It was a shit move to use my height, but whatever.
“Not happening. I’m here to do a job.” She stood, shoved me back with more strength than I expected, and moved to the window. “Nice view.”
“Thanks. I paid for it.”
The way the evening sun lighted her hair gave me a vision of her thick black hair spread across my pillow.
Dammit, get yourself together, idiot.
“No, Papa Damir did. He started the company. Therefore, he paid for it.”
Did she always have to remind me that Pops was the reason for everything? Yes, I knew the company’s history. I knew Pops and Riya’s dad worked as chauffeurs and taxi drivers until they could afford to purchase a limousine and start a business.
Hell, I knew all of it—it was the reason I’d taken what they’d built and turned it into the billion-dollar company it was today. I wanted our families to never have to work the way they had in the past, to the cusp of bone-deep exhaustion.
“Are you always this annoying?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Are you always such a dick?”
“Maybe it’s because I have one, a big one. Want to see?”
Yeah, I knew that last part was out of line but it was par for the course with Riya. She got under my skin like no one ever had.
“Hardly.” She sat down in Pops’s chair. “It’s used goods. I’m more selective with the cocks I handle.”
Damn woman. She’d just called me a man-whore without outright saying it.
I really hated her.
Nothing I said ever seemed to ruffle her, while I was ready to either throw her through the nearest window or push her against the wall and fuck her.
“What did Pops pay you to take on my case? I’ll triple it if you leave me the hell alone and let me handle my own problems.”
“Leopold Ivan Vaughn, you can’t afford me and you don’t have the one thing Papa Damir has.”
I knew I was about to regret this. “What does Pops have that I don’t?”
“Respect. Mine, your family’s, the world’s. No amount of money can buy that.”
Fucking direct blow.
“I can’t do this with you. I’ll get someone else but not you.”
“I’m the best, and you are in a shitstorm of bad press. Or did you miss the reporters camped outside your building this morning, or the ones waiting for you to leave here tonight?”
“There are others better than you.”
She scoffed. “I doubt it, but in case you do find someone better than me, good luck getting them to help you. You’ve made it abundantly clear you don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of your personal life.”
“What’s wrong with wanting privacy?”
“Well, that would require you to stop having such high-profile exploits. Really, a married woman?”
“I did not sleep with her.”
She shrugged. “Even if I for one minute believed that, the public doesn’t, and from what Papa Damir said, your clients don’t either. I’m assuming he’s referring to the good Pastor Carter from Dallas, or how about the conservative businessman and governor hopeful of Virginia, Jason Richards? I’ve done my homework. I know what’s at stake here.”
Another text chimed on my phone. It was a message from the project investors’ lawyer, Carry Stewart.
Carry: So sorry for the late notice, Mr. Vaughn, but due to the media attention you’re receiving, Mr. Chu and Mr. Singh would like to reschedule the final contract discussion to a location where cameras aren’t present. We will contact your assistant to set up a convenient time at a later date.
This was just fucking great.
I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and then opened them to see a smug smile on Riya’s face.
I needed a fixer. One who knew how to navigate New York media. One who could reform my image.
But not Riya. She’d have me kissing babies and God knew what else.
“Look, Leo. You weren’t my first choice either. I have a waitlist a mile long.”
“Then I suggest you get to them.”
She stalked up to me and shoved a finger against my chest. “I’m here for Damir and Auntie Tat, not you. I don’t give a shit what happens to you. If you would stop being a dick for one second and get your head out of your ass, you’d see they’re only looking out for your best interests.”
I grabbed her hand to push it off but felt the zing that always seemed to come from touching her. It was the urge to fist her hair and kiss her senseless.
We stared at each other for a brief second, before she tugged her fingers free, rubbing the skin where I’d touched her.
“Riya. Do you think I don’t know that I fucked up with that woman? I swear to you, I did not sleep with her.”
“I don’t want to fight with you. I’m here to make the Reckless Romeo into the Reformed Romeo. I know the spin and the game. I’m good at what I do. I don’t care if you sow your oats all over the city, just keep it out of the media and stay away from high-maintenance women.”
“Doesn’t that mean I need to stay away from you?”
“I’m not asking you to maintain me, Vaughn. I can take care of myself.”
I saw a slight tinge of color to her cheeks as she realized the double meaning of her words. A regular guy wouldn’t have noticed, but I knew her, had spent most of my youth infatuated with her.
“Can I watch?”
Her face grew a deeper shade of red.
“Why do you say things like that? It’s not appropriate.”
“As you would agree, I wouldn’t be in this predicament if I was appropriate.”
“Vaughn, I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She threw up her hands. “I give up. At least I can tell Papa Damir I tried.” She moved toward my door and muttered, “He was a lost cause years ago. I shouldn’t have hoped for anything different. He’s not worth the effort.”
Something about the way she said the words had my back up.
I wasn’t a lost cause.
If it meant so damn much to Pops, I could put up with her for the next three months.
“Fine. I’ll let you fix my life.”
I waited for some kind of smartass comment, but instead she said, “Leo, they love you. They’ll love you no matter what you do. However, it’s time to show them that you love them back and be the man we all know you can be.”
Well, when she put it that way…
“I’ll do my best to listen to your advice.”
A calculating grin flashed across her lips. “I’m not going to advise you, Vaughn. I’m going to take over your life. No more parties, no more clubbing, you go where I say, when I say.”
“Like hell. I have a business to run.”
“That’s the one place where you aren’t an idiot.” She paused. “Strike that. Until recently, it was the one place you weren’t an idiot. Image is everything. And I’m about to turn yours around.”
Chapter Four
Riya
“So, you’re really going to do it?” my sister, Mira, said as she handed me a glass of wine and slipped onto an outdoor sectional on the patio at the back of my townhouse located in the heart of Chelsea.