Chapter 3

She applied a little more concealer under her eyes. If she didn"t want to look like a raccoon, she probably shouldn"t have stayed up more than half of the night having her socks rocked by her sexy mystery man. And damn, sexy didn"t even cover it. So, not only was she not going to regret her decisions, she was going to wear her badge of honor with pride.

Except for the raccoon eyes. Those weren"t allowed.

Dropping the concealer into her bag, she gave up. Who cared what Alexander Fletcher thought of her? She wasn"t there to impress the man. In fact, she had every intention of telling the fucker exactly where he could shove his deal. She didn"t get where she was in life by being greedy or taking shortcuts. She worked hard for everything she had. And she planned to continue doing so in the future.

Unlike her old boss, Samuel Silverstein, she didn"t believe in cheating the system. She had thought there was nothing lower he could have possibly done after it was discovered that he had her friend Ash kidnapped. But to learn that he had also been setting their clients up to be scammed was lower than low. And now the man Samuel had been working with wanted her to continue helping.

No fucking way.

She had tried politely declining, but the asshole was persistent. So now here she was, in Rome, having to explain herself in person. Not that Rome wasn"t beautiful, but there was plenty of other work that required her attention back home. Work like proving myself to Carmichael so he would stop hovering. They had made huge strides over the years in the trust department, but it would appear Carmichael was having a harder time than even she expected letting go of his business.

Once she couldn"t stall any longer without being late, something she loathed from others, she slipped on her heels, and with her purse in her hand, she exited her hotel room. She didn"t have to go far; there was a restaurant inside the hotel, separate from the bar she met her mystery man in last night, that would suit her needs perfectly. She wanted a place that was both public yet close, so she could easily escape if needed. She was only in town for another night. Her flight was scheduled for early the next morning and the last thing she wanted was to be tempted to go out and see the sights. There wasn"t time, and this wasn"t a trip for pleasure. She would not have her business intentions questioned.

She gave her name to the hostess who promptly seated her in a lovely booth that faced the front of the restaurant. It was a solid ten minutes after the designated meeting time, and just seconds before she was tempted to stomp out, when she finally saw a very arrogant Alexander walk up to the hostess stand. Swagger was probably a better term, only not the good kind. More like the cocky, I think I"m better than everyone sway that he probably assumed every female in the place fawned over.

She had done her research. Alexander was mid-forties, never married, but had a new woman on his arm for every event he attended. And to top it off, the women were always young enough to be his daughter. Sometimes she wondered if they were even old enough to drink.

"Monica." Even his voice aggravated her. "It"s so nice to finally meet you in person." His tone was laced with sexual innuendo that grated on her nerves. She could tell immediately that he only saw women as objects to be used and manipulated. Or as a trophy. He would soon learn she was neither.

"Mr. Fletcher. You"re ten minutes late and my time is valuable, so how about you take a seat so we can get this over with."

She plastered on her most charming smile even though deep down she was picturing stabbing him with the fork lying to the right of her elbow. Her fingers itched to wrap around the piece of stainless steel and jab it at him, see if he still thought it was nice to meet her.

He certainly didn"t appreciate her tone, if the twitch of his jaw was any indication, but he did manage to take a seat across from her without her needing to follow through on her thoughts of bodily harm. She would consider that progress.

"Traffic prevented me from getting here on time, but there"s no need for such formalities or hostility. We"re just two friends meeting for lunch, hoping to come to a mutual agreement."

His charismatic personality was back in full force. She was going to need a stiff drink before the end of the meal if he continued laying it on this thick. She knew for a fact he was staying at the same hotel, so she doubted his excuse was genuine.

When the server arrived, she ordered a glass of wine and a salad. She was tempted to order a burger and fries, just to see Alexander"s reaction, but she wanted to get through this meal as quickly as humanly possible. And she would be tempted to eat the full burger, while she would likely just pick through a salad. She wasn"t surprised when Alexander ordered the most expensive item on the menu. She took him as the type of man who enjoyed flaunting his money. Or possibly wasting other people's money.

She didn"t speak again until she was sure the server was out of earshot. "First of all, we aren"t friends. You were friends with my old boss, Samuel Silverstein. Not sure if you realize this or not, but he"s in jail for having my best friend kidnapped, so needless to say, he"s not one of my favorite people. Plus, he was a jackass of a boss. Second, there will be no mutual agreement. I"ve already explained, on multiple occasions, I might add, that I"m not interested in continuing the type of relationship you had with Samuel. That"s not going to change just because you smile at me. It"s obvious you knew Carmichael would never go for it. It"s why you waited until he was practically retired before reaching out. So let me be very clear, I"m of the same mindset as my predecessor. I will not, now or ever, consider your offer."

She sat up straighter in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She wanted nothing more than to stomp off and forget the whole conversation. But she quickly realized it would be pointless when, instead of looking disappointed, the man across from her had the audacity to smile.

"You"re absolutely right. I did wait until Carmichael was leaving, but only because, from the impression I got from Samuel, his business partner wouldn"t know a good deal if it smacked him in the face. I had figured you would have a better business sense and an open mind."

Was that supposed to be some sort of backhanded compliment? She wasn"t sure, but she was going to take it as a slap in the face considering there was no way she would ever consider what he was offering a good business move. Destroying her clients" trust was a surefire way to lose business, not gain it.

Once again, she waited until after the server stepped away from dropping off their lunch. She chose to believe it was a blessing since it allowed her extra time to rein in her temper.

"I"m not exactly sure how you consider stealing from my clients' good business sense, but I can assure you that"s not the way I operate. You can try to charm me until you"re blue in the face, but it won"t change a thing." Her tone left no room for argument. Alexander clearly got the same memo because gone was the cocky smirk and in its place was something she could only describe as evil and ugly.

"You"re going to regret that decision. There are ways to make someone do as I ask," he snarled.

She couldn"t suppress the laugh even if she tried. "I would like to see you try. You must have done your research on me. You know I don"t have any family left. At least not ones that I speak to or care about. I"m not married. Have no children. No serious relationship. So really, your threat falls flat." She ticked each point off with a manicured finger.

"But you have friends. You said so yourself, your best friend was kidnapped by Samuel." That cocky smirk was back, but now there was no missing the evil glint in Alexander"s eye.

Now it was her turn to turn on the cocky grin. She wasn"t worried about her friends. Especially not Ashlynn or Trista. Both had men at their backs who would kill in a heartbeat.

"I do have friends. Close ones. But I wouldn"t recommend threatening them. Their significant others take offense to that and they"re men I would be afraid of. The military teaches a variety of skills and they have been known to make a person or two disappear."

The nervous look on Alexander"s face was worth the dreaded lunch and her unexpected trip to Rome. If only she had a camera to capture it at the moment. All confidence in convincing her to do his bidding seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Despite the salad in front of her, she was done with this conversation, and now that she had no reason left to stay, she cleared her throat.

"Thank you for the delicious lunch, but I think our time is over." Slowly rising from her chair, she grabbed her purse. "I think it"s best if we never speak again."

She didn"t stick around to see the look on his face, or if he was going to try and stop her. With a normal client, she would have treated them to lunch. Alexander wasn"t a normal client, and she wanted no ties to a man who could later come back to haunt her. She was almost out the door when a voice she never thought she'd hear again stopped her in her tracks.

"Monica Cole."

Turning around slowly, she clocked the man in a similar fashion to the way she had last night. Only this time, instead of looking like a businessman, she noticed the boots and jeans that hugged him in all the right places and the shirt that showed off every single muscle she had greedily explored the night before.

"How do you know my name?"