Masquerade (Swept Away #2.5)(17)

The next letter arrived a few months after Bianca and David had broken up. I wasn’t really sure what had gone down, but I knew that he was mad that he’d never gotten to sleep with her. It made me respect her more. She had principles and that was important. It was a pity that she’d had the parents she did. It would make it harder to bring her down knowing that she wasn’t some sort of social-climbing gold digger. Though for all I knew she could have been a good actress. She was still trying to get information about Bradley, Inc., and it seemed that she wasn’t letting her investigation go.

I decided to follow the directions of the second letter and go observe her at the coffee shop because Larry had called a meeting. I was pretty confident that I knew what was going to come up—they were going to ask me to take her to the island. They were worried she’d find something out before the upcoming Bradley merger and they didn’t want any scandals coming out before the paperwork was signed. Larry was smart enough to see that David was running the company into the ground.

It was really a win-win for me. I’d get to spend time with Bianca and figure out what she knew about her parents’ interference in my mother’s life. Maybe her father had left a journal that would explain what had happened. I needed to put myself in a position where she could trust me and open up to me. Then, of course, I’d take over Bradley Incorporated. Once the merger went through I’d be able to focus on bringing David to his knees.

Seeing her at the coffee shop was a shock to my system. Maybe it was because I’d been thinking about her so much, but the reality of seeing her there, her face looking tense and full of worry, affected me in a way I didn’t think that it would.

“Can I have this seat?” I asked her softly as I stood behind the empty chair at her table. I wanted her to look up with her sweet smile and say, “Yes, of course.” However, there was to be no sweet smile today.

“Uhh, sure,” she said, typing away, her eyes never leaving her computer screen. I took a seat and stared at her as her eyes moved back and forth over the screen. She appeared to be deep in thought and I wondered if she’d found something about my family.

“Can I have some space on the table?” I needed her to make eye contact with me, but she just pulled her laptop toward her. My stomach churned as she continued typing. “I don’t mean to disturb you,” I said, but still she didn’t answer. I stared at her for a few seconds, wondering what she would say if she knew who I was or if I called her by name. I almost felt like tapping her on the shoulder and saying, “I know who Mattias Bradley is and you don’t,” but of course I didn’t. That would be childish and foolhardy. And then she looked up, her eyes meeting mine for a few seconds, and I couldn’t help but smile at her ink-stained lips as she brushed her hair back slightly.

“I can move onto my back if you want,” she said, and then gasped. “I mean, move back.” Her face turned bright red as she explained her mistake. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud as she mumbled on.

“No, you’ve done enough.” I nodded and looked down at my book to stop myself from gazing at her face. Why was I so intrigued by her? She was the last person with whom I wanted to develop any sort of camaraderie. I stifled a sigh as I sat there. I wasn’t sure why the letter had told me to come to the coffee shop. Who had wanted me to see Bianca so badly? I was about to get up and leave when Bianca picked up her bag and spilled half the contents on the ground.

“You need some help?” I stared at the papers, my eyes working over the documents quickly to see if they held any important information. I leaned forward and grabbed her lipstick and mints and handed them to her. She took them quickly and then jumped as we both got a small shock at the touch of our fingertips. I wondered if she was that jittery in bed.

“Thanks,” she said nervously, and I saw her looking around the coffee shop.

“Is everything okay?” I frowned at the worry on her face. Something seemed off and I wanted to know why she seemed so preoccupied. What did she know that I didn’t?

“I’m fine.” She stared at her computer screen again and made an odd sound as she mumbled something under her breath.

“Sorry, were you talking to me?” I asked her softly, though I knew she wasn’t.

“No, sorry. I just had an e-mail from this guy.” She rolled her eyes. “If it was from you, I wouldn’t be pressing Delete, trust me.” She made a face as she realized what she’d said. “I mean, you seem like a really nice guy.” Her voice trailed off and her face reddened again. I hid another smile and looked down at my book. I still wasn’t able to concentrate, but I didn’t want her to know that.

“I’m glad to hear that. Let me know if I can be of any help.” The words on the page all seemed to blur together, but I forced myself to keep my head down.

“Shit.” She jumped up, her hair flying as she grabbed her bag.

“You okay?” My heart rate increased as she looked at me with manic eyes and nodded toward the corner.

“I have to go. It was nice meeting you.” She gave me a quick smile, and for one brief second she looked like the woman I remembered. And then she hurried out of the coffee shop, muttering something under her breath. I watched as she left and looked toward the corner to see who had spooked her. I frowned as I saw who it was.

“What are you doing here?” I stared at him with narrowed eyes as I pulled my baseball cap off. “What’s going on?”