Chapter 97: Million Dollar Escort

Diana nodded quickly. "Of course, dear."

"I’ll escort you."

"I drove, thank you."

"I can still escort you."

No polite sentence in the English language could make this man stop. Callum got to his feet, offered his goodnights to Diana and Richard, then hurried after Naomi.

She was already halfway to the door. By the time Callum reached the hallway, Naomi was practically flying out of the house. She unlocked the Range Rover, climbed inside and shut the door then she let herself breathe properly. She rested both hands against the steering wheel.

One million dollars. What kind of person offered someone that much money casually? She didn’t like gifts that came with invisible strings.

And one million dollars definitely had strings.

Movement near the front door caught her attention. Callum came out of the house. Richard followed right behind him.

The man was practically bowing. One million was a lot of money.

Naomi sighed as she watched Callum walk toward his own car. A Bentley waited at the curb. The driver stepped out the moment Callum approached and opened the rear door for him. She started the Range Rover and pulled away from the Whitmore house.

A few moments later, she glanced into the rearview mirror. The Bentley pulled out behind her. Callum hadn’t been kidding about escorting her.

She didn’t know whether to consider it gentlemanly or irritating, so she settled on ignoring him and concentrated on the road.

Inside the Bentley, Callum settled against the cream leather and pulled out his phone. He made a call.

The person on the other end answered almost immediately.

"How are things going on your end?" Callum asked. He listened. "Do you have everyone lined up?" His expression tightened slightly. "Did you tell her that her airfare and living expenses will be paid for?"

Whatever answer he received clearly wasn’t good enough. Callum looked out, watching the Range Rover several cars ahead.

"Can you have her on video then?" He listened again, impatience creeping into his face. "Please don’t tell me you aren’t as capable as you say." He exhaled and loosened his grip on the phone. "Fine. It doesn’t matter that he is bringing her." His mouth curved slowly. "It’s good he is bringing her."

Naomi’s Range Rover stopped at a light ahead. His smile looked genuinely pleased.

"We can watch the marriage crash and burn on live television." He ended the call.

Dorian Heathcliffe had made one mistake Callum intended to enjoy thoroughly. He had given Callum a reason to stop treating this like an obligation.

At first, Naomi had been nothing more than the woman he was supposed to marry.

Now?

Now there was the added satisfaction of taking something from Heathcliffe. He relaxed against the headrest.

"I’m going to get you, Naomi Bennett. Whether you like it or not."

*****

The boys stayed much later than they usually would. And there was exactly one reason. Naomi’s chicken wings.

Dorian had told them there was no more food. Nobody believed him. Several grown men who held respectable jobs and functioned successfully in society had decided Dorian Heathcliffe was hiding fried chicken from them in his own kitchen. "I checked," Dorian said for what had to be the fourth time.

"You don’t know where anything is."

That earned several murmurs of agreement.

"You’re all aware you can order food, right?"

"It won’t be the same."

The gaming continued. So did the drinking. And every fifteen minutes, someone asked whether Naomi had texted to say she was coming back.

They had decided that if they waited long enough, she would return, take one look at their tragic hungry faces and magically produce another batch.

None of them seemed interested in leaving. Daniel, however, was beginning to become a pain about it.

He kept checking the time, then his phone. His wife was home alone with the kids and he had to go.

Eventually, the gaming marathon came to an end. Mostly because Daniel finally became unbearable about needing to get home to his wife and children, and once one man stood up, the rest reluctantly accepted that adulthood still existed.

They made it downstairs in a noisy pack, still arguing about the games, insulting one another’s skills and discussing Naomi’s chicken wings.

"Tell your wife the chicken was a blast."

"And the fries."

Dorian opened the front door. "I’ll send you some the next time she makes them."

That immediately improved everyone’s mood.

"Now that," Daniel said, "is friendship."

Dorian pointed toward the street. "Leave."

The chaos continued as everyone filed outside. Dorian followed and stopped on the sidewalk with his arms crossed, watching them scatter toward their cars.

It always amused him slightly. Every one of these men was accomplished in his own field. Men who spent Monday through Friday making decisions that affected companies.

Then the weekend arrived and somehow they became boys again. Dorian smiled to himself as another car pulled away.

The last of them had just started down the street when movement in the distance caught his eye.

Naomi.

His eyes lit up. Dorian stayed where he was, watching as she approached the townhouse. The ridiculous thing was how genuinely pleased he was to see her.

The Range Rover slowed as Naomi reached the driveway. Dorian lifted one hand. She gave him a small wave through the windshield.

The garage system recognized the SUV and the door began to rise. Naomi turned into the garage.

Dorian was just about to head back through the front door when another set of headlights caught his attention.

A car was following her. Every instinct from the previous night came rushing back. He turned fully toward the street, already studying the vehicle.

Then he realized it wasn’t the Audi. This car was cleaner and far more expensive. A dark metallic-gray Bentley Continental GT Speed rolled past the townhouse.

The rear window lowered.

Callum Sterling.

Callum looked directly at him. Then the bastard raised his hand and gave him a small, almost casual salute.

The Bentley continued down the street. Dorian watched it disappear. The excitement he had felt seconds earlier vanished.

Naomi had gone to dinner with Diana and the kids. That was what she had told him. Was she with him?

Dorian walked into the house and slammed the door behind him harder than necessary. Naomi appeared from the stairs.

"Hey..."