Cute and dangerous. Like a sexy zombie koala bear? Man, I needed another coffee. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep last night. The call from Hazel had kept me up considering what would come next.
Our waiter sauntered across the carpeted room, winding between tables and smiling broadly at us. The place was full of light and good energy, decorated in nut browns and creams, but the aesthetic didn’t mean much to me. Hazel’s perfume, a light scent of jasmine and citrus, had drifted over and intoxicated me since she’d sat down.
“Enjoying the coffee?” the waiter asked, popping a hip and holding out his pad slightly. “Real palate cleanser, isn’t it?”
“It’s great,” Hazel said, smiling up at him, and for the craziest moment, jealousy unfolded in my chest. She never offered me small smiles or kind words.
“It’s coffee,” I replied then lifted the crystal vase from the center of the table and handed it to him. “Take that away. The flower is obstructing my view of what’s important.”
The waiter blinked and fumbled with the vase, nearly dropped it. “Right. OK. And to eat?”
“I don’t know, bring an arum lily.”
“He’s kidding,” Hazel said. “I think.” She flipped through the menu again. “Can I get two poached eggs on rye with avocado?”
“Of course,” the waiter nodded. “For you, sir?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “I don’t eat this early.” The last part was for Hazel. She’d need to know that for our little plan to work. She’d need to know more about me than I was usually willing to share.
The waiter hurried off, the saunter gone now, possibly because he had a rose tickling the underside of his chin.
“You’re rude,” Hazel said.
“Not rude,” I replied. “Just businesslike. And he was too friendly.”
“He’s a waiter. It’s his job to be friendly.”
I ignored the comment and removed my phone from my pocket and set it on the table. It was on silent, but I had my assistant on speed dial. “I’m going to have my lawyer draw up a contract for us that will stipulate what’s necessary and what’s not.”
“Are you kidding?” Hazel asked. “That’s just… it’s weird.”
“It will protect both you and me.”
She couldn’t argue with that. “Fine. But like I said, no touching.”
“Touching will have to happen. If we’re going to sell the fake fiancée bit, we’ll need to be affectionate, at least in public,” I said. “But behind closed doors, yes, no touching. Whatsoever.”
“You’re making it sound like I’m the one who wants to touch you.”
I arched an eyebrow.
“Fuck you,” she whispered, glancing around to check the elderly couple at the table over hadn’t heard.
My other eyebrow went up, and she colored red as a beet. She sat back, creating distance between us, but showing me her breasts and that her nipples had hardened at the memory of what had happened between us.
Shit, she’d tasted so damn good. I licked my lips, setting aside my baser urges.
“You’ll need to learn more about me, and I’ll have to learn more about you to make this work,” I said. “I want you to draw up a dossier of personal information that I can browse through.”
“That’s insane. We can just… talk about stuff.”
“I don’t do talking,” I replied. “About my stuff.”
“But you’ll type it up on a computer and let me read it? Yeah, that makes sense.”
She had a point, but I was less worried about someone finding that information than I was about having to discuss it with her. Then again, I wasn’t about to go into too much detail. There were certain things she didn’t need to know. Things I didn’t approach mentally with a ten-foot pole.
“What’s the deal here?” Hazel asked. “Why do we have to memorize anything? Do we have to meet your father and go through a test?” She said it like it was a joke, but she had no idea how close she was to the truth with what she’d said.
“Not exactly,” I replied. “But you will be coming away with me this weekend to my father’s resort. Eagle’s Rest.”
“What?” She nearly did a spit-take. Hazel dabbed those lush lips with a handkerchief, shifting her glass of iced water to one side.
“This weekend. You and me. Eagle’s Rest Resort and Spa.”
“You’re insane,” she replied, brushing her hair away from her face. “I can’t just drop everything and go away for a weekend. I have a job. I can’t even afford to. I don’t even…”
“Hazel, money isn’t an issue.”
She stared at me blankly.
“Seriously. You don’t need to worry about money anymore.”
“That’s… whatever. I just can’t go away. My dad is ill. I can’t just leave him alone. He needs care. Someone to cook for him and look after him and—”
“I’ll get him a nurse.”
“A nurse.”
“Yes, for the time we’re away,” I said. “No problem.” I unlocked my phone’s screen and sent a message to Cassandra. “Done. Anything else?”
Hazel’s long lashes fluttered. “I—well. Uh, Kara’s staying with me. She can’t afford to pay for rent, and she lost her place.”
“Because she stole from her boyfriend,” I said.
“That’s not true.”
“It is.” I’d done my research. “She got kicked out because she stole from him. And now she’s staying with you and not paying her way. That right?” It infuriated me that she’d been taken advantage of, but here I was about to do the same.
Hazel took a sip of her water.
“Right. I can get her out of there.”
“Out of the house?” Hazel set down the glass again, dragging her finger down the side, chasing the droplets of condensation.
“Exactly. Out of the house. I’ll set her up in one of my father’s houses.”
“Your father has houses?”
“For his many mistresses and sordid affairs. I’m currently staying in one while I have business in the city.“ Mortimer still believed that it was a secret from me and everyone else who worked for him. He was delusional because of the power he possessed. “She can stay in one of them until she’s back on her
