“If word got out I was looking at a property, the sale price would increase immediately.”
“Because you have deep pockets?” Miranda asked, sounding like she was trying to understand.
“Exactly.” He was, in fact, looking at a property, a historic hotel that had closed down and would need extensive remodeling and updates before it could be opened again.
But the property was beautiful and the bones of the hotel were strong. He hadn’t made a decision about the purchase yet, though.
“So, property acquisition is your thing?” Kayla asked.
“Sometimes.” He had too much to do running Perez Holdings for him to be a full-time acquisitions manager. “I enjoy it.”
“Then maybe you can help Randi find the property for our expansion house.”
“Expansion house?” he asked, like he didn’t have all the details in his report on the family back in his hotel suite.
“I run Kayla’s for Kids.” Miranda smiled, her tone saying how much satisfaction her job gave her. “It’s a shelter for children and youth.”
“Not their parents?”
Miranda’s smile did not dim. “If their parents are around, we have services to help them, but our focus is the kids. The number of homeless teenagers and children in need of a safe place after school is greater than the facilities available to serve them.”
“And you want to help these children?” Was she looking for absolution in service after what she’d done five years before?
“I do.” Miranda’s eyes darkened to molten silver. “Children deserve the best we can give them, but just as important, they are the beginning of change. If we give them hope for now, a chance to learn and grow, there’s no way of knowing how much each child will touch and influence the world in their lifetime.”
“So it starts with giving them a place to play games after school?”
“And experience art, a place to read a book in peace, a place to be safe.” Her passion was damn near addictive.
Could he believe she was that committed to the welfare of children and still be the woman willing to tear his own nephew’s life apart with media interest?
“You are adding on another shelter, then?” he asked.
“Yes, where the rate of homeless teens is one of the highest.” She named a western suburb of Portland. “But I don’t expect you to help me find the building. I’m sure you’re way too busy.”
“On the contrary, I would be happy to help you.” Doing so would give him the excuse he required to spend time with her.
“Really?” she asked, her lovely face covered in delight.
“Yes.”
“That’s great. I’m supposed to look at properties tomorrow.”
“Send me a list of the properties and your requirements for the shelter. I’ll vet them and see what else I can find for you.”
“Seriously? You’d do that? I’ve got a Realtor working with me. She’s going to donate her commission to the shelter, but doesn’t seem to understand the concept of a budget and long-term running costs.”
“Send me her name, as well, and I will make sure she understands your requirements, or I will find a Realtor who will.”
“Oh, I don’t want you intimidating her. Like I said, she’s generously donating her commission to the shelter.”
“That donated commission could end up costing you quite a bit more in the long run.”
“I tried to tell both Kayla and Randi this.” Andreas gave both women a speaking look. “But they’re convinced that anyone willing to donate their income is as committed to the best interests of the shelter as they are.”
“Give me her name and I will make certain.”
Miranda bit her lip. “I really don’t want you scaring her.”
“You think I would?”
“Um, just sitting at dinner with you is a little intimidating. Being under your scrutiny in a business setting?” Miranda gave an exaggerated shiver. “That would be downright frightening.”
“And then some,” Kayla said with a firm nod.
Andreas looked just a little horrified at his wife’s honesty, but Basilio merely laughed, not offended in the least. He filed away the knowledge that Miranda was quite a bit more discerning than he’d given her credit for.
She might even recognize on some subconscious level that he was a danger to her. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t understand just how ruthless he really was.
No man got to where he was in the business world without being an apex predator.
CHAPTER TWO
RANDI CAUGHT HER breath as Baz put his arm around her waist to walk to the piano bar.
He was so virile and strong. Rich and gorgeous.
An overwhelming example of the male species, and that was no exaggeration.
She was having a hard time understanding what he was doing with her. She wasn’t hideous. Or embarrassingly awkward company, but that didn’t mean she was the usual sort of date for a man like Basilio Perez.
Randi knew who and what she was. A usually shy, moderately pretty woman, who found the company of children easier to navigate than most single men.
She didn’t date a lot, especially after the accident five years ago. Unable to deal with the media frenzy and social media ostracization, the man she’d thought she was going to marry had broken things off. Then Randi had been tricked into dating a reporter who wanted the inside scoop on the woman accused of destroying a family with her carelessness.
Each defection had devastated and demoralized her, the loss of friendships and even her university scholarship only adding to her sense of betrayal. She’d learned not to trust quickly or easily, not with new friends and particularly not with possible boyfriends.
She never allowed strange men to talk her into dinner and drinks.
But Baz wasn’t exactly some random stranger. He was the president of a multibillion-dollar conglomerate. No way did he have a hidden agenda. Randi had nothing the man could want.
However, that didn’t make this date any less bewildering, not to mention disturbing. The more time she spent with him, the more her attraction to him grew. She’d never felt anything as powerful. She wanted him. Seriously, deeply.
His arm around her waist was not helping her sense of self-control, either.
That simple point of contact ratcheting up the unexpected, unfamiliar and yet incredible sensations of desire coursing through her.
“So, um, do you come to Portland often?” She nearly winced at her gauche question. It sounded like she was fishing for the future and she was too smart to think they had one of those.
“This is my first time.”
“Really? It’s an amazing city that prides itself on being weird.” She adored the eccentricity mixed with a good dose of cosmopolitan culture and had grown to love h
er new home in a very short amount of time.
“So I’ve been told.”
“I just moved here a couple of months ago, but I wouldn’t mind showing you some of the sights, if you like.” Randi waited with cautious hope for Baz’s answer to what was for her a very bold and unprecedented offer.
“I would like that.” Dark eyes glinting with something like satisfaction, he smiled down at her. “Getting a feeling for the area is part of how I make decisions about whether or not to buy.”
“So you are here looking for a property.” She knew it.
But she did her best to ignore the tendril of hope unfurling inside her. If he bought a property, he’d come back. Wouldn’t he?
“Perhaps” was all he said.
She laughed, finding something about his caginess endearing. “I’m not going to blab. Even if I did, who could I tell that would impact you?” she teased. “I’m a social worker, not a real estate mogul.”
His responding laughter sent shivers of sensation through her. “As you say.”
“But you’re still not going to tell me, are you?”
“No.”
“You’re a very cautious man.”
“I would not be where I am if I were not.”
“Walking down the street with a woman you just met hours ago?” She made no effort to hide the laughter in her voice, because really? If she was acting impulsively, so was he.
He stopped and pulled her around to face him, their bodies inches apart, his attention intent and on her only. “You enjoy your own humor, don’t you?”
“Someone should.”
He wasn’t smiling exactly, but humor gleamed in his espresso-brown gaze. “You are not as shy as you appear at first.”
“I feel comfortable with you.” Which was really dangerous, but she also found him super-attractive. Could attraction undermine common sense completely? She’d never thought so, but she was adjusting her thinking on that issue fast.
“That is good to know.”
“I think so, too.” Her words trailed off as his head lowered toward hers. She stared up into his dark gaze; her lips parted of their own accord. “Are you going to kiss me?”
His answer was his mouth pressing to hers.