Page 91 of Handsome Devil
I didn’t make it.
By the time I reached my mother, Devi had gotten right in her face and was shaking her hand. “… exceptional company,” I heard Devi say as I approached. “I’m so honored to be just a small part of it. If there’s anything I can do for you while you’re in town, it would be my absolute privilege—”
“Mom.” I practically yanked my mother’s hand from Devi’s as I leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek.
My mother gave me an odd look. AnAre you drunk?look. I never kissed my mother. It just wasn’t done. We weren’t a touchy-feely family.
“I see you’ve already met Devi,” I said, before Devi could say another word. “Ms. Sereda is the top agent at Superior Talent’s west coast office.”
“Oh,” my mother said, her gaze drifting back to Devi. “How impressive.”
“I’m Bradley,” Bradley said, offering a hand to Devi.
“Nice to meet you,” Devi said, shaking his hand.
“Get bent, Bradley,” I said, without looking at him.
I felt him thrust his nose in the air.
My mother frowned at me.
Bradley huffed quietly, but obediently disappeared into the crowd.
My mother said nothing about it. She was used to tuning out the animosity between us, like a couple of annoying children on the playground. She’d already turned her attention back to Devi. “Tell me, Devi. How do you enjoy working for Superior? I hope the transition hasn’t been too hard on the staff.”
“Oh, no. Not at all. It was such a privilege to become a part of the Superior family. And of course, the Valhalla family.”
My mother looked entirely charmed. Of course, Devi was poised and well-spoken, and pretty much exactly what my mother liked to see in a female employee.
Including the fact that she seemed undaunted by her son.
Devi glanced at me. I silently willed her to go against every urge that I knew had to be coursing through her veins right now like a fantastic, illicit drug. The temptation to throw everything that had happened between us in my face—right in front of my mother. Including that incredibly inappropriate email thread. And pressing her about that kiss in high school. Repeatedly.
“I have to tell you, though,” she told my mother, “that working with your son has been the very best part of the whole experience. Coming to town to meet us,” she gushed, “and to improve the agency the way he has… What he’s already done for us in the last few days? It’s extraordinary.” She gazed at me like I was some rock star who’d just signed her tits for her. I was speechless. “I confess,” she told my mother, “I never even went to college. I started at the agency right out of high school and worked my way up. From intern to agent. I’ve been with the agency for eleven years, Ms. Davenport, and I have never had an opportunity to work with such a titan of industry as your son before.”
The subtle acid on that last part was impressive.
Almost as impressive as the rest of her little speech.
It was so subtle, my mother entirely missed it, seduced instead by this obviously hard-working, self-made woman’s flattery of me. The kind of woman my mother had always championed. The kind she’d hired off the street on more than one occasion.
A woman much like my grandmother would’ve been at Devi’s age. My grandmother didn’t go to college, either, instead putting everything she had into her dream.
Devi Sereda had done her homework. And she’d just proven herself a fucking formidable opponent.
She’d completely flipped this around on me.
“Eleven years,” my mother mused, and gave me a look. It was much longer than I’d worked for Valhalla. Though I had gone to college. “Now that’s dedication.” Clearly, she was impressed with Devi, just like Devi was hoping she’d be.
So, I played along. Devi really hadn’t left me any choice. If this was a chess match, she’d just backed my queen into a corner and bent her over.
“Impressive, isn’t she?” I practiced my rusty smile on my mother. “Maybe you can see why I’ve been spending so much time at the agency while I’m in town.”
“Yes,” she said thoughtfully. “I see.” My mother was now looking Devi up and down in her sexy tangerine dress, her eyes lingering on the hint of cleavage and the luscious dark hair.
Wait.That went in the wrong direction.
“Devi has an exceptional record as an agent,” I added quickly. “Her talents at the agency have been wasted so far.”
