by Kayla Oliver
Before he answered, the pretty little waif of a waitress came back with his coffee. “Here you go,” she said brightly, giggling again, but he didn’t even seem to notice her this time.
Absently, he said, “Thank you,” but otherwise didn’t even look at her. His focus was on me and the contract, telling me that for all his flirting, he wasn’t so very invested in the opposite sex.
I wonder if the flirtatious behavior is just a front?
I didn’t have time to dwell on the idea, because he leaned forward then. Lacing his fingers together, his elbows on the table, he said, “That’s a hell of a speech you got there. I’m impressed. You know what you’re doing, I’ll give you that.”
“Then you’ll consider our offer?”
He pursed his lips together, which told me he was still on the fence, but he was thinking about it. Which was more than he was doing before. It wasn’t a win yet, but it still could be.
He was about to answer me when a voice behind me interrupted us. I froze as soon as I heard it.
“I have to assume Trent picked the place,” said Callum Reid, owner of Tarvish Press.
I was frozen in my seat, my blood boiling in a mixture of anger and an unprecedented, unwelcome rush of desire. He cannot be here, I thought, but he came around the corner and plopped down into the empty chair at our table. I could have killed him.
Or I could have straddled his lap and ridden him like we weren’t in public.
Forcing myself to remain calm, I didn’t even look at Callum as I said, “This is a private meeting.”
“In a public place,” he countered instantly.
Bastard. “Nevertheless, this is a meeting, and you were definitely not invited.”
“How did you even know where I was?” Parker asked, glancing at his friend. He didn’t seem all that upset about the intrusion—which annoyed me even more—but he clearly hadn’t told him where we’d be. It wasn’t the only reason I wasn’t chewing everyone’s ass right now.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Callum shrug casually. They were broad and muscular. I remembered the way he threw my legs over them and—
Stop. Thinking. Of. Him. Now.
And that command did absolutely nothing to help with my suddenly overactive libido. I felt myself growing wet between my thighs and crossed my legs at the knees in an effort to help with that. I hoped I was subtle about it, but it felt like everyone just knew that I was suddenly horny for this man who pissed me off so much.
“I have my ways.” He paused a beat, then added, “Plus, you would take her to a little hipster shitsplat like this.”
At least we agree on something, I thought dryly. Clearing my throat, I carefully turned to look at Callum. I regretted it almost instantly. His hair was thick and just a little less kempt than the last time I’d seen it. It looked like he’d run his fingers through it several times, and it was all but begging me to do the same. His eyes glittered mischievously, and for just a second, I could swear he knew I was thinking naughty thoughts about him.
Of course he couldn’t, but that didn’t change how I felt about it.
“Ha ha, very funny,” Parker groused. “I’ll have you know, this is a great little café.”
“Then how come you haven’t even touched your coffee?”
Parker made a face at him, and mentally I awarded a grudging point to Callum. He was an asshole, but he was right. “Excuse me, if you boys are done with your banter, I believe we were in the middle of a meeting?”
“Oh, of course! How rude of me,” Callum sort of apologized.
I had a brief moment of relief. Good. Maybe this asshole will get the hell out of here and leave us alone.
Almost instantly my hopes were dashed. “Where were we?”
My eyes narrowed at him. “We weren’t anywhere. This is a private meeting between myself and Mr. Parker. If you’ll kindly leave, we can continue.”
He waved me off like he was brushing off a fly. “Nonsense. Don’t worry about me. I’m just here to counteroffer everything you put on the table. After all, we are in direct competition. I feel like it’s only fair that Tre—Mr. Parker know his options.”
My hands formed into tiny fists that I desperately wanted to put through his face, but I resisted the temptation. “That is not how this works. As I recall, you had the nerve to steal him from my office when we’d already made arrangements because you couldn’t stand the idea that maybe he’d like to sign with someone other than you!”
“Now, now, no need to get rowdy,” he told me blithely. “All’s fair in love and war.”
“This isn’t love and this isn’t war,” I snapped. “This is business.”
Parker was glancing between the two of us like he was watching a Ping-Pong match, a smile already broken out on his face. He settled himself back like he was enjoying this, and it only added fuel to the fire.
“Don’t you mix business with pleasure?” Callum asked me. He was trying to be calm, but I couldn’t miss the way his voice dropped down low and came out like dark, rich silk. His eyes practically burned with the memory of what we’d done just the other night, and it took everything I had to keep the sudden fire within my own treacherous body from consuming me.
“No,” I told him between gritted teeth. “I don’t.”
“Ah, then it’s all business?”
“You’re an asshole,” I bit out. I wasn’t dumb enough to miss the suggestion, and the fact that had the gall to insinuate I had slept with him because of business was so appalling, so indignant, that I wanted to throw something on him.
Unfortunately, I’d actually finished my damn, disgusting coffee, and Mr. Parker had finally picked his up to sip at.
Callum shrugged casually. “It comes with the territory, baby.”
“Don’t call me baby.”
“Afraid someone might put you in a corner?” he teased.
My eyes narrowed into slits, and I was about two seconds away from smashing my knuckles into that handsome, sexy face of his. “More afraid that some asshole like you will come along and assume that it’s his place to tell me where I should and shouldn’t fucking sit.”
“Ooh, language. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“No. I kiss other things.”
Oops. I hadn’t meant to say that. Really. I was trying to be clever and fast, my mind running on autopilot, and if I’d had a brain cell in my head, I’d have reconsidered that before it slipped out. But it had and I couldn’t snatch it back.
There was a long, silent pause as Callum stared at me like this was a challenge. Like he might whip his cock out right then and there to see what other things I liked to kiss.
And the sad part of that was that I really wouldn’t mind kissing him. I wouldn’t mind taking him into my mouth. I wouldn’t mind driving him crazy with my mouth and my tongue.
But that was beyond the point of inappropriate into downright dirty. Hell, given where we were, that was more like an arrestable offense. And the last thing I needed was to add a criminal charge to this day.
Jesus, pull yourself together, woman!
“I see,” Callum finally murmured, and I saw his gaze drop from my face to my chest and lower still. The table blocked his view of my legs, which were still crossed, but I was sure he was filling in the blanks.
Suddenly, Parker pushed his chair back from the table and stood. I’d all but forgotten he was even there. “Sorry to cut things short, but I have to go.” He looked between the two of us, his grin almost giddy, like a child’s. “But you two stay. Figure things out. Whoever wants to, call Sara. We’ll make another appointment.”
Then he fucking winked, and I didn’t know who that wink was directed to, but I told myself I didn’t care. This was all Callum’s fault, and I wanted to kill him for it.
I was fuming silently as Parker walked away. When he rounded the corner, I turned back to Callum. “What the fuck is your problem?”
His eyebrows rose and he let an innocent smile slip across h
is face. “Me? Nothing. Nothing at all. I thought we agreed that neither of us was going to back down. This is me not backing down.”
“Set up your own damn meeting.”
“Ah, but then I won’t get to see you,” he answered, his voice husky and his eyes dark with lust.
I shuddered involuntarily. “Do yourself a favor. Take a picture so that you won’t have that issue next time,” I snapped. Shoving my chair back, I stood. My legs felt shaky, and damn it all to hell if I wasn’t soaking wet between them. I needed release, in whatever form it might come in, and if I didn’t get the hell out of there now, I was worried I’d seek it out with the devilishly sexy man in front of me.
His eyes dragged up the length of my body like he was unfolding a Playboy centerfold. It should have pissed me off, but all it did was turn me on further.
“I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing,” he told me. His eyes flashed dangerously. “If I’d known, I’d have taken pictures the other night.”
My heart leapt in my chest. I thought of myself sprawled out beneath him on that bed. Of the way he’d jerked my dress down to expose my breasts, of the way he’d slung my legs carelessly over his shoulders and pounded into me until we both exploded.
That would have been one hell of a picture, and I admitted silently to myself that I wouldn’t have minded the souvenir. I just wasn’t interested in letting him have it to pass around the office.
“Fuck you, Reid.”
I turned on my heel and left as fast as my legs and the heels I wore would let me. I had to go before things got worse and I gave in to those baser instincts that were crawling inside me, begging for a very specific kind of release.
Behind me, I heard a laugh followed by, “You already did.”
That stupid son of a bitch.
Chapter Fourteen
Callum
I checked my watch. Only ten fifty. I was still a little early.
The restaurant was called The Little Egg, which sounded like a ridiculous name to me, but it served brunch and nearly all their menu items had some kind of egg in it. I’d never eaten here before and probably never would have picked it out on my own, but it seemed nice. Not over the top pricey to the point where you felt like you were being excessive, but not cheap either. A nice middle ground.
She’s got good taste, I thought to myself, looking through the menu.
The waitress came by a few minutes later. “Are you ready to order, sir?” She was pretty but worn down. She had bags under her eyes and wrinkle lines that were equal parts from worry and from laughing. If I had to place her, I’d guess in her late thirties or early forties. The wedding band on her finger told me that she was spoken for.
“I’ll have the special. Fruit for the side. And a coffee—just black, nothing funny in it.” I knew I sounded a bit like a curmudgeon with the coffee order, but I couldn’t help it. I just wanted a fucking cup of coffee.
She smiled a little at me. “Tired of the extra-frappe-mocha-chocolate-chip with whipped cream and cherries on the top?”
I actually laughed as I handed over the menu. “Exactly. Glad to meet a woman who gets it.”
Her smile widened. “Oh, I understand. My husband likes those coffee shop drinks with all the sugar, but I think they just wear you down. Coffee’s what gets you going.”
“Woman after my own heart. It’s a damn shame you’re taken,” I told her, mostly for the sake of flattery, but also a little serious. “Your husband’s a lucky man.”
She waved off the compliment, but I could tell it made her happy. “Don’t worry, hon. You’re young still. You’ll find yourself someone.”
She took my menu then and went off to put my order in. I watched her go, not quite sure what to think of her comment. I didn’t really think of myself as young most of the time, and I definitely didn’t think of myself as the type of man who was looking for someone. I didn’t need a partner—at least, not a romantic one. I was married to my work.
Right?
Before I could follow my mind’s troubling idle thoughts, the door opened and Trent held it as Marnie McKenna walked in after him.
Ah, it’s showtime, I thought with a small grin.
Slipping out of the booth I’d chosen for this little meeting, I made my way toward the two of them, falling in behind Trent, who hadn’t yet noticed me. Marnie picked a spot by the windows off to the side toward the back where they had a little more privacy. It might almost be romantic if she wasn’t such a hardass and Trent had any romantic intentions toward her at all.
I followed them up until Marnie sat down. She had to turn to slide into her chair, and as soon as she did, she saw me.
She groaned and I grinned.
“Jesus fucking Christ, are you serious?” she demanded. “You cannot be here again.”
“Actually, this is the first time I’ve been here. Seems like a nice place, though.”
I pulled up another chair to their table as Trent took his seat across from Marnie. My chair put me between the two of them, and I could tell already that she was not pleased. It gave me a little thrill to know I was already under her skin.
I’d rather be under her clothes, I thought, letting my eyes do a quick once-over of her.
She was wearing one of those power suits again. The top was a white blouse with loose sleeves, but it was tight across her chest and the top couple of buttons were undone, giving me a nice view of her cleavage. Her tiny waist was emphasized by the pencil skirt she was wearing. The material was tight as it followed the flair over her curves, then hugged her legs as it traveled down her thighs. Although it stopped just above her knees, a perfectly modest length, there wasn’t a damn thing modest about her.
Her hair was up in a deliberate twist of some kind that girls liked to do to be professional or fancy or whatever. I had the intense urge to reach out and yank her hair free until it spilled across her tits and down her back.
Fucking sexy.
“How are you, Callum?” Trent asked conversationally as he picked up a menu.
“Great. How about you, old buddy?” I emphasized the word buddy just to be a dick. Marnie obviously caught it because her eyes narrowed at me in anger or annoyance or both.
“Once again, I must ask you to leave,” she told me in what she probably thought was a calm, cool voice. But I heard the heat beneath it. She could pretend it was anger all she wanted, but the heat in her eyes was smoldering and deep. Desire. There was no faking that.
I settled into my chair, smiling broadly at her. “And once again, I must remind you that this is a public venue. I have every right to be here.”
“Here, maybe, but not at our table.”
She probably had a point there. I didn’t know the legalities of inviting yourself to someone else’s table, but I had a feeling there was the potential for trouble there. All the same, I knew there wouldn’t be any for me. For one, Trent would never let things get that far. Two, I had enough money to buy off most of the Seattle Police Department and probably the DA, too. And that was going the cheap way. I also had some very expensive, very good lawyers on call.
So, no, I wasn’t worried, and I sure as hell wasn’t leaving. Marnie seemed to pick up on that pretty quickly.
“And how are you today, Marnie? You look a little flushed.” I raised a single eyebrow at her, letting my eyes deliberately trail down her face, pausing at her lips only to continue down the long column of her neck to eventually dip down toward her tits.
By the time my eyes found their way back to hers, she was flushed and definitely pissed.
“You little bastard,” she muttered.
I laughed. “C’mon now, you know that’s not fair. I may be a lot of things, but no woman has ever claimed me to be little.”
Her eyes flashed. “Leave. Now. We have a contract to discuss.”
The mention of the contract reminded me that I was sitting here between Trent, the client I wanted to steal from S&W, and Marnie McKenna, the S&W editor who was trying very ha
rd to stop me from doing that.
I frowned.
How the hell had I gotten so distracted by her that I all but forgot why I was here? Clearing my throat, I said, “Please, by all means. Don’t let me stop you. I’d love to discuss contracts. After all, I want to make sure Trent has all the details.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Oh, shut up. You’re so full of shit. The only reason you’re here is to disrupt this meeting.”
“Which you’re doing admirably, I must say,” Trent told me genially as an aside.
Marnie shot him a glare but said nothing to him. She was still too focused on me. “Which just tells me one thing: you’re scared that you might lose.”
Being called scared was just about my least favorite thing on the planet. My eyes narrowed at her, and I leaned forward slightly, closing the distance between us. She smelled faintly of mint, lavender, and something else. Something a little sweeter. “I’m not afraid, Ms. McKenna. This game is in the bag; we both know that. I’m here to ruffle your feathers because I can.”
She opened her mouth to fire something back but snapped it shut quickly when the waitress stopped by. She was the same one from earlier, and her eyebrows lifted when she saw me there. “Find some friends of yours?”
Beside me, Trent openly laughed. Marnie scowled at him, but I smiled calmly at our waitress. “Sure did. Would you mind bringing my brunch this way instead?”
“You got it. And for you two?”
Marnie only ordered some green smoothie thing that she didn’t look too thrilled about, and Trent ordered a breakfast-brunch sandwich that had avocado and some kind of chili on it. Talk about disgusting. When the waitress disappeared again, I returned my focus on Marnie.
“Want to tell me what you’re offering Trent?” I asked her.
For a split second that constant expression of anger left her features in lieu of confusion. Like maybe she didn’t know why I was so hung up on this thing that she was offering Trent, the thing that was clearly making him consider her as a viable alternative to me, his best friend.
But the confusion slipped away quickly, replaced by the cool professionalism she probably tried to wear most of the time. “That’s really none of your business, Mr. Reid.”
