Emilie Rose – Pregnant on the Upper East Side? / The Billionaire in Penthouse B: Pregnant on the Upper East Side? (страница 3)
“I’m good at what I do. That’s why you’re hiring me. I brought a list of venues and dates that we can get within the next four weeks. Needless to say, it’s a short list since the most desirable locations book up months or years in advance. I can pull up pictures of the spaces online since the café has wireless Internet access.”
Trying to make connections with vendors on a Sunday had been absolute hell. But she’d done it by calling in every favor she was owed. This job was that important.
“I’ve ordered your usual. Trish said to tell you she’d start your latte when you walked in the door and a fresh batch of muffins would be out of the oven in five minutes.”
Her usual? She’d met Alex here with Julia and Max a few times, but she hadn’t realized he’d noticed she always ordered the same thing. Most likely Trish had told him. “Thank you.”
She set her case on the table and extracted her computer. While the laptop booted up, Alex stepped behind her to help her remove her coat. Each touch, no matter how fleeting, hit her with a charge of electricity. Static electricity, no doubt.
He draped her coat over his on the spare chair. She sat quickly to get away from his heat and shoved a sheet of paper across the table the moment his behind hit the chair.
“Here are the sites, dates available, room capacities and prices. We’ll have to act fast to snap up whichever one you choose because we’re capitalizing on cancellations. Once we select the location we’ll start on the menus.
“The Metropolitan Club is available for one day only, but I think the Trianon Suite at the Carlyle Hotel would be a better option. That time and date don’t conflict with any of the other high-profile events going on in Manhattan.”
“The Trianon it is.”
That had been too easy. “Do you have your guest list?”
He extracted it from his coat pocket. Amanda took it and scanned the names. Adrenaline rushed through her. If she could convince just two or three of these people to hire her, Affairs by Amanda would be in the black for a long time to come. Alex definitely moved with the in crowd.
A shadow fell across the page. She glanced up and stifled a groan. Curtis, her lying, thieving ex, stood by the table. It took every ounce of civility she had to hide her less-than-happy-to-see-him reaction.
“Hi, ‘Manda.”
“Hello, Curtis. I can’t talk right now. Could you please excuse us?”
The jerk didn’t move. “I stopped by your apartment.”
“Curtis, I’m working.”
“Your balloon payment is coming due this week. Do you have enough money to cover it?”
Her cheeks burned. She did not need Alex to know she had financial issues. He might change his mind about hiring her.
“I don’t have time for this discussion now. Later, okay?”
Curtis shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels as if he had no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. “I could loan you some cash if you’re strapped.”
The money Curtis wanted to loan was probably her own. She had to get rid of him. “Why don’t I let you talk to my attorney about that cash?”
She knew she was bluffing, but she saw her threat register in his eyes. And then she saw him dismiss it. His lips curled in a smirk. “Now, ’Manda, there’s no need to get nasty. We both know you’re not interested in making a fuss that would draw your parents’ attention to your…difficulties.”
Damn. Double damn. She glanced at Alex, and his dark, speculative gaze held hers for perhaps ten seconds. Then he shoved back his chair and rose.
She’d lost him, his business and her much-needed fee. Her stomach sank. Amanda racked her brain for a way to salvage the situation and came up empty. She grimaced an apology.
But instead of storming out of the coffee shop, Alex offered Curtis his hand in a friendly gesture. Surprised, Amanda searched his face. The hard glint in his eyes and his looming posture were far from amicable. In fact, she’d never seen Alex look so ferocious.
“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Alexander Harper, Amanda’s finance attorney.”
Curtis’s eyes widened. His mouth opened. The color leached from his face and he winced. Amanda realized Alex must have crushed his hand. As soon as Alex released him Curtis shuffled back a step. He glanced warily from Alex to Amanda and back, then squared his shoulders.
“Curtis Wilks, Amanda’s boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend,” she corrected. “When you cancelled the lease on our apartment without telling me and then moved out while I was out of town, you ceased to be my anything.”
He’d left her high and dry, and with a stack of bills. Since they had been splitting expenses equally, her name had been on all the utilities though not the lease. She’d been doubly screwed. She’d had to move and cover their debts. If Julia hadn’t needed a roommate, Amanda wasn’t sure where she would have ended up.
Curtis seemed to gather himself. “Yes, well, about that loan—”
“If Amanda needs anything she’ll get it through me. Understand?” Alex’s cold tone gave new meaning to the word
Amanda blinked up at him. She wasn’t used to anyone coming to her defense, and she kind of liked it. Even if he had lied about being her attorney.
Curtis took another step back. “Uh yeah, sure. See y’round, ’Manda.”
Not if she saw him first, to quote the cliché. She watched him leave the shop.
“Pack up. I’ll change our order to go,” Alex said.
“Why?”
“You’re going to tell me what’s going on. And I don’t think you want to discuss your financial status in a crowded coffee shop. We’ll go to your place.”
Having him back in her apartment wasn’t a good idea. “I’d really rather not discuss my private affairs at all.”
“If you don’t level with me, Amanda, then our business is finished.”
She sighed. What choice did she have? “My place it is.”
Two
“Let’s have it,” Alex said the moment Amanda finished hanging up their coats. She hadn’t looked him in the eye once since leaving the coffee shop.
She carried the bag of muffins to the kitchenette and fished around the cabinets for plates. After placing a muffin on each dish, she retrieved utensils and carried the lot to the small glass-and-steel high-top bar table. Her movements were deliberate and graceful, but he didn’t need his body-language-reading skills to recognize she was stalling.
“Amanda?”
Her wary grey eyes finally met his. “How much has Julia already told you?”
Not nearly enough. No matter how hard he’d tried to pry information out of his friend’s new bride, Julia had stayed closemouthed about anything that mattered about her former Vassar roommate. The only details she’d shared had been useless stuff he’d already figured out.
“Only that your split with Wilks has left you disinterested in a new relationship.”
And Julia had only volunteered that because Amanda continued to shoot Alex down at every turn despite the obvious chemistry between them. He knew women too well to misread the awareness he saw in Amanda’s eyes.
She ruffled her short blond hair with her fingers. The strands fell more or less back into place, but she didn’t run to a mirror to check it. Amanda’s lack of primping was just one of the things he liked about her. Her long, lean body didn’t hurt, and the fact that she was confident enough to wear sexy-as-hell heels despite her height was a total turn-on.
“You heard Curtis. I have a banknote coming due and I’m running a little short. But that won’t affect my ability to plan this event for you.”
A wise man would back away from a company in financial trouble. But he wasn’t feeling wise at the moment.
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Do you need a loan?”
Her eyes widened and then her long lashes fluttered down. She focused on peeling the paper off the muffin. “I’ll talk to the bank about an extension. Now, about your party—”
He wasn’t going to let her change the subject that easily. “Spill it, Amanda. All of it. And then I’ll decide whether or not we’ll do business.”
Her chin tilted in a defensive angle. “I am very careful about budgeting and planning ahead. We’ll have a contract. You don’t have to worry that I’ll take your deposit and pay my creditors and stiff the people we engage for your event.”
“I wasn’t. But if you’re so good with budgets how did the shortfall happen? Is business slow? I’ve heard nothing but accolades about your work.”
She shoved her dish aside with a wistful glance at the muffin she’d crumbled into a messy pile. Instead of looking at him, she concentrated on wiping her chocolatedotted fingers on a paper napkin. Stalling again.
“It’s my fault, really. I made the mistake of allowing Curtis to help me set up the books and accounts for Affairs by Amanda.
“It worked well for a while. But then my operating capital started disappearing. At first I didn’t notice because the amounts were small and I was too busy building my client list to pay attention, but then bigger chunks went missing. I questioned Curtis and he claimed I’d underestimated the costs of several major items. But I