Page 16 of Grumpy Billionaire Bad Boy

Charlotte's mouth drops open as London walks away and continues to browse.

"These trousers, do you have them in a twenty-five?" She runs her hand along something else. "And these."

Charlotte quickly rushes over, snatching two pairs of bottoms off the table and adding them to the pile in her arms. "Why yes, we do."

London turns toward her and presses her finger to her lips. "So that's five tops, two bottoms. I'm going to need a blazer, at least one pair of jeans, a cardigan, and…" Her gaze settles on the far side of the store. "That dress."

I can barely make out her last two words, she says them so quietly.

Charlotte follows her line of sight. "The Lorenzo. Only five of them were made. The silk gives it a timeless and elegant look, the dark green would go perfectly with your hair color and your complexion." She pauses and adds, "It's eight thousand."

My attention shifts to London, it not being lost on me how her shoulders seem to slump, even through the pixelated screenI'm watching her on. She nods her head slowly. "I'm going to have to hold off on that today." Without hesitating, she shifts back into action, scanning the store for something else. "Those black heels, do you have them in a seven?"

"Let me check." Charlotte rushes over, grabs the shoe off the stand, and drops the load of clothes onto the counter before disappearing into the back.

London glances at where she went then stops in front of the dress she was gawking at, her fingers barely touching the delicate fabric for the smallest second. She lets out a breath and leaves it behind as she rummages through the panties section, taking a handful of the dainty things into her good hand before placing them with the rest of her things.

Why she needs heels when she has a cast on her leg, I'm not exactly sure, but who am I to stop her? It’s not like she'd listen to me anyway.

If I were her, I would have gone with something a bit more practical, like sneakers. It's safe to say London doesn't think the same way I do, though.

Charlotte comes out with a box in her hand, holding it out triumphantly. "Shall we try them on?"

London shakes her head. "Not necessary. I have a pair of them back home. Or well, I did." Her voice trails off like she's lost in a memory. "I know they fit."

"Where is home?" Charlotte asks her. It's an innocent question, but considering the magnitude of the situation, I'm not sure if London should tell her the truth.

"Out west," she responds vaguely.

I loosen a breath at her smart answer. "Atta girl," I mutter.

"I've always wanted to go out west, I just haven't," Charlotte says instead of pressing London for any more information. "Maybe someday."

"Yeah, maybe."

"So, you're new in town, what brings you out here?"

London shrugs. "A fresh start, hopefully."

"I like that." Charlotte pats the pile of things that London has accumulated. "Okay, we've got a lot of your basics covered here. You mentioned a blazer and cardigan, what about…" Charlotte leads London to another side of the store, helps her pick out a few more things, and adds them to the stack. "These jeans here are a more relaxed fit and should accommodate that cast." Charlotte holds a pair of jeans out for London to take a look at.

"I'll take two of them, the dark wash and the light, please."

A woman walks in the front door and Charlotte greets her with a smile. "Let me know if there's anything I can help you find," she tells the woman as she starts to ring London's items up.

I squint to see the total but can't make it out. I punch in the information to the store’s Wi-Fi, locate the point-of-sale system, pull up the order screen on my own, and watch the tally of items go up. It shouldn't be this easy to log into someone else's interface, and yet it is…

I guess Charlotte isn't protecting anything top secret, and an average person would never hack into her store. I'm not exactly an average person when it comes to hacking, anyway.

The total shoots from a couple hundred dollars, to two thousand very quickly, and I wonder where London is going to get the funds to pay for this. Surely, she's not stupid enough to use a credit card that could be traced back to her, and I would hope she isn't carrying that much cash on her. She might be in a relatively safe area in Manhattan, but crime happens everywhere. On the off chance that she is stupid and has a card with her, I furiously type away to pull up the power to the store, ready to shut it off the second she whips a card out. My finger hovers over the button, watching in anticipation for which level of disappointment I'm going to have in her.

"Your total today is going to be two thousand two hundred twenty dollars and twenty-one cents." Charlotte starts to bag the items as she asks, "Will that be cash or card?"

London fidgets with the front pocket of her jeans, revealing a wad of cash a moment later.

I shake my head and rub at my jaw. How could she be so foolish? Didn't Silver tell her not to flaunt cash like that? Not to mention, she's here to start over, shouldn't she have budgeted better and saved some of her money instead of spending it the first chance she got? But, considering she said she already had a pair of those overpriced heels, perhaps London is just showing her true, very materialistic, colors.

Once Charlotte has finished bagging everything up in four different, quite large, bags, she counts the money that London handed her and makes change.

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