His blue eyes sparkle as bright as the gold surrounding me. They’re almost unreal.
“Nice to meet you, Blake.”
Seth wastes no time. He, too, reaches for my hand. “Seth McDaniel.”
My eyes focus on his ring. A college ring, by my guess. I look at it, and then at his eyes, and then back to it.
For a man in his thirties to be still wearing a college ring, there must be quite a story there. Maybe he’s the third or fourth generation to attend the university? Maybe the school has a library named after his father? Maybe―I shake my head and tell myself to focus.
“Nice to meet you too, Seth.”
I stare. These two guys are straight out of Hollywood movies. I must look like I’m in a daze because Blake smiles and nods to Seth before waving to the attendant.
“Please, have a seat.”
The attendant pulls my chair out for me. This place is all class.
Blake and Seth sit across the table from me. I remind myself one last time that I’m ready.
“I’ve made preparations. So please, relax and enjoy,” Blake says.
“Oh. Thank you.” I nod. “Tell me, why is the restaurant empty today?”
Blake answers with a shrug. “I own the building. I bought them out for the day.”
Seth smiles wryly. “I told you she’d find that strange, Blake. See, if it were up to me, we’d be dining in one of New York’s finest. A place full of people, all jealous of our company.”
“Well, if it were up to me, I’d throw you out of the restaurant. This was supposed to be a private meeting.”
I speak up. “That’s my fault. Well, my associate’s fault. He double booked. I’m sorry.”
“No, no, no,” Seth says and waves his hands dramatically. “No worries. Blake is just being a baby.”
“Sorry, Leila. Excuse Seth, he comes from a long line of heathens. Very rude stock,” Blake adds.
Seth shakes his head; he’s no doubt heard that one before. But for me, this is getting uncomfortable.
“Please. Both of you.” I raise my voice a little. “Please stop.”
They stop. But I can still sense the animosity.
“I’m not listening to either of your proposals until you both tell me what’s going on here. Why are you two speaking to each other like a couple of spoiled brats?”
That should put things in perspective. At least I think.
“Let me explain,” Blake says. “Seth and I, well, we were rivals at Harvard Business School. He was a year my junior and had a tough time being in my shadow.”
“Your shadow was fat,” Seth mocks. “It eclipsed the whole damn school.”
“See.”
“Look, it’s more than that,” Seth explains. “My family has had the unfortunate luck of being in the same industry as the Jacobs. And these Jacobs, they get the prime locations, the best deals. They make the easy money that we McDaniels have to work twice as hard for.”
“Maybe if you McDaniels drank less—” Blake began.
“Fuck you, Blake!” Seth shouts as he stands.
Standing as well, Blake points. “Get the fuck out of here, Seth. No one wants you here.”
“Are you sure of that?” he says twisting his college ring. “Watch him closely, Leila. He lies and cheats his way out of shit.”
I reach my limit for this childishness. I stand up, too. I point at each of them and speak in my most authoritative tone.
“Sit down. Both of you. This weird feud of yours stops now. It stops right right fucking now or I walk out, do you hear me? Do you want me to walk out? Do you, Blake?”
“No,” he says.
“Do you, Seth?”
Shaking his head, he also replies, “No.”
“Good. Very good.”
I see Blake and Seth exchange a glance that I don’t understand. What’s that all about? I’m about to say something else―to try to figure out what that silent exchange is―but the waitress arrives with the appetizers before I get the chance. The food smells so good, I lose my train of thought.
“Bacon wrapped scallops and stuffed-mushrooms?” I end up saying. “Good choices. Now, I’m impressed. Let’s sit and eat.”
Chapter 7
Blake
I clear my throat and open my laptop. Maddie has prepared a little slideshow for me.
It’s clear to me that if I want to win Leila over, I only have one shot at this. With Seth right across from me, I can’t fuck up.
My slightly shaking index finger presses the side arrow key, and up pops a picture of one of those mouth-watering scones we’re all lusting after. I shoot a quick sideways glance at Leila to gauge her reaction, but she’s got an excellent poker face. I can’t read her at all, at least not yet.
“What I’m really talking about, Leila, is the Jacobs Empire buying the rights to your scones. We would take them to a level you would never be able to.” Fuck . It doesn’t sound as impressive as it is meant to.
Next slide. This one is of graphs, numbers, and pie charts.
I roll my eyes. This isn’t convincing Leila. It is not even convincing me. What was wrong with me today?
Where’s the hard-nosed business owner Blake, has he gone on leave? Yeah, leave of his senses.
I do find her presence slightly unnerving. Her sweet perfume is intoxicating.
“We will market your product so that every café owned by us will not only stock the scones, but display them in their window. Front exposure is what I’m talking about.”
I still don’t see any visible reaction from Leila. On the contrary, she seems a little bored by my speech. Time to ramp it up, bring out the artillery.
Leaning a little toward her, left hand on her shoulder, I start my sales pitch.
“Imagine this, Leila.” I feel her shiver a little at my touch, and I know I’m on the right track. “Billboards across the city with your picture, together with those heavenly scones. Each and every café serving them and giving them maximum exposure.”
I feel her quiver a little. Have I made it? Is she eating out of the palm of my hand yet?
I think she’s falling for me. I am sweeping her away in the moment. The momentum needs to keep going.
“Yes?” she smiles at me. That smile could melt an iceberg.
“The product would still be you. I mean we’d call them Leila Scones.”
Leila . I say it like soft chocolate melting in my mouth. When I utter her name that way, my cock goes rock hard. Lucky for me, neither Seth nor Leila can see downstairs. Discreetly, I drop my serviette onto my lap, just to be sure.
This is pure torture. If that idiot Seth had not ruined my meeting, the two of us would now rush into one of the executive suites of this hotel so we could rip each other’s clothes off, and I could pummel my cock into her pussy.
“So,” Seth interrupts and coughs politely. “You are suggesting limiting Leila’s success to a few cafes and giant billboard ads?”
The little prick’s smirk should be wiped off his face. It takes all my self-control not to punch him. Bad enough is he’s here ruining what should be the perfect business meeting; worse is he’s making insulting comments about me and my proposal in front of the woman I’m trying to impress.
I grit my teeth and try hard to maintain some sort of civility. “What do you suggest, Seth?”
Horrified, I see Leila turn her attention to my mortal enemy. I had her! Fuck, I was this close.
Seth, who is sitting on a chair across from us, brings himself closer to Leila. Now it is his turn to put his hand on her other shoulder.
“Leila,” he murmurs, and I can see her eyes light up with something akin to desire. “Think beyond one type of scone. Don’t limit yourself.”
“Think conquering the world,” he continues. “With my proposal and backing, you could become the next superstar in the culinary world. Together, we can explore and ride the flavor train. The world will become our oyster. Don’t sell yourself short. Aim high. Aim for the universe, and if you�
��re lucky, you’ll land in the stars.”
Leila laughs. My insides squirm as I watch her lips curl upward, a little dimple form in her right cheek, and her eyes sparkle. Don’t tell me the prick is going to outbid me?
Think, Blake, think.
“Leila.” I clear my throat and she turns toward me, slowly. She looks at me, back at Seth, and back at me again.
As she studies both of us, time seems to stand still. I can think of nothing else but wanting to explore those curves of hers with my hands, tongue, and cock. My penis has definitely taken control of the meeting; the brain has resigned and gone home. Good-bye.
My eyes stare at her soft luscious lips, with only a hint of lip-gloss on them. They’re begging to be kissed. Then I drink in her perky breasts, and I imagine what I would do to those nipples of hers.
“Pardon?” she asks.
“I’ll just go and freshen up,” Leila says, shaking her head, when neither Seth nor I answer. My rival and I jump up to help her out of her seat.
In our haste to impress this exquisite being, I bump the table with my hip. The wine bottle starts to sway precariously from side to side.
Seth’s lightning reflexes reach for the bottle, but he’s a fraction too late.
The bottle falls to the right and rolls toward the edge of the table. There it hovers for about a second or two, before it goes crashing onto the ground. Glass shrapnel bounce in every direction, and red wine erupts in a fountain after it is freed from the glass.
Instantly, the carpet is soaking up the liquid.
Leila hesitates.
A waiter materializes with a cleaning crew, and she walks off.
I stare after that delicious ass wiggling from side to side. What an ass.
Seth mutters something, and I turn toward him.
“Pardon?” I ask this time.
“Invicta,” he mutters and smiles.
Prick has to show off his Latin every opportunity he gets. What does he mean unconquered? Is she unconquered?
Not for much longer, and if it weren’t for him, I’d be in a room with her already, conquering what should be mine.
Time to go to plan B and get rid of Seth.
Chapter 8
Seth
My thumb moves my college ring from side to side. At the same time, I stare at Blake. He makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.
What should be a pleasant business meeting is turning into my worst nightmare. I cannot believe Blake doesn’t realize Leila’s full potential.
She has so much to offer. Buying the rights to her scones is a very shortsighted business proposal on so many levels.
“What are you staring at?” Blake barks at me, and I smile.
There’s a saying about ‘a dog who feels trodden on its tail barks’. Is Blake feeling threatened?
I stop playing with my ring and take a sip of water.
“I’m just thinking about the tough choice Leila has to make.”
Blake raises his eyebrows. He’s clearly not impressed. Probably neither of us knows exactly how we ended up here at the same time, but we’re both prepared to do what it takes.
We always have.
“Choice? Difficult? Those two words don’t go together when it comes to you and me, do they?” Blake is stretching out in his seat. “I mean, look at you.”
He points his right hand toward me.
I fold my arms in front of me. Blake ought to talk. When was the last time he got a makeover? At least I wear my blonde hair short and get Jules to put red in it to give it a more modern look.
“What if she’s not going to choose between us?” I keep my tone light and playful.
The gauntlet is thrown: McDaniel versus Jacobs, again, only this time the stakes are very different. We’re not vying for a business proposal, but the attention of a goddess. Who will emerge the winner this time?
Blake furrows his brow. I can see his mind working over time. He is struggling to come to grips with reality.
“I don’t think I understand?”
Is that a little quiver in his voice? Maybe his self-assurance is crumbling just a little?
I laugh. “You might have to share. Leila might choose us both, have you thought of that?”
For a few seconds, Blake says nothing. His eyes blink rapidly. Then he laughs.
It is the laugh of someone over-confident, someone who’s about to find out the hard way that things might not go his way.
“You really think so?”
“We might need to learn to share.” My tone is still playful and light.
Blake shakes his head.
I’m watching him closely. He’s struggling to accept my words. I know him too well.
“You wait and see when she comes back,” I tell him.
I spot her walk across the room before Blake. There seems to be a glow around her as she approaches us, like a delicate flower unfolding its petals for the world to see. There seems to be a step in her spring I didn’t see before.
Once she sits again, I pour her more wine. She smiles at me and takes a sip.
“Sorry I was so long.” Leila takes another sip.
“Not to worry, Leila,” I say quickly. “Blake and I are getting on like a house on fire.”
Leila laughs and looks from me to Blake.
“The best foundation of any relationship is trust,” I start the conversation again. Blake shakes his head a fraction. I notice it, but I don’t think Leila has.
She takes a sip of her wine. Once she puts the glass back down, her head tilts a little to the right.
“So you’re with someone?” I don’t really care. Even if she were, the guy would not stand a chance against me. I would go in, all guns blazing.
He would never know what hit him: roses, chocolates, sexy lingerie, expensive jewelry―the whole hog. Spoil her rotten and treat her like a queen. Whoever the guy is she’s seeing, he would not be able to keep up.
“A girl like you surely has a boyfriend,” Blake now chimes in.
A brief shadow passes across her face.
“My last boyfriend is hardly worth a mention. He was a two-timing, cheating prick.” This time she takes a big swig of her drink.
I suppress my laugh. How lucky for us. I don’t want to hurt her feelings.
Instead, I lean toward her before I say, “His loss is our gain.”
I make sure I emphasize the our and shoot a glance in Blake’s direction.
Clearly, Blake has not anticipated my strategy and is taken off guard.
Her head tilts even further to the right. I feel her leg brush against mine under the table.
My cock hardens instantly. I suppress a groan. Leila’s devilish grin widens even more.
Her slender piano fingers pick up a bread stick. She looks at it as if it were a treasure of great value. Then she ever so slowly brings it up to her mouth. There she wraps her lips around it and slowly sucks on it.
“It is good to see that you two are getting on,” Leila takes the bread stick out of her mouth to speak and puts it back in.
The flower is blooming in front of us. I shoot a glance in Blake’s direction, who seems to be clearly enjoying himself as well.
“You know,” Blake leans toward us. “I own this building.”
Leila seems to hang on each and every one of his words.
“And I could get us a deluxe suite upstairs.” He motions with his chin in an upward direction.
I nearly jump up straight away, but I manage to stay where I am, checking Leila’s reaction. Her bread stick has been eaten, and she now licks her lips. I love to watch the tip of her tongue caress her lips. It is an absolute turn-on, not that I needed it.
I was already hard as hard can be.
Blake stands, and Leila and I follow. She falls in step with me, and I soak in her scent, which is a combination of sweet rose and cinnamon.
The staff of the hotel bows as we walk past them and into the elevator. Now we are standing close together in a tight space
as the doors shut.
My hand touches Leila’s, and little electric shockwaves pulse through me.
I can’t wait to get into the room.
Chapter 9
Leila
My mind is elsewhere. Blake invites Seth and me to his room, but I barely register the walk there. I’m just suddenly at the door.
Blake opens it with his key and ushers us inside. I take a brief look around.
It’s over the top and extravagant, just like the restaurant—and like all things Blake touches, as I’m learning.
Once we step inside, I stretch my hands out and take hold of both men. I’m not sure they even like me. And I’m not sure I even care. I simply grab them both and pull them in closer to me until I can feel their bodies press into mine.
Do they like me? Is this a mistake?
The questions hang in my mind until Seth kisses my neck and Blake touches my breast. I close my eyes and melt. As I open them again, both Seth and Blake are showering me with kisses along my neck and jawline.
Seth stops. I feel his breath on my neck recede. “You’re tense, darling. Is there something wrong?”
I don’t know what to say. “I have to confess, I’m not sure why I’m doing this.”
Blake laughs under his breath. I wouldn’t have been able to hear him had he not been so close.
“Why do we do anything, Leila?” he says. “Why do we wake up in the morning, go to bed at night?”
“I—”
“Don’t confuse her, Blake.”
“I’m not confused,” I say, when I really am. “I’m just…” Totally un-fucking-familiar with having two guys ready to satisfy my every need at once.
Blake’s large hand runs down my dress and between my legs, where he cups my throbbing pussy and holds me in a gentle embrace. I feel my breath catch, and then, yes, my panties are soaking wet.
I may not be entirely sure why I’m doing this, but Blake’s hand answers another question: I want this. I’m insanely attracted to them both, and I want this. I really want this.
“We can stop,” Blake murmurs.
“No.” I shake my head. “Who said anything about stopping?”
I push Blake’s hand under my dress, so he can feel how wet I am for them. I then motion for Seth to kiss me.
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