Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“Nothing’s wrong.”
I slid in, keeping my hands firmly in my lap. This was the most expensive thing I’d ever sat on, in, or near. Behind me, Elizabeth dropped the screen embedded in the back of my chair, bringing up an episode of her favorite show for Sienna to watch. Liam slid in next to me, filling the small space with Creed cologne.
His seat pushed all the way back, and still his long, powerful legs and body seemed too small for this car. I counted the fine hairs on his fingers as he shifted gears, carrying us out of the fortress.
I braced myself for the interrogation to start, but no one was getting a word in over Elizabeth. In the span of five minutes, I learned she was six years old. Her mother was a model who lived in Paris. Her favorite color was purple. She liked her tutors, but not her French lessons. Uncle Sunny made the best root beer floats, and Sienna could come up and play with her whenever she wanted.
“What about me?” I teased.
“Sorry.” She sounded it. “Daddy says I can’t let strangers into our house.”
“Miss Sienna is a stranger,” Liam reminded.
“No, Daddy. Sienna is my friend.”
I covered my smile at the look on his face. I had a feeling he had explained the concept of strangers to her many times, and it went out the window every time someone praised her.
“Don’t feel bad.” I didn’t let my voice carry. “It’s a gift to look at people and only see new best friends. We lose that too soon.”
“There is truth in that,” he replied, “but for some, it’s an innocence they can’t afford.”
Turning away, I gazed at the city zipping by. “There’s truth in that too.”
“Tell me about yourself, Mackenzie.”
Goose bumps popped on my skin. The way he said my name bordered on illicit, and I knew it was out of his control. Every word was rolled around his tongue and shaped by soft lips. The power bowled me over when added to my own name.
I recovered quickly. “You mean fill in the blanks the background check left out.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“What’s left to know?” Talking to him gave me an excuse to look—trail down his jaw and study his corded neck muscles. Goodness, there wasn’t a part of him I could strike without breaking all the tiny bones in my hand. The man was built.
“You graduated from Cinco University and snagged a coveted internship at Caddell House, designing and working as an assistant to Victoria Webb. You showed great promise from the few designs I dug up, then a year ago, you were terminated and you’ve been out of work since.”
“No,” I breathed. “Really? Thanks for letting me know.”
“The hard work required to get and keep that internship suggests that it wasn’t lack of trying that left you unable to find another job,” he went on, breezing over my sarcasm. “Your talent suggests you should’ve found one. So, what happened?”
My jaw clenched. I’d give Liam Hunt something, the man didn’t get this far on just his looks. But tact clearly didn’t help him on his way.
“Mr. Hunt, here’s a tip. Get some food in a girl before you ask her to spill her life’s tragedies.”
“Good tip.”
We didn’t speak for a spell.
“Will I get to know as much about you tonight as you expect to know about me?”
“Depends.” Liam didn’t skip a beat. “Sunny made you an offer tonight. Do you plan on taking it?”
“Do you... want me to?”
“It’d be a great help to us having someone we trust going where we can’t go, asking the questions we can’t expect an answer to.” His glance pinned me to my seat. “I haven’t yet decided if that person is you.”
“Well, I have. It’s not.”
“Better things to do with your time?”
“You don’t have to say it like the thought is ridiculous.”
A soft chuckle dispersed into the air and disappeared. “Believe it or not, every word out of my mouth is not an insult. The background check revealed everything, Mackenzie. Everything.”
I shut my eyes, wishing I could do the same to the world. “I figured,” I whispered. “It’s not a secret. I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“No, but you do have strong motive to take a payout to get close to Sole. Even stronger to accept a seven-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar bribe.”
“I would never—!”
“I believe you,” he sliced in.
The hot retort faded.
“In your shoes, I wouldn’t hesitate. That you refuse to sink to crime after all you’ve lost blows my mind. I don’t believe I’m exaggerating when I say no one else in your position would make the same call. You are an incredibly strong woman, Mackenzie Blaine. Stronger than anyone knows.”
I opened my mouth to say something, I don’t know what. His compliments struck me dumb.
“Odd as it is, it’s your refusal to have anything to do with my family... that pushes me to trust you.”