Page 61 of Exposed

“I did,” I confirm.

Goldie shifts her weight.

Uncrosses her legs.

Crosses them the other way.

That damn dress sits high on the middle of her thighs, her fair, smooth skin teasing me.

Dex looks up at me. “The thing is, we can’t find Cory. He hasn’t reported in.”

“Sounds like you have a personnel problem,” I say, letting go of Goldie’s hair to run my fingertips along the bare skin of her neck to try and calm her. “No offense, but my reputation is impeccable. I’m not exactly setting up tee times with the cartel for shits and giggles. I have no desire to talk to anyone in your organization unless it’s necessary. I’m not interested in building friendships. I’m here to make money. I haven’t needed to talk to Cory, so I haven’t.”

Goldie finally relaxes into the side of my chest. Dex doesn’t miss it. “So you’re saying when you become my brother-in-law, we’re not going to spend Christmas together?”

A cartel Christmas.

I want to laugh in his face at the thought.

“Fuck no,” I say. “We are not family and never will be. You made sure of that.”

And that’s the end of Goldie relaxing. She’s as tense as a tightly strung cord.

“Speaking of family,sis.” Dex leans forward and rests his forearms on the table to address my fake fiancée for the first time since we sat down. “Let’s talk about the fact you couldn’t wait to haul your bony ass out of here, but you’re willing to hook up with a drug money launderer. A bit of a double standard for you. One I do not appreciate.”

“Dex.” His name rolls off my lips as a demand. When he shifts his beady glare to me, I feed him the abbreviated version of the story Goldie created. “Goldie and I met years ago, and the timing didn’t work. We ran into each other a few months back and it’s all history. You wanted Goldie here tonight to meet with me, so she came. But you will do business with me and only me. If you can’t do that, we’ll leave right now. Goldie signed her share of The Pink over to you—you’re lucky that happened before I came into her life again. But that’s history. I want to look forward. Outside of my legitimate business, I clean cash. You’ve got a shit ton of dirty cash. It makes sense that we work together. Thirty-five percent. Take it or leave it. The risk isn’t worth anything less to me.”

Dex picks up the fucking butter knife he can’t stop fidgeting with and pokes the table with it. “I have one condition.”

I shake my head, because I will lower the rate to get him to sign, but doing it too early will make me unbelievable and weak. I can’t be either of those things right now. “Told you I’m not lowering my rate?—”

“No,” Dex interrupts and leans back in his chair, still fucking around with that damn knife. “I’ll pay the rate.”

I freeze, because I did not expect that. “What other condition would you have?”

“I want Goldie to come back to The Pink.”

It’s my turn to tense in my chair. Goldie’s hand lands on my thigh, and she squeezes. I glance over to see her skin has paled.

“No,” I growl. “No fucking way.”

“The clients miss her. She became the face of The Pink that everyone wanted to see. I’ve tried to replace her, but none of them have stuck. The customers want her back.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Carter.” Goldie jerks when I slam my hand flat on the table in front of me before I point to the asshole who I watched try to break into Goldie’s apartment last night. Rand is standing to the side of our table. “I came home to my woman’s apartment last night, and that asshole was trying to break in. Do not tell me that wasn’t an order from you. It was, and we all know it.”

Rand moves in, but he’s not alone. Men move in from where they were watching in the shadows.

“What the fuck is this about?” I demand for the sole sake of letting Brax and Micah know what’s going on. “Guns drawn at a business meeting? You must not need my services at all.”

Dex sits unfazed. “You threaten my people, I’ll react. Certainly you’re not new to this.”

Goldie’s hand rests lightly on my forearm. “Daniel?—”

I turn to her and do everything I can to soften my expression. “Hang on, baby, and we’ll be out of here. I promise you’ll never have to come back.”

“If you want my business, she will,” Dex keeps on. “That’s the deal. Of course, she’ll be paid. I’ll even double her salary since I now own The Pink outright. I’m not a complete monster.”

“Fuck you,” I grit. Nothing feels like an act right now. The fear on Goldie’s face last night told a different story, and not a fictional one. A real fucking one that I have a feeling she hasn’t shared.

---