I need you to email me the third-quarter projections.
The shop in Branford County is not performing well. Replace the manager.
He didn’t have conversations with whoever he was talking to. It was just all orders. Zanna figured he must be a bitch of a boss. She read up on him after he had announced that he was taking over the shop. She read up on all of the Kings. They had made something of themselves, all three of them, but Colt seemed to be at the center of their success. Every article said he was aggressive, taking over small mom-and-pop shops and bringing him into his empire. He was ruthless and insatiable. It was like he was trying to take over the world.
It was all well and good for him to do that with car shops, but now he had his eye on the salon. Her salon. The one Lolly had let her run ever since she went into semi-retirement six months ago. And she was doing a damn good job of it, too. She just needed a little more time and a little more power to make some changes.
She had stumbled upon Destiny while she was trying to get away from Bruno. It was only supposed to be a quick stop on her way to San Francisco—but then she’d met Lolly, who seemed to know she was hiding from something and offered her a chair in her salon. It was the first time in a long time that she had felt welcomed. She never thought she would fall in love with the dusty little town or its quirky residents, but this place made her feel safe for some reason and she hadn’t felt that way since her granddaddy died. It was the reason she wanted to stay when it would have been much easier for her to make a new start of it somewhere else.
The salon had so much potential. If Zanna could really dig her hands into it, she knew she could make it something special. She even offered to buy the place. She had money saved up for the down payment and everything, but Lolly wouldn’t give it up. She refused to.
And now she had brought Colt in to fix things. It bugged the hell out of Zanna, but she guessed blood was thicker than water.
A sharp knock on her bedroom door caused Zanna to jump and those thoughts to slip out of her head.
“It’s not seven AM yet. If you’re not critically injured, go to hell.”
Colt walked in without invitation, looking better than anybody had a right to before seven o’clock in the morning. Today he wore gray pants and a black button-down shirt with a few buttons left undone at the neck. She guessed that was his form of casual clothes and it annoyed Zanna to no end that his crisp clothes and fancy shoes looked more expensive than everything she owned put together, including her car.
“I didn’t tell you to come in!” She pulled the covers over her head, wishing he would go away and hoping that her increased heart rate had more to do with anger than attraction.
“You didn’t tell me not to come in. You really need to be clear about things like that.”
“Get out! I’ve still got that shotgun, and not a jury in the world will convict me for blowing your balls off. Is that clear enough for you?”
“Get up.” She heard his footsteps grow closer. “You’re the head stylist and we need to go in to work early today.”
“My first client doesn’t come in until eleven! I’m not leaving this house until ten. Get out!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” He yanked the covers off her and tossed them aside. “It’s time for you to get up. I’ll meet you in the kitchen in forty-five minutes.”
“You son of a bitch,” she said as he turned away from her. She grabbed him by the back of his pants, taking him off guard as she pulled him back toward the bed. He lost his balance and landed on the mattress with a small bounce.
His eyes narrowed, looking as if he was going to pounce on her, but she beat him to it. She climbed on top of him, pinning him to the bed. “I don’t know who you think you are, buster.” She poked him in the chest. “I’m not one of your servants or employees so you don’t get to tell me what to do, and you sure as hell don’t get to barge into my room and wake me up before a decent hour.”
He said nothing, but the look in his eye changed as his gaze became more penetrating. It became hotter.
And then she felt it.
The erection that sprang to life in his pants. It was then she realized she was on top of him, straddling him. Her thighs spread wide across him. It didn’t help that she was wearing next to nothing. A ratty white tank top that had been washed so many times it was now sheer and her underwear. No bra, and as awareness spread through her, her nipples tightened painfully. She couldn’t hide that from him.
“Please, Lord.” She looked up to the ceiling. “Please tell me that I’m not feeling what I think I’m feeling.”
“I could apologize, but I’m not sorry.” His fingers came up slowly to touch the backs of her thighs. She could have stopped him if she really wanted to, but the need to feel his fingers on her skin robbed her of good reason. He caressed her.
Caressed.
She had been felt up, groped, grabbed, and squeezed, but she never had been caressed before. He slowly slid the backs of his fingers along her thighs, causing her to feel his touch everywhere. “You’re beautiful and your body feels good on top of me. I reacted. Can you blame me?”
Maybe she couldn’t but she did blame him for the heat in her belly, for the throbbing he caused between her legs, and for the dampness that was beginning to form.
She didn’t even like him. Why the hell did her body want to rub against him like a cat that needed to be petted?
“What in the hell do we have going on in here, kids?” Levi stood in her doorway, a sleepy grin on his face, shirtless and looking every bit as sexy as his older brother in the morning. “I get up to answer nature’s call and I find you two going at it with the door open.”
“We aren’t going at it. This isn’t what it looks like!” She scrambled off, tossing a pillow at Levi and one at Colt. “This never would have happened if your bossy son-of-a-bitch big brother didn’t come in here to wake me up for work.”
“We have things to accomplish at Lolly’s shop,” he said simply as he picked up the blanket and draped it over her. “It’s your responsibility as head stylist and manager.”
“Oh yeah.” Levi shook his head. “Colt and work. He loves that shit. Probably more than he loves me and we all know I’m his favorite person in the world.”
“You could come to the shop today and help out,” Colt said, setting his eyes on his brother.
“No thanks.” He grinned in that boyish way of his. “I’ve got plans with Shelly.”
“Shelly? That sweet little schoolteacher a couple of doors down?” Zanna asked in surprise.
“Yup. She’s my best friend.”
Zanna liked Shelly. Hated her uptight pain-in-the-ass daddy, but Shelly was sweet. “You keep that girl out of trouble.”
“No can do. Those are the exact opposite of my plans.” He winked at them. “You two have fun, and remember to keep the door closed next time.”
He was gone then, leaving Zanna alone with the only guy in the last couple of years who made her feel desire, and desirable. She glanced over to Colt who was looking cool as usual, the heat she’d seen in his eyes now long gone.
“Bring flat shoes,” he ordered.
“What? Why?”
“We’re moving boxes. And if you’re not in the kitchen in forty-five minutes, I’m coming back for you.” He left then and she wished she had a flat shoe to throw at his head.
*
Colt knew he had no business going in Zanna’s room that morning, he thought as he watched her sorting through the boxes of old shampoo Lolly had littering her office floor. He had planned to wake her up and leave it at that. But that little voice in his head, that same naughty voice he’d had since he was a kid, made him do it.
Pull the blankets off her.
Get her riled up.
It was that same voice that told him to climb up the old water tower and spray-paint a giant donkey on it. The same voice that told him to steal the pedals and chain off Duke’s bike when he made him mad as a kid. The same voice that made him disasse
mble all the carburetors in the police cruisers after Duke was taken off to jail.
Since he’d gone off to college he had been trying to kill that little voice, or at least ignore it. But this morning when he saw Zanna with her sleepy eyes and her hair spread all over the pillow in his childhood bedroom, that voice became annoyingly loud.
He had just wanted to see that spark in her eye. He hadn’t counted on her pinning him to the bed wearing nothing but a threadbare tank top and some baby-doll-pink underwear. He hadn’t counted on her nipples turning into hard little peaks that he could see through her shirt. Of course his dick went hard. She was soft. Her body was beautifully curvy and he could just imagine her on top of him, riding him with her fingers digging into his chest.
“Stop staring at me. It’s creepy as hell.”
He felt his lips twitch. He didn’t smile often, but there was something about her that made him want to. “I was thinking. You were just something to look at.”
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’d much rather hear that my beauty is so captivating, you couldn’t possibly take your eyes off me.”
She wasn’t wrong. He had been around a lot of sexy women, but Zanna didn’t lead with her sexuality. She wasn’t trying to be sexy and that was probably the reason he found her so appealing. “What is your plan for all of this unsold product?” he asked as he left Lolly’s messy desk and sat across from her on the floor.
“I was thinking we could sell it. Not in here, though. It’ll never move if we just put it on a shelf. This isn’t the stuff I use on my clients. I would feel uncomfortable asking them to buy it.”
“What’s your plan?”
“You actually want to hear it?” She looked suspicious. “You’re not just going to order that I do something with it? I haven’t known you very long, Mr. King, but you don’t seem like the kind of man who takes a lot of input from others.”
“I haven’t dismissed you once. And don’t call me Mr. King.” Everybody but his brothers and Lolly called him Mr. King. Normally he liked it, liked being in charge and respected. But he didn’t want to hear it from her. He liked the way his name sounded on her lips. “Tell me your idea.”
“They started a farmers market in the motel parking lot on Sunday. Most of the town heads over there after church. A lot of the people are selling baked goods and homemade crafts. The mayor had them put up a sign by the highway so we’ve been getting more tourists in. I figured we could sell these bottles two for one and hand out some coupons for some services. That way we could kill two birds with one stone: Get rid of these products and bring people in the salon.”
Colt nodded. It was a start. “How much would this promotion cost us?”
“The space for the table is fifty bucks. I could print up the coupons myself at home.”
“How much money do you think we can make?”
“It sure as hell won’t be what Lolly put out, but if it’s a good Sunday, we can bring in at least three hundred dollars.”
“What plans do you have for that money?”
“What’s with all the questions?” She rolled her eyes skyward. “I’m going to take it to Vegas and take my chances at the tables. Maybe I’ll blow it on a hooker with great big knockers. Or rent a bouncy castle and jump and jump for hours.” She rolled her eyes again and Colt found his lips twitching. “What do you think I’m going to do with it? I’m going to roll it back into the business.”
“The salon has seen its better days. I think a face-lift is in order.” It hadn’t changed at all since he was a kid. Part of him had been hoping it had. Part of him had hoped Destiny had changed since he was gone.
“Three hundred dollars isn’t going to do it. The floor needs to be redone. It needs to be painted in here. We need new dryers and chairs. The hoods alone cost three hundred dollars apiece.” She shook her head. “Apparently Lolly didn’t leave me in charge after all. I’m supposed to be learning how to run this place from you. So tell me, Your Highness. What are your plans?”
“You and I are going to go to the farmers market on Sunday. I need to see it before I make the final decision.”
“Why do we need to go? I told you all about it.”
“I need to see if it’s worth the time and expense. We have to pay for the rental and your time, plus the basic supplies for the flyers.”
“I would do it for free. Flyers and all.” She looked back to the bottles she was sorting. “No one has to pay me.”
He reached over and took her chin between his fingers, forcing her to look up at him. “Don’t do anything for free. That’s your first lesson in running a business. Everything has a cost. Including your time. Especially your time. Don’t do anything without expecting to get something in return.”
“Why are you here then?” She removed his hand from her chin but did not let go immediately. “What are you getting out of helping this little beauty shop?”
“I owe Lolly. I’m repaying my debt.”
“Your debt?” She looked amused. “What did she do? Save your life?”
“Yes. She did.”
He got up then. Picking up one of the boxes she had finished with and taking it out of the room.
*
Zanna sat there for a moment just staring after Colt, wondering what he meant by what he had just said. A small part of her was glad he had left the room. She was finding it hard to breathe in there with him. The room was already small and cluttered, but with him in there the space seemed so much smaller. So much hotter. It might have been the way he looked as he hauled those boxes that morning, his chest and arm muscles bulging. He had told her that she was going to move them, but she did little more than sort the contents inside. He did all the heavy work, his expensive attire be damned. She thought he would be prissy about the years of dust on the bottles, or too good to ever sit on the floor, but he was there with her, cleaning just like he was used to it.
She picked up the last box, planning on heading to the storage room where Colt had put the rest when he came back into the office.
“Give me that.” He took the box from her. “It’s heavy.”
“I can carry it,” she protested. He took it anyway with a small head shake and turned for the back of the salon. She followed him. She could have gone back into the office and gotten started on clearing out some of the other mess, but Colt King had a hell of an ass on him. And a broad back that looked even bigger when he carried heavy things. It was a shame he had those stuffy sophisticated clothes covering it. She suspected he would look mighty good in jeans and a tee.
“Why are you following me?”
“I’m looking at your ass,” she admitted as they entered the storage room.
He set the box on the counter and frowned at her.
“It’s true. It’s real nice. Hard looking. The kind a lady could get into squeezing.”
He said nothing, just stared at her, his mouth twitching into that sort of smile she was becoming familiar with.
“I figured it was okay for me to comment on since you saw me nearly naked twice. I’m still mad at you for busting into my room this morning.”
He shrugged, seeming not to care. “It’s hot as hell back here.” He turned away from her to examine the AC unit that looked like it was original to the store. “I can’t believe she hasn’t replaced this,” he said as he shut it off. “I can’t believe she hasn’t replaced anything.”
She watched him as he removed the front of it and popped out the filter. A shower of grime and dust rained down on him, covering his dark shirt and hair in filth.
“Fuck,” he said softly.
She probably would have screamed bloody murder if that was her, but he just quietly seethed. She wondered what it would take for him to really bust a gasket.
“This thing probably hasn’t been cleaned since I left.”
“Left?” she asked him, grabbing a towel and heading to the sink.
“For college. She used to make me clean it every summer. It seems that nobody
replaced me.”
She walked over to him, damp towel in hand, and wiped the dirt off his face. “I bet if your big-city business friends could see you now, they wouldn’t believe it. Colt King covered in crap.” She lifted the towel to his head, giving it a good scrubbing to remove the layer of dust that coated it. “Lifting boxes and working in a tiny hair salon.”
“They wouldn’t believe it.”
“I still can’t believe it.”
She unbuttoned the two of his buttons so that she could wipe off the dirt that had fallen onto his chest. He had a little bit of hair there. Not smooth like a lot of built men waxed themselves to be, but with just enough hair to tickle her fingers as she touched it. She caught herself then, playing in his chest hair, standing way too close to him.
She thought back to that morning when she had him between her legs and had felt his hard length pressed against her and his hands on the backs of her thighs. She kept having flashes, fantasies actually, of him rolling her over, her thighs wrapped around him as he pushed inside her. Colt looked like the kind of man that could be gentle when she wanted it and rough when she needed it. She hadn’t been with anybody in a long time. Years. Not since she found out that Bruno was more than just a bad boy—he was a scum-sucking piece of shit.
“I could wash this shirt for you.” She moved her hands away from his chest and wiped down his shoulders, suddenly feeling jumpy and nervous and not wanting him to know it. “We’ve got a washer and dryer. The washing machine is pretty new. Got it back in April from the scratch-and-dent place a few towns over,” she babbled. “You probably only get your things dry-cleaned, but I can hand-wash it and put it in the dryer, or you can go home and change. You can go home and stay there actually. We really don’t need your help.”
She turned away, knowing she sounded like a numskull, but he caught her hand and pulled her back to him. All the way into his hard body. She looked up at him, into those deep-blue eyes. His hair was wet from her scrubbing; his face had dark smudges on it from the dust that she missed, and it held a look she couldn’t describe. It was intense. Like he hadn’t eaten in a long time and she was his first meal.
The Bad Boy CEO Page 5
