Page 49 of One Taste
She shoots me a look, narrow eyes and fixed jaw, informing me she does not approve.
“Hi, Veronica.” Madison’s voice breaks our stare off, and Devin and I turn toward the door.
Shit. I forgot about Veronica.
“Hello, love,” Veronica says while leaning down to kiss Madison’s cheek. “Look how beautiful you are. Every time I see you, you get more stunning.”
“You’re too sweet,” Madison says, giving her a hug. “I’m nothing compared to you. I’d kill to have your tan skin.”
It’s only a moment before Veronica sees me. “Oh, Sebastian, darling,” she purrs, heading straight toward me.
I cringe as she throws her arms around me while kissing my cheek. This woman is completely inappropriate, touchy as hell, and fucking annoying. If she wasn’t the best in her field, I wouldn’t put up with her.
She lets go of me and turns, stopping when she sees Devin. “And who’s this?” She reaches out her hand to Devin, and Devin takes it with a disgusted look plastered on her face.
“Devin Miller, Interim CEO,” she says.
“Oh, what a lovely name,” Veronica coos. “I hope you’re taking care of my sweetie here.” She nods toward me, and my annoyance moves up a notch. I hate when she calls me pet names as if we’ve known each other a life time. I’ve known her a damned month and I’m not a fan of pet names. The only woman I’d allow to call me any kind of name is standing next to me with growing irritation.
Devin huffs, and my head swings in her direction. Anger is written across the features of her face, and it has me more than curious.
“I’m going to excuse myself,” she says to the group. “I have to get some work done.”
“Bye,” Madison calls out as Devin walks away from us.
I watch the sway of her hips as she leaves. That isn’t an overexaggerated, fake sway. It’s natural—completely natural sex appeal.
“Well, she seemed rude,” Veronica says as the office door clicks upon Devin’s exit.
I roll my eyes and catch Madison glaring at me. Our twin telepathy kicks in and I can practically read her mind.“Be nice. You get more flies with honey than vinegar.”
The way she insulted Devin doesn’t sit well with me though, and I’m defending her before I know it’s happening. “She’s actually very nice and great at her job.”
The way she stared at Veronica as if she wanted to murder her tells me there’s more to it than that.
“I wanted to stop in and give you two some good news, as well as some not so great news,” Veronica says, redirecting the attention of the room back to her.
“What is it?” Madison asks, the anxiety in her voice apparent.
I bow my head, rubbing the scruff on my chin as I wait for her to drop the next bomb on my life.
“The pictures in the papers were the best lead so far, but whoever is doing this is good at keeping a low profile.” She pauses, looking between Madison and me. “I’ve been digging since our last meeting, but I’m not finding too much.”
I huff, mumbling under my breath. “Jesus Christ.”
Veronica has been in and out of my office for weeks collecting information on my personal life: my habits, places I frequented before being put on lock down; if I remember anything about when and where the bad photos were taken, etc. She has employee files and client information and yet she hasn’t come up with much?
“Sebastian,” Madison admonishes. “Let her finish. Is that the good or bad news?”
Veronica continues, not missing a beat. “The bad news, although the good news isn’t really good, but rather provides us a small bit of information which we desperately need. I’ve been able to uncover that the photos of you printed in the trashier publications were sold to them by an anonymous source. After a little prodding, I was able to get them to tell me that the source contacted them asking if they were interested, but that’s it. They’re not going to give up their source; they are a cash cow with the way your face can sell a paper. I need some more time, but I’ll find out who’s doing this to you, Sebastian.”
Veronica looks at me with a frown, but instead of bitching about her not getting me the information we need fast enough, I nod and suck it up. “That’s a good start I guess.”
Madison takes over the conversation asking some other questions, but I check out. I know I should be listening but right now, I need a mental break. For the life of me, I cannot fathom what I did to deserve all this. The mention of Darla Faust draws my attention back to Madison and Veronica.
“I’m not entirely sure this still isn’t related to the affair with her,” Veronica says.
“What?” I ask.
