Learning to Trust: Limits by B. B. Roman Page A

drifted right back to my cleavage and then he straightened up and led me toward the kitchen.
    Roland fed me and gave me coffee —he still didn't trust any of the domestic workers to make the coffee and still insisted that he always do it himself—and then told me that we'd be leaving soon.
    "What am I supposed to do again?" I asked.
    "I haven't told you yet," he whispered. "It's a secret. I'll tell you in the limo." That familiar smile broke out across his face. He ran a hand through his silky hair and took a deep breath. "I'm just so excited! You'll do so well."
    His giddy excitement was a little troubling to me, even though I think he meant for it to be inspiring. I still had no idea what the hell I was going to do, so I just played along. Patience, Marisa. A short while after, we were in the limo, driving toward the heart of the city.
    Roland sat across from me, cradling a briefcase in his arms like it was a baby . Oh, a briefcase . It had been sitting in the car, waiting for him.
    "You're my delivery girl today," Roland said. "You're meeting a very famous man, a very rich man."
    "Oh, so I—" He cut me off.
    "Pet, allow me to explain all at once, all right?" A dash of seriousness suddenly entered the mix.
    I gave an exaggerated nod.
    "You're meeting a Mr. Von Williams. Well, Marcus Von Williams to be exact. He's a very famous oil and gas man, amongst other things. You'll call him mister , however." His fingers scraped along the leather surface of the briefcase as he talked.
    I nodded again. I had heard his named tossed around when I originally did research for my interview with Roland. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember much in that moment and it bothered me.
    "I'm providing him with a peace offering." He clicked open the briefcase and lifted the lid. It was filled to the top with perfectly sorted stacks of one-hundred dollar bills, the kind you always saw people dealing with in movies.
    "Holy shi—"
    "It's ten million," Roland said. I wasn't about to count it, so once again, I nodded. "He controls some territory that I'd like to do business in. Hopefully this will put us on good terms again."
    To say I wasn't suspicious would be a total understatement. I was about to deliver a briefcase with ten million dollars in it to some presumably sketchy guy that Roland wanted to do business with. However, it looked like just money in that briefcase. The bills looked freshly printed and were wrapped in those labels that declared the value of each pile. I had never seen so much money before in my life.
    Roland hadn't said anything in a minute, so I spoke up. "So I just need to give this to him?"
    "There's something to add." He closed the briefcase and flipped the latch back into place. "Mr. Von Williams loves woman. He's also kind of a womanizer ."
    "What?" I asked. The news seemed troubling, obviously. He was already prepared for my response.
    "I told you you'd have to be brave. You don't have to do anything except resist him. Drop off the briefcase, be polite, and leave. I know you're strong enough. "
    "He's not going to hurt me, is he?"
    "He will probably make you uncomfortable. I'm sorry about him in advance. He's kind of a sleaze ." Roland hung his head down, trying not to make eye contact with me. "Men with money are like that, sometimes. They think that with money, they can do absolutely anything they want. In some cases, that's true."
    I felt both numb and excited. It made it difficult for me to sensibly convey my thoughts. "Yeah," I said.
    "You'll be fine, okay?" Roland smiled again. "I can't show up there, not now. I'd go myself if I could. I'm just not sexy enough. "
    "So I'm just part of the offering then, huh?" It was a little insulting to learn why I had dressed up so well. For a moment, I put my hands across my chest, shielding my cleavage from his eyes.
    "This is business, pet. It takes guts to do this, especially after I've already given you so much information. I'm positive that you'll do just wonderful. Believe