Chapter 9
After a night spent fucking his own hand while imagining Diana Bluth’s mouth around his cock, David attended his first meeting of the day. Outside his office window, the sun shone bright, the promise of wet heat making heat waves on the roofs of neighboring buildings.
“Attended Rutgers but dropped out her sophomore year. Was on track to earn her bachelor’s in business administration. She lives at home with her mother, Elizabeth Bluth, a retired school teacher who still works as a teacher’s aide, and her younger sister, Deirdre, who is attending Rutgers, is in her third year, and is working toward her degree in finance.”
David listened to his director of R&D recite the information he’d had him gather on Diana Bluth. Alexei Darastraza, a big Russian brute, was a brilliant tech-path, a man who could speak to computers and get them to do whatever he wanted. He was also David’s most trusted partner in the Brexcel Corp empire. When he’d asked Alexei to do some digging into Diana, David knew he wouldn’t ask questions about her. Yet.
“She’s been working for Ayers for three years, and has earned three pay raises in that time. There is no indication of relationships, and her social media is Spartan at best.”
Alexei continued with his report as David rubbed a finger along the rim of his tumbler, the amber liquid inside catching the light from the floor-to-ceiling windows as they cast their sunshine along the wall and over the plush leather couch on which he was sitting.
“Finances?” David asked, his gaze caught on the view out his 40th floor windows. His offices were on the top floor of the Brexcel Corp building, which he owned. It was the international headquarters of Brexcel, but he spent less and less time there, simply because he hadn’t wanted to. His business was built on international dealings, and so he went where the business needed him. Now that he’d just returned from his Asian tour, he felt…tired.
For the first time in his life, he didn’t want to hop in his private jet and take off somewhere else. He wanted to be there, in New York. He felt settled in, as though his feet were heavy and unwilling to move. After the breakup, he’d sold the flat he’d lived in with Rinna and bought a new one, though he hadn’t spent more than a few nights in it. It was barely furnished, and his belongings were still in storage waiting for him to settle in enough to have them delivered and unpacked. He knew he should, that it would be a good idea to have a place to lay his head while in New York, but he couldn’t help the sense that something didn’t feel right about it all. The flat was the penthouse, of course, it was beautiful, over 6,000 sq. ft., and had top of the line everything. It was the perfect dwelling for a billionaire. But it wasn’t home. Not that he knew what that would feel like. He could blame his parents for being nomadic hippies, but he would also have to blame himself for allowing his schedule to be so erratic. He was never in one place long enough to set down roots…until he let Rinna into his life.
Fuck.
Perhaps he was being maudlin, missing his life in New York—but really, what was there to miss? Glittering parties filled with empty pleasantries? Charity balls where people would rather get attention than give money? Expensive dates with women who only wanted the celebrity that came with being photographed on his arm? Dissatisfying one-night stands with women who were seeking empty intimacy as much as he was?
Shit! What was wrong with him? When had those things ceased to be enough for him? Probably around the same time he broke things off with Rinna. He was thirty-five years old, he’d made his fortune twenty times over, he owned all that he could possibly dream of, and he’d never had an intimate relationship, beside Rinna, last longer than a few weeks.
Why the hell does that matter? Why, indeed? If his relationship with Rinna taught him anything it was that women could seduce to the point of making a man bring down his walls. He allowed her into his life, into his world, and she dropped an atom bomb, destroying all that he had hoped to have with her. And he hadn’t even loved her…not really. She’d woven her web around him, snaring him. And he let her, because he wanted—even just a sliver—of what his parents had. Companionship, fidelity, two children, a 40th anniversary party…
But that wasn’t going to happen. With anyone. It was pointless to want something as unnecessary and complicated as a relationship, especially when he could have any woman he wanted, whenever he wanted. And he’d be the one sending them on their way once it was all over.
But not Diana…
Fuck.
“I don’t have access to her bank account balance, but I do know she has no outstanding debt, her house is still under mortgage under her mother’s name, and she has a monthly subscription to Netflix,” Alexei answered.
No debt. That was a first. He had yet to meet a woman who didn’t have at least one credit card. Diana was…new. Interesting. Unexpected. So, she wasn’t in need of money to get her out of debt, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t greedy. Most women were. There had to be an angle he wasn’t seeing yet.
But he would.
“Does Ayers know about your connection with Miss Bluth?” Alexei asked, yanking David from his loaded thoughts. Apparently, Alexei had guessed David’s connection to Diana—which wasn’t a surprise. The man had a nose like a shark, scenting blood in the water from fifty miles away. Diana Bluth was an interesting development
