by Eve Langlais
Keir snarled and grabbed a pen to toss at Xander, but he was already through the door laughing. “Bastard,” he grumbled as he gathered his supplies and headed to the conference room. But first a quick stop by his secretary to hopefully tame the scary hellion he kept waiting.
“Mr. Harper,” Keir’s secretary stopped him as he came out of his office. “I forgot to tell you, I called Mr. Kingston’s office and got you added into the database for possible matches.”
Keir froze in place as he registered her words, he’d completely forgotten he’d asked her to do that for him. Another thing to lay at his father’s doorstep. The man was determined to see him settled and his persistent meddling was becoming a major pain.
“Bess, I don’t know what I’d do without you, but in this instance, I wish you weren’t so damn good at your job. Any chance you can call his office back and get that canceled?”
“Sure, I can do that,” she agreed in puzzlement. “Mr. Kingston gave me the direct number for the manager of the project, a Mr. Clark Benoit. I’ll call right away and have your name removed.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Bess. You’re a lifesaver.”
“You’d work yourself to death, alone and sad. But good thing I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. It’s too much work to train you young guys properly and I’m too old to start over.”
Keir laughed. “You’re not old, and I’d never leave you. When I do have to go, I plan on stealing you away from here,” he said with a wink as he started toward the conference room again. “Oh, and can you do me a huge favor?”
CHAPTER 3
The insufferable ass was keeping her waiting for a meeting that he’d set up. Xander said he’d find him, but it was just plain rude. It was probably one of his women who he just couldn’t tear himself away from long enough to be on time. The longer she sat, the worse her temper became. By the time he showed his face, she was going to show him what a pissed-off Latina looked like and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Ally, I’m—” Keir began as he sauntered into the conference room.
“Don’t. Unless you are about to talk about the business we’re here to discuss, don’t say a word. I don’t want to hear it,” Ally interrupted with a scowl.
How dare he breeze in here like he hadn’t kept her waiting for half an hour and try to explain why he was late. She was not in the mood for his lame attempts at apologies. She wanted this meeting over with, she had a date with a bottle of wine, her tub, and a bit later, her trusty vibrator.
“I can explain, if you’ll just let me,” Keir tried again.
“No, let’s just get this meeting over with,” Ally said as she pulled out some papers and slammed them down on the desk in front of Keir. “Here’s my proposal. I need you and Xander to look it over and highlight any changes you want made. As soon as you approve it, I can get the campaign unveiled and start bringing in more business to XJ Financial.”
She watched as Keir cocked one eyebrow as he scanned the papers. Why did the manwhore have to be so damn gorgeous? She could feel her breathing quicken as he bit his lip in concentration, reading her ideas. Ally frowned as she realized where her thoughts were going; no way could she be attracted to the playboy, even if he did make her want to strip down and scream “Take me now.”
“This is…”
Keir trailed off as he focused on Ally. She fought back a blush as she saw his nostrils flare as he scented the air.
“Ally?” he growled deep in the back of his throat.
Ally jumped to her feet. “I’ve got to go, let me know when we can get started,” she stammered in her haste to run away from the tempting man staring at her with naked hunger burning in his eyes.
She could feel his eyes on her as she raced down the hallway. This wasn’t going to work. Her traitorous body was going to give her away; no way could she ever let that man know how he turned her on. Just the sound of his voice was enough to make her squirm in need. If he’d growled in that sexy-as-fuck voice for another moment, her clothes would have disappeared as if by magic.
Ally closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she pushed the elevator button repeatedly. “Come on, you slow bastard,” she mumbled. “Finally.” She breathed a sigh of relief as the doors slid open and she raced inside and pressed the close button. Just as the doors slid almost shut, a hand shot out and caused them to reopen.
Keir stepped in, followed by another employee. She glanced up into his smoldering eyes and quickly looked away. Lust burned bright in those beautiful emerald eyes. The floors ticked by as she felt his eyes on her, burning a hole. Five floors to go, she wasn’t going to make it. She was going to crack under the pressure or come just from his powerful intoxicating stare.
“Excuse me, this is my floor,” the employee said as he edged around Keir and stepped off the elevator.
She looked up in panic, saw she was alone with Keir, and jumped forward in an attempt to follow the man.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Keir said in a silky smooth voice as he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. “I need to talk to you.”
Ally fumed as she saw that he’d hit the button for the tenth floor, also known as the floor she’d just run from. “Let me go,” she demanded. “I have another meeting and you have no right to manhandle me.”
“I’m not, but you know you can’t lie to a shifter anyway. I can smell how much you like my hands on you. What would you do if I pushed the emergency button and stopped the elevator?”
No way in hell was she going to allow that to happen; the two of them in a small cramped place was enough to make her whimper in need. She had to get away, and it had to be sooner rather than later.
The ringing of her phone saved her from responding to his question. She pulled it out with a vow to kiss whoever it was calling, saving her from making a fool of herself with the manslut standing inches away.
“Xander, hi,” Ally said breathlessly.
“Where are you? I came back to the conference room and you both had disappeared. I wanted to look over your proposal.”
“I’m on the elevator on my way back up to you, actually,” Ally said as she turned her back on Keir and his sinful good looks. “Want me to bring them to your office?”
“No, that’s okay. I’ll meet you at Keir’s. I have to talk to him anyway. See you in a minute.”
Ally hung up and glanced over her shoulder at Keir. “Did you hear it all?”
Keir nodded slowly. “This isn’t over, baby.”
Right then the elevator dinged and she flew off without replying. She had a new goal in life: never be alone with him again. She wasn’t sure she could trust herself around him after today.
“Mr. Harper,” Bess called as she stood up and held out a stack of messages. “Can you please tell those women to stop calling here over and over again? It’s getting ridiculous. I can’t get any work done with the way they’ve been calling the last few days. This Jasmine alone has called fifteen times in the last two days.”
Ally stopped dead in her tracks and gaped at Keir. He had his secretary taking messages from his women now? This was getting to be too much. Whatever lust she had been feeling quickly evaporated under the disgust she felt for the scoundrel in front of her.
Keir sighed and glanced sheepishly at Ally before turning back to Bess. “I swear, I’ll talk to her again. I’m sorry, Bess.”
“Maybe she needs something stronger than a talking to, I explained to her that you were off—”
Keir quickly interrupted Bess with a wide-eyed panicked glance at Ally. “I understand, Bess.” He stressed, “I’ll take care of it, as soon as I’m done with this meeting.”
Ally frowned. What was she missing? It felt like they were trying to hide something from her, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure it out.
“Hey, you guys coming?” Xander called from Keir’s doorway.
“Ally, go ahead. I’ll be right behind you,” Keir said as Ally brushed past him. Whatever w
as going on wasn’t her business, she decided. Bess was probably just pissed that this woman had the audacity to call her to keep tabs on him.
“Hey, stranger,” Xander said with a wink. “I promised Josie I’d invite you to dinner. She wants to do a welcome party and introduce you to some of our friends.”
“You’ve got one hell of a mate there. She’s already made me feel so welcome, but I’d love to. If nothing else just to spend more time with two of my favorite people.”
“You’ve agreed, so you can’t back out now. Shawna will be there, as will Keir, and my friend Hawke and possibly a few others.”
Ally groaned. “You bastard. You did that on purpose.”
Xander laughed. “Hell yeah, I did. I know all about the tempers you women have. You may be shorter than me, but you scare the shit out of me too.”
Ally brushed her long brown hair over her shoulder and smiled. “My work here is done.”
“Now, down to business. Where’s that proposal?”
“I’ve got it,” Keir said as he walked in carrying the papers. “I ran down and grabbed them from the conference room. It’s brilliant, in my opinion.”
CHAPTER 4
A date. He needed a date to Xander’s dinner party, but how did he do this and show Ally he only had her in his sights? For the last three days he’d agonized over this, coming no closer to an answer. No matter what he came up with, it was bound to fail. If he went stag, it would look weird since he was never alone. He could play it off, but she wasn’t ready to hear the truth yet.
“Mr. Harper, I’m leaving for the night. Anything you need before I go?” Bess asked from the doorway.
“Bess, can I ask your advice?” Keir called desperately.
Bess cocked an eyebrow, but entered the room and sat across from Keir at his desk. “What’s on your mind, son?”
“Ally’s my mate.”
Bess smiled. “I know. You’ve been kind of obvious about it.”
Keir frowned. “What are you talking about? How have I been obvious?”
“Well, maybe you weren’t, but word has spread. All those women calling asking if it’s true, begging me to tell them you’re pulling a prank on them. Word’s spreading you’re off the market. Ally needs to be careful, some of those women are jealous as hell.”
Keir didn’t say anything as he processed her words. He’d thought he was doing the right thing by letting them down gently like that. Had he caused a potential problem for Ally instead?
“I wouldn’t be too worried, honey. Ally is feisty and has a wild cat buried down inside. So tell me, what do you need advice on anyway?”
“Xander and Josie are having a dinner party, they told me to bring a date.”
Bess bit her lip and tried to hide her smile. “I guess asking Ally to be your date is a no?”
Keir groaned. “She wouldn’t agree. Ally being my mate is driving my lion crazy.”
“It’s simple, you need to bring someone she won’t see as competition then. Someone nonthreatening,” Bess concluded with a soft smile. “You’ll win her over, I know you will.”
Keir smiled with more frustration than happiness. Oh, he knew he’d win his mate over. That hardheaded curvy goddess wasn’t going to be without his mark for much longer, but it was going to take a lot of fucking patience. Something he didn’t seem to have lately when it came to Ally. She drove his basic desires and all he wanted was to strip her, fuck her, and mate her. Not necessarily in that order. “Thanks. You’re the best. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”
“You’re a scoundrel, you know that, boy? It’s a good thing I love you,” Bess said as she made her way out of the office.
An idea suddenly went through his mind. A damn great idea.
“Bess, wait. That’s it,” Keir cried in triumph.
“What did I miss?” Bess asked as she turned around.
“You’re going to be my date, beautiful.”
“No, I’m not. I may not be competition, but it won’t work. How about you take my granddaughter? She recently broke up with her girlfriend and could use some cheering up. You two get along and there is no sexual tension between the two of you. It’s perfect. Ally can see how you treat a woman you genuinely like and respect, instead of those fill-ins you usually go around with.”
“How is bringing a beautiful woman with me going to help?” Keir asked in exasperation.
Bess mock-glared at Keir. “I’m going to let that insult go, because I know what you meant to say.”
Keir blushed. “Sorry.”
“Anyway, my point is that before the night is over, and I’d hazard a guess within an hour of you showing up with her, Ally will know the truth. But don’t you dare let that change anything. You treat my granddaughter like a princess, laugh, have fun, and for heaven’s sake, don’t ignore Ally.”
Bess was a woman. He should trust her. Still, his lion didn’t see how it was going to be that easy. Ally was too feisty and would see him bringing any date as a sign of his womanizing ways not being over. “I trust you, but I will say this plan sounds insane.”
Bess didn’t reply, just smiled and left, leaving Keir confused and reluctantly agreeing to her plan. What did he have to lose at this point anyway? He didn’t have a better plan and time was running out.
Keir jumped as the ringing of his cell phone startled him out of his preoccupied mind. He glanced at the phone and groaned.
“Hey, Dad. I’m still at the office so I don’t have much time to talk.”
“Make time, boy. This is important,” Kenneth Harper growled.
“If this is about me coming to the bank to take over, you can hang up now. I can’t deal with that while in the middle of this project I’m working on.”
“It’s not, but I still contend it’s the smart move. I was calling because I finally hired a contractor to do some work on the house. Redo the kitchen, add on to the back porch, and a few other things.”
“Good, you’ve been wanting to do that for a long time,” Keir said through clenched teeth as he waited for his father to get to the point of the call.
“I can hear that tone in your voice, I have a point, you pain in the ass. When you moved out, I converted your room into a home office. All your stuff you left behind is in the shed out back, which is why I’m calling. I need you to come get it.”
Keir frowned in confusion. “Did I leave a lot of things? And why now anyway?”
“Just a few boxes of stuff you had packed in a hall closet, old trophies and memorabilia from school and your friends. And now because I’m having the shed redone into a workshop and greenhouse so that when you do take over at the bank, I can concentrate on my love of gardening.”
“I knew you’d get in something about me taking over,” Keir growled in frustration. “But fine, I’ll get over there as soon as I can. I’ve got to get back to work before I end up sleeping here tonight.”
“One last thing. The annual bank party.”
“I know, it’s on my calendar. I’ll be there.”
“Son, don’t bring one of your girls. It’s time you settled down and started making a family and future.”
“So you’ve told me every time we’ve talked.”
“Fine, love you, son.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
Keir sighed as he hung up the phone. If his mother were still alive, he knew she’d keep his dad from pushing the bank job on him. It’s not that he didn’t want to take it over, he just didn’t want to do it under these circumstances. XJ Financial had given him the confidence he’d needed to be the successful man he was. He could bring that to the bank easily, but was it wrong he wanted to do it on his own terms though?
“Hey, bro, you going home anytime soon?” Xander called from Keir’s doorway.
“You’re still here,” Keir pointed out.
“Josie is meeting me here so we can head to dinner.”
“Is this an invitation and are you paying if it is?” he joked.
Xander l
aughed. “No and hell no, you cheap bastard.”
Keir shrugged. “Can’t blame me for trying.”
“What’s wrong, anyway? You looked upset when I first came by.”
“Just hung up with my father.” Keir scrubbed a hand over his face. Man, he was tired all of a sudden. “For once he didn’t badger me about taking over, it was subtle.”
Xander nodded but didn’t say anything; there wasn’t much he could say at this point. Keir knew it all and understood his friend would support whatever decision he made.
“Dinner is Saturday, you still good to come?” Xander asked in an obvious attempt to change the subject.
“Yes, and I’ll be bringing a friend.”
Xander cocked an eyebrow. “Your funeral, but I’ve got to admit, I’m looking forward to the fireworks. Anyway, Josie should be here any minute, don’t stay too much longer. Go home and relax, this will be here tomorrow.”
Keir nodded and wished his friend a good night before going back to the paperwork in front of him. His dating life and his father could wait till later, right now he needed to make sure this deal was the best he could make it for XJ Financial.
CHAPTER 5
“Good news, you’re all signed up and as soon as you’re matched, I’ll send you his information,” Shawna’s excited voice said on Ally’s voice mail. “By this time next week, you’ll be earning enough money to get your mom that treatment.”
Ally sighed in relief, finally something was going right. Now if she could just find some place to get dinner. She was starving and the thought of going back to her empty apartment and cooking was enough to make her cry.
“Ricardo’s,” Ally said as she read the sign outside the small restaurant. This was perfect; she’d loved the food when she’d come with Xander and Josie that one time. And on a Wednesday night, they probably wouldn’t be too busy, so it wouldn’t look weird to eat alone, she attempted to convince herself.
