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)
I glance at Sallie. “I’ll be back.” I stand up and walk around my desk, charging toward Reid’s office, which is being guarded by Connie, who’s sitting behind her desk.
“Hi, Carrie. Do you need Reid?”
“I got this,” I say, walking right to his door and opening it, but not before I hear her laugh. I’m glad one of us is amused.
I enter Reid’s office and shut the door. He’s behind his desk, looking like Mr. Arrogant Hotness in a gray suit with a blue pinstripe that matches his eyes and his tie. “Is it really necessary for you to continue to be an asshole to me? I thought we came to some sort of agreement last night.”
“We did. I can’t fuck you unless you hate me. Did you really think that was motivation for me to start being the nice guy I’m not?”
I walk toward him, placing his desk between us as I lean on the surface. “Stop being an asshole. We’re a team, remember?”
“Are you wearing the green panties to match that blouse?”
“Reid,” I say, “Sallie just heard you bark that command at me.”
“Are you going to let her bring me cookies to put me in a good mood?” He stands up, presses his hands on the desk and leans toward me. “Because you sent me to bed with a hard-on, made me wake up with a hard-on, and then wore that fucking shirt to taunt me with what’s under your skirt. So until you come over here, lift your skirt and let me see your panties, I will remain a justified asshole.”
I glare at him and then I don’t know what happens. I laugh. “Yes. I’m wearing the green panties.”
His eyes warm and I swear the hard glint he’d fixed me in moments before fades into a mix of heat and mischief. “Come show me.”
“Not here.”
“Come over here and show me.”
“No.”
“Come over here and let me lick you under those panties.”
“You’ll rip them. I like them.”
“I promise not to rip them and I always keep my promises.” He softens his voice. “Come here, Carrie.” The low, raspy command turns my knees weak while my breasts are suddenly heavy, my nipples tight, aching nubs.
“The door isn’t locked, and you need to work harder on the whole hate thing.”
“Hate is overrated. Especially since I’m meeting with Grayson Bennett tonight.”
I straighten. “The billionaire?”
“That’s right,” he says, pushing off the desk. “He has money to burn and he hates Jean Claude Laurette, who you know I’ve working with. So I have to do some convincing. Which means that it’s going to take both of us to do this deal. He’s a relationship person. He wants to know the person he’ll work with long-term and that’s you.”
“Can I go to the meeting tonight?”
“Not yet. He has a problem with one of the board members that I have to get him past first.”
“How do you get him past the problem board member if he’s a relationship guy?”
“Do you really want that answer?”
My stomach knots. “You’ll get rid of the board member one way or the other.”
“Yes. I will.” His cellphone rings and he pulls it from his pocket, grimacing at the number. “Yes, Nicholas?”
I know the name as one of the board members and I wonder if this is the one he plans to get rid of.
“No,” Reid says. “We are not. We will not. Yes.” His jaw firms. “I’ll be there.” He rises and stands in profile to me and the desk, more stone than man for a few beats before he rounds the desk.
I turn to face him as he steps in front of me. “I won’t hide the dirtiness of this job from you,” he says, returning to our prior conversation. “I’ll put you right in the pit of hell with me and with good reason. You have to get a stomach for this stuff or you won’t make it, Carrie.”
“My father—”
“Sheltered you in ways that I won’t. In ways that you can’t be sheltered and do this job.”
“You’re saying my father would push out the board members?”
“Yes, Carrie. He would. He’s taken these kinds of actions. He’s clearly got a side you don’t know.”
“He’s my father, Reid. I worked with him for ten years of my life.”
“And?”
“And I know him. He’s not you.”
His eyes flash. “You mean he’s not a heartless asshole? You’re wrong. He is.”
My jaw clenches. “You’re working on that hate again, Reid.”
“I’m telling you the truth. If you hate me for it, then hate me.”
“He’s taken these actions, but you beat him. In other words, you’re the devil he is not.”
His lips thin. “I never claimed to be a saint, Carrie, but I’m not a liar. Your father was going down. I didn’t make that happen. That’s the truth. I need to go.” He starts for the door and I rotate to watch him leave, wanting to finish about ten things that we’ve started. I want to grab him and pull him back, but I refuse to stop him. He’s the one who stops.