The Playboy's Crush By Deborah A. Olaleye

TWO

  The more he dug into her records, the greater his need to be her knight increased.

He couldn't fathom what destiny was thinking by allowing her to be born to an irresponsible man as a father.

Her father was a gambling idiot and drunkard, whose sight was practically lost not to have been able to see what a precious gem he had for a daughter, and was even shameless enough to run off with a loan while placing the burden of paying it back on his daughter.

What a complete fool he was!

She deserved a better life, and he was more than willing to see to it that she wouldn't be subjected to a life of dejection from getting married to the ugly beast she called her fiance.

Shane smiled to himself as he would finally be meeting with his...

His? Why was he calling her his?

Pushing aside the silly thoughts in his head, he made his way toward the perfect beauty, whose beauty had made his mind fuzzy with images and thoughts about her over the weeks.

Insane.

She sat calmly in a plain black gown, her hair packed in a ponytail, giving a full highlight to her face. She looked dazzling.

On seeing him, her calm expression had changed into a cute, angry face.

He almost swore he had fallen in love with her all over again.

His heart leaped in admiration at the sight of her.

She grabbed her bag and stood abruptly.

He deliberately stood in her path, obstructing any further movement.

She narrowly walked into him.

"Move aside." She glared at him.

"We need to talk, Lara."

"I wouldn't talk with you if you were to be the last person on earth." She hissed.

"You are furious. I get it. But you might be interested in the offer I have for you."

She rolled her eyes. "Spare me the fib, will you?"

"Just calm down and listen. It will be of great advantage to you."

She crossed her arms over her chest, looking at him suspiciously.

He gestured towards the seat behind her. "Have a seat, Lara." "Please," he added.

She did.

Taking a seat as well, he said, "I apologize for the trouble I caused you the other day. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be," she told him.

He had saved her from an eternity of misery with George, but he also implicated her, as she had to source out a whopping sum of two million dollars plus within a week to avoid being sold off to Japan as a sex slave.

A shudder coursed through her as she remembered George's threat and the consequence of her inability to meet the stipulated deadline, a fact both she and George knew was very close to nil.

"Are you okay?" Shane asked, pulling her focus back to the present.

"I am." She swallowed. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"I said I was sorry and..."

"Apology accepted. Could you please excuse me?"

She needed time to plan her next course of action.

There wasn't any time to dilly-dally with a delectable young man with her life hanging on a thread.

Shane was offended at her rudeness. However, he let it slide. "If you would just hear out my offer before rudely dismissing me," he said with as much calm as he could muster.