Grady smiled, knowing his filing system drove her crazy—basically because he didn’t have one. “I like creating them, but I don’t like managing them. Once I’m done putting everything together, I’m ready to start another project.”
She glanced up at him with a frown. “But every business you’ve started has gone on to be a huge Internet sensation.”
Grady shrugged. “I get paid well for them. I’m not social, and I don’t interact with people all that well.”
“What are you working on now?” she asked curiously, pulling another pile of papers out of a box and setting them on her lap. She was determined to organize him.
With his history and personality, it probably wouldn’t make sense to her at all, but he answered, “A new social media site.”
She was silent for a moment as she stared at him, probably trying to figure out if he was really serious. “Why?” she asked hesitantly.
Grady shrugged. “Because I can, I guess. Those who don’t socialize develop social media sites for others who do.”
She looked at him incredulously, and then burst into laughter, her delighted shrieks echoing in the large room. “Oh, Grady, you’re brilliant. And your communication is fine. You just never let anyone really know you. Is there anything you can’t do?” She was still holding her stomach and gasping for breath from her fits of laughter.
Get you to let me fuck you.
The one thing he wanted, he couldn’t seem to accomplish. Aloud, he said, “I obviously can’t file.”
“I don’t think that it’s a matter of not being capable—you obviously just don’t want to do it,” she answered, her skeptical look challenging him.
Busted!
“Paperwork is boring and tedious,” he answered defensively.
“So what . . . you build an online business with your genius, sell it off, and just throw the contracts and everything else into a box when you’re done?”
Grady fidgeted uncomfortably, ’cause really, she was pretty damn close to the truth. “Of course not,” he said irritably. I also deposit the check, or get the wire transfer into my bank.
“Grady Sinclair, I can follow your last five years of work from the mess in these boxes,” she told him ominously. “But none of it is organized.”
“The tax stuff is all in the computer,” he argued, beginning to enjoy himself. Obviously, his record keeping offended her ultraorganized MBA personality.
“Do you even know how much money you have right now?”
Grady smirked. “A lot.” He had a financial manager who kept him on top of things, but he honestly didn’t know the exact balance of his accounts every single day. That was why he paid the best in the business to do it for him. “I look occasionally and the balances are always going up, so that’s good, right?” Okay . . . he was yanking her chain a bit, but he loved to watch her reactions.
Emily threw her hands in the air in frustration. “But what if it’s not invested properly? What if you could be doing better . . . but you aren’t . . . because you aren’t watching things?”
God, he loved watching her stubborn, protective look. Emily was trying to watch out for him, and his heart soared. But the worried look on her face got to him. He got up and walked to where she was sitting and picked up the laptop computer next to her. Holding the computer with one hand, he logged in to a website and handed the computer to her. “My portfolio is fine. See for yourself.”
She took the computer from him and stretched her legs out, propping it on her thighs.
He walked back to the desk and sat back down in his chair, watching her face as she flipped from one page to the next, her brows wrinkled in concentration. Smiling, he propped his feet on his desk and crossed his hands over his abdomen. Watching Emily had become his favorite activity. “Happy now?” he asked, after watching her analyze everything for several minutes, catching on to the workings of the portfolio tracker site very quickly. “Do you think my financial manager is doing a good job?”
“He’s more than good,” she said, her voice dripping with admiration. “He’s incredible. Who is he?” Her head was still down, her complete focus on the numbers.
“Jason Sutherland,” he answered, disgruntled, and not quite sure he liked the reverent expression on her face as he said Jason’s name.
“The Jason Sutherland?” she asked, her tone reaching the point of awe.
Grady nodded abruptly, now certain he hated Jason.
“My idol,” she sighed, setting the computer to the side as she looked up at him. “He’s incredible.”
“He’s not that great,” Grady grumbled, knowing he was lying. Jason was one of the most intelligent men he knew, but he wasn’t going to admit it when Emily had that dreamy look on her face.
“He doesn’t do personal portfolios. He doesn’t need to. He’s already worth billions, the golden boy genius of the investment world. I know you’re a wealthy man. Um . . . okay . . . really wealthy, but he doesn’t do portfolios for anyone but himself. He was already incredibly wealthy when I was in business school. I used to study his investment strategies. And he’s so young.”
“The same age as me,” Grady answered, wanting to not talk about Jason anymore. Emily looked too enthralled, and it was irritating him.
“How do you know him?”
“He’s my friend. I’ve known him since childhood,” he grumbled. “I suppose you think he’s gorgeous too?” Most women did, and the female adoration Jason got had never bothered Grady before, but it bugged the hell out of him now.
“Nope. I’ve never met him, of course, but I don’t think he looked the least bit attractive in his pictures. But he’s incredibly good with investments,” she answered, rising to her feet.
“You don’t think he’s hot?” Grady questioned, his voice full of disbelief.
“No,” she answered quietly, her hips swaying as she moved closer to Grady. “He’s too pretty, almost too perfect. I much prefer tall, dark beasts who make generous donations to charities and aren’t obsessed with their money.” She bent over and kissed him softly, lingering just long enough to make Grady nearly insane.
Her scent enveloped him, and her lips tasted like sweet coffee and sin.
She moved back slowly and rested her forehead against his. “I’m on to you, Grady Sinclair. You donate millions to charity. I thought your donation to the Center was incredible, but you do that all the time, don’t you? I saw some of the receipts, and I have a feeling there are a lot more I haven’t seen yet.”