“I didn’t want you to view me as a challenge. You’d only fight me harder.”
His nostrils flared as he took in a frustrated breath—her spicy perfume tingling his senses.
“You would have,” she said quietly.
He would’ve. Again it struck him how she knew him and how his normal reaction to her breaching his walls didn’t occur. He didn’t want to argue about this. He just wanted to be next to her.
“I thought it’d be simpler if you thought I was an employee who wouldn’t stop showing up.”
“You mean you thought I’d underestimate you.”
Another shrug. “Happens all the time.”
He gripped the steering wheel, half pissed at the truth in those words. When he’d first laid eyes on her, he’d assumed she’d give up faster than the last assistant. He’d completely underestimated her.
He nodded out the windshield to the apartment over Sable Concierge. A pumpkin sat on the stoop alongside a potted purple mum. “Who lives up there?”
“I do.”
Just as he’d suspected.
“There’s more.”
A stunned, “Ha!” exited his lips, but when he turned to take her in, Isa looked chagrined. His smile vanished.
“What more?” he asked, the first hint of gruffness eking into his tone. He wasn’t a fan of being left in the dark.
“Tonight.” She licked her full, pink lips and he fought not to let the seductive move affect him. “It’s my parents’ function.”
“Not your ex-employer?” He hoisted an eyebrow.
“Actually…” She screwed her lips to the side, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Both. The event is for Sawyer Financial Group.”
Sawyer. Financial. The institution was a Chicago treasure. They did planning of all kinds—taxes, retirement, business—and their roster of clients was among the most elite. Isa wasn’t raised in a middle-class family, not even close. She’d grown up as rich as he had.
“It’s not a long story,” she continued. “I’ll tell you while we drive to the Vancouver.”
Isa liked to tell him what to do. Liked to be in charge. He wasn’t inclined to let her call the shots tonight.
“You can tell me now,” he said, taking his hands off the wheel and sitting back in his seat. To her credit, she did.
“My ex-boyfriend is going to be at this function. Because he’s the one who is accepting the position of president.” She regarded her hands. Her sounding and looking small was such a departure from what he knew of her. He didn’t like her that way—not at all.
“I was groomed for running Sawyer Financial my entire life,” she said. “My parents introduced me to Josh. We were to be the power couple that someday ran the company,” she told him, meeting his eyes. “My parents knew I didn’t want the future they’d laid out for me.”
“Sounds like an arranged marriage.”
“Felt like one,” she said, a sad smile twitching her mouth. “But without the marriage part. Josh planned on taking the position of president, and he said I could be VP or run staffing. Whatever made me happy.”
“How generous of him,” Eli said through clenched teeth, hating the jackass already. It was so obvious that Isa was a leader. The only reason her ex would have slotted her into a position less than the top—at her family’s own company no less—was his own moronic need for control.
“He’s the son my parents never had. It broke their hearts when we split. They blamed my stubbornness and my obsession with going into business for myself for driving him away.”
“They wanted you to fulfill their dreams, not yours.” He could relate. His father and brothers wanted him to be a part of the Crane legacy. If Eli had felt he’d earned it, he’d have already suited up. But that wasn’t the case with Isa. She’d earned it; she just didn’t want it.
“My parents wouldn’t care that Josh dated me only to climb the ladder. They care about appearances as much as he does. Whenever the topic of my running a firm for assistants comes up, I can see the embarrassment on their faces. I may as well have gone into trash collection or cleaning hotels.”
“Both honorable positions,” Eli said defensively. He didn’t station anyone into categories of high or low. He’d been raised to see people as equal no matter their income.
Isa’s cheeks pinked at his unintentional correction. “I’m…I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know.” He put his hand on hers, running his thumb over hers, feeling the softness of her skin and enjoying the length of time she held his gaze. Yes, Isa was beautiful. She was also complex and caring. She was more than the president of a bank, and her parents should have assessed that years ago. He could see it already and had only known her a few weeks.
“No other secrets about your vocation or parentage, then?”
“No, I think that’s it.” She smiled prettily.
“All right.” Eli reversed out of the parking lot, noting that Isa watched as he maneuvered the gas and brake pedal on the left side rather than his right. He pulled onto the road, hitting the gas pedal and taking off a little too fast. He wasn’t used to being watched so closely. He regulated his speed a second later.
“So this Josh? You want me there because of him? Or were you serious about men, plural, hitting on you?”
“Ugh. That probably made me sound completely full of myself.”
“Not completely. Only a little.” He turned right and flashed her a grin. One she returned tenfold, her eyes sparkling in the shadowed interior of the car.
“My mother believes if she can get Josh and me into the same room, we’ll fall into each other’s arms.”
“Because proximity is equal to attraction.” He’d thought he was joking but as soon as it was out of his mouth, he realized that sometimes, proximity turned up the attraction to eleven. Million.
“Sometimes,” Isa said as she watched out the window.
Eli remained silent as he turned left, then pulled to a stop in front of the Vancouver. He stepped out, but not before telling Isa, “Stay put. I’ll get your door.”
A valet with white gloves stepped forward to take the car keys from him, and predictably, Isa’s car door opened a second later. He offered a hand and helped her out, tucking her palm against his elbow.
“I see your point about the stubbornness,” he murmured as they turned for the building.
“Takes one to know one.” Her tone was teasing and he returned her smile with a narrowed gaze. Then he took one step forward and saw the staircase leading to the front doors of the Vancouver and his light mood disappeared into the ether.
“Fuck.” His voice was just below a whisper, but Isa heard him, her grip tightening on his forearm.
“Wait.”
Chapter 7
Eli heard her but didn’t look at her directly. His eyes were focused on the stairs leading to the hotel’s entrance. Isa took them in, trying to see through his eyes. They must look like they climbed the side of Machu Picchu.
“Can we use the side entrance?” She pointed to a set of double doors she’d used on more than one occasion to slip out of Sawyer Financial parties unnoticed. “These shoes and stairs don’t go well together.”
She delivered the suggestion with a smooth, nonchalant tone, but Eli didn’t seem to buy it. His chest expanded and his entire body hummed with frustration.
His eyes flicked to her heels, then to her face, his expression stony. This strong, brave man didn’t want anyone to think he was less than capable. She’d be damned if she put him through his paces. He didn’t have to prove himself to her.
“Please?” she asked, her smile cautious.
She sensed he wanted to argue, to call her on her fib, but he didn’t. He accepted her offer with a tight nod of acquiescence and Isa let him lead her to the side door, pride flooding her chest that he’d granted her his trust.
The side entrance opened to a long hallway leading to the front desk, beyond which was the grand ballroom named the Toronto, where a fa
ncy sign with ornate letters announced the Sawyer Financial Group had the room for the evening.
“Invitation only,” Eli read.
“Trust me. I’m on the list.”
He halted just shy of the entrance to the ballroom. She turned to face him, noticing the rigid set of his shoulders and the flat line of his mouth beneath his neatly trimmed scruff.
“Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet,” she joked. “I need you in there.”
He thumbed her chin, eyes moving to her mouth a fraction of a second before he placed a kiss on the center of her lips. He didn’t explain, didn’t say it was his way of thanking her, but somehow she felt it was. Inside this luxury hotel, Eli in his tux, he looked as if he belonged. She’d seen him in jeans and T-shirts and wearing only a pair of shorts. What she couldn’t square was that no matter what he wore, he belonged.
Or maybe what she couldn’t square was how he belonged with her.
Eli tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and walked her to the door.
Before they crossed the threshold, Isa spotted her mother sweeping across the room in a sage green dress with delicate lace sleeves. Helena wore her skirts nearly as short as Isa did, and who could blame her? It’d be a shame to hide those legs. All the women on her mother’s side of the family were blessed with great legs.
“I’m guessing that’s your mother,” Eli said. “Green dress, right?”
“Good eye. Helena Sawyer in the ageless flesh.”
“You look like her.” He dipped his chin, then cast her an approving glance.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should.”
“My height is from my father’s side, though,” she said to fill the gap that hovered when Eli complimented her. She knew how to handle surly Eli, but the charming version was throwing her way off.
Isa looked at her seating ticket again, hoping the number on it was a mistake. But nope, there was a number eleven and table eleven was up front, directly in front of the stage. So much for slipping out early and avoiding the Sawyer Financial Man of the Hour.
A few corporate brass were sitting at the table already. Her parents were likely placed next to her at the table near the entrance of the stage, since one or both of them were speaking tonight. And Josh, of course.
It was no accident that Isa would be within babysitting distance. She let out a vibrating exhale that would make any yoga teacher proud.
“Were you assigned to sit next to someone you don’t like?” Eli murmured as they approached the table.
“Well, that’s a long list.” She smiled over at him and he put a comforting hand on the small of her back. “I was hoping for a table in the back so I could slip out.”
“That’s why you brought me, Sable. You don’t have to run or hide.” Eli slid his palm up her back and to her neck and she thought of the brief, yet flooring kiss outside this room. Her hair was up, so his fingers brushing the bared skin of her neck sent shivers through her.
She could count on him. As a steady, constant force.
She watched his lips as they came the scantest bit closer…Then her mother’s voice interrupted.
“Isabella?”
In the wake of her mother’s hoisted brow, Isa realized she hadn’t properly coached-slash-warned him of what to expect. Namely that her mother and father weren’t big fans of the “renegade” Cranes.
“Are you going to introduce me to your date?” Her mother’s smile was plastered on, but her eyes allowed her thoughts through clearly.
“Of course. Helena Sawyer, Eli Crane.”
Her mother’s expression slackened and her eyes traveled to Isa’s.
“Oh, really.” Rather than extend a hand for him to take, Helena brushed the pearl necklace at her throat. “I wasn’t aware Isa knew the Cranes…intimately.” Her hooded glare swept over to Isa as if to say, Aren’t we a little old for teenage rebellion?
“We are acquainted professionally as well,” Isa said, tucking herself closer to Eli.
“Josh will be disappointed”—her mother ran a judgmental gaze over Eli—“if you don’t congratulate him personally before we get started.” She took Isa’s wrist and gave Eli another fake smile. “If you’ll excuse us for a moment.”
“No, I don’t think I will,” Eli replied. Helena froze, scandalized. “We came together, didn’t we, Sable?”
Isa didn’t miss the sneer her mother shot her at the nickname, but Isa only smiled as she freed her wrist from her mother’s grasp and went to Eli. Since when had he become her safe space?
Helena’s mouth settled into a dissatisfied moue.
“Thank you,” Isa whispered to him as they followed Helena through the well-dressed crowd.
“You don’t have to play nice, you know,” he said as they followed.
“I do if I hope to blend with this crowd.” Everywhere she looked there were CEOs and corporate brass—and not just from Sawyer Financial. “I was hoping to make a good impression.”
“We will. But it doesn’t mean you have to adhere to the rules they set before you left. And you did leave, Sable.”
At the mention of the business she’d proudly built, she pulled her shoulders back.
“In fact, let’s have a cocktail before introductions.” Eli’s mouth played at the corners. “He can wait.”
“He can,” she agreed. And she liked the idea of making Josh wait for as long as they decided.
Eli shot Isa a full-wattage grin, his eyes on hers as he called, “Helena.”
When her mother turned, he announced, “We’ll join you in a few.”
Without clarifying or waiting for Helena’s approval, Eli turned on his heel and led Isa to the bar. She followed, liking that she had him to lean on. She had no problem battling her parents and had done it for years. But having him on her side was as surprising as it was amazing.
* * *
“You need to brief me before I talk to this guy.” Eli steered Isa away from her aghast mother, liking how he’d swept her out of there. What he didn’t like was that Isa didn’t tell him anything about Josh other than her parents wanted them back together.
“All you have to do is say ‘Nice to meet you’ and then we’ll go back to our table,” she said. “No briefing necessary.”
“I promise you, I will not say ‘Nice to meet you.’” He let out a noise halfway between a grunt and a snort. “How long did you date him?”
“What? Why?”
At the bar he released her to reach for his wallet.
“Champagne okay?” he asked.
“I guess.”
Since when did she not know what she wanted? He gave her his full attention. “Wine? Beer?”
Her eyes brightened. “I’d love a beer but that’s really inapprop—”
“Two Stella Artois,” he ordered, stuffing a bill in the tip jar.
“Frosted glass?” the bartender asked.
“Bottles.” A moment later, he turned and handed over her beer, a cocktail napkin wrapped around the iced-down bottle. “You don’t strike me as the type to conform in a crowd, Isabella Sawyer.”
“Being here…around my parents.” She shook her head. “I feel like a child around them—a misbehaving one.”
“So if I weren’t here, you’d choke down champagne you don’t want?”
“My mother says ladies drink champagne.” Her pronouncement brought her closer to his ear, the scent of her perfume wafting over him. The musky spice reminded him of cinnamon or ginger or some exotic flower. Maybe all three.
Eli took her hand and held her at arm’s length, encouraging her to spin in a circle, which she did. When she was facing him again, bright pink dress revealing legs a mile long, sweating beer in one hand, a glorious grin on her face, Eli couldn’t help smiling back. He tugged her closer, his hand low on her back sliding over the silk of her dress.
“Trust me, Sable. No one will mistake you for anything less than a lady. Even holding a beer bottle.” He felt eyes on them an
d noticed a few men watching her with bald appreciation. “I think you’re more of a catch with it.”
They parted and drank down a few swallows, their eyes locked.
“Now,” he said. “Let’s hear it.”
“Hear what?”
“Whatever I need to know about this Josh guy.” He regretted steering the conversation back to her ex the second he did it. Isa lost her loose composure and sucked in a deep breath that tensed her shoulders.
“What do you need to know?”
“Did you live with him?”
“No.” She practically spat the word. “Thank God.”
He’d second that motion. Living with Crystal had been a mistake. Especially when she’d announced she was leaving him when he shipped out. It was an added stress he hadn’t needed to leave—or come home to.
“Were you engaged?” he asked.
“Definitely not.”
“How long did you date him?”
“Are you writing a book?” she snapped.
“Journal entry, maybe,” he said, his tone even.
“Sorry.” She shifted, smoothing the skirt of her dress. “I’m beginning to regret coming here.”
“Why did you?”
She shook her head, seemingly at a loss for a reason.
“I don’t like going into enemy territory blind,” Eli said when she didn’t respond. It brought a smile to the edge of her lips, which he liked seeing there. “I’ve got your six, Sable.”
The second it was out of his mouth, the words settled in his chest like a weight. Being here with her had become about way more than making sure Isa didn’t date Zach. This wasn’t a trade for favors from a boss/employee. Isa had been in his and his family’s corner since the beginning—he wouldn’t fail her when she needed him the most.
“Josh and I dated on and off for five years,” she said. “We split around three years ago.”
“Five years.” He and Crystal had ended things around the two years and three months mark. It was a long time to be with someone, and Isa had more than doubled that with her ex. “And you want me here because…” She’d alluded to it, hinted at it, but never truly told him.
“Because I want both Josh and my parents to know I’m not going to date him again. He once delivered an ultimatum that I choose his dream or my own or we couldn’t be together.”
The Bastard Billionaire Page 10
