Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Hey, Harlow,” I said, returning his smile in the mirror. “I hope he didn’t pull you away from anything important to pick me up.”
“Not at all, Miss Sophia.” He merged smoothly with the downtown traffic like a pro.
“So where are we headed?”
“To the Steele Estate.”
My humor faded. “The what?”
“The Steele Estate.”
“You mean, Konni’s house or his family home…as in where his parents live?”
Harlow’s assessing gaze in the rearview mirror didn’t miss my rising panic.
“The family home. Konni often stays there with his parents on weekends. They’re a very close family.”
“Can you pull over, please?”
“Of course.” He signaled to pull over. “If you’re choosing not to return with me, would you kindly call Konni so he doesn’t misunderstand the situation?”
“And what’s the situation?”
“That I did or said something to upset you, which caused you to cancel your plans with him.”
Damn Harlow for being a decent guy. He didn’t deserve having to deal with the fallout of Konni’s disappointment when I didn’t show up.
I pulled out my phone and called Konni.
The low rumble of his contentment was a soft background noise to his pleased “Hello, Sophia.”
“Don’t ‘hello, Sophia’ me, Konni. I am not going to your family home. I asked for professional distance. How is going to your parents’ place keeping professional distance? Do you invite Bomir there on the weekends?”
The rumbling stopped mid-scolding, and Konni sighed.
“No, but I think I’m going to start.”
“Don’t. Pick somewhere else, or tell me what you need to tell me now.”
“Why is it so complicated to have a dinner date with you?”
“Because we aren’t dating? We’re not from the same world, Konni. What do you think would happen if you brought me home?”
“My mom would be overjoyed.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Wait. Go to Rexbies and get a private room. I’ll be there soon.”
I hung up and looked at Harlow, who seemed a lot more serious than usual. Was he actually worried that Konni would blame him? I’d need to let Konni know it wasn’t Harlow’s fault for being honest with me when Konni hadn’t been first.
“Would you mind taking me to Rexbies?” I asked.
“Not at all, Miss Sophia.”
He dropped me off in thirty minutes and waited until I was at the door before driving away.
Rexbies was a unique pub and lounge combination that I’d checked out with Wrenly and Miranda a year ago. It had a few tables and conversation areas scattered randomly throughout the bar, with moody music playing at a reasonable volume.
The bartender nodded in welcome as I approached the bar. He wasn’t the same guy as the last time, but he had the same flame tattoo creeping up his arm as the other guy had.
“Is there a private room open?” I asked.
“Sure. How many?”
“Just two.”
“Second door on the right is yours. Who are you waiting for?”
“His name is Konni,” I said, hoping Konni would be discreet enough not to use his professional name.
“Konni?” the guy asked, looking surprised and studying me more closely. “No kidding?”
“You know him?”
“We’ve seen him in here with his friend Bennett a time or two.”
“Ah. Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for the room.”
“Anytime. You want his usual drink?”
“Sure.” Since he didn’t have a usual at Lunar Pulse, I was curious what he drank here.
“I’ll have it brought in.”
I went down the hallway and opened the second door on the right. It had the same underlit moodiness as the main lounge, but only contained a table with four chairs, no conversation seating. Completely different from the rooms at Seventeen Twenty-One, but in a nice way.
Pulling out a chair, I sat facing the door and opened a group text.
Me: So there’s a chance that a creepy, old, rich guy is sabotaging my life so that I’ll have to marry him.
Wrenly: If only it were a hot, rich guy. I think I read a book like that.
Miranda: She’s serious, Wrenly.
Wrenly: What? Who? Give me a name and how he hurt you.
Me: I said there’s a chance, so I’m not giving a name until I have proof, which I’m working on getting. And you already know what happened. That stupid data leak wasn’t me.
Wrenly: Ah. Got it. Does Konni know?
Miranda: He knows, and he’s not happy. He’s digging into the data leak for proof. Where are you, and what are you doing, Sophia?
Me: Calm down. I’m not actively sleuthing. Mom’s spending Konni’s money to prove we’re not destitute while quietly asking around about her previous jobs. I’m staying focused on dodging a fatally pheromone-wrapped bullet.
Miranda: Does it vibrate?
Wrenly: I bet it can on demand.
Me: Hilarious. No more updates for you until our lunch date.
Miranda: We look forward to hearing how it performed.
Amused and grateful for my friends, I put my phone away and waited.
A minute later, the light above the door blinked several times, and a server came in with two drinks.
“Thanks,” I said. “Can I see a menu?”
“Of course. I’ll be right back with it.”
She left, and I took a sip of Konni’s “regular” drink, verifying it was a Shirley Temple. Grinning, I shook my head. Did he not like alcohol, or was he like Miranda and couldn’t really get drunk?
The door opened, and I looked up, expecting the server. Instead, Konni came in with a menu.
His gaze swept over me, assessing—likely trying to gauge my mood—then fell to my shopping bags.
“Will you show me what you bought?”
“Yes, but not today. You can see it on Monday with everyone else when I come into work.”
He took the chair next to me and handed me the menu.
“Thank you for agreeing to dinner.”
Setting the menu to the side, I propped my chin in my hand and studied him.
“We really need to talk about boundaries,” I said.
“Okay. I don’t have any, not when it comes to you. Whatever you want. Whenever you want it.”
“What if I say I don’t ever want to see you again?”
His eyes started to glitter. “That’s not a boundary, kitten, that’s a challenge.”
“How?”
“By saying that, you’re asking me to convince you to stay.”
“What if I want to talk to other men?”
“It would be difficult to establish the career you want if you pretended to be mute around men.”
“What if I want to have sex with a man?”
“I’m here and very willing.”
I sat back, considering him. He wasn’t giving off the same possessive red flags that Bennett had with Wrenly. But they were still there. The picture he’d sent proved that. I didn’t hate being wanted. But I would hate feeling caged or stifled.
What was I doing?
Why was I even thinking about this?
Was I actually considering taking “the plunge” with him?
No sex was worth that, no matter how tempting the package was.
“You might be willing, but I’m not willing to sign away the rest of my life to someone I’ve only known a few weeks. If you were human, we would have already been in bed.”
His pupils got bigger.
“I’ve already told you, Sophia. Sex with me doesn’t mean you’ll get a mate. Unless you’re starting to accept me?”
I scoffed and took a sip of the drink in front of me. “You’re not that lucky.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Why don’t you tell me what Felix said first? You can educate me with a more detailed version of the dragon bird and the bees’ talk afterward.”
His smirk made me hungry for a kiss, so I distracted myself by looking at the menu.
“Felix looked into the shares, and your stepmother was right. They’re all in her name, and your father doesn’t have the legal right to transfer them. I’m sorry.”
I set the menu aside and sighed.
“I’m not mad about the shares. I’m mad we dropped the charges.”
“Felix said you could press charges for extortion, but it probably wouldn’t hold up, and the media fallout wouldn’t be favorable to either side. And your mom and her history with your dad would likely come into play too.”
I recalled how I’d been surrounded by reporters once and shook my head, not wanting that for either myself or my mom.
“I have another option that will help us test the theory that Hestian is behind what’s been happening to you,” Konni said, his eyes glowing brighter.
“No.”
“You didn’t let me finish.”
“You don’t need to. I can guess by the way your eyes are changing. Instead of marrying an old, rich guy who repulses me, why not marry a younger, richer one I’d enjoy banging? Right?”
His pupils expanded a little as he blinked at me, and he cleared his throat.
“I’m not saying we have to get married. Just date. Openly. Believe it or not, I have influence in Motan. Enough that if it’s Hestian who’s behind this, he wouldn’t keep messing with you.”
“And if it’s not him? If it’s someone with more pull than you?”
He slowly smiled. “Kitten, I’m friends with all the people who have the same pull I do, and there’s no one higher than us.”
“No one likes a bragger.”
That wasn’t entirely true because I was liking what he was saying. A lot. Well, the being backed by someone with pull part, not the dating part. Okay, that was a lie. I was starting to want that part too.
My mom had already told me to go for it.
Hasn’t your dad fucked up your life enough? Why keep giving him power?
Wrenly’s gentle question, which she’d asked a year ago, rose in my mind. She’d been right then and was still right. Fear of commitment and being like my dad was holding me back from what I wanted—Konni.
It was hard to let go of the hurt and the fear, though.
My palms grew cold and sweaty as I considered his proposition seriously.
“What changes if I agree?” I asked.
My pulse immediately started to race, pre-panic.
He seemed to realize I was balancing on the edge of something big, though, because he didn’t pounce or press. He calmly answered my question, despite the way his pupils were slowly dilating.
“Instead of using work as an excuse to be close to you or finding places with private rooms, we can act like a real couple and do whatever we want and go wherever we want.”
“I meant at work.”
“Nothing. Edi, Bomir, and Marius already know who you are to me. They won’t treat you any differently.”