Page 16 of Slumming It
Payback wasalwaysfun if you were willing to get creative and didn’t mind breaking a few eggs. Come to think of it, thelastperson to cross me was now sitting on a sea of broken shells that would take months to clean up. Maybe years.
On the phone, the clerk had moved on to threats, saying something about coming down here with a handyman if I didn’t let Emily go – as if I were holding her hostage against her will.
I wasn’t.
Hell, I wasn’t even blocking the door – well, not anymore.
The caller was still babbling when Emily the Housekeeper strode forward and yanked the phone from my grip. In a rush, she told the caller, "Hey, Viv. I reallyamfine. We're just talking, that's all."
I couldn't hear the reply, but whatever it was, Emily didn't like it. With a little wince, she said, "I know." She paused. "Uh, yeah. I'll be down there in a bit." With that, she returned the phone's receiver to the cradle and turned to look at me.
I was still considering my payback, discarding some ideas and liking others. Some were downright amusing – even ifshewouldn’t see it that way.
I didn't give two shits what people thought of me. But this chick? A small-towner with big eyes and a friendly smile?Oh, she'd care alright.
Maybe I'd toy with her first, see what she offered as payback and take it from there. Sometimes, the negotiations were half the fun.
With a little frown, she asked, "Why are you smiling?"
Was I?I hadn't realized. And this, too, pissed me off. Still, I kept the smile in place long enough to say, "Because you owe me." I dropped the smile. "And I always collect."
Her frown deepened. "Collect what?"
I repeated what I'd said to the caller. "You tellme."
She blinked. "Sorry, what?"
"What can you offer?"
Again, her gaze drifted to the bed. "Well, it's not a quickie if that's what you're thinking."
What the hell?If I wanted easy ass, there were simpler ways to get it. But more to the point, I was getting pretty fucking tired of this chick assuming that the presence of a nearby bed – and a sagging one at that – meant that I wanted to get busy with the help, assuming she really was the housekeeper.
Plus I didn'tdoquickies. I gave her dusty shirt a long, rude look. "Don't worry. I prefer my partners clean."Yeah, it was an insult, but she'd insulted me first, and I always gave as good as I got.
She was still frowning. "What are you implying? That I'm dirty?"
Dirty – on her full lips the word sounded vaguely obscene, and my mind took a sudden detour south. As I shifted my stance, I gave her shirt another pointed look. "That's a fact, not an opinion."
She glanced down before saying, "Just so you know, I don't normally look like this."
I shrugged. "If you say so."
Her chin lifted. "Idosay so."
"Good for you," I said. "But easy ass isn't gonna cut it."
"Easy ass?" she sputtered. "That's not what I offered."
"But you're gonna offersomething." I crossed my arms. "And you'd better make it good."
Chapter 7
Emily
I stared up at the guy.Make it good?
He had to be joking. He was a billionaire.Ihad nearly nothing, except my body, which he had already rejected – not that I'd offered, even if the jerk seemed to think otherwise.
