Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
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.
I ignore her smart remark, as I do all her many smart remarks. “I need you to coordinate with Carrie West’s secretary, Sallie, to get clearance for you and Gabe,” I say. “Gabe needs clearance in time for a six o’clock meeting. I need you with me by tomorrow morning.”
“Got it,” she says. “I can’t go another day without being ordered around by you in person anyway. I feel lost. How hostile is the hostile takeover?”
“They aren’t as hostile as me,” I say. “You’ll be fine.”
“I was talking about you. How hostile are you to them?”
“I’m only half as nice to them as I am to you,” I reply dryly. “Anything I need to know before I hang up?”
“You know it’s my birthday. Of course, you know. I’m forty today, and single because I have no life but servicing you, and it’s depressing. Thank you for the gift.”
“What did I buy you?”
“Tickets to see Jason Aldean because you know how much I love him.”
“Well,” I say dryly, “that was thoughtful of me.”
“It was, and everyone who thinks you’re an asshole clearly doesn’t have access to your black AmEx.”
“You’re the only woman that ever has,” I assure her.
“You know what they say about women who never marry?”