The Ruthless Gentleman(23)
“You better be worth it.”
“I’ll remind you of this conversation when you sign the Phoenix deal.”
“If you’re sending me a bill anyway, can you dig a bit deeper into the crew here? I just want to make sure everything thoroughly checks out.” What I wanted was more information about Avery. What drove her to be so good at what she did? What had made her become a yachtie and not go to university? I’d seen glimpses of the Avery underneath the professional fa?ade, and I wanted to know more.
“I’ve done thorough checks—there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Do me a favor and the next time we do a drop, give me everything you can find on Avery Walker.”
“The chief stewardess?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“Is something making you suspicious?”
Only the fact that I trusted her and didn’t know why. Wanted to fuck her but hadn’t made a move. It was weird. Not like me. “Nothing I’m ready to share. Just an instinct.”
“Okay. I’ll do some follow-up work on her.”
“Now, get out of here—I’ve got to go and catch some rays.” I hung up and grabbed my laptop. Sunbathing and relaxation was the last thing I needed, but I found I quite enjoyed my interactions with Avery and so working from the main deck, knowing she would pass by intermittently tending to my every need, wasn’t an opportunity I was going to pass up.
Eleven
Hayden
All I got from my lawyers were invoices and bad news. “Fuck,” I spat as I hung up my satellite phone.
This deal had started off like clockwork and then out of nowhere the wheels had fallen off and I was stuck in the middle of the Mediterranean without an assistant or my email. I wished to God Landon had found the leak, so I could get back to London.
There was a rap at my door. “Come in,” I said. If it had been anyone other than Avery, I wouldn’t have answered but she was so dedicated, always knowing what I wanted before I did, not to mention she was fucking beautiful. She was basically kryptonite for me.
“Hey, I just brought you a coffee, but did I come at a bad time?”
I sighed as I sat back in my chair. “Thanks. On this deal, there’s never a good time.”
She winced, placing the large cup of coffee in front of me. I caught the scent of her—all sunshine and summer flowers, as though she just came from a better part of the universe than I did. “Anything I can help you with?”
“Unless you can explain to me why people decide to clam up on me and make outrageous demands then I’m not sure you can help.”
She transferred her weight onto one leg, and her hip pushed out to the side, creating a delicious curve I wanted to trace with my fingertips. “What’s happened? Someone’s stopped talking to you and has started demanding stuff? A customer?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I know it’s all super top secret and everything, so don’t tell me anything you shouldn’t, but sometimes just talking out loud can help shuffle stuff around in your brain and a solution appears.”
A grin tugged at the corners of my mouth. She made it sound easy and if I didn’t know better, I’d have believed her.
“I see your skepticism.” Her eyebrows darted up. “Try it.” She lifted her shoulder in a half shrug. “You never know, I might even be able to help.”
I sighed. Avery’s presence was calming and I wasn’t ready for her to leave. “I’m trying to buy a company. And it was all going according to plan and then the seller just starts making crazy requests in the legal documentation and he’s not answering his phone. And I don’t have email so I can’t email him. It’s bloody frustrating.”
“You think he’s gotten a better offer and he’s stalling?”
She was smart. That was my suspicion but if he was after the best price, he’d have put the company up for auction. “Maybe. I feel disconnected from the process out here. If I were back in London I think I’d figure it out. It’s like I have one hand tied behind my back.”
“And you can’t get back to London because you don’t want anyone to know you’re buying this company.”
I didn’t deny it—she didn’t know which company and she’d been vetted. I needed to stop being so paranoid, as Landon had said. “Something like that.”
“So you’re out of your comfort zone but that doesn’t mean you’re in a worse position. If you were in London, what would you do in this situation? I mean if it’s so secret, I guess you couldn’t just have a meeting with this guy and ask him outright what the matter is?”
I reached behind my neck, pressing my fingers into the knotted muscle. “Right.” What would I do differently if I was back in London? “Seeing people is the easiest way to figure out what they put a value on. It’s pretty easy to read people.”
“That’s for sure. Mainly. Although not always. Some people are tough to figure out. Especially those who don’t care if they’re eating oysters or fish sticks.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You trying to make a point Ms. Walker?”
She laughed in such a completely unaffected and genuine way, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She leaned on the side of the desk and I shifted my chair around so I was pointed toward her. “Seeing people definitely makes it easier to read them, but what do you already know about this seller? Is it a corporation? A family? What?”