“Depends on where you sit on any given issue, but yes. I’ve been called both. I even earned it once. Maybe twice. Okay, fine. Three times. But that’s all I’m copping to.”
“Fair enough.” She sighed and made a show of tucking her phone back into her clutch. “In the interest of full disclosure, you should know I’ve been called psychotic, a ball-busting bitch, heinous, criminally motivated, a ladder-climbing whore and a few other things that make me a potentially unsavory individual to be seen with.”
He slid his glance sideways and found her mouth twitching slightly as if she was fighting the urge to grin. The breath he’d been holding escaped in a surprising rush. “I would expect you to be wise enough to bury those bodies in places they’ll never be found.”
She grinned and waggled her eyebrows. “Those who sleep with the fishes—”
“Have no tales to tell.”
Rachel chuckled, her smile authentic. Then it faded. “She told me you’re rich.” A pause and she shook her head. “No. That’s not accurate. Casey said you’re ‘filthy’ rich.”
“And if I told you all my money has been thoroughly laundered?”
“I’d ask if it was truly clean.”
“Lily-white,” he said without hesitation. “Smells like Gain detergent.”
“Good to know.”
Shifting to face her, Isaac looked at the first woman to have ever made him forget himself during simple conversation. “Is it a problem, Rachel? That I’m essentially criminally wealthy?” When she hesitated, he felt himself mentally stumble and raced to fill the void. “Ah, I get it. You’re regretting that you didn’t bet more on this poker game now that you know I’m good for it.”
Her peals of laughter rang through the car. “You might be good for it, but I’m not raising the stakes, thanks.”
“We don’t have to do this, Rachel.”
It took a moment for him to realize he was clutching the door handle in anticipation of her answer. One more facet of his control she’d fractured, and the fact irritated him. Forcing himself to breathe slowly and deeply, he released the handle and laid his arm across the back of the seat, fingers resting just inches from her tousled hair “You said it yourself earlier. Honesty. No word games.”
Her chin lifted so rapidly he feared she might suffer whiplash. But when she spoke...
“I don’t want you thinking I made that offer based on your net worth.” She shook her head at the same time she laughed, the sound still rich but somehow a bit smaller in the vast backseat of his town car. “I had no idea who you were.”
“Should you have? Known, that is.”
The look she gave him, one so deep and clearly considering, stalled his next breath. He waited on her answer. Would his money matter? Would it influence her unjustly? He had never given a right damn about what anyone thought about him or his projected “worth.” A man was more than the number of commas on his bank statement. And Rachel’s thoughts where his true worth was concerned? For whatever reason, he felt as if her opinion of him mattered. Likeshecould matter if he paid this whole evening any attention at all.
Heropinionmatters. Nothing more, he mentally clarified. He wouldn’t allow her to get under his skin any more than she already had. He would retain control of himself, would not cede it to a woman he hardly knew, no matter how intelligent, witty or attractive she was. “I’ll ask again. Should you have known, Rachel?”
Her scowl spoke volumes. “Probably.”
“Why?”
“Because...” She bit her bottom lip, her eyebrows winging down as she considered her words. “Just...because.”
“That’s not much justification.”
“I don’t think I owe you justification.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” His voice was even lower now than it had been moments before. Soft, even. Not the voice of the infamous hard-ass the business world knew as Isaac Miller. His boardroom opponents would laugh if they could see him now.
“That look on your face.” She smiled, her features softening in the ambient lighting. She shifted onto her hip to better face him. “May I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“That was an easy yes.”
“I don’t have anything to hide.”
“Fair enough. How in the world did the software program pair us, Isaac? I have to be blunt here. We’re as different as day and night.”