We took his limo to the restaurant he’d chosen for lunch, and I kept my glances to a minimum. I clocked all the exits and made sure we sat at a table where my back was in a corner with no windows. I wanted no one ambushing us, and I wanted a clear path toward the nearest exit if we needed it. There were seventeen windows with four of them locked. Five different exits with two routing through the kitchen. A ventilation system with no more than twenty vents throughout the main room and no more than twelve in the kitchen.
But to Derek, I was grinning and “enjoying his company.”
“I’m still not sure about hiring you,” Derek said. “Keeping you at my side is going to blow this out of the water.”
“Not if you paint me as someone you’re courting,” I said.
“One, you aren’t my type, and two, this is
supposed to be professional.”
“One, your cock says differently, and two, you’re also keeping this quiet, which means whatever I need to be painted as to deal with that is par for the course.”
“Then you agree that having a bodyguard following me around closely is going to raise red flags,” he said.
“Which could lead to theories or admissions that could hurt your business. Slap you in your pockets and rob you of your millions. I get it. Is there anyone at your company who knows about the threats being made?”
“I just told you I wasn’t sure if I was going to hire you,” he said.
“And yet you haven’t gotten up and walked away.”
We stared at each other for a long time as the waiter set glasses of water on our tables. Derek ordered for himself before he ordered for me, and I sat back and watched him. Analyzed him in his own environment. How pompous he was and how he assumed he knew everyone around him. He talked friendly with people as if they were old friends, but all of it was a ruse.
There was something he was hiding, and I still wasn’t convinced someone was legitimately threatening his life.
“My COO knows. Jacob Carl,” Derek said. “He knows about the threats.”
“Anyone else?” I asked.
“Obviously, the security personnel at my home know. But in terms of the company? He’s the only one.”
“Not even Emma?” I asked.
“Certainly not Emma,” he said. “She’s a young girl who can’t stop flapping her jowls. She’s good at what she does, but secret-keeping is not her forte.”
“I take it you’ve learned from experience,” I said.
“No, but with the gossiping she does in my office when I call her in to change something in my schedule, it’s obvious.”
“So, Jacob. Your COO.”
“He was the one who encouraged me to get the police involved, but I wasn’t going to have it. If the media gets wind of this, it’ll be a massive event.”
“A massive event might scare the assailant off,” I said.
“It will also tank my reputation and taint my company. They’ll start digging into my past to try and figure out why someone would want me dead.”
“Care to enlighten me?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m cocky. Slightly arrogant. I built a billion-dollar company with my own two hands all throughout my twenties. When kids my age were accruing thousands of dollars of educational debt, I was accruing thousands of dollars in profits. Of course, people hate me. People love success stories but hate actual success.”
“Uh-huh,” I said.
Spoken like a true pompous asshole.
“If you don’t want me pretending to be someone you date, I can be another assistant or whatever you want. But just to make this clear, you’re the one who reached out to us. You’re the one who decided you needed additional protection. And you can’t do business if you’re dead. You built one company, so you’ll build another. My job is to keep you alive.”
I could see the shock rolling over his face. A man like him wasn’t used to people talking so bluntly to him. This was probably the first time he was experiencing this kind of demeanor from a woman. He struck me as the kind of man who enjoyed a proper woman. Thin legs, petite nose, milky skin with a nice smile. Graceful in a dress and tactful in heels. I could be that when necessary, but that was part of my training.