Charade (Swept Away, #1.5)(10)
“Why do you always do that, Rosie? You know they think you’re a bitch.”
“Well, they wouldn’t be wrong.” She grinned and tapped her fingernails on the table. “Now, spit it out. I want the details on David Bradley and I want them now.”
“Fine.” I ran my hands through my hair and thought back to the day at the shareholders’ meeting. “It was so surreal. I was walking and bumped into him. I spilled my wine all over his shirt. I felt bad, but he was so gracious about it.” I glanced over at her, feeling slightly guilty that I was holding back some pertinent information. I wasn’t technically lying, though.
“Wine?” She frowned. “Where did you get wine from?”
“Oh.” I thought quickly. “I, uh, walked into the wrong building and heard someone say there was an open bar in one of the rooms, so I followed him. I figured I might as well get a free drink before going to my exhibit.” I grinned at her and I could see that she wasn’t completely buying my story. “You know how boring those talks can be.” I laughed. “I figured a glass of wine would put me in a better mood.”
“That makes sense.” She nodded and I let out an internal sigh of relief.
“So yeah, I grabbed a glass of wine and was about to sneak out when I bumped into him.” Please do not ask me how I gained access to the building in the first place, I prayed silently.
“Wow, I would have been pissed if someone spilled wine on me.”
“Well, he wasn’t.” I pictured his laughing green eyes as I’d wiped up the wine from his shirt. “He was really nice about it. I apologized and we exchanged names. Then he asked me if I wanted to go and grab a drink at a bar next door instead of going to the meeting.”
“What meeting?” Rosie’s eyes narrowed. Shit! I’d said too much.
“Oh, I guess there was a shareholders’ meeting that day.” I gave her a weak smile.
“Hmmm.” She frowned. “How did you even get into the Bradley building? And what made you think that they’d be holding a historical talk there?”
“Do you want to know what happened at the bar or not?” I attempted to divert her line of questioning as my face grew warm. Part of me wanted to tell her everything, but I wasn’t sure how she would react. I kept thinking about my father’s letter. He’d basically told me to trust no one. And while I trusted Rosie with my life, I didn’t want to get her involved in this. I needed to see what I could find out first.
“Of course I do! Tell me.”
“Hey, you never told me about the guy you’re dating.” I gave her a quick smile. “Sorry, you can talk about him first if you want.”
“Bianca, do not change the subject again. Forget my guy. I want to know all about you and David and what’s going on.”
“Well, first of all, there’s not much going on. We went out to get a drink and we talked.” David Bradley had surprised me when he’d asked if I wanted to go for a drink. I hadn’t expected him to work so fast. Not that I was complaining. I’d agreed eagerly and we’d hurried out of the room like two naughty schoolkids playing truant. I’d seen the middle-aged guy that had been talking to me earlier shaking his head as he saw us leaving. I wasn’t sure if he was annoyed that it wasn’t him that was sneaking out with me or if he figured I was just a gold digger after all.
“What did you talk about?” Rosie prodded.
“First we talked about wine.” I laughed. “I guess his family recently acquired a vineyard and he was talking about how he doesn’t really like the wine that they make.”
“What a great salesman,” she said sarcastically.
“I’m glad he didn’t lie,” I responded. “He seems like a really nice guy. Really down to earth.” And really into sexual innuendos. It confused me that I was genuinely attracted to David. I couldn’t afford to think he was cute. I couldn’t afford to let my guard down with him.
“I suppose when you grow up with money, it’s easy to just go with the flow.”
“He didn’t act like those rich guys usually do, though. He didn’t tell me about any of his cars or his summer place in the Hamptons.” I thought back to my conversation with David. He’d been totally different from what I’d expected. When he asked me about myself, it had been with real interest. He’d asked questions and responded to my answers with follow-ups that proved he was listening. His green eyes had been captivating. I’d had to remind myself several times that I wasn’t on a real date. It would be so easy to fall under his spell. “He asked me what kind of music I listened to,” I recalled aloud. “I told him that I was pretty much into everyone that played on Top 40 stations and he told me that he was more of a rock guy, though he could be convinced to listen to some Jay-Z if he had to.”
“How magnanimous of him.”
“Why are you being sarcastic?” I frowned at her.
She shrugged. “Sorry, I’ve just had a long week.”
“Work rough?”
“Yeah, my boss sucks. He expects me to do all his work and then he takes the credit.”
“That’s so wrong. Maybe his bosses will realize that it’s you doing everything?”
“Yeah, maybe.” She took a large gulp of her margarita. “Or maybe they already know and don’t care. I mean they’re all men as well. It’s one big boys’ club.”