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“I’m aware that this is not my normal territory,” Reid says, “but I made an exception and we both know that’s not to your benefit.” He laughs. “You’re kidding, right? Try three times that much. And for the record, my fee is being donated to the families of the victims, right along with my client’s settlement. It would look pretty low for you to be cheap since you already look like scum.” He gives a brutal laugh this time. “You’d better make this worth my time.” He disconnects and looks at me. “We’ll continue later.” He stands up and shuts his computer. “I’ll be back in time for the meeting.”
With that, he walks to his desk and grabs his briefcase. I stand and pick up my things. Right when I would exit, his hand is back on the door, his big body behind mine. “Turn around.”
I do it. I don’t know why, but I just do it, and suddenly I’m suffocating in this man, in the scent of him, the size of him. The power of him. “I know your story better than you do and that’s a problem,” he says. “You weren’t wrong. The Japan deal wasn’t, and isn’t, something you want on your books. Figure out why and you might be ready to run this place.”
“What does that mean?”
“Open the door, go to your office, and figure it out, because you’re only as good as that answer.”
“Or the private eye you hired.”
“I hired,” he says. “I hired. Think about that. I got answers.”
“Then you want me to hire yet another private eye?”
“The answers you need aren’t hard to find. Find it. While I’m gone, what are you going to say to the staff?”
“Nothing until the meeting.”
“That won’t work. What are you going to say? What will you say if someone asks why I’m in your father’s office?”
“I’ll tell them we’ll explain in the meeting.” He stares at me, waiting for another answer. “My father retired,” I say. “You’re here to offer valuable counsel in his absence that will be discussed in the meeting tonight.”
“Good. What else?”
“You’re the new CEO.”
“Acting CEO and don’t say that until we talk to them together.”
“Why? Isn’t that what you want? Power?”
“I have it,” he says. “I don’t need to flaunt a title that will ultimately be yours.”
“They’ll know. You said that.”
“And we’ll handle that tonight, in the meeting, in an appropriate way. What else are you going to say when I’m gone?”
This man is confusing. So very confusing. “Nothing. I will say nothing. I’ll talk around everything else.”
“Wrong answer. What else?” he demands, his gaze lowering to my mouth and lifting. “What do I want to hear?”
I’m not sure where or how our conversations slid between personal and professional, but I say what I know he wants me to say. “I’m with you, Reid.”
“That’s right, Carrie. You’re with me. Don’t forget it. And in case that conversation you heard with the DA makes you think that I’m a good guy deep down inside, I’m not. Do not let me find out that you’re plotting against me. You will fail and force me to hurt you and hurt you badly. Now turn and leave before I don’t let you.” And with that loaded comment, he pushes off the door.
I don’t even think about leaving. I fight back. “It never crossed my mind that you were a good guy, Reid. You’re the kind of man a woman gets naked with and then if she’s smart, she walks away before she gets burned. I can’t walk away, and just to be clear, as you like to be clear, professionally, I’m with you, but I don’t intend to fuck you or get fucked, in any sense of the word.”
I turn away from him, and his hand comes back down on the door. He leans close, and this time, his hand settles on my waist, branding me, flooding my body and mind with memories of all the places he’s touched me and kissed me. “But you’ll want to,” he says, his breath a warm fan on my neck, “and that could become a problem for both of us. And we both know where that leads.” With that double entendre, he releases me and this time, I exit his office, walking rapidly toward my own with him watching my every step. I feel like a prey and he’s the hunter, and it’s eternal hours that are mere seconds before I am finally over the threshold of my own personal space, and shutting the door. I fall against the wooden surface, trying to catch my breath, and damn Reid Maxwell, I’m wet and hot, and I can still feel his hands on my body. Which is exactly what he wanted.
If I’m not careful I’m going to end up naked with that man and this time, I have no doubt, I’m the one who’ll end up at his mercy. Who am I kidding? I’m already at his mercy.
Chapter eight
Reid
With a text confirmation that my client will meet me at the DA’s office, I slide into the back seat of my hired car, and I swear the scent of Carrie’s damn perfume follows me. Holy hell, that woman is under my skin or I wouldn’t be thinking about her perfume and her perfect backside rather than her role in the company where I need to turn a massive profit. The problem is that there are a lot of people busy fucking her right now that aren’t me; namely her own father, and I wish like hell I could just tell her, but there is that damn debt and a contract that’s silencing me. For now, I’ve settled for making it clear where her loyalty needs to lie: with me. If she gets fucked, I now get fucked, which means a lot of wealthy people get fucked.
I dial my secretary, Connie, who is a ten-year veteran of dealing with my shit and thus far the woman just won’t quit. “Your humble servant at your service,” she answers.
