Page 83 of Arrogant Playboy

Thanks so much for taking the time to put together my home, I look forward to seeing the results soon.

You girls will be working hard, and the shops are far, so I thought I would send you a basket of treats to help you make it through the day.

Daniel

The girls swooned over it, and I did, too. Especially when I saw cheese and crackers and remembered our drive down together.

“Thank you for the picnic basket, it really came in handy as we worked. Everything arrived on time, nothing broken, and we were able to get everything cleaned and put away for you in a day,” I explain as I take a bite of my salad.

“Fantastic, can’t wait to see.” He grins, digging into his own meal. “How have you been?” he asks.

“Good. Busy, but hey, you never told me Matthieu offered Georgia a job. My best friend is now moving to Paris in a couple of weeks.”

“That was business, I think she’s going to be a great asset. Matthieu likes her. He may look like the easiest going out of us DuPonts, but he’s not. But they seem to have hit it off.” He grins.

“She’s so excited. I’m going to miss her. At least Emily is back in London, but she is holed up with Louis all the time, so I barely get time with her. Oh, and thank you for helping her find her mother, that means the world to her.”

Daniel shrugs. “Louis asked. He wanted to make sure that she was worthy of having Emily back in her life. He never considered who she ended up being, but he feels bad that he got to spend all this time with her mother when she was desperate to find her.”

“Don’t you think it’s wild that the two of them were so close yet so far from each other like two planets orbiting?” I ask him.

“If they had met earlier, I don’t think they would be together now. Louis was with Elisabeth and Emily was with that guy,” he says, shoving a couple of bits of lettuce in his mouth. Why is that sexy the way his mouth wraps around the fork? I’m losing it.

“True, guess things work out in the way they should,” I say as I fork some salad into my mouth. We sit and talk for most of my lunch hour. I explain to him about the installation andupdate him on the furniture that will arrive next week. So, I’ll be going back down there again with the team, and he insists on organizing the car service again. After next week the house should be ready to go. It is the quickest home I’ve turned around, but thankfully, it was only cosmetic.

Daniel stands up and puts his rubbish away, and I’m sad that our time is up. “I better let you go. Thanks for the update. I’ll see you at Ivy’s?”

I nod, trying to chew the bit of salad I put in my mouth. “Yeah, I’ve organized a car so all good.”

“You sure I can’t change your mind about that? We could make a stop along the way, deserted country lane,” he asks, wiggling his brows.

As tempting as that might be I can’t. “I’ll see you there.”

“Fine. But I’ll be expecting a late-night visit.”

“Let’s see how the night goes.” I smirk.

Daniel starts to walk out of my office, he turns and those turquoise eyes land on me. “Like the outfit,” he says, raking those eyes over me hungrily before shoving his sunglasses back on and walking out the door. I’m wearing one of the gorgeous outfits he bought me, a black shift dress with white piping and the matching jacket which is hanging up on the coat rack, red bottom heels, and a designer bag.

“That man is so fine,” Helena says, poking her head into my office, making me jump as I’m a million miles away.

32

ROSIE

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I curse, stepping out of the rental car I have booked for the weekend. Stupidly, I got dressed in the evening dress, thinking it would save me time when I got here because I was running late. It’s a formal black-tie cocktail party. As soon as I stepped out of the car, my zipper broke on my gorgeous dress, and I can feel the wind against my skin.This is so embarrassing.And I don’t have another dress. I pull out my phone and quickly text Ivy, I’m not sure if she will get it as the party is about to start, but I wait and hope that she gets my SOS.

“Rosie,” I hear Ivy calling out to me in the parking area and she’s not alone.

Shit. More people to witness my embarrassment.

“Hey, I’m sorry for calling you out of your party. I don’t know what to do or if my ass is showing.”

“It’s okay, we were up in my bedroom having champagne and chatting, you didn’t disturb a thing. You remember Lauren and Eloise,” she says, pointing to her friends. I give them both a small wave. “And this is my sister Camryn, she’s engaged to Alex’s brother, Nate.” I remember meeting her once or twice atthe office. “My bestie, Olivia.” She points to another gorgeous woman, again she’s popped in from time to time, I think she’s married to a rock star. “And my sister’s bestie and business partner, Kimberly.”

“Hi, everyone. Nice to meet you all under this interesting circumstance.”

“How bad is it?” Camryn asks, indicating with her hand for me to spin around. I do as I’m asked, slowly spinning to show them. “That is well and truly ripped.”

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