Joshua kissed both of my cheeks, and I had to hold back my momentary anger. He looked exactly like I remembered, though maybe a bit more tired. He was dressed like a young business executive, minus the tie and the jacket, but he still radiated a smarmy superiority that pissed me off.
"Thanks. You do too."
He smiled. "Of course. Shall we?"
"Lead the way."
He walked off toward the carnival games, and I had to struggle to keep up. He figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't used to walking in heels and slowed his pace down.
"So, Claire, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"I'm going to be blunt, because I value that in others. What's the deal with this?"
I looked at him, terrified for a second that he had found me out.
Instead of trying to take me right there, he laughed. "By the look on your face, I'm guessing you're not sure what I mean."
"Sorry. I don't."
"I mean, why is your father pushing us together? Does he always do this with clients?"
I let out a breath and did my best to smile awkwardly. It wasn't very hard, considering how uncomfortable I felt.
"Actually, no. Well, he likes me to entertain the clients sometimes, but he always gets a little pushy with the younger guys."
"I see. Why is that?"
"I don't know. He probably wants me to marry one of you."
Joshua smiled at that. "And what do you think?"
"I think that I'm not averse to spending time with handsome men, but that I'm not interested in marrying my father-if you understand what I mean."
His smile grew broader. "I can understand." We approached a booth and he nodded at the kid working it, who nodded back as if they knew each other. The kid turned and walked away, leaving the booth unmanned.
"Let's play," he said.
"Did you know that guy?"
"Friend of a friend."
He sat down on a little stool and I sat down next to him, our thighs touching gently. I could have moved but decided not to. The game was the one where you shoot your squirt gun into a little hole to make your horse move down a fake track.
The lights came on and we started shooting our guns. For a second, I forgot that I was out with a man that wanted to kidnap me and blackmail my dad. I watched as my horse crossed the finish line inches ahead of his. I laughed and he pretended to be disappointed, although I suspected that my winning didn't have much to do with my aim.
"So, where are you from?" I asked him as we began to play again.
"Trying to distract me so you can win again?"
"Nope. Just trying to get to know you."
"Well, I'm from around here, actually."
"A local, huh?"
"That's me, local boy, born and bred."
"I guess that explains why that kid knew you."
"Well," he said, laughing as I won again, "that's more because I own this place."
I stopped and stared at him. "Seriously?"
He nodded. "Seriously. Bought it just this year. So far, not the best investment I ever made, but definitely the most fun."
My heart skipped a beat as I realized what sort of trouble I was in. Not only was I out with the man that wanted to kidnap me, but I was in a place he owned. Still, too late for me to back out, and so I had to move forward. I reached down into the pit of anger that had been sitting in my stomach since the first time they had tried to kidnap me and harnessed that.
You have to relax, I thought to myself. He doesn't know that you know yet. Use that anger against him.
"Best of five?" he asked after I won a second time.
"No way. Where's my prize?"
He laughed and then stood up and grabbed me a stuffed elephant. "Good?"
"Perfect."
What a cliché. The only prize I really wanted was to see Joshua's face stomped on over and over.
We stood and began walking again. "So, what do you want to play now?"
"How about that game where you try and knock over the bottles?"
"Good choice."
He led the way, winding through the crowds. We found the booth, and again the kid running the game immediately left as soon as Joshua nodded to him.
"That's a little creepy, you know," I said.
"Maybe, but I prefer privacy."
"This isn't exactly private." I gestured at the crowd surrounding us. The place was busy, full of noise and excitement. Families of all ages milled around, plus random packs of teenagers. It was a pretty average day, all told.
"Sure it is. Haven't you ever felt alone in a crowd?"
"Now you're getting deep."
He laughed again. He had a charming and disarming way about him, but I wasn't about to get suckered by his nice manners. I was angry and I was staying that way.
"Not at all. I'm just saying, we're only two anonymous people here." He paused and looked at me. "Then again, you are wearing that stunning outfit."
I smiled. "Thank you," I said, touching his arm. I had to play into it; otherwise, I wouldn't get what I wanted.
He paused, looking at me, and then reached under the front wall of the booth. He came back up with three softballs.
"Give it a try?"
"Prepare to be impressed."
"I already am."
I took one ball, aimed, and threw as hard as I could. The ball glanced off the jugs, barely knocking one over. Joshua laughed as he reset it.
"That was awful," he said.
"Watch this."
I wound up and threw again, this time hitting a bottom jug but hardly budging it. Joshua laughed again. "I don't even need to reset it."
"I have it now." I wound up and threw again, as hard as I could, but the ball barely glanced off the jugs, tipping over the top one.
"Almost," Joshua said. "But you know, I bet you can't do it even with fifty tries."
"Why's that?"
"It's rigged, of course."
"Seriously? People always say that, but I thought that was illegal or something."
"Illegal or not, it's rigged. These milk jugs are really, really heavy, and your softball is mostly made of cork."
"So it's really light."
"Exactly." He picked up a ball and threw it as hard as he could, point blank, and only managed to knock over two of the three. He turned back to me, grinning. "See?"
I couldn't help but laugh. "That's terrible!"
"I know." He plucked another stuffed animal from the rack and tossed it to me. "Hopefully this will buy your silence."
I pretended to be insulted. "A stuffed rabbit isn't nearly enough to keep me quiet."
"I knew you weren't cheap." He hopped over the wall again and leaned close to me. "What will it take?"
"I don't know," I said, leaning nearer to him. "You'll have to try pretty hard to impress me."
I took a sharp breath as he moved closer, almost as if he were going to kiss me. Instead, he reached over my head and pulled down one of the enormous bears. I laughed as he placed it down on the counter.
"How's this?"
"Not what I had in mind, but it'll do."
My heart was pounding. I was sure he was going to try to kiss me, and I had no clue what I was going to do about it. He didn't seem like a bad guy, if maybe a little intense. He was kind and funny and knew how to have some lighthearted fun. Still, he was my enemy, and I wasn't going to let myself get sucked into his game.
I was in control here. I was full of rage.
I looked at the giant bear and then back at him. "It'll do, if you carry it."
He laughed again, shaking his head. "I like you, Claire Forester. You're tough."
"What can I say? I'm my father's daughter."
"I see that." He scooped up the big bear, and I tossed the other animal behind the counter as soon as he wasn't looking. "Where next?" he asked.
"There." I pointed at the basketball game, and he led the way. Once there, he dismissed the worker, and we took turns taking shots.
"So what's your father like outside the board room?"
I missed a shot horribly. "I don't know. He fishes every morning."
"Every morning?"
"Religiously, when we're here at least. But he's always working otherwise."
"He has quite the reputation for that."
"What else does he have a reputation for?"
Joshua missed a shot and then looked at me. "Sure you want to know?"
"Positive."
He took another shot and made it. "Your father has a bad reputation when it comes to making local people happy. He tends to outsource everything he can, and he charges insane rates."
"Isn't that just good business?"
"Maybe." He missed another shot. I made two in a row. "But business isn't just about the bottom line. It's about taking care of your people."
"I can agree with that. So you're saying my dad doesn't take care of people?"
Joshua laughed, suddenly turning lighthearted again. For a second I thought I was seeing the real him, but he quickly bottled that up. "Who knows. It's just a reputation. Most of it is crap anyway, or at least in our case it is."
"You trust him, then?"