Page 3 of Ruthless Financier
I pressed the button to go up to my meeting now. “No, just old-fashioned. Which I clearly am.”
He leaned against the wall and his gaze smoldered. Damn. I wasn’t this weak. Then he asked, “Well, how much would it cost for you to be my bride?”
I swallowed and stared at myself in the shiny, fake gold elevator doors. “You sound serious.”
I listened to the machine noises and ignored my body’s awareness of Jacob as he said, “I am.”
This wasn’t real. I fought down the butterflies in my chest that made me slightly off-center with him and said, “I don’t want a lifetime with a stranger.”
He crossed his arms and looked down at me. I swear he could see through my clothes to my black lacy bra, which I’d only worn to make myself feel good.
“Two years,” he said, “with a maximum of five. How much would it cost for you to live with me in my mansion for that long?”
My face heated. This had to be a Vegas bet he was part of. I shouldn’t have my panties twisted when I envisioned this man in my bed. I said, “Mansion? Yeah, okay. You’re probably dirt poor.”
The elevator was almost here. I could tell from the rumbling that was building in intensity, almost matching my fantasies of Jacob.
“So, indulge me with a number.”
I knew I shouldn’t indulge him in this, but maybe that was the bet. The truth was, I’d need a fortune to meet all of my responsibilities and make all my dreams happen. If I answered, he’d go away. I stared at him and didn’t blink my blue eyes. “Twenty-five million for five years. I figure five million a year.”
He snapped his fingers. “Done.”
The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside as I said, “Yeah, okay. Look this was fun but I have to go.”
He leaned into the elevator for a moment and said, “Indigo, you are exactly what I need, so I’ll find you soon to finalize this deal.”
The hotel was huge. Who knew how many people milled around the whole strip? I pressed my button and said, “Right. Okay.”
My phone hadn’t gone off to say Mr. Ruthless had arrived, but it wouldn’t hurt to be early. I closed my eyes as I rode up in the elevator.
Maybe my sisters were the hearts and flowers and happily-ever-after types. Or they believed in true love instant spark, like my parents did. But I wasn’t ever going to be anything like either of my parents.
I’d learned from my past.
The doors opened and I headed into the conference room where Ajax and my cousin and assistant, Jasmine, waited for me.
My team had set up the displays, printed the proposal and organized the conference room.
They’d even set out glasses of water. All was perfect. Jasmine handed me my hot green tea as she said, “Indigo, there you are.”
I nodded at her and put my tea down in front of my chair as I said, “Hi. I was waylaid. Some drunk in a bar asked me to marry him. I said I would for twenty-five million.”
Ajax fixed his glasses, though his tie was still crooked, as he said, “This is Vegas, anything is possible. Maybe he was some billionaire like Jacob Donovan.”
Ajax was just out of college. I’d train him to handle his own accounts eventually, but he wasn’t ready yet. Now, Jasmine was the perfect assistant and had no desire to move up as she wasn’t sure she wanted the responsibilities.
I’d never had that luxury. I pointed to Ajax and Jasmine helped him with the tie. I think she liked my new apprentice.
“Yeah, right,” I said. “He was probably just some gambler and asking me to name a number for some stupid bet going on somewhere.”
This was Vegas, after all.
Jasmine fixed Ajax’s tie, so we were all good. As we took our seats, she said, “It would be nice to have twenty-five million dollars.”
I flipped through my script to refresh my talking points as I said, “I guess. My inheritance let me buy a condo in Pittsburgh, but I need to work to pay the rest of the bills.”
I’d pushed some of that money from my parents’ insurance at my sister Georgie for a while, but she didn’t need the money now.
