“Sure,” he obliged, pulling out his fat wallet and handing her two hundred-dollar bills.
“You can do better than that,” she winked. “If you want the deluxe treatment.”
He frowned, but he reluctantly pulled out two more hundreds. They were crisp and Jessica could smell them already. That was her favorite smell, the smell of money.
“May I do a line?” she asked him, after accepting a shot of whisky. “It makes me hornier.”
Looking excited, he had nodded. “Be my guest.” He waved at the smooth top of the mahogany table in the room.
She tapped out a fat, white line of a crushed allergy pill from a vial in her pocket and snorted it up through one of his own rolled-up hundreds. Then she began to shake and moan and let her eyes roll back. She fell across the floor, letting spit pool on the carpet under her. The man shouted, “Are you okay?” as he shook her. And when she didn’t respond, he dashed out of the room. Jessica hesitated, scared that perhaps he had called the cops. But of course he hadn’t. He had rented the room with a card and didn’t want to be implicated with the drug overdose of an underage prostitute. Piece of shit.
She felt ashamed of it at first, but soon she got over it, as she realized what ghouls these men were. She was like a piece of garbage to them, something they were more than willing to have sex with and then throw away. Of course she never let them touch her before she pulled her fake overdose, but they all stared at her like vultures ready to tear into her flesh. Then they ran, not caring that she had supposedly died. Her life didn’t matter to them. Her life didn’t matter to anyone, except Gary, who was always waiting for her after a heist with a big smile on his face. He assured her that these men deserve to be scammed. They were the equivalent of human garbage – not at all worthy of her.
Throughout her childhood, she had watched her mother skim a few dollars off of her checks and stick them in a cookie jar over the stove. She had worked every day to create a college fund for Jessica. Jessica also planned to get her first job after she graduated high school to add to that fund. Her mother wouldn’t let her work during school because she placed more importance on Jessica’s studies. They had gone through college brochures together when Jessica was a junior. Jessica thought about becoming a vet because she loved animals so much.
But then there was that fateful day. “Jessica, please come in here and sit down.” Jessica entered the living room, her heart thumping. Her mother was pale. “Please hold my hand.”
Jessica’s knees quaked as she took a seat beside her mom and clasped her mom’s cold hand. “Mom? What is it, Mom?” She had never seen or heard her mom like this before.
“I have cancer.”
That was the day Jessica’s life ended. At least, her happy life. It had been only misery since that terrible, gut-wrenching moment, which struck her heart like a drum. Her mother had no insurance and had to use all of Jessica’s life savings. So after her mother had passed away, Jessica had had to box everything up in a storage unit and go live in a shelter for homeless youth until she met Gary. Gary offered her a chance to make that money back. She put a big chunk aside after each scam that she and Gary pulled off – and they pulled off every one without a hitch. Jessica hope to one day leave this life, as exhilarating as it was, and do something that would make her mother proud in Heaven. She wasn’t so sure about going to college since it had not done her mother much good, but she knew how to fake credentials. She could make herself into something awesome, something honorable.
But despite all of her best intentions, and all of her justifications for her crimes, she came home one day to the posh hotel room she shared with Gary and immediately sensed that something was wrong. The TV was on, loud, but Gary wasn’t there. “Gary?” she called, as she noticed that his shoes and suits were missing from the closet. She went through the drawers and the closet, and found that all of his things were gone. So was his phone charger, and his wallet, and the other miscellaneous things he left in the night stand drawer next to his bed. Confused, she tried to call him, only to find that the number had been disconnected.
For days she sat alone in the hotel room, sure that Gary would come by. There had to be some explanation. Usually, when he felt that someone was getting too hot on their trail, he would let her know. They were partners, a team, practically father and daughter. Why would he bail without her? Slowly the realization of what he had done crept in, but she was still too scared to check their bank balance. When she finally did, her worst fears were confirmed when she saw the balance was zero.
With Gary’s abandonment and her mother’s death, Jessica only had herself left. She didn’t mind. Life was fine. She had thought she would be in a happier place by now, but oh well. At least she looked scalding hot as she strode into her legitimate job again that Wednesday.
Evan was there, waiting for her with a black coffee. “Do you remember what all your ladies like for coffee?” she snarked as she accepted the cup from him with a sexy side glance.
He seemed confused. “All my ladies?”
“Yes. I’m sure you’re quite the ladies’ man.”
Evan laughed, his cheeks flaming. “Not really. I suppose I could be if I wanted to, but I don’t really have time for dating these days. I haven’t had a relationship in years.” He glanced at her. “Do you have a special someone?”
“No.” She smiled warmly but left the conversation at that. She wanted to create some mystery.
“Let’s step into my office for a moment,” Evan suggested, opening the door for her. It still surprised her at what a gentleman he could be. He was really good at his game, because he didn’t act snide, disinterested, or condescending like most playboys. He was so good at the unassuming, sweet game. So good that she was starting to actually wonder about him as a person, like what he was into, and what he thought about when he wasn’t working himself to the bone. He was very muscular….
“Is there something wrong?” she asked when he indicated for her to take a seat.
“Not exactly. I just wanted to chat a bit before we got to work on the plans today.” He sat across from her and straightened his spine.
Jessica started to get a bad feeling. The way he looked at her…it was as if he knew more than he was letting on. “Okay. Chat about what?” Jessica was wondering if she should bolt. She had a good instinct for when someone was on her trail, and her spidey senses were tingling badly.
“There’s nothing wrong, I want to assure you of that. But…I have some questions about your foundation. I was curious if perhaps I could visit and see the orphans? But I see no physical address.”
Jessica had come prepared for this. “We can’t do that for the safety of the children. Sorry. In order to come, you would have to apply for a background check.”
“That’s no problem. I am more than able to pass a background check.” He beamed at her. “Christmas is coming soon, and in my father’s honor, I always make donations to various youth homes around the city. My mother does not approve, but,” he shrugged haplessly. “It’s my personal money. Not hers. I earn it.”
“Why do you let your mother control you so much if you don’t like her values?” Jessica was trying to make him uncomfortable with a highly personal probe to deflect his interest.
But he disconcerted her more by refusing to follow her lead. He seemed more than happy to share personal details about himself. “She feels better thinking that this business is still hers and I won’t take that from her. She misses my father, I know that. This was his company so I can’t just kick her out of the business. However, she is no longer on the board. She is here of her own volition and her word is now law.” He sighed, a guilty look on his face. “She is still a shareholder, but nothing more. I had to do that for my own sanity. Well, anyway, I would like to extend one to your organization as well. Perhaps I could even be Santa. I’ve been dying to be Santa. I haven’t had the opportunity before.” He grinned like a little boy and produced a Santa’s hat from his drawer. “See, I’m ev
en prepared.”
Jessica giggled. The idea of this chiseled, handsome man wearing a hat and being Santa amused her. Besides, he seemed to share a certain boyish enthusiasm for the whole thing. “Sorry, but we already have a Santa lined up. Now let’s get to work today.”
Evan agreed. But for the remainder of the day, he seemed to be drilling her for information. She couldn’t tell if he really just wanted to be Santa, or if he was onto her. This was her hugest scam yet – she would walk away with millions. That would more than replace what Gary had stolen from her, and more than avenge what the Davis family had done to her mother. Walking away scared her just as much as staying and getting caught by Evan. Should she bolt or not?
When the workday concluded, Evan asked her if she might like to join him for dinner. She smiled at him demurely, glad that her seductive act was working. “I really shouldn’t,” she told him. “Maybe some other night.”
“Sure. But I’m making a mushroom Alfredo. Vegetarian. I always make too much, so I would love someone to share with for once.”
“No, I really can’t.” The idea of a dinner with Evan, where he could drill her even more, made her nervous. Nevertheless, mushroom Alfredo sounded delicious.
He seemed disappointed, but nodded and smiled. “Okay, I will bring you some for lunch tomorrow. Don’t pack lunch! See you tomorrow.” Then he shook her hand and returned to his private office, where she saw him putting on his coat through his ajar door.
Jessica got in a cab but instructed him to wait until Evan left the building. He ran across the street to a CrossFit gym located in the adjacent building. So maybe he didn’t know anything. At least he wasn’t following her home to check up on her.
Nevertheless, she started to sense that she needed to be very careful around this man. He may be a billionaire riding on his daddy’s coattails, but there was more between his ears than cotton stuffing.
Chapter 5
As the holidays began to fill Vegas with cheesy Christmas decorations and every store and shopping center started piping Christmas music, Evan went shopping with his assistant. Every year, he bought a huge haul of presents well before Black Friday. He made sure to fulfill Christmas wish lists for the troubled youth at homes around the city and for orphans and homeless shelters. Now he also wanted to buy some things for Jessica’s fictional orphanage to see if he could get her to finally be honest with him. It was hard for him to continue calling her Lisa when he knew her real name. He just wanted to find out who she really was and speak to her without the veil of lies that she erected over her person around him.
Meanwhile, at home Linda began to plan her annual huge Thanksgiving party, where she would entertain powerful and influential people from all over the country in her mansion. Thanksgiving was always a huge affair for her, though she never seemed interested in giving to the needy, only to other rich people she hoped to impress with her lavishness and splendor. Evan seldom played any part in the celebrations, but this year his mother was hell-bent on enlisting his help. Really, Evan just wanted to make his own holiday dinner and stay home.
Evan arrived at work late after a long morning of Christmas shopping. His assistant had already put his gifts away at his place and was going to be a bit later. “How are you?” he asked Jessica when he saw her in the conference room, drawing up blueprints with the company’s chief architect.
“Fine,” she beamed at him. She looked dazzling in a green wrap dress that scooped down to reveal the creamy top of her perfect, perky chest.
“I was busy Christmas shopping,” he explained. “That’s why I’m late.”
“Christmas shopping? It’s not even Thanksgiving yet,” Jessica replied with a small laugh. But the way she looked at him had a new level of sweetness that was not previously there. She had been more giggly and more tender toward him since he had showed her his Santa hat, which he still hoped to get to wear this year, along with his Santa suit, white cottony beard, and fake, plastic paunch.
“I always start now because I have so many gifts to buy,” he replied with a boyish grin. His excitement for Christmas was unmistakable; he couldn’t contain it.
She just smiled and looked down quickly, letting her hair cover her face. In that moment, she was so unbelievably beautiful that Evan wanted to take her face in his hands and plant a firm kiss on her lips. He was a professional, however, and didn’t believe in affairs in the workplace.
He decided to retired to his office at that moment to calm down his passion and try to puzzle out why he was falling for this con artist. Sure there was more to the story, but shouldn’t he be angry that this woman was pretending to represent a cause he cared deeply about just to rip him off for money he had worked hard to earn? Perhaps his mother was right and there was some magical power in these Collins women that he and his father couldn’t resist. Perhaps he was being a fool, letting her bamboozle him with her sexy ways. Perhaps she would even get away with it.
But perhaps there was more to her. And by being near her and working with her, he could get her to stop scamming him. He could create solid justice for her past and her poor mother, without letting her con him for millions of dollars.
Then the bright idea popped into his head. He didn’t like workplace affairs. But what if they met outside of the workplace? What if he invited her over for Thanksgiving at his place and appealed to her good heart, which he was certain existed deep inside of her somewhere? Thanksgiving could be his chance to change her mind and make her a good person.
He smiled as he went to the coffee bar to get two black coffees.
“Do you have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving? I know you said you have no family so I was worried about you,” Evan asked Jessica that night as he walked her to her cab. They had all stayed late at the office and it was now dark out.
Jessica paused with her hand on the door handle of the cab. “Thanksgiving? Oh, I’m sure I’ll find somewhere to go.”
“Well, my mom always has lavish Thanksgiving dinners at her house. But they are too commercial for me. This year I just want to stay home and make a little something for myself. You are welcome to join me. It would be nice to have some good company.”
Jessica laughed and there was some incredulity in her tone. “Are you serious?” she asked finally.
“I’m very serious. I assure you, I may be a bachelor, but I am a very good cook. I will make a heavenly feast for us.”
She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “And you don’t have any other hot young women to invite over?”
Evan laughed, though he hated how she seemed to peg him for some kind of player with dozens of women on his sleeve. “No, dear, no one else. You are the only one I’m going to invite. Which is why,” he tucked a card into her coat pocket with his address and personal cell phone number written on it, “I really want you to come.”
“I’ll think about it,” she finally decided.
The cab driver started to glare at them. “You’d better go,” Evan said, intercepting her hand on the door to open it for her. “I can’t wait for you to come try my turkey and cranberry.”
“My favorite,” she licked her lips seductively as she swung into the backseat and clutched her purse to her belly.
Evan waltzed back into the office. Tonight he decided to go to a hot yoga class instead of his usual CrossFit. He briefly wondered if a bad girl like Jessica Collins would like a yuppie like him. She didn’t seem to be the yoga type of gal.
Thanksgiving was a mandatory holiday at Davis Enterprises. Evan made sure of that, despite his mother’s insistence that construction crews should at least continue pulling hours on that day. He set the TV on his favorite music station and began cooking at seven in the morning. Though he still had not heard from Jessica about whether or not she was coming, he had his hopes up. The idea of seeing her face bathed in candlelight as she moaned about how good his food tasted made his heart start hammering. While the turkey roasted, he took a shower and shaved, making sure that his hair was gelled perfectly,
and every part of his body smelled divine. He felt like a nervous high schooler preparing for a really stunning prom date. I might as well rent a limo, he laughed at his reflection in the mirror.
By five, Evan’s hopes started to wane as he basted the turkey. By six, he was sad. His phone kept going off as his mother begged him to join her. She had become frosty when he had informed her that he didn’t feel like attending her party that night in favor of a more intimate Thanksgiving dinner, like what they used to enjoy when Cole Davis was still around. But now she was getting desperate. “How bad will I look if my own son doesn’t come to my Thanksgiving soiree?” she had demanded. Evan just ignored the calls. Thanksgiving should be about being grateful and spending time with those you love, not about creating an impressive public image.
Just at 7:30, when he had decided to start eating by himself, his phone rang. “Hello?” he answered.
“Do you still need someone to eat dinner with?” It was Jessica’s slightly smoky voice.
Evan grinned. “I was just about to eat by myself. Yes, I would like that.”
Half an hour later, the doorman showed Jessica in. She looked radiant in her dress, with her hair elaborately curled and styled over her head, and a pearl necklace clasped around her neck. While she was always pretty in Evan’s eyes, tonight she was particularly beautiful.
“Wow, it smells amazing,” she commented.
Evan began to describe the menu as he served her a plate.
“You don’t have a maid? Or a cook?” she asked as she took in his apartment. It was far nicer than hers, with a stunning view of the city, but it was not as luxurious as she had pictured. In fact, it was rather plain, with the bare essentials. His kitchen, however, was fully stocked with multiple counters and chef’s knives on display.
“I have a cleaning lady who comes in every day. She does my shopping for me. I always cook myself.” He winked as he set her plate before her. “Now I’ll give you a tour, but first I’m starving.”
Daddy Plus One: A Single Dad Secret Baby Billionaire Romance Page 3
