Sabrina laughed. “Wish I could help you out there, but Daniel is an only child.”
“Darn!”
“I’ll ask if he has a cousin, how about that?”
“You’re a doll!”
“Talk soon,” Sabrina said.
“Take care,” Helen answered.
Sabrina disconnected the call. Helen was extremely reliable. She had no doubt that she’d come through with the information to prepare the statements.
When her phone rang a moment later, she wondered whether Helen had forgotten something and answered it without looking at caller ID. “Hello?”
“Now that you’re living the high life in New York with your rich boyfriend, you don’t have time for your friends anymore?”
“Holly!” Sabrina cried out excitedly, happy to hear her friend’s voice. “What’s up?”
“Not that guy’s dick last night, I can tell you that!”
“Holly!” Sabrina laughed uncontrollably. Holly was a high class escort and used to entertain her with firsthand accounts of her job experiences. And she was a great storyteller, always infusing humor into every story she shared with her.
“So, how are things going on the other side of the country?” Holly asked.
Sabrina leaned back on the couch. “Good for the most part.”
“For the most part? That doesn’t sound very good to me. I figured you’d be having mind-blowing sex twenty-four-seven. Kind of like you did before you left for New York.”
Sabrina rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Daniel spends more time staring at his office walls than he does staring at me.”
“Oh, bummer. Sorry to hear that. Need me to fly to New York and kick his ass? I warned him that I’d do it if he didn’t treat you right.”
Laughing, Sabrina said, “No, he treats me wonderfully. He’s just working too much. It’s just a big change for both of us, you know, living together. And I don’t really know anybody here.”
“You’re making excuses.”
“I’m not. Anyway, the good news is, I’ll start my new job soon.”
“Oh, sweetie, that’s fabulous! Well, you’re going to be so busy soon, that you won’t have time for anything anymore. I know you, once you get your teeth into a new job, you’ll bury yourself in it. I’d better come and visit you in New York before that happens.”
“You’re coming to New York?” Sabrina asked excitedly.
“If you have a spare guestroom, I’ll camp out there for a week. Of course, I don’t want to cramp your style—”
“Nonsense! I’d love to see you, Holly! There is so much we can do together! You’ll love it here. It’ll be like old times.”
Holly squealed with delight. “Perfect. I’ll get online right now and book a flight. I’ll email you my fight info. Can you pick me up from the airport?”
“Absolutely. I’ll come with the driver.”
“Driver?”
Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Yes, Daniel uses a private limousine service to get around the city, because you can’t park anywhere here. He only gets the car out of the garage when we go out of town. And I sure don’t want to drive in this city. So I’ll pick you up with the limousine.”
“Very fancy! I think I’m going to like New York!”
Sabrina chuckled. “You’ll have a blast!”
19
“You look absolutely stunning, Sabrina,” Daniel said as they rode up to Zach’s penthouse.
“Tell me again who this Zach is,” she answered, still fidgeting with her dress, a figure-hugging red number that had almost made his heart stop when she’d put it on an hour ago.
He’d contemplated asking her to change, afraid that every bachelor at Zach’s birthday party would want to wrestle him to take her from him. In the end, pride had won out: Sabrina was his, and he’d make it clear to that bunch of horny rich guys that they didn’t stand a chance.
“Zach is my mentor.” Daniel chuckled. “Though he’s not any older than I. But he dropped out of college and started his own business when he wasn’t even twenty. He made it big. He’s very influential, and he helped me when I was struggling at the beginning of my career. He taught me more than I ever learned in business school.”
“So you guys go way back?”
He nodded. “Yep. You’ll like him. He’s quite a ladies man, but he knows his boundaries—unlike other people.” Paul Gilbert came to mind immediately.