Stuck With You: A Sweet Romantic Comedy

Part 15

Bianca

I told Timo I was fine, but I wasn't.

"I'm telling you goodnight at the door of the elevator, aren't I?" Timo said.

"That would probably be for the best."

"Probably," said Timo, although he didn't sound too sure about that.

"I like you," I said.

"I know."

"It's just that—"

"What?"

"Maybe this is a conversation for another day when I'm not so tired, and my head doesn't hurt."

"Sure," said Timo. "We can talk about this another day. It's not like you're going to disappear on me."

"That's true. You do know where I live."

I went quiet after that, wondering how I managed to have such a complicated personal life. I was professionally intertwined with my ex, and now I lived in the house of the man I'd fallen for.

It was no use denying that I'd fallen for Timo, hook, line, and sinker, but I couldn't help wondering if he might be better off deciding to throw me back.

Timo

That kiss in Bianca's friend Liberty's kitchen had almost spiraled out of control, but then, abruptly, on the way back to my penthouse, Bianca had gone cold on me. I went over and over everything I'd done and said after we broke that amazing kiss, but I couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong.

Eventually, I decided that I hadn't done anything wrong. The kiss was something Bianca had done against what, she felt, was her better judgment. She was regretting that kiss. I just wasn't clear on why.

I decided to leave the subject alone and wait for Bianca to get her head together. In the meantime, I had another Bianca-related issue to focus my attention on. After a period of back and forth communication, Chadz91 was about to take the bait on my offer to buy out his half of Pure Threads.

The only step that remained was to meet him in person and exchange funds. Chad wanted a check for just a few thousand and the rest in cash—as in a briefcase full of hundreds. If I went through with the deal, I might become a party to an attempt at tax evasion, but there was another problem brewing, too.

When I'd questioned Chad on his partner's role in the deal, he'd assured me that his partner—he called Bianca by name—was fully on board with the buyout. That couldn't possibly be true. She'd have mentioned it. Rob would definitely know.

Without telling Rob even half of what I knew, I'd questioned him about Bianca's plans to remain partners with Chad indefinitely. Rob had deep misgivings about the Bianca/Chad partnership, but none of them had anything to do with Chad selling out his half to some random guy from the internet.

Chad claimed Bianca had agreed to the valuation of Chad's half of the company, a valuation which appeared to me to be more or less accurate based on the supporting documentation he'd provided to me and the limited knowledge I had of Pure Threads.

However, even if I hadn't known Bianca had no idea Chad was trying to cash out–in pretty much the shadiest manner possible—I'd have known not to touch the deal with a ten-foot pole. I didn't want to get involved in the briefcase full of cash part of Chad's proposition, but I was seriously considering buying Chad out if I could get him to do an above-board deal.

It felt like I didn't have a choice. If I didn't buy Chad out, sooner or later, he'd find someone who would. Anyone who'd be a party to a deal like Chad was offering would be a nightmare to work with, and that didn't even begin to address the danger of Bianca possibly becoming entangled in a tax fraud case.