“Wes…” I started with a warning so he’d know how I felt. “Really, this guy is harmless. He’s thirty, a cowboy, lives on a normal ranch without all the fancy dancy items you’d think a wealthy person would have. His wife, Cyndi, is lovely and pregnant with their second child, a son he’s over-the-moon happy about. Their daughter, Isabel, is four and a darling little girl. They’re normal.”
“Then why did a normal family hire an escort? Sweetheart, it’s odd. I get the name thing, but still, he could have hired anyone to pretend to be the sister if it’s his company’s interest he has at stake. Why you? Why someone who absolutely has the same name and birthday?”
“It could be a different spelling.” I tried, but knew I’d failed when Wes groaned in that way I knew he was tugging at his hair. “Don’t pull on your hair!” I fired off.
He laughed. “How did you…”
“When you’re frustrated, you start pulling on your hair. I love your hair and want to continue to see it for the rest of my life or at least for another thirty years, so stop ripping it out! You’ll go bald prematurely.”
Full-bellied guffaws could be heard through the connection. He gasped and chuckled as he responded. “Okay, okay, but I’ll have you know my father’s hair is doing well at his age, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
Imagining Wes thirty years down the road made me all warm and squishy inside. “Don’t worry about me, okay?”
“Not possible. Until you’re home, sleeping in my bed next to me, I’m going to worry. Oh, and where did you say the ranch was?”
This time I laughed. One track mind, my guy. I gave him the address and I could hear the clacking of a keyboard.
“No shit,” he whispered.
“What?” I sat up, suddenly worried.
“His ranch is next door to a friend of mine. Well, the wife is a friend of mine, but she lives there half of the year. I attended their wedding on that ranch.”
“Who?”
“Aspen Bright-Reynolds.” I’d heard the name before but couldn’t place the face. “Well, technically she’s Aspen Jensen now. Married Hank Jensen who literally owns the ranch property adjacent to the Cunningham’s. No way. I’ve met Maxwell,” he said with a hint of surprise. “You should connect with Aspen if they’re in town. I’ll give her a call.”
My guy mentioning a woman he knows with such familiarity caused the green-eyed witch to pop her head out of her hidey-hole. “How do you know her?”
“She’s in the business. Owns AIR Bright Enterprises. You think I’m rich? Honey, she’s on the tippy top of the list of wealthy women in business and young, too. Maybe thirty now and recently had a daughter. I know they visit the ranch house as often as possible because Hank is the cowboy type. Needs open spaces and all that. I’ll have to contact her. Set something up if you’d like.”
“Um, maybe. I don’t know. It’s not like you’re here to introduce me. Might be weird.”
“Well, either way I’m going to find out more information about the Cunninghams.”
“Baby, really, Millie already did all that—”
He cut me off. “My girlfriend, my concern. It will make me more comfortable. If you’re spending time away from our life and home, I need to know you’re safe. Besides, the whole thing is fishy to me. Admit that at least, Mia?”
Honestly, I kind of lost everything he said after the my girlfriend, my concern part. Having a man care enough about me to have the people I’m working for investigated was a new level of love for me. One I’d certainly never experienced before. The mere thought had me wanting to hop on a plane, drive to his Malibu mansion, and jump on his cock. Unfortunately, I’d be doing none of those things, so I responded vaguely with, “uh huh. I guess. Whatever makes you able to sleep at night, Wes. Just don’t worry about me. I’m gonna hit the hay.”
“Hit the hay? They’re already transforming my girl into a cowgirl?” He snickered.
I giggled. “Love you.”
“Dream of paradise.” His voice was a throaty rumble that I missed so much at that moment I clutched the cell phone tighter.
“You mean being in your arms?” I waited until I could hear him sigh. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Love you. Be safe.”
Chapter Four
Maxwell drove us the forty-five minutes it took to get to the headquarters of Cunningham Oil & Gas. The building was enormous. It looked more like a small university than a corporate headquarters. I’m not sure why, but I expected it to be out on a dusty ranch, something a true cowboy would call his workplace. Everywhere I looked, sleek white pillars and glass walls protruded. Trees dotted the perimeter as we drove through a guarded gatehouse.
“Wow, how many people work here?”
Max paid attention to where he drove, slowly maneuvering his truck through the lot until he parked up near the front doors in a spot clearly marked Maxwell Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer, on a bright white sign with bold, black lettering. “Here? There are approximately twelve thousand employees on this campus.”
“Campus?” I chuckled. “Fits. Looks like a college.”
“We do a lot of good work here. But the company as a whole employs over seventy-five thousand.”
“People? Holy shit. And you’re responsible for all of them?”
His brows came together, and he tipped his hat. “It’s not as glamorous as it sounds. Or rather, I don’t allow it to be. Come on, I’ll show you around. There’s a lot to see.”
I clambered out of the vehicle. He stopped with his hand on the door. “A gentleman opens the door for a lady,” he admonished.
His statement instinctively made me put hands to hips, one hip jutting out with attitude. “Dear brother,” I joked, trying the endearment on for size, “I am not your woman. I am your sister.”
He grinned, yet something serene came over his features before he quickly shook it off. “So you are, sugar. Come on, there are people interested in meeting my one and only long lost sister.” Max crooked his elbow, so I laced my arm through and pushed the sunglasses on top of my head.
“Your dad built all this from scratch?” I scanned at the campus, at least what I could see of it from the parking lot.
He shook his head. “No, no. The business was started ages ago by my gran’pappy, a real old west John Wayne-type of fella. Then it grew with the generations. Now”—he held out one arm wide, expressing the vastness of the property—“it’s truly something to behold. Growing up, all I ever wanted was to run my ranch and work at this company. I’ve always been Dad’s right hand, but now that he’s gone, I’m taking the helm.” His lips pursed together, and the mood turned melancholy.
I rubbed his shoulder and bicep. “Hey, I’m sorry about your dad. If he was anything like you, he’s probably missed by a lot of people.”
“Yes, I do believe you’re right. Though why he’d keep a secret like me having a sister all these years is beyond me.”
“So your mom must have remarried then?”
He huffed and opened the wide glass door. “My mother never married Dad, not for lack of trying. Dad said he asked her many times over the years they were together. Even downright demanded it when they had me. Instead, she just up and disappeared. Left a baby book she’d made of me, some pictures of her and Dad together. and that’s it. Never to be heard from again. At least that’s what Dad said.” His shoulders tightened, and the skin around his jaw seemed to tighten. It was obvious that talking about his mom wasn’t his favorite subject.
He led me with a hand at my lower back, into the elevator. We went up the five flights to the top. Though the company employed many people, the building wasn’t tall. I guess, though, if they wanted to keep the charm of the country, they probably didn’t want skyscrapers jutting into the sky and blocking out the sun.
“Hi, Diane, how are you?” Max said to a pixie of a woman sitting at the desk in front of a set of double doors. Her hair was white and pulled back into a sleek bun. A pair of ro
se-colored glasses were perched precariously on her nose. She smiled wide and held out her hand. Max grabbed it, leaned forward, kissed it, and then patted the top. The woman was old enough to be his grandmother, but I could tell from the intelligence in her gaze that she was sharp as a tack.
“And who is this lovely young lady?” She glanced at my body, checking me out, or at the very least evaluating my clothing choices. Her blatant regard didn’t feel alarming or rude, more like she was curious about me.
“My sister, Mia.” He said it with such a sense of pride, it hit my heart like an intense bone-breaking hug and squeezed tight, making me wish I were this man’s sister. Any woman would adore a brother like him, so caring, obviously a family man, and seemingly a strong leader.
She stood up, proving she was even smaller than I’d suspected. Her arms opened wide and her smile could brighten any dull day. She pulled me into a full body hug. “So good to meet you, Mia. Welcome to the family, dear girl.” She cupped my cheeks. “Now you don’t be a stranger, you hear?”
“Um, okay, I’ll try not to be.”
“Thanks, Diane. Let her go now,” Max encouraged as he tugged my hand. She released her grip and crossed her arms over her chest, smiling happily as if she were hugging herself. As we retreated, I could hear a couple sniffs in the background and a muttered, “Never thought I’d see the day.”
Max opened the door to his office, and what an office it was. Huge didn’t quite describe it. The room was in at the corner of the building and overlooked the rest of the campus. Hundreds of acres of land spread out, and different buildings were nestled among the trees. “We try our best to be environmentally friendly, but there’s always the activists that want to protect the Earth. I get it, but that doesn’t change our need for natural resources.” His tone was soft, not at all damning, simply matter of fact.
“Do you get a lot of issues running a business like this?” I asked, looking out over the vast landscape.
He leaned against his desk and stared at the view alongside me. “We get our fair share. There’s always the need for transparency, accountability, sometimes issues with conflicting materials.”
“What’s that?” The rest I understood, but the material thing, not so much.
“Supply sources dealing in gold, copper, tin, tungsten, and tantalum are often essential to use in production or functionality of the products. There’s always the energy and environmental policies to deal with in our government and that of our plants in other countries.”
I nodded. “You’re global?”
“Yep. Remember, we employ over seventy-five thousand people. They’re not all in the US. Though I have people to run each branch. My cousins as well as some executives we’ve hired. In every branch, there is a Cunningham in top tier management ensuring the family’s stake.”
“And the investors?”
“We have plenty of those as well, but they don’t own pieces of the company, just interest in it. The more money we make, the more money they make. Unfortunately, that’s part of why you’re here.”
I turned and took a seat in one of the leather lounge chairs. “Explain that to me.”
He sighed and sat down in the chair opposite me. A glass table with the bottom made of what looked to be dried out wood from a dead tree comprised the base that separated us. The table added to the rustic western appeal of the space. I liked it. Suited the man that worked there. “Well, in Dad’s will, he left forty-nine percent of the company to my sister.”
“The one you haven’t met yet.”
He looked away and responded. “Er, yeah, you could say that. Basically, he left this woman close to half of the company and has given me a year to find her. I’ve been looking for months.” He laughed. “This is going to sound so ridiculous, and you’re probably not going to believe it, but I heard your name in the entertainment news my wife watches. They mentioned it tied to man I met a couple years ago. Friends of ours, so I asked them about you.”
“And who is this friend?”
“My friend is Hank Jensen. He’s our neighbor, and his wife…”
“Is Aspen, who’s friends with Weston Channing. Am I getting warm?”
His mood shifted again, like a wave crashing over him, and the melancholy I’d felt before left completely. “Yes, exactly! Met the fella at their wedding on the ranch a couple years ago. Nice guy. Movie man. Anyway, saw your name on the entertainment show and then confirmed it on a tabloid at the supermarket. So I uh, had you investigated.”
And there it was. Honest. Simple. There was nothing nefarious lurking in the corners ready to bite me. He’s just a guy looking for his sister who just happened to share my name. “Imagine my surprise when I found out you were an escort. I will say that shocked me a bit.” The words came out grumbled, almost angry, not at all matching the man. “Why are you an escort anyway?”
I held up my hand. “Wait a minute. Don’t try to change the subject. You had me investigated, and what did you find besides the escort part, which you know to be true?”
“A little of this, little of that. Know your dad is in the hospital in convalescent care. Know you worked a string of waitressing jobs in Vegas and in California, where you also did a small stint in acting. Saw a couple of your commercials. You’re really good.”
Aww, he saw my acting. “Thank you.” I smiled and then realized I was getting off the subject. “What else?”
“That you now work for Exquisite Escorts and you were noted in the smut mags for being the girlfriend of Weston Channing. But then a month later, you were working for some French guy who painted. And after that, you popped up connected to the Fasanos, the folks who own all the Italian restaurants. Wish they had one close to here. I’ve eaten at one of their locations, and damn, it was good.”
Again, he had me chuckling and thinking about my time with Tony and Hector and the entire Fasano clan. “They’re an amazing family. I care very deeply about them. Is that all?”
He shook his head. “You were noted again in the papers as the girlfriend of that Boston Red Sox player. Not sure why in the world you’d get with a guy who played for that craptastic team. Should have been someone on the Texas Rangers. Now that’s a team!”
“Seriously? You know my entire life history, and you’re worried about the team my client worked for?” I could feel my temperature rising and the wall of frustration right along with it. People shouldn’t know this much about my life, my private life. Especially a client.
“So that wasn’t your boyfriend?” His head jerked back. “But I saw you kissing him in the papers. That Weston fella, too.”
I groaned and let out an exasperated breath. “They are all clients. Except Weston. He’s my boyfriend, but he wasn’t then. We just got together recently.” I straightened my shoulders. “Doesn’t matter. What is it that you need from me?”
He licked his lips and rubbed at his jaw. “Simple. I need you to be my sister so that the investors don’t get to take a stake in the company.”
“But how would that work? Eventually they’re going to figure it out.”
“No, I don’t think they will. It’s too close. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the Mia Saunders I saw on TV and in that super market magazine not only shared the same name but the birthday my father noted as well. For now, your driver’s license will suffice, and then, by the time we need to get into birth records and DNA testing for the courts, I’ll uh, hopefully have found the real Mia Saunders. My Mia. I’ve wanted nothing more my whole life than to be part of a huge family. Dad never had more children. That’s why I married Cyndi young, and we set about having a baby. I want a brood of children running my family’s company one day. And right now, I need to protect that. It’s why you’re here.”
Hearing him say, “my Mia” made my heart ache again. I got it. What he wanted—a real family with a mother, father, sister, brother, all of that. I had Maddy, and now I had an extended family in my friends, but it had always just been me and Maddy and Pops, when he
was sober enough to even attempt to be a father figure. A real family environment was something I also craved. That deep blood connection with people, what Maddy and I had, meant everything to me.
“I’ll do whatever you need. Just let me know.”
“That easy? You’ll agree to help me, share your information, and pretend to be her?”
The decision really wasn’t that hard. I’d been a girlfriend, muse, fiancée, model, arm candy, and seductress. Why not the sister of a good guy who just wanted to protect his family’s business? I held out my hand. “Agree to name your next daughter after me, and I’ll do it,” I said with the straightest face I could muster.
“Really? That’s all you want? A namesake?” His eyes turned soft, and once more, I was hit with that buzzing, the sense that I knew him, had seen that exact look before.
I dropped my hand. “You really would name your kid after me, huh?”
He shrugged. “You save my family business, I figure it’s the least I can do. Besides, you’re my sister.” He said it with such conviction I almost believed it.
“I can tell that you’re pretty straightforward. I was kidding though. You owe me nothing. Just give your family a good life.”
“You don’t want more money? Blackmail me? You know you could. For a lot. This company has billions in revenue every year. I could set you up for life.”
With a conviction I felt down to the soles of my shoes, I shook my head. “A good deed is done because it should be, not because it’s being paid for. You’ve already paid the fee to get me here. I’ve sent that to my debt collector. It’s all good.”
His eyes went from a pale green to a harsh dark forest color. “Debt collector? That money I sent went to a debt? My investigator showed no debt under your name. You had very little in your checking and savings, though checks had been written to a college fund. I figured you were using the money you made for back tuition. That money was supposed to go to you!” His tone bordered on vehement, and he clutched his hands into fists. Not exactly the response I’d expect.
August: Calendar Girl Book 8 Page 4