Diamonds and Toads: A Modern Fairy Tale Read Online Free PDF Page B

it?” Only fifteen
more minutes and their lunch date would be over. Backpedaling on
the investment help she’d requested from Chas hadn’t been too
difficult, thankfully, and he’d yet to mention anything about what
had taken place between them the night before—or, well, hadn’t taken place between them—so she figured he wasn’t as
freaked out by it as he’d seemed last night. Which was a good
thing.
    “How about my family’s estate? It’s certainly
large enough,” he said. “My aunt loves to host big parties, so if
you want, I can call her and ask her to help us get it together.”
He filled his wine glass for a second time and took a long
swallow.
    She sat forward and placed her hand on his
forearm. “We don’t have to have it this week—we can wait a week or
two if you want.”
    “No, no.” He let out a cough. “No.” His smile
at first seemed a little strained, which gave her a similar tension
in the back of her neck, but then, as he met her eyes and looked
into them, it softened. “I’m too excited over my good fortune in
winning you. I can’t wait to brag to the world about it.” He leaned
in and touched his lips to hers and her heart did a little
flip.
    A thrill of excitement ran through her and
she let her hand move from his arm to the back of his hand. “Well.
If you’re sure,” she breathed. When she lifted her lids, she found
an odd look on his face, kind of like the one he’d had last night
when she’d shown him the back of her dress.
    “You want to come over for dinner tonight?”
she asked. And stay the night? She yearned to say the words
aloud. Even felt them form on her tongue, opened her mouth to say
them, but her heart started pounding so hard that it flushed her
skin and made her sweat, then her throat constricted and she just
couldn’t force her vocal chords to cooperate.
    He stood up. “Sure,” he said as he helped her
rise from her chair. “It’ll be late though, if that’s okay.
Probably around eight-thirty?”
    “Eight-thirty’s fine.” Good. That
would give her plenty of time to buy a sexy nightie and maybe, just
maybe, figure out what to do with him once she got him in her
bed.
    * * *
    Chas rang Delilah’s doorbell and rocked back
on his heels. The plastic bag brushed against his knee and he
clenched the handle tighter in his fist. He’d been battling his
conscience all afternoon, but ultimately, his need to do his duty
to his family overrode his repugnance at being a lowdown
sonofabitch to Delilah. He needed those funds! Even though they’d
given him an extension, the creditors were chomping at the bit
waiting for him to wire the money to them.
    That was why, an hour and a half ago, he’d
pulled into the parking lot of the adult sex toy store and made his
first-ever purchase from such an establishment. ’Course, he’d
circled her block ten times before finally pulling into her
driveway, his guilt still trying to talk him into doing the right
thing by her—the noble thing—and leave her the hell alone. Leave
her money the hell alone. But, in the end, the higher imperative
won out over scruples.
    He’d  have to get her real relaxed
first, though, and then, afterward, he’d see if he couldn’t talk
her into letting him manage her money. Just kind of off-handed
like, so she didn’t get suspicious of his motives or anything. He
figured the best way to put her in a pliable mood would be to help
her out with her little problem. After he’d had time to think about
it—a lot of time, actually. More time than he should have, in fact,
since a good portion of that time had been more along the lines of
fantasy than calculating social risk of discovery—he’d decided that
if she needed to do this dominatrix thing as some means of
relieving anxiety, then he’d be her guinea pig. It was the least he
could do for her, let her use him, since he was sure as hell using
her. Or going to. Once he managed to get his fists around a few of
those millions of hers.
    A