“It sounds like a ‘yes or no’ one.” He leaned close. “Yes or no.”
“I’ve never slept with any of my employees.”
“Until Chloe?”
“I don’t appreciate your accusations, Anthony,” I said. “I’m just concerned because she left something important on my desk, and I want to give it back to her.”
“What was it?”
“A pen,” I said. “Avery importantpen.”
“So, you definitely slept with her.” He groaned and stepped out of the car. “I’ll have Harris come and get me. I need to think.”
“About what?”
“About how I can get legal to find out where she is, so we can make sure she’s not in the middle of filing a sexual harassment lawsuit.”
“The sex wasn’t harassment. It was consensual.”
“I want a twenty percent bonus for dealing with this on your behalf,” he said. “Twenty percent.”
“I’m not paying you extra for a pointless task I didn’t ask for.”
“Okay. Thirty percent.” He crossed his arms. “I’ll stop increasing it if you tell me you’ve never sent her any threatening texts since she’s been gone…”
“Thirty percent is fine.”
“Thank you.”
THE AGENT
CHLOE
Iwas convinced that the “finding a needle in a haystack” adage needed to be changed to “finding property without Dante Hudson’s fingerprints on it.”
Stat.
Over the past few weeks, I’d searched every corner of this city for a place that he didn’t personally finance, rent, or redesign, and it was useless.
He really does own everything…
Even worse, I’d struggled to get through a single night without envisioning his arms wrapped around me or his lips taming mine.
Every shower felt like it was missing his kisses under the streams, and the hotel bed felt cold without being pressed against his chest.
Marie and I were sharing a suite at the Hampton Inn in Times Square while we searched for a place to launch our new lives (and joint real estate agency), and I was starting to feel terrible for insisting that she abandon Hudson International with me.
“Miss Sterling?” Alyssa Rain, my realtor, snapped her fingers. “Are you here on earth with me?”
“Yes.” I looked over at the exposed brick wall and the windows. “I really like this place the best.”
“Well, good, but you’re not beating the allegations any time soon.” She smiled. “Real estate agents are the worst clients.”
“I’m sorry, I know.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to handle the rest of the showings yourself?” she asked. “I feel like you don’t really need me at all.”
“I don’t want to use my company’s access codes for anything.”