Page 12 of Damaged Billionaire Daddy (The Lanes Series #1)

Chapter twelve

Richie

I took in the scene on the patio of the Ice Cream Emporium. Kandis sat with her back to the white column that held up one corner of the roof. Mila sat on one side of her, and Clara sat across the table with her back to me and the two people with me.

It was late afternoon, and the sun slanted across the brick red concrete patio floor and the delicate ice cream chairs. Clara’s head was bent close to Kandis, who seemed to be whispering in her ear.

I could hear Clara exclaim softly, “And you let him?” Her curls shivered with emotion, and she clutched at her tall milkshake as if it were some sort of holy curative for what she was hearing.

Kandis shrugged. “He wants my grandfather’s vineyard. I’ll do just about anything to keep him from troubling Mimi and Pops.”

Mila grinned at her wickedly. “Tell me you didn’t enjoy it, at least a little bit.”

Kandis flushed an unbecoming beet red. “Maybe. But that doesn’t mean . . .”

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Mila exclaimed, cutting her off before she could say more.

So, she still opposed the purchase of the vineyard. I could guess why. As a small business, it was doing very well. Her grandparents were not wealthy, but they were comfortable, and the vineyard and winery provided jobs for many of the locals.

Did they think it would profit me to undo the progress they had made? Didn’t they realize that the purchase price would give the aging couple a comfortable retirement? Not that it mattered to me. The takeover could be done the easy way or the hard way. I would have that vineyard in the end.

Kandis changed her gaze from Clara and followed Mila’s eyeroll in my direction. I was followed by Roger, one of the vineyard workers, and Teagan, a girl that couldn’t make up her mind whether she had a bigger crush on him or on me.

Teagan carried a triple decker ice cream cone that looked as if it might lose its top deck at any moment.

She licked it with sensual emphasis that threatened to knock the top scoop off the unsteady stack.

Roger paid her no mind, but his face lit up when he saw Clara.

Roger carried a banana split but was clearly more interested in the woman. “Mind if we sit here?” he asked.

Before either Mila or Kandis could say anything, Clara said, “Grab some chairs. We can make room, can’t we, girls?”

“Sure,” Kandis said, because there really wasn’t anything else to say. Her expression showed that she didn’t like the idea but couldn’t think of any way to refuse now that Clara had invited us.

I had limited myself to a club soda with a twist of lime. Too bad it was too early to add anything stronger to it. Kandis narrowed her eyes at me, picked up a chocolate éclair from her plate, bit the end off it, and chewed deliberately.

From the shape of the pastry and her expression, I had no trouble figuring out what she would like to be chewing. Probably with intent to draw blood.

Her implied threat didn’t trouble me, particularly.

Although it did make me a little wary of certain activities during our next encounter.

I just watched the movements of her soft lips, and she bit off another piece of éclair.

A tiny bit of crème filling squirted out one side, giving me all sorts of ideas.

Fortunately for my concentration, Teagan let out a little squeak as the top layer of her ice cream slid off the stack on her cone.

Mila deftly caught it on a napkin before it could land on the floor or the table.

“What are you doing on my side of the street?” she asked, giving Teagan a smoldering look. Some history there. Wonder what?

“I’m with Roger,” Teagan said in a small voice.

“He’s giving me a ride home. I worked today.

” She gazed at me, a sort of little girl crush showing in her eyes, then she looked over at Roger, who clearly had eyes only for Clara.

The girl was plumb out of luck. Neither of us was interested in her. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

Mila sighed. “You aren’t a bother, kid, but someone should warn you that you are swimming with sharks.”

I quirked an eyebrow at Teagan but didn’t pick up the gambit. Instead, I turned to Kandis. “I need to talk to you,” I said.

“About what?” she asked. “I really don’t have anything to say to you.”

“But I have something to say to you,” I replied.

She looked at the placement of my chair, pointedly. “You have to let me out,” she said.

“Sure,” I said politely, standing up, and moving my chair out of her way.

She picked up her last éclair, gave me a suspicious look, and followed me as I led the way around the corner of the stucco building.

Once we were out of sight, and probably easy hearing, of the others I said, “I need you to go with me next weekend.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. Go with you? Go where? And do what?” she protested.

I ran one finger down her cheek. She shivered at the touch and tried not to show it. “I’ll tell you then. I don’t want you to run out on me.”

“What if I won’t?” She folded her arms across her chest.

I took out my cellphone and input a number. I held it out to me so that she could see her grandparents’ number. “All it takes is one flick of the button,” I said. It was so much fun teasing her.

She gave me her best glare. It was cute. When had prickly gotten so adorable? “What if it is something I won’t like? Someplace I don’t want to be?”

“It’s a surprise,” I crooned soothingly. “Don’t you like surprises?”

She stared at me. If she could have shot lasers out of her eyes, I swear she would have.

“Not usually. And I’m not at all sure that you’ve got a nice surprise planned.

More than likely, you are planning a long drive into the woods, you’ll have your way with me, and then leave me in a shallow grave. ”

I was startled. Could she think that? Well, I’d not been particularly nice to her, but really! “You think I would do that? Kandis, I’m not that kind of guy. Well, the weekend in the woods maybe, but not the other part. It is too much fun watching the lady squirm when I dump her.”

“Glad to hear it,” she said tartly. Clearly, she wasn’t pleased with my answer. “That still doesn’t mean I’ll like whatever it is that you have planned.”

At this point I could feel irritation starting to rise.

Instead of yelling at her, I reigned myself in, and cupped the side of her face in my hand, and just looked at her for a minute.

She scowled at me but stood perfectly still.

Her skin was warm under my touch and her cheeks started to glow with the beginnings of a blush.

“Kandis,” I said, “I promise it will not compromise your honor – not any more than I already have, nor harm you in any way. But I need you. You won’t have to provide anything. Just go with me, and act as if you are having the time of your life.”

“What if I’m not?” she asked. I could see her resolve beginning to waver.

“Then try to pretend. For your grandparents’ sake. No, make that for my sake. Please? Remember, anytime, anyway. You promised.”

“Fine!” she snapped. “I did promise. But I didn’t promise to like it.”

“Thank you,” I said, relief washing over me.

Maybe it wasn’t the best way to get a “plus one” but it was going to work.

I could not think of a more beautiful woman to show off on my arm.

Mission accomplished. Maybe I should have told her where we were going, but it was so much fun needling her, I couldn’t resist.

And maybe you could now try balancing a peanut on your nose or walking a picket fence, a little voice said in the back of my mind. I ignored it. I’d told that voice to go away and lie down quietly a long time ago.

I walked Kandis back to her table and collected up my passengers by eye. After all, I had promised them all a ride home. I’d been known to break a promise or two, but this one would be easy to keep.

“Sit up front and tell me about your day,” I invited Roger.

This relegated Teague to the back seat. She looked like she wanted to pout. It was clear she had counted on riding in the front seat. But I wasn’t in the mood for any amateur vamping, especially from a kid who looked as if she was scarcely out of training bras.

Roger was flattered and more than happy to talk about his day. He and another worker were preparing a new field for a trial type of grape. He didn’t know what kind, only that the boss was really excited about it. They spent most of the day picking rocks and fitting them into a drystone wall.

“It’s just the best thing,” Roger explained, “finding a rock that will fit, and then looking for the next rock. None of them are the same. It’s like a puzzle . . .”

I let the young man’s words wash over me.

Had I ever been that excited about a job?

Maybe. But it certainly wasn’t a job picking rocks.

And yet . . . those rocks were making a wall and they were being removed from a field for a new planting of grapevines that would bear succulent fruit that would be crushed and made into delicious, one-of-a-kind wine.

That was work I could get into. Maybe I was going about this the wrong way?

I crushed that thought before it could get started. This wasn’t the first small vineyard I’d taken by storm. No matter how great a working relationship they have with their people, I will find a way in.

I dropped Teagan off first, earning myself another sultry pout and a reminder that the vineyard workers liked to hang out at a certain bar.

The girl was clearly eager and willing, but I’d met her type before.

She’d be all honey sweet and kisses until it came time to move on – and move on I certainly would because she’d be boring after one night.

“Is she always like that?” I asked Roger abruptly.

“Like what?” he returned. “Oh, you mean the pouty come-on. Yeah, her ma died when she was a little kid. Her dad has tried to raise her, but she’s kinda run wild. It’s been worse since she had her twenty-first birthday in May and moved out on her own.”

Well, she was legal at least. But I’d called it right. She was just a wild kid, and probably much loved by the locals because she was an orphan. A quick fling with her would scare off my preferred prey: the boss’s granddaughter. Lost in my own thoughts, I almost missed Roger’s next remark.

“I’d kind of like to ask her out, but it’s sort of like asking out your kid sister, you know?”

“You grew up together?” I asked, absently.

“Yeah. Used to have acorn wars in the grove down by the river. Who knew she’d grow up so, so. . .” Roger struggled for words.

“Ask her,” I said, pulling into his drive. “What’s the worst that can happen?”