On His Terms Read Free Page B

    “It was my pleasure, Ms. Shore,” he said.
                          “Your bodyguard…”
                          “Charles isn’t a bodyguard. He’s my personal assistant. Helps me with my campaign
     mostly.”
                          “Your assistant said that…” She paused, embarrassed that he might somehow see her blushing through the other end of the phone.   “He said you wanted to make it up to me.”
                          “Not quite. But he needed to say that to you, otherwise you might never have contacted
     me.” She could almost hear him smirking through the phone.
    Ally was so confused. And if she was already skeptical about this whole situation,
     and politicians in general, now she was downright distrustful.
    “So your bodyguard lied to me?” she said.
    “He’s not my bodyguard. And he had to do that, as I said. It was my only chance.”
    “I’m very confused Mr. Westbrook,” said Ally.
    “I have a proposition for you. But we need to discuss it in person.” His voice took
     on a very serious tone.
    Ally couldn’t believe what was happening. Here she was, standing right outside her
     sister’s apartment, talking to billionaire Hale Westbrook about a proposition—something
     that required him to see her in person.  
    He continued, “My email address is on the card that Charles—the man you like to call
     my bodyguard—gave to you. If you want to hear more, send me an email and I’ll reply
     with a meeting location and a time to discuss this further.”
                          As much as Ally was skeptical of this whole scenario, her heart was pounding like
     a drum. Her body was telling her that this was exciting, whatever this was.
                          “I want to know more before I meet with you,” she insisted.
                          “We need to meet in person. I can’t budge on that one,” said Hale.
                          “I don’t get it. First, your bodyguard sneaks up on me in the woods. Now you’re telling
     me I need to meet with you in secrecy. I didn’t even know who you were before you
     walked into my diner.”
                          “If it makes you feel better, you can tell one person that you trust that you and
     I will be meeting. You must understand, Ally- I have a lot of people watching my every
     move. A lot of enemies, Ally. The phone just isn’t safe.”
                          “I have your card. I need to think about this,” she said.
                          “Please, think hard. This is not something you have to do. It’s a choice, Ally. Perhaps
     one of many more to come for you and me,” he said.
                          “Okay, I’ll think it over,” she said, hanging up the phone.
                          But her mind was already made up. Right or wrong, she was going to meet with him.
     
    * * *
                          She felt strange driving through La Jolla in her beat up 1999 Toyota Corolla. Ally
     could hardly afford to buy groceries in La Jolla; the amount of wealth in this area
     was simply incomprehensible to her. But she had to see what all of this was about.
     His words, ‘you and me’ , kept echoing in her mind. And the electricity that she felt from his touch in the
     diner, she would do anything to feel that again.
                          She was looking for his address, 12 Shelly Drive. She could smell the ocean and she
     knew she must be getting close. As she arrived at the billionaire’s street, she noticed that his home was the street. There were no other properties aside from his.
                          That figures.
                          She arrived at the cobblestone driveway, and the iron gates opened immediately for
     her.  
                          His estate was unimaginable. Well, she had imagined rich