Craving HIM (Serving HIM Vol. 7) by M. S. Parker, Cassie Wild Page A

important, much less a role in running the government.
    There was something off about him.
    Everybody else seemed fine with him, despite the fact that I didn’t want to be anywhere near him. More than a few women slid appraising looks his way and not just the ladies in his age bracket either. He never returned the attention, or even acknowledged it.
    The only time I saw him show interest in a woman was when a redhead approached him. She was small, diminutive, striking for her age with high cheekbones and wide-set eyes. Even from here, I could see how pretty she was. As she leaned in, he dipped his head to kiss her cheek. She slid her arm through the crook of his elbow, confirming my assumption that she was his wife.
    I guess, in some way, she was my stepmother. Amused with myself, I watched as the two of them continued to work the crowd. She wasn’t as good as he was but he worked with her, assisting when clearly she seemed to falter.
    Once or twice, I found his eyes resting on me and I could see the speculation in his gaze, could feel him assessing me. Each time, I casually broke eye contact. I didn’t want to give him any reason to approach me.
    There was no denying that I had a powerful urge to walk up to him, tell him who I was and see how he reacted. To ask him what he thought of Cecily now, ask why he’d thrown her away. Because I knew that's exactly what he'd done. He’d been in the political arena for years before I was born, and impregnating a teenager on the side wouldn’t have done him any good, even if his wife had stayed with him. I’d done some digging over the past couple weeks, but either he’d learned his lesson or gotten better at covering his tracks because so far, my investigator hadn’t turned up any girlfriends or other children.
    I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to see his reaction, see what he said and I wanted to see the look in his eyes when I confronted him. When he got a good look at my face and couldn't deny who I was.
    But I told Cecily I’d keep my distance.
    I’d made a silent amendment when I agreed to stay away though. I couldn’t avoid this confrontation forever. I’d keep my distance, but only until I had more information and a better idea how to handle him.
    I sure as hell hadn’t learned much today, other than one unpleasant fact.
    I now knew where I’d gotten my ability to work people.
    The knowledge left a bad taste in my mouth.

Chapter 10
    Aleena
    Sometimes I didn't think Dominic knew the magnitude of the tasks he put before me. Like this one. He wanted to set up a foundation, a charitable one and he wanted it up and running fast. He wasn't exactly a patient man.
    The problem was, starting such a charity meant dealing with legalities and the IRS. I’d suspected as much, but hadn't known exactly how much. Ten minutes into my first conversation with Tom and I knew one thing.
    I knew there wasn’t going to be any fast with this.
    Getting a charity set up through the IRS took paperwork and a minimum of ninety days. Some people waited longer, although I had no doubt Dominic would manage to be one of the ones who got through with just the ninety days.
    Considering Dominic wanted it to be a longstanding, lasting enterprise, that meant we had to develop it as such. Tom told me that meant we needed a business plan. Plus, Dominic would have to rethink everything he knew about business. There was a difference between running a business for profit and then forming a nonprofit one.
    My head was already pounding and it wasn’t even noon. I was beginning to wish he'd asked Amber to help him on this.
    Tom put a cup of coffee in front of me and sat down at my elbow. He'd come to the penthouse to talk rather than me going into my office at Trouver L'Amour . I hadn't yet moved my things into the office that Dominic had assigned me at the Snow Enterprises headquarters. I supposed he was working from there, but I hadn't been in yet.
    “Here’s the thing,” Tom said, dragging my