Womanizer (A Standalone Novel) (A Steamy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (9 page)

Chapter 14

“Mike,” I
said as I barged into his office. “I have some more information on that company
but I need your help.”

“Excuse
me, this is Evan Gade, one of our senior brokers,” Mike said to his clients as
they both looked over at me.

“Sorry,” I
said as I backed out of the room for a minute.

Mike
didn’t often meet with clients so I hadn’t even thought to check before going
into his office. He was just getting started in the individual world and I was
happy for him. He had waited a long time to get promoted and deserved it very
much.

“Thank you
both for coming, I look forward to working with you.” Mike said as he walked his
new clients out of his office.

I shrugged
my shoulders and made my way into his office as they left. Mike knew me well
enough to know I wasn’t the type to purposely interrupt someone. Luckily we had
been friends long enough to know there were no real apologies needed. Neither
of us took thinks too seriously and we were both pretty laid back when it came
to stupid things like interruptions.

“Sorry
Mike,” I said.

“What’s
up, Evan?”

“I had
Rebecca do some research on Alicia and her company. There is some pretty crazy
shit going down. I need to process with you. I seriously can’t figure out what
the hell is going on. The company looks squeaky clean. We ran all the numbers
again and again and it looks like a model company. You know, the kind of model
company we see right before there is a big federal raid.”

“Well I
have another client in twenty minutes, so that’s all I got for time. Let’s
process the shit out of this company.”

“Really?
Another client. Wow, Mike that’s good. Are you building up a good clientele?
Why didn’t I know about this?”

“Well
Evan, probably because we spend most of our time talking about you and your
women. Not that I mind,” Mike joked with me.

“Ah, yes
we do. Ok, well let’s get back to talking about me.” I smiled as I put my feet
up on his desk.

Michael
was used to me and my need to talk about my issues with him. It was just how we
did things. I always needed to bounce ideas off of him and he always made
himself available to help. We both needed each other and it worked perfectly
that way.

“Yes,
let’s get back to that,” Mike said as he made his way around to his desk.

“So
Rebecca says that Alicia had a previous company and two people that worked with
her were charged with money laundering.”

I noticed
an immediate change in Mike’s face. He suddenly was much more interested in
paying attention to me.

“That’s
serious shit Evan. What happened?”

“I’m not
totally sure. Alicia wasn’t charged with anything and neither was her finance
VP, who happens to be her finance VP for this company as well.”

“Evan,
this is sounding pretty shady. Did Rebecca find anything solid on the current
company?”

“Nope.”

“Well,
perhaps they learned from their mistakes with the first company?” Mike said
with a raised eyebrow.

We both
knew that it didn’t work that way. People didn’t do illegal things and then
suddenly change their ways. It was much more likely that they just go better at
hiding the problems.

“I know
what you’re thinking, Mike, but there is nothing in the current public records.
Not a single number out of whack.”

“That’s a
problem right there. You know that perfection is not something that a normal
company will have in their books. There is always mistakes. Always an area that
you can tell is not funded properly or a part of the company that is
struggling. Are you telling me there is no weak area in ALL Warren Clothing?”

I could
tell Mike had the same suspicions as I did. There was always a problem. Either
the company did good at selling, but not good at customer service. They had a
great production line, but horrible delivery. Good sales, but bad asset
management. There was always something. Even the best run companies you could
see what areas the needed to work on. It was freaky that Alicia’s company
seemed totally stable without any areas which needed extra work. It was more
than freaky, it was wrong. Something was being hidden.

“If there
is a weak area, I haven’t found it.”

“Just
don’t invest in it. You know there’s something going on,” Mike said as he
looked at the numbers from the day of trading. “Oh, shit. They are climbing
high today.”

“I already
invested. Personally and professionally.”

“Shit,
Evan. You need to get out. Now.”

A glimpse
of fear flashed across Mike’s face and I knew that I had made a mistake. I
shouldn’t have bought the stock. I should have just let this one go by without
investing in it. My heart sank as I thought about the thousands of dollars that
I had in the company. It was too much to back out now. I was in too deep. Plus,
I was making money; why would I back out now?

“Mike,
there is no way. The stock has climbed over twenty percent today. It’s a solid
investment. At least right now. But I need to find out what they are hiding
before something illegal comes out.”

“Well, how
the hell do you plan to do that? It’s not like you’re going to be able to just
ask this Alicia. She’s not going to tell you.”

I had to
agree with Mike. There wasn’t a possibility of just asking Alicia and quite
frankly I wasn’t sure she really knew what was going on. I had a sneaky
suspicion that her finance VP was the real one causing the issue and I
certainly didn’t know how to prove any of that.

Alicia
didn’t seem like the kind of person who would purposely deceive people. I knew
people and Alicia just wasn’t that kind of person. I admittedly didn’t know her
all that well yet, but she didn’t strike me as the embezzling type of woman.
Her eyes were too honest.

Everything
about Alicia was honest. The way she looked at me, the way she dressed, even
the way she talked; all so honest. I really couldn’t believe that she had even
been involved in the first company that Rebecca had told me about. It didn’t
seem like something that the Alicia I knew would do. Well at least the Alicia
that I had met over the last couple days wouldn’t do something like that. I
needed to get to know her more. I needed to get some alone time with her.

“I know. I
have a date with her tonight.”

“Of course
you do. What do you think you’re going to do, fuck the financials out of her?”

We both
laughed, but Mike wasn’t too far off from what I was thinking. I did want to
build the trust between Alicia and I so I could try and figure out what was
going on. I wanted to be able to trust her, she was delicious to look at and I
just couldn’t imagine she was in on whatever deceit was going on.

“Maybe,” I
winked.

“Seriously
Evan, you can’t just fuck her and think she will give away all her company
secrets. It’s not that easy. She will see right through you and then you’ll
have nothing.”

“I know.
But I actually like her. I’d like to get to know her a little and maybe I’ll
get some clues to what is going on. I’m taking her out tonight because I like
her, not because I want to get financial information about her company.”

As I said
the words, even I couldn’t believe them. How was I going to convince Alicia to
trust me if I couldn’t even trust the words that I said? I needed to decide if
I wanted to take Alicia out on a date or if I wanted to get her to give me the
financial information on her company. I couldn’t have it both ways and I knew
it.

Mike shook
his head back and forth. I could tell he wasn’t very happy with my plan at all.

“No, no,
no Evan. This girl is trouble. More so than your typical flings. You need to
just sell off your stock at the end of the day, take your profit and be done
with it.”

He knew I
wasn’t going to listen to anything he had to say if it involved staying away
from a woman. I needed my women in my life and Alicia was for sure someone I
needed. My mind couldn’t stop thinking about her. Which was strange considering
I still hadn’t slept with her yet.

The fact
that I had not slept with her just drove my desire for her even more. I
couldn’t wait to have her naked in my bed. My body needed to feel her skin
underneath me, our bodies moving together; this needed to happen tonight. I
couldn’t wait any longer.

“I don’t
think she’s trouble. I think she might have gotten herself in over her head
with this financial stuff and her company. But she’s a good woman; I think I’ll
risk another date with her.”

“Evan,
you’re going to regret this. You know its called insider trading if you are
found to have had knowledge about the IPO before it came out.”

Mike
always had to bring things back to the serious side. He had a knack for making
sure I remembered the consequences of my actions, in all areas of my life. Even
when we were kids he was the one who would try and talk me out of stupid shit.
Throughout college, I had these grand plans and Mike would always try and talk
me down. In the end though, I usually convinced him to take part in my wild
ways instead of him convincing me to stop whatever my plan was.

“I didn’t
know anything about her company that wasn’t public.”

“Well if
you start fucking her the day her company goes public, that’s going to look
pretty suspicious.”

Mike had a
point. It would look pretty shady on my part if something came out down the
road about Alicia and her company and I was seen dating her the night of the
IPO.
 
I felt a twinge of concern wash
over my body as I contemplated what Mike tried to say.

He
obviously was coming from a concern from me and just wanted me to stay out of
trouble. I also didn’t want to be implicated in anything that might look like I
did anything wrong, but I really had not done anything wrong.

Up until
that moment, I had only researched Alicia’s company using all the available
public information. Even the information Rebecca had gathered was all public
record. I felt like we were had a stand still. If I moved forward with my
investigation of Alicia’s company, I would likely have to start doing research
that wasn’t quiet as legal as what had happened so far.

“I need to
get more information. What if that Bill guy is trying to frame her? What if
he’s the one cooking the books and she knows nothing about it? I really need to
get inside and get more information.”

“Evan, get
inside her or get inside the company?”

“Both,” I
said as we both laughed.

“You are
going down a slippery slope, Evan. This girl could really be in deep with some
money laundering or crazy shit like that. You don’t need your name attached to
any of it. Lay low and don’t cause any trouble.”

“Me? Cause
trouble? Never!”

“Seriously,
Evan, don’t be seen in public with her and don’t let anyone you knew see you
out together. You can’t have your name anywhere near this when whatever she is
hiding becomes public.”

“I’ll do
my best, Mike. I do like to spend time in the privacy of my bedroom. Perhaps
I’ll convince her to do our date there.”

Mike continued
to shake his head as he walked me out and we said out goodbyes. His next
clients were already there and I took my cue to get going.

Chapter 15

I loaded
myself into the Uber and made my way over to the restaurant Alicia and I had
decided to meet at. This time it was her choice and I was more than excited to
see where we would
 
be eating. The day
had been really long and I was exhausted, but not tired enough to give up on
date number three with Alicia.

The car
pulled up in front of the address that Alicia had given me, but when I got out
I didn’t see a restaurant anywhere around. There was a beauty salon, a travel
store and a kid’s trampoline business. I sent a text to Alicia to see if she
had arrived yet; she was going to have to come and get me since I had no idea
where the restaurant was.

“Fancy
seeing you here,” Alicia said
 
as she
came around the corner.

“Well,
don’t you look sporty.”

Alicia had
on some skin tight yoga pants and a t-shirt—certainly not something I would
have expected her to be wearing on a date. But she looked happy. Her face had a
huge smile on it and I couldn’t help but smile back at her. She looked like a
different woman. All the torment of the IPO seemed to be gone and she was much
more relaxed.

“I need to
burn off some energy and thought a little jumping around would do.”

“Oh,I can
help you burn off some energy, let’s go back to my place,” I winked at Alicia.

“I brought
you some shorts and a t-shirt. Let’s get in there and have some fun.”

Alicia
totally ignored my flirting and before I could protest she was inside and
signing us up to bounce on some giant trampolines. I couldn’t for the life of
me figure out why she thought this was going to be a good idea. It looked like
something children and teenagers did, not grown adults. But I wasn’t about to
give up on our third date so fast. I wanted to bring her home; I wanted to get
some naked alone time. So if I had to jump on some trampolines, then that was
exactly what I intended to do.