Reed Fuller IV #2
The few reporters still in attendance had aborted the mission of trying to get the scoop in exchange for the task of mixing and mingling with the crowd. Instead of loosening up as the evening progressed, Faith seemed to coil into herself tighter.
She looked even more intense as she sat at a table tucked in the corner with those pretty brown eyes fixed on her screen.
She was locked in as her fingers flew across the keys.
Thankfully, she didn’t notice me until I was standing over her.
Those eyes I missed more than anything flickered up to me once I stopped in front of her table.
“You’re still here,” I noted once her eyes settled on me.
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m working.”
“Everyone with access knows this is a party and have switched gears to party mode. You, on the other hand, are still nose down in your work.”
“I am here to work. Is that a problem for you?”
“When did you get so feisty, my love?”
“First of all, don’t call me that. Second, nothing has changed about me. I like to go ahead and take care of things and get them out of the way. I usually like to wrap up my first draft while I’m on the scene,” she explained.
“All work and no play makes a dull girl or whatever they say.”
“I like to say that there is a time for both work and play. Now is the time for work.”
“When do you play?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed with my presence. I wasn’t going anywhere. It didn’t matter how much she hated me. Most people usually softened to me once I was in their space. It seemed to be a natural reaction.
Faith seemed even harder than she’d been in our initial encounter. I didn’t like that. Obviously, seeing me hadn’t brought back the warm memories that running into her had given me.
“Not while I’m working,” she stated flatly.
“Good. I didn’t want to bring up work outside of work.”
That got her full attention. She blessed me with her gaze while she waited for me to expound. When I didn’t, she pressed.
“What does that mean?” she asked with lifted brows and a deadpan expression.
My heart raced as I signed up for the challenge of making her smile. My sweet girl was still mean as fuck. I loved it.
“I have a proposal, well, more of an opportunity,” I finally stated.
She pursed her lips as she answered. “An opportunity for you or an opportunity for me?”
“Well, aren’t we blunt?” I chuckled as I stepped forward, closing the space.
There was too much air between us. There was too much time between us. There was too much everything. I wanted it all back—her time, her attention, her love. It was time to take it back.
“Is there any other way to be? I don’t believe in wasting time. You know that.”
“I’m not here to waste your time. I promise. I would say it’s an opportunity for both of us. If you think there’s something nefarious going on behind the scenes at Cashville, you’re not gonna be able to prove it from the outside speculating and making accusations.”
“What exactly are you offering?”
“Access.”
“To what exactly?” she asked.
The question felt loaded, but coming from Miss All Work and No Play, I knew better than to get my hopes up. At the same time, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t shoot.
“To anything you want, no limits.”
The corner of her mouth twitched, but she swallowed the words before she could spit them out. A beat later, she found the right words.
“Why?”
Because I wanted to see her again. Because I was determined to wear her down. Because I never should have let her go in the first damn place.
Faith might have been doing her job, but my job was to reclaim what was mine.
My paying job just so happened to include protecting the integrity of the business.
Faith could help me with that. She had questions.
I could answer them all. There was nothing wrong with wanting the real answers.
A ton of answers to her question were at the back of my mind, but only one of them seemed likely to get her to bite.
“Because if there’s something there, I want it to be found just as much as you do.”
She rolled her eyes, scoffing as she straightened her posture. “So, I’m supposed to believe you’re just opening the doors for me to snoop around, and I’m expected to trust the information that you spoon feed me?”
“Wow, people don’t usually question my integrity during the first meeting.”
“Technically, this isn’t a meeting. Plus, I already know how you get down,” she countered. I couldn’t lie. That last bit almost got a reaction out of me, but I didn’t let it show.
“To answer your question, you are expected to do what you feel you should with the information that you find. I’m not going to try to lead you one way or another.”
“OK, so why would you invite me to investigate in the first place?”
“I already told you, we don’t have anything to hide. I would rather for you to do it than someone I don’t know from a hole in the ground.”
“Or are you just trying to manage public perception of Cashville?”
“I’m trying to be transparent, my love.”
“No, I’m pretty sure you’re just trying to show everyone the picture you want them to see. You’re masterful at that.”
“So why not come on the inside and see for yourself? I’m giving you an invitation to come stand behind the scenes so you can see how things actually run. While you’re here, you can ask me anything.”
The shift in the atmosphere and the uncoiling of the tension in her shoulders gave me the feeling that she was considering my offer.
“What happens when I find something you didn’t mean for me to find? We already know how Nicholas operates. I don’t want to end up missing.”
“Why are you determined to think that we’re hiding something?”
“It was just a question. I need to know what I’m getting myself into.”
“If you find something that I didn’t want to be found, then I will have to charge that to my own foolishness for letting you in just to have you back in my life in some way.”
She tilted her head and studied my face for any sign of deception. I was an open book. Mostly because I wanted to put my dick in her open mouth, but I digressed.
“I’m trying to decide if you’re confident or just as arrogant as ever.”
“Wow, that’s what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours? All the while I was thinking you were trying to figure out how to ask me out on a date.”
She burst out laughing, and it was the most beautiful sound I had heard in years.
Suddenly, I was transported to a time when this beautiful soul had me considering buying a ring instead of letting her run away.
My chest burned as a million micro explosions went off in my heart.
It was like I’d gotten a major hit of dopamine. I needed more.
“Have drinks with me later, and we’ll discuss how it’ll work,” I requested.
She scoffed and shook her head. “Here I was thinking that you might actually have some integrity after all, when this whole thing was just a ploy to ask me out.”
“I said it was an opportunity for us both. You get the opportunity to come snoop behind the scenes. I get the opportunity to spend more time with you.”
“I don’t date corny guys anymore. There is literally no reason for me to ask a bullshitter any questions. Is Nicholas available, or is he still hidden out in his lair?”
“Are you dating anyone?” I asked, ignoring all the insignificant parts of her statement. Her relationship status wasn’t important either. I just thought I would ask.
“I’m sure you could get any woman in this room to give you a chance.”
“Thank you for the compliment. I want you.” I filled her in.
“I’m pretty sure I told you that I was working, Mr. Fuller.”
“Reed.”
“I know your name. Thank you, but no thank you. Unless you want to sit with me and answer some of the questions that your company’s team already said were off-limits, then I don’t have much else to talk about right now.”
“The only way I’ll answer any of those questions is if you have lunch with me.”
She jerked her head back as if I had offended her. “What happened to drinks?”
“Drinks were just to give us a chance to hash out the details of your exclusive. If I have to answer some of those scathing questions about Cashville’s history, then you have to have lunch with me.”
“And you’ll be completely transparent?”
“Of course. I’m offended,” I lied, putting my hand over my heart to push my point.
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t bite back that breathtaking smile. I was officially hooked all over again. It took a long time for me to be able to say I was over Faith. Now I could admit that I was still addicted.
“You’d be surprised at how many people lie just to have something to talk about. I know better than to trust you. I don’t even know why I’m considering this.”
“Because you know it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. I work in public relations for a casino. Trust me. I’ve heard some shit.”
“Nothing compared to what a reporter hears.”
“You got me there.” I nodded.
“I hope you don’t think you can charm your way out of answering the hard questions and providing receipts,” she challenged.
“For a little one, you damn sure are feisty. I hope you don’t think you can take me.”
“Excuse you, I’m not all that little anymore. Plus, you know they say the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
“You wanna show me how much you can take?” I asked her.
“See, I knew better than to take you serious!”
“I’m just messing with you. Just in case you decide to back out, after tonight, I’m sending out a memo that all press comes to me for the time being,” I said, winking as I left her table.