Her Forbidden Millionaire

Chapter 3

There was Lincoln Gold, with his smooth brown skin, his piercing grey eyes, and that boyish smile. He stood over six feet tall in a tailored pinstripe suit with chocolate brown shoes that Phoebe could have done her makeup in, they shined so magnificently. Phoebe had to catch herself as she imagined what she must have looked like in that moment. Closing the drawer with the copy of his file, she stood straight up and adjusted her clothes.

“I’m sorry about that.” Phoebe came from around her desk with her hand extended. “Good morning, Mr. Gold. How are you today?”

Lincoln smiled as he remembered Phoebe from the morning in the café. “Good morning, Phoebe.”

She swallowed hard as she pulled her hand away. “You remembered my name?”

“There’s not too many beautiful sisters I know with the name Phoebe. Not to mention there’s not too many women who actually turn me down for dinner,” he joked. He stared at Phoebe as she moved back toward her desk in her olive green pantsuit. She was athletic under that suit. The fact that she made no attempt to flirt or date him made him that much more into her.

Phoebe couldn’t believe that Lincoln was standing there in her office. She wanted to make sure that her hair and makeup was good and then she remembered to get a hold of herself. This was about business!

“Let me ask you something,” he spoke up, drawing Phoebe’s hazel eyes to his supple lips.

Phoebe tried to compose herself as images of them entangled in each other played in her mind. This was all Pam’s fault, she thought. “Sure, what’s that?”

“Did you know about me looking for a new adviser when we met that day?” he asked as he sat down in front of her desk.

“I did, but I had left that brunch early. I had to have a few words with your attorney, Ms. Pinkett, and decided that it’d be best for me to go. When we met I had actually just left there,” Phoebe told him.

Lincoln’s face shifted a bit showing his uncomfortableness. “Yeah, she mentioned that there was a ballsy young woman who told her that she was simply defending herself and that she should have asked her what happened before jumping to conclusions. But she left before they could actually finish the conversation.”

Phoebe’s eyes darted away from his to the ground embarrassed. “Oh goodness, you both must think I’m such an ass.”

“To the contrary, Phoebe, we actually thought you were perfect. Standing up for yourself and now knowing that you’re able to tell me no, I’m certain that we chose the right person for the job. And just so you know, Ms. Pinkett filed a complaint against the adviser who insulted you. She even corroborated your story with the other gentlemen who were there and sends her apologies to you,” Lincoln told her.

Phoebe wasn’t sure if she wanted to rejoice or cry. Multiple complaints against Clayton in one day along with landing the deal that she thought she’d lost out on was a lot to handle. She stared deeply into Lincoln’s eyes. “Thank you. Thank you both. I’ll be sure to call her and smooth things over between us. I should have been more professional and stayed until after the meeting. I promise to think things through more carefully from now on.”

“Good to hear, so I see you have my file there already,” Lincoln said, glancing down to the thick folder on her desk. She’d already had it flipped open to finish reading after the intern copied it. He was eyeballing it carefully, trying to read the contents.

Lincoln usually kept a specific file that he shared with others and one where he kept track of everything. There were certain aspects of his finances that he wanted to keep to himself. But as he peered down onto Phoebe’s desk, he couldn’t tell which file she had. “Do you mind if I take a quick look at that?”

“Really?” Phoebe snickered. “I just got started and I really don’t want to lose my place. You have some interesting businesses that went belly up and I want to see if there’s anything we can salvage here.”

“I think that might be the wrong file.” He tried not to sound too nervous about getting the file back.

“The wrong file?” Phoebe asked. “My boss got this rushed over from your office. I’m sure there’s nothing missing from it.”

“Just let me get it to be sure. I want to go over a few things with my accountant,” Lincoln said, flapping his fingers back and forth, motioning for her to hand the folder over.

“Your accountant is probably the one who’s responsible for half the shenanigans going on with your money,” Phoebe snapped. She always felt a way about accountants, but that was her problem not his.

“No,” he corrected her. “My accountant actually just makes sure the plus column matches up with the minus column. I want to be sure I put in some new investments I recently made. I have a lot of things going on trying to make sure I stay afloat here and I want to be sure that I’m being completely open with you. I imagine me leaving things out could make your job very difficult.”

Phoebe grimaced. “Fine, take it, Mr. Gold. Just please remember to bring me the updated copy as soon as possible.”

Lincoln let out a huge sigh of relief as he grabbed the file off Phoebe’s desk. “Thanks. And I’ll be sure to have it back to you by the end of the day today. I guess I’ll go and get this taken care of.”

“Yeah, I guess you should,” Phoebe responded sarcastically. She was slightly annoyed thinking his diva behavior had begun. As soon as she thought he was far enough away, she yanked out the file of the copied report from the drawer she’d just shoved it in.