Serving HIM Box Set (33 page)

I shot her a look.

Molly’s eyes widened even more. “Oh, shit. She is, isn’t she?”

“How do you…?”

Molly grimaced. Then she dug into her purse, pulling out her phone. “Gimme a second.”

A minute later, she handed me her phone. It had an article from ECHELON pulled up. It was one of the local New York society mags. One all about the rich, the powerful, and of course, the beautiful. I knew the name because I’d seen the interview he’d done for them when
Trouver L’Amour
had opened. I’d gotten the feeling he’d been annoyed by the whole ordeal and had only done it because he needed the promotion.

And now, Penelope Rittenour was on the front of the magazine.

The headline read:
Inside the Rittenour Experience

I stared at it for a long moment and then looked at Molly. “Inside the Rittenour Experience?” I repeated it back to her.

Molly gazed back at me, her expression unreadable.

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. After a moment, I had it under control. “Okay, just
what
is the Rittenour experience? The life of a rich, privileged white chick?”

“Pretty much.” Molly grinned at me.

The server appeared with our drinks and I was surprised to realize less than ten minutes had passed since I started detailing how crappy I’d been feeling over my so-called relationship with Dominic. The server gave us a basket of tortilla chips and salsa, and then lingered to smile at Molly. She smiled back, of course, but it was a distracted smile. She was clearly more focused on me and the Rittenour experience.

“You should read it.” She scooped up some salsa with one hand and gestured with the other. “It’s…riveting. She talks about the beleaguered life she’s lived, being the only Rittenour left to carry on the family name and the weight of sustaining a life of social privilege and how hard it is to maintain grace and class in such a classless society. How nobody appreciates art and beauty anymore. She has a master’s in fine arts and excelled in literature, yet when she attempted to publish a book about her family’s legacy, there was no interest in it.” Molly managed to deliver all of this with a downtrodden air and then she winked at me. “People would rather read about Snookie or sex or scandals instead of those who strive to better the lives of the rest of us poor folk.”

I clicked on the image and skimmed through the article, sipping from my sangria. “Poor thing,” I murmured and passed the phone back to Molly before I dripped sarcasm on it.

“Please tell me you’re not feeling outclassed by
her
.”

I made a face. “No. She’s an uptight bitch. And, FYI, she probably feels everything that’s written in that article is one hundred percent true and that’s she’s been seriously put upon. The publishing world should have wept tears of joy when she gave them her masterpiece.”

I snorted and took a healthy swig of my sangria then put it down. Brooding into its ruby red contents, I shrugged. “She isn’t the problem. I’ve seen the way Dominic looks when I tell him he has a call from her. I don’t like her, and it’s clear he’s not interested in her.”

“If that’s the kind of woman he wanted around him, I doubt you’d be able to stand working for him anyway. I was annoyed just reading it.”

“How did you come across it?” Puzzled, I flicked a look up at her.

Molly snorted and sipped at her water. “Assignment for my Introduction to Sociology class. We were told to find examples of privilege in New York.” She grimaced. “We’re acting them out. We can’t use names or anything, of course. I’m using her. She’s kinda priceless.”

I had another word for Penelope, but I decided not to name it.

“It’s not her. It’s the other woman then. The interior decorator.” Molly leaned back as the server arrived to put our dishes down in front of us. We lapsed into silence until she was gone.

“It’s not…” Then I groaned. No point in lying.

“It is.” She pointed at me with her fork before digging in. “
She
makes you feel nervous. You feel like she’s the kind of woman Dominic would be into, huh?”

Self-conscious now, I shrugged and focused on the food in front of me. “She’s gorgeous, Mol. She’s confident and friendly and she knows more about his world than I do.”

“Does Dominic seem to think you have to know about his world?”

I delayed my answer by taking a drink of my sangria. Then I looked up at her. “I don’t know. There are times…” I cleared my throat. “There are times when I know he’s covering or helping me out. He wouldn’t have to do it with her. Everybody in his world is rich.” I laughed bitterly. “And most of them are white. The few that aren’t? They’re from some distinguished black families that can trace their ancestry back to people like Booker T. Washington. They’re not some poor mixed girl from the mid-west.”

“That doesn’t mean shit.”

“It does to some.”

Molly leaned forward, glaring at me. “It doesn’t mean
shit
,” she repeated. “If they care, it says more about them than it does about you. You can’t let their prejudices bring you down, Aleena.”

She held my eyes for a long moment and I made myself nod. She settled back in her seat and I forced air into my tight lungs.

“Dominic,” she said softly. “Does it matter to him?”

“I don’t think it does.” I took another sip of sangria then looked down at my barely touched food. “But I’ve never come right out and asked him.”

“You need to talk to him about it.”

“Yeah.” I pasted a smile on my face. It was as fake as the palms the restaurant had stuck in pots around us, but it seemed to convince Molly.

“Talk to him,” she said again.

I nodded.

“I came here on a date a few weeks ago.” Molly smiled at me over the rim of her water. “They have this crazy thing on the weekends. Salsa dancing. It gets all hot and sexy. Maybe you should have Dominic bring you down here.”

I almost choked. Me…salsa dancing. With Dominic. Oh yeah, that would happen. Heat rushed to my face as I thought it again. Dancing. With Dominic.

“We…um…we don’t really go out on dates,” I said, shrugging the idea off as quickly as it came.

I went to say something else, but the look on Molly’s face froze the words before they came out. “What?” I asked. Automatically, I lifted a hand to my mouth. “Do I have food in my teeth?”

“You two don’t go out?” Molly stared at me. “At all?”

“Well. No.” I shrugged and pulled a piece of ham off the Cubano, popping it into my mouth. “What’s up?”

“Aleena, you two have been…well…
involved
for a while, and Dominic Snow is kind of known for taking women out on some pretty elaborate dates. So why in the hell hasn’t he taken
you
out?”

***

It bothered me.

As I worked all that afternoon and all that evening, I told myself I wasn’t working to distract myself from that question. I was a liar.

It bothered me.

Why hadn’t he taken me out?

I found myself constantly thinking about what Molly had said. Dominic had said he didn’t do relationships, but I knew Molly wouldn’t lie about him having taken women out on elaborate dates. She’d always loved gossip, especially about the New York elite. So, in the middle of researching the ritzy and very stable firm of
Devoted
…what happened?

I found myself googling Dominic.

Okay, it hadn’t started
out
that way.

I started out googling the owner of
Devoted
.

The CEO was Maxine Hall and, while the company itself was stable, it became clear pretty fast that she wasn’t. I spent more than a little time on her and found enough information that I figured Dominic would have something to play with. I was sure he had all sorts of investigators he could go to for more detailed information so I didn’t bother trying to do that. I was good with computers, but I wasn’t even close to a hacker.

But once I’d finished with what I could find, I found myself staring at the empty search bar.

And then…

Dominic Snow
…

And I completely blamed Google, because the next thing that popped up was a single word: girlfriend.

Closing my eyes, I hit
enter
and then just let it happen.

I never should have done it, either.

I should have closed the damn browser and sent him off an email or even called him with my thoughts about
Devoted
. Jotted them down. Something. Anything but what I’d done.

After a few seconds, I gathered my courage and opened my eyes.

My gut twisted and bile churned.

Why in the hell hasn’t he taken you out
?

Molly’s words echoed in my head.

I found myself staring at some sort of publicity still, definitely a posed image. They were standing on a red carpet and he was in a tuxedo while the woman at his side wore a dress of champagne colored silk. It highlighted her eyes and set off her porcelain skin to perfection. Her eyes were a pale, soft blue.

She was absolutely beautiful.

Much of the world thought so too.
I
thought so.

That was Madeleine Bateman. I didn’t need to read the caption to know who she was. She’d appeared in two of my favorite movies last year, and she’d appeared in no less than three images with Dominic last year too.

Before her? A woman who’d won two gold medals in the in Winter Olympics. A Russian ice skater, I thought. There was also a violinist from the New York Orchestra. A bestselling children’s author. A biologist.

“Well,” I said, trying to cheer myself up. “At least he seems to appreciate brains in a woman. That means Penelope is out of the running.” Even hearing the words out-loud didn’t really do much to perk up my mood.

I closed the window and then, because I felt like a fool, I cleared the search from my history and rose from the chair to pace.

I stopped by the window and stared down into the park, nibbling on my thumbnail until I realized what I was doing. It was a habit I’d broken in high school and there I was doing it again.

He was going to drive me crazy, I knew it.

Why in the hell hasn’t he taken you out
?

“It doesn’t matter,” I told myself.

I was getting really, really good at lying to myself.

Chapter 5

Dominic

“Mr. Snow?”

I glanced away from the information on
Devoted
that I’d gotten from one of my more trusted private investigators. I’d been about to call Aleena and see what she’d found out, although it wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait. I just wanted to talk to her. Sighing, I reached up and tugged at the knot on my tie before I answered, “Yes, Amber?”

“I’ve got Mr. White on the phone. He wants to talk to you about the party in Philadelphia?”

“Okay. I’ll take the call.” I went to pick up the handset, but Amber’s voice made me pause.

“Ah, one moment, before you speak to him. I’ll be—”

“This is nonsense, I’m sure Dominic won’t mind if I wait in his office,” a cool, crisp voice said, cutting Amber off.

I walked over to the door before I had to hear Amber trying to figure out how to stop Penelope from barging in. I opened the door just as Penelope was reaching for it.

“It’s all right, Amber. Can you please let Eddie know I just need a moment?”

“Of course.” She gave me a polite nod and didn’t look at Penelope.

“Really!” Once the door closed behind her, Penelope spun to glare at me. “You should
fire
that woman, Dominic! She—”

“She did her job, Penelope,” I said flatly. Her habit of barging in on me whenever she pleased was starting to go beyond annoying. “I don’t have the kind of career where people can waltz in and out of my office as they please. I’m often involved in high-dollar, confidential matters that can fall apart in an instant. Amber clearly understands that.”

I left the rest of the statement unsaid.

Penelope drew in a breath through her nostrils. Apparently, she didn’t need me to spell things out for her. “Well, I simply wanted to touch base on how the matter was going with my…consult.” She touched her tongue to her lip in what I suppose she assumed was a coy manner.

It wasn’t.

Deliberately, I glanced at my phone to make it clear that I didn’t have time for her. “That’s a matter that would have to be discussed during a scheduled appointment. In order to give our clients our best, we do need to schedule time into the calendar for any meetings.”

Harsh flags of color appeared on her cheeks. Her eyebrows rose over her hazel eyes and I knew I was treading dangerous waters, as far as Penelope’s
consideration
went. Frankly, I didn’t give a damn. Enough people in our social circle knew the type of person she was. I doubted she could do much damage on her own.

“Then when I can make an appointment?”

She gave me a tight smile as I came around the table and took her elbow. She allowed it, but her entire body was stiff, rigid. I was sure no one had ever dared to handle her with anything but kid gloves.

“Why don’t you talk to Amber about scheduling an appointment?” I felt bad pawning Penelope off on Amber, but I wasn’t in the mood today.

A few minutes later, Amber had her revenge and I had Penelope blocked out for my lunch hour today.

So much for having a few hours to myself.

At least I’d had the needed time to talk to with Eddie and see what was going on down in Philadelphia.

***

“Tell me about the party in Philadelphia.”

From across the table, I met Penelope’s eyes and wondered what it would take for her to leave me the hell alone. I had a feeling it would be a lot. She had her eyes firmly fixed on my net worth and the Snow name. She might already be imagining whether or not to hyphenate her last name.

Under the table, I curled a hand into a fist, one so tight it made my hand hurt.

“The one that doesn’t concern you?” I answered curtly as I reached for the water glass.

A sommelier appeared with a wine list and I shook my head, starting to wave him away.

“Oh, come now, Dominic.” She laughed softly and reached for it.

“Have what you want,” I said, pulling my phone from my pocket and checking it. “Business expense and all.” There were several emails from Aleena and my heart skipped just seeing her name. I couldn’t take the time to read them here and I found myself growing even more impatient with my working lunch. “I’m due back at work shortly.”