I didn't have a clue how to negotiate contracts or deal with bank loans. All of this fell way beyond the realm of my experience.
"What the hell was he thinking?" I muttered as I looked over the paperwork and tried to figure out who I could ask for help.
"You have a visitor, Mr. Yates," Norma said in a formal tone that made me look up, confused. I looked up to find Sloan standing in the doorway smiling at me.
"Good to see you again, Jack," she said as she crossed the room. Both Norma and I watched her, mesmerized by her fluid movements and undeniable beauty. She was wearing a grey jersey dress that wrapped around her body like it had been made for her, and it probably had been. I looked at Norma and nodded as Sloan took a seat in one of the worn chairs across from my desk. Norma bowed out and shut the door behind her.
"How have you been, Sloan?" I asked as I eyed her warily.
"I've been good, but the question is how are you?" she asked, smiling serenely.
I had known Sloan since we were in high school. She'd been the first girl to show me any kind of attention, the first one to crack open my outer wall of defensiveness, and the one who'd taught me all about the mysteries of the fairer sex. She'd also been the one who had stomped on my heart when she'd told me that whatever we shared would be over once we both went off to college.
I loved her in the way a teenage boy loves his first love, but she'd been far more practical and realistic than I'd been. I knew that the likelihood of us maintaining our relationship while she was at Stanford and I was at MIT was pretty slim. Looking back, she'd done me a favor by ending it when she did, but the pain of being rejected still stung a bit—even after fifteen years.
"I've missed you, Jack," she said as she flashed me the smile that had first hooked me. "It's been too long."
"We just saw each other at the wake," I said, trying to sound casual as I swallowed and looked down at my desk. I hated that she still had this effect on me, but there was nothing I could do about it. Being around Sloan was like taking the best drug ever and, when she smiled, it felt like the whole world opened up and anything was possible. "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, a little of this and a little of that," she said as she tipped her head and watched me carefully. "I ran my father's Beijing operation for a while and then came back to the states when he hired one of his golf buddies to do his bidding."
"That must have been a downer," I said, knowing that the relationship between Sloan and her father had been almost as contentious as the one I'd had with mine. That was part of the reason we'd bonded in the first place.
"It wasn't an uplifting feeling," she laughed softly. "But you know how it goes."
"Why are you here?" I asked bluntly. I knew that if I didn't cut to the chase quickly, I would be tempted to get caught up in the fantasy of Sloan's world again, and I could feel my body responding to her presence even when I was actively reminding myself of the ways in which she'd rejected me.
"Why I wanted to see you? Of course," she said in a tone that sounded vaguely hurt that I'd assume she wanted anything but a friendly chat. "I was worried about you after the wake and wanted to see how you're doing. And it's been such a long time since we talked. I thought this was as good a time as any to catch up."
"You want something, don't you?" I said cutting through the sticky layers of her emotional manipulations.
"Why on Earth would you think that, Jack?" she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Because you never do anything for the good of anyone but yourself, Sloan," I replied, watching her closely. She shifted slightly in her chair, but the smile stayed put.
"Do you really think that little of me, Jack?" she asked softly. "Do you really think that I'm the same girl I was fifteen years ago? That I haven't learned anything, or longed for anything, or wished that I'd handled things differently?"
"I don't know what your game is, Sloan, but I trust you as far as I can throw you," I said with a wry grin. She chuckled as she leaned back in the chair and crossed one long leg over the other. I felt the blood flow away from my brain as I recalled what those legs—and the rest of Sloan—had felt like in my hands.
"Jack, I swear, I'm just here to invite you out to dinner and to find out how you're doing," she said as she looked at me intently. She uncrossed her legs and shifted forward in the chair, holding her hands up in mock surrender. "That's it. I swear. No end game."
"I don't believe you," I said, eyeing her warily. "But you do have great taste in restaurants, so if you're picking up the bill, I'd be glad to join you."
"Excellent," she smiled as she stood up. "Blue Water Grill at eight tonight. Don't be late."
"It sounds like you were pretty sure I'd agree to dinner with you," I said as she headed for the door. I admired the way her hips swayed as she walked. Sloan certainly knew how to get a man's attention.
"Oh Jack," she smiled as she turned and caught me staring. "I know you so much better than you think I do, darling."
And with that, she was gone. I sat staring at the door for a long time, wondering if I'd made the right choice in agreeing to meet her for dinner. I consoled myself with the knowledge that if I changed my mind, I could always stand her up.
As I worked through the afternoon, I told myself I could cancel, but as I breathed in the lingering scent of her expensive perfume and recalled the way she'd looked sitting across the desk from me, I knew I wouldn't.
BAD BOY BILLIONAIRE VOLUME II
Chapter Twelve
Leah