My head shot up. "How do you know I am?"
He didn't look up from the desk though he pushed his glasses up again. "Everything you've snacked on for two weeks has KETO written on it somewhere."
I blinked at him. Rather surprised he'd noticed. "Fair assessment."
He grunted but said nothing more. Putting in a few more numbers.
I eyed Porter, vaguely impressed that he'd noticed. I didn't think he even looked up from that desk.
Ever.
I sat back in my seat, watching him scribble. Not seeing the potential for a bouncer of the most dangerous club in town. Seeing the broad rimmed glasses wearing nerd that barely made it out of his house without stumbling over his shoelaces.
I crossed the distance across the room, my heels clicking and my tight skirt swishing as I got there. Leaning over the corner of the desk to peer down at him.
He paused his scribbling to eye me over the top of those thick rimmed glasses.
Who made those things?
NASA?
"The Meridian account."
"Yes." He said slowly. Sitting back in his chair and swaying as the back bobbed forward and back a moment. He twisted his pen between his fingers.
"What happened to the money."
"The money you've been sliding over to an account linked to your mother's name before moving it to yours?"
My jaw gaped. Brown eyes widening in shock as I stared at him.
How'd he know?
"Look." He said flatly. "It's simple. Just put it back."
"How the hell would I do that!" I blurted before realizing that I'd admitted to it.
Shit.
What the hell was I thinking?
I was so startled by the fact that he knew that I'd lost track of all my defenses.
He shrugged and leaned back over the ledger. "Pull it from some investments. I have well over that in just savings. Any good financer does."
I don't.
I wish I could do that so easily.
I eyed his profile. Realizing how rudely he'd dismissed me.
But worse on that was the glaring revelation I was suffering.
He does know...
I walked the few blocks to the bus stop. Heels clicking. Ignoring the few catcalls that chased me. Tossing my blonde hair to my right side to block my face from their view.
It tended to help detour some of the bullshit.
I couldn't even think about them right now. I was busy thinking about the Meridian account. And that the most efficient accountant in my building had caught me.
Redhanded.
He's safe. I told myself. Who's he going to tell?
I'm his boss. I swallowed. Letting that wash over me.
If I got fired for fraud, wouldn't someone hold him accountable for not catching it for so long? I told myself so.
It did make me feel better, actually. Some confidence returning.
I rode the bus back home and hailed a taxi to take me over to the hospital. I stared at the towering tan brick structure.
It looked so cold and unfeeling. A bland color with bland people. It made my chest tight that this was where my mother was.
What if she can't ever go back?
Every time she started to recover, another vessel would rupture and they had problems controlling the bleeds since she no longer clotted.
I chewed my lip as I walked up to the double doors. I passed the front desk and through the cold hallways until I reached a giant living area with worn couches and walkers. Several elderly people sat there, their eyes glued to the blasting television. I walked under it to the third room on the left. Knocking softly before I turned the hand.
Her head rolled toward me. Her blonde hair now streaked with white at the root. Her vibrant green eyes waning to bleary gray.
I could feel dampness jump to my eyes.
"Hey, Sweetie." She greeted with a tender smile.
"Hi, mom."
"How was work."
"It was fine." I lied.
He's safe. Don't worry about it.
Kane Porter was the least likely of anyone to cause a stir at work.
He won't even drink the last cup of coffee.
No matter how hard Rita urges him to.
"That doesn't sound very convincing." She said dryly.
"You know me too well." I sighed as I stepped around to the front of the chair next to her. Holding her frail hand in mine.
"That ass of an ex-husband still hassling you."
"No."
"Yes." She corrected. Shaking her head sympathetically. "Why don't you just tell H.R."
"He owns the company, mom."
"I'd own his tail if he did that to me at work."
"He probably would." I snorted.
I don't think there's anyone Logan won't touch.
I sat down to a nice visit with my only parent.
We talked awhile and she tried really hard to hide that she was in pain. Which broke my heart.
"Are you ready for surgery tomorrow?" I finally asked.
She gave me a long look. "I can't take much more of these, Honey."
"You have to." I said, voice tight.
I can't lose you.
I'd have no one when she was gone. And she'd always been my rock.
"I'm worried about all these bills they're imposing. Eventually they're going to catch up to us." She gave me a long look that told me she meant they'd catch up to me.
When she's gone.
I hated that thought.
Her words had been just as upsetting as Porters' today.
I can't have anything more go wrong today.
I passed the nurse's station. Walking a little faster as I saw the head of billing, Elizabeth peek over her computer at me.
I tried to make it to the doors but she caught my arm. "Angelina!"
"What?" I blinked at her.
"I was calling you."
"I didn't hear you."
Her expression softened and she crossed her hands over her pelvis. Giving me a soft look. Her salt and pepper hair pulled into a bun atop her hair.
"I'm sorry. I know you're going through so much so I hate saying this. But we've got to have $5,000 down before surgery tomorrow."
"But-" I gasped and took a pleading step toward her.She lifted a staying hand that stopped me."I know. I've already tried everything. But with your past due. They won't do the surgery without it."I stared at her, breathing raggedly in misery."She needs that surgery, Angel." She urged.I know!"Can they really do that?""They can in this state." She nodded.No!"Elizabeth...""I've already stalled all I can. $5,000 tomorrow or they won't do it. Before surgery." Her words stuck me like blades."I..."She was already walking away.Where the hell am I going to get that?I couldn't possibly take it from the Meridian account like I had before. Logan will definitely miss it ontop of the $20,000 he already is.I chewed my lip until it bled on the Taxi ride home. Feeling utterly hopeless. What am I going to do?I knew I could ask Logan. But it was highly likely he'd refuse. Or if he said yes, it would be in exchange for something utterly filthy. And even if I did that and he went to pull f
"Ain't?"He turned the key in the door and pushed it open. Blinking slowly at me as if I were stupid for pointing it out. He ducked his head and took his glasses off. Dropping them into his palm.Oh, my God. He took them off! I was hoping a red cape might unravel from his back. That seemed just as likely to me as him ever taking those stupid things off."Why are you here?" He asked again."You mentioned I should just take the money from my savings.""Seems wise to me." He crossed the room and ducked into a side room.Bedroom probably.But my eyes were drawn to the room around me. Weights were hung on shelves near the door. The floor was barren except for a small rug outside the door he'd went in and one further down a short hallway.Bathroom. I guessed.Everything was monochrome. Neat and tidy.Like being in the mind of a serial killer. My eyes widened and I stared at his doorway. Wondering if I should run while I could.If he came out of that room squeezing a spurting needle, I was o
Enjoy what? Watching me beg? That made my brown eyes snap with fury."Do you know who you're talking to?" I hissed."Careful pup, don't bite." He closed in on me to tower over me. "Hounds in heat shouldn't antagonize the big dog."I glared up at him. Catching that woodsy cologne again. And for some reason it was disorienting me now, combined with the rest of him. My eyes roved down over his frame, knowing now that he was wound with muscle and coated in sexy tattoos."So, which am I?" I challenged. "A pup or the bitch in heat?"He dropped his face to me. "You tell me."I reared back. That'd sounded perilously close to a come on. From Porter?Okay, clearly, he's not at all who I thought he was."I'm your boss!""Not here you're not." He took another predatory step toward me, forcing me to retreat before he stepped on my foot. He chased my movements. "Here you're a small woman alone in the apartment of a man you hardly know. Asking him for favors when you never know what you're going to
“Porter?”“Kane.” He corrected.“Yes.”“Say it.” He taunted.“I will.” I evaded. Why did it seem so weird to think of him by his first name?Because all of this is weird.“Are you going to loan me the money?” My head dropped back against the seat, bunching my blonde hair around my face as I peered at him.“You haven’t told me what I’m getting out of it.”“What do you want?” I tossed my hands. “A great appraisal this year?”He laughed outright. A deep, barking, masculine sound that immediately told me that something so menial mattered very little to this version of Porter.“I take it that’s a no.” I said sullenly.“It’s a no to that. Sell me something, Boss Lady. Thought you were good at this.”“Are you saying you want me to fuck you?” I hissed in annoyance.His head whipped to me. “First of all, if we did, it would absolutely be me fucking you. And secondly, no. I don’t exchange favors for sex. I can get that for free.”I was stunned to silence. Giving him a long look as I realized th
I opened my mouth with questions, but he suddenly leaned over me. Delving his hand under my seat, so deeply that his cheek nearly pressed against my knee cap. Hovering less than an inch above it. I thought he might turn my head and try to see up my skirt, but he didn’t. He continued looking at the dash while he gripped something and pulled it out.I’d shifted my knee away from him and watched stunned as he pulled out a giant bit of elastic attached to a springy, circular, frame.He shifted and climbed out of the car.I followed his lead and got out. Watching him in confusion as he locked it and pocketed the keys before tossing open a broad ring and catching it under the front of his car before unfolding it over the hood and roof, before pulling it down the back. Completely shielding the car.“What is this?”“Car cover.” He said dismissively. Turning away from it. “Less tempting to do something shitty to it when it’s covered.”I guessed that was likely true.He aimed toward the front d
“Then why?” I probed. Still wanting to find the real reason he was trying to get me under his roof. “I find it hard to believe it’s just my company you’re yearning for.”He seems like he can barely tolerate me most days.“Told you. Like the presence of a woman.” He went back to scanning the room with those alert eyes. “The smell of woman shampoo conditioners, candles, the general vibrant softness that she brings to a room. Things are better when one is around.”That was a horribly intimate thing to say.“I’ve never heard a man talk like that.”“How many do you know that were raised, with all brothers, by their father?” He tugged at the cuff of one sleeve pulling his jacket off and setting free some wide shoulders as he meticulously plucked the collar to find a center line and folded it. Setting it on the benched seat next to him.“No mom?”He returned his attention to me. “That’s a tale for another day, Punkin’.”Punkin’ means he’s being disdainful. I noticed.I eyed him skeptically.
I was staring at ‘Kane’ Porter in disbelief when he turned around and met my gaze.“What?”“Who are you?” I said with far more emphasis then all the times, before.He frowned. Opening his mouth to answer the brunette with the short bob stepped in-front of him again. Blocking my view of him save his nose and eyes towering over her.He’s tall. I never really noticed before.I, apparently, didn’t notice an awful lot.“We need to talk.” The skinny brunette said. Putting a hand on her hip.“I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “I think we’ve done quite enough of that.”“Kane…” She said coaxingly.“No.” He told her. Stepping around her and aiming straight for me.I gave him a stunned look since he didn’t appear to be walking toward me but at me.He was.As soon as he got to me he put his hands on my hips and tugged me forcefully against him. Making my eyes bulge. He leaned down near my ear and whispered. “Put your arms around my neck.”I stared at him.He swept up one of my arms and tossed
“Fine, Porter.” I said bitterly.“As in, yes?”“Yes.”“Good.”“I’ll move $20,000 to the account to the Meridian tonight.”“What about another $5,000?” I said meekly. Hating asking but knowing I needed it for mom’s surgery.He set the glass down on the table. “Soon as you’re done moving in tomorrow.”“Tomorrow?” I squawked.He nodded. Confirming. “Tomorrow.”“That’s not even possible.”“It is. I’ll help you.”“How are you going to do that? Load boxes in your Spider?”“I’ll borrow my brother’s truck. And my brothers.”“Porter…”“Kane.”“Porter…” I said warily.“Stop stalling, Love. Give up the game. I got you.”He’s right.I’ve no choice. I was going to move in with him. What did I think I was going to do? Get the money and stall him?Looking at Porter’s hard features and the way he was commanding this club. Running it like a force of nature, I was quite sure that ‘accidentally’ forgetting to move in would never work.He’d probably toss me over his shoulder screaming.“This is partly be