Tempting Christa: An Irresistibly Mine Duet - Book 1

by Delaney, Tracie

  “You can’t drive,” Christa said, panicked. “Max isn’t secure.

  “Relax,” I said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Cars honked their horns as they passed, but I didn’t give a shit if I inconvenienced other drivers. I shouldn’t be parked here, but I’d never been one to stick to rules, or have any remorse about breaking them.

  “You’re in a no park zone,” Christa stated.

  I shrugged. “So?” I tapped on my phone then pressed it to my ear, ignoring Christa’s disbelieving shake of the head. I happened to play the occasional game of tennis with the general manager of Barneys. We were a fair distance from Lenox Hill, but Flynn would know what to do. “It’s Dayton Somers,” I said when he answered my call. “I need a favor.”

  “Shoot,” Flynn said.

  “I need a car seat for a kid.”

  I had to move the phone away from my ear because Flynn laughed so hard, causing Christa to stifle a chuckle behind her hand. When Flynn finally shut the hell up, I snapped, “You finished? I’m at Sixth and Thirty-second. How fast can you get me one?”

  “You’re serious?” Flynn asked.

  I expelled a frustrated breath. “Yes, I’m fucking serious.”

  Christa clamped her hands over Max’s ears. “Watch your mouth.”

  I rolled my eyes. “The car seat, Flynn,” I said, adding steel to my tone.

  “Well, shit,” Flynn said. “What age is the kid?”

  “Two.”

  “Okay, sit tight. I’ll get one sent over.”

  I hung up and turned to face Christa. “Problem solved.”

  “You are unbelievable.”

  I allowed a small smile to build. “Thanks.”

  “That wasn’t a compliment.”

  I gave her a wolfish grin and waggled my eyebrows. “I know.”

  She studiously ignored me, choosing instead to brush a lock of hair from Max’s face and kiss the top of his head. He snuggled in and closed his eyes, his pudgy fingers gripping the collar on her shirt. I had to admit, I was a little jealous of Max. I’d like a chance to rest my head on Christa’s fantastic tits.

  Patience.

  I answered a few emails while we waited. Knowing Flynn, he’d have someone with me in less than ten minutes. If Christa wanted to sit in silence that was fine by me. Filling quiet moments wasn’t my style. Most people were uncomfortable with lulls in conversation. I wasn’t one of them.

  Christa jumped when Flynn’s messenger knocked on the window. I wound it down, catching sight of a guy holding a car seat still wrapped in cellophane. I unlocked the back doors.

  “It’s open,” I said. “Fit it behind my seat so his mom can see him.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I caught Christa’s surprised expression out the corner of my eye. “What?” I asked.

  She shook her head but didn’t answer. I suppressed a grin. I was enjoying this game. The more I kept Christa off-balance as to my motivation, my moods, my reasons for doing this or that, the more convinced I was that she’d fall in the end… right into my bed.

  Five minutes later, the car seat was fitted. Christa got out carrying Max in her arms. I followed, holding the umbrella over her, like a goddamn lackey, while she settled him in the seat. Still, better than the rain drenching her. See, I could be a nice guy. Occasionally.

  “This proposition,” Christa said as I filtered into the traffic. “Hit me.”

  I flicked my gaze to the right. “Let’s get you home and dry, and your son settled. Then we’ll talk.”

  I expected an argument, but Christa nodded then focused her attention out the window. We fell into silence once more. It didn’t take too long to drive to her building. When she lifted Max from the car seat and put him back into the stroller, he didn’t even murmur. I followed her inside and up to her floor.

  She gestured for me to sit, then disappeared into the bedroom with Max. I made myself comfortable on the couch, recalling her comment about checking for fleas a few weeks earlier. A smile tugged at my lips. Christa was such an interesting prospect. Sometimes combative and fierce, happy to call me out. At other times submissive, scared even. Her backstory fascinated me. Everyone had a past, and I couldn’t wait to discover hers. Usually, I would research any woman I was interested in, but even though that had been my original intention, I’d changed my mind. I wanted to discover Christa piece by piece, tasting every morsel, enjoying every bite. I wanted her to offer up information freely.

  She came out dressed in a pair of worn jeans with a tear in the knee and a faded Mickey Mouse T-shirt, the soft cotton skirting her slim waist. God, she was fucking adorable, poles apart from every single relationship I’d ever had. It made me want her even more. She’d toweled off her hair and put a brush through it but hadn’t bothered drying it. Ignoring me, she crossed over to her tiny kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. She busied about getting two mugs from a cabinet—which must mean she was happy for me to stay—and cream from her fridge. When the pot was half full, she poured it, added the cream, and came to sit in the chair adjacent to me.

  “I don’t have sugar,” she said, handing me a mug.

  “Good with me,” I said, taking it from her. I blew across the top and took a sip. I winced as cheap, bitter coffee flooded my tongue. I covered up my snobbery with a friendly smile. “How has your first week been?”

  She gave me a suspicious look. “Good. I think I’m going to like working there.”

  I nodded. “I’m glad.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “What game are you playing now?”

  I forced my face into an innocent expression—quite a stretch for me. “What do you mean?”

  She sighed and placed her head in her hands. “I’m tired, Dayton. My head is banging, my hand is sore from taking so many notes, I’m hungry. I want to eat pizza, pour a glass of wine, and veg out in front of the TV. So can you get on with it, then you can start your weekend, and I can start mine.”

  I smirked. “I’ve missed you, Christa. I’ve thought about you a lot these past few weeks.”

  Her head snapped up. Shock, accompanied by a hint of wariness, rolled across her face, and her brows squished into a deep frown. “Wh-why?”

  I wished she’d sat beside me because then I could have touched her. A light brush down her arm, a flick of her still-damp hair, a graze of my knuckles across her cheek. But as she wasn’t, the only option left open to me was blunt honesty.

  “I like you. I know you’re suspicious of me, and you’re right to be. I’m a man who’s used to getting my own way. However, occasionally it’s good for me to be put in my place, something you do extraordinarily well. Life becomes awfully dull when whatever you want falls into your lap without effort.”

  “Like having child car seats delivered in the middle of a monsoon.”

  My lips twitched. “Exactly like that.” I took a breath, unsure how she’d take my proposal. “In my line of work, I’m expected to undertake various activities. Functions where I’m required to give a speech, attend premieres, entertain clients. I’ve recently broken up with my latest… companion. I need a replacement. I need you.”

  Her eyes widened, showing the whites all the way around. “Just so I’m clear, what exactly are you asking?”

  I thought I’d been clear, but obviously not. “I want you to be my… consort.”

  She threw back her head and laughed. “Who do you think you are? The King of England?”

  I clenched my jaw, unused to having someone laugh at my expense. “England doesn’t have a king, not yet anyway.”

  “Queen then.” This comment was followed by more laughter. “Dayton, don’t be ridiculous. If you need a woman to look pretty on your arm at various functions, dig out your little black book, flick the pages, and stick a pin in one. I told you at the gala, I’m not that girl. I’m not in the market for any type of entanglement, professional or otherwise, particularly with someone like you.”

  I bristled, my spine stiffening. “What do you mean,
someone like me?”

  Her eyes softened briefly, and then her shutters came back down. “You and me, we’re on different tracks. We come from different worlds. I’m an employee at your company, and you’re the CEO. We’re eons apart, and I think it’s best we stay that way.”

  I thought back to her poise and elegance at the gala, how easy she’d found it to talk to stiffs with a pole shoved up their ass, how she’d blended in, comfortable making small talk or politely nodding in response. A girl far removed from my world wouldn’t have been able to behave as if she belonged as well as Christa had. There was more to her than what she chose to reveal.

  A woman keeping secrets… now that intrigued me.

  “Your duties will involve nothing more than accompanying me when I need a plus-one. All expenses, including appropriate clothing, will be paid for by me, and you will have full use of Cassandra whenever you need.”

  She rubbed the space between her eyebrows. “No, Dayton. It’ll never work. I prefer to keep my professional and private lives separate. We all live by our own rules, and one of mine is never to mingle with the boss.”

  I circled the edge of my cup of coffee with my fingertip, my attention fixed on Christa. She grazed her teeth over her bottom lip, but she held my gaze.

  “Rules are meant to be broken, Christa,” I said, keeping my tone low with a hint of sensuality.

  She stared at her hands, resting listlessly in her lap. “Not this one,” she whispered.

  Something in her voice forced a softening of my own tone. “You’re overthinking it. If it makes you feel better, I’ll have a contract drawn up so it’s official, to ensure we know where we stand, and I’ll recompense you with two and a half thousand dollars for each event you attend.”

  Her lips parted in shock, and her eyes widened, as if she thought I’d gone mad. Maybe I had. Regardless, it wouldn’t stop me pursuing her until she relented. I held no regrets nor felt any guilt about deceiving her as to my real intentions. Christa Adams would end up in my bed—and she’d be the one to instigate it.

  “Wh-what?”

  “You heard me. Two and a half thousand dollars for a few hours work. What have you got to lose?”

  She shook her head. “And what about when you get sick of me? Will you toss me aside, leaving me with nothing?”

  “Your day job with my company is safe as long as you hit your performance targets and meet your objectives, exactly as I expect from every other employee. As for the extra-curricular activities I’m proposing, when it’s run its course and I no longer have a use for you in that capacity, I will pay a severance of twenty thousand dollars. All the details will be in the contract.” I was making this up as I went along, but Christa seemed to be buying it. At least she was listening and mulling over my offer. Considering where she lived, and the fact that she was a single mother, the money on offer had to be tempting, regardless of what she thought of me.

  Christa pressed her fingertips into her temples and slowly blinked. “This is unbelievable.”

  I offered her a tight smile. “And yet here we are. So, Ms. Adams, do we have a deal?”

  Her head moved ever so slightly from side to side, and, at first, I thought she was going to decline my offer, for good this time. Then she looked me dead in the eye and cocked an eyebrow.

  “I believe we do, Mr. Somers.”

  I suppressed a smile. Game on.

  10

  Christa

  I’d barely put Max back down after his dinner when my own arrived. I paid the pizza delivery guy, locked up, and sat on the couch. I opened the box, the smell of pepperoni and chili tickling my nostrils, and saliva filled my mouth. I took a huge bite, grease and cheese dripping down my chin. Bet Mr. Moneybags wouldn’t make his offer if he saw me now.

  I still couldn’t believe it. Two and a half thousand dollars to wear designer clothes, eat mouth-watering food, drink expensive champagne, and smile at a bunch of people I didn’t know and would likely never see again. Even if Dayton only attended one event per month—and he’d indicated the number was significantly higher than that—I’d be able to move to a better place, put some money aside for Max’s future, and give him the start in life I never had. If I hadn’t been orphaned at the age of twelve and ended up in the system, maybe things would have been different. But regrets were pointless, depressing time sucks, and did me no good whatsoever. I’d been down that road during my recovery. No need for a revisit.

  His proposal still had me feeling wary. The cavalier way he’d offered such a huge sum—at least it was to me—lent added credence to my initial reluctance to get involved. The kind of resources men like Dayton threw around like candy gave them opportunities to control, to exert power over another less fortunate. It allowed bankrolling of the kind of violence Sutton had commissioned. I’d have to be careful, to keep my wits about me, but this time I had my eyes wide open. Dayton Somers was using me… well, I’d use him.

  I finished my pizza, squished the box flat, and set it aside for recycling. Exhausted, even though it wasn’t yet eight p.m., I crawled into bed, but sleep was hard to come by. My mind wouldn’t stop whirring. It didn’t matter how many times Dayton reassured me he only wanted a companion, a woman on his arm to look pretty and suck up to his clients, I didn’t trust him. But to be fair to the guy, even though he’d told me he found me attractive, he hadn’t once laid a finger on me. Contrast his behavior with Sutton’s? I shuddered. No comparison.

  I had nothing to lose yet a whole lot of cash to gain. I’d bet this type of arrangement went on regularly in the circles Dayton moved in. I doubted I was a pioneer.

  It took me some time to drift off, but eventually sleep came.

  The following morning, I awoke fully refreshed. Amazingly, Max was still asleep in his crib. Poor baby must be shattered after his first week at the childcare center. I took advantage of the peace and grabbed a quick shower. I dressed, brushed my hair, leaving it to dry naturally, and rustled up some breakfast for Max. I was still fairly full after last night’s pizza so I peeled a banana and ate that instead.

  Even with all my banging and crashing about, Max was still asleep. Damn, I had no choice but to wake him. If I didn’t, he wouldn’t sleep tonight. Praying his rude awakening didn’t result in tears and a meltdown, I leaned into his crib and picked him up. He offered up a huge yawn followed by a beaming smile.

  “Momma.”

  I rubbed the end of his nose with mine, a game he’d loved since he was a newborn. He giggled, then fidgeted to be let down. The second I did, he was off, scampering into the living room. He dug around in his toy box and picked out his favorite train.

  “Oh no you don’t,” I said, swooping him up in my arms again. “Breakfast first, young man, then playtime.”

  For my troubles, I got a pout and the start of a wail of protest, so I quickly tossed him in the air, catching him, then repeating. It was one of his favorite things to do, and in no time, whimpers turned into laughter.

  He ate his breakfast without tossing any at the wall, and I put him back on the floor to play. He was such a good kid. I knew how lucky I was to have a no-fuss, no-nonsense child who was happy to amuse himself, at least part of the time.

  I picked up my phone and checked my emails, not that I ever received many apart from spam. Yep, usual garbage. I was about to cast it to one side when a ping signaled another email. My breath caught in my throat at the sender, and the subject line: Dates for your calendar.

  I opened the email and scanned it. Holy shit. I counted fifteen different functions he expected me to attend, and that was only for the next three months. Jesus, when did this guy sleep? And then I did the math. Fifteen times two and a half thousand dollars, and that was in addition to my over-generous salary working at STS. I’d definitely be able to afford the security deposit on a better place now, as well as the rent.

  A creeping sense of unease entered my mind. Why was Dayton doing this? What did he hope to gain or, more importantly, what would he expect me to
do to earn my fee?

  Screw it. I could keep on waiting for the ball to drop, for the rug to be pulled out from underneath me, for my good fortune to cease. Or I could embrace the opportunity that had fallen into my lap and make the most of it, maybe even enjoy myself. Hell, the networking opportunities alone were priceless. I could manage Dayton Somers.

  A trickle of excitement sent a lightness rushing through my chest. It was about time my luck changed. I was a good person, with a big heart. I’d made a stupid choice when I’d been too young to know better, and I’d more than paid the price. But it was time to leave Sutton and the devastating impact he’d had on my life behind. That time was over. New beginnings beckoned. The future was bright, and I was going to take full advantage.

  I sent a quick reply to Dayton confirming I’d received his email and we were good to go. I waited for a response that didn’t come. I crammed down disappointment, then reminded myself that this was a business transaction, nothing more.

  I spent the rest of the morning playing with Max. At lunchtime, I opened the kitchen cabinet. Greeted by a solitary tin of tuna, some dried pasta, and a tin of tomatoes, I decided Max and I had earned a treat. I could afford it, right?

  I changed him into a warm pair of trousers, a cute little jumper that Isla had sent last week, and got him into his coat, hat, and gloves, all of which were a battle because as fast as I put them on, he kept taking them off. Eventually, he stopped fighting me—although to Max it was much more like a fun game—and we were ready to go. I strapped him in his stroller and slung my purse diagonally across my body.

  I turned the lock, opened the door—and hard-stopped.

  “Oh,” was the only thing that fell out of my mouth.

  Outside stood Dayton Somers, dressed in a smart dark-gray suit—didn’t the guy ever dress casual?—a black overcoat, and a deep-purple scarf. I suppressed a groan. What does he want this time?

  “Am I interrupting?” he asked, smiling down at Max who peered up at him through suspicious eyes.