Page 26 of Cakewalk
I gestured at the only desk, upon which were various stacks of paper. “It’s all yours.”
She went through it all in about two hours as I shifted my weight on the hard cooler, answering whatever questions she had.
I waited with an exterior of utmost patience, but internally? I was a mess. I knew everything was above board, I knew I was going above and beyond with the various pledges and donations I had planned, yet I still wasn’t sure if it was enough. Not for Jade. I felt like I owed her the world.
The last few hours had been pure torture. With her so close to me, with us in this private little trailer where we could get up to the dirtiest of deeds without a soul knowing… It took all my willpower not to stare at her, not to take her in, not to memorize her just in case… Just in case she smartened up and realized she shouldn’t be playing with this fire that was my life.
I knew it was selfish to want her, because it meant exposing her to all of my baggage. The part of me that used to have so much fight, so much bite, my father had destroyed by betraying my trust in him. So that part of me accepted defeat yet again, accepted the idea that I wouldn’t be good enough for Jade once she was through with this audit.
So I studied her, committing to memory the way her brows furrowed when she concentrated, the way her cleavage pushed up with every breath, the length of her legs, how the heels made her calves taught, how she played with her hair when she’d look up at me to ask a question. If it came to it, I was ready to have to subsist off this memory alone.
Finally, she set down the last piece of paper and crossed her arms, leveling her gaze at me.
“What?” I asked.
“It looks good. I really can’t find fault in anything. But there’s still your past, Griffin.”
Good. I wanted to get into this. “I took a fall for my father.”
“How’s that supposed to make it any better? Even if he was the one committing tax fraud, you only enabled him by letting the charges fall on you.”
I didn’t love talking about my father, but here it went. “It wasn’t my choice. And maybe I could have battled it, but I didn’t like my chances against his lawyers and his bottomless bank account. He froze me out of all my accounts too, so I wasn’t left with much of a choice. He promised he’d make up for it after, and he did, at least monetarily.”
She was silent for a moment. I wondered if she disagreed with my logic.
I reiterated further, “I decided to be practical and rich over prideful and destitute. At least then I could put my father’s money to good use.”
“Your own fathermadehis son take the fall for him?”
“To him, family is just an image. Ever since my mother left us, he became cold. And so when he needed a scapegoat…” I had thought I’d be able to talk about it, but I found the words catching in my throat.
“Couldn’t you expose him now that you’re out?”
“That’d go against our agreement. When I saw how the cards were going to fall, I had to accept the deal he gave me.”
“What was the deal?”
“If I took the fall, he’d give me this business. It was only one of dozens he owns, and I could do as I pleased with it, run it however I wanted. It was either go quietly, or else end up in prison anyway, but with mountains of legal debt as well. I went with the first choice.”
Jade looked away, her expression softening. “Does that mean you can’t clear your name, then? You can’t let it be known that you had nothing to do with it?”
“I can’t say anything. At least, not publicly.”
“Well, this is a nightmare for me, your new PR officer.”
My heart lifted. Was that confirmation that she’d be working for me? That she believed in my intentions now? Here I thought she couldn’t be more attractive, but something about her believing in me made her even more irresistible.I’m going to have to fire her just so I can touch her again.“That’s why I’ll be paying you the big bucks,” I said, trying to keep my cool.
She laughed, though her somber expression didn’t lift. “Why don’t you just start some sort of development in the city? They’re used to people with your kind of reputation.”
“I don’t like the city. The noise, the crowds… After five years in relative solitude, I find it overwhelming now.”
She leaned forward, looking earnestly at me. “You went to one of those nice prisons, at least. Right? Those white collar crime type facilities?”
I shook my head. “Remember… All my accounts had been frozen. I couldn’t afford much in terms of legal representation.”
“Wow. So you didhardtime.”
If only she knew “hard time” was taking on a whole new definition lately…
