“What’s a good brunch place, Bob?” Jed asked casually.
There was a long silence. Then, “Valerie’s in Midtown.”
“Great.” Jed signed the contract as soon as it was brought in a second later and I jotted down a cover note to my client as it was scanned and sent to me so I could forward it on.
Jed’s hand was at my elbow as we left the conference room, and he nodded at the still-hassled receptionist on the way out, but it wasn’t until we were in the elevator, alone, that he pulled me to him with a laugh. I pushed him away.
“What?” he protested. “I just saved you a boring day negotiating a mind-numbing boring contract.”
“That happens to be my job.”
“I thought your job was getting your client the best deal you could. You did that.”
“By sleeping with you? Thanks. That says a lot for my legal abilities.”
“Oh, don’t be such a tight-ass. Two seconds of you against Bob and it was clear who was the better lawyer.”
I was slightly placated by his compliment, but there was still the little matter of conflict of interest. We were at the lobby now, and it was time to put it on the table. “I can’t go to brunch with you.”
“Good, because I didn’t really want to go to brunch anyway. I only said that for the room. I want to take you back to bed.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t share that with the room.”
He laughed, and when we were out on the busy Manhattan sidewalk, I looked around for the hulking black town car every rich guy or rich-guy-wannabe had waiting for him after a meeting. But I didn’t see one, and he started walking me back in the direction of the hotel.
“You walked here?”
“Sure. It was only a few blocks.”
Long New York blocks. I was impressed.
But I walked beside him not because I was going back to his hotel room but because I was going back to mine. I had to check out now that the deal was done.
“What were you doing in a hotel anyway?” I gave in to my curiosity. “Don’t you live in New York?”
“Here? Hell no. I hate this town. I come here to do business and that’s it.”
That was an unusual sentiment among the very rich. From what I could tell, they seemed to congregate on this packed island as if it were some huge watering hole, or maybe pig’s trough. I didn’t much like New York either, but of course I was poor, relatively speaking. And okay, I admit it. My stepfather lives in New York, and though I love my mother, I can’t stand him and his whole fucking city. I even call it the devil city sometimes for fun. So I’m a bit prejudiced.
It was easier to walk through the stifling crowds with Jed Worth by my side, though. They seemed to part for his tall, expensively tailored figure.
“I’m from Colorado,” he offered, instantly reminding me that I had read that Worth Industries was located in Denver. There had been a picture of the headquarters in the file my assistant made up. The photo showed a sprawling campus on the outskirts of the city with funky modern buildings and granola-eating happy-camper employees strolling about, looking as if they could take off at any minute to ski in the majestic mountains behind them. But there was no CEO in a thousand-dollar suit hanging around in that picture.
“I can’t quite see you out West.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Don’t tell me. Let me guess. You’re only a hard-charging executive on your off-hours.”
“Actually, I’m Fred in my off-hours,” he quipped. “Remember?”
But I so wasn’t going there, my feet firmly planted in reality on the dirty sidewalks of New York. And speaking of dirty sidewalks, “I’m from Detroit.”
“Yeah. I heard.” His tone was neutral enough that I didn’t judge it necessary to immediately leap to the defense of my hometown. “I understand it’s getting very cool there,” he added, clinching it.
And because it was rude not to make conversation, not because I wanted to know or anything, I said as we walked, “You grew up in Colorado? I mean, your family’s from there?”
“What there is of it. My mother. That’s about it.”
Well, we had that in common then. I’d always wanted siblings, but I guess my mother thought it was enough to lose her figure once for the sake of bringing another human being into the world. When she made it back to size zero, she probably didn’t think it was smart to risk it another time. Especially after my father died, something that was so long ago I couldn’t say it traumatized me since I couldn’t even remember it. I’d always gotten the sense that a baby was my long-lost Dad’s idea anyway.
I wondered why Mr. CEO was an only child too.
He didn’t elaborate, and I wasn’t about to act interested. I didn’t want to look too into him. I half wished I could ask him about the “rehab” he mentioned on the phone and whether it had anything to do with the kid he’d worried about last night.
“What about you?” he asked.
“What about me?” I automatically responded and he laughed.
“Never mind, I guess.”
About to remember my manners—I was from the Midwest after all—I caught him blatantly checking me out and decided against it. Like he really wanted to hear about my family or “what there was of it.” Right. When his eyes made it back to mine, they were unapologetic, even a little cocky. We’d gotten back to the hotel, anyway.
The lobby was a lot busier than when I had left this morning. We boarded a crowded elevator that thinned out as it got closer to our floor until we were alone in it. He grinned at me. “I was sorry to wake up to find you gone.”
“I had a meeting,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest in defense and blocking his view.
“Me too, but if you’d been in bed beside me I’d have skipped it.”
“Well, I don’t have that luxury.”
“You do now.”
We stepped out onto the floor, but when we got to his door, I said, “Look, last night was, er, great, fun…”
His card key worked flawlessly yet again.
“But I didn’t know who you were. And now that I do, I just can’t.”
His smile slipped as he turned the door handle. “Why not?”
“It’s a conflict of interest. You’re on the other side.”
“I own your client now, or I will as soon as the deal closes. So we’re on the same side now, right?” He nudged me into his room, and weakling that I was, I went. He shut the door behind me, shrugging out of his jacket. “Besides, now that I know who you are and I’ve seen you in action, I want you even more. I love intellectual girls.”
“I bet,” I scoffed. “I’m sure you were attracted to me at the ice machine because you saw the native intelligence in my eyes.”
“That and you have big boobs and look like a Victoria’s Secret model. And of course you were in a towel, and who can resist that?”
I shook my head as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “Come on. Once more for old time’s sake.”
“You’re really unrepentant about this kind of thing, aren’t you? What did Bob say? ‘A whiff of you-know-what’?”
“Bob has such a way with words. Must be why I pay him $800 an hour. But sex is sex, Angie.”
“Don’t call me Angie,” I snapped.
“Okay, Suzy.” He pushed my long hair behind my shoulders and brushed my neck with the softest of kisses. My skin tingled as he slipped my suit jacket off my arms and went for the buttons on my shirt. “I’ll make it good. I promise.”
I didn’t doubt it for a second.
Chapter Four
Sometimes it hurt like hell to have professional ethics. But he was, like, kind of on the other side. I doubt my negotiating skills would be sluggish from the additional orgasms he would undoubtedly foist on me, but who the hell knew? There was a reason they made these kind of rules up, wasn’t there?
Besides, somehow knowing who he was—having him know who I was—took some of the lighthearted feel out of the whole thing. That
and the fact that he didn’t particularly seem to care one way or the other. He didn’t ask anything more about my real life or my real job or my real anything other than that lame “what about you” back out on the sidewalk. And he dropped that pretty darn quickly at the slightest rebuff from me in favor of checking me out. In fact, he’d done more trying to get to know me when I was pretending to be Suzy. Of course then he’d also been trying to get into my panties.
So what did I expect?
Well, great sex, yeah. But did the fact that he now knew where I’d gone to college and seen me in working mode make me want him to respect me more?
See, this was why I wasn’t good at hookups. He was still reminiscing about my perky breasts—and trying to get another look at them as we spoke, having made short work of the top few buttons on my shirt—and I was hoping he’d ask me what my grade point average had been when I graduated. It was pathetic.
“No.” I meant to snap it out, but it didn’t come out that way. It sounded more playful than I intended it to be. I guess I wasn’t quite on my game after the four or five orgasms he’d already given me last night.
He slid my shirt down my shoulders, his warm, knowing mouth already quite familiar with all the sensitive points on his way down to the curve of my breasts. The hollow at the base of my throat. The soft skin beneath my collarbone. My head fell back, eyes closed, as he lingered at each of them, relearning what made me arch and moan, a flick of his tongue here, a press of his lips there. He tugged my skirt up in back, working in slow arousing caresses up to each cheek of my bottom.
“See? Isn’t this better than brunch?” he whispered.
Oh, God. I could really get used to this.
With a firm pressure, he urged my hips up to meet his, the throbbing I could feel deep between my legs answering the throbbing of his jutting cock. I gripped his shoulders through the expensive silk of his dress shirt and rubbed against him as shamelessly as a stripper pole dancing. He latched onto one nipple still covered by my bra and nipped, and I almost came from that, his erection grinding into me and his teeth scraping my nipple through the layer of cloth.
And I kind of really wanted to come, hard and fast, his sure hands and his talented mouth all over me.
But he stepped away, breathing heavily, his eyes focused on my half-undressed body and his hands on his zipper. I had no trouble seeing the size of his package through his pants now.
“Let’s go into the bedroom. I have to get a condom.” His voice was hoarse.
A little of the sensual fog he’d brewed up so quickly evaporated.
Wait a minute. What was I saying again? Something about professional ethics? Conflicts?
With Herculean effort, I managed to straighten and tug down my skirt. I had to put up at least a token resistance. “I can’t. I have to go back to my room.”
“You don’t have a room anymore. I checked you out.”
“What?” The token part of my resistance flew right out the window, and I yanked the sleeves of my blouse back up, too. “When did you manage that? When you were out making calls? And who the hell gave you the right to do that, anyway? To check me out of my hotel room? You’ve got a lot of nerve!”
“I’m sorry,” he said, not sounding it. “I made an executive decision that your law firm wouldn’t want to pay what that room was really worth since I know you were comped the first night, by some infatuated desk clerk, no doubt.”
“I suppose you think I slept with him too.”
“No, but I’m sure you wouldn’t have gotten too much of an objection.”
“And maybe even a second night,” I cooed sarcastically, holding the two sides of my now-open blouse together, although that was so closing the barn door after the horse got out. Jed Worth had seen every inch of me and then some.
“Look, when I asked about you at the desk this morning, they wanted to know if I knew you because they said you’d already left for the day and hadn’t stopped at the concierge on your way out and they had to move you to another room because your suite was rented already for today. Your boyfriend at the night desk forgot to tell you that little fact, I’m guessing. So I told them to put your stuff in my room. That way, I figured you’d have to see me again.”
“And they moved my stuff into your room. Took your word that you knew me!”
“Well, I did have your ripped panties for evidence.”
Whatever thunderous expression must have crossed my face, he said hastily, “I’m kidding. Yes, they took my word for it. I’m, er, that is…”
“Yeah, you’re irresistible. We all know it.”
“I didn’t know we were going to the same meeting. I wanted to make sure I saw you again, and I figured if I had your things, well then, I would.”
My chin hiked up another inch. “If you asked about me at the front desk, then you did know who I was before you saw me at the meeting.”
He laughed. “I didn’t! Bob didn’t exactly tell me your name until he introduced you. He referred to you as ‘that little bitch’ right up to that point.”
“I hate that guy,” I muttered, and he shrugged.
“Me too, but I thought he was a good lawyer. Now I’m beginning to wonder.”
“He’s a lousy lawyer,” I said in my most know-it-all tone.
“And you’re an excellent one.”
The admission turned me on maybe more than those last few orgasms. I really did need to get back to going to my therapy sessions. I had some serious issues.
I didn’t know if I wanted to sleep with this guy or have him offer me a job. Both, probably.
Kidding. I’m kidding.
“So if you don’t have to go back to your room—”
“Because you gave it away,” I pointed out.
“And you’re through with your meetings—”
“Because you pretty much bribed me to get the deal done.”
“Then why don’t we take up where we left off last night?”
I shook my head, still clinging to my open blouse. For good measure, I started re-buttoning it. “Look, for the record, rich guys don’t do anything for me.”
“Thanks for the warning. If coming every time I barely touch you is not doing anything for you, you’re awfully responsive.”
I ignored the gibe. “My mother married a rich guy. And he’s a total creep.”
“So that means I must be one, too?”
“No, the way you’ve been so high-handed today means you must be one, too.”
His sexy mouth tightened, and for the first time, I think I’d gotten the cool Jed Worth hot.
“You’re missing the point here. I did what I did so we could spend more time together.”
“Without consulting me. That’s the point. So I have no room. I have no meeting—”
“I said I was sorry about canceling your room. And if paying your client a premium so we could get out of that meeting has you mad, well then, you better go back to business basics. A premium is never a bad thing.”
“No matter how you get there?”
“As long as it’s legal.”
“Thanks, then. Where are my things?”
He nodded to the front hallway and with as much dignity as I could muster—and ignoring the fact that my nipples were hard and I was certainly already wet; in other words, my body wasn’t exactly on board with the current plan—I threw the leggings and tee I’d brought to travel in into my oversize tote so I could change at the airport, and then threw everything else into my collapsible garment bag.
“You’re a funny girl, Suzy,” he finally muttered.
“I’m not a Suzy. That’s what I’m saying here.”
“This is ridiculous. Just because you’re the lawyer on this deal, that means we can’t see each other?”
“Well, yeah. But that aside—”
“What?”
Yeah, what?
I shrugged. Maybe it was because I was the lawyer on the deal and he didn’t really even care about that fact—about who I was. Alt
hough it was kind of Fatal Attraction of me to expect him to after one night in the sack.
But I ignored that thought. He only knew he wanted to buy me. Nope. No incredibly hot, handsome guy with loads of money was going to reel me in, try to make me some panting, hair-flipping, well, ah, girl.
I was so not my mother!
“This was just a hookup,” I said. “You know, to let the steam out.”
“Don’t tell me you were using me for my body.”
“That and the premium you gave my client,” I couldn’t resist cracking, and at his thunderous look added, “I’m kidding.”
And then, because I wanted to know and it might be my only chance, I asked, “The kid you mentioned last night? He has a drug problem? I heard you say rehab when you were on the phone.”
Jed cocked his head. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Is he your kid?” The math probably didn’t make sense given Jed’s age, but I wanted to know.
“No, but he was somebody’s kid.”
I nodded.
I would have left without touching him again. Without tasting those incredible lips. Without feeling how he leaned into me.
But I guess he wanted to torture me a little more.
He put a palm on the door to keep it closed as I reached for the handle. “At least I deserve a kiss good-bye.”
Knowing that it was the last time made it feel as if he took my breath with him when he was done and stood back.
“You’re a little bit more Suzy than you want to be,” he said.
Then he pretty much shut the door in my face.
At this point, I wanted nothing more than to get to the airport and fly out of this crappy city. But there was one thing I had to do before I did. I waited until I got down to the lobby, but then I dialed my mother on my cell phone. She answered, sleepy. “Ang? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Mom. I just wanted to let you know that I finished my business a lot earlier than I expected. So I’m not going to be able to see you while I’m in town after all.”
“What?” She sounded a little more awake. “Oh, honey, you promised.”
Tempting the CEO (a Sleeping With The Enemy novella) (Entangled Brazen) Page 4
