Page 32 of Last Chance Seduction
“Samuel,” I said as I cleared my throat.“This is Mercy.My girlfriend.”
“It’s lovely to meet you,” Mercy said as she held out her free hand.
Samuel, a man fifteen years our senior, with silver at his temples and a sharp smile, shook Mercy’s hand.“It’s nice to meet you as well.Congratulations, Lex.She’s a beauty.”
I bit my tongue at that, wondering exactly why he was being such a stereotypical misogynist, and nearly said something.But Mercy pinched my side, and I figured she didn’t want to rock the boat any more than we were already doing just by existing.
“You should sit with us at dinner.It’s open seating, I know that sometimes they make it assigned, but they wanted to do a little free for all this time because it’s the holidays.”
“Oh that sounds fun,” Mercy said, smiling up at me.Though I saw the laughter dancing in her eyes.
“Lexington.It’s good to see you,” Mr.Arnault said as he came forward.I let go of Mercy, reluctantly, and shook the other man’s hand.
“Mr.Arnault.It’s good to see you.”
“And is this the lovely girlfriend I heard about?Mercy Caddel?”
I raised a brow, wondering when he had heard her last name, and Mercy stiffened for a moment.
“Yes, that’s me.It’s good to meet you, sir.”
“My wife listens to one of the books that you narrate.You do pretty good.So much talent out there, and this Montgomery seems to have picked you up.I’m glad that he was able to piece something together for you after him and Gia’s relationship didn’t work out.”
“Daddy,” Gia whispered.“Seriously?”
“I’m kidding.You know I’m kidding.”
“Sure, sir,” Samuel said through gritted teeth, and I lifted my chin at the other man.He wasn’t my adversary.I wasn’t in love with Gia anymore.And I knew he probably didn’t enjoy hearing about Gia’s ex-boyfriend just as much as I didn’t enjoy what the hell Mr.Arnault was doing.
“Well, it was pretty hard to pin Lex down, but I was able to woo him with ice cream and spreadsheets.”
I rolled my eyes, wondering where she came up with those two things, though usually it would work for me, and smiled.
“She knows me so well.”
“Well, I’m headed off to presentation one.Are you guys coming?”
“Of course.And I’m excited to talk to you about the estate.”
“All in good time, Montgomery.All in good time.”
The three of them left, as Mercy and I stood next to each other.When her shoulders began to shake, I looked down at her.“What on earth was funny about that?”
“I’m so glad that you did not have to do this alone.Because what the hell was that?Did he do some CIA deep dive into my past or something?”I shuddered.“I surely hope not.”
“So creepy.But at least I know what I’m working against.”She rubbed her hands together.“We are going to get you that bid.”
“I didn’t realize you were so competitive.”
“Oh, Emily and I were always competitive with each other.Good naturedly of course, but I tried to win usually.”
“Oh really.”
“Of course.Like this one time in high school when we were trying to figure out who to ask to the sophomore Sadie Hawkins dance, we both were fighting over the same guy, even though we were just friends with him, and the pranks we pulled on each other just to see who would win were hilarious.Neither one of us ended up asking him, because we liked each other so much more than we liked winning, but it was a close one.”
I frowned at that, trying to remember back in high school.“Didn’t you take Ethan?”
“Yes,” she answered with a blush.“And Emily took Graham.But the other guy ended up going to the dance anyway.He was asked by a few people now that I think about it.”
