“It’s no trouble, I won’t hurt you.” He winced at his words: What reason did she have to think he would hurt her? Why put such an idea in her head?
“What are you doing here, Mr. Sinclair?” she asked, and he liked how she was direct, straight to the point, and how she made him fumble over his words, like a young adolescent bear cub.
“I’m sitting in my car,” he said, trying to think of something plausible. How had he ever survived in a business meeting when he couldn’t dodge such a simple question?
“In the parking lot where I work, at the exact same time I’m leaving?” Direct, straight to the point.
“I hope you aren’t suggesting I was waiting here for you?” he asked, feeling like he was back in the game again.
For a moment she looked flummoxed and genuinely scared, and he remembered how much her job meant to her. How much she needed the money to support her mom and two younger brothers. He should have pushed for the advantage, gone for the kill, and bent her to his will. He wouldn’t have to offer her money; he could simply blackmail her into his bed.
His bear rumbled in disapproval.
“No, of course not.” She took a step toward him; that was all he needed.
Leaning over, he opened the passenger door. “You look dead on your feet.”
She grinned. “So I’ve been hearing all evening.” Nervously, she ran a hand through her hair, and then noticed what she was doing and let her arm drop to her side.
“Let me drive you,” he offered, softening his voice for effect.
She tilted her head to one side and looked at him, really looked at him, and it took all of his willpower to maintain eye contact and not look away. Kelly was beautiful, sweet and obviously loyal.
But she was also his. She just didn’t know it yet.
Sighing wearily, she gave in and walked to the car, sliding in beside him. His breathing immediately quickened and he found himself inhaling deeply, not to calm himself down, but because he wanted to capture her scent. This was the closest he had ever been to her, and he wanted to absorb a part of her into his bloodstream.
If only she had been a shifter, too, he wouldn’t be in this state of utter confusion. She would have been attracted to him instantly and they would have fallen into bed and consummated their relationship. Why couldn’t life be that easy? He had battled his whole life to protect and provide for his family; couldn’t he have been given this one break?
He waited for her to do up her seatbelt and then started the engine, pulling out of the parking lot and headed across town. The silence between them became thick, as if a barrier was being built up between them that he found impossible to knock down. Glancing at her, he could see that she was nervous, and kept clutching her purse and looking out of the window. Was she thinking of jumping out of the moving car?
“What’s wrong?” he asked when he could bear it no longer.
“Nothing,” she said turning and smiling at him, trying to look relaxed, but he could read her body language, he had studied it in the brief moments he had been close to her, and he knew she was tense.
“We’ll soon be there.” He winced as he said those words and caught her expression. “You’re wondering how I know where you live.”
She turned to look out of the window again. “What is this?” she asked. “It wasn’t a coincidence you were at the diner, was it?”
He slowed the car down to a crawl. It was late, and there wasn’t much traffic on the roads as they drove toward what he considered a less than stellar neighborhood. “No.”
“So, what? What is this all about?” Did he really hear hope in her voice? He shook his head. No, she probably just hoped she was going to get out of this with her life and her job.
“I want to make you an offer,” he said, his voice tight with tension.
“I am not sleeping with you to keep my job.” Now he heard fear in her voice.
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
“Then what do you want?” she asked, her voice no more than a whisper.
“I want you.” He hesitated, for a moment, realizing just how monumentally he was screwing this up. “I want you to come away with me for a weekend.”
“What? Why?” she asked.
“Because I want you.”
She raised her eyebrows, and her voice kicked up a notch too, coming out as a squeak. “You want me to drop everything and go away with you for the weekend … because you want me?” She sounded stunned, and then her face turned to anger. “You really are a piece of work. You don’t think I have enough problems without you dumping this on me too?”
Her hand reached to open the car door; he couldn’t let her go. “Wait.”
“Get off me.” She pushed him back, although she wasn’t strong enough to overpower him.
“I’m willing to pay you.”
“I am not a prostitute,” she spat.
“Half a million.” Should he have gone higher? He would give his whole fortune to have her.
“What?” She let her breath go and her face went pale.
“Half a million dollars for one weekend.”
“You’re mad.”
“And you are desperate.” That cut into her, and he winced at the pain as if he had cut himself.
“So that makes me easy pickings. Like one of those small, helpless companies you are so fond of taking and crushing with your expensive shoes.”
She opened the door, and got out. As she slammed it she said, “Good night, Mr. Sinclair. I am willing to forget this conversation ever happened. I suggest you do the same.”
Then she was gone.
You blew it, his bear said.
Oh yeah, Jared answered. Since when had he forgotten how to treat people as if they were human beings? Since he had stopped behaving like one and become exactly what she had described him as: the type of man who liked to crush things under his expensive shoes.
Chapter Four – Kelly
Somehow, she got her hand to stop shaking long enough to let herself into the small, rundown house she lived in with her mom and her two younger brothers. It wasn’t a nice house, it wasn’t a tidy house, but it was home, and right now Kelly wanted the security of being home.
Pushing the door open quietly, knowing everyone else would be in bed, she stepped inside and shut it, putting her back against it as if to form a barricade. But what was the barricade for, to make sure Jared Sinclair didn’t try to force his way in, or to stop herself dragging the door back open and going out there and throwing herself into his arms?
Shaking her head, she looked down at the threadbare carpet and felt the tears, hot prickles in her eyes before flowing down her cheeks. Sliding down to sit on her haunches, she let all her emotions bubble out of her like an over-boiled pot. Hot and fierce, they spilled unchecked; only because she didn’t want to wake her family did she gulp down the heaving sobs instead of letting them spew out into the cold, dark hallway.
Unable to stand, she crawled on all fours, making her way to the sofa that smelt of her family, of spilt drinks and sticky fingers, of her mom’s cheap perfume, all mingled together into a stench of hopelessness. That was what Jared Sinclair was offering her. Hope.
Yes, it would come at a cost, but then everything did. The money she earned now came at the cost of her health, at the cost of her life, because right now she had no life, she simply had an existence. Working up to fourteen hours a day, six days a week, was no life. Any days off were spent doing grocery shopping and laundry, together with all the other chores her mom couldn’t manage.
She never complained. This was her way of paying her mom back for the years of self-sacrifice while she brought Kelly up alone. Their only happy period was in the three years when her mom met David, who offered them security, love, and a stable home. But her mom had not been able to deal with it all and had driven David away.
For a long time, Kelly had struggled to forgive her mom. It became a harsh lesson in understanding that everyone had their own needs and wa
nts, and often those needs and wants were unpredictable. What was good for Kelly, and the baby boys David had fathered, was not good for her mom. Or so her mom thought. Chained, that was how her mom said she felt. After years of doing what she wanted, she suddenly had to consider another person. Had to listen to him when he came home late, after a bad day at work when she was trying to watch her shows.
Wiping her eyes, Kelly thought of Mr. Sinclair’s offer. Was he serious? No. He couldn’t be. Why would he want her? The guy was gorgeous and rich, richer than Kelly could ever comprehend. If the rumors were true, he made more in a day than she would make her whole life.
Yet, she could not see why he would proposition her like that if it was a joke. Why would he risk her telling anyone? Because he knew she wouldn’t say anything. She needed her job, and that gave him control over her.
Closing her eyes, she pictured his face as he asked her to spend the weekend with him for half a million bucks. His expression had been strange. Not the usual hard expression he wore when he was in a meeting or dealing with a member of his staff who had not performed well. Neither was it the look of a man who might sneer at her and see her as an object, instead of a person.
No, if she tried to picture his expression clearly, she saw a man who truly wanted something. Maybe for the first time, he wanted something he thought was unattainable. He wanted her.
“Ridiculous,” she said out loud, and then hauled herself off the sofa, knowing she had to get to bed because tomorrow she had to go to work. She planned to walk right in as if nothing had happened, as if he had never picked her up from work and propositioned her.
However, when she collapsed into bed, her teeth clean, but her makeup still on, she couldn’t help thinking of him, she couldn’t help the heat that spread out from her stomach to pool between her thighs. Neither could she help the need to imagine him touching her down there, kissing her down there. Slowly she began to convince herself that she could take the deal.
Hell, if he hadn’t offered her money, she might have slept with him anyway. He had been featuring in her fantasies a lot since she had begun working for him. Many nights that dimpled smile would hover above her head while she imagined what it would be like to escape this life for just a couple of hours, into his bed. To know what it was to be made love to, for him to cater to her every desire, while telling her how beautiful she was.
By the time she woke up the next morning, she had decided that the money had only complicated the situation. That sleeping with Jared would be incredible, if only for a weekend. But she also knew that if she told him that, he would think she was needy, too emotionally attached and no doubt put her off.
So why not kill two birds with one stone, as the saying went. Indulge herself in being in the arms of a man who she had no doubt knew exactly how to please a woman, while also easing their finances.
Yes, she would have to find another job afterwards, but it would be worth it.
It would be worth it, not for the money but to be thought of as a person, a desirable person, instead of a daughter, a sister, a provider. Did that make her selfish?
Shaking her head, she decided she didn’t care. She was going to march right into Mr. Sinclair’s office and tell him she had changed her mind.
Chapter Five – Jared
Before today, Jared had never been afraid to go into work. OK, maybe afraid might be too strong a word, but as he parked his car in his personal parking space underneath the offices, he had to wipe the palms of his hands; they were sticky with sweat. He hadn’t been this nervous since the day he realized that it was up to him to save his family from ruin.
That was the day his life changed and he put aside his own feelings for those of his mom and his brothers. As the alpha male of the family, it was his duty and responsibility to keep the roof over their heads and food in their bellies. The saying a bear with a sore head was nothing compared to a bear with an empty belly.
His life before that was a blur, as if the memories belonged to someone else. Not Jared Sinclair, billionaire.
Getting out of his car, he grabbed hold of his briefcase and headed for the elevator, Jared pressed the button and waited for the numbers to count down. Normally this wait only made him impatient; today it could take all the time it wanted. If it broke down, he wouldn’t care.
Coward, said his bear.
I blew it last night, he answered. What was I thinking, offering her money like that?
You were thinking she needed it, his bear pointed out.
It was true: despite asking her to have sex with him in return for the money, part of him simply wanted to ease things for her, she looked so tired. Damn, he was already starting to have feelings for her.
There were other ways he could have helped her out, without involving sex. Maybe a fake lottery.
Simple, his bear reminded him.
However, Jared had forgotten what simple was. A simple life was not something that belonged to him. Not when his brain was constantly filled with spreadsheets, mergers, and acquisitions. Did he even have room in his life for a mate, for a woman to bear his cubs? Would it even be fair to have cubs when he would never see them?
No, he reminded himself. That life is not for me.
Stop talking yourself out of it, his bear told him.
What would I do without you? he asked sarcastically as the elevator door opened and he stepped inside, watching the door slide shut and wondering if he could squeeze back through it and run for freedom.
Stray thoughts of Kelly seeped into his mind. He could make time, for her. If he hadn’t blown it completely. He groaned, wondering how he had ever managed to amass such a vast fortune when he had acted so stupidly in this situation.
By the time he reached the floor where his office was situated, the urge to mate had been replaced by the urge to do damage control. Maybe if she risked losing her job, she would change her mind. However, he had to be careful, he didn’t need to be hit by a sexual harassment suit. If she hadn’t already filed one.
“Mr. Sinclair.”
“Yes, Rosemary,” he acknowledged the woman, in her fifties, with her hair scraped efficiently back off her face. Everything about Rosemary, the company receptionist, was efficient.
“One of the secretaries wanted to speak to you. A Miss Hanson. I told her you were busy, but she was insistent.”
“Miss Hanson?” he asked, and his blood drained from his face. This could mean one of two things: she was about to accept his offer, or she was going to ask for the money in return for keeping her mouth shut, and he would lose her forever. Damn, he was a fool.
“Mr. Sinclair?” Rosemary was looking at him strangely, and his heart faltered. Could she see the guilt on his face? Rosemary had always been good at figuring people out by the time they had exited the elevator and walked to her desk. That intuition was part of why he had hired her, and kept her on even when she had a long bout of depression.
“Yes.” He sighed, trying to remember how he would normally react. “Send her in.”
“Are you sure? I told her whatever her problem was, she should take it up with her manager, not you.” Rosemary had the phone in her hand, ready to efficiently deliver the message to Kelly once she had efficiently confirmed it with Jared.
“Yes. I’ll deal with her,” Jared said, and stalked away from the desk, trying to keep his composure. As soon as he was in his office, he had to go to the small washroom that led off it, and wash and dry his hands, as they were damp with sweat again.
He had only just made it to his desk and sat down, when there was a light knock on the door. “Yes.”
“Miss Hanson,” Rosemary announced, and then opened the door wide, her eyes efficiently fixed on Jared as Kelly appeared, sliding past Rosemary to enter his office, her arms folded across her chest and a tight expression on her face, which gave nothing away.
“Thank you, Rosemary. Coffee. Miss Hanson?” he asked, and saw Rosemary’s frown deepen.
“No, thank you,” she said.
“Thank you, Rosemary,” Jared said and watched as the door shut slowly, the receptionist taking a moment to check out the body language of each of them before she shut the door quietly. He was in two minds whether to get up and check she wasn’t eavesdropping at the door, when the phone rang.
“Excuse me,” he said to Kelly. “Hello.”
“Is everything OK, Mr. Sinclair?” It was Rosemary, her voice filled with concern.
“Yes. Everything is OK. Why do you ask?” Jared asked calmly, trying to infuse his words with a cool tone.
“No reason.” However, he could tell by Rosemary’s voice that her brain was conjuring up lots of reasons that everything might not be okay. “But if you need me, I’m here.”
The line went dead, and Jared found himself frowning at it, before he hung up. He would have to be more careful, or else the whole office would be talking about him. And he couldn’t risk losing his authority with anybody.
His eyes moved from the phone to the woman standing in front of him. “Please sit down.”
“I’m fine just here,” she said, as if she wanted to stand so that she could bolt for the door if she needed to.
“What can I do for you?” Jared asked.
It was her turn to frown, her eyes narrowing, fixed on his face. “What can you do for me?”
“Yes?” Jared leaned back in his chair, trying to appear relaxed, but relaxed was definitely not how he felt. The scent of her was drifting into his nostrils, and he found himself taking a deep breath, and holding it in his lungs as if trying to absorb the essence of her into his body, before exhaling slowly.
“You do remember last night?”
“What do you want me to say?” He stood up and walked around the desk, to stand in front of her.
“I don’t want you to say anything. I came here to talk to you about the offer.” Her emphasis was on the last word, and his suspicions grew.
A Bond to Bear Page 2
