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Albert beamed as he accepted the gift. “Why, thank you, Miss Alexa. I know she’ll love them.”
As we drove back to Brooklyn, I felt a pride about this evening that I hadn’t known since receiving my acceptance letter to Columbia. My SAT scores hadn’t been great, so it had been a huge surprise and a real achievement to have done well enough on the application essay to get in. It had been the key achievement that led to all I’d accomplished since.
Evan was silent until we turned onto my street. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about the fishbowl dining experience.”
I shrugged. “Yeah. You said that.” I almost apologized for being bitchy about it, but he didn’t deserve that. I thanked Albert for the ride when he parked.
Evan helped me out of the car. “I’ll walk you up.”
“No, you won’t.” I pushed him aside. But touching was a mistake because the feel of that hard wall of muscle under his dress shirt made me reconsider my words. Maybe walking me to my door would be okay. It wasn’t the same as inviting him in.
“Playing hard to get?”
“More like impossible. You won’t be getting me, tonight or any other night, remember?” I reminded myself as much as him. “Besides, you’re way overdressed for this building.”
“That reminds me. Albert?”
Albert nodded and came around to open the trunk. He pulled out a garment bag.
“And what is that?” I asked.
“Those,” he said slowly, “are wardrobe items for dinner.”
“What’s wrong with this?” I gestured up and down my outfit.
“Nothing. You look gorgeous.”
There was that word. I took a breath. “You can’t go showering me with gifts. Albert, put that back. I don’t want any of them.”
Albert looked at Evan, but didn’t put the bag away.
“Consider these costumes on loan, if you want. You’ll get more shortly,” Evan said. “You can’t wear the same outfit every evening. Albert will carry them for you.”
I wasn’t going to win this argument, at least not tonight, so I shook my head and put my hand out. “I don’t need any help. Thank you very much.”
Albert handed me the bag, and I slung it over my shoulder, uninterested in continuing to argue on the sidewalk.
Evan backed away. “Please text when you get safely inside your unit.”
I nodded. “I will. Thank you for dinner.”Be strong.I turned before I could give in and ask him to walk me up.
Tonight I’d bested the Shark of Wall Street. I hadn’t meant it to be a test, but I’d pushed him to the limit when I threatened to walk out, and he’d given in. I’d won a round with him, something almost nobody could claim.
I’d reacted without thinking, and it would have been terrible to walk out on him and lose the second million dollars for the fund, but him calling me his partner had rescued me from that mistake.
Then there had been his request that I help him target charities to fund.
My first reaction had been that it sounded like he wanted me to do his job for him, but that had been quickly replaced by excitement that I’d be getting a say in the giving power behind his company and would be able to impact many more people than just those Three Sisters reached.
Were we really partners in this? That would take some time to figure out.
When I reached my door, I couldn’t resist the temptation and unzipped the garment bag. “Son of a bitch. He can’t expect…” More than a half-dozen dresses greeted me, and none of them was from Target.
CHAPTER14
Alexa
When Friday morningdawned a week later, I felt better about how my life was going than I had in a long time. Things had been smooth at work, Chelsea told me we’d had additional donors approach us about the fund, and Evan had been good about warning me what to expect when we went out—which had been almost every night. And on the home front, I hadn’t had any close encounters with Pinky again. I was four for four on safe returns in the evening. And then there was the expansion of my wardrobe.
