by J. S. Scott
“I wasn’t ready,” I insisted. “I had to grow the fuck up.”
“I held you back,” Trace suggested remorsefully. “I should have questioned what you wanted before I settled Dad’s estate.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I answered honestly. In no way was my previous lifestyle Trace’s responsibility. He’d been young—really young—when he’d taken over Walker after my father’s untimely death. I had still been in college. I didn’t know back then what I wanted myself. By the time he’d separated our father’s assets, I was a billionaire before I’d even graduated. In my grief over losing our dad so young to a plane crash, and my younger brother Dane’s near escape from death, I’d been a coward, escaping into alcohol and endless parties after college. By the time I discovered that I didn’t want a pity-party-for-one, I’d already joined a crowd of other rich and useless people. Living that way had quickly gotten old, but Trace had been running Walker, and I didn’t know where I fit in.
Now, I knew.
I was able to apply all the work I’d done alone, pour my efforts into making a difference instead of being a loser who knew a hell of a lot about solar and wind energy, but wasn’t doing a damn thing to contribute to bettering the world with my research.
“This company was Dad’s. We should have always been partners,” Trace insisted. “I know Dane doesn’t want any part of it, but I should have waited for you to make a decision after school. You could have added so much from the very beginning. I didn’t know shit about that type of technology, and we were making so much money in other ventures that I didn’t bother to learn. You’re right. It is the future. Walker needed to step into future growth.”
“I told you I didn’t care,” I replied. Back when Trace had needed to settle my dad’s estate, I was still in school, and so devastated because my last parent was dead that I was almost numb.
“I shouldn’t have believed a damn word you said. We were all in a state of shock. You were young—”
“Like you were so much older?” I leaned back in my chair with a smirk. Trace hadn’t even completely finished school himself. He’d had to complete his MBA while he ran the company and settled Dad’s estate.
Trace smiled back at me. “I guess we’ll have to grow together. I’ve learned a lot from you already about looking at future technology. I am sorry, Sebastian. It’s good to have you here in Denver. And your talent is invaluable.”
He’d missed me, just like I’d missed him. I liked Colorado. Although it had been difficult to sell my father’s estate and other interests in Texas, I’d liquidated my assets to buy back into Walker, where I belonged.
I’d become too isolated and numb after my dad had died. I hadn’t realized how important my family was to me. My brothers were really all I had. The rich party scene had been an illusion, one that had gotten empty and put me into a downward spiral fast.
I owed my brother for hauling me back into the real world. It was a debt I knew I could never repay. My days were busy but useful. I liked that more than I ever could have imagined.
I shrugged. “I love what I’m doing here, and we don’t step on each other’s toes.”
Trace had never had any interest in doing what I was doing, although he asked questions and picked up on where we needed to go pretty quickly. We worked in different areas, which suited both of us just fine.
“You work too much,” Trace observed. “How late were you here last night?”
I’d been in the office until well after midnight, obsessed with making a good deal on the New Mexico property. “Not that late,” I dismissed.
“Bullshit,” Trace answered bluntly. “I called your place at nine, and you didn’t answer.”
“Maybe I had a date.”
“You didn’t. Hell, you haven’t gone out enough in Denver to even meet anyone.”
“I could have been screwing a hot secretary from the fourth floor,” I joked, then suddenly remembered the one female who had actually gotten me hard at first sight this morning. “I met the new female attorney in the elevator this morning.”
“We have a new one?” Trace questioned.
I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t know. People got hired and fired in the company all the time without us ever knowing. “Yeah. She looks like jailbait. Her name is Paige Rutledge. I can’t believe she’s old enough to be an attorney. Maybe she was bullshitting me.”
Trace leaned forward and started typing on the computer, focused on finding what he wanted before he answered. “She’s going to turn twenty-seven in a month. Graduated early from high school and had her bachelor’s degree in three years. Went directly to law school at Harvard after that.” He hesitated as he read something on the screen. “She has some pretty impressive recommendations.”
“So she’s brilliant, too,” I said unhappily. Maybe I’d secretly been hoping she was a fraud so my dick didn’t get hard every time I thought about her.
“Too?” Trace lifted an eyebrow suspiciously. “She must be hot,” he concluded.
For some reason, I didn’t really want to talk about Paige. Honestly, I wanted to forget my body’s odd reaction to her. “She’s attractive, but not in an obvious way. Would have completely ignored me if I hadn’t talked to her first.”
“Ouch! Was that painful? First time you’ve been ignored?” Trace said in a mocking tone.
“It was weird. You know how women usually react when we’re around.”
“I’m off the market. The female employees respect that. But yeah, even the male employees try to be overly friendly.”
“She asked me to give her some space in the elevator,” I admitted.
Trace grinned. “Maybe she isn’t into men.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s the problem.” I could feel some weird chemistry between Paige and me. I was willing to acknowledge it. Sadly, she wasn’t.
“She got to you,” Trace concluded. “Seriously, maybe she’s married or involved?”
“No ring.” In fact, I hadn’t noticed jewelry of any kind on her body except for a pair of tiny studs in her ears. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure. No, she didn’t get to me,” I denied, lying to both my brother and myself. “I just think her behavior was weird for a new employee. They’re usually overanxious about making a good impression. Hell, she didn’t even smile.”
“Maybe she was nervous.”
Remembering her curvy, swaying hips and confident tone, I finally answered, “Nope. She sounded perfectly controlled.”
“I think maybe I need to go down to the legal department later and check out the new employee who got you thinking about something other than our company,” Trace mused. “You haven’t talked about women since you moved to Denver.”
“No! Forget it. She’s just a junior attorney. Not worth your time.” I didn’t want Paige being nice to Trace when she hadn’t been nice to me. It was juvenile, but I was just that covetous of Paige’s attention, and I didn’t even know her. Jesus! I tried to think of the last time I’d been jealous, but I couldn’t remember a single woman in my life who I’d wanted to keep all to myself. Honestly, she might react to Trace the same way she did to me. But I had a feeling she wouldn’t. That was the moment when I had to admit to myself that maybe she just thought I was a dick.
Trace was my brother, and completely devoted to his wife, but the thought of Paige being more cordial to my brother than she was to me really did annoy me for some reason.
It was probably the fact that she’d definitely have more respect for Trace than she had for me, the ex-player and spoiled rich brat. I had no doubt that she’d probably heard about both of us during her employee orientation and pre-screening. If she hadn’t heard the rumors there, I certainly had made no secret of my past. I’m sure I’d been an embarrassment to Trace more than once when the tales had gone public.
“She has your nuts in a vis
e,” Trace joked.
“I think I need to get laid,” I confessed. “It’s been over a year. I guess I’m just starting to notice.”
“Over a year must be some kind of record for you. Maybe you need to start dating.”
It was a record, but I didn’t tell Trace that he was right. I had screwed around a lot during my party years, deliberately seeking out other rich party girls who just wanted the same thing I wanted. Mostly, I’d forgotten all about the women I’d had. I was usually too hung over and miserable to remember. “I’ve been busy,” I told him defensively.
“Too busy,” my brother admonished. “Find a good woman and get laid as often as possible. I highly recommend it.”
He would. Trace had a great life now, and Eva to run home to every night. I didn’t even have a dog. All that greeted me when I came home was the sound of complete silence.
“I might start thinking about it.” My answer was non-committal. I stood up so I could get to my office. “Right now, I need to get to work.”
“Sebastian?” Trace summoned as I was ready to walk out the door.
I turned. “Yeah?”
“When you meet the right woman, you’ll know it. If I had been honest with myself earlier, I would have admitted I pretty much knew that Eva was going to be the one who sent me over the edge soon after I met her.”
No woman was ever going to make me as crazy as Trace had been. Our makeup was completely different. I didn’t get insanely jealous, or even give a shit who else a woman was fucking. I wasn’t made that way. “Hasn’t happened yet,” I told him as I walked out of his office.
“I said the same thing. I wasn’t the kind of guy to fall hard for a woman. It had never happened. But I hadn’t met Eva. Be careful what you say. It might just sneak up on you one day.”
I knew he was talking about being in love, something I’d never experienced and was pretty convinced didn’t exist. I was a science guy. No way was I inclined to think that there was just one woman out there who could make me happy. The world had over seven billion humans, which made the possibility that I’d meet that one woman who supposedly existed only for me pretty damn slim.
Not that I was concerned about meeting a woman and falling in love. I wasn’t. I was perfectly content being single.
Since I’d grown up and stopped my senseless lifestyle, my job consumed me. Nothing could compete with the euphoria of closing a deal, or starting a new project.
My older brother was meant for marriage, and eventually, a family. I wasn’t. I was a prick when I was a player, and I was still equally disinterested in any kind of relationship now.
However, I wouldn’t mind getting laid occasionally.
After a brief hello from my assistant, I seated myself in my office that overlooked downtown Denver, almost immediately checking my schedule on the computer, and losing myself in work. I hardly noticed when my assistant brought me coffee, even though I’d told her numerous times that it wasn’t part of her job.
Swinging around, I finally took a sip of the lukewarm liquid and let out a satisfied exhalation, knowing that the caffeine would soon hit my system. Not that I needed to get any more pumped up, but I was pretty addicted to my caffeine, which was my only addiction these days.
I reached into the candy dish that sat on my desk, dutifully stocked by the same assistant who fetched my coffee. Since she’d gotten to know me, every piece of hard candy in the bowl was butterscotch.
“Sugar and caffeine,” I mumbled, realizing how much the little things could make me content these days.
I went back to work, losing any sense of time as I planned out what I wanted to get accomplished in the next week.
Unfortunately, I could never completely get a pair of cool, ocean-blue eyes out of my head for the rest of the day.
CHAPTER 2
Paige
What a conceited asshole!
I tried hard not to think about my brief encounter with one of the two owners of Walker, knowing I should have been more cordial. But Sebastian Walker’s charming demeanor and the way he’d looked at me had put me on the defensive almost immediately. His friendliness hadn’t been comfortable. Mostly, he reminded me of every rich snob that I’d come to detest.
Spoiled.
Entitled.
Ready and able to screw any woman he wanted.
Nevertheless, I’d been sweating by the time I’d left the elevator, disconcerted by his open greeting and open smile, but repelled by the way he’d surveyed me like he was trying to decide if I was worth screwing.
I put my attention back on the file on my desk, a real estate contract that needed to be completed. I loved contracts and legal documents. There was no questioning the written word. Things were either in writing or they weren’t. Everything was spelled out, the document perfectly clear on terms if it was done correctly.
It was my job to make sure the contract was perfect.
I looked at the clock, and noticed it was already nearly five pm. I’d eaten lunch in my office as I wrote the contracts that needed to be issued, being extra careful to scrutinize the verbiage. Wording was important, and I didn’t want to leave Walker vulnerable while trying to give them some wiggle room in case they needed it in the future.
A giddy flutter in my belly reminded me that I was really here at Walker, ready to start my career in law. I had a plan, and I had every intention of making sure my life went according to schedule. My first objective was to get to the top of the department, and someday be Chief Council at Walker, a position that was currently held by Daniel Hurst. Mr. Hurst was a highly respected attorney, a man who would eventually be retiring in a few years. By then, I wanted to be at the top of the ladder instead of writing and reviewing contracts.
Not that I wasn’t grateful for my entry-level job at Walker. Nobody had been more stunned than me when I got a job with a prestigious company like Walker Enterprises, especially considering my lack of experience.
My move from the East Coast had been uneventful, but I had to admit that I’d been anxious to start my job. My new apartment was too quiet, and I was missing my best friend, Mackenzie, like crazy. I didn’t have any friends here in Denver, so the separation from Kenzie, after so many years of being together in our small apartment in Cambridge, was torture. Kenzie had taken a job in New York, so she’d left our apartment a few months before me. I’d wanted something in business law, so I’d applied for every open position I could find, somewhere away from the East Coast. I’d expected some response, but never from a company as enormous as Walker.
I waved at some of the departing attorneys that I’d met earlier as they passed my office. Even Mr. Hurst was going out the door.
Once everyone was gone, I sat in the silent office, pretty sure I was the only person left in the area.
Putting my head down, I got lost in work, not allowing myself to think about leaving. Technically, I should be going home. But there was nothing and no one waiting there for me. I’d actually rather be here.
“Hell, I don’t even have a cat,” I mumbled to myself as I looked from my notes to my computer screen, trying to make sure the wording was exactly as I wanted it.
When I printed out the final contract I’d been assigned, then shut down my computer, it was dark and after nine o’clock. My stomach growled from lack of food, but I was otherwise content. The boss would be pleased. Mr. Hurst had assumed the contracts would keep me busy for a few days. I’d finished in one day, and I was ready to move on to something else.
I left the office feeling upbeat, like I’d accomplished everything I possibly could on my first day. It was going to take long hours to work my way up in the company, but I was up to that. What else did I have to do? Upward mobility was part of my plan and next on my list of things to accomplish.
As I walked to the elevator, I cracked a small smile as I thought about how Kenzie teased me about my lac
k of a social life. Throughout law school, I’d had to work, and I had studied a lot. I couldn’t afford to get myself off-track. Focus was the only thing that got me through the day.
In my undergrad days, I’d been a lot more social, and I had attended quite a few parties. Then, one awful day, everything had changed. By the time I entered law school, all I’d wanted was to keep control over my life. And I did.
I might not be the life of the party anymore, but it doesn’t matter.
One of the elevator doors whooshed open, startling me into reality as I hurried toward the lift. I stopped short of entering as I saw an exhausted-looking Sebastian Walker leaning against the back wall, smirking as he saw me.
Damn! What are the chances we’d end up in the same elevator…again!
“I don’t bite, Paige, unless you want me to,” he said in a low baritone that slithered slowly down my spine.
Everything about Sebastian made me uncomfortable, but his low, Texas drawl had instantly been my weakness. It was obvious he was highly educated, and the sophisticated accent was different; subdued but not quite tamed.
All I wanted was to let the doors close and take the next available transport down. But I didn’t. I had absolutely no reason to avoid Sebastian Walker, or so I told myself. Lifting my chin, I moved into the small space and stayed near the door, stupidly pushing on the Lobby button, even though it was already lit. Logically, I knew slamming the hell out of the elevator panel wouldn’t make the doors close faster, or the elevator go any quicker. In fact, continuing to push for a floor that was already selected was an incredibly ignorant thing to do, but Sebastian Walker rattled me, dammit.
Finally, I stopped slamming on the lighted knob like a freak, and turned around briefly to acknowledge the only other person in the elevator. “Mr. Walker.” I nodded at him.
“How was your first day?” he asked politely. “Why are you still here? Everybody in legal knocks off around five.”
