“Don’t be too proud. You need this. You always wanted to own your own business. This is your chance to really succeed.”
“I’d rather go under than take any help from you.”
Trey shook his head and made a tsking sound. “Always so proud. If I truly don’t mean anything to you and you’re over what we were, then you wouldn’t mind taking this job. The old Ambi would do it just to stick it to me. To prove that she could. To prove that I was the idiot and I was wrong and she’d take my money just so I had less of it, she’d go on that vacation, enjoy the hell out of it, and send me a photo of her flipping me off while drinking twelve dollar beers by the pool.”
“You’d probably like that, wouldn’t you? Me in a bikini next to the pool.”
“I wasn’t imagining you in a bikini, but if that’s the photo you wanted to send, I wouldn’t object.”
Trey had the best eyes. He’d always had the best eyes. Dark green. Sharp and pretty, deep and serene, like a cross between emeralds, cut grass, and a tropical pool.
Her hands tightened on the wheel. He was right. He was freaking right, and he knew it. Trey was the enemy and it was a dangerous enemy who knew every single one of her weaknesses. She had to figure out a way to beat him at his own game. Maybe he was right. The old Ambi wouldn’t let someone walk all over her. She wouldn’t let her pride get in the way of her dreams. She would have taken that money and laughed about how it grew her business. How Trey was the loser at the end of it. And she’d take that damn trip, on his dollar. He had her and he knew it. She couldn’t say no, because that would now mean admitting defeat. It wasn’t a matter of pride or taking the moral high ground at all.
“Fine,” she huffed. “I want twelve grand to plan your dumb office party. I’ll make sure everyone even gets little fartsy favors. The live band will be the best in Minneapolis, and I’ll hire a fucking magician. The hall will be spectacular, and people will talk about the food and the amazing desserts for the rest of the year. You’ll look like a genius and everyone will sing your praises instead of realizing what cold-hearted, depraved bastards you and your father really are.”
Trey winked one of those gorgeous eyes at her. His eyelashes were sinful. Too thick and long to belong on a man at all. “Sounds like a plan, Stan.”
Fuck you and Stan too. Or no. No, rather, just fuck off. “I want two tickets to the nicest resort in Mexico for a week. All inclusive. Everything paid for. In January, when it’s too cold here to even live.”
Trey’s dark brows drew together and for a split second, there was a shimmer of hope that made that aching pinch in her belly so much worse. Her hands nearly strangled the wheel. She was so disgusted with herself she wanted to send her own self a bag of shit.
“I’ve wanted to take my mom on a holiday since forever.”
Instead of looking disappointed, Trey’s gorgeous face broke into a huge grin. He had a resting non-bitch face. He was so handsome it was painful. When he smiled. God. It was like someone switched on a generator inside and fired up the lights. It was potent, that grin, and he knew it. He used it as a weapon, and it worked. Ambi felt cut to shreds just seeing it.
Trey produced the cheque that he’d thrown on the table earlier from his pocket. He pulled out a pen and filled in the amount on the top line. When he handed it over to her, she took it without her hands shaking- the world’s biggest accomplishment. She nearly gasped when she noticed he’d made it out for seventeen thousand.
“That should cover the Mexico thing. Or take her anywhere. Wherever you decide.” He stuck out his hand. “It’s going to be a pleasure working with you, Miss Danby.”
Ambi threw the cheque carelessly onto her passenger seat. She brought her palm up and spat on it before she slapped it to Trey’s. He never broke eye contact with her, even when his fingers closed around hers and lingered for a second too long. Payback for the spit trick.
“A real pleasure,” he repeated as he let her hand go.
He stepped back and she slammed her car door. “I’d have more pleasure eating turds,” she hissed and then she peeled out of her parking spot and down the street before Trey could see right through her and realize that it wasn’t true at all.
CHAPTER 4
Trey
Trey almost couldn’t believe Ambi agreed to meet with him. Then again, she’d cashed the cheque a day ago, and when he’d called what he assumed was her office phone to ask about cake testing, something so stupid even he couldn’t keep a straight face when he called, she’d reluctantly agreed. She was a true professional and she’d made it clear, by rattling off a place and time in a curt voice and hanging up on him, that she wanted as little to do with him as humanly possible.