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“I think I can get most of it done.”
“So, over the next year, you need someone to be your fiancé. That allows you to allocate money so that when the year is over and you’re not married, it doesn’t matter that the fortune is out of your control. You’ve already done what you need to do to keep the work moving forward.”
“Yes.”
I hold my breath and wait for him to finish what he started earlier in the day, but he just nods his head, sips his drink, and then says, “All right.”
I’m stunned. This man. How can I possibly hate him? How can I be so horrible when he’s just trying to do his job with the inspections? “I can’t tell you how much this means, Lucas. Because of your help…”
“I need you to get twenty-five thousand dollars together for me ...”
His interruption shatters my hope. I feel like I’ve been knocked in the gut. It’s a complete whiplash and the sudden anger I feel is hard and hot.
And so is the slap I land across his smug assholish face.
Chapter Four
Madeline
He barely reacts to the slap and that really pisses me off so I slap him across the face again.
At least, that’s what I intend to do. I don’t have any real luck doing it. I swing hard but this time he catches my wrist in his hand. He never even takes his eyes off my face before he catches my wrist that way.
“I don’t know how someone so intelligent can be so stupid,” he says. If not for the fact that his impassive face is terrifying, I might get angry again. “Actually, I do know. You’re a spoiled brat and you’ve never had to deal with the consequences of your actions.”
My eyes grow wide and his impassiveness isn’t so scary anymore. “That’s the second time you’ve called me a?—”
“Shut your mouth right now!” Lucas snaps and there’s no way on Earth I can do anything other than instantly obey him. I stare at him in shock and he says, “You need to prove that you’re engaged, and that means an engagement ring.”
My stomach drops a little. Damn it. I did it again. I spoke first and thought later. “You aren’t going to wear a ring that costs less than twenty-five thousand dollars,” he adds. “Not a rich brat like you.”
Well, that does it. I’m pissed again. I yank my arm away from him and he lifts up his hand in a maddeningly patient way. “That’s what those silly Poindexter lawyers will think. They look at you like you’re a self-entitled brat and they aren’t going to believe anything cheap. So, why don’t you stop behaving like you are the idiot child they think you are and make arrangements to give me the money?”
It’s really quite strange not to know whether or not I should be offended.
I say softly, “I don’t think I… Lucas, we’re not talking about a million dollars or even tens of millions. I don’t need to make arrangements for twenty-five thousand dollars. I have it in cash here in my safe.”
He seems surprised by that and then he confuses me. He says, “I know that it’s very important to you to help people.”
“Yeah… um, why do you bring that up?”
I go from surprised to shocked because he’s entirely right when he says, “Because that’s why you have so much cash on hand. In case you need to buy a car for a family or stop a foreclosure or a thousand other reasons. My guess is if you pull any substantial amount out, the lawyers might know so you deal with more drama. So, you pulled a lot out at once and put it in your safe.”
I stare in wonder at him and slowly nod. He says, “But there’s a new condition to the deal. I want you to promise me that you’ll be careful and never let the people you help know where you keep the funds. Trick them into thinking you go to the bank. Something.”
“You think I just help criminals? Is that it? All the lawyers aren’t even that crass. You think people who need help are more likely to be criminals, you son of a?—”
“You just don’t know how to shut up, do you?” he asks. “You’re incapable of not lashing out. I swear somebody should have spanked you a long time ago.”
“Who the fuck do you?—”
His voice booms over mine. “I DON’T THINK THE PEOPLE YOU HELP ARE CRIMINALS!” I shut up and stare at him, a little afraid, and he adds, “But I think they talk. They’ll tell everyone how generous you are and they’ll let it slip where the money is and never think about how someone listening might not be nice. And you’re a twenty-two-year-old woman who looks like a fairy princess and lives alone!”
I think it’s thefairyprincessthat does it. I mean, I know he means I look like a very easy person to victimize, to steal from, or to hurt. But I hear it differently.
I guess I come back to the realization that my nipples are hard as hell and my pussy is pulsing like crazy.
And that I’m so desperate for this man that I can’t think straight.
