“I guess that’s all right, then. Plenty of time for pre-show cocktails.” My grandma, always worried about the important things.
A knock sounded on the fence that led to the backyard, startling us both. “I’m looking for Poppy Masters,” a deep, very masculine voice called out.
“You selling something?”
“No,” he said, voice clearly amused.
“Then it’s open.”
The wooden door swung open and a tall well-built man in a blue suit, complete with a vest and everything, walked through. He held a soft leather bag as his lean legs carried him up the stairs. “Hello, I am Anderson Hargrave, attorney for the estate of Arden Masters.”
“Arden! What’s that old coot want?” She rolled her eyes but smiled affectionately at the mention of her brother. Older by nearly twenty years, they’d never been close.
“I’m sorry ma’am but Mr. Masters died about a week ago.” He offered up a polite smile of condolences.
“No one told me,” Maple grumbled.
“I’m Poppy and this is Maple, Arden’s kid sister.” His skin paled, but only slightly.
“Poppy Masters, according to Mr. Arden Masters’ wishes, you are the sole beneficiary of Out & About Apparel. You may do with it what you wish, but only after running it for twelve months.” He kept talking, about money and a home in Aspen and a bunch of other details I zoned out on because, what the hell had just happened? “Do you have any questions?”
Only about a million, but the most pressing popped out first. “Why me?”
He smiled, and damn but he was a good looking guy. Not that I was in the market for any kind of guy, but I could enjoy the view. “You are the youngest Master among Arden’s children as well as his nieces and nephews, unmarried and with a skillset Out & About Apparel could use.”
I blinked. “Seriously?” He nodded. “Well then I suppose you should have a seat and tell me everything.”
* * *
To be continued…
Want to know what happens next? Check out Poppy & Blake’s story here.
Preview: Sinful Takeover (Boardroom Games 2)
Prologue
Lacey ~ 3 months ago
“I want you to handle the KBBM acquisition, Lace. I don’t have time right now.” Blake stood in front of my desk looking exhausted as he raked a hand through his blond hair. The blue eyes he inherited from our dad looked tired and when he dropped down in the sleek white chair, I knew there was something more to it.
“Why? I mean, I’m happy to do it, but you are such a control freak I figured you’d want your fingerprints all over this deal.”
“Control freak? Now you sound like Poppy.” He shook his head, looking even more tired than I realized. “Can you do this or not, Lacey?”
“Of course I can.” I rolled my eyes at this fatherly big brother tone, not ready to give in quite so easily. “But you’ve had such a stranglehold on this company for so long, I want to know what the hell is going on.”
He sighed. “Poppy just found out she’s pregnant. Only eight weeks but she’s going to have to scale back which means I need to ‘learn to fucking delegate’. Her words, not mine.”
I nodded and assured him that I was more than up for the challenge and spent the next month going through stacks of papers on the financial and market health of KBBM. The sports television was the top spot for all things sports, particularly those outdoor sports that Oregonians love like hiking, kayaking and mountain climbing. For twenty years Bob and Marie Shepherd had ran the station perfectly, drawing in big names in sports and in the state to host programs and comment on events. Their tragic death in an avalanche three years ago started the decline. The two Shepherd siblings hadn’t done a good job and they were finally ready to admit defeat.
It had taken me months to get a handle on just how the station was doing because the two smaller holdings, a radio station and a network of online channels and blogs, were doing much better under another manager. Now I pulled open the green glass doors of the building where the KBBM studio and offices were held and went inside. The lobby was just as one might expect from this kind of office building, understated sophistication. The goal was to make all but the most important and richest, feel inferior.
It worked.
But I wasn’t intimidated. My older brother Blake was as rich and self-important as they came, and dealing with him for decades meant I looked at men like him as if they were squishy teddy bears. Just like Blake. After a careful appraisal of the lobby the bell finally sounded for the elevator and I stepped inside, barely able to hide the eyeroll at the mirrored gold doors. Tacky as hell.
Just as the doors closed a hand shot out attached to a beautiful man with wavy caramel hair and sparkling green eyes. He looked vaguely familiar in the way that really gorgeous guys tend to and I couldn’t look away for even a second. He was hot as hell with a smile that held all kinds of erotic promises, but he also looked like a guy who knew his appeal and took full advantage of it. He probably wasn’t cruel as some were, or even mean, but careless all the same. And really nice to look at.
“You know, if you take a picture it’ll last longer.” His deep voice startled my own erotic thoughts and I chanced a quick look at the man beside me rather than his reflection and dammit the man was even hotter up close. And more familiar. “Nah. Pretty sure I’ll remember a face as pretty as yours.”
His amused laughed bounced off the walls of the elevator and I turned my gaze back to the doors, mentally going over a few points I wanted to remember before my meeting. “Do we know each other?”
I resisted the urge to groan at his tired pickup line but I did laugh, because he was way too hot for that. “Are you really using that line on a chick you met in the elevator?”
“I’m serious. You look familiar but different if that makes sense.”
It didn’t and I put him on the backburner as my phone buzzed and a message from my twin brother Lukas popped up.
Just found out who else is trying to buy KBBM. Walker Titus, we went to college together. Remember him? LS
Hell yes I remembered the handsome jerk who’d had two girls on his arm the weekend I met him. Since Lukas and I attended different colleges, we didn’t have the same circle of friends and I’d only visited a handful of times. Walker had been a beautiful, charming player who didn’t take anything seriously. I turned to study his features again and just like that they all familiarized in my mind. His hair was a little shorter, his skin a little more tan and the clean cut look had been replaced with a manicured beard. “Walker Titus.”
He smiled down at me, a sparkle in his eyes. “We do know each other. I rarely forget a face.”
“Just the names attached to them?” He laughed again, green eyes still trying to identify me.
“Something like that, but I’d have remembered if we slept together.”
“We didn’t. But you were the first person to hold my hair while I tossed my cookies into a dorm toilet.” Not my finest moment, but it was the most memorable of our three meetings.
“Holy shit. Lacey Sayers,” he said, his gaze like a caress up and down my body. “What a stunner you turned into!”
“I…what? Thanks.” I hated that he flustered me because what I knew of Walker was that he’d use it against me, and now that we were officially opponents for KBBM I needed to be careful.
“It’s true. Last time I saw you I recall a curly afro like thing on your head and baggy jeans with a shirt that was at least two sizes too big for you. This…I approve.”
I laughed. “Then I can now die a happy woman.” His laughter shouldn’t have been as sexy as it was, but dammit I loved a man who could laugh.
“Seriously. I’m happy Lukas sent you.” Instantly my hackles rose. Not that I wasn’t used to men underestimating me, I was because in the corporate world it was one of their favorite past times.
Still I was ready to tell Walker off. “Why?”
“Because I would have wiped the floor with L
ukas. He’s smart as hell but a shit negotiator. I think you’ll be a much bigger challenge.” His words said he meant it more than in the professional sense, and the fact that it pleased me should have been a warning sign.
But I was having too much fun with Walker and his flirty banter and it needed to stop. He was the enemy and the last thing in needed was a conflicted romance like my brother had with his fiancée Poppy. “Good answer.”
“Thanks,” he said, voice filled with amusement.
“Too bad I’m still going to have to wipe the floor with you.”
He laughed and his shoulder brushed mine as the elevator doors slid open. “Looking forward to it, Lacey.” The way my name curled off his tongue send a spear of fire racing through my body and I made a mental note to stay the hell away from Walker Titus.
Walker
“I never would have taken you for a long lunch type of guy, Luke.” I stared at my oldest and closest friend, who I hadn’t seen in too damn long. He looked different in his expensive suit, but his blond hair was still a mess, signaling that my buddy hadn’t changed too much.
Luke shrugged. “I’m not, but shit man, you’ve been out of the country for more than a year. If anything is worth a long lunch, it’s the return of my wing man.”
I snorted at that because I’d spent the past year solo as fuck because that’s what I needed and wanted. “A little rusty at that, but I’m willing to help you get laid if you really need it.”
He glared at my goading words. “Still an asshole.”
“Some would say even more of an asshole.” The truth was that most people would say that and Lukas Sayers was probably one of the few who’d dare argue that fact.
“You seem different, Walker. Is this about Eve? I know the shit that went down with Eve-,”
I cut him off because I didn’t want to talk about the cheating, gold digging bitch that was my ex. “At first, yeah it was because of Eve. But after a few months, I stopping fucking every chick in tight pants and I started buying up radio and TV stations all over the world. In fact, business is why I’m back.” Securing KBBM was the first step in the business venture that brought me home.
“Damn man, I’m so glad to see you even if you do look a bit like you’ve been living in the mountains for the past year.” Luke smiled that same kind, good time smile he always wore.
“It’s good to be home, man.” And I actually meant that. Traveling was great. It gave me time to clear my head and get over the shit that had gone down with Eve, and then it allowed me to simply thrive. Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue had been added to my portfolio which made my life of wandering damned fucking profitable. “Really good.”
“Did you bring me anything from your travels? A really hot Czech model, perhaps?”
“No babes, but I got you plenty of shit. You’ll have to come by my place to pick it up.” Everywhere I went I picked up something Lukas would like because other than my mother, there was no one else.
“This weekend?”
“What are we doing this weekend?” Lacey approached our table with a stunning redhead.
Luke groaned. “Walker and I have plans, what you’re doing is anyone’s guess.” He flashed a smile at her companion. “Talia.”
“Lukas,” she said stiffly, turning slightly towards Lacey, eyes going wide in a clear sign that she wanted to get the hell away from my friend.
Interesting.
Lacey paid her friend no attention when she turned to the hostess who wore a patient smile because that’s what they did in upscale establishments like this. “Do you think we could get a table for five?”
“Make it an even six,” Luke grumbled. “Blake was supposed to join us and I’m guessing Poppy too?” Lacey nodded and the hostess quickly showed us to a larger table.
“Thank you, Lissa.” Lacey smiled and whispered something to the hostess making her laugh. “See you tonight?”
“Fingers crossed.”
It was surreal being dropped back into life like this. Three months had passed since I returned to Oregon, but this was the first time I spent much time around anyone other than my employees. Mostly with my assistant and my COO. They were all lively and colorful, with their own lives.
“Take a seat Lacey, I won’t bite.” I heard Luke growl somewhere on the other side of the table, but I was focused on his sister, looking hot as hell in a purple dress with a little bow on the side, begging me to tug on it.
She dropped down next to me, cocked her seat to the side and crossed her legs, giving me a flash of lace top stockings. I fucking loved those damn things.
“Pity.”
“Maybe if you ask nicely.” Shit, was I flirting with my best friend’s sister? Right in front of him.
She leaned in, giving a glimpse of lace. Virginal white lace. Fuck yeah. “Under the right circumstances, I might even beg.”
I coughed to hide my surprise, but Lukas’ fist hitting the table drew our attention. “What the hell?”
“That’s my sister you’re flirting with and eye fucking,” he growled.
Lacey laughed beside me and placed a hand on my thigh. “Were you eye fucking me? Because I totally missed it. Show me again.”
Her long lashes fluttered, her skin had a soft flush that sent more blood to my cock.
“Aren’t you two on opposite sides of a deal right now? That sounds like a conflict of interest or an ethical violation of some sort.” He sat back, satisfied he’d doused the fire burning between us.
He was wrong. “I don’t expect Lacey to take it easy on me,” I told him but my gaze landed on her big brown eyes. “Whether or not we’re fucking.”
She sucked in a breath, lips parted perfectly for my own. Or better, my cock. “Agreed.”
“You don’t even like Walker,” Lukas tried again. In vain.
“I’m not sure I like him now, but have you seen him?” She winked at me when a tortured groan escaped from her brother. “Plus the more you don’t want this to happen the more I want it to.”
“Fine,” he grumbled. “Do what you want.”
“Already planning to,” she said, letting her hand crawl up my thigh just an inch. One scant fucking inch. “But thanks for your permission. I give you permission to bed my friend too,” she said, shooting Talia a pointed look.
I laughed my ass off at their shocked faces. Lacey was more of a firecracker than I remembered and it turned me on. She seemed like a woman who enjoyed life, work and pleasure. If she wasn’t looking for anything serious she’d be perfect.
For now. I leaned in. “Say yes.”
“To what,” she asked even though her eyes already said everything.
“Dinner, for starters.”
“I like food.” Her pink tongue slicked across her bottom lip and they were so full, so thick it was downright pornographic.
“Good, because I like to eat.” My grin was predatory and welcoming as I whispered in her ear. “I like food too.” She shivered uncontrollably and that small move was better than sexy lingerie and sexual gymnastics.
Her laugh hit me in the gut. It was warm and thick, sexy like New Orleans at night. In August. “Call me and ask, and we can go from there.”
Challenge fucking accepted.
* * *
To be continued…
Want to know what happens next? Check out Lacey & Walker’s story here.
Preview: Naughty Takeover
Lukas
“No. Absolutely not.”
Talia Breckenridge planted her palms flat on the linen draped table inside Blake and Poppy’s homey kitchen, fire spitting out of her honey brown eyes, lending an even more fiery element to the hot little package that was Talia. She glared at me and my brother Blake across the table, like it was my fault she’d been called here today. I didn’t want to be here any more than she did.
“If Talia can’t handle working alongside me, I’m sure my assistant and I can handle everything.” Even though Scarlett spent more time battling her eyelashes
and trying to get me to notice her spectacular tits, she was a decent assistant when she tried to be.
She snorted out a laugh that shouldn’t have been sexy, but it was strip me down and fuck me now hot. “If the wedding was made up of dick and balls, I’d agree. But the only thing you two could possibly create together is an unplanned pregnancy.” She scooped the martini off the table and took a long, fortifying sip.
I’d be lying if I said her indifference, no, her outrage at having to work with me didn’t sting., but it did. Women always wanted to hang around me, spend time with me in the hopes of becoming my main thing for a little while. Not Talia. And I’d wanted her from the moment I first laid eyes on her. That was almost two years ago, and still I’d made no progress.
“As skilled as I am in the sack, I don’t fuck my assistants.” No matter how much they tried to tempt me.
“A man with standards,” she said sarcastically as she fanned her face mockingly. “Excuse me while I swoon.”
I rolled my eyes before leveling my older brother Blake with a stare cold enough to kill. “Explain to me again why you two, can’t just hire a damn professional wedding planner?”
“Because,” Blake’s voice grew hard and icy as he stood, glaring at both of us. “Poppy is on bed rest for the last nine weeks of her pregnancy. She’s only two days in and already losing her mind. You guys are our family and I’m counting on you to do this. Poppy is too.”
“Yeah, I’m counting on you guys too,” Poppy entered the dining room looking colorful and vibrant. And miserable, as she rubbed her giant belly.
“Shit.” Who could say no to the sunny picture of motherhood she made?
“You had to hit me with the family stuff, didn’t you?” Talia glared at Blake and then Poppy, but it was clear she was out of steam. “Fine. I know you’re going to hate being benched, but I know what you like, which means you won’t run yourself crazy running behind some wedding planner.”
Accidentally Hitched: An Accidental Marriage Romance Page 19
