by the time we left for Denver, Rhea had proven her worth as my coach.
