Page 170 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

ERIC

I should stay away from Dixie—I know I should. What do I do instead? I ask her about her fantasies. I suggest we sleep together again.

I’m a fucking idiot.

Aren’t you being unfair? Dixie isn’t Cici.

No. Dixie Ketcham is very different from my ex-girlfriend—she’d made that clear with her actions.

Cici would have never examined her feelings the way Dixie had; introspection wasn’t really her thing.

She wouldn’t have apologized. She would have never reached out to me to explain why she’d reacted the way she had.

Dixie had.

I don’t want this just to be about my fantasies, she’d said. You probably have some, right? If you do, I’m open to trying new things.

Fuck. She’d said that, and all of my caution fled out the window. But in the cold, clear light of day, things look different. I worry that I’m making a mistake. I want to cancel the arrangement, but somehow, even though I know better, I can't make myself pull the plug.

Dixie’s smart and self-aware, and I’m thinking about her way more than I should be. To paraphrase a very old song, I’ve got Dixie on my mind.

It’s not like me to be irrational about a woman.

This is casual sex. Don’t get your feelings involved. Nothing good will come of it.

I can’t go into the office on Monday—I have a client emergency.

Phoebe Duval, whose portfolio I’ve managed for almost a decade, calls me Sunday night and tells me she’s tired of the rat race, and she’s planning to move to a remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

“I need to liquidate my assets,” she announces.

“How long will it take for you to sell everything?”

It takes three full days, and I have to head back to the city to do it.

I haven’t slept in my own bed in two weeks, and I should be delighted to be home, but my condo—a lovely, sun-filled penthouse in Astoria—feels like it belongs to someone else.

When I open the refrigerator, the milk is curdled, and my two-week-old Chinese leftovers look like a science experiment gone wrong.

I don’t get back to Leforte’s offices until Thursday afternoon.

I walk past Dixie’s office, but she’s not there.

I start to wonder where she is, realize I’m thinking about her again, and determinedly push her out of my mind.

There’s a stack of paperwork on my desk.

I work my way through the documents, mostly contracts that have been approved by Legal and need my signature.

Dixie’s team has been busy. I go through them as quickly as possible and then open my laptop and pull up the file I’m building on Xavier’s mysterious enemy.

The Unplug transactions are only the tip of the iceberg.

There are at least another dozen suspicious transfers.

Thanks to Pierre’s incompetence, the record-keeping is a mess, and it’s almost impossible to track down who approved what.

I’ve left messages for Valade, but he’s dodging my calls, which is infuriating.

Do I think Pierre Valade is trying to frame Xavier? No, I don’t. As much as I dislike the man, the explanation is probably far less sinister. Valade left things in a complete mess, and he’s avoiding me because he doesn’t want to be reminded about how badly he fucked things up.

But he isn’t blameless either. There’s no doubt that his inattention allowed someone more malicious to take advantage .

Brody calls me shortly after six. “Do you want the bad news or the terrible news?” he asks wearily.

I rub my temples. “Tell me.”

“My people aren’t getting anywhere,” he says. “Xavier owns a lot of companies. Each of them has their own processes, their own accounting systems, their own record-keeping. My analysts are going to take weeks, if not months, to get up to speed.”

I was afraid he was going to say that. “That’s not good.” Someone knocks at my door. I look up. It’s Xavier. I wave him in and put Brody on the speaker. “Xavier just walked in,” I tell him.

“Good, that saves me a phone call. Xavier, I was just telling Eric that we’re getting nowhere with this. Your business is pretty convoluted, and each of your subsidiary companies has a different way of doing things. Given enough time, my team is capable of getting to the bottom of this, but?—”

“We don’t have time,” I interrupt. “This situation could blow up any moment now.”

Xavier leans forward. “You’re telling me that we need someone who knows my business, not an outsider?”

“That would be my recommendation,” Brody replies. “How about Dixie Ketcham? She’s smart, she’s extremely trustworthy, and she’s been at Leforte long enough that she’s up to speed. She’d be perfect.”

Xavier gives me a meaningful look. “Thank you, Brody. I’ll discuss this with Eric.”

“Sure. I’ll have my team produce a summary of everything they’ve found. You’ll have that Monday.”

Brody hangs up. Xavier clears his throat. “What?” I ask him defensively.

“You’re not an idiot; you don’t need Brody to tell you to bring Dixie in.

I suggested it last Friday, and you waved me off.

And then, the same evening, you told me you were going to roleplay with her.

” He stares at me. “Which is a terrible idea for a bunch of reasons, but specifically catastrophic given your history. Tell me what’s going on. ”

“Nothing’s going on. It was… good. ” It was hot as hell, and I’ve jerked off to my memories all week, but I’m not about to tell him that. I run my hand through my hair. “We’re going to do it again.”

He gives me another searching look. “Is that wise?”

“If you’re asking me if I can remain impartial about helping you pick a COO?—”

“That’s not my primary concern.”

“It isn’t?”

His gaze softens. “Eric, give me a break. With or without your input, I’ll pick someone. The business will survive. I’m concerned about you. After Cecelia?—”

“I told her about Cici,” I interrupt. “Besides, this isn’t the same situation. I’m not looking to date Dixie. It’s casual.”

A look of surprise flashes over Xavier’s face. “You told Dixie about what happened between you and Cecelia?”

“It came up,” I respond shortly, wishing I hadn’t said anything. “Look, can we get back to your issues?”

There’s a long pause, and then he shrugs.

“Fine. If it’s casual, like you say it is, and you’re not avoiding spending time with Dixie, then there’s no reason not to ask her for help.

You remember the transactions I was telling you about, the Bangkok ones that Pierre routed through one of my businesses? ”

“The money you were sending Layla?” No matter how incompetent Pierre might have been, that mistake is the real reason Xavier finally fired him.

“Yes. Dixie found those transactions yesterday. She thought I was bribing someone. She confronted me about it.” He smiles ruefully. “She took me by surprise. I’m afraid I was rather short with her.”

He leans forward. “I like Dixie. She’s ethical, and she’s not afraid to stand up for what she believes. Get her to help you.”

“Fine, fine.” I hold up my hands. The closer I work with Dixie, the deeper I’m going to get sucked in. The more I’m going to start falling for her, and the harder it will be to move on when this is over. But Brody and Xavier are right about how smart she is. “I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”