What Money Can Buy by Katie Cramer Page A

words a minute."
    "Excellent. Do you have a dictaphone?"
    I didn't have much of anything of worth at that moment. Every penny I had was needed to pay for something far more important than material things. "No, I don't."
    Jason smiled. "No problem. We’ll get you one. We will be l ea ving in the morning.”
    I raised my eyebrows. “Uh…okay.”
    “D o you want to know where? ” he replied, leaning forward. “ You know, to tell your family or anybody who needs to know what you're up to?"
    I shook my head. "There's only me and my father."
    "Do you live together?"
    "No, he's in hospital. He's been in hospital for a while. So… I'll tell him. He'll be fine."
    Jason sat back in his chair. "Okay," he nodded, his face softening. He looked at m e with cobalt blue eyes, sparkling in the light from the w indows. He was utterly gorgeous. A s mall amount of stubble formed a shadow on his face. I momentarily imagined it brushing against my skin as he kissed me. Snap out of it, Lauren , I thought. This guy is your boss. And he 's an arrogant prick, remember?
    "Where are we going, s ir?"
    He smiled. "I'm not a member of the English royal family, Miss Wade. You can call me Jason. Although, Mr King is probably more appropriate when other people are around. We don’t want the minions thinking we’re up to no good. "
    "Okay," I replied with a nervous smile. "Mr King it is."
    "You need to be at the airport at 6am . We’ll be flying to just outside Milan."
    My jaw dropped. "Milan? Italy?"
    "No, Milan in Californ ia," he laughed. "Of course, Milan in Italy. I don't know of any others. We need to check in with a big supplier we have there . But we won’t be there for long. We'll be moving on a couple of days after th at.”
    "Where to?" I asked.
    He sat back in his chair again. "All in good time, Miss Wade. All in good time."
    I had never been anywhere outside the US before. I had dreamed of going to places like France and Italy and checking out the art and the architect ure, c enturies of history that I wanted to fall in love with. But I simply couldn't afford it. Maybe one day , I had always thought, but not yet . However, that day had arrived .
    "Pack some things. We'll be gone roughly three days , if you include flights . Oh, and bring a n evening dress. Something elegant."
    I stammered. "I… I don't have one."
    He looked me up and down. "You look after yourself, don't you? Do you run?"
    "Yes," I replied. "Three times a week. Fo u r if I can manage it."
    "I can tell," he nodded. "You ’re slim, toned. I like that."
    We looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds. We didn't break each other's gaze and I didn't let on how nervous and uncomfortable I was becoming. Did he just make a pass at me?
    "I can tell what size you are just by looking at you. I'll speak to my contacts at Catherine Malandrino later and get something sent over. Okay?"
    I nodded. Had he just said Catherine Malandrino?
    I got up to leave and, as I walked towards the door, he shouted after me. "Oh, and Lauren – take the rest of the afternoon off. Get yourself ready. I wa nt you to be fresh and alert for the flight in the morning. You’ll be heading straight to a meeting , so there won’t be any time for jetlag and all that nonsense.”
    " Wow , this is all happening so fast. You don't hang about, do you?"
    He stood up and walked toward s me. It was the first time I'd really looked at him for more than a few seconds. He was tall, well over six foot, and I could tell he had a muscular body beneath that Hugo Boss suit. He stopped within an inch of me, the smell of his aftershave unmistakable. Davidoff Cool Water .
    "No, Miss Wade. I don't mess about. Life is fast. You delay for one second and you get left behind. Are you the sort of person who gets left behind?"
    "I'm not sure I’ve moved forward enough to get left behind anywhere."
    "Then we'll have to see what we can do about that. Mediocrity isn't an option in my life. I'm