I glared at the hands ticking on my gold Rolex. “Come on, Ria. I don’t have all day.”
I knew that Chase was right about having to pull off a fake wedding too. If I couldn’t convince Ria that afternoon to accept my final offer, what other choice did I have? I’d have to introduce her to a woman, say she was my fiancée, and then hopefully she’d buy it. But knowing Ria, that wouldn’t be enough. She’d probably insist on attending the damn wedding.
I looked up as an Air Antwerp flight prepared to land, and suddenly I felt like puking. The mere thought of having to look at Ria’s face made me want to hurl all over the pavement.
She emerged shortly from the airport, dressed to impress in some designer leopard mini-skirt and a white halter top that barely contained her obnoxiously large, fake breasts. Her oversized sunglasses nearly touched the top of her crimson lips. Any other man would have instantly fawned over her, but I backed away from her outstretched arms.
“Just get in the car, Ria.”
She snapped her fingers at the poor airline attendant who was rolling around her luggage. I helped as he struggled to fit everything inside my trunk.
“Are you moving to Miami or something? What’s with all of the bags?”
Ria didn’t say a word as she insisted the airline associate open the door for her.
I held up my hand, gave him a one-hundred-dollar bill, and shook my head. “That won’t be necessary. Ria can open her own damn door.”
Her eyes were hidden behind her obnoxious glasses, but it was clear that I’d offended her.
God, that felt good.
The first several minutes of our car ride was spent in silence. If it had been the same situation several months before, the sexual tension would have been too much for us to handle. I would have pulled the car over somewhere and had my hands all over her. But instead of being aroused by Ria, I had the complete opposite of an erection—shrinkage.
“So, Jorge. What’s your fiancée’s name? Or should I assume it’s Ginger?”
“Don’t worry about that, Ria. Where are you staying while in town?”
Because it sure as hell ain’t with me.
“Where else would I stay, darling? At your penthouse, of course.”
I nearly slammed on the brakes on 42ndAvenue. “That’s not even an option, Ria. I don’t care if you sleep outside on the street, but there’s no way that you’re staying with me.”
“Relax,” she said as we got onto the highway. “I have my own place in Miami Beach now, remember?”
“Vaguely. But why don’t we kill some time, since it looks like traffic is pretty bad today? Explain the missing money, Ria.”
She let out a long sigh while pretending to enjoy the beautiful views of the ocean. “Oh, Jorge. I have all of the paperwork right here in my purse. Everything is accounted for, all right? Let’s have this discussion at your place.”
“The only reason I’m even letting you into my home is that I don’t want to be seen with you in public. And I mean it. I want you out of this partnership, once and for all. Whatever is on that paperwork is probably complete garbage, anyway.”
“It’s not like I haven’t been to your penthouse before, Jorge. I remember it like the back of my hand. In fact, I can still feel your large bed underneath me as you—”
“Stop it, Ria! Now.”
If I hadn’t been so concerned about her ruining my reputation within the diamond community, I would have gotten a court order against her and handed everything over to my lawyers. I couldn’t believe that I’d ever gotten mixed up with her in the first place. Sure, she had been pretty good in bed and knew how to do her part in the business aspect. But her beauty was only skin deep.
And after being with Ginger, I realized that Ria wasn’t all that pretty in the first place. She’d gotten far too much plastic surgery on her face, slowly morphing into a creepy doll that looked like a cat, and her fake breasts were too damn hard. The first time I had pressed my body up against them, I had winced in disgust.
She was the complete opposite of Ginger; whose soft and feminine body was perfect in every way.
As we pulled into the parking lot of my penthouse, I was thankful that Ginger was at work that afternoon. She had made it clear that while Guadalupe had given her the option to work from home, she didn’t use it because she loved working at the spa. She and Eva got to gossip on their breaks, and I was sure she was looking forward to when Margo returned from maternity leave.
I threw the car into park and rushed inside, vaguely hearing Ria ask why I wasn’t helping her with her luggage. “Because you’re not staying here, Ria. Now get inside so we can get this over with.”
The two of us sat down at my dining room table, which was large enough to seat a dozen people. Ria tried sitting down next to me, but I pointed to the opposite end to keep her far away. She practically threw a bunch of paperwork in front of me, which I quickly scanned as she tapped her fingers on the table.
“You don’t have to read every damn line, Jorge.”
