Page 109 of Slumming It

Shit.But at least it was only the girls. My fingers relaxed, but only slightly. "Why?"

"Because they're fans of, well…Cassandra Bloom, actually. You know…your former fiancée?"

I heard the question in her statement, but first I wanted some answers of my own. "What were they saying?"

"Oh, just stupid stuff, like it was all my fault that you two broke up." Emily gave me a tentative smile. "They obviously thought that you and I are a real couple, which we aren't…" She searched my face. "Right?"

I heardthatquestion, too, but I was here to ask, not answer. "And what'd you tell them?"

"Nothing. I just said it was none of their business. That's when they went berserk. If you want the truth, they were pushing me pretty hard."

I grew very still. "You don't mean physically?"

"No. Of course not." But then she glanced toward the restaurant. "I mean, Ralph was really terrific about hustling them out, so it never quite came to that."

What the fuck?"So you're saying theywouldhave pushed you?"

"I don't know…maybe?"

This wasn't what I wanted to hear. Through clenched teeth, I asked, "Any other problems?"

"Just a lot of attention," she said. "I felt like I was under the spotlight all night. I was pretty sure I was going to get in trouble, but then my boss started acting all friendly—"

"How friendly?" I asked.

"He was just acting really nice, which is odd, because he's normally a total grump." Her tone grew speculative. "Maybe he thought we were busier because of the publicity. I heard he gets a nice bonus when we exceed sales projections, so maybe that was it."

I didn't give two shits about the guy's bonus. "You should have called me."

She looked startled by the statement. "Why?"

"Because I would've dealt with it."

"How?"

"However it took."

"But that's no kind of answer," she said. "And besides, I already told you, Ralph handled it just fine."

"Yeah, and what about tomorrow night?"

She paused as if thinking. "I'm not sure I work tomorrow. I'll have to check the schedule."

"Forget it," I said. "You've got a job – working forme."

Chapter 42

Emily

My job was working forhim?Given our history, the idea was laughable. But I wasn't laughing as I asked with blatant sarcasm,"Oh, do I?"

"Sure, we've got that agreement."

I knew exactly which agreement he meant, but I wanted to make him say it because I had a point to make of my own. "What agreement?"

"You know, for consulting."

Bingo."What consulting? You haven't looked at a single property." For this, I should have been grateful. After all, I still didn't want him buying up the whole town. But something about that original agreement stunk to high heaven, and I had been a fool from the start to think that a billionaire bigshot like him would ever take property advice fromme.