by Kat Cantrell
“I’m not big on contracts.” Her nose wrinkled up at the concept. “Especially not when they include the word exclusive. That’s a little tight of a handcuff.”
What Jada Ness lacked in subtly, she more than made up for in shrewdness.
“Perhaps. But LeBlanc is hardly a small player in the industry. We have hundreds of retail outlets and a robust online business. LeBlanc’s team would be poised to help you launch your career to the next level.”
Val had no idea if his executive team would agree to any of this. He was unilaterally binding the company to this one designer in the course of a five-minute conversation. But Val had always been an all-in kind of guy, and Sabrina had coached him many times on this precise scenario. The CEO steered the ship, made the decisions and never apologized. Even when the ship hit an iceberg.
So he wouldn’t hit one.
But it still felt like a huge gamble, and he’d prefer to have a team of people making these moves. That way, no one could blame it on him if the thing went south. Of course, he wouldn’t get credit in the event of a success either, but that hardly bothered him.
Jada’s dark gaze found his and clung. “I might be interested in discussing contracts in a little deeper detail. Over breakfast.”
“I’m free now,” Val returned smoothly. “Let me get you another drink.”
She reached out and snagged his arm before he could move, her fingers curling around his wrist in an approximation of the very handcuffs she’d mentioned she’d like to avoid. “I don’t usually have such a difficult time getting my point across. Talk to me about contracts at breakfast. After we’ve spent the hours between now and then talking about everything else.”
Blatantly, she dragged her tongue across her upper lip in case Val had missed the come-on. Problem was, he hadn’t missed it the first time. Or the second. He’d been politely avoiding the subject because...he didn’t know why. This was his wheelhouse. Take a sexy, willing woman to bed, rock her world and emerge the next morning ready to get down to business. What could possibly go wrong with this scenario?
Tell her Fine. Say Okay, and tuck her into the limo. This was a no-brainer.
“I’m otherwise engaged tonight,” he spit out instead. “Any handcuffs we discuss should come without complications.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Handcuffs always come with complications. It’s just a matter of finding the ones you can manage. Let me know when you’re ready to talk contracts. My door is always open.”
All at once, Val grew weary of dancing around. Was there something wrong with saying what you really meant? “To be clear, you’re not interested in talking about an agreement with LeBlanc unless that discussion happens on the heels of me taking you to bed. No room for negotiation.”
She blinked. “I wouldn’t have put it so crassly. But sure. Let’s lay it on the line. I’m expecting you to come along with any contacts. And that’s nonnegotiable.”
Wow. Okay. File that under Be careful what you wish for. Val was starting to get an inkling of why she’d gotten crossways with Xavier—she seemed like the type who got crossways with everyone at some point. Had she made a similar proposition to his brother and been likewise shot down?
If so, this was Val’s chance to turn the tide of LeBlanc where his brother had failed. It was a unique opportunity, one he should jump on. No one would be the least bit shocked to learn he’d had to sleep his way into an exclusive contract. This woman commanded top dollar for her jewelry designs and had thus far eluded the grasp of all major players in the industry. Val could score here in more ways than one.
But the strange taste he’d had in his mouth since first coming in contact with Jada wouldn’t fade. “Let me get your number. I’m here with a date tonight, and it would be bad form to leave her unescorted.”
Surprisingly, Jada’s expression softened. “You must be one of those good guys I’ve always heard about.”
Yeah, that was so not Val. But if Jada wanted to think so he wouldn’t correct the notion. Nodding, he took her card and walked away from the table feeling very much as if he’d narrowly escaped being sold to the highest bidder.
Sabrina wasn’t hard to pick out in the crowd, despite the fact that she’d wedged herself into a corner as if trying to hide. For God knew what reason, that made him smile. In that dress, she couldn’t possibly escape the notice of a single eye in the room, least of all his.
“That looks like the face of someone who had a rousing success,” she said brightly, by way of greeting when she saw him approach, and he was so blinded by her that he only nodded.
What was he supposed to do, tell her the star designer had pounced on the idea of bedding LeBlanc’s CEO in exchange for exclusive rights?
This corner of the room had fewer people in it, likely because it was the farthest spot from the bar. A decorative urn stood at Sabrina’s back, almost taller than she was. Val liked this spot. Dimmer lighting, fewer prying eyes. Interesting shadows. “She agreed to talk to me about an exclusive contract. I’d call that a success.”
“That’s great.” Sabrina glanced over his shoulder and back again. “But not now? If you want my advice, you should strike while the iron is hot.”
Suddenly, his date’s constant insistence on removing him from her presence grated on him. That was at least half his problem tonight—the woman he wished to be bedding wasn’t biting, and he’d never dealt well with rejection. “She didn’t want to. I’m here with you, and I’ve barely said two words to you thus far. Dance with me.”
“Ask Jada Ness,” she insisted, apparently either clueless that his temper had started swirling, or she’d realized it and didn’t care. “You should have already.”
“No,” he growled. “I shouldn’t have. The only person I need to dance with right now is you.”
Without waiting for more protests, he snaked a hand around her waist and drew her against him, settling her into the grooves of his body. Holy hell, she felt amazing. Exactly the right palate cleanser after the encounter with Jada.
“Right here?” she squeaked, but her hands had drifted into place at his hips, maybe by accident, but he didn’t think so.
“I’m striking while the iron is hot,” he murmured in her ear as he drew her closer, still with a firm hand at the small of her bare back. “Close your mouth and dance, Sabrina.”
She did both, and he tucked away that huge concession for later, when he could fully examine it.
The jazz music was slow and sensuous and perfect for this little unpopulated corner of the room. Swaying to it effortlessly, he turned Sabrina in a circle to make it seem like dancing was really the goal when in reality, he simply wanted to be touching her. The bare skin under his palm tantalized him into wishing he could let his hand drift further south, but they were still in public, and he didn’t think she’d appreciate him groping her.
Maybe later.
“So what was her temperature?” Sabrina asked.
Smoking hot. “You mean toward the contract discussion? Fine,” he lied. “I got her card, and I’ll call her tomorrow.”
Or next week. After he’d done some more research into whether her conditions were worth it. And he had time to get over whatever was wrong with him that made him unable to fathom taking her up on her offer.
Eight
All at once, Sabrina felt the giant porcelain urn brush her spine. Val had guided her into the darkest part of the corner, where the urn shadowed the space, a true testament to how befuddled her senses got when he touched her because she hadn’t even registered the movement.
It shouldn’t have been such a shock to glance up into his dark gaze and register the stark need in his expression. Neither should she have swayed forward. But her body cried out to be closer to him, and she’d been cold for so long.
Val’s lips claimed hers a beat later, warming her exactly as she’d hoped. And then the heat
spread like molten molasses through her blood, sensitizing everything in its path, as the master of seduction kissed her.
She should stop him, step back. But the urn was in the way, and she let herself relax against it as the firm press of Val trapped her. Delicious. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t dreamed of this, over and over. Well, not this. She couldn’t have imagined how truly hot a kiss from Val could get, not after the way-too short introduction to his magic she’d gotten in the park.
This was something else. Bold, unapologetic. So not the way Xavier kissed that it threw her for a loop a second time. Why she’d even thought there might be similarities between the brothers she’d never know, but they might as well be distant cousins instead of twins for all their differences.
Val’s mouth worked across hers with masterful power, and she fell into the sensation, unable to stop herself from greedily sucking up all he was offering. He spoke to her at a visceral level as if the layers of skin separating them didn’t exist and he had the power to winnow his way to her core without breaking a sweat. Maybe because she’d welcomed him in.
Seeming to sense that she’d be a willing participant to more, he tilted her head with one tender hand to her jaw and took her impossibly deeper. With one long stroke of his tongue against hers, he dissolved her bones, and she would have melted to the floor if he hadn’t been holding her tight. So tightly, every curve of her body nestled against his, and it was all so hot that she couldn’t breathe.
That’s when she knew she was in trouble. Simple desire she could handle, could easily walk away from. Val had never been simple.
She pushed on his shoulders, and it took a moment for him to register it, but then he immediately stepped back, releasing her. Val let his hands drop to his sides, and she nearly wept as his heat left her.
But that’s what she’d wanted. Or, rather, what she was trying really hard to convince herself she’d wanted.
“We can’t keep doing this,” she stated firmly.
“I completely agree. Next time, we’ll be behind closed doors.” His rough voice thrilled through her, and there was no mistaking the intensity of his desire. For her. Not Jada Ness, the gorgeous designer who had been eating him alive with her hungry eyes.
No matter how hard she’d pushed him in that direction, he’d kept his distance from the man-eating blonde and worked his way to Sabrina in under fifteen minutes. She’d practically gift wrapped the woman, to no avail.
That alone had been enough for her to ignore the dangers of falling into his arms. She couldn’t do that again. He’d show his true stripes soon enough, and then where would she be?
“There’s no next time. That was nice, but we’re through with that.”
“We haven’t started anything that we could conceivably end,” he growled. “Trust me. You’d know if we had, and you wouldn’t be labeling it nice.”
Of that she had no doubt. “No, I’d call it a mistake. I shouldn’t have let you kiss me.”
“There was plenty of you in that kiss. You weren’t letting me do anything.”
She shrugged, praying that he’d buy her nonchalance. What was it about Val that pushed so many of her buttons? “I already admitted it was nice. It wasn’t a chore. We’re just not right for each other.”
The music piping through the sound system from the live band in the corner moved from fast to sultry as he cocked a brow and crossed his arms. “You’re making stuff up as you go along, aren’t you? First you don’t date clients, then you agree to a date that you insisted on pretending isn’t one, and now we’re not right for each other. Tell me, will I ever get a straight answer out of you about what your objection is to taking this thing between us to a natural conclusion?”
“Probably not,” she said with false cheer that she didn’t feel in the slightest. No man had ever put her as far off balance as Val, and she wasn’t feeling particularly charitable about it. “I’m cycling through all my tried and true lines until I find one that works on you.”
“I’ll save you some time. None of them work. I’ve got some definite ideas about what we should be doing right now instead of hashing this out, and I refuse to believe we’re not going to get there once I dismantle all of your objections. So, okay.” He circled his finger in a get-on-with-this motion. “Let’s have it. Give me what you’ve got. Both barrels.”
She almost laughed, but that would only encourage him. Then she did a double take at the expression on his face. “You want all my lines up front? Is that seriously what you’re asking me?”
“Yep. Start talking.”
His crossed arms began to irritate her. Why? No clue, but he wore this smug smile that said he had every confidence he’d blast apart whatever challenge she laid down as if her will on the matter didn’t count. Therefore, regardless of what she told him, he’d figure out how to convince her otherwise, or at least that’s what he’d sold himself on.
So she didn’t deflect him with one of her many and varied rules designed to keep her heart whole. She went with the cold, hard truth.
“My father cheated on my mother. Constantly.” Catching his gaze, she held him fast, forcing him into her hell. He’d asked for it. She wasn’t going to pull any punches. “He came home smelling like perfume, with lipstick on his collar. Unapologetically. Never even tried to hide it. I had to listen to my mother cry herself to sleep. I swore I’d never put myself in that position, swore I could find a man who would be loyal and steadfast, honoring his marriage vows. Surely it can’t be that hard, I told myself.”
Val shook his head, his good humor draining away instantly. “I’m sorry, Sabrina. That’s a rotten thing to deal with.”
“Oh, no. That was a rotten thing for my mother to deal with.” The low, short laugh that escaped her throat had not one ounce of humor in it. “The part that I had to deal with was when I found out how wrong I was about not ending up in that position.”
That’s when she’d really learned what it felt like to be the woman on the other side of the bedroom door. When she’d learned why her mother had stayed. Your brain and your heart argued with each other so much that you couldn’t sort truth from fiction. You couldn’t leave because maybe you were wrong. Maybe it was all a horrible mistake, and you didn’t want to make other, bigger mistakes.
And then came the point when it wasn’t possible to keep lying to yourself any longer and you had to make choices with cold reason instead of hot emotion. She didn’t do hot emotion anymore.
He flinched, but before he could open his mouth again, she held up a finger. “It’s odd how being cheated on changes your perspective about everything. I realized my problem was that I’d been looking for a man I could trust. Instead, I should have been looking for a man I could replace.”
“Ouch.” The look on his face did have a bit of a pained quality to it. “Would it be redundant to say I’m sorry again?”
“And unnecessary.” She lifted one shoulder. “I’m over it.”
She wasn’t. She’d never be over it. How did you erase the bone-deep knowledge that you’d chosen someone to love who could betray you like that? It made every decision suspect, especially when it came to men.
“Don’t be cavalier,” he countered fiercely. “It’s not okay.”
A little taken aback, she stared at him. “It is okay. It has to be. I’ve moved on.”
“Have you?” His dark eyes glittered, more black than blue in the low light, sucking her with mesmerizing depth that she couldn’t look away from all at once. “You told me that story to explain why you continually shuck me off. That’s the opposite of moving on.”
“That’s how I moved on. Now I only date men I can easily get rid of.” She jerked her head toward the door. “But if you want to be a man I get rid of, let’s go.”
He didn’t move. “So, let me get this straight. You won’t go on a real date with me because I might be worth keeping aroun
d. I like where this is headed.”
Instead of backing off like he should have—like she’d intended for him to do—he’d gotten a whole lot closer, crowding into her space with his pretty cheekbones and hard body that was made for a woman’s hands.
“Please.” She rolled her eyes, but the quaver in her voice might have ruined the effect. “You’re my client. That’s why I can’t get rid of you.”
Leaning in, he brushed a strand of hair from her cheek and the rest of the partygoers over his shoulder faded away. “But you practically dared me to leave with you in the same breath as telling me you’d be looking for the easiest, fastest way to call it quits afterward. That’s a risky challenge, Sabrina, especially since that might be precisely what I’m looking for.”
She shook her head. “I told you that story so you’d understand that I date cautiously. I haven’t been seeing anyone since I split from Xavier and neither am I looking for someone new. My job takes a lot of my time, and I like it. Men simply aren’t high on my list of priorities.”
Val made a noise in his throat. “Because the men you’ve dated are subpar. My brother included. You clearly need someone to show you what you’ve been missing.”
“I’m not missing anything,” she insisted. “I’m just not interested in dealing with the problems.”
“If that’s your mindset, you’re definitely not doing it right.” He scowled. “Wow. I had no idea Xavier was such a dud in the romance department. That’s a crying shame. No worries. I’ll have your thinking reset in no time at all.”
Was this the part where she laughed or cried? “I wasn’t worried. This is a conversation about why we’re not going to be dating. So you can leave with your ego intact, and I can go on being your coach. No harm, no foul.”
“Oh, no, sweetheart.” He tsked. “That’s not what we’re talking about at all. This is a conversation about how you’ve been treated like trash by men who should be lined up and shot. I’ll get all the names later. Much later.” He palmed her hand and raised it to his lips, caressing the soft skin with his mouth. “For now, it’s obvious to me that you have had a lack of passion in your life. I feel a distinct need to romance you so well that you have to beg me to stop.”
