Page 30 of Tempting Promises
“Yes. I didn’t expect you.”
“We like to surprise our potential new clients prior to bringing them on.”
“Consider me surprised.” I force a smile. “Would you like to come in? I need to go upstairs and change, but you’re welcome to wait, if that’s okay?”
Kimberly, who looks like she stepped out of a fashion magazine, enters the house. She’s stunning—blond, skinny, with big blue eyes and a perfect nose. She’s probably about five or six years older than I am, but there aren’t any bagsunder her eyes.
I get her settled in the living room, rush up the stairs, and head to the bathroom.
Oh for the love of . . .
My hair is nothing like Kimberly’s. It looks like absolute shit. My straight hair has more kinks and creases than if I’d actually crimped it. My eyeliner from last night is smudged and there is the stamp from the bar partially on my cheek.
“Shit!” I whisper.
Okay, I can do this. I have got this.
First, I brush my teeth because...gross. After that, I grab the makeup wipe, clean my eye area, and then scrub off as much of the stamp as I can.
“What did they use, permanent marker?”
“Charlotte?” I hear Kimberly calling up.
“Just a minute!”
This is the best I got. I toss my hair up in a messy bun and rush into my bedroom to search for a pair of jeans that does not smell like the bar. I find some and toss on a sports bra and a sweatshirt to go over it. If she wants to tour the property, none of that is going to matter anyway.
I am so not ready for this.
“Charlotte? Someone is at the door.”
What in the fuck is happening? Two in one day. I swear, if this is the bank people, I really am going to lose it.
“Okay! I’ll be right there!”
I rush down the stairs, forcing a smile and pretending I don’t have the world’s worst hangover.
“Let me just see who it is. I’m sure it’ll be just a minute.”
“No problem,” Kimberly says with a bright smile.
It’s definitely a problem—this whole weekend is, but I need to keep that piece of information to myself.
When I open the door, there is the man I didn’t want on the other side.
“Hi, it’s really not a good time.”
His deep voice echoes in my head as I keep the door open justwide enough to see my face. “You forgot something at my house last night.”
Can just one thing in my life go according to plan? Just one. “Do you have it, or do I need to come and get it?”
He lifts up my maxed-out credit card. “It must’ve fallen out of your pants last night, I found it in my bed.”
I extend my hand so he can give it to me and get out of my life. “Thanks.”
“Can we talk?” Rowan asks.
“No.”
