She looked over her shoulder and back at me. “You’re down here a lot and people are…worried.”
“Shit.” That was the last thing I wanted. “No, I just like the energy in this department, the colors and sketches all around.” But if it was making them uncomfortable, I would stop. “I, uh…I should…I’ll just go,” I told her and turned to leave.
“No, it’s okay, really.” April looked uncomfortable again and Blake Sayers’ words popped up in my head. Running OAA wasn’t the same as running my small design firm that was me and two other freelancers. I didn’t have the skills to deal with all these personalities. I ran my own business more casually.
“I really would like to see the new thermals when they’re done. Reggie did a good job.”
“Sure thing,” she smiled politely. “And Poppy?”
“Yeah?”
“We’re happy you’re here. The board wants to run this place like it’s the seventies,” she rolled her eyes. “And not the feathered hair and bell bottoms seventies. I’m talking shag carpeting and avocado linoleum.”
I laughed. “Thank you for saying that, April. You guys are doing great,” I called out so the rest of them could hear and then made my way back up to the executive offices.
“I tried to find you Poppy, but you left your cell in your office,” Talia was my best friend who was also acting as my assistant while I figured out if I would be CEO or former CEO. “Sayers is back.”
I groaned. “What now?” She shrugged but I didn’t have to wait long to find out because he stood, like a far too good looking Phoenix rising from the ashes, and grinned. “Did you think of more ways to insult me?”
His skin flushed pink and he shook his head. “I did not.”
“Then why are you here, Mr. Sayers?” I crossed my arms and Talia disappeared silently.
“I was hoping we could do something, maybe have a meal together, get to know each other a little better.” He flashed a smile and I won’t lie, it was a killer smile complete with dimples and those tiny little lines that said he enjoyed life when he wasn’t chained to a desk. His blond hair was just on the wrong side of tame, but somehow, he made it look perfectly groomed. That hint of wave made him look more charming than intimidating.
Too bad I no longer went for charming. I didn’t go for anyone or anything really, where relationships were concerned, but I especially stayed away from the ones who oozed charm. They were dangerous. Blake was hot and I would probably have a dirty dream or a dozen about him tonight, but those kinds of fires burned hot and left lasting scars. I had enough scars to last a lifetime. “I don’t think that’s necessary, but thank you for the offer.” There, that was polite and courteous.
“Why not?”
His sister was right, he wasn’t used to hearing the word no. “Because I don’t want to, Mr. Sayers.”
“Blake. My name is Blake.” He shook his head. “Can we have some privacy?”
With a sigh, I nodded and let him follow me to my office. “Privacy.”
“I want to buy your business and we both know you’re going to sell it,” he said confidently. I had to laugh because I had no idea what I would with this company. So far, I enjoyed it and I had a year to run it and fall in love with it.
“You seem to know so much.” He was arrogant as hell and didn’t seem to mind.
“I know business and I know people. You don’t want the hassle of running a large company. Sell me the company and you can get back to running your little design business.” He sat back with a satisfied grin, like he was proud he’d said what he had to say and convinced me to do exactly what he wanted me to. Like I was some damn puppet and he was the master.
“Again, I see you know very little about which you speak.” He moved to disagree but I cut his words off with a flick of my wrist. “I have no plans to sell, Mr. Sayers and certainly not to you.”
“If you’re so sure, let me try to change your mind. Either you’re right and I get to spend some time with a beautiful woman or you’re wrong and I get your company.” He thought he was so clever.
“Sure,” I told him because I was cleverer. He wouldn’t be the first man to think they could seduce the chubby girl into doing their bidding. Many guys had found out in college and beyond, that pretty words did very little to get me out of my clothes.
“Tonight. Seven.”
So presumptuous. He probably had a restaurant and even a meal he picked out for his first seduction. “I have plans tonight, but I plan to hike Cimmaron Trail tomorrow, if you’re interested. I start at eight if you want a shot, if not, have a nice life.”
He looked disappointed and if he didn’t have an ulterior motive, I might feel something like sympathy for him. His lips curved seductively. “Scared to have dinner with me?”
“Not even a little bit. But you feel the need to prove something to yourself, so here we are.” It was a challenge and we both knew it. His blond brows rose curiously, and then he smiled and it was sexy and flirtatious and mischievous. “See you bright and early tomorrow, or not.” I held the door open and waited for him to exit before I went back to work.
And thought of anything, hell everything, other than those bottomless blue eyes.
To be continued…
Want to know what happens next? Check out Poppy & Blake’s story in His Takeover here.
Preview: Sinful Takeover (Boardroom Games 2)
Prologue
Lacey ~ 3 months ago
“I want you to handle the KBBM acquisition, Lace. I don’t have time right now.” Blake stood in front of my desk looking exhausted as he raked a hand through his blond hair. The blue eyes he inherited from our dad looked tired and when he dropped down in the sleek white chair, I knew there was something more to it.
“Why? I mean, I’m happy to do it, but you are such a control freak I figured you’d want your fingerprints all over this deal.”
“Control freak? Now you sound like Poppy.” He shook his head, looking even more tired than I realized. “Can you do this or not, Lacey?”
“Of course I can.” I rolled my eyes at this fatherly big brother tone, not ready to give in quite so easily. “But you’ve had such a stranglehold on this company for so long, I want to know what the hell is going on.”
He sighed. “Poppy just found out she’s pregnant. Only eight weeks but she’s going to have to scale back which means I need to ‘learn to fucking delegate’. Her words, not mine.”
I nodded and assured him that I was more than up for the challenge and spent the next month going through stacks of papers on the financial and market health of KBBM. The sports television was the top spot for all things sports, particularly those outdoor sports that Oregonians love like hiking, kayaking and mountain climbing. For twenty years Bob and Marie Shepherd had ran the station perfectly, drawing in big names in sports and in the state to host programs and comment on events. Their tragic death in an avalanche three years ago started the decline. The two Shepherd siblings hadn’t done a good job and they were finally ready to admit defeat.
It had taken me months to get a handle on just how the station was doing because the two smaller holdings, a radio station and a network of online channels and blogs, were doing much better under another manager. Now I pulled open the green glass doors of the building where the KBBM studio and offices were held and went inside. The lobby was just as one might expect from this kind of office building, understated sophistication. The goal was to make all but the most important and richest, feel inferior.
It worked.
But I wasn’t intimidated. My older brother Blake was as rich and self-important as they came, and dealing with him for decades meant I looked at men like him as if they were squishy teddy bears. Just like Blake. After a careful appraisal of the lobby the bell finally sounded for the elevator and I stepped inside, barely able to hide the eyeroll at the mirrored gold doors. Tacky as hell.
Just as the doors closed a hand shot out attached to a beautiful man with wavy caramel hai
r and sparkling green eyes. He looked vaguely familiar in the way that really gorgeous guys tend to and I couldn’t look away for even a second. He was hot as hell with a smile that held all kinds of erotic promises, but he also looked like a guy who knew his appeal and took full advantage of it. He probably wasn’t cruel as some were, or even mean, but careless all the same. And really nice to look at.
“You know, if you take a picture it’ll last longer.” His deep voice startled my own erotic thoughts and I chanced a quick look at the man beside me rather than his reflection and dammit the man was even hotter up close. And more familiar. “Nah. Pretty sure I’ll remember a face as pretty as yours.”
His amused laughed bounced off the walls of the elevator and I turned my gaze back to the doors, mentally going over a few points I wanted to remember before my meeting. “Do we know each other?”
I resisted the urge to groan at his tired pickup line but I did laugh, because he was way too hot for that. “Are you really using that line on a chick you met in the elevator?”
“I’m serious. You look familiar but different if that makes sense.”
It didn’t and I put him on the backburner as my phone buzzed and a message from my twin brother Lukas popped up.
Just found out who else is trying to buy KBBM. Walker Titus, we went to college together. Remember him? LS
Hell yes I remembered the handsome jerk who’d had two girls on his arm the weekend I met him. Since Lukas and I attended different colleges, we didn’t have the same circle of friends and I’d only visited a handful of times. Walker had been a beautiful, charming player who didn’t take anything seriously. I turned to study his features again and just like that they all familiarized in my mind. His hair was a little shorter, his skin a little more tan and the clean cut look had been replaced with a manicured beard. “Walker Titus.”
He smiled down at me, a sparkle in his eyes. “We do know each other. I rarely forget a face.”
“Just the names attached to them?” He laughed again, green eyes still trying to identify me.
“Something like that, but I’d have remembered if we slept together.”
“We didn’t. But you were the first person to hold my hair while I tossed my cookies into a dorm toilet.” Not my finest moment, but it was the most memorable of our three meetings.
“Holy shit. Lacey Sayers,” he said, his gaze like a caress up and down my body. “What a stunner you turned into!”
“I…what? Thanks.” I hated that he flustered me because what I knew of Walker was that he’d use it against me, and now that we were officially opponents for KBBM I needed to be careful.
“It’s true. Last time I saw you I recall a curly afro like thing on your head and baggy jeans with a shirt that was at least two sizes too big for you. This…I approve.”
I laughed. “Then I can now die a happy woman.” His laughter shouldn’t have been as sexy as it was, but dammit I loved a man who could laugh.
“Seriously. I’m happy Lukas sent you.” Instantly my hackles rose. Not that I wasn’t used to men underestimating me, I was because in the corporate world it was one of their favorite past times.
Still I was ready to tell Walker off. “Why?”
“Because I would have wiped the floor with Lukas. He’s smart as hell but a shit negotiator. I think you’ll be a much bigger challenge.” His words said he meant it more than in the professional sense, and the fact that it pleased me should have been a warning sign.
But I was having too much fun with Walker and his flirty banter and it needed to stop. He was the enemy and the last thing in needed was a conflicted romance like my brother had with his fiancée Poppy. “Good answer.”
“Thanks,” he said, voice filled with amusement.
“Too bad I’m still going to have to wipe the floor with you.”
He laughed and his shoulder brushed mine as the elevator doors slid open. “Looking forward to it, Lacey.” The way my name curled off his tongue send a spear of fire racing through my body and I made a mental note to stay the hell away from Walker Titus.
Walker
“I never would have taken you for a long lunch type of guy, Luke.” I stared at my oldest and closest friend, who I hadn’t seen in too damn long. He looked different in his expensive suit, but his blond hair was still a mess, signaling that my buddy hadn’t changed too much.
Luke shrugged. “I’m not, but shit man, you’ve been out of the country for more than a year. If anything is worth a long lunch, it’s the return of my wing man.”
I snorted at that because I’d spent the past year solo as fuck because that’s what I needed and wanted. “A little rusty at that, but I’m willing to help you get laid if you really need it.”
He glared at my goading words. “Still an asshole.”
“Some would say even more of an asshole.” The truth was that most people would say that and Lukas Sayers was probably one of the few who’d dare argue that fact.
“You seem different, Walker. Is this about Eve? I know the shit that went down with Eve-,”
I cut him off because I didn’t want to talk about the cheating, gold digging bitch that was my ex. “At first, yeah it was because of Eve. But after a few months, I stopping fucking every chick in tight pants and I started buying up radio and TV stations all over the world. In fact, business is why I’m back.” Securing KBBM was the first step in the business venture that brought me home.
“Damn man, I’m so glad to see you even if you do look a bit like you’ve been living in the mountains for the past year.” Luke smiled that same kind, good time smile he always wore.
“It’s good to be home, man.” And I actually meant that. Traveling was great. It gave me time to clear my head and get over the shit that had gone down with Eve, and then it allowed me to simply thrive. Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue had been added to my portfolio which made my life of wandering damned fucking profitable. “Really good.”
“Did you bring me anything from your travels? A really hot Czech model, perhaps?”
“No babes, but I got you plenty of shit. You’ll have to come by my place to pick it up.” Everywhere I went I picked up something Lukas would like because other than my mother, there was no one else.
“This weekend?”
“What are we doing this weekend?” Lacey approached our table with a stunning redhead.
Luke groaned. “Walker and I have plans, what you’re doing is anyone’s guess.” He flashed a smile at her companion. “Talia.”
“Lukas,” she said stiffly, turning slightly towards Lacey, eyes going wide in a clear sign that she wanted to get the hell away from my friend.
Interesting.
Lacey paid her friend no attention when she turned to the hostess who wore a patient smile because that’s what they did in upscale establishments like this. “Do you think we could get a table for five?”
“Make it an even six,” Luke grumbled. “Blake was supposed to join us and I’m guessing Poppy too?” Lacey nodded and the hostess quickly showed us to a larger table.
“Thank you, Lissa.” Lacey smiled and whispered something to the hostess making her laugh. “See you tonight?”
“Fingers crossed.”
It was surreal being dropped back into life like this. Three months had passed since I returned to Oregon, but this was the first time I spent much time around anyone other than my employees. Mostly with my assistant and my COO. They were all lively and colorful, with their own lives.
“Take a seat Lacey, I won’t bite.” I heard Luke growl somewhere on the other side of the table, but I was focused on his sister, looking hot as hell in a purple dress with a little bow on the side, begging me to tug on it.
She dropped down next to me, cocked her seat to the side and crossed her legs, giving me a flash of lace top stockings. I fucking loved those damn things.
“Pity.”
“Maybe if you ask nicely.” Shit, was I flirting with my best friend’s sister? Right in front of
him.
She leaned in, giving a glimpse of lace. Virginal white lace. Fuck yeah. “Under the right circumstances, I might even beg.”
I coughed to hide my surprise, but Lukas’ fist hitting the table drew our attention. “What the hell?”
“That’s my sister you’re flirting with and eye fucking,” he growled.
Lacey laughed beside me and placed a hand on my thigh. “Were you eye fucking me? Because I totally missed it. Show me again.”
Her long lashes fluttered, her skin had a soft flush that sent more blood to my cock.
“Aren’t you two on opposite sides of a deal right now? That sounds like a conflict of interest or an ethical violation of some sort.” He sat back, satisfied he’d doused the fire burning between us.
He was wrong. “I don’t expect Lacey to take it easy on me,” I told him but my gaze landed on her big brown eyes. “Whether or not we’re fucking.”
She sucked in a breath, lips parted perfectly for my own. Or better, my cock. “Agreed.”
“You don’t even like Walker,” Lukas tried again. In vain.
“I’m not sure I like him now, but have you seen him?” She winked at me when a tortured groan escaped from her brother. “Plus the more you don’t want this to happen the more I want it to.”
“Fine,” he grumbled. “Do what you want.”
“Already planning to,” she said, letting her hand crawl up my thigh just an inch. One scant fucking inch. “But thanks for your permission. I give you permission to bed my friend too,” she said, shooting Talia a pointed look.
I laughed my ass off at their shocked faces. Lacey was more of a firecracker than I remembered and it turned me on. She seemed like a woman who enjoyed life, work and pleasure. If she wasn’t looking for anything serious she’d be perfect.
For now. I leaned in. “Say yes.”
“To what,” she asked even though her eyes already said everything.
“Dinner, for starters.”
Naughty Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games Book 3) Page 12
