“How long did you consider working for him?”
“For about sixteen minutes.”
“Why only sixteen minutes?”
“I told him I wouldn’t do illegal stuff, which is the same thing I tell all potential employers.”
Desmond vividly remembered that she had, in fact, stated that during their first meeting.
“He wanted you to do something illegal?”
“I don’t discuss particulars of my previous, or potential, employers.”
“Not even if you considered it a total of sixteen minutes?”
“It’s a rule that doesn’t have time limits.”
Her hidden depths went beyond what she tasted like. Haley had a sense of integrity that was in short supply in today’s world.
Casting aside the prick to his pride because Rhone never gave him his number, Desmond eyed the phone in her hand. “Why do you think Rhone knows where the villagers are?”
“My mother told me that she and Dad are going on vacation to an island Rhone owns.”
“Rhone doesn’t own an island. He would have told me.”
“I don’t know why he didn’t tell you. George was the one who invited Mom and Dad to the island because they’re all afraid to go back to Sherguevil Island.”
“How long has he owned it?”
“I don’t know, but he didn’t own it before I went to work for you. I would have remembered it from the list of properties he owned.”
“It must have been a recent purchase, then,” he mused.
“You’re just going to call and ask if the people who are living there have been kidnapped from another island?”
Haley made a face at him. “Give me some credit. I was waiting for you to tell me what to say to him.”
He carefully thought out his best options.
“Do you think you could wrangle an invitation out of him and bring me as a guest?”
“I don’t see why not. I haven’t lost contact with him since I quit. I’ve hit him up several times for donations for Moonbeam. We also go out occasionally when he wants to ask my opinion of a business deal he’s about to make.”
“You help him, even though you don’t work for him?”
“We’re friends.” She shrugged. “As long it isn’t illegal, I don’t mind offering my opinion.”
“Without charge?”
“Sometimes, or he’ll make a generous donation.”
“So, when you were supposed to be working for me exclusively, you were moonlighting on the side?”
“I wasn’t moonlighting … I was helping a friend out. Do you want me to call or not?”
“Yes,” he gritted out, not understanding why he was so irritated at her. Why did he give a fuck that she was so friendly with Rhone? Because Rhone was a walking thirst trap for women, and he wasn’t above using it to his benefit.
In their circle of friends, his sexual exploits and the sheer number of women who lusted after him were widely known. He was also known for just how many fantasies he had fulfilled. Almost as many as he himself had.
Desmond wanted to snatch the phone from her hand as she went to press the call button. With no other recourse available to him in finding the missing villagers, however, he let Haley make the call. Intentionally moving closer to her, Desmond told himself it was just to be able to hear the conversation better, not because he wanted to be in close proximity to remind her of his presence.
Haley raised her chin off the phone. “Do you mind? I could use some breathing room.”
He slid over an inch.
“Hello, Rhone, how are you doing this evening?” Sparks glinted in her eyes when he refused to budge another inch.
She held the cell phone sideways, so he could hear Rhone’s answer.
“Doing well. How about you?”
Desmond wanted to roll his eyes at the seductive purr that came from Rhone’s end.
“To tell you the truth, I’m just a little upset with you.”
“Why’s that?”
“Everyone in my family has been invited to your island, and I haven’t.”
“That’s because I haven’t seen you in the last couple of months. Gillis Island is a new acquisition of mine. Not only that, but when I invited you to my other vacation spots, you refused the invitation. My ego was battered enough with you turning me down umpteen times.”
“Your ego is just fine and dandy.” Haley laughed. “If anything, I did you a favor. It keeps you grounded.”
“Who wants to be grounded? Baby, I could make you soar to places you’ve never seen before.”
About to ask Rhone who he was calling baby, Desmond tried to take the phone away from Haley. He raised the phone above his head with one hand, and he and Haley got into a struggle on the couch. Smirking at keeping the phone from out of her grasp, he was then shocked by her climbing onto his lap to reach for the phone over his head. He was so stunned that she was able to snatch the phone out of his hand.
“Are you still there, Haley?”