Page 6 of Miss Trust

Chance

Fuck. That was a disaster. Teagan’s older sister had been downright hostile. Of course, my bumbled delivery hadn’t helped. I’d been uncharacteristically off my game.

Typically, I was a careful and strategic man, but I’d sorely underestimated Victoria Larson. I obviously wasn’t going to be able to barge into her place of work and get her to do what I wanted.

Once I got back into the car, I instructed Malik to head to my Malibu home. Of properties all over California, and in Vegas, New York, and Miami, this one was my newest purchase. I was sure it would prove lucrative once I had it remodeled.

I needed to come up with a game plan for round two with the fiery blonde. The first step was to go behind enemy lines and gather more information. I rang Reid.

“Hi,” I said when he answered. Frankly, I was grateful he’d picked up when he saw it was me.

“Did you offer the job to Teagan’s sister yet?”

I winced at how anxious he was. “Working on it, but I could use some more information on Victoria.” Personal information. Not the type you got from hiring a PI.

“She goes by Tory, and what do you need? Hold on. I’ll get Teagan in here.”

Great. No pressure.

Teagan’s voice came on the line. “Hi, did you talk with my sister?”

A liar I was not. “Briefly, but she was at work, so it wasn’t an ideal time to get into the details.”

“You met her at the strip club? Why?”

Why, indeed. In hindsight, it had been a careless thing to do. “Did you tell her I was coming?”

The hesitation in Teagan’s response spoke volumes. “No. I thought it might be better if she wasn’t aware. Did you mention the job would come with medical benefits? Explain the cancer treatments of my niece would be covered?”

Nope. I hadn’t gotten that far. In my annoyance over her unexpectedly difficult reaction, I’d completely forgotten my biggest selling point. “I didn’t have the opportunity.”

I could practically feel Reid’s groan from the other side of the world. “You know what? Forget it,” he said. “I’ll make some calls to the Delmont Security office in LA and see if I can get her on there.”

“No. I’ve got this.” I’d made a promise, and I intended to keep it. I’d never backed down from a challenge, and I wasn’t about to let some slip of woman with luxurious curves and a smart mouth change my ability to deliver. “I’ll go see her tomorrow at her apartment and sort this out.”

Silence greeted me. I hated the unspoken doubt hanging over the line. But then again, I hadn’t exactly given Reid a lot of reasons to trust me lately. This was why I had to ensure Victoria, Tory Larson, would take the job.

“Okay. Call us tomorrow to let us know how it goes.”

“I will.” With better news, I hoped. Clearly, I’d underestimated this task and how Tory’s pride played into the situation. Hell, I’d put her on the defensive from the first moment by choosing to talk to her while she was half naked. Although I didn’t regret the image of her beautiful body, I did regret my sloppy, short-sighted plan.

The next morning I made a flurry of phone calls. The perk of being a multimillionaire was having a lot of people eager to do as I asked. I intended to approach round two with Teagan’s sister fully armed.

However, once I arrived at her run-down apartment complex in a less-than-stellar neighborhood in South LA, I was already second-guessing my plan.

Nevertheless, I knocked on the door. The first blow fired by the enemy, completely unexpected, was the sight of Tory Larson in broad daylight. Her long hair was piled on top of her head, and her pretty sun-kissed face was devoid of makeup. She was stunning in such an effortless, natural way.

“You again. Seriously?”

Not the greeting I typically received from women. “Yes, me.”

“Why are you here?”

Right. Back to the point of my mission. “We appeared to have gotten off on the wrong foot last night. I’ve come here to offer you a job. One with medical benefits.”

My biggest selling point did no more than cause her to arch a brow. “Thought I wasn’t good enough to cut it at your club.”

“I never said—”