Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Yeah. But I can still grumble about it.” Ava had known all along that she’d have to contact Ransom, even as she’d been fighting herself. “He’s the only one left to turn to. So I have to swallow my pride and act like nothing happened fifteen years ago.” Because her business and her residents came first, always. “I listened to all that crap George Twisselman gave me about how they were transitioning, when really he was just cutting costs and not giving us trained personnel. I should have seen that and started looking for a replacement right then.”
Gabby leaned in close, her mouth a deep frown. “Don’t beat yourself up. You’ve got a lot of balls in the air. If one of them drops every now and again, that’s just part of running a business.”
Ava had done her very best never to let a ball drop.
“You gave the guy a chance,” her sister went on, “instead of firing him right out of the gate. That was a reasonable decision.”
But Ava couldn’t erase poor Mrs. Greeley’s tears from her mind. The guilt that any of her residents had to go through that kind of nastiness weighed on her. “I’ve obviously got to do something, so this is what I’m doing. Then I’ll find a replacement for Ransom as soon as I can.” Mrs. Greeley’s tears had been her undoing. She had to fix the situation any way she could, even if it meant burying her emotional scars. She would act like the no-nonsense businesswoman she knew herself to be.
And she was no-nonsense in her business dealings. In her dating life too. The truth was that after Ransom, she’d been very careful that no relationship got too serious. She just wasn’t good at them.
Sitting up straight, she looked at her little sister. “You know, I haven’t dated in two years.”
Gabby went with the flow, as if she understood how Ava’s mind flitted from one thing to another. “Oh, that sucks.”
“It just seems that the more successful I’ve become over the years, the more the men who are truly interested in being with me as a woman instead of an executive have dwindled.”
Gabby nodded knowingly. “Emasculated by your success.”
Ava laughed. “I never thought of it in those terms.”
Her sister shrugged. “They’re intimidated by you.”
“They all seem to want something from me.”
Gabby grinned. “Other than to let you use them ruthlessly?”
It had been a long time—a very long time.
Ava thought of all the ways she and Ransom had used each other—beautiful, pleasurable, ecstatic ways. Her breath quickened and her pulse began to race.
But there was no way she’d ever go there again. Not with Ransom.
* * *
The following morning, Ava dressed for success. Or rather, she dressed for an ambush.
She’d trolled her closet for the perfect outfit. And there it was—a buttoned-up bespoke power suit she’d had made for meetings with executives who thought they were the only high-powered people in the room. She hadn’t worn it yet.
This was the perfect occasion for its debut.
Dressed and turning in front of the mirror so she could see it from every angle, she satisfied herself that the suit would make Ransom drool over what he’d given up all those years ago.
It was frowned upon for women to use their sensuality in a business setting. Yet men dominated with their size and their deep voices and their big muscles. Why shouldn’t a woman dominate with her innate qualities, intelligence as well as sensuality? It was a natural part of her power. She’d never hesitated to use it the way men never hesitated to use their misplaced sense of authority.
After checking the mirror one last time, she slipped into her high heels.
There. The perfect picture of a consummate businesswoman. With an edge of sensuality.
Let him drool.
After stopping by her office to check in with Naomi, make some calls, and answer a few emails, she headed out. Ransom’s office was only a couple of blocks from hers, and walking it, she marveled at how close they’d been since she’d opened her headquarters in the city.
Had they passed each other on opposite sides of the street? Been seated in the same restaurant without seeing each other?
No, she would have felt him if they’d been so close. She’d certainly never booked a table at his San Francisco restaurant.
But now she was about to face the wolf in his den.
Her blood froze with an appalling thought.
What if he refused to see her?
Chapter Four
Ransom was seated behind his desk, his office door open. Which was why he heard and saw the commotion. A beautiful woman with hair the color of garnets pushed past his two assistants.
“Ma’am, you can’t—”
“Please, we need to—”
She answered imperiously, “I can and I will,” with a slight curve of her lips.
He’d know that luscious voice anywhere. Still heard it in his dreams, in fact, though he hadn’t spoken to her in fifteen years. He’d seen her at Gideon Jones’s New Year’s Eve gala in Napa, but somehow she’d eluded an actual meeting.