by Onne Andrews
“We both know appearances can be deceptive and assumptions deadly in this business, Mr. Radcliffe.”
He removed his wire-rim glasses and used the tail of his shirt to clean the lenses. “And what’s your first impression of me in person?”
I’d done my homework. Emmett Radcliffe wasn’t the type that tolerated smoke blown up his ass. I smiled. “If I didn’t know your history and your net worth, my first impression is that you’re a Tampa Bay beach bum.”
He roared until he gasped for breath. “Good to know you got some balls, Margaret. Or do you prefer Maggie.”
“Actually, I go by my middle name, Lacy.” I smiled. I was liking Emmett more and more.
We smoothly moved into comparing our respective visions for the future of his company. His children weren’t interested in the business, and he didn’t want to leave his loyal employees to some unknown fate. I had to respect his commitment.
After talking for over an hour and a half, a beep sounded from his shirt pocket. He pulled it out. “My lawyer’s here. I want you two to meet since you’ll be working together quite a bit during the transition.” Emmett grinned at me. “If he likes you, you’re in.”
The owner’s statement should have reassured me that I was his front-runner for this job, but a sense of dread fell over me. I checked my watch. Ten forty-five. There were hundreds of attorneys in the Tampa metro area. The odds would be astronomical that Emmett was Ian’s eleven o’clock appointment.
A sharp knock on the conference room door interrupted my thought, but my heart rose in my throat. The door swung open, and Ian said, “Your receptionist sent me back, Emmett—”
He froze when he spotted me.
Somehow, I forced my shaking body upright and smiled. I prayed my expression didn’t look as sick as I felt, and I held out my hand. “Why, Mr. Hollister. What a pleasure to see you again.”
Chapter Four
“Ms. Sullivan.” Ian’s stiff smile didn’t look much better than mine felt. His touch when he took my palm was equally tense.
“You two know each other?” Emmett’s shrewd gaze passed from me to Ian and back.
“We were seated next to each other on this morning’s flight from Atlanta.” I kept my expression as neutral as possible and prayed Ian wouldn’t contradict me.
“Well, since I’m not making introductions, you two can chat while I get more coffee.” He favored us with one more odd look before he left and closed the door behind him.
“What the hell was last night about?” Ian growled. His pale eyes bore into me.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I shot back.
“Did you sleep with me just to get an edge for this job?”
“You’re the one who seduced me.”
“Because you wanted me to.”
Well, he was right on that count, but I couldn’t admit it. Not now. “Look, last night would not have happened if I’d known you were Radcliffe’s attorney. You weren’t exactly forthcoming with your name.”
“Neither were you, Margaret.”
Ian was the last person I wanted to antagonize, but the use of my first name set me over the edge. “In other words, you expected to meet some ancient crone who wouldn’t tempt you to break your thirteen-year vow of celibacy.”
“Yes.”
We glared at each other for a very long time. Despite his snarkiness, of which I was equally to blame, I got the sense he shared my disappointment. If Radcliffe hired me, any bedroom games were officially over. Neither of us were the type to let sexual politics interfere with our careers.
Finally, he blew out a deep breath. “As my daughter would say, this sucks.”
“Yes. Yes, it does,” I managed to say before Emmett walked back into the room with his steaming mug.
The three of us settled down to business. Emmett laid out his tentative plans. At each step, Ian launched a million questions at me. How I kept my voice from trembling as I answered each one I would never know. Whatever truce existed between us before his client had re-entered the room evaporated under his rapid-fire inquiries.
Emmett chuckled. “Lighten up, Hollister. This isn’t a cross-examination at a murder trial.”
“I want to make sure you leave the company in the best hands.” Ian glanced at me. “I’m sure Ms. Sullivan understands.”
“Of course,” I murmured. It’s just business, I reminded myself, except his attitude seemed pretty damn personal, like he had something to prove.
“That’s everything I need here. Walk me out, Emmett,” Ian said.
Radcliffe shot me a half-apologetic smile. “Be right back.”
The two men left, and I stood. Pacing in front of the huge window overlooking the beach didn’t calm my nerves. How did everything go to hell so fast? I had a wonderful night with Ian. I was excited about the prospect of leading Radcliffe Software. And now…
Now, I wasn’t sure if I needed to salvage this opportunity, if it was necessary or even if I wanted to. Working with Ian and not being able to touch him would be uncomfortable, difficult. An even worse thought occurred. What could Ian possibly be saying to Emmett about me?
The urge to bury my face in my hands grated across my nerves. The one time in my life I took a wild chance, and look what happened.
Emmett appeared in the doorway and cleared his throat. A slight smile curved his mouth, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Why don’t I take you around to meet the department heads?”
I stifled a groan. My chances here were obviously dead. I slapped a grin on my face and said, “Sure.”
* * *
It was closing in on two when Emmett declared, “Let’s get lunch.”
As we whizzed down a coastal road in his Jeep, he pointed out landmarks and gave his opinions on the various neighborhoods. Well outside of Tampa proper, he pulled over to a tiny seafood restaurant that was little more than a shack on the beach. One good gust from a tropical storm would blow the clapboard building into the Gulf of Mexico.
The older woman in the stained apron at the counter yelled, “The usual, Emmett?”
He held up two fingers and led me to the patio that overlooked the sand. Children raced up and down the beach with brightly colored buckets. Parents kept watchful eyes for trouble while gulls kept watchful eyes for dropped scraps.
Once again, I felt an impending cloud of doom closing in on me as Emmet rattled on about the pro football team’s chances this fall. The proprietress set two plates stacked with crab legs, fries and slaw on the table. She also set two bottles of beer in front of us.
I tried to make my smile to her as apologetic as possible. “Could I get an iced tea instead?”
“You a teetotaler, Sullivan?” Emmett barked.
“No…” Why did I feel like I had stepped in quicksand? “I don’t normally drink during an interview.”
“Interview’s over. This is a heart-to-heart.” He tried to dismiss our server, but she slapped his hand.
“Quit being an ass, Emmett. If the girl wants some tea, I’ll get her some tea.” She winked at me before she sauntered back inside.
He took a swig of his beer before he said, “Want to tell me why I lost my lawyer and one of my board directors this morning?”
He could have knocked me over with a fry. “What? Ian quit?”
A mischievous gleam appeared in Emmett’s eyes. “Uh-huh. That’s what I thought.”
“You thought what?” I was now up to my waist in the metaphorical quicksand.
“That you two are more than seatmates on a plane.” He picked up the top crab leg on his plate and snapped it. “But you didn’t tell him you were interviewing here, did you?”
I sucked in a deep breath. Not that I wanted to discuss my personal life with a potential employer, but Emmett Radcliffe wasn’t going to accept some bullshit lie.
Releasing the air in my lungs, I shook my head. “No, I didn’t. I didn’t want him to think…” Oh god, this is worse than the time I got a ‘C’ on my report card.
“Think what?
” Our proprietress was back, but she carried two glasses of tea. She set one down in front of me before she pulled over another chair and plunked down between me and Emmett.
“Lacy, this is my wife Sheila.”
Sheila held out her hand, which I took. My head rang with the rapid shifts in conversation. She looked expectantly at her husband.
“Hollister decided to break his monkhood with my CEO candidate.” Emmett pulled white meat out of the shell, dipped it in the little cup of butter on his plate, and popped the morsel in his mouth.
I prayed for a lightning strike, but the sky remained bright blue with only the occasional puffy white cloud. Emmett’s heart-to-heart could only mean he was feeding me to ease the pain of dropping me on my ass.
“About time.” Sheila’s grin could have powered all of Massachusetts for the winter. “You’ve been trying to bring him on board from the beginning.”
“Excuse me?” What the hell was going on here? “You’re interviewing me because Ian declined the position?”
“Don’t get your feminist panties in an uproar, Lacy.” Sheila patted my hand. “I’m not talking about him running the company. Ian helped Emmett design the project manager software in return for me babysitting his kids while he went to night school for his law degree.”
I turned back to Emmett. “So Ian used to work for you as a systems programmer?”
He cracked another leg and sucked out the meat before answering. “Nope. He was part of the construction crew who fixed our house after a double whammy from Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. I needed the input of a real life person who would actually be using my program. We had a nice trade-off. I offered him a job more than once, but he wanted to work for himself. So what was it you didn’t want Ian to think?”
Crap. I couldn’t get out of this gracefully. I reached for my bottle of beer and took a drink. “Our…whatever this is, is brand-new. I didn’t want him to think I was stalking him.” Shit, that did not come out right. I took another desperate swig.
“So, are you?” Emmett popped a couple of fries in his mouth.
“Am I what?” I couldn’t keep track of the conversation. I was floundering that bad. This is why you never mixed business and pleasure, you idiot. Except I hadn’t known my pleasure was part of my potential business.
“Stalking him.”
Adrenaline shot through my bloodstream, and my heart pounded. “No! Oh, god, no. I wanted the job here long before I met Ian.”
From the smirk on Sheila’s face, I hadn’t just stuck my foot in my mouth. I had shoved my leg down my throat up to my knee.
Emmett fished in his pocket, pulled out his keys and slapped them on the table. “Can you drive a stick?”
“Yes.” At last, a question I could answer without my blood pressure skyrocketing. A little relief seeped into my veins.
“The job’s yours on one condition—I want my attorney-slash-board member back. You screwed this up; you fix it. Consider it your first test as CEO.”
“Yes, sir.” I tried to project confidence, but I didn’t have a damn clue how I was going to woo Ian Hollister back into the Radcliffe Software fold again. Well, except for the obvious method, which is how I’d inadvertently destroyed Emmett’s business relationship to begin with.
Chapter Five
The GPS on my phone announced the last turn, and I pulled into the office building’s visitor parking lot. Sheila had scribbled the address on a napkin for me. I couldn’t admit I already had Ian’s business card. I’d made enough of a fool of myself at lunch.
The way my stomach roiled, I was thankful I hadn’t eaten the crab legs and fries. Sheila promised to feed me once a week after I found a place to live, as if my success in my current mission was a done deal.
This close to five o’clock on a Friday meant the offices should be starting to clear out. I prayed I was right. Fewer witnesses if my encounter with Ian devolved into a shouting match.
Not that I really believed it would. He struck me as the type who would be ice cold when he was furious.
I couldn’t remember walking across the parking lot or riding the elevator to the correct floor. All I felt was an arid mouth when the pretty, young receptionist inside the lobby of Hollister & McKinney smiled and asked, “How can I help you?”
“Is Mr. Hollister in?” I managed to force out the words without choking on the sand in my throat.
“May I say who’s calling?” Unconsciously, her attention darted to the hallway on the right.
“It’s a surprise.” I placed my index finger on my lips and winked at her.
“Ma’am! You can’t go back there!” she called when I pivoted and marched for the large office at the end of the corridor.
I ignored her. Besides, she hadn’t said he was in a conference or with a client, so I knew I wouldn’t be interrupting something. Running to beat her warning appeared too damn desperate though, and I wasn’t about to resort to such tactics. Behind me, I could hear her pseudo-whispering to Ian over the intercom.
No knocking. Instead, I shoved the door open.
Ian stood behind his desk, a look of resignation on his handsome face. A face I’d hoped to wake up to tomorrow morning.
“We need to talk.” I closed the door behind me.
“Did you know?” His words were tight, drawn around the same question he’d asked at Radcliffe Software.
“No, and neither did you. It was—” I couldn’t call it a mistake. Looking back, I understood I would have done the same thing all over if given the chance. “It was two people who were lonely and found a connection.” I took two steps forward. “And we are going to deal with the consequences like adults. Not hide in our rooms like pouting teen girls.”
His pale eyes widened. A slow blink followed. “Excuse me?”
“That’s exactly what you did by quitting and you know it,” I shot back.
Behind me, I heard the door open. I expected the receptionist, but a masculine voice said, “Everything okay?”
I whirled to find a balding man. His custom-made suit elongated his stout build. His deep-set eyes regarded me with a shrewd look, analyzing my presence.
“Everything’s fine, Harry.” The other name on the marquee. Harold McKinney. Ian’s partner.
I stuck my palm out. “Lacy Sullivan. I’m Radcliffe Software’s new CEO. Ian and I were supposed to meet for dinner. I’m a little early.”
Harry’s tight lips relaxed into a smile, and he shook my hand. “Pleasure to meet you. Sorry our receptionist panicked.”
“I didn’t mean to cause a problem. I assumed Ian would have let her know I would be coming.”
Ian didn’t contradict my lie. “Have a good weekend, Harry.”
“You, too.” Harry’s gaze swept me again, another evaluating look. “I’ll let building security know your still up here.”
Maybe busting into Ian’s office unannounced wasn’t one of my better ideas. I turned back to him as Harry closed the office door. “I take it you’ve had a problem with irate clients barging in before.”
“As a matter of fact, yes.” Ian crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Did Emmett actually offer you the job?”
“He did with one caveat—I have to convince you to return to Radcliffe Software’s board of directors and resume as outside counsel.” I had no illusions that Ian would cross-check my story.
He slammed his palms against the table. “Don’t you understand why I left?”
I tried to keep my posture relaxed. “Because you couldn’t handle doing business with a woman you’ve slept with.”
“I slept with?” The incredulous look he gave me would have been comical if I didn’t feel my own heart breaking over these stupid circumstances. “Honey, we did a lot more than sleep.”
Heat spread up my neck and ignited my cheeks at his carnal tone. “The point is you’re abandoning a long-time client and friend because you can’t keep your pants zipped.”
“You’re right.” He circled the desk. Something dark
and ugly rested in his gaze. “I can’t keep my pants zipped when it comes to you. That makes my counsel to Emmett questionable at best and ineffective at worst.”
“Do you want me to quit? If that’s what I have to do to get you to return to Emmet, I’ll do it. He needs you.” This morning I thought I had everything, and now all my dreams and desires were collapsing around me.
Ian stepped closer to me. Heat radiated from his body. “What do you want, Lacy?”
“I-I—” Pressure grew in my chest. I couldn’t breathe. “I need to fix things. I need you to go back to Emmett.”
“And what are you going to do to get me to change my mind? To get me to throw away my principles?”
I licked my lips. “Wh-what do you mean?” Something deep inside of me wanted to push him. Wanted to force him to show me who was boss. Wanted him to fuck me hard and rough like he had last night.
“Are you going to beg?”
It wasn’t cruelty that prompted the question. I finally understood the emotion he tried so hard to hide this morning. Pain at yet another betrayal. If I tried to convince him of the truth, he would deny it. In his mind, I was just another bitch who’d used him before she stabbed him through the heart.
Well, he wasn’t the only one who’d been hurt. I’d learned my lesson from the ex’s constant accusations that I was cheating on him to cover his own misbehavior. The best defense is one hell of a nasty offense.
I smiled, a ugly, vicious thing I’d only used once before in my life. “Is that it? You can’t handle a real woman unless she’s on her knees begging for your cock?”
“Get. Out.” Red climbed his neck, his ears, his cheeks.
I stepped closer to him. “Face it, Hollister. The real reason you withdrew as Radcliffe’s counsel was because you’re a board member who can’t handle having a female CEO. The only way you find a woman acceptable is when you have her pinned to your bed so you can fuck her doggy-style.”
The muscles along his jaw twitched, and a vein at his temple throbbed. “I asked you to leave, Ms. Sullivan.”
My finger poked the center of his chest as I continued my relentless dissection. “Or when she’s sucks your dick? Either way, it’s always about you. You can’t even comprehend serving someone else’s needs.”
