God, she’d never tire of hearing her full name on his tongue. It was the only reason she hadn’t asked him to call her Ari.
The food came out in record time. Aside from one dish that had the texture of cold, overcooked squid, everything they ordered was delicious. They hadn’t even realized how long they’d lingered over their meal until the waiter locked the front door, turning away a couple that had tried to get a table.
Jared asked the waiter to box up their leftovers, then paid the tab. It was just after ten p.m. when they left the restaurant, and the air outside was still warm, the night full of potential. Ari had been having such a great day, a great evening, she didn’t want it to end.
“It’s too early to say goodnight.” Ari linked her arm through Jared’s in a gesture that had become so familiar and comforting, it was as though she’d been doing it for years rather than weeks.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“It’s settled then.” Jared raised his hand to hail a taxi as though he’d been doing it his entire life. When the cab pulled over, he opened the door for Ari and ushered her inside, following close behind. Ari had no idea what he was planning next, but whatever he said, she’d go along with it. Anything to extend their time together. Anything to ensure this night didn’t have to end.
Anything except for the words that fell out of his mouth next, bringing the lightness of their date to a shattering, screeching halt.
“We’ll go to your place for a nightcap, love.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Good evening, Miss Holbrook.” Alan, Ari’s doorman, greeted her with his usual smile as she approached the elevator bank inside her building. But given the jumble of emotions her night with Jared had unleashed, Ari wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat.
An hour earlier, happy after their dinner in Chinatown, Ari could never have predicted the downward spiral her evening would take. After Jared’s suggestion to head back to her place—and her refusal to give the driver her address—the two of them had bickered for so long the cab driver finally forced them to leave the car. Out on Canal Street, she and Jared had made quite a scene, their fight ending when she hopped in a cab by herself.
Now, safely back at her building, Ari was alone, miserable, and heavy with guilt about how she’d acted. But Jared couldn’t know where she and her sister lived—letting him get that much closer to her real life was simply out of the question. More importantly, if Davidson’s men ever saw Ari bringing Jared home, it wouldn’t be long before Davidson figured out that she had real feelings for the man.
Feelings that could get them both killed.
Across the marbled lobby, Alan was still smiling at her, and she realized she’d stopped in the middle of the room, a blank stare washing over her face. She hadn’t even heard the last thing Alan said.
“Good night, Alan.” She offered a polite smile, but then tucked her chin down, heading straight for the elevator.
His voice rang out over the echo of her footsteps. “Shall I let your guest know that you’ve arrived home?”
Ari stopped in her tracks, turning to face him. From his seat behind the lobby desk, Alan already had the phone in his hand, ready to dial her penthouse intercom.
Jared followed me home?
Ari was both furious and excited by the thought.
But… no. There was no way it could be Jared. If he’d followed her in his own taxi, he wouldn’t have arrived before her—certainly not with time to sign in, have Alan ring Tasha, and take the elevator all the way upstairs.
That could only mean one thing.
“I’m not expecting guests tonight, Alan,” she said, struggling to keep her tone even as the panic rose inside. “Unless my sister invited someone?”
Alan shook his head. “Sorry, Miss Holbrook. The gentlemen was asking for you, but Natasha told me to send him on up.” He glanced down at the visitor list on his desk. “Here it is. Mr. Davidson, does that sound right?”
“Thank you.” Ari sprinted to the elevator, her blood ice cold. She jammed on the button repeatedly, every nerve in her body raw and exposed. She didn’t think Davidson was brazen enough to cause any physical harm to Tasha in their home like this—not with Alan right downstairs and Ari on her way up—but even a few minutes’ exposure to the man could damage her sister in ways Ari didn’t want to imagine. Who knows what twisted lies he’d been telling her, what threats he’d already made?
Ari jammed her thumb into the elevator button again, cursing under her breath. After what felt like hours, the green arrow overhead finally lit up, and the elevator doors slid open, ready to usher her upstairs to her sister.
Please let her be okay…
From the foyer of her 42nd floor penthouse, Ari spotted Tasha and Davidson in the dining room, seated across from each other.
They were playing cards.
Tasha was unbruised, unrestrained.
Ari nearly wept with relief.
“Arianne,” Davidson said coolly, his smile tight. “So good of you to finally join us.” Turning his attention back to Tasha, he said, “Do you have any Queens?”
Tasha shook her head. It was then that Ari noticed just how frightened her sister was. In a thin, trembling voice that Ari barely recognized, Tasha said, “No Queens. Go fish.”
“What are you doing here, Davidson?” Ari joined them at the table, putting her arm protectively over Tasha’s shoulders. Tasha scooted closer into Ari’s embrace. Gone was the fierce, confident woman Ari had helped raise, and in her place was the scared child who’d shown up on Ari’s doorstep more than five years ago.
I will kill you for this, Davidson.
Davidson looked at Ari as if she were a slow child. “We’re playing Go Fish. Would you like to join us?”
“No,” Ari said. She squeezed Tasha’s shoulder. “Why don’t you get ready for bed, hon? I’ll come check on you in a few minutes.”
Tasha didn’t wait for another invitation. She rose from her chair and bolted from the room as if her chair was on fire.
Before Ari could speak, Davidson held up a finger to silence her.
“Let me tell you how this is going to happen,” he said, laying his cards face down on the table. “No more games, no more delays. You’re going to convince your boyfriend to whisk you away next weekend.”
“Davidson, I… I can’t. That’s impossible. It’s too soon.”
“Hardly impossible for a man of Jared Blackwell’s significant means and a woman of your significant… talents.”
Ari shook her head, adamant. “I need more time. You can’t just—”
“I can, and I will.”
“Davidson, he’s not—”
“Enough!” Davidson slammed his fist into the table, sending the cards scattering to the floor. He leaned forward, gripping Ari’s wrist and lowering his voice to an eerily soothing tone that belied the rage in his eyes. “Allow me to make myself absolutely clear, Arianne. If you don’t make this happen, my next social call will not be for a pleasant game of cards.”
Ari felt the blood drain from her face. The room spun before her, and she had to blink to keep from passing out.
Davidson sat back, his smile smug. “It would be a shame, too. I rather enjoy playing cards with Natasha. Such a pretty thing, don’t you think?”
“Stop,” Ari said. Davidson’s fingers left red marks on her wrist, rising to ferocious life. Her skin hurt where he’d grabbed her; her entire body was exhausted, every bone wobbly and defeated. “You know I’ll do whatever you ask. This has nothing to do with her.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Davidson picked up the cards from the floor and arranged them into a neat stack, setting them on the table between them. Through his greasy smile, he said, “I knew we could work something out.”
Struck dumb, Ari could only nod.
“So I can trust you to handle the request?” Davidson said. “Give us unlimited, uninterrupted access to the house next Saturday?”
“I’ll be sure he’s not around,” Ari said. “But I can’t make any promises about his household staff. And you’ll have to figure out how to get past the alarm code.” That was one bit of key information Ari had kept to herself. She’d come close to sharing it on more than one occasion during these recent weeks, if only to get Davidson off her back. But it was clear he was ready to move forward, with or without that kind of intel, and Ari saw no reason to make his job any easier.
“You let me and my guys worry about the staff.” Davidson rose from his chair, escorting himself to the door. Before he left, he shouted a goodbye to Tasha down the hall, but she didn’t respond. To Ari, he said simply, “I hope you and Mr. Blackwell have a lovely weekend away.”
The moment the door clicked shut behind him, Ari got up from the couch and turned the deadbolt. She called down to Alan and instructed him not to allow any other visitors tonight. And then she darted down the hall in search of her sister.
“Are you okay?” She found Tasha sitting on the edge of her bed, picking at a snag in her comforter.
Tasha shrugged. “I don’t understand why you stay with that guy. That’s not… he doesn’t act like he’s just your boss, Ari.”
Ari’s blood boiled. She didn’t even have the words to explain. Everything was so beyond screwed up, so beyond dangerous. All she really had was an apology.
“He said you guys had a meeting,” Tasha said. “And that you’d told him to wait for you upstairs. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I was an idiot.”
“No, you weren’t. I’m the idiot. I should’ve done a better job keeping my work away from home.”
Tasha pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, staunching the flow of tears. “Well it was fine until he wouldn’t let me leave the room. Even after I made him a drink, he still wouldn’t stop asking me questions. I tried to tell him I had homework, but then he started following me down the hall. Something just… it made my skin crawl. No matter what, I didn’t want that man in my room. That’s when I got the cards out. I figured it was a good distraction.”
Ari pulled Tasha into a hug, shuddering at the thought. She was afraid to ask her next question, but she had to. “Baby, did he… did he hurt you?”
Tasha pulled out of Ari’s embrace, shaking her head. “No, he didn’t lay a hand on me. Didn’t even raise his voice or anything. It was just like that day at Perk. Like, he wasn’t saying anything particularly threatening, or getting physical or anything. It’s just… he has this way, you know? Like he wants to make sure you know he’s got the upper hand.”
Ari’s throat tightened. She’d been on the receiving end of Davidson’s menace more times than she could count, and had learned to deal with it in her own way. But now, knowing that he’d gotten under Tasha’s skin—knowing that he’d actually waited until Ari wasn’t around and entered their fucking home…
“Who is that guy?” Tasha asked. “Really?”
Ari sighed, ready with her usual response to this question, as flimsy as it felt. “I’ve known him for a long time, is all. He used to work for my father—they were pretty close. Unfortunately he’s always had issues respecting boundaries. I’ll… I’ll figure something out.”
Tasha wouldn’t meet her eyes. “You always say that.”
“Look at me, Tash.” Ari grabbed her sister’s hand, squeezing it fiercely. She didn’t even bother hiding the rage bubbling up from inside. When Tasha finally met her eyes, Ari said, “He’s not going to bother you again. I promise.”
Tasha took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Whatever she saw in Ari’s eyes must’ve convinced her, because she finally smiled. Not the scared, uncertain smile she’d plastered on for Davidson, but her real smile. Her Tasha smile.
Ari sighed with relief.
“I hope you know we’re working on your resume this weekend,” Tasha said. “Because I don’t care if we have to move into a one-bedroom in Jersey and live on my barista salary. You’re quitting that fucking job, Ari.”
“That,” Ari said, managing a laugh for the first time in hours, “is a promise.”
After a hot shower that did little to relieve her tension, Ari crawled into bed, not even bothering to dry her hair. In the quiet darkness of her lonely bedroom, Ari closed her eyes and considered her options.
All roads led to the same destination, the same outcome.
She had to confess. To look deep into the eyes of the man she’d fallen in love with, and tell him that she’d been working to commit a robbery of his most precious pieces of art.
She loved him. No matter how many excuses she’d made, no matter what she’d tried to tell herself about his insurance policies, about his unlimited wealth, she couldn’t let Davidson and Vincent go through with this.
She had to tell him.
He might call the cops, which would be bad.
He might not believe her, which would be worse.
But he loved her. That much was certain. And deep down, Ari hoped that however angry he was with her lies, however enraged about the plans, he’d set all that aside and work with her to figure out a way to stop it.
A way that would keep Tasha out of harm’s way.
Even if he never wanted to see Ari again—a very likely outcome, one for which she could never fault him.
It was a risk she’d have to take, the price of mixing her kind of business with his kind of pleasure.
It was a price that kept rising, no matter how often she thought she’d paid for it. Because now, seeing what she really stood to lose, she wondered if any of it had been worth it.
She finally drifted off to sleep, a single mantra scrolling through her mind.
No more lies. No matter what happens, I have to tell him.
Chapter Twenty
“You’re losing it,” Evan said. “You can’t even keep it together during a basic interview.”
“That was hardly a basic interview.” Jared folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his desk chair, wishing the day would vanish around him. He’d just endured two hours of questioning from a pair of tech bloggers half his age who seemed to know way more about the pending acquisition than most of his own staff, his groundskeeper had resigned this morning via text message after four years of loyal service at the country estate, and someone claiming to be a reporter from a business journal Jared had never heard of had been harassing the postman delivering at his Tribeca penthouse, sniffing around for details about Jared’s mail.
His head was throbbing; he was surprised he’d managed to sit through the meeting at all.
“How did the media get involved, anyway?” Jared asked. “I thought Hastings wanted to keep this low-profile until we made it official.”
“Perhaps he’s testing us,” Evan said. “Hastings is all about image. Likely he wanted to see how we’d perform outside the parameters of the expected security interviews.”
“Perform. Right.” Jared popped another two aspirin, chasing them with a swig of coffee that had long ago gone cold. “You know how I feel about the media circus. That’s why I have a V.P. of media relations on staff. Though you wouldn’t know it, would you? Where is that prat, anyway?”
“Metz is on vacation.”
“Where is his assistant?”
“Christ, Jared. They’re tech bloggers, not the paparazzi. And if you’re so concerned about keeping yourself out of the public eye, why do you insist on giving them so many reasons to speculate?”
“I’ve done nothing of the sort.”
“Your lack of focus and short-temper are making you batty, mate.” Evan let out a sigh. “Frankly I’m questioning whether you even want this acquisition to go through. Whether you even want your company to succeed.”
“Don’t be melodramatic.” Jared waved Evan’s words away with a sweep of his hand, but deep down, he knew Evan was right. Jared was totally off his game lately, and today was the worst of it. He’d had to ask the bloggers to repeat their questions several times, and during his responses, he felt hi
mself veering so far off the point it was a wonder they hadn’t accused him of drinking on the job.
This deal was important. His company was important. All of the people he employed—including his best friend Evan—were important. He hated the thought of letting them down.
But no matter his honorable convictions, Jared just couldn’t focus. All he could think about was Arianne, the look of utter fear on her face when he’d suggested they go back to her place after their date last night.
“What is it now, Jared?” Evan asked.
“What’s what?”
Evan lowered his voice, his earlier irritation replaced with genuine concern. “Something’s eating you up inside, and I have a feeling that that something is a beautiful brunette with green eyes—”
“Hazel.”
Evan laughed. “Of course. Forgive my indelicate oversight, and thank you for proving my point.”
After a long pause in which Jared realized Evan wasn’t going to let him off the hook, he finally made the confession, cringing as he said out loud the words that had been knocking around his head for weeks. “She’s hiding something big, Evan. I can feel it.”
“Have you tried, I don’t know, asking her about it?”
“Every time I come close, she clams up.” Jared told him about the fight that had ensued last night after their dinner in Chinatown.
Jared cringed even remembering it. He wouldn’t be surprised if they’d ended up on more than one tourist’s camera.
That would be something to feed the media hounds.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve mentioned your concerns about her,” Evan said. “You barely know her, and her behavior… well, it’s understandable that you’d think she’s dodgy.”
“I didn’t say she was dodgy,” Jared said, but he had thought it. He’d thought it since day one, and she’d only become more elusive and maddening since then.
Patient as ever, Evan only nodded.
“Spit it out, you git,” Jared said.
“Since you asked so nicely.” Evan tapped the desk between them. “Right, then. I have a suggestion. You’re not going to like it.”
Bared to the Billionaire: The Complete Series Page 23