by Leslie North
“I love food,” she said as she tried to lighten the mood. And with a quick change of subject, she said, “If you care so little about the company, then why are you here?”
“Who said I care so little about the company?”
She gestured broadly. “You just said if you had to be here, then so did Nathan. That implies punishment,” she added.
There was a moment of silence, and Angie realized she wasn’t making the mood any lighter. Instead, as he looked her over, she felt naked and exposed. “It’s not the company,” he said finally. “It’s no secret that the Maxfields aren’t a close family anymore. Duncan isn’t exactly a warm and loving father; and Gabe, Nathan, and I aren’t nearly as close as we used to be. If it wasn’t for the company, we would probably never have any reason to speak to one another. I think my mother knew that. Before her death, she made us all promise to keep our shares. If this company falls apart, so do we.”
“It’s not falling apart,” she argued, as she popped another wonton in her mouth. “I’m trying to save your company too.”
“And that’s the difference between you and me. You’re willing to cut some things off in order to save the whole, and I see that as failure. Angie, this company started as a building company. If you sell that, you’re selling the heart and soul of the company.”
He looked almost heartbroken as he talked about it. Suddenly, she wanted to tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him that it was Duncan’s agenda, not hers. She wanted to promise him that she’d help him save the construction sector of the firm.
But right now, more than anything, she wanted to kiss him.
Everything about his body language told her that he wanted it as well. He lounged in the chair as if he were completely comfortable around her. His whole body faced her so that all she had to do was get up, take one-step, and she could straddle him. His eyes were raking over her body. And his mouth, God, that mouth. She had to know what he would taste like.
“If you keep looking at me like that,” he murmured, “we won’t be getting anymore work done tonight.”
What was the worse that would happen if, just this once, she indulged in something she wanted for a change? CEO. Focus, Angie. Keep your eyes on the prize, she reminded herself. With a hint of regret, she stood from her chair. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was…”
Suddenly, he was up and out of his chair. She barely had time to react before he’d grabbed her and hauled her up to the table. Her body didn’t even hesitate as he leaned over her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. And when his lips pressed down on hers, she could think of nothing else but him.
Hot. Desperate. With a moan, she leaned back and pulled him down on top of her. She’d never felt so abandoned in her life as her hands raced over his body. He deepened the kiss, and his own hand roamed. Pins were yanked out of her hair as he cradled her head, and one hand was moved down her side, over her hip, and slowly pushing her skirt up.
“Wait,” she gasped as she pushed him away, reality hitting home. His hand froze, and he lifted his head.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “What?” he said hoarsely.
She wanted him. It was unbelievable how much she wanted him. If his hand moved up any further, he would find out how much she wanted him. “I can’t think when you’re this close,” she said.
“You don’t have to think,” he muttered. “I’m more than happy to do all the work.”
With a wry laugh, she pushed at him again, and this time, he released her and stood. She pushed herself up and quickly ran her hands through her hair. “This would not be a good idea. Technically you’re my boss, not to mention that your father signs my paychecks, and with this weird arrangement…”
“Stop.”
She faltered and looked up at him.
“Angie, this isn’t about Duncan Enterprises. I wanted you even before I knew who you were. This is nothing more than an attraction between a man and a woman. Now if you don’t want me, say the word, and I won’t pursue this. My feelings might be hurt, but I’m a grown man. I can handle it.”
Slowly she exhaled. “And if I don’t…say…the word?” she asked with a little trepidation.
“Then maybe we should see this through and see where it leads?”
“See what through?” she said with a hoarse laugh. “Stephen, I’ve barely known you for forty-eight hours. I won’t deny that I’m attracted to you. But that’s not enough for me to put my job on the line. I’m sorry.”
“Your job won’t be on the line,” he hissed. “Do you think we would fire you because you slept with me? What kind of person do you think I am?”
“I think that in five minutes, the rumors would be flying around that I’m only where I am because I’m sleeping with the bosses. Do you think I don’t know that people think I’m Duncan’s mistress? I won’t have them saying that I’m yours as well.”
“Are you?”
He wasn’t seriously about to ask her that, was he? She stared at him for a moment. “Am I what?” she asked in a dangerous tone.
For a moment, she saw the accusation in his eyes. Then he relaxed. “He likes them young. You can’t blame me for wondering.”
“And you thought you’d pin me under you to see if I would be easy for all the Maxfield boys? Go to hell!” Part of her wanted to stomp out, but she was too hungry to leave her food behind. Instead, she shoved the containers closed and began packing them up.
He watched her with an amused expression. “I like your priorities.”
“Shut up,” she snapped.
“Angie, don’t go. If you’re worried that people will think you’re sleeping with the boss, I’ll fire you. Problem solved.”
“Is this whole thing a joke to you?” she demanded as she whirled around. “This is the first time I’m close to getting what I want. I’m not putting my life aside for anyone else. This is me. This is all I’ve ever wanted. And I’ve worked too damned hard for it to throw it away!”
She waved her hands around, and he grabbed them and forced her still. “It’s not a joke,” he said quietly. “I have some reservations about this as well, but I intend to see this through.”
“And what do you think this is?” she whispered suddenly.
He leaned down and kissed her gently. “I don’t know. And that’s what I would like to find out.”
There was no anger left in her. Instead, she felt like surrendering. For one moment, she longed to stop fighting. “Your father can’t find out.”
“What does he have to do with this?” he asked, his eyes narrowing. Immediately she saw the suspicion was back. While she had secrets from Stephen that she needed to keep, an affair with Duncan was not one of them.
“You know your father better than anyone. Do you really think he’ll sit idly by while his eldest seduces the Senior VP of the company?”
“Knowing him, he’d probably think I had an agenda,” he said, his mouth curving in a smile.
Her heart skipped a beat. The same thought had occurred to her. “Do you?”
“Do you?”
For a moment, they didn’t say anything. Finally, he released her, and she took a step back. Her knees were trembling. “Have a good night, Angie,” he whispered seductively.
Turning his back, he slipped slowly out of the room. It wasn’t until she heard the elevator doors open that she finally sank into her chair. She wasn’t exactly sure what had happened, but she was certain of two things:
Stephen Maxfield was dangerous.
She wanted him more than ever.
In the haze of her thoughts, she realized her phone was ringing again. She glanced at the Caller ID. And for the first time ever, she hit the ignore button on Duncan Maxfield.
7
Stephen felt like a teenager as he tried to sneak back into the house. There was a light on in the kitchen, and he crept in to see that Lydia had kept some food on the stove for him. He chuckled and helped himself to the meatloaf and green beans, tucking in imm
ediately. He’d spent more time trying to figure Angie out than he had in eating his Chinese food.
There was something about her that he couldn’t put his finger on. It was more than her being sexy as hell. He felt drawn to her on a completely different level, but she had made some fair points. She couldn’t trust him, and he couldn’t trust her. Gabe clearly suspected she was hiding something, and Stephen couldn’t help thinking his brother was right.
Still, her rejection stung. It wasn’t too often that he approached a woman for more than physical intimacy. In fact, his proposal that he and Angie explore their feelings was borderline preposterous. She’d been so quick to point out how little they knew about each other, and she wasn’t wrong. In fact, that was generally the excuse he used with women that came on to him. It wasn’t so great now that it was being turned against him.
“And where have you been?”
Stephen looked up in the reflection of the window to see Duncan standing behind him. Frowning, he glanced at the clock. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?” he asked.
“I’ll go to bed whenever the hell I want,” the old man grunted. “Answer the damn question.”
“I was going over some reports with Angie,” Stephen said with a shrug. He saw no reason to lie to Duncan. He’d leave out the part where he’d almost defiled the conference table.
“I’ve told Gabe, and now I’ll tell you. Angela Lopez is off limits. Don’t even think about it,” Duncan wheezed.
Stephen put down his plate. “Why did you have to tell Gabe?” he said slowly. Had he been looking at this relationship all wrong?
Duncan waved his hands. “You know him. He needs a ton of weapons to hide that he’s gay. Not the point. She is my Senior Vice President, and I will not have you distracting her.”
And that made absolutely no sense. Why wouldn’t Duncan want his future heir also to be part of the family? “Sure,” he said slowly as he picked his plate back up and began eating again.
Duncan narrowed his eyes and studied him. “Are you willing to agree that selling is our only option?”
“I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve been more concerned about when the sharp decline started. The economy has been in the pits for ten years now, but your numbers didn’t start falling until recently. I think there’s a bigger issue here. I’m going to go further back in the reports,” he said.
“You’re wasting your time,” Duncan said angrily. “Why do you care about this so much?”
“I think the question is, why you don’t,” Stephen said softly. He scraped up the last of the sauce, rinsed the plate, and stuck it in the dishwasher. “Go to bed, Duncan. You look like you need it.”
He left his father in the middle of the kitchen and made his way to bed. He fell asleep dreaming of how Angela’s hair would feel tangled up in his fingers.
He doubted that he’d ever be able to forget how she tasted.
“Hi, Momma.”
“I get the feeling that we need to talk.”
Angie smiled as she finished scrambling her eggs. Her mother liked to think that she was a touch psychic, and every now and then, she would call Angie to demand to know what was wrong or why she was hiding something from her.
Maria Alvarez Lopez was an optimistic, bubbly woman despite the tragedy in her life. A car accident had taken both her husband’s life and the use of her legs. Wheelchair dependent, she leaned on Angie to help raise the children, but she was constantly reminding Angie that she also needed to take some time for herself.
“Nothing is going on, Momma,” Angie teased. “My life couldn’t be more boring.”
“It’s a sin to lie to your mother, Angela. You tell your madre what’s going on.” Angie didn’t respond, but it didn’t stop her mother. “Is there something going on with your job? Have you met a man?”
“Okay, that was just a lucky guess,” Angie grumbled.
“You’ve met a man! I knew it. Angie, that’s wonderful!” her mother gasped.
Angie rolled her eyes. “I did meet a man. I meet a lot of men in my line of work. And nothing is going to happen with this man for a number of reasons.”
“Name one,” Maria challenged.
“Where do I begin? The first is that it’s Stephen Maxfield. That makes him my boss. The second is that he’s opposing a motion I need the board to support so I can get this CEO position. That makes him the enemy. And finally, I only met him, so I know nothing about him.”
“And yet you’re thinking about him all the time. Oh Angie, all these things that you let stand in your way are superficial. What are some of the things you like about him? He’s handsome, no? Responsible? Intelligent?”
Angie sighed and turned off the stove. Cradling the phone between her neck and her ear, she leaned against the counter. “He is handsome,” she said grudgingly. “I don’t know about responsible. Of the three brothers, he’s supposed to be the most responsible, but he hasn’t cared much for Duncan until now. Of course, we do steal a lot of business from his own company, so I’m pretty sure he holds a grudge. Yes, he is very intelligent. And I think he really wants to hold his family together. I think that’s why he’s fighting me on this new plan I want to implement.”
“Does he like you?”
“Yes,” Angie admitted.
“You and your corporate job. You need to separate your professional and your personal life. Go on a date with him. See if your soul speaks to him. And if it does, then you’ll find a way to make it work.”
Angie smiled. Her mother would always see the glass as half full. “Momma, it’s not that easy. It could cost me my job. I’ve spent two years trying to make it as Senior VP. I’m so close to taking over the company.”
“But what kind of life will you lead if you keep ignoring love? Your life is not fulfilled if half of it is missing.”
And what kind of company would she be running if two-thirds of it were missing? She glanced down miserably at her eggs. Her life had been so easy before Stephen Maxfield showed up. Now she was thinking of risking her job for something she wasn’t even sure was real. She was questioning a direct order from the CEO.
She was lying. Angie never lied.
“I’ll think about it,” she said softly.
“Your sister called me,” her mother said more sternly. “Angela, you need to be nicer to her. She’s going through a rough patch.”
“She’s an adult, Momma. We both know that she’s never going to grow up if we keep babying her.”
“This restaurant might be her dream. Remember how we felt when you started at Duncan Enterprises? And look at you now!”
“I’ll be the first in line to congratulate her if Maria’s is her thing. But she needs to make it happen on her own. I’m happy to help, but she needs to learn how to plan and organize her life now. And she needs to take some time to figure out what she wants out of life. She can’t keep hopping from man to man because it’s convenient.”
“And you can’t keep ignoring men because it’s convenient.”
Angie snorted. Of course, her mom would turn this around on her. Her phone beeped, and she looked at the screen and cringed. “Momma, I’ve got to go. It’s my boss.”
“Angie, promise me…”
“Momma, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back. I love you,” she said as she switched the phone over. “Mr. Maxfield. Good morning.”
“Don’t you ‘good morning’ me,” Duncan grumbled. “You’ve spent the entire night with my son, and no good has come of it. Angie, I shouldn’t have to tell you the consequences of you getting personally involved with him.”
Her eyes widened. Did Stephen really run home and tell his father what had happened? Of all the juvenile and ridiculous moves. “You do not have to tell me the consequences,” she said stiffly. “It will not happen again.”
“So something did happen. Unless your plan is to seduce him over to your side, stay focused!” he bellowed.
Angie winced. “Mr. Maxfield, I assure you. I am focused. Stephen has
agreed that the company is in trouble.”
“But now he wants to go through the reports and find out why,” Duncan grunted. “That was not the plan.”
Frowning, she switched the phone over to her other ear. “Is there a reason you don’t want him going back through the files? Maybe if he can find the problem, we won’t have to sell. Don’t you want to keep your company together?”
“Don’t you think I know what’s best? I thought we were on the same page. That’s why you’ve gotten this far.”
She took a deep breath. The threat was clear. “I have a meeting with some interested buyers today. It will be the only thing on my mind.”
“Good.”
“Mr. Maxfield, it might be a good idea if you’re at the next board meeting. The members might be easier to sway if they know how convinced you are that this is the only way to save the company,” she said gently. Duncan had only recently stopped going to meetings, and he hadn’t been really clear on why that was.
“Maybe,” he said without conviction. “Keep me apprised of the situation. I have some things I need to do today.”
“Is it anything I can help you with?”
“No. You work things on your end. I’ll work them on mine.” As always, he didn’t say goodbye. He simply hung up.
Climbing up on the counter, Angie pulled the bottle of whiskey down from the shelf. She told herself it wasn’t drinking. It was self-medicating.
A few hours later, Angie was trying to control her patience. “I understand that the board members haven’t voted yet, but several buyers have made fairly lucrative offers, and we need to know how serious you are. The bylaws state that we can still begin the sale of the company. We’re in the process of separating the accounts.”
She sat in the up-market office of Tucker Marks. Marks’ construction company was one of the biggest in the region, and he’d been the first to inquire about purchasing a piece of Duncan Enterprises. But now that Angie was ready to start the process, Marks was dragging his feet.
Tucker Marks was a handsome man. At forty, he’d taken over his father’s business and was proving to be quite the company leader. In the two years since he’d become CEO, the company had seen a two percent rise in profit. In an economy where most companies were taking a hit, that was impressive. The biggest problem with Tucker Marks was that he knew all too well that he was handsome, successful, and capable.
