Working Stiff:Casimir (Runaway Billionaires #1)(35)

Cash told Rox, "Flicka broke a lot of hearts when she decided to marry Pierre."

Maxence grimaced. "She didn't ‘break my heart.'" He looked back to Rox.  "We dated for a short while last year. It was never serious. Within  days, I knew that she was still in love with my older brother, even  though she didn't want to admit it. I didn't want to break it off  because I thought I could win her over, so it dragged on for a few  months. It was an indecent cliché." He looked at Arthur. "But you don't  think she'll marry him?"

"Not if he can't keep it in his pants."

Rox asked Cash, "Is that a problem?"

Cash frowned. "Pierre earned his nickname ‘The Rat Bastard' by screwing  around on every woman he ever dated. It was his preferred method of  breaking things off-"

Maxence cleared his throat around a bite of food.

"-but we never call him that because Pierre is Maxence's brother," Cash finished.

Arthur told Rox, "If Pierre screws around on her, she'll kill him. Perhaps quite literally. That family is a bit bloodthirsty."

Rox nodded. "Down South, we have severe penalties for men who stray,  usually the same methods as one employs to keep tomcats from running  around."

Maxence flinched and edged away from her. "A bullet might be kinder than  that. If she doesn't kill him, though, her brother will."

"Girl after my own heart," Rox said.

Cash raised one eyebrow at her.

Arthur said to him, "You'd better watch out for this one."

Cash shrugged, seemingly unconcerned.

Maxence continued, "Flicka's brother Wulf was two years ahead of us in  school, but we saw a bit of him because my brother was her brother's  roommate for several years in primary and middle school and such.  They're the same age. So that's how we knew Flicka, even though she's  quite a bit younger than we are. And social events, of course. We all  ran with the same crowd."

Cash told her, "Wulf asked me to look over the pre-nup when they've got  it ready. I think I'm attorney number six to go over it, and I don't  think I'm the last one. I've heard that they're writing in some  draconian clauses if he cheats on her. It's going to be painful."

"Did he officially retain you?" Arthur asked. "Is he paying you for it?"

"God, no. Wulf saves my ass every few years by texting me two weeks  before the stock market tanks. I wouldn't dare take his money. He might  lose my number."

"I'm surprised that Flicka or Wulf haven't caught him dicking around  already," Arthur mused, "considering that whole business debacle that  Pierre left Wulf with." His smile broadened. "Speaking of which, we're  in the Southwestern US, aren't we?"

Maxence thumped his wine glass on the table. "You won't. Tell me you won't."

"It would be unfriendly to have come all this way and not visit our old school chum," Arthur protested.

Cash rolled his eyes. "And, I suppose, you'll visit The Devilhouse while you're there."

"Now that you mention it-"

Rox ate her coq au vin, not getting involved in whatever this was.

Maxence snorted. "And now we discover your real reason for coming to the US."

Arthur laughed. "You've caught me out. And you're coming with me."

"I will not. In any case, we've only just arrived, and I have no desire to board your plane again."

Arthur leaned his head toward Rox and hung on the back of her chair to  steady himself. He stage-whispered, "Again, Maxence has been mortifying  his flesh. He flew commercial to New York. I picked him up there."

She frowned at him, irritated at his snobbishness.

Maxence rolled his eyes. "You say that as if it was a lapse of judgment."                       
       
           



       

"At least he flew premium first-class." He fixed his silvery eyes on Maxence. "Didn't you?"

Maxence glared at him. "Yes."

Arthur said to Rox, "So he's not entirely given up hedonism. He took the  airline where first-class includes private rooms with beds, a lounge  for those who deserve it, and a bathroom with a shower."

She looked at Cash, her eyes wide. "I thought first class was just those pods on international flights."

"Not on some airlines," Cash said. "On some, first class can get quite lavish."

Maxence frowned at him. "You know very well that there are security considerations."

Cash turned to Maxence, and his one eyebrow dipped as if he were concerned. "Did you book one of the suites?"

"It was necessary for security." He adjusted his napkin on his lap.

Cash pressed him, "Did you book two of the suites so the stewards could combine them and you could sleep in a queen-sized bed?"

"Security reasons," Maxence muttered.

"Are they still strewing the sheets with rose petals?"

He flinched. "I didn't ask them to."

Arthur laughed out loud. "We wouldn't want to ride in steerage and rub elbows with the commoners."

Maxence's eyebrows gathered in the middle. "I had been digging wells in  Africa. I built a school with my own hands and taught classes until they  could get a permanent teacher. I'm not complaining, but I lived in a  hut with a family of eight and slept on a grass mat on the dirt floor  like everyone else for six months. I lost forty pounds because there was  never enough food and I kept giving mine to the two youngest children,  who were even more underfed than the rest because they were girls. Yes, I  flew first class to get here. And yes, I'll be buying crates of  supplies to ship ahead when I go back next week."

Arthur laughed. "Maxence here is far too easy to tease. I should stop tormenting him."

Maxence looked down at his plate, which had only smears of sauce remaining on it. "I am too easy to tease."

Rox told Arthur, "Yeah, you should lay off the guy who digs wells and builds schools for children who survived civil wars."

Arthur laughed again. He pushed off her chair and went back to his  supper. "Did your security men help you dig the wells?" he asked,  forking more chicken into his mouth.

Maxence flicked his hand in the air, a dismissal. "I leave my security  detail in hotels in the capitals of the countries where I go on  missions, and soon, I can dismiss them entirely."

Cash's expression turned serious. "That's not a good idea."

"No one cares about me," Maxence said, staring at his wine.

"Of course, people care about you," Cash said.

"That's not what I meant. I meant that no one would bother killing me. Why don't you have security if it's so important?"

He grinned. "Because my family problems are over."

Maxence raised his eyebrows. "I guess they are."

Arthur dabbed his lips with his napkin and pushed his half-full plate  away about an inch. "God, I'm stuffed. You still do have excellent taste  in restaurants, Casimir. Where are we going tomorrow?"

"Hadn't decided," Cash said.

Arthur stood and traded his half-full plate across the table for  Maxence's empty one. "Do me a solid, there, would you? My grandmother  used to expound about the war whenever I left food on my plate. It still  disturbs me to see uneaten food."

"You used to do this all the time at school," Maxence said, digging into  the leftover chicken, potatoes, and vegetables. "You would take twice  the food you needed and then admonish others to clean it up for you."

"I've been a wastrel my whole life," Arthur agreed, but his sharp eyes  watched how Maxence hungrily tucked in the food. Rox glanced back to  him, but Arthur only asked, "Are you going to miss your brother's  wedding like you did his engagement party?"

Maxence raised one eyebrow. "No one noticed my absence, I'm sure. Once  Pierre and Flicka have children in a few years, no one will notice me at  all, ever again, and I will be much relieved."

"Then you can golf all you want, huh, Max?" Arthur asked him, raising his glass of wine to him.

Maxence turned to Rox. "They're teasing me because I intend to take Holy  Orders and become a priest, a Jesuit, and spend my life working for  peace and justice."

"I think that's beautiful," Rox said.

Arthur and Cash cracked up, their male laughter ringing on the dark timbers and iron chandelier above the table.                       
       
           



       

"I don't see what's so funny," Maxence said.

"All right," Cash said, turning to Rox. "You know how I might have a bit of reputation around the office."

Rox rolled her eyes. "Maybe a little."

"Does he really?" Arthur said, leaning in. "Pray tell, Rox. What has our Casimir become?"

"He's a heartbreaker who's been through every woman in the office and most of our clients."