Page 150 of Dare You to Lie

I took a step toward him now. “The only way I’ll be back in your arms is if I fall and you have to catch me.”

“You fell for me once, sweetheart. It’ll happen again. You’ll see.”

I let out a frustrated growl and pushed past him. On my way back to my office, I almost ran into Mr. Lawrence’s sons. They were about as dumb as a box of rocks. Another downside of working here was that I had to work closely with the two of them.

My job differed from anything I’d ever heard of, and part of me wondered if Mr. Lawrence made it up because it fit what he needed. I was what he called acloser. When a large offer for development was on the table and the client needed a little push to accept, they sent me in.

I’d closed sixteen offers in the year since I’d been promoted to this position. I was damn good at my job, and I actually liked what I did. Especially because Lawrence Development Company was one of the top retail and housing developers in the southeast. Small-town expansions were our specialty and also my favorite.

Small towns were so charming. Every time I went to one, I collected a small trinket as a memento. They were always homemade items, not something you’d get at a big retailer which made them special. I loved that.

I had barely made it back to my office when Vincent strolled in. He unbuttoned his suit coat and sat down in the lone chair in front of my desk. I resisted the urge to stab him with my pen and sat down in my office chair.

“What do you want?” I asked.

The corners of his mouth lifted in a smile, and he casually crossed his ankle over his knee. “I want to get lunch with you.”

“I already told you, I’m busy. It’s nine in the morning, anyway. Don’t you have to be at work?”

I clicked on several e-mails that I wanted to delete and sipped my perfect coffee. It made my taste buds sing when I got the blend of coffee, cream, and sugar just right.

“I don’t need to be in the office today. I’ve got a meeting with a client at three, but other than that, I’m all yours.”

I looked up at him and scowled. Or at least I attempted to scowl, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on him.

“Vincent, you’ve got to stop this.”

“Stop what?”

“This.” I gestured between us with both hands. “This following me around, at work, at the house, to the gym. Calling and texting. It all has to stop. We’re through.”

He frowned and leaned forward, dropping his foot to the ground. “You’re serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious! Did you think I was joking all this time? That this was some stupid game?”

“Partially, yes. I thought maybe you just needed time, and you’d come to your senses, but I see now that I need to try more aggressive tactics.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. My voice shook a little, like it used to, and it pissed me off. I was turning into the scared little girl around him again. In all fairness, though, his tone and words really scared me. What more could he do? He was basically stalking me already.

“It means that you need more convincing. I have just the thing.” He smiled and stood up, buttoning his suit coat before walking out.

“Tell your dad our tee time is at eight. Don’t be late,” Mr. Lawrence called out as Vincent walked toward the elevators. I hadn’t realized he was standing near my door.

“We won’t. Thanks again for your help today, Trent. I think good things are coming our way,” Vincent called back.

Mr. Lawrence chuckled and waved to him before popping his head into my office.

“Kate, nice of you to finally show up.”

“I was only five—”

He cut me off. “Meet me in my office in ten to go over the Perkins deal. You’ve got a meeting with Mr. Perkins at eleven.” He tapped the door with his knuckles before walking away.

I let out a breath and pulled up the file. Before printing everything out for the case, I wrotefind a new jobon a sticky note. If I was going to make a clean break from Vincent, then I needed to get out of this place. The relationship Vincent had with my boss was not healthy for me.

THE DAY FLEW BY, and I was more than ready for it to be over. We had a lot of new projects. Some that were in the development stages, a few which were in proposal stage, and two that were in the scouting stage.

I worked as a scout for six months before Mr. Lawrence promoted me. If I were being honest, I enjoyed scouting much more. Scouts went to the locations for the developments and checked them out. If it was a small town, they stayed somewhere local and checked out the area. Ate at local restaurants and talked to owners of small businesses to get a feel for how the town was doing.

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