“Is this one yours?” I asked when Peyton returned with a folder.
“Nope.” She gave me a quick peck on the lips. “You can read them all another time, and I’ll give you a reward if you find the one I brought. But I want to catch Eddie again before he’s gone.” She tugged my hand. “So let’s go.”#p#分页标题#e#
Eddie was no longer sitting outside, although he was easy enough to spot. Halfway up the block, he was ambling along. He had a limp on the right and a garbage bag slung over his left shoulder.
Peyton saw him just before he rounded the corner. “Let’s follow him. See where he goes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s dangerous—and an invasion of his privacy. We’re not following a homeless person.”
“But if we know where he sleeps at night, maybe the police would help.”
“No.”
“Please…”
“No.”
“Fine.”
I should have known she wasn’t going to drop it so quick.
Chapter 4
Reese
My cell had rung bright and early this morning, and suddenly I had an unexpected lunch date I was rather looking forward to. Chase had mentioned he had a friend who was a recruiter, but he’d failed to include the part that the woman, Samantha, recruited for Parker Industries—a company he owned. I was instantly intrigued, and I’ll admit I was a tad bit disappointed when she suggested we meet at a restaurant. Even though it was easy to get to—only a few stops on the subway from my soon-to-be-vacated office at Fresh Look—there wouldn’t be any chance of running into Chase since we weren’t meeting at his office.
But lunch had turned out to be pretty enlightening. We’d spent two hours at a restaurant, now followed by a long walk through the park. After we’d talked about my background and what I was looking for in an employer, the conversation turned to Parker Industries.
“So Chase actually invents the products himself?” I asked. Perhaps I should have spent time Googling the man instead of ogling him on Facebook.
“He used to, although these days he has an entire research and development team. But most of the ideas they work on are his. Believe it or not, that pretty boy is the smartest person I’ve ever met.”
“What was the first product he ever invented?”
“The Pampered Pussy.”
I stopped in place. “The what?”
Samantha laughed. “It’s packaged as Divine Wax now that it’s licensed in fifty countries. But back in college, it was The Pampered Pussy.”
“He invented Divine Wax? I’ve heard that stuff is awesome.”
“Sure did. During college, he lived in a frat with a bunch of muscleheads. Some of them were hardcore into working out. His sophomore year, a few had begun to compete in local bodybuilding contests. They had to wax their bodies, and these brawny tough guys used to bitch that the waxing hurt. Chase worked in the university’s chem lab part-time and figured out how to incorporate a numbing agent into the wax. So after the hot wax was painted on the guys’ chests and backs, they didn’t feel anything as it was ripped off a few seconds later.”
“And it turned into a household brand for women?”
“It took a while. Word spread at Brown that a hot guy could do waxing without the pain, and that evolved into The Pampered Pussy. He’d go to sororities and make a grand in an afternoon—and get laid by the prettiest girl in the house while he was there. It was unbelievable.” Samantha laughed. “He was always easy on the eyes and a little arrogant because of his brains. Women love that combination.”
We sure do. “That’s pretty amazing. How did it get to the next level?”
“Junior year he was providing wax and doing whatever else to Dakota Canning, heir to Canning & Canning.”#p#分页标题#e#
“The Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company?”
“That’s the one. I guess Dakota told her father about the wax, and things just progressed from there. It was packaged and sold under a license agreement within six months. When Chase graduated Brown, he’d already made his first million.”
“That’s seriously unbelievable.”
“Yep. He’s like the Zuckerberg of vaginas now—has a dozen other products he’s chemically improved. Most are in the health and beauty segment, but he also invented a burn cream that regenerates skin and decreases pain, and it only needs to be applied once a day. Most burn creams need multiple applications, and touching the skin after a severe burn is both excruciatingly painful and increases the chances of infection.”