Twenty-one and ready to take on the world, orphan Lizzie Gold didn't expect her chance encounter with a stranger to lead to a damnable task - to take down a rising business tycoon.
Ryan Pierce - her viciously handsome target and her new boss - might...
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R Y A N 23 | anything she wants
"You're late," I deadpan as Mom takes her sweet time strolling into the beachside view restaurant. My eyes skate down her frame, spotting the three feet human she has brought with her. "And you brought the pixie."
Mom walks to the two-seater table I booked for us as per our monthly mother-son life update. We have been doing this every month ever since my Dad died. The conversation we have here helps us catch up on each others' lives. However, the fact that she brought Crystal with her today sits with me the wrong way.
"I'm so sorry, Ryan. I had to pick Crystal up from her ballet class," Mom says, placing herself on the seat opposite me and taking off her sunglasses.
Her hair is tied down by a scarf, not a thing out of place in her impeccable attire consisting of pants and a suit. She went for all beige today which tells that she had been in a shoot.
I glance at Crystal in her pink ballet tutu who is standing awkwardly, looking between Mom and me.
"Where shall I sit, Mom?" she asks, putting her tiny hands on her hips.
"It's a two-seater table," I say and she gives me a dirty look behind her thick lashes. "I ain't bringing a kid chair for you, kid."
She glares at me and I glare back, both of us playing a silent staring contest.
"Oh, don't worry..." Mom waves a hand in the air, picking up her coffee that I already ordered to be brought in before she came. "She has a seat. Go on, love."
I watch with amusement as Crystal throws me an evil grin before, to my absolute horror, starts to climb up my lap. She grins at me as she takes her seat on one of my thighs, placing herself like the Queen of England. With my jaw dropped, I look at Mom who sips her coffee as if her daughter didn't just invade my personal space.
"What the hell, Mom?" I mutter under my breath, putting an arm around Crystal so that she doesn't fall off.
Not that she would care. She is already plucking a pineapple cupcake I ordered for Mom and taking a large bite like a hungry monster. Mom smiles gingerly, crossing her arms over the table as she leans closer.
"So, what's up with you, my sweet boy?" she coos. "Anything interesting I need to know about? Perhaps a girlfriend, fiancee, anything?"
"Isn't this conversation supposed to be about my life?"
"Oh, it is about your life." Mom shrugs. "It's about life that isn't boring."
"My life isn't boring."
"It is, Ryan. All you have to tell me about every month is how many awards you won, which deals were finalized, how much profit the company made, what are your upcoming projects...blah blah blah...All while I tell you about the juicy bits of mine — like how the other night Winston told me that my boobs are still young."
