Book 5 - Page 107 (2/2)

Steven grinned. “You got it.”

We placed our drink order—flat and sparkling water and one soda—and the server took off to fill them.

“So here’s the thing,” Mark began, straightening in his seat. “Part of the reason Eva quit was because of the LanCorp proposal …”

She preempted him, her mouth curved in a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile. “Ryan Landon offered you a job.”

His eyes widened. “How’d you know?”

She looked at me, then back at him. “You’re not taking it, are you?”

“No.” Mark sat back, studied us both. “It would have been a lateral move. Nothing like the b.u.mp I’ll get with Cross Industries. More than that, though, I remembered you telling me that there’s bad blood between Landon and Cross. I looked it up after you quit. Knowing the background, the whole thing wasn’t sitting right—him declining to work with us, then trying to poach me right after.”

“Could be he just wants you, without the agency,” Eva said.

Steven nodded. “That’s what I said.”

As he would, I thought, because he believed in his partner. But it appeared Mark knew better. Eva glanced at me. I clearly saw the I told you so in her gaze. I squeezed her hand.

“You don’t believe that,” Mark countered, proving us both right.

“No,” she agreed. “I don’t. I’ll be honest, I baited them. Told them Gideon and I are very fond of you and look forward to working with you again. I wanted to see if they’d bite. I figured if it was a great offer, I was doing you a favor. And if it wasn’t, no harm no foul.”

He frowned. “But why would you do that? Don’t you want me at Cross Industries?”

“Of course we do, Mark,” I interjected. “Eva was honest with them.”

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