A Mess of a Man (Cruel & Beautiful #2)(68)

As if on cue, my door opens and a familiar face saunters in and my hackles rise.

“Guess what I received today. A letter from your firm and one from my mutual fund company.”

Mark pales. I wave him off. “It’s okay. I’ll handle it.”

“Your dad?”

I’m a little annoyed he doesn’t have confidence that I can take care of things.

“He’s on a plane. I’ve got this. Get with Jeff and start compiling a list of investors.” I wonder how Dad hadn’t researched this more thoroughly before making a blanket statement. But the woman in my office demands my attention.

“Ms. Sanders, what can I do for you?” I hide my aggravation at her showing up at my office. I’d hoped that she’d disappeared for good.

She takes a seat and crosses her legs as if to draw my attention to them. But I keep my eyes on hers.

“It’s Ms. Sanders now?”

“I prefer to keep things professional.”

Her eyes brighten. “I know just how professional. Like how you like to spank me when I’m bad.”

I close my eyes, not believing that she’d go there.

“Does your girlfriend know how you like to play rough sometimes?”

Her exaggeration of things pisses me off. I manage to ignore her words and say, “Why are you here?” Even though I know damn well.

“See, I don’t like to keep my money all in one place. So I have my future retirement accounts with this mutual fund company and they sent me this.”

The letter is a replica of the one Mark just showed me. The mutual fund company will send it to all investors eventually. Which means we need to craft a response and fast. I don’t have time for this extra bullshit.

“I can go to the press. Hell, I’m a lawyer. I can sue you for misrepresentation. I could have the SEC all over your ass.”

The idea of the governing body for corporations and investment companies coming in like the IRS and auditing us makes me shudder.

Words like we didn’t directly invest in that company so technically that’s not true won’t do me any good against a lawyer. So I cut to the chase.

“What do you want?”

“Dinner.”

I don’t quite believe her. My brow lifts in question.

“Dinner tonight, my place, and we can talk this all out.”

“I’m going to be busy with everything going on around here.”

“Dinner at eight. Be there, or I’ll see you in court.”

She gets up and makes a show of bending down to pick up her purse as if her ass would capture my attention. It doesn’t. I glance at my screen and set up an all hands on deck meeting. When she finally leaves my office, I push my hair back before picking up my phone.

“Sam,” I say when she answers.

“Hey, are we seeing each other tonight?”

“No, not exactly.” I sigh. This is the part I dread. “I have to have dinner with a client.”

“Oh, like the Sadlers?”

“Not exactly. I have to have dinner with Karen.”





His words make me almost drop my phone. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I guess I need to backtrack a little.” He explains about a catastrophe at work. “But that’s not the worst of it. Karen showed up right after all hell broke loose. She demanded I take her to dinner.”

“What! What the hell does that mean? Can you explain?” I can’t hide the shock from my voice nor do I like the direction this is heading one bit.

“By demanded, I mean more like blackmail. She’s threatening a lawsuit so I need to check with our attorneys. But she wants me at her place at eight. Sam, I know this sounds bad, but believe me, I have absolutely zero interest in her. Because she’s a lawyer, I do have to take her seriously. The company could be at stake. And the fact that she’s resorting to threats makes it even worse. For a smart woman I have no clue how she thinks this would make me want her.”

My stomach slams to the floor with this news. I know I have no reason to be upset like this. Ben is being honest with me. He could lie and say something totally different and I would never know.

“Okay. I’ll deal with this.”

“No. There will be no dealing. I’ll handle her. I’m waiting to hear back from our attorneys. They may tell me I don’t have to do a thing. I just wanted you to be aware of what’s going on. And that I may have to meet with her, if not tonight then maybe tomorrow.”

“O-okay.”

“Hey, I’m not going to do anything to mess with what you and I have going. Tell me you understand that.”

“I understand.”

“Good. As much as I would rather stay on the phone with you and maybe share some dirty talk, I’ve gotta go before things take an even bigger turn for f*ckmeville. I was hoping I could give my dad something to be proud of while he was gone, but now …”

“Hey, don’t say that. Pull some of your fancy tricks out of your bag. I know you’re savvy enough to figure something out.”

“Thanks for believing in me. I’ll talk to you later.”

Even though I try to act like I’m fine, my guts are in knots with the idea of him seeing the spiteful Karen. She’s no dummy; I only hope she doesn’t hold him over a barrel for something he had nothing to do with.