“Unfortunately, in this instance, truth doesn’t matter. This girl—” Jade flipped through the file for her name “—Nessa Bannon, looks great on camera and has something to say about the so-called rich playboy who stole her idea and just plain took advantage of her. The world is practically salivating to get more of her story.”
Within a matter of hours, social media had latched on to the few details Nessa Bannon tossed out there. The fires were being lit to roast Jaxon Diallo alive, and his family’s reputation along with him. Not good news as far as the IPO was concerned.
“We need to shut all that down. Fast.” Kingsley steepled his fingers. “Which is why we’re here this afternoon—”
“Instead of in Las Vegas, enjoying the showgirls and casinos,” Carter grumbled.
“Is that what we pulled you away from?” Kingsley didn’t sound sorry, showing instead a brotherly lack of care about the relaxation he’d taken Carter away from.
Not that Jade cared that much either but neither one was her brother.
“That damn kid...” Carter muttered across from her. The tightness at the corners of his eyes betrayed his worry.
For what, Jade couldn’t tell. The IPO? The scorned woman lashing out at a man she thought betrayed her? His lost all-you-can-eat Vegas buffet?
“I’m sure you’ve had your share of romantic roadkill from back in your younger days.” She arched an eyebrow at him. Jade didn’t have any proof but she mentally put a point on her side of the game when Carter flinched.
But he didn’t stay down for long. “You already have the details of our planned IPO offering and about Jaxon and this mess. Do you think you can help us? Be honest. If it’s too much, let us know and we’ll find someone else.”
It was like he’d thrown down a gauntlet, and the glint in his eyes told Jade he knew exactly what he was doing. But what he asked wasn’t impossible. Of course, she could help them.
The situation had the potential to be an easy fix but she could also see why Carter had lobbed this potential bomb into her lap. The last thing the Diallo family wanted to do was seem like they were covering for an opportunist who stole from a girl trying to do better for herself.
Nessa Bannon was raised poor, was now working to pay her own way through college, and had an Instagram account filled with gorgeous selfies and intimate details of her everyday life, including her desire to get into fashion one day. Obviously, a beautiful and driven girl.
Jaxon, at barely nineteen years old, was a proven genius and already one of the leading minds in tech. A young and very attractive member of the superrich Diallo family of Miami, he had every advantage growing up. Good schools, resources, people paving the way for his success.
Which of these nineteen-year-olds was more likely to have come up with the idea for the million-dollar app in question? The answer was clear.
But news bites were everything. The right set of headlines read by the right people could crush the Diallos’ dreams of taking their company public at a profit.
Jade wouldn’t let that happen, though.
She closed the manila in front of her. “Yes, I can take care of this.”
Kingsley leaned back with a relieved smile. “That’s usually Carter’s line. But I’m glad you have the same amount of confidence as my brother.” He flicked a smile Carter’s way.
Oh really? Jade flashed both of them her teeth. “More,” she said. “I have much more confidence than Carter. After all, you guys came to me, right?”
“Lord, not another one!” Kingsley rolled his eyes but he was smiling. “At least when you two get this thing sorted out, I can save myself the trouble and just thank you both at the same time.”
What? “Both?”
“Yes. It’s your call how you handle this but I need you to work closely with Carter on it. He knows what the company is doing. And he knows the family. He’ll be your shadow while you handle this.”
Just great. She clenched her teeth but managed a smile. “Sounds good.”
“Perfect!” Kingsley glanced at his watch then clapped his hands once. “Now, I need my office back. I have a very important lunch date in about five minutes.”
Just then, the intercom buzzed on his desk phone. “Ms. Palmer-Mitchell is here to see you, Mr. Diallo.”
“Ah, she’s early.” His face lit up like the sun.
If this was a business meeting, Jade would eat her blue Manolo Blahniks. She lazily swung her foot, wearing said shoe, and watched the door to see who would come in.
“Send her right in, Charmaine.” Like a kid expecting Santa Claus, Kingsley hopped up from the conference table and opened the door in time for a slender woman with wide eyes and amazing skin to walk through it. She carried a picnic basket.
“Am I early?” she asked.
“No. You are exactly on time.” Kingsley pressed a kiss to her cheek, just within breathing distance of her lush mouth, and although it should have been chaste and sweet, the passion between the two of them practically scorched Jade where she stood.
Okay then. Time to make her own exit.
“I’ll leave you two to your lunch meeting,” Carter said with fond laughter in his voice while Jade held herself back from making any sort of comment. After all, she’d just met Kingsley.
“I’ll be in touch,” she said, briefcase in hand, and headed for the open door. She deftly avoided shaking Carter’s hand again, walking the long way around the conference table just so she wouldn’t have to.
She knew she’d made a mistake when she saw Carter move up behind her. With every breath, she was aware of him following her.
For such a big man, his footsteps were light, nearly silent. Her shoulders prickled and smoky desire woke in her belly, twining its way between her legs then up through her breasts, her throat, her very fingertips. Jade quivered from the familiar longing.
Dammit. And she’d only been in the same room with him for an hour. She needed to get out of this building. Fast.
“Before you leave, let’s have a quick talk in my office,” he rumbled in his deep voice and she could practically feel his breath at the back of her neck.
Do we have to? She shoved down that whiny part of herself and clasped both hands tight around the handle of the briefcase. If this were any other man, Jade would tell him where to shove his offer of a conversation. But this wasn’t any man, this was Carter, and he was now a client.
“Lead the way.”
Outside the door, she paused for him to walk ahead of her.
“My office is just down there to the left,” he said, voice bland. “My name is on the door.”
Jade almost rolled her eyes. Of course it was.
He stepped ahead of her and she followed him, trying her best to keep her eyes at shoulder level, or at least on his back. But with her eyes on his back she saw clearly just how well he had filled out since college. His shoulders were so very broad, and his hips narrow.
Although she had never fooled herself into thinking she was over him the minute he walked out the door and left her ten years ago, she didn’t realize his presence would affect her so strongly, or so soon. Her body’s traitorous response triggered a hot flush of fury.
Ahead of her, he opened a door identical to the one that guarded Kingsley’s office. His assistant, a capable woman with purple hair and multiple piercings, greeted him with words Jade didn’t pay much attention to. After a few moments of conversation, he left his assistant behind and guided Jade deeper into the space that was obviously all his.
He closed the door behind them. For all of its magnificent view of Miami, the glittering water of Biscayne Bay, the amazing blue skyline littered with white puffy clouds, the office was very plain. He obviously didn’t spend much time there.
A spotless and bare mahogany desk sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. The leather chair in front of it seemed comforta
ble and brand-new. The long conference table identical to Kingsley’s looked unused. And that was all.
Jade spent a few precious seconds wondering where he spent his time before common sense came back to her. Then she let her anger handle the rest.
With the door closed between them and the rest of the world, she stopped being polite.
“What do you want, Carter?”
At first he didn’t say anything. He just leaned back against his desk and watched her. His look was intent and hawkish, like he was just eating her up with his eyes. It was unnerving, and unexpected. Only years of doing business with some of the most frightening people in the world stopped Jade from squirming.
“It’s good to see you again, Jade,” he said in his basement-deep voice.
I will not react, she told herself. I will not react.
But it was useless. Back in college, she’d always been surprised by the low voice coming from such a skinny guy. The depth of his voice definitely matched his personality. Even then, he had been stable, reliable and so sure of himself. He handled every situation that came at him with a maturity surprising for someone that young.
At least that was what Jade realized now.
Most twenty-year-old guys didn’t possess the maturity to get other college students to calm down and keep the situation peaceful. They didn’t know how to effortlessly get girls to trust them and not take advantage of that trust by taking them to bed.
It’s good to see you again, Jade, Carter had said. Did he really think so?
“I don’t see anything good about this, Carter.”
At least she didn’t want to. Ten years should’ve been long enough for her to forget about what happened between them and move on. But apparently, she was as stuck in the past as her parents had been.
“I came back to Berkeley and you were gone,” he said, immediately facing the elephant between them.
“Funny. I dropped by your room the day after we had sex and you were gone.” She tipped an eyebrow at him. “A little difference there.” If he wanted to talk, then dammit, they would talk. She took a seat in the sofa and put her briefcase next to her. “When did you come back to campus? A few days later? A week?” She knew the answer was neither because, fool that she had been, she waited even longer to hear from him.
He shifted against the desk, recrossing his arms. “About two weeks,” he admitted after a round of jaw flexing.
“Yeah...” She pursed her lips and found to her annoyance that his eyes latched instantly to them. He was such a man. “Did you expect me to sit there and wait for you to decide...whatever?”
“I didn’t think you’d just disappear from school, just like that,” Carter said, a touch of...something in his voice. “And then I couldn’t find you.”
Just how well did you look? But she wasn’t getting into that game with him. After he disappeared, she’d taken it stupidly hard, running back to her parents and seeking a shelter with them that she’d absolutely not found. It hadn’t been a game of hide and come seek. She’d been deadly serious and thought she’d left everything to do with Carter far behind her. Except for that one important thing.
And now he was here. They were here together, dancing around something that was dead and should’ve been long buried.
Jade needed it to be in the ground. Maybe then, it wouldn’t hurt so much.
“There was no reason to find me, Carter. That afternoon, I was stupid. I was just shocked I read Hudson wrong, that’s all. I didn’t know he and I were in an open relationship. Believe me, after I walked in on him and my replacement, I knew.”
Jade hadn’t always had a boyfriend in college. She’d gotten there single and naive and fallen immediately in love with Carter. But after nearly two years of pining after him, she agreed to be Hudson’s girlfriend.
Worst. Decision. Ever.
That disaster lasted until their senior year when Hudson cheated on her, using the excuse that Jade never put out so he’d needed to get his sex fix from somewhere else.
“You knew, huh? What exactly did you know?” Carter adjusted his stance against the desk. A tall mountain of a man with blazing brown eyes. Watching her.
“I knew I was better off with my boyfriend. Yeah, he was with another girl, but I was just angry. I was jealous. I wanted to get back at him and show him I could have some fun somewhere else too.”
“Somewhere else?” His look sharpened.
God, she wished she knew what he was thinking. But that transparent boy had vanished out of her life ten years ago never to be seen again.
“Yes. Somewhere else. I’m sorry I made it seem like more than what it was. I just wanted to see how different it could be with another guy. You were protective and it felt good to touch somebody who was...” Tender. Always good to me. “...just different in bed.”
Part of that was true, at least. Carter had been tender with her that afternoon in his sun-drenched dorm room. He’d kissed the tears from her face, licked her all over and touched every part of her that could give pleasure.
He’d been nothing like Hudson. Carter had gotten much further with his gentle touches and kisses than Hudson ever got with his threats of telling everyone how frigid she was. In the end, though, Carter had been just as bad. Worse.
That day, she’d been furious with her cheating boyfriend, and miserable. She only wanted comfort from Carter, the one person who showed her consistent kindness and understanding. But he used her body and discarded her, left her feeling worse than when she’d walked into his room.
Jade would never let him know that, though.
“I was just using you, Carter,” she snapped, finally stating it bluntly since he didn’t seem to get it when she used nicer words. “I just wanted a different man in bed for a change. Don’t think if you’d come back any sooner there could’ve been anything between us.”
Anticipating an angry reaction, maybe even something physical, Jade clenched her teeth and braced herself, hands curling around the edge of the couch.
But Carter only gave her that same devouring stare. His expression gave nothing away.
What the hell was she even doing?
This was stupid, trying to get a rise out of him. And why?
Jade sighed and trailed fingers through her low-cut hair. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. All that is in the past and we’re working together now so that’s that.”
“What if I don’t want that to be it?”
“I don’t care what you want,” Jade said.
Growling low in his throat, he pushed himself off the desk and moved toward her, but before he could reach where she sat, Jade jumped up from the sofa and grabbed her briefcase. Finally, a reaction out of him. But maybe not something she was ready for.
Carter slid himself between her and the door, a halfway-there obstacle to her freedom. “Wait,” he said.
“No. I did that when I was a dumb kid but that’s not my style anymore.”
His Adam’s apple slid up and down as he swallowed. “How long did you wait for me?”
An emotion moved across his face. Hope? Whatever it was looked out of place. This placid and nearly emotionless version of him would take some getting used to. At least until it was time for her to finish up in Miami and leave again.
If the handle of her briefcase were a neck, she would’ve strangled it by now. Why were they even talking about this? Yes, she was still mad, but it was nothing a strong glass of whiskey and another ten years couldn’t cure.
Jade released a slow breath. “You know what? It doesn’t matter.”
Suddenly feeling hollowed out, she twisted away from his infuriatingly calm face and headed for the door. She couldn’t look at him another second.
“Where are you going?” he called after her. “We still have to talk.” Carter hesitated. “About your work with the Diallo Corporation.”
“We don’t have anything else to talk about. Your troublemaking brother and I, though, he and I need to have a conversation sometime soon. Preferably in the next one to two days.” She gripped the door handle and wrenched it open. “Now, if you have nothing else to say, I’m going to go earn the ridiculous amount of money your company is paying mine.”
Without looking back, she walked out. The secretary didn’t look up from her computer when Jade walked past, the height of professionalism. How many pissed-off women had she seen walking out of Carter’s office over the years?
Not that it mattered to her. None of it did.
She just had to do this job then get the hell out of Miami and back to San Diego where she belonged.
Carter Diallo was a heartbreaker. He’d pummeled hers to bits before and she didn’t have a spare to offer him for a repeat performance. No matter how good he looked in a suit.
Chapter 3
Someone once told Jade she wasn’t the forgiving type.
It wasn’t true. She forgave plenty.
She just never forgot or gave people the chance to screw her over again.
Jade didn’t want to be that person, but she could only be who her parents raised her to be.
With her head swimming from their conversation, she left Carter’s office. Her exact destination was unclear as hell, but who needed a destination when getting out of his presence had been the only priority?
In the Diallo Corporation parking lot, she climbed into the silver Aston Martin Vanquish she’d had shipped ahead from San Diego so she could drive it while in Miami. It was an expense. Too much, really. But her parents had raised her to be cheap and thrifty and now, these days, she wanted to throw all of that away. So the Aston Martin it was.
Sleek, seductive and sexy. Basically, the car was everything she wished she was.
And it was what she’d felt like in Carter’s arms the one time they’d been in bed together. Despite the tears and her anger at Hudson, that afternoon with Carter had been a revelation. For once, she’d allowed herself to...just be. No fears, no expectations, simply pleasure and a heart-opening recklessness.
Her Perfect Pleasure Page 3
