by Robyn Grady
Now that time had passed since that last incident outside of Hailey’s café, she’d assumed that Jack had swept her from his mind. Trust him to show up here, at the Lassiter Media Building, and make a big performance. Did the man have no shame? Did he not care at all about her future? Her feelings?
As he shut her office door, Becca backed up a step. “How did you get in here?”
“Security downstairs was either asleep or didn’t recognize my mug shot. I made my own way from this floor’s reception area. I think your cohorts were all too stunned to stop or question me. Not that it would have done any good if they’d tried.”
She snatched up her phone extension at the same time she told him in a firm clear voice, “Kindly leave.”
If he wouldn’t go, she would call security. The police. Hell, she’d bring in the National Guard if she had to. Word would have reached Evan. If her goose hadn’t been cooked here before now...
“You need to hear what I have to say,” Jack said, striding over to join her behind her desk. “You’ll want to crack open a bottle of champagne when I’m through.”
She was shaking inside and out. “I’ll say it one more time. Leave, Jack. Leave now before this turns ugly.”
Like the last time they’d seen each other. She loathed recalling how the reporter had smirked at their predicament that afternoon. Only now, with Jack standing so close, more pleasant memories began to rise to the surface, like how incredible and secure those strong arms had felt whenever he’d held her. Without meaning to, she breathed in his scent and suddenly she was reliving the heat she’d enjoyed whenever his mouth had claimed hers.
But all that was past. She had washed her hands of him. Nothing could make her want to go through that torment again. Not even that heart-thumping, devilish grin.
“I do wish you wouldn’t smile at me like that,” she said, turning away and punching that call through to security.
Reaching over, he took the receiver and dropped it back in its cradle.
She blinked at him. “Excuse me? You can’t just waltz in here and tell people they need to listen to you. You don’t own the place yet.”
“Looks like I won’t own it anytime in the future, either.” His eyes shone down into hers as he edged nearer still. “Will I order up the ice bucket now?”
The floor tilted beneath Becca’s feet. She had to unravel her arms and lean against the desk before her knees gave way. Was she reading this right?
“You mean...there’s not going to be a takeover?” He’d stepped back from helping Angelica in her fight to take over Lassiter Media? No. Surely that was too easy. Too good to be true. Becca looked at him through narrowed eyes and took two full steps back.
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t have to. I have no doubt it’ll make this evening’s news.”
She waited, listening to her pulse beat in her ears. He wasn’t laughing. Wasn’t lying?
“You mean it?”
“Every word.”
As reality sank in, happy tears welled in her eyes. Unimaginable pressure lifted off her shoulders. “When...?”
“Angelica and I spoke last night.”
A laugh escaped from Becca’s lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed some more. He felt so solid. So reliable and, at the end of it all, understanding. She wanted to kiss him until their lips were bruised.
Then she remembered Angelica. As much as Becca wanted this outcome for so many reasons, poor Angelica must be feeling gutted. Jack was her last hope of regaining control of this company.
She stepped back but held his right hand in both of hers. “How did Angelica take it? She must be upset.”
“It was Angelica’s call. Not mine.”
“Oh?” Okay. That made a difference. “Did you try to talk her out of it?”
“Of course I tried. But this time there was no turning back. She’d made up her mind to put family first, corporate aspirations second.”
Becca dropped his hand.
“You mean she’s just giving up...walking away from the fight?” And no thanks to you?
When he nodded, Becca gathered herself. Those warm fuzzy feelings cooled. Other less favorable feelings were taking their place. Suddenly Jack didn’t look so reliable.
“Well, I know why I’d want champagne, but you tried to talk her out of it.” And not for the first time. “Why are you so happy?”
“It’s really quite simple.” Jack leaned back against the desk, crossed his ankles then his arms. “J.D. always meant for Angelica to run Lassiter Media, but he didn’t want her to make the same mistakes he’d made.”
“What are you talking about?”
“J.D. devoted all his time and energy to business, right?”
“Right.”
“Corporate matters overshadowed every facet of his life. After the first heart attack, when Angelica stepped up to the plate, she became so engrossed in work, J.D. became worried that, when he went, his daughter would leave behind everything, including family, in the pursuit of corporate power.”
Jack caught Becca’s hand and drew her over to the couch.
“She did seem totally committed,” Becca said, sitting down beside him.
“When J.D. made changes to his will in those final months, he also had a secret codicil drawn up. Logan Whittaker and I were the only ones who knew it existed. If and when Angelica accepted the will’s terms and supported the family and Evan going forward, it would trigger the codicil. She would then be awarded controlling voting interest in Lassiter Media, which had been J.D.’s wish all along.”
Had he said this was simple? “Only when she accepted the terms of the will...?”
“The way J.D. saw it, Angelica needed to understand and appreciate the importance of family first and foremost. He wanted her to run the company but, above all else, he wanted her to enjoy the rewards of a balanced life.”
Becca slumped back. Poor Angelica. She thought she understood now what J.D. had been trying to accomplish, but what a test! Not only had it driven a wedge between Angelica and her brothers, she had gone to war with a man she had wanted to marry. If J.D. had wanted his daughter to embrace the benefits of family, to Becca’s mind, he’d gone about it in a weird way.
“You were part of this scheme?” she asked.
“It was my job to push her as hard as I could in the other direction.”
“Toward a hostile-takeover bid? That’s...twisted.”
“J.D.’s plan, not mine. He wanted her to struggle with it, if necessary. He wanted her to be sure.”
“J.D. probably expected Angelica to be married before he died and the will went into effect. Did he consider the stress it would bring to Angelica’s marriage to Evan?” She thought for a moment. “Or did he want to test the honesty of Evan’s intentions somehow, too?”
“I only know he chose me to push the barrel.”
“He obviously thought you were the man for the job.” As unbelievable as it seemed, the plans and its resolution were sinking in. Jack hadn’t been the bad guy in all this drama. He’d been a good guy willing to look like the bad guy. Which made him extra good.
He hadn’t planned to steal from the rich to give to the poor exactly, but neither had he plotted to trick Angelica into a takeover and then sell off the pieces under her feet. For Jack, that was big. Heck, it was huge!
Becca’s smile stretched from ear to ear. If Jack felt relieved, she felt euphoric!
Falling forward, she planted a closed-mouth kiss on his lips. “Sorry. I’m just so happy this nightmare has turned out so well. Angelica gets control of her company.”
“Don’t apologize.” Tipping close, he brushed his lips over hers. “Best part is, when word gets out, any negative publicity the foundation has weathered will be reversed.”
/> “But Evan...”
“He gets a big payout.”
“I don’t know how much compensation would be enough for losing this company and the woman he loved. Maybe still loves.”
Jack tried to sound convincing. “Evan will bounce back.”
“And you...do you know what you are?” She cupped his jaw and then grazed her thumb over the stubble of his chin. “You’re a hero.”
He drew back a little. “I was only following instructions.”
“I wish I’d known.”
“I wish I could have told you.”
Her heart was throbbing, aching in her throat. God, his lips looked good. And now it didn’t matter who took their picture. The truth was out and her Jack was back.
As her palm trailed down his shirt, she shifted closer still. His body heat steamed through his shirt, warming her all over, making her sigh.
“So, what are you doing now?”
His lips brushed hers as he answered, “I’m kidnapping you.”
“A copycat strategy. I like it.” She squeezed his thigh and thought to add, “Not that I’m in favor of the general nature of your business.”
“The corporate-raiding stuff. Then you might like my other news. But I’m afraid it’ll take most of the day to relay every detail, so you might want to inform your assistant that you’ll be unavailable.”
When he kissed her again, deeply this time, the fireflies humming around in her stomach began to burst into flame.
Coming up for air, she murmured, “Should we leave a ransom note?”
“Let’s say, gone fishing.”
Thirty minutes later, they were naked in his bed.
Fourteen
He and Becca walked out of that office and away from the Lassiter Media Building without a care in the world.
Or it sure had seemed that way at first.
Jack had hoped that Becca would take his news concerning Angelica well. He had wondered whether she might have struggled with believing him. He’d imagined her telling him to leave and not come back even after the facts had been verified. He’d been pleasantly surprised, to say the least, when she’d accepted the truth so readily. He had read her eyes, her body language, in those first moments when she’d been trying so hard to hate him.
In reality, she missed him, like an addict missed her drug. He knew because he felt the same way. All the pieces had fallen into place. This morning, he’d arranged for his bank to wire a sizable sum to the Lassiter Charity Foundation—specifically to help Brightside House and its endeavors. It was a good cause. And there was the added benefit of making Becca happy, because when she was happy, he was happy. Happier than he’d ever been.
He took her to his penthouse and let a valet park his car while he grabbed Becca’s hand and rushed her to his private elevator. As soon as the metallic door whirred open and he had her inside, alone, he gathered her close, grazed his palms up and down the back of her red designer dress and forced himself to wait a moment more.
“You’re more beautiful than I remembered.”
She fanned her fingers over his chest, watching the action before looking up at him from beneath her lashes. “Aren’t you going to kiss me?”
He gripped her tush and drove her hips against him. She laughed and then coiled her arms around his neck. With those killer heels, she was the right height to feel just how much he wanted to kiss her.
“If I start here and now,” he growled against her lips, “we might be riding this elevator all day.”
“So?” She tilted her head. “You own the building, don’t you?”
Good point.
His mouth was one thumping heartbeat away from taking hers when the doors whirred open. He swept her up into his arms and strode to the center of the living room.
“Do you have a Merv here?” she asked.
“There’s just the two of us.”
The morning light flooding in through the wall-to-wall windows caught a flicker of unease in her eyes. “No cameras?”
He lifted her until the tips of their noses touched. “We have nothing to be ashamed of. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you. That’s all behind us now.”
So true. He did have some additional news to share, but it could wait.
He kissed her, lightly at first, a feathery brush of lips. The contact sent rounds of pleasure ricocheting throughout his veins. Then he covered her mouth with his completely and leaned in as those sensations fired harder, longer. A thousand times deeper.
They had until morning. By then everyone would know that Evan was out, Angelica was in and Becca would need to attend to issues stemming from the switch. But what he would give to convince her to take a week or two leave. So they could spend every moment in bed.
With his mouth working over hers—while she was still in his arms—he crossed to the corridor that led to the master suite. He set her down at the foot of the bed and ran his hands up her back. With his brow resting on hers, he drew the zipper of her dress all the way down and then slipped it off her arms. Red linen rustled and fell around her feet.
He hadn’t meant to get hung up at this point, but that lingerie was ten miles past sexy. He took a step back to get a better look. With a sultry grin, she cocked one hip and set her hands on her hips.
“You like?”
“You love to mix it up as far as office attire is concerned, don’t you?” he asked, taking in the provocative picture from top to toe. “One day jeans, the next...” He wagged a finger. “What exactly do you call those things?”
“A garter slip. Satin and mesh.” She performed a slow turn. “The color is raspberry.”
He moved close again, letting his palms drift over the curvy satin all the way down to the strip of firm flesh left bare at the top of each thigh. A hand-span below that, the bands of her silk stockings began. He grazed his jaw lightly up one side of her cheek and then scooped her hair aside. Sliding the strap of her garter slip off a shoulder, he lowered his mouth to that smooth sweep of skin. She smelled fresh and...the only word that fit was classy. He ran the tip of his tongue along the ledge joining shoulder to neck then all the way up the side of her throat. He felt her shiver, a delicious, delicate quiver that only cranked the heat up all the more.
“Take off your shirt,” she murmured. “Sit on the edge of the bed.”
He nipped her earlobe. “You like to be the boss?”
“I’d like to take turns.”
Jack had no objection to letting her go first.
He backed up toward the bed, at the same time releasing the buttons on his cuffs and shirt front. He took a seat while Becca made a tantalizing show of slipping down the second shoulder strap. After slipping off her shoes, she strolled forward and lifted her leg, setting her foot on the quilt next to his thigh. She flicked the stocking snap and leaned forward. Using her palms, she rolled the silk all the way down.
Jack was torn—should he look at that scrumptious toned leg or the closer, perhaps even more tempting view of her breasts wanting to spill out of their low-cut bra cups? Then there was the glimpse he’d caught of her panties when she’d switched legs to lower her other stocking.
He wound out of his shirt and tossed it on the floor. Then he reached for her hands but her fingers slipped through his as she moved back, a grin on her face.
Happy to play, he leaned back on his hands while she caught the hem of her slip and eased the satin up over her belly, ribs, breasts, until she stood holding the slip in one hand, wearing only panties.
The room’s shutters were slanted, letting in strips of light that highlighted parts of her beautiful body. She moved forward with so much poise and confidence, Jack’s anticipation turned a cartwheel and ramped up again. It had near killed him to keep away these past days. But the wait had been worth eve
ry minute.
He heeled off his shoes and got rid of his pants, briefs and socks before she’d closed the distance and crawled up onto his lap. As she tasted his lips, she used her weight to ease him down onto his back. Straddling him, she kissed him deeply. Her arms curled around his head while her breasts brushed over his chest. When she tried to draw away, he gripped the top of her arms to bring her back. She only laughed and slid down the length of his body. Her lips trailed his throat, the center of his chest, over the ruts of his abs....
Then her tongue was looping a slow, purposeful circle around his navel, setting off a series of fireworks. His fingers filed through her hair as his hips rocked up.
She slid down more until the seam of her lips skimmed the tip of his erection. He felt her fingers wrap around the base of his shaft, squeeze and then drag up at the same time her amazing mouth went down.
He gripped the quilt and grit his teeth. This was scorching, intense. He could feel the beginnings of a climax burning, begging for release. He focused on the sublime rhythm she’d created, the tow of her hand working in perfect sync with the pump and pull of her mouth. Her other hand was spread over his chest, rhythmically kneading one side like a kitten preparing its bed.
As her mouth drew away, cooler air met warm wet flesh. It was a good thing she stopped when she did. He’d almost forgotten how much he wanted to satisfy her rather than the other way around. He caught her around the waist as she straightened. Then he cupped her breasts, grazing palms over distended nipples. He slid a hand down the front of her panties. She was swollen, wet. As ready as he was.
He urged her over onto her back and dropped a line of slow, moist kisses around each breast before angling lower. He hooked a finger into the side of her panties’ crotch, pulled aside the satin and tenderly kissed her there. He heard her sigh before she arched into his caress. He tasted her again, relishing the scent and feel of her beneath his lips before he whipped off her last scrap of clothing and found a condom in a drawer.
When he was sheathed, he joined her again. She felt warm and soft and her eyes held nothing but trust. He positioned himself between her thighs while she ran her fingers through his hair.
