Page 26 of Menage a Passions
“Everyschool?” Damon asked. “Even Cambridge.”
“You know what I mean.” Hong Kong private school, English boarding school, Cambridge… the primary school in Hong Kong had been the worst. By the time Jane was shipped off to Britain, she had learned how to charm everyone around her. She still had a few issues in boarding school, that was more to do with her flirting with the wrong girls, not so much being fromherfamily.
Despite the Monroes’ best pitches, Jane and Caitlyn remained noncommittal on whether they would invest in the thus far nameless venture. Damon pressed that time was of the essence with the property they wanted to buy, but Jane was her usual affable self as she reassured them they would decide soon.
As they helped themselves into the elevator, dinner digesting, Jane said, “That was quite the expensive cheese for such a thing, wasn’t it? Pule! Can you believe it? That costs up to about six hundred dollars a pound these days… they should put that money toward their investments.”
Caitlyn rearranged her purse while she and Jane descended in the penthouse elevator. “That’s all you have to say about that? Commenting on the audacious macaroni and cheese?”
“Their kid is big. Is that what you want to hear? That she looks like the female version of Damon?” Not a shred of her mother’s blond hair on that child.
“No, I want to hear your opinion about this lounge they want to open.” Caitlyn clasped her purse shut and leaned against thewall. “Assuming we can talk freely in here.” She gestured to the camera in the corner. “Think they have a mic on in here?”
“No, I really do not,” Jane said. “Andmyopinion is that it sounds quite fun and interesting, but it’s not our wheelhouse, as you might say. Although it could expand our portfolio, and that is what the tax people you hired say we should do.” God, Jane was tired of hearing everything those tax people said. She also had tax people back in Hong Kong always on her damn ass!
Caitlyn was the first one out of the elevator when it reached the ground floor. At that time of night, the only people milling about were the concierge – all of whom were on Damon’s payroll – and the office stragglers finishing up calls on their laptops before dragging their arses home.Not enough people live in this building, otherwise.Jane knew there were some high-luxury apartments on the upper floors, but she didn’t know any of the people who rented them.
“There’s also the matter ofher.” Caitlyn remained mum about who she meant until she and Jane were in the parking garage, where they climbed into Jane’s Lamborghini. This was the only vehicle Caitlyn never drove, partly due to her distaste for driving sports cars, but also because Jane’s short stature required having everythingjust soin the driver’s seat. Regardless of what her stomach now thought of gruyere in her noodle casserole, she was stuck driving her and Caitlyn home. “Monica.”
“After hearing the whole plan, I highly doubt that she will consider us a threat.” Jane turned the ignition but remained idle in the parking space. Caitlyn made herself comfortable in the passenger seat and checked her makeup in her pocket mirror. “Monica and Damon have been dancing around each other for years, ever since that Chateau opened and she started poaching his staff from The Dark Hour.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“And her. Let us not forget we know the Warrens as well.”
“Because of Eva.”
“Who is Monica’s beloved sister-in-law. Keep up, Cait, everything is incest!”
Caitlyn snapped her mirror shut. “We’ve never been up there. Which is weird, if you think about it.” The mirror dropped into her purse, which she perched snugly between her thighs before crossing her arms on her seatbelt. Jane didn’t shift her car into reverse. Not yet. “A house full of BDSM-trained women who can’t wait to take our money in exchange for whatever we want, within reason? Why didn’t we go before we met Becca?”
“We had just moved into town back then. Besides, what would we do all the way up there? Even if we took Becca, we would be taking in shows. Which we can do anywhere we travel. Unless you are procuring theirservices,it does not make any sense.”
“Suppose you’re right.”
“Why? Feeling like you have been missing out, love?”
“No, but when trying to understand decisions like these, it would be helpful to know exactly what our competition is like.”
Jane grinned. “I can think of somewhere much closer we could scope out.”
She didn’t give Caitlyn time to answer. It was already close to nine, and the place in question was only open until midnight on Thursday.Hope they take drop-ins!Jane had a feeling that almost anyone in town would be more than happy to have Jane and Caitlyn in on a “date night.”
Well, almost anyone.
Chapter 9
Caitlyn
She has got to be kidding me.
Caitlyn disliked two things about this. (If she conveniently forgot that they were supposed to be heading home to Rebecca and Cecelia.) The first upset was that they hadn’t made a reservation, which was customary for small establishments like this. The second?
Nobody could say no to Jane. Not when she put on those posh charms and batted her boyish eyelashes. Caitlyn would know. It had worked on herhowmany times in her life?
Caitlyn knew she had married – twice – an atrocious flirt. In a way, it was one of the most exciting things about Jane Wong, a woman who wasn’t often turned down… but when she was, she accepted it so graciously that Caitlyn feltbadfor her wife.That’s the kind of power she has.Raised as the spoiled youngest child in a wealthy Asian family and honed in the foggyfires of England’s most gentile society. She was the person every woman’s mother warned about!
Watching her in action was like watching a random woman go down in the heretical abyss of hellfire.