Page 10 of Chosen By a Billionaire (Rags to Romance #24)

“May I help you, sir?”

“Are you the manager?”

“Yes sir, I am.”

“Have a seat.”

It was unusual for a customer to demand that the manager have a seat , but Raymond was an old hand. He knew money when he saw it. And the gentlemen at that table, that now was one-less gentleman, was rolling in it. He sat down. And handed Carter his credit card and the receipt.

Carter, in turn, handed Raymond five hundred freshly minted dollars. Carter could see the manager’s eyes expand. “What’s this for?” he asked him. “How can I help you?”

“That girl that waited on our table,” said Carter.

Raymond braced himself.Jayda had just told him about how she called one of them a pervert earlier that day, and had dented his limo, and that the guy might want her fired. “Yes?”

“What’s her name?”

“Jayda Robinson. How can I help you, sir?”

“We would like her to attend a private party. You think she’ll be interested?”

Raymond didn’t expect to hear that. But he was pleasantly surprised for Jayda’s sake. “I heard her boyfriend skipped out on her and she can’t carry the rent alone. If it pays good, she’s interested.”

“It pays quite well,” said Dalton sneeringly.

Carter gave his colleague a hard look. Then he wrote down the date and the address on the back of one of his business cards. He handed it to Raymond. “Have her come two weeks from tonight and tell her to be there at seven-thirty. Tell her tardiness is not an option.”

Raymond needed the cash they gave him, but he felt like a traitor nonetheless. “This ain’t gonna be no smut thing, though, right?”

Carter gave him a hard look. “What’s that to you? She’s getting paid. What difference does any of the rest of it makes?”

But Raymond was shaking his head. “She ain’t that kind of girl, I’ll tell you that right now.

If we were talking about some of these other hoes in here, or her BFF Makela, our cute bartender over there?

That’ll be different. Makela and a lot of these other ladies are down for whatever.

But Jayda ain’t built like that. Even if it pays real money, she’s not gonna take it if it makes her do something that goes against her values. ”

“I thought you said she was living with her boyfriend,” said Dalton. “What values?” He and Archie grinned.

Raymond was offended. “I know you rich white folks do your dirt in the dark and us regular folk don’t be so cautious.

But it all comes down to the same thing, don’t it?

We’re all doing dirt. We’re all human. And y’all are too.

Now I ask you again,” he said, this time looking only at Carter, “is it a smut gig?”

“No,” Carter said as he stood up, prompting his colleagues to stand too. “It’s more like an interview.”

“Can I ask what for?”

“You can ask,” Carter said, and then he looked at Raymond. “It’s a job. No more than that. She won’t be mistreated in any capacity.”

Then he left. Dalton and Archie gave Raymond a smirk of superiority, and left too.

“Assholes,” Raymond said as he pocketed the cash.

But as soon as Jayda saw them leaving, she left the table she was serving and hurried over to Raymond. She sat down beside him. “They want you to fire me?”

“No,” said Raymond. Then he handed her the card. “They invited you to work a party.”

“When?”

“In a couple weeks.”

“They need a server?”

“They say it could lead to bigger and better things, yes.”

“But like what? More serving gigs at other parties?”

Raymond didn’t respond. Mainly because he doubted if she was going to be serving the way she thought.

But he didn’t have to go there because she saw the address.

“The Shalimar ?” She looked at her boss.

“The party is going to be at the Shalimar on Billionaire’s Row?

That’s one of the richest addresses in America, Raymond.

I pass by it all the time when I’m making deliveries.

I always wondered what it looks like inside a place like that. ”

“Now you’ll get the chance to see for yourself.”

Then reality set in. “But why would they want me?”

Raymond frowned, feeling guilty. “What difference does it make why? You need the money and they need the server. Are you interested or not?”

“Did they say how much it pays?”

“No Jayda damn! They’re rich. It automatically pays well. I’m just the messenger over here.”

Jayda leaned back. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I don’t get it. I called one of them a perv this morning, and now this evening they want me to serve at their fancy dinner party? Me ?”

“Stop overthinking it. Maybe they liked how you served them tonight.”

“Yeah, they liked it so much they didn’t bother to leave a tip,” she said, looking on the table for that much-needed tip.

Raymond was staring at her with a worried look on his face.

He could tell just by talking with that rich dude that it wasn’t the kind of revenge she thought they wanted from her, but something probably worse: A revenge of the bedroom variety.

“It’s a risk, Jayda, I ain’t gonna lie to you.

They may try to take full advantage of your situation.

For real though. But you can always turn it down.

You can call him right now and turn him down cold. Or you can take the risk.”

Tears appeared in Jayda’s huge, tobacco-brown eyes that stained even her naturally long lashes.

“But I need the money so bad,” she said, unaware she was batting those lashes in a way so sexy to Raymond that it gave him an erection.

“I’m gonna be evicted if I don’t start getting up that full rent for next month.

I have no choice. None. It’s a risk I have to take. ”

The tears began to roll down her face, which made her feel embarrassed crying in front of her boss. She quickly wiped her tears away with the back of her hands.

Raymond felt sorry for her. “If it starts to go south, you know how to get out of there.”

Jayda nodded, her courage returning. “If they don’t start none, there won’t be none. But if they start that crazy stuff, I know how to book it up out of there. You better believe that.”

But then she frowned.

“What is it now?”

“This doesn’t feel right,” Jayda said, shaking her head.

“Something just doesn’t feel right about this job.

It don’t make sense that they would want me.

Unless it’s gonna be one of those wild parties where the servers are expected to serve more than wine and cheese.

” She shook her head. “I’m gonna call and cancel right now,” she said, pulling out her phone.

Raymond could see his five-hundred-dollar persuasion fee going up in smoke. “But you need the money, Jayda. Don’t forget that. You need the cash.”

“But at what cost?” Her face was anguished.

“I’m not putting myself in a position that could destroy my reputation.

Or me ,” she added. Then she exhaled and rubbed her forehead.

Because Raymond was right. She desperately needed the money.

But as soon as she refused to prostitute herself at that party, they were going to kick her out and not pay her anyway.

But what if it was legit? She rolled her head around to relieve the stress. She didn’t know which way to go!

Raymond could see her stress. It was all over her face.

Jayda was one of a kind, that was for damn sure.

And although he knew he was taking advantage of her confused state, he decided to give it a try anyway.

He’d been thinking about it for weeks. Why not now?

“Maybe we can go somewhere after work,” he said to her.

“You look stressed and I’m always stressed. We can blow off some steam together.”

Jayda looked at him as if he couldn’t be serious. It was the first time he’d come on to her like that. “What?”

He tried to smile it off. “Maybe we can hook up after work,” he said more plainly.

She frowned. “You’re married, Raymond.”

He smiled even more broadly. “So what? I’m not asking you to be my girl. I’m just asking for a night, that’s all. You’re the only girl that works here that haven’t given me at least one night,” he bragged. “What you say? Yes or no?”

She gave him that hard, disgusted look he never liked because it made him feel like the asshole he knew he was. “I say no,” she said bluntly. “I say hell no.” The regret in her eyes, he could tell, was because he had let her down.

And he had. Not Raymond too , was her thought as she wiped her tears away with the back of her hand again and stood up. Was there any such thing as a good man on the face of this planet anymore? Had there ever been one ???

Raymond was already regretting coming onto her that way when he should have known she’d turn him down.

But it angered him too. Because of the way she made him feel.

Why did that bitch of all the bitches on that job turn him on so easily?

She wasn’t the prettiest one. She didn’t even have the kind of curves he liked.

Her personality wasn’t bubbly like that. Why her ass?

Then he realized he was blaming her for something that wasn’t her fault.

She was the only woman alive that he still respected, and she just proved to him why.

No girl on that job had ever turned him down ever.

And that included the married ones like him.

But she didn’t hesitate to tell him to go fly a kite.

She didn’t flirt around with him or play hard to get: none of that shit.

She made it clear, without hemming and hawing, that she was not that girl.

She gave him hope that there was still such a thing as a good woman in this world.

His respect for her didn’t diminish by her turndown. It increased exponentially. He could only hope he hadn’t blown it.

“I was just trying to get you to smile, Jayda, dang. Loosen up.”

Jayda didn’t even look at him. She knew he wasn’t kidding. She knew a come-on when she saw one.

Raymond knew she wasn’t buying his golly-gee shit either. “Still gonna turn down that job?” he asked her.

But Jayda only looked at him with that what do you think look on her face.

Then she realized she never did accept the job anyway.

Raymond accepted it on her behalf! She slammed that business card against his chest. “You’re gonna turn it down since you were the one that accepted it,” she said to the boss that had disappointed her too. And then she walked away.

Raymond fumbled and nearly dropped the card as he watched her get back to work. He wished to God he could take back his flirtatiousness, but that damage was already done.

Then he looked at the card and knew he had to act.