When her cool fingers wrapped around my length, I bit my lip. God I wanted to enjoy this. But the nagging doubt in my chest was too thick to ignore.
I couldn’t help but feel this was partially motivated by guilt.
And that made me angry. Because unless you’d been completely up front at dinner, what the hell else are you hiding?
My phone rang from the coffee table two feet away. Normally I’d ignore it. But I didn’t mind the excuse to take a minute before Isabel did something that might not have been from pure lust.
“Sorry I just need to see who that is,” I whispered and she moved aside.
It was Craig Casing, my contact for the investor I was meeting with Saturday afternoon in L.A.
“Craig, what’s going on? He’s not thinking of canceling, is he? I’m halfway to the airport,” I lied. I’d been waiting for a meeting with Spencer Friedman for months so there was no way I’d let him cancel without a fight.
“No, no. But he did want me to give you a message. Some of the firms he wanted to discuss tomorrow night work with a lot of vendors so he needs someone with this expertise. He needs thoughts on managing, eliminating, and outsourcing type of stuff.”
“Okay. Thanks for the heads-up.” I muttered. These were the types of questions I planned on asking Spencer myself. He might have been someone I’d been looking to partner with, but this was by no means a hands-down deal I’d sign. I still had standards that he’d need to meet—as would I.
“Spencer caught up with Donovan earlier today and he mentioned you might have an associate in mind you might consider bringing along.”
My eyes flicked to Isabel. “I might.”
I wrapped up my conversation with Craig, irritated once again that Spencer sent his sous-chef to make his business calls rather than himself.
“That was about my meeting this weekend in L.A.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Other than my ego being kicked once again, I’m actually pretty good. Spencer Friedman, I’m sure you know the name, he’s the biggest venture capitalist in the U.S. I’m meeting with him tomorrow night to discuss taking over some of his accounts. Or…rather…the opportunity to.”
She blinked. “Wow. That’s huge.”
“This would put me ten steps ahead of my plan to expand on the west coast.”
“Incredible. So what’s the issue?” she asked, reading the tentative expression on my face.
“Apparently you came up in a conversation between Spencer and Donovan earlier today.”
Her eyes widened.
“One of the factors of discussion for these firms will be how we’ll plan to handle vendors after I join as a private investor. Donovan mentioned a close ‘associate’ of mine who might be useful. What do you say? Come with me tomorrow?”
She stood. “Wha—me? Oh no no, I couldn’t—this sounds like—it’s not really my…”
I peeled my back off the couch and caught her arm. “Isabel, relax. I’m obviously not making you do anything you don’t feel comfortable doing, but if you’re trying to prove yourself to Donovan before you pitch him, turning this down might not be the best impression.”
Personally, I would have handled it just fine on my own, but if Donovan took the time to personally recommend her, and she turned it down, he’d have a personal grudge against her.
“Scott I can’t,” she snapped.
I stood and reached for her. “Okay. But tell me why,” I couldn’t hide the edge in my voice. This woman was not making any sense. She went out of her way to attend as a fake guest to one his private parties just to get his attention and now she was turning down what could be the opportunity of a lifetime?
She looked into my eyes and took a moment, forming her words. “I have an important project to work on this weekend. I’m already very behind and—”
“Work on it on the plane. And I promise I’ll leave you alone for the weekend in the hotel to focus. Just come to the dinner meeting tomorrow night and let him pick your brain on the topic. I’m sure it’s a lot easier than you think.”
She blinked up at me and released a breath. Sheer panic etched all over her face.
“Listen, I wouldn’t pressure you into this if I didn’t just find out you wanted to go into business with Donovan. One meeting, sweetheart. I promise it won’t be the end of you.” I winked.
