by Desiree Holt
Six months ago Josh had married Vanessa Bowen, Vice President for Marketing and Public Relations for a large electronics company. No one had ever expected a major player like Josh to settle down but he and Ness were a well-matched pair and definitely in deep love. Both had come to the relationship with baggage, which they’d somehow managed to unpack and get past. Even now they were still in their honeymoon phase, Alex mused.
He wondered if he’d ever find someone like that. Josh had definitely been anti-marriage before Ness but Alex not so much. He’d reached a point where he really wanted that one forever relationship. But somehow all the women he dated were too focused on their careers to think about settling down.
“I think we need to at least understand the concept and lay out the basics of the timeline,” Alex told him. “They’ll want to see our Letter of Intent and proposed schedule before they even decide to proceed with us. And we have a month to get it ready.”
“Okay.” Tyler pushed himself out of his chair. “I’ll provide the steaks. Alex, you can bring the beer. And Josh can bring his artistic brain. Seven o’clock?”
Josh nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
When his brothers had cleared out of his office Alex sat back in his chair and let the events of the morning play through his mind. He tried to concentrate on the people he’d met at the meeting and on the important overview Dan Tuturo spent an hour explaining to him. He’d taken copious notes and needed to review them, have them firmly implanted in his mind before he met with his brothers later.
But the only thing he could seem to focus on was an auburn-haired temptress whose hips swayed in a smooth rhythm and whose lips promised all kinds of temptation.
* * * * *
“Go on in, Mr. Vincent,” Livy heard her assistant say.
When she looked up Frank was breezing past the outer office into hers and dropping into one of the comfortable armchairs opposite her desk. She turned from the computer where she’d been updating a report and chuckled, knowing exactly what he wanted. Her take on Alex McMann. What she thought about him.
I think he could break down all my shields and find the heart I buried years ago. I think I’d like to take a long sabbatical until this is over so I don’t get hurt. Like it used to be.
But she knew that wasn’t even close to the realm of possibility. She had a talent Frank had come to depend on. A sixth sense. A knack for reading people, wherever it came from. Seeing what was behind the business mask. Once she started giving him her opinions of people and they turned out to be on the money—saving him from a few bad deals—he began coming to her each and every time.
“Well?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I hardly know him, Frank. I saw him for two hours, one of them with the whole staff. I can’t give you a read yet.”
“You can fix that. You always do. Take him to dinner. Coffee. Whatever. Work your charm on him. Get him to talk about himself. You know how to work that.”
“I know you did your due diligence on the McManns before you set up the appointment,” she pointed out. “Was there something in there that you want followed up?”
“No, not at all.” He shook his head. “Their record is spotless and their references can’t say enough good things about them.” He shifted in his chair. “But I want the measure of the men. Who and what they are as people. They’ve been very close all their lives. Alex is the oldest and I think if we get a good read from him the others will be the same.”
She tilted her head. “I have a feeling Alex McMann is a different kettle of fish than we’re used to. At least in the development industry. You got the folder on the company. They all have advanced degrees, they’ve won multiple awards both for design and construction as well as overall projects. They’re so clean they squeak.”
“A report is just words on paper. You’re my best people barometer, Livy. You know I depend on you to tell me what kind of vibes you get from someone. I want to know what kind of man he is. What’s inside his head. Does he play well with others.”
Livy couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Frank, you must think I have some kind of psychic magic.”
“Not hardly.” He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “You’ve always been my measuring stick, Livy. Your judgment of people is spot on. I rely on you more than all the investigators and research I can hire.”
Olivia fiddled with a pen on her desk. “All right. I’ll figure out how not to make it contrived. But aren’t you afraid to turn me loose with such a sexy, attractive man?”
Frank laughed. “I don’t think so. Business is your love, Olivia. And one that’s done very well for you. I think it would take a very strong man to make you take a different path.”
“You don’t think Alex McMann is that person?” she asked. The problem wasn’t whether Frank did but whether she did.
“I think I can trust you to keep your head screwed on straight and your eye on the prize.” He paused. “You know that partnership slot is coming open soon.”
Livy grinned. “Why, Frank Vincent. Are you trying to bribe me?”
“Only if I thought it would work.” He smiled back at her and pushed himself out of the chair. “He’ll be back here in a month. I’d like your feedback before then, okay?”
“I’ll do my best.” She winked at him.
But after he left Livy sat quietly at her desk, thinking. Getting a read on Alex McMann might be tricky. Not because he was a complex person but because he had awakened responses in her just by sitting in the same room with her. Responses she usually kept a tight leash on because they brought up painful memories of her childhood.
Long ago she’d had to make a decision. Her life growing up might have looked glamorous to an outsider. Something to be envied. After all, she came from wealth with all its trappings.
But on the inside it was a shambles. Her mother died when she was ten and her father filled the space in his life with a succession of women, many of whom he married and divorced. Livy seemed to hold no more importance for him that the servants he hired or the succession of tutors that came and went. It was as if she reminded him too much of her mother and loving her was too painful for him. He shut off all real emotion where she was concerned. For too long she was the little girl begging for scraps of love, wearing her loneliness on her sleeve.
Not so with the male steps and halves, particularly Jonathan who came full-grown with wife number three. Jonathan was perfection, an accomplished businessman, a social darling with all the appropriate graces. Everything he did was perfect. Praise for Jonathan was doled out with a generous hand. Next came the other males in the family. Livy couldn’t quite break into that golden circle but she got the message—men ruled the world.
It was a mixed blessing when her father finally sent her off to a Swiss boarding school. After the first vacation when she was all but ignored by the others she never went home again. No one seemed to miss her. When she told her father she was applying to college he told her where they should send the bills and that was that. Only the few friends she made saw her graduate. Her father and the assorted other step- and half-siblings sent their regrets. Sorry, Livy, but something’s come up. You know how it is.
Oh yes, she knew exactly how it was. Jonathan was having a major business event that drew everyone’s attention.
She did, however, focus on one thing. If perfection was what it took, that’s what she’d strive for.
“Making your mark at the top tells people who you are,” her father told her in one of their few brief conversations.
She’d do that, and compete with them on their own playing field. She got the best grades, completed the best projects, graduated at the top of her class. By the time she had both her undergraduate and graduate degrees she could speak five languages fluently, was a whiz at math, and with a near photographic memory could recite information about global businesses at the drop of a hat. She would become as driven as men like her father and Jonathan and the others. She’d swim with the sha
rks and not get bitten.
She was proud of herself for working her way up the corporate ladder at Concordia. Her job had a lot of responsibility and because of the financial nature of it, spread into other areas. She’d won the respect of the business community because she balanced her femininity with her business attitude and acumen. She wanted that partnership in Concordia that Frank kept dangling in front of her, and the power that went with it. That was her ultimate goal.
It was obvious that she was battling some of the men on the executive staff for that spot. And she knew at the end of the day they were all just little boys sitting around a table with a ruler measuring to see who had the biggest dick.
She kept her private live just that. Private. She didn’t have time for a permanent relationship with a man. Not now. Too distracting. Too dangerous. She’d never allow herself to be that lonely little girl again. She chose her playmates very carefully, usually men as driven as she was who knew how to be discreet and who kept their mouths shut. When it was over it was over. Emotion played no part in her life. Love could only destroy you. Opening her heart to someone was dangerous and she never wanted that kind of pain again.
But she had an uncomfortable impression Alex McMann was going to be a disturbing factor in her life. He already stirred feelings in her she kept under iron control. If she was going to be spending time with him she’d have to give herself a stern lecture. Or wear a steel corset. Or both.
She pushed the button for her assistant.
“Jo?”
“Yes, Livy.” The woman’s voice was soft and well-modulated. She could soothe the most irate client or supplier.
“Get out your detecting kit and find out where Alex McMann has breakfast, lunch and dinner. Where he gets his car washed. What he does on the weekends and where he does it.”
“Sure thing.”
“Good. And Jo?”
“I know, I know.” The woman laughed softly. “Keep everything under my hat.”
Chapter Two
Alex checked the time on his watch, slowed his pace and finally stopped, bent over, hands on knees as he drew in great lungfuls of air. Fingertips on his pulse, he counted his heartbeats, still doing his deep breathing. He was about to resume jogging at a more leisurely pace when a body crashed into him. He staggered slightly, then turned to see who it was, what idiot wasn’t paying attention.
He recognized the auburn hair at once, although today it was straggling from a ponytail, not shimmering in soft waves. And the perfect oval of a face was devoid of makeup, although looking at it Alex wondered why she’d ever bother using it. Even though she was dressed in shorts and a tank top rather than office attire, he still recognized Olivia D’Angelo. And his heart rate speeded up just like the first time he saw her.
Men my age don’t fall in love at first sight.
Yeah? Tell that to someone who believes it.
“Oh!” She stopped and backed up. “I am so sorry.”She brushed at the stray wisps of hair. “Alex, right? McMann?”
Had she forgotten him so easily? The thought irritated him more than it should have. After all, he was sure he was just one of many people she interacted with during any given day. But he’d been so positive they made an invisible connection that day.
He took a step back and let his gaze roam over her, nearly swallowing his tongue. In business clothes she’d been a delightful, tempting package, perfectly balancing the personal and professional. But in a tank top and running shorts, ponytail bouncing as she jogged in place, there was nothing businesslike about her at all.
The thin fabric of her top barely concealed the sports bra beneath it. Alex would bet that under the restraining material her nipples had hardened peaks. The shorts were cut high, revealing toned, shapely thighs. The pulse at her throat was beating rapidly from exertion. He wished it were beating from some other cause. And he wondered wildly if he’d sound crazy if he said the scent of her sweat was turning him on.
Stop it, you idiotic jerk. This is business, not pleasure.
“Yes. Olivia.” Two could play at this game.
The corners of her mouth tilted up in that mischievous grin that he hadn’t been able to get out of his mind.
“Livy,” she reminded him.
“Right. Livy.” He frowned. “I didn’t realize you lived around here.” Alex had a path he ran as often as he could, starting at his house and winding through the older residential streets to a small park. Sometimes he stopped at the Starbucks in the quaint little shopping center about four blocks from his house.
She swiped her forehead with her hand.
“Actually, I don’t. A friend of mine has a house three streets over from here. She’s out of town for the weekend so I’m dogsitting.” She looked around. “Is this your street?”
“No. I live on San Juan.” He grinned. “Near the Starbucks.”
“That makes us practically neighbors for the weekend,” she pointed out. “And speaking of Starbucks, can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”
Livy laughed. “I’m not much into gender boundaries. Would you feel better if you paid for the coffee?”
Alex smiled at her. “Not at all. I’ll let a beautiful woman pay for my coffee any day.”
Watch it, buddy. Take it slow. Maybe you misread her the other day. No sophomoric love crap. She’s the key to the biggest deal of your life. Don’t kill it before it even gets out of the gate.
“Good. Then lead the way.”
He really wanted her to lead so he could watch the sway of that beautiful ass. He was just glad his t-shirt was long enough to hide his semi-erection that he was trying to wish away.
Livy knew his eyes had taken in every detail of her body. Her nipples had puckered under his scrutiny and there wasn’t much she could do to hide them. She suddenly felt completely exposed in her jogging shorts and tank and wondered if she should have worn something less revealing. The idea was to loosen him up without seducing him and she definitely didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. She wanted him to feel comfortable. To talk to her about himself and his brothers.
And to keep those pesky emotions back where they belonged. This could be the boost she needed for that partnership if she handled everything right. Love or whatever had no place in her life. At least right now.
Jo had done a great job digging out the bit about the jogging, along with the when and where. It had cost her a gift certificate to a spa for the weekend to get her friend Lois to go along with the charade but it was worth it. She’d managed to “run into him” in a casual manner.
“You jog a lot?” she asked as they walked along the shaded sidewalks to Starbucks.
“Whenever I can. At least three times a week. Keeps me alert and in shape for a lot of the long hours we work.”
“So you put in a lot of late night work?”
He nodded. “Don’t you?”
“Part of the process,” she told him.
They’d arrived at Starbucks and he held the door open for her. At the counter she ordered a skinny mocha latte, half cafe, no whipped cream. Alex ordered a Columbian roast with a double shot of espresso.
“High octane,” she commented. “Like you.”
“Why, Ms. D’Angelo. Are you flirting with me?” He winked at her.
“Just a little Saturday teasing.” She grinned.
But flirting with him certainly wasn’t out of the question at a later date. He was exactly the type of man she enjoyed—focused on business, not looking for a long-term commitment, great between the sheets. The last two she guessed at but she knew his type. Definitely. When she got to know him better he’d prove her point.
They decided to split a banana muffin and took it and their drinks to a corner table.
“So,” she began, “how did you all get into this business, anyway? Family?”
“Lord, no.” He took a swallow of the hot liquid. “Our parents own a restaurant. They’ve lived and b
reathed food for as long as I remember. Until my dad had a heart attack. A pretty bad one.”
She sobered at once. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, he’s doing great now. They sold the restaurant and moved to Arizona, to a seniors community where some of their friends live.” He laughed. “He organizes barbecues and picnics on a regular basis and insists on doing all the cooking. You can take the guy out of the kitchen but you can’t take the kitchen out of the guy.”
Livy sipped her drink. “None of you wanted to take over?”
Alex threw up his hands. “Are you kidding? It was my father’s greatest disappointment that none of us could boil water. It wasn’t until we were all living on our own that we discovered the importance of preparing food. Eating out and nuking food can get old really fast. Anyway, in the beginning it was more of an economic necessity.”
“Did you all move out at the same time?”
He looked at her over the rim of his cup. “Is this Twenty Questions?”
She shrugged as casually as possible. “Just getting to know the personal side of you a little. It always helps when I’m working with someone.”
She was getting a picture of Alex McMann that unsettled her. A family man who came from a background of love and affection. Her own might have taken place on another planet. Maybe playing games with him wasn’t the best idea after all. Most of her lovers were like her, committed to nothing but business.
“And this project is the most innovative one Concordia’s done yet so you want to make sure you don’t have a bunch of screwballs messing it up.”
She couldn’t help laughing. “You’re anything but a screwball, Alex. I promise you that. You’d never have gotten the letter of invitation for that first meeting if you were.”
He peeled the muffin very carefully and used the plastic knife to split it precisely into two parts. Then he set hers on a napkin pushed it toward her.
She broke off a tiny piece, popped it in her mouth and chewed on it thoughtfully, letting the flavor linger on her tongue. “You still didn’t answer my question about moving out.”
