by Tanya Kelly
This time, she couldn’t hold back the moan as Damon’s hand moved between her legs, parting her folds to find her slick and wet.
Oh geez, waking up in his arms had been great. But waking up to this…was heaven.
* * * *
The rain poured heavily, the sky black and dreary, reflecting his mood. Damon stood under the umbrella and stared at his uncle’s headstone. He’d never been back—not since the funeral.
But today, he had a big decision to make. He’d left Beechfield quite early for the drive to Willow Lake. Mark had wanted to join him but Damon had to do this part alone. He’d stopped on the way at his uncle’s grave to remind himself of what was at stake.
Because lately doubt had been eating at him. Which was mostly as a result of Kim.
It had been a few days since they’d travelled to Toronto together and he knew he’d broken through some barriers that night. She was opening up to him and he sensed she had feelings for him that went deeper than lust.
But while he could taste success, he could also taste regret and doubt like bitter acid in his gut. There was no denying Kim had gotten under his own skin, causing him to second-guess everything, wondering if he should let go of the past, of his anger.
Then Mark had informed him it was done. Mr. Morrison was ready to sign and sell his business to Black Industries. Still undecided, Damon told Mark, he would take the last meeting with Mr. Morrison and get the paperwork signed. This meeting would decide his course of action.
He said a silent good-bye and got back into the car, driving the short distance from the cemetery to the offices of Morrison Holdings. He greeted the receptionist and she asked him to take a seat and Mr. Morrison would be right with him.
Almost twenty minutes later, Damon was growing immensely impatient. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, scowling at the time. It was a text from Kim. He read the message, his eyes widening.
“Which do you prefer to see on me tonight?” The text was accompanied by a picture of two white thongs with something written on the front. He zoomed in on the picture and saw one read, “All you can eat” and the other read, “Take this off and fuck me.”
Damon threw back his head and laughed, forgetting his surroundings. The receptionist looked up and frowned but Damon just smiled back.
“Either cause I plan to do both,” he texted back.
“Oh goody, I was hoping you’d say that,” came Kim’s quick reply.
Damon chuckled again, this time more quietly.
“Mr. Morrison will see you now.” The receptionist interrupted his lustful thoughts. Damon stood and pocketed his phone. Uncertainty crowded his mind again. If he proceeded with his plan, it would mean the end to his time with Kim. She would hate his guts and never want to see him again.
The thought left an ache inside him. Fuck! Either decision sucked. Lose Kim or let the Morrisons get away with their vile behavior years ago.
The receptionist indicated a door on her right for Damon to enter and he braced himself. He recognized Paul Morrison, Kim’s father, immediately. His hair was not pure white, his face weathered, but he still had an arrogance around him that Damon had never forgotten. He knew the other man must be Simon Huester, his Chief Financial Officer.
They both looked up from their papers when Damon cleared his throat. The room was silent. Damon waited to see if Paul recognized him. The older man scrutinized him and narrowed his eyes but said nothing.
“Good day, gentlemen,” Damon finally said. He extended his hand to Paul. “I’m Damon Black, President of Black Industries.”
Paul hesitated before finally shaking his hand. “Paul Morrison,” he replied gruffly. “I thought we were meeting with Mark Dasilva today and that you were too busy.”
He didn’t appear to recognize him but Damon could hear the disdain in his voice. “I thought it was important that I close this deal,” he replied coolly.
Paul regarded him closely before introducing the other man. “I’m sorry, have we met? You look familiar to me.”
“We have,” Damon replied as they all took their seats around the table. “But it was years ago so I’m not sure you’d remember.”
“I never forget a face,” Paul said, still studying him. “How did we meet?”
Damon laced his hands together over the desk and leaned forward. “I used to work for my uncle, Tom Black, twenty years ago. I knew your daughter, Kim.”
Damon let his words sink in and realization dawned in Paul’s eyes. His face registered first disbelief and then his lips curled in contempt.
“This meeting is over,” he snarled, snapping closed his book and standing. Simon looked from Damon to Paul in bewilderment before finally standing as well. “My company is not for sale. At least not to you.”
Damon remained sitting, his emotions completely masked. Paul opened the door to the boardroom and raised his eyebrows at Damon. “We’re done here.”
“I believe you may want to hear what I have to say,” Damon replied.
“There is nothing you can say that will change my mind,” he sneered.
“That’s fine, although Simon here might disagree with you.” Both men stopped and looked at him. “After all, I’m sure he’d prefer my offer over jail, even if you don’t.”
The briefest look of shock crossed Paul’s face before he masked his features. Simon on the other hand looked very nervous. “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about your business with Saunders,” Damon said.
Papers fluttered from Simon’s hand and he quickly moved to scoop them up, his face flushed with a thin line of sweat.
Paul closed the door but didn’t sit down. “What about it? We have contracts with them, so what?”
Damon stood and towered over him. “False contracts which you’ve been using with Simon’s help to embezzle thousands of dollars from the company.”
“That’s a lie,” Paul said, his voice rising, trying for false bravado, but Damon was like a shark in business meetings and he could smell blood.
“I never lie about business and I never make accusations I can’t back up.”
“Bullshit, and no one is going to believe your lies anyway. Your name around this town is dirt,” Paul boasted.
Big mistake. Damon went in for the kill.
He picked up the papers in his briefcase and slid them across the desk, toward Simon. “I think you’ll recognize your books. Even if they aren’t the ones you show the bank.”
Simon picked up the papers and rifled through them. His face paled and he looked at Paul, pleading with his eyes.
“Those are just copies and not the only piece of evidence I have.”
Paul came back to the table and sat down, his shoulders slumped. “What do you want?”
“To buy your company,” Damon replied. “However, not for the amount we originally discussed.”
He wrote on a piece of paper and slid it to Paul. “This is the amount I’m now offering.”
Paul looked up the paper and threw it back at Damon. “That’s a joke. The company is worth five times that. I don’t—”
“I’m not done,” Damon interrupted. “You will also pay back the quarter of a million dollars you embezzled from the company.”
“I don’t have that kind of money,” Paul shouted, his face growing purple with rage.
“Sell the house and use it to pay the company back.” Damon put up his hand when Paul started to argue. “I know there is enough equity in it. And my third caveat to buying your company is that you move the hell out of Willow Lake and never look back.”
Paul looked like he was ready to burst with anger. The hatred in his eyes made them almost black as he stared at Damon.
“Those are my terms. Decline them and I will alert the authorities of your criminal activities and you will spend years in jail.” Damon pulled out some papers from his briefcase. “I have everything ready for your signature.”
“Why are you do
ing this? Is this your sick idea of revenge?” Paul asked.
“Let’s just say you’ve been riding the gravy train for too many years, crushing anyone that got in your way with little thought of them. Perhaps now you will understand how that feels,” Damon replied.
Paul swallowed and Damon could see the wheels turning. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight. While Simon hadn’t said anything and looked like he was going to be sick.
“You’re ruining my life. What about my wife? My daughter? I thought you once cared about Kim but I guess I was right all along and you were just after our money.”
Damon narrowed his eyes at the older man as bitterness rose in his throat. “What about my uncle and how you ruined his? You actually made an innocent man mortgage his house and fall into debt to pay for stolen jewelry that was never stolen in the first place.”
Fighting to regain his composure, Damon took a deep breath. “Why did you do it? Did you need the money that bad even back then?”
“It was never about money,” Paul replied, his face a mask of hatred. “You could never be with my daughter and she was too stupid to see that. Talking about leaving town with you. We had to make her see what we knew deep down you really were. A good for nothing nobody.”
“So you had me accused of stealing from you and my uncle had to pay the price.”
“You’d stolen before so I’m sure it was only a matter of time before you did again,” Paul retaliated. “As for your uncle, his only misfortune was being related to you.”
Damon swore viciously, his anger getting the best of him. Just after his mother died, he’d been acting out, grieving and full of hatred for the whole world. He’d gotten involved with the wrong crowd. They’d been drinking one night and broke into a home. Damon immediately had second thoughts and urged them to all leave. But the rest of the gang wasn’t ready until they’d found some valuables to take with them. But the cops had come before they’d gotten out and they had all been arrested.
The judge seemed to take pity on Damon, seeing no previous criminal history and the recent death of his mother. He had received an absolute discharge and therefore after one year, it was removed from his criminal record.
“You must have a few cops in your pocket to have obtained that information,” Damon said through clenched teeth. He recalled his uncle’s lawyer telling him his fingerprints had been found all over the Morrison bedroom, which he’d never stepped foot in. So he wasn’t surprised Paul knew about his past. His so called friends at the police department must have dug up his past and agreed to lie for Paul about Damon’s fingerprints being found.
Paul’s smug smile confirmed his thoughts. “You won that round. You got me out of Kim’s life and received a hefty sum of money for jewelry you still had from a man who had very little. My uncle struggled to make ends meet after that. Do you even have any idea what you cost Tom? He lost everything, including his family home. He even hawked the wedding ring from his dead wife to pay for your lies. I hope keeping your daughter away from me was worth the pain you caused Tom.”
Damon thought he saw a flash of guilt come over Paul’s face but then it was gone. “I did what I had to so my daughter wouldn’t make the biggest mistake of her life.”
“Except now, it turns out to be the biggest mistake you ever made and it will cost you—dearly,” Damon replied. He pushed the stack of papers on the desk toward Paul. “Here are the contracts the lawyers drew up. I suggest you sign them. Unless you prefer jail.”
Both men sat still and stared at the papers. Damon could see Paul scrambling for an out but he’d covered all his bases and knew there was no way he’d slither out of this if he didn’t want to be accused of fraud and embezzlement. Finally Simon pulled the contracts closer and started to review them.
“They haven’t changed since you last read them,” Damon indicated. “Except the amount you will be receiving in the sale.”
Simon turned toward Paul and gave him another pleading expression, panic in his eyes. Paul looked at the papers briefly and then back up at Damon, his eyes blazing with contempt.
Damon watched as he signed the contracts, waiting to feel victorious. But he felt nothing. At the beginning of his meeting, he hadn’t even been sure if he would proceed with his plan. But all the bitterness returned from the moment Paul started hurling his insults. He deserved everything Damon was doing and more.
Except, once Paul told Kim about this, she would be furious. She’d know Damon entering her life was no coincidence. His plan had been to get Kim to fall in love with him, destroy her father, and break her heart. Damon wasn’t certain if he’d succeeded in getting Kim to fall in love with him but he knew she cared for him again and that would have to be enough.
So why did he feel like the biggest swine in the world? Guilt was eating at him and the thought of never seeing her again left him empty.
He wasn’t ready to let her go—just yet.
After all the documents had been signed, Damon put them in his briefcase. “The lawyers will be finalizing the details and my VP Mark Dasilva and a team of people will be arriving tomorrow morning to take over. You can make the announcement to your people then. After that, as agreed, your employees will all have jobs, but you will no longer be needed.”
“You may feel like you’ve won and gotten your revenge but it was all worth it for me to keep you away from my daughter,” Paul spat.
“Actually, you’ve brought me to my third demand.” Damon leaned forward, both men staring daggers at one another. This demand hadn’t been planned but just occurred to him. He was reaching but hoped it could buy him some time.
“You can’t make more demands after I sign,” Paul retorted.
“Watch me,” Damon replied. “I do still hold the proof of your fraud and embezzlement.”
“What else could you possibly want?”
“Your daughter,” Damon said and watched as all the blood drained from the older man’s face.
Chapter Ten
Kim heard the door chime and let out a sigh. What a busy evening. Not that she was complaining. She was starving however and snuck into the back room for a quick bite of the leftover pasta she’d just heated.
Customer first. Food later.
She pasted a smile on her face and went back to the front of store. Her smile faltered for a second when she recognized Chantal Lamontagne, the General Manager of Damon’s resort she’d met at the charity auction. The one who’d seemed quite friendly that evening with Damon.
“Hello, Kim,” Chantal said warmly.
“Hi, Chantal. Nice to see you,” Kim replied. She tried not feel jealous as she approached the woman but it was hard not to. She was stunning. Medium length, dark brown, glossy hair framed a beautiful heart-shaped face. Stupid jealousy reared its ugly head even though she had no reason to be. She had no claim to Damon for starters, plus she had no idea if Chantal and Damon were even more than professional colleagues.
Although based on their interaction, she suspected they were at least friendly.
“How can I help you?” Kim asked.
Chantal smiled, her hazel eyes sparkling with excitement. “I need something special, for someone very special.”
Kim returned her smile, getting caught up in Chantal’s open friendliness. “Interesting. Something to wear underneath your clothing that can be seen later? Or something to change into?”
Chantal giggled and looked around the store as if to make sure they were alone. “I want to wear it underneath my clothing but something that will drive a man to his knees.”
Kim chuckled and nodded her head. “I think I have just the thing that will look amazing on you.”
She steered Chantal toward the back of the store and pulled out some items from a drawer. “I just got this in so I haven’t had time to put it on display yet but it would be perfect with your skin tone, and I personally guarantee it will drive a man to his knees.”
She held up the item for Chantal to see.
“Oh m
y God, that is perfect,” the other woman cried, clapping her hands. “Can I try it on?”
“Of course,” Kim replied and after discussing sizing, she brought Chantal over to a change room. “Let me know if you need a different size.”
She busied herself tidying up as Chantal tried the lingerie on, burning with curiosity about this woman and her special night. Seems everyone was having special nights except her. Lacey had left early to have some quality time with Reilly and now Chantal was here asking for her sexiest lingerie.
Meanwhile she hadn’t seen Damon in a couple days. He said he had some business out of town and would call her when he got back but she hadn’t heard from him, which only proved how screwed she was.
Only two days since she’d seen him—yet it had been the longest two days of her life. She didn’t even know when she would hear from him so she hadn’t really made any plans in case he called.
Fuck! She never waited on a man and certainly never kept her schedule open in the slight possibility he would call.
“Kim?” Chantal’s voice called from the change room.
“Yes, do you need another size?”
“I don’t think so, but can I get your opinion?”
“Absolutely. May I come in?” Kim replied.
Chantal opened the curtain and Kim’s mouth dropped open. She hadn’t seen this new item on anyone yet and the brunette looked gorgeous in it. It was a black and gold bustier that pushed her generous breasts up quite high, showing an extraordinary amount of cleavage. The gold looked amazing against her olive skin tone and accentuated her very narrow waist.
Chantal was still clad in her black dress pants, having just tried on the bustier but even that looked sexy as hell together. The bustier came with a black and gold lacy thong and had garters attached.
“You will most definitely have him begging and pleading once he sees you in this,” Kim finally said when she found her voice.
Chantal beamed from ear to ear as she stared at herself in the mirror. “I’ll take it,” she said with a giggle. “And the thong and I’ll need some thigh highs to go with.”
