Page 281 of Under Her Skin

Even the way he smells is expensive and it really pisses me off. “It’s not my job to educate you on business ethics. With your obvious education in business, didn’t you even have one business ethicsclass?”

“I’ve had several,” he says with a smile. I can’t believe he can sit there and smile at me.It’s pretty damn obvious what I think ofhim!

“Well, you learned nothing from them. When you opened your first two stores, you did so in huge cities that could handle that kind of competition. Then you decided to go for the jugular of our country, the mid-sized towns, and that’s where you went wrong,” I let him know, since he seems so damned oblivious to thefact.

“But those places are where my company makes the most money. It’s just good business sense, that’s all. Surely you can understand that, if your parents were business people, themselves,” he says, then picks up the donut he bought, pulls a chunk of it off, and holds it near my mouth. “Would you care for abite?”

“What?” I ask, and he pops the piece into my mouth. I have to chew the delicious thing up and swallow it, and I’m so damn mad at him for invading my mouth, it’s not even funny. “Don’t you ever do thatagain.”

“What, share my food with you?” he asks, then pulls a piece off for himself and eats it as I glare at him, secretly hoping he’ll choke onit.

“No, shove food into my mouth without my permission,” I correct him and wiggle to try to let him know I want him to let me out of the damn booth. “I need to get back to work. You are more than aware that I need to go finish checking out SamuelPeterson.”

“Oh, yeah, that.” He gets up and holds his hand out for me, but I ignore him and get out on my own, turning to grab my coffee. As I walk out, I find him right next to me. “I’ll walk youback.”

I huff, as I have no idea how I’m going to shake this man. “Do whatever you want. You always do,anyway.”

“You don’t know me at all—don’t really know me. The man behind the business. I’m telling you, I’m changing things. I really am. I’d love to get to meet your parents and get some insight into how I can make thingsbetter.”

I stop and look at him with amazement. “Oh, you would, huh? Would you like to go to the nice, three-bedroom home they had before you ran them out of business? Because that’s gone. The mortgage company took it when they couldn’t pay anymore. Now they live in a one-bedroom, tiny home in government housing. I’m sure they’d love it if you stopped by. My mother could make you a government cheese sandwich and give you a jelly jar with tap water in it. Want to knowwhy?”

He shrugs and kind of looks like he doesn’t. “Why would thatbe?”

“Because they are dirt poor now, thanks toyou!”

I storm away as he stands perfectly still. I leave him with the sight of my extended middle finger and hope he finally gets how I feel abouthim.

Chapter7

BLAINE

“And she shot the finger at me and left,” I tell Kent as I pay for the Petersons’food.

The cashier looks at me and says, “She’s usually a very nice woman. I can’t understand what’s gotten into Nurse Richards. Maybe it’s because she’s pulling a double shift and hasn’t slept in quite some time. She still has three more hours until her shift is over and she can finally get somerest.”

“I’m sure my brother just rubs her the wrong way,” Kent offers. “He’s not exactly the nicest guy all thetime.”

“You should show her how nice you can be,” the cashier says, then points at a flyer tacked on the wall behind her with a picture of Santa on it. “It’s the holidays and the hospital always welcomes people who want to do nice things for the children here at The Children’s Hospital. Maybe that would show her the man you’re trying to let hersee.”

“You are a genius,” I say as I look at her nametag. “Mildred.”

She looks at her nametag and laughs. “I borrowed this one. My name’s Shirley. And thanks,Mr. …?”

“You can call me Blaine. Blaine Vanderbilt,” I tell her, then her smile fades pretty damnrapidly.

“The owner of Bargain Bin, right?” sheasks.

I nod and find I’m not feeling so proud as I’ve always felt about owning that company. “Yes. Have you had a bad past with any of mystores?”

“Only that every damn thing I’ve bought from there is the cheapest shit ever made and breaks almost right away,” she says. “The latest thing I bought was a television stand that broke as soon as I placed my brand-new television on it, sending it to the floor and breaking it too,” she tellsme.

I reach into my pocket, pull out a thousand dollars, and place it on the counter. “Sorry aboutthat.”

She looks at the money as she shakes her head. “Keep it. If you really want to make me happy, change the return policy your stores have. It’s the strictest policy I’ve ever seen with the shortest amount of time to return the few things itallows.”

Feeling a bit shell-shocked with so much hate thrown right into my face, I nod and turn to leave. “I really amsorry.”

Kent puts his hand on my shoulder and walks with me as we leave the cafeteria. “Man, I’m sorry. You’re here to try to do a good thing and a lot of flak is being tossed atyou.”