A Calculated Seduction(28)
“I hope you don’t mind, but I decided both of us deserved a break. ”
“No, don’t mind at all. What’d ya get?”
“Well, since I wasn’t sure what you liked and you were a little busy on the phone, I took the liberty of ordering a few things I liked. Some noodles, some dim sum, some sweet and sour and a few other things. Hope you’re hungry.”
“As long as there’s a fork.” She rummaged through one of the bags and handed him a fork and spoon.
“There’s some egg drop soup also. I can’t believe you don’t know how to eat with chopsticks. I figured a man like you would have learned at some time.”
He shoved a forkful of fried rice into his mouth and enjoyed the flavor of soy and garlic. “A man like me?”
“Well, you were in the military and I would describe you as a man of the world.”
“Well, I was stationed in some highly exotic places in the military. First, there was North and South Carolina. Highly interesting in their culture.”
She giggled and pulled out some noodles. “Well, I’ve only lived here in the Dallas Fort Worth area. So, South Carolina seems pretty exotic to me.”
“Would you like to live somewhere else?”
She thought about that while she ate some soup.
“Naw. I like it here the best. I thought at one time I might
relocate to Houston, but that all changed.” She shrugged. “Houston?” he asked, but before she could answer, the phone
rang.
“MacMillan.” As he dealt with yet another irate store manager
on the phone, Dulcy continued to eat. After a few minutes of the same promises of discounts, Ethan hung up the phone. “I don’t know if we’re going to make a profit this quarter.”
She smiled and attraction lit through him. Just her little smile and electricity jolted his nerves, his dick twitched and his heart almost stopped beating.
Good Lord, he had to stop this. The woman was attractive but he wasn’t in love with her. He had no need for petty emotions that ended up torn to pieces when real life intruded.
“You’ll make a profit. With Gerry endorsing us, we’ll make a ton of money. Do you want an egg roll?”
He nodded and she handed him one. “You said you almost relocated to Houston.”
“Yeah, well, I was thinking about transferring down there before my dad died. Afterwards, I dropped out of school, so I just stayed here.”
She just about buried her nose in the carton of food and he wasn’t going to let this go.
“Why were you thinking of going down there in the first place?”
“My fiancé attended school in Houston. I’d thought to join him. ”
“What happened to him?”
“He left as soon as he found out my money wasn’t coming anytime soon.”
“Oh. ”
She still avoided meeting his eyes. “You can understand why I might be uncomfortable talking about it.”
“No, I really can’t.”
Her head snapped up and anger lit her eyes. “So you don’t think I should be embarrassed to be dumped by my boyfriend?”
“But he wasn’t your boyfriend, he was your fiancé, and he’s the one who should be embarrassed.”
“Oh, and why is that?”
“He was only dating you for money. There has to be something wrong with him.”
A moment of silence filled the office, then she laughed out loud. “That’s what your uncle said.”
“Well, my uncle was right.”
They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. “So what are you going with all that money?”
“I’m impressed. Not many people know about that, other than Pete.” He ground his teeth at the sound of the man’s name.
“Uncle Bill told me.”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess he would know. W ell, I plan on starting a fund to help with cancer research. Granted, I want some of the money myself but I really don’t need much to live on.”
“You plan on running a charity fund with your money?”
“In a way, I guess it is but a lot of the money will be used for research. Some of it will be used to generate more money. Oh, and later, I plan on expanding it into a camp for families of cancer victims. I’m thinking of calling it the Shelly Menendez Cancer Fund for Research.”
For a second, it didn’t register. This woman simply could not be helping an embezzler. She was about to inherit a load of money and she planned on starting a research fund in her mother’s name. No way. Didn’t add up. Something was wrong with the picture, he thought as relief flowed through him. She had to be innocent.