Crinkling his nose as a slight blush crossed his cheeks, Adam returned his attention to the tablet and scrolled down the screen.
“You think you’re very clever,” he continued. “And you do come highly recommended.”
“Thought as much,” Kathleen answered. “Otherwise why would you waste one second of your precious time.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I see lots of criminal justice courses on your resume. Why stop there?”
“What do you mean?’ she asked.
“Law school. The next logical step.”
She could be brutally honest and state that it was a matter of finances, that she was already trying to make ends meet with a mountain of student loan debt pressing down on her shoulders. But she didn’t want one shred of his pity. And she didn’t want to appear like a woman with a desperate plan of action.
“I thought it’d be more fun to learn from the master,” she said, crossing her legs under her flared skirt as she leaned forward in her chair.
“Are you trying to flatter me?” he challenged.
“Would you like me to?” Kathleen asked. “Does that fit your particular set of needs?”
“Possibly,” he said. “But as the old saying goes, it’ll only get you so far.”
Kathleen pictured them batting this imaginary ball back and forth for the duration of the morning until the hour turned to lunch. Even as she felt sure that she could meet him swat for swat and possibly come out the other end with the match point in her favor, Kathleen knew that he’d want to know one way or the other if his selection was strong or if he would have to resume the search. And for her part, Kathleen wanted the course of her future determined. Whatever the path may be.
“Fine then,” she started. “Mr. Torrance, I---”
“Adam,” he corrected her.
“In a minute,” she said. “And then for good I hope.”
Pushing back in his chair, Adam folded her fingers behind his head and peered intently into her eyes.
“Exactly one minute,” he said. “Make it count.”
A sharp ray of sunlight suddenly poked through the glass, the spotlight that she had willingly stepped into. No stepping back and bowing her head; it was now or never.
“I know how this firm works,” she started. “I know where you are, and where you hope to go.”
“Know all that, do you?”
“Thought I had the floor,” she said.
“Of course,” he said. “How very rude of me.”
“No worries. As I was saying…”
Sucking in a deep breath as she rose to her feet, Kathleen felt like the executive she could be, that she was meant to be as she lightly pressed her hands to her hips.
“I can be discreet,” she said. “Ask any of the associates I backed up. Never breathed a word of one brief.”
“So you know everything that goes on here to boot?” he asked.
“I know that you’re about to represent the Hotchkiss Group when it comes to their mobile app patent,” Kathleen said. “And I think that you stand a better chance of getting the job done with me and my talents backing you up.”
Slinking out of her seat, Kathleen swallowed at the thought that she might have gone too far, said too much. But just because she kept her ears open didn’t mean that she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.”
“I see,” he said. “Spoken like a closing argument. But I’m the judge and jury here. And I’ve reached my verdict.
Kathleen’s shoulders dropped as he led her towards the door. She had overplayed her hand. Would he at least let her stay on and going back to slumming it in the trenches?
“Hope the chair was comfortable,” he said.
She nodded slowly as she bit down on her lip.
“I…yes, Mr. Torrance.”
“Good. Because you better get used to it. And let’s keep it Adam from here on out.”
“So I got it?” Kathleen asked, her voice cracking around the last word in her statement as he smiled brightly and patted her arm.
“Think it’s going to be… fun having you around, Kate. Sound like a plan?”
“Sounds perfect,” she said as she shook his hand, basking in the warmth of his fingers and the feeling that her life was beginning. New name. New job. What other surprises might lay in store?
Chapter 4
“Kate! Would you please come in here?”
Three weeks in. Naturally she knew that burning the midnight oil would be the price of stepping into Adam Torrance’s private circle. But Kathleen had never felt more awake, and she was certain that she was on the verge of setting a productivity record sans sleep.
“Coming,” she answered. They’d bypassed the intercom on the second day, and for that she was glad. No need for his voice to be so grainy when they were that close.
“I need you to go over these contracts again,” he started.
“Didn’t we already do that like three times?” she asked.
“Something suddenly even you can’t handle?”
“Not at all. But isn’t my time… our time better served going over what Walters and his crew think they’re entitled to?”
“Under normal circumstances, I would agree with you.”
“Because I’m usually right?” she teased.
“Because you’re doing the job that I hired you for. And doing a fine…”
His voice trailed off as his eyes moved down her legs and settled on her bare feet.
“Going for some kind of a Japanese vibe?” he asked. “Shall I call out for some sushi?”
“Adam, it’s just us now. You try walking around in heels for ten hours plus and see how it feels.”
“Think I’ll pass. Here. Read.”
Handing over a heap of papers, Kathleen started to protest again when Adam rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned around in his chair.
“I know, I know,” he started. “But good old Hotchkiss just remembered this earlier draft. And if the opposition is even half as smart--”
“I would argue that they have a leg up,” Kathleen said.
“And I would agree,” he said as he swiveled his chair back around to face her. “So eyeball it again. Let’s make sure that there’s nothing that’s going to bite us in the ass.”
“Yes, Sir,” she said with a gentle salute, and she was nearly out the door when Adam snapped his fingers. Facing him again, Kathleen waited in silence as he tapped the tips of his fingers to his lips and tilted his head to the side.
“How do you manage it?” he asked.
“Manage what?”
“Nothing ever fazes you,” he said. “What if I told you that the entire brief requires a do-over.”
“Does it?” she asked, hardly able to hide a hint of fear in her voice.
“Finally some cracks in the foundation?” he teased. “Nice to know that you’re human.”
“Hit me up with that sushi, and I’ll make it work.”
Adam laughed as he smoothed his hands down his shirt and kicked his feet to his desk.
“Think you should follow my lead,” she said. “Shoes on the table equal bad luck.”
“Maybe that’s why none of the other girls worked out.”
She nodded her head and waited for his compliment. Not that she needed it; at the end of the day her paycheck should have been enough. But it would still be nice for him to say something even sweeter.
“Maybe it’ll give me some of your stamina,” he said as he kicked off his shoes and reached for his phone.
“California Roll good for you?”
“I’ll take some tempura, too,” she said. “And a spider salad.”
“Who’s paying for all of this?” he asked.
“Your name is on the door,” Kathleen said. “Not going to take it out of my pay, are you?”
“No way,” he said. “Probably high time that we shared a meal.”
He seemed sad as he spoke the words, but Kathleen stepped closer and patted his cheek.
“Don�
��t look like it’s a death sentence,” he said. “I’ll share the tempura with you.”
Smiling, Adam took hold of her hand, and his lips just met her wrist. Kathleen felt her heart buzzing in her chest. If she was a different kind of girl, she might throw caution to the wind and fall into his lap right then and there. But she simply disentangled herself from his touch and winked.
“And I’ll get started on these,” she said as she waved the forgotten contracts before his face. Leaving the room on shaking legs, Kathleen was grateful for her chair, and she flattened her palms to her cluttered desk and closed her eyes.
The other girls. They tried to be something that they weren’t. That’s not me.
Needing to keep her eyes on the prize, she tried to make sense of the words on the page. From what she could decipher, Hotchkiss all but admitted that Walters had a right to half the profits and any sales that might come to a pass at a later date. A post-it note scrawled in Adam’s hand mockingly mentioned that the agreement had taken place over too many drinks.
Well look at that.
“So he never stopped to think who he was crawling into bed with,” she muttered. “Impulses can do you in every time.”
Maybe sushi and tempura and the rest were a mistake. Better to put her shoes back on her feet, make her own notes, and---
“Dinner’s on is way, Kate.”
Kathleen straightened up the length of her neck as his hands surrounded her shoulders, and a raspy breath left her lips when his kiss drew close to her hair.
“Adam, I think that---”
“Problem?” he said. “You knew the job had its… challenges.”
“So let’s get to it,” she said, wriggling away from him as she stamped the contracts on the surface of her desk.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he twirled a stray strand of her hair around his finger. “I was looking forward to getting to know you a bit better.”
“That… that sounds nice,” she said.”
“But?”
He perched on the edge of her desk and stared down at her, his finger under her chin. The sharp lines of his face nearly brought her hands to his cheek, but Kathleen held back and shook her head.
“What’s the problem?” he asked. “Hot date waiting for you somewhere?”
“Hardly,” Kathleen confessed. “But you have a gorgeous girlfriend, why do you need something on the side? Especially something that looks like this” she said softly looking down at her ample thighs.
For a second, his face went white, and Kathleen felt sure that she had found him out when he crossed his legs and folded his arms across his chest.
“And what if I do?” he said. “This is where I want to be right now.”
“Are you so sure about that?” she asked.
Adam licked his lips and leaned in to kiss her. She struggled some when he claimed her mouth, but he flooded her brain with unimaginable alacrity, and Kathleen brought her arms around his neck.
“Wait,” she said, backing away to suck in a clean breath tinged with the scent of rose wood.
“I don’t want to make the same mistake as the others,” she said. “I’m not that kind of girl.”
Adam rolled his lips over his teeth, and she was ready for him to bolt back to his desk and leave her to the stale box of crackers in her drawer when he shot her a soft smile.
“Maybe that’s very lucky for me,” he said. “Kate…”
He kissed her again, and Kathleen did not resist, wanting him even though she knew it was wrong. Collecting her cheeks in his hands, Adam pressed his brow to hers.
“Share a meal with me,” he said. “I think… no. I want to know everything about you.”
Chapter 5
“The trick is to plop the tempura into the wasabi ginger sauce,” she said.
“So you like it spicy?”
“Some things,” Kathleen continued. “I make a mean diavolo sauce. Maybe when this is over, I can return the favor.”
“That sounds nice.”
Adam set his plate aside, sadness wafting off of him in heady waves, and she reached across the cartons and took his hand.
“Do you really want to know more about me?” she asked.
As soon as he nodded, Kathleen moved closer to his side and loosened her braid. Her dark hair cascaded over her shoulders, and he pressed his fingers into her locks as he rolled her face around his hands.
“I already know that you’re pretty,” he said. She tried to look away, Adam held her face fast and kept her gaze focused on him.
“Thought you didn’t do flattery,” she reminded him.
“Only when it’s warranted,” he said. “And you’ve more than earned it.”
Kathleen’s lips parted to accept his kiss when he simply rested his mouth to her cheek and snuggled closer to her shoulder.
“But what about before?” he asked. “Before you made your way to my desk.”
“Adam, you summoned me,” she reminded him. “Or are we going to rewrite history?”
He laughed and kept her close, pulling her back to the rug and the warmth of the roaring flames. As Kathleen fell to his side, she focused on his smile and waited for his words.
“Point taken,” he said. “So who is Kate Bedford?”
“Didn’t you do you research before---?”
“Just don’t get cute,” he said. “Just tell me the truth.”
Feeling as if she was beaten and wanting to submit to his demands, Kathleen turned her head into the plush rug and let her gaze move towards the window.
“I didn’t grow up like you,” she started. “Not like dirt poor or anything. But scraping by.”
“You don’t make it sound so bad,” Adam said.
“It really wasn’t. But I wanted something more. Do you how many essays I had to write to cobble the scholarship money for school?”
“I never would have guessed,” he said.
“So you’re not impressed by my work on the brief?” she asked.
“Of course I am. It’s just that your fingers are still so soft, all of you is soft, and I like it.”
Adam kissed her hand, and she watched what looked like admiration flash across his eyes as he relinquished her hands and laid his head to her shoulder.
“Looks like you made a go of it,” he said. “You’ve come this far.”
“Is it… is it wrong that I want more?”
“No,” he said. “I’m pretty sure we’re on the same page.”
Kissing her again, Adam started to ease her blouse from her arms, the shared taste of ginger on their breath when Kathleen drew back.
“Is this… isn’t this why the others were shown the door?” she asked. “Once you got what you want, you had to make them scarce?”
“Is that what you really think, Kate?”
Having to nod in the wake of all she had heard, Kathleen turned away and hoped that she could make her way back to her desk when he drew her close.
“That’s not the whole story,” he said. “Not by a million miles.
“Then what is---?”
“Stop talking,” he pleaded. “Just come closer.”
Adam pulled her deeper into his arms, his lips bathing her cheeks before her stripped the blouse from her body. He seemed to hesitate as he hovered over her, and Kathleen traced the line of his mouth and longed for him to mirror her smile.
“I’m right here, Mr. Torrance,” she said. “Now what?”
“Now…”
He raised her hands to his shirt sleeves and bowed his head as he burrowed into her ample round breasts.
“Take off my clothes,” he muttered. “I need… I need you to touch me, Kate.”
“I think I can manage that,” Kathleen said. “Even if it’s not on my resume.”
She unveiled his chest and grazed her nails down his torso. Her fingers came to rest against his belt, and she started to unspool the leather from the loops when her touch came to a sudden stop.
“You’re not going to cast me o
ff when this is said and done, right?” she asked.
“I really don’t want to, Kate.”
“And I’m going to hold you to that.”
Straining forward to meet his mouth, Kathleen kissed him hard and pushed her hand down his pants. The force of his hardness elicited a gasp, and she steadied their bodies back to the rug.
“Are you going to hold me there, too?” he asked.
“Do you want me to?”
“Kate, I…”
His hand met hers, and Kathleen smiled as he fell into her stroke, his shaft growing even harder as she kissed the hair on the nape of his neck.
“Look at me,” she whispered. “Do as I say.”
Adam quickly honored her request, and Kathleen kissed his lids shut as she dragged her lips down his chest and found the precipice of his glittering tip. Thinking it would taste tarter than ginger and sweeter than rose wood, Kathleen was ready to wrap her wanting lips around his piece when he steadied her shoulders under his hard hands.
“Let me… let me feel the best part of you,” he said.
Lifting her skirt to meet his lust, she rested on the point of needing more of him, all of him, and her flesh started to encase his when she touched his quivering hips and hung her head.
“Don’t stop,” he said. “I want you, Kate.”
“Even now that you see me in the flesh?”
She could artfully hide her rolls with the right outfit but now she felt exposed, even vulnerable under his stare.
“I know I’m not that much to look at,” she confessed.
“You never let it stop you before.”
“No,” she continued. “But if… if you’re going to laugh at me then… then just get it over with right now and let’s call it a night.”
Because some things never changed. Thinking back she thought they might as she left the cold halls of high school and found herself on the enlightened quad of a campus. The boys were a bit kinder in college, but they never looked at her as anything but a funny friend that was good for a couple of beers and a quick laugh. Those that drank enough took her to bed, and she let herself believe that she could pull the reverse Cinderella, none of it ever having to change back into pumpkin. But with daylight, the mice and the tattered dress always came home to roost.
ROMANCE: BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE: The CEO's Game (CEO Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance) (New Adult Romance Short Stories) Page 2
