Page 27 of Counterfeit Connection

With my hand forced through my hair, I turn to face her in utter confusion. “What are you saying?”

“His contract might not be the only contract in play here. When do you think you could have the file?”

“Clarissa usually is up around this time, even on a Saturday.”

Kaitlyn twists her hair with her left hand as she fishes inside her clutch for what I finally see is a pen. With ease, she weaves the pen to hold her hair back. “Call her. We have work to do.”

Kaitlyn

I make a cup of coffee for Griffin and a hot tea for myself while he quietly speaks to Clarissa. I can’t even believe what I’m thinking, but I know, for whatever reason, I need to help him.

“Thanks for sending this so quickly, Clarissa. I really appreciate it.”

I carry the two piping hot mugs over to the desk we’ve got his laptop perched on and place one on each side before taking my seat back, just as he ends the call.

“It’s in my inbox now.”

“Great, let’s take a look at it then.”

I don’t even know this man. We’ve spent less than eight hours total together, and I’m already considering the most insanething I’ve ever entertained in my life. I think it boils down to… his father is a bully, and I really, really hate bullies.

“Okay, this is the document he gave me the day we had our initial conversation about his retirement approaching and his expectations of me moving forward.”

I chew on the cap of my pen as I give the document a quick scan. The points are clear and firm. He needs to have a stable relationship to promote the family values aspect of the business, even though it would seem he never did that himself. I know what it’s like to have to play nice in a sandbox…even a sandbox that’s filled with scorpions.

“Okay, so it doesn’t say marriage, and it doesn’t have a length of time listed, meaning if you were to dissolve the relationship for irreconcilable differences, you wouldn’t then be in breach. So, you would need me to help you get through the transfer of power, then separate however we’d determine that.” I look up and Griffin’s color has gone from the fiery red of anger to the paleness of winter snow. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” he whispers it like he’s trying on the words to see how he feels about them.

He pushes back from the table, then seemingly in a daze, begins pacing the room slowly. “Griffin, I don’t know you very well yet, so I need you to be more vocal with me. I can’t guess where you are and what you’re thinking.”

“Fuck me, Kaitlyn. You don’t want any part of what is going on in my head right now.”

“Try me. Clearly, I don’t scare that easily or I wouldn’t be here.”

His hand runs up to the back of his neck, pulling and tugging at the skin. “You’re reading through this mess like the talented attorney I’m seeing you to be. But you’re also extending me the kindness of a true friend. I haven’t had many of those, let alone of the female persuasion. Kaitlyn, your words are generous.”Griffin finally turns to face me. “Do you honestly think I’d allow you to do what you’re suggesting?”

“Allow me? I’m making a choice here. I’m offering to help you, Griffin.”

“My father would be able to smell a con from a mile away. The lengths we’d have to go to in order to make this believable would be astronomical. I couldn’t and wouldn’t ask or allow you to dedicate that kind of time or energy to me for nothing.”

I cross my arms. “It wouldn’t be for nothing. It would be because what he’s asking of you is insane and he needs to be put in his place.”

Griffin is very quiet for a few moments, like there are a million things running through his mind, pacing back and forth, then all of a sudden, he stops in his tracks.

“You’d need to spend a considerable amount of time with me, and in order to sell this to him, you’d have to accompany me back home for a bit. He’d insist on meeting you.”

I swallow the anxious knot forming in my throat. I hadn’t thought about that.

“Oh…”

“Allow me to counter the offer. Kaitlyn, I’d like to hire you as an employee, of sorts.”

“Hire me? I prefer the favor angle. Hiring me makes me feel like a prostitute.”

“Never. Nevereveruse that word again.”

I pull the robe I’ve been wearing like a blanket tighter around me. The chill I’ve felt on and off since we got to the hotel is now completely arctic. “You don’t have to growl at me. Remember how well that’s worked for you recently?”

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