To say it was hard to hide the satisfied expression on her face when she returned to the office was an understatement. Meredith prayed silently that no one noticed the mussed hair, and the red marks on the slim column of her throat as she entered the fiftieth floor, but of course, she couldn’t be so lucky. She had purposely waited until she was sure that most of the executives had gone for the night before showing herself back at the office, but Catalina was still waiting for her.

“Uh, where have you been? It’s six o’clock! I’ve been texting and calling you all afternoon! I was about to call the police!”

The hysteria in Catalina’s voice filled Meredith with guilt, especially when she considered what she had been up to all day.

“Sorry. I was in that meeting,” Meredith replied curtly, but Catalina’s eyes narrowed as she neared her boss.

“You look…rumpled, Mer. What happened?”

A blush formed on Meredith’s cheeks but it was becoming commonplace after the last few hours. She thought about the bonds which had clung to her wrists just an hour earlier and cringed when she recalled the pleading mewl that had come out of her as Luke played her body like an artist, not letting her orgasm until he was good and ready. And holy hell, could he draw out a climax.

“Nothing,” she replied shortly. “Nothing happened. It just ran later than I expected.”

It was plain to see that Cat felt there was more to the story, but before she could push the issue, Meredith spun around to leave the office.

“Now where are you going?” Catalina demanded. “You just got here! What did he say? Is he going to take the company?”

“I’m going home,” Meredith offered crisply. “We can talk tomorrow.”

Her excuse sounded hollow to her own ears. There was a lot to be done, other clients who still needed her attention and paperwork to be dealt with, but knowing that Cat was there deterred Meredith from doing anything.

“Meredith!”

She turned her eyes onto the paralegal and mustered the last bit of strength she could to stare her down.

“What?”

“Is he going to take the company?”

Her cell rang and the noise made Meredith jump unexpectedly. Her nerves, along with every inch of skin, were over-sensitized.

A jolt of excitement coursed through her as she dug through her purse to find it.

Jesus fuck. You can’t be hoping it’s him. He just pummeled you like you were in the octagon with him and you want more? You’ll never make it through the week.

To her disappointment, it was her mother.

“I’ve gotta take this,” Meredith told Cat dismissively. “We’ll talk tomorrow, all right?”

She didn’t give Cat a chance to protest before answering the call she didn’t want to take.

“Meredith Ruiz-Maddox,” she answered automatically.

“Doesn’t your phone have call display?” Yvette wanted to know.

“What’s up, Mom?”

“I heard you had a meeting with Luke Vaughan today. Did he change his mind?” Meredith cast Catalina a scathing look for tattling to her mother, but the paralegal was already heading out the door, perhaps sensing that she was in trouble.

“It was an impromptu meeting,” Meredith answered vaguely, her head starting to ache. “We discussed some things…”

“What things? Meredith, if he’s not going to take the company, we need to act. We can’t afford to lose a quarter of our billings—”

“I’m working on it, Mom!” Her words were much sharper than she intended but she wasn’t particularly in the mood to be hounded by her mother in that moment.

“Well, work faster,” Yvette muttered. “At least give us something. We’re working on damage control, but Meredith, I don’t need to explain to you how bad this will be for everyone involved if he doesn’t accept his inheritance.”

“I have a good feeling about this,” Meredith offered. “But I can’t promise anything.”

Yvette grunted.

“You remind me of your father sometimes” Meredith knew it wasn’t necessarily a compliment.

“Thank you. I have work to do, Mom.”

Yvette sighed.

“If you get Luke Vaughan to sign, your work load will get much easier,” she cajoled as if Meredith needed a reminder of what a name partnership meant for her.

“Okay, Mom.”

“Hey,” Yvette said before Meredith could disconnect the call. “When are you going to come over for dinner?”

Meredith blinked at the unexpected invitation.

“What?”

“Dinner. You know that meal that people eat after work and before bed?”

“I know what dinner is, Mom, I’m just trying to remember the last time we’ve sat down at a table together outside of a business meeting.”

“I’ll call Catalina and set it up,” Yvette chirped like Meredith had agreed and she ended the call, leaving her daughter to ponder the implications of what had just happened.

The Ruiz-Maddox family was certainly not known for their close ties. Business had been the only thing which had bonded them together for as long as Meredith could remember. Even Christmases and birthdays had been mixed with work so that a billing moment was never lost, even over the holidays.

Meredith stood in the middle of her glass encased office, turning her profile toward the dusky skyline of the city outside her window.

Cat was gone now and she was free to remain at her desk, working until midnight like she often did, or she could go home to her under-decorated and sterile apartment and order…

I guess I won’t be ordering Thai tonight, she thought wryly. She wondered how Luke could have known that he had ordered her favorite for lunch, but she brushed it off as a coincidence.

He hasn’t been looking into your background, that’s for sure. Our relationship is based on sheer necessity.

Even she didn’t believe her own lies. Theirs was not a relationship at all, but sex based on primal desire for one another. Inherently, she knew it was all a game to him, that he was likely to take the company whether or not she had agreed to the ludicrous deal, but why would she deny him when she wanted it just as badly as he wanted to give it to her.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and her breaths shortened slightly as her mind traveled back to the dark, masculine bedroom of Luke’s condo.

The memories of the afternoon filled her mind. She could still smell his muskiness as though her face was pressed against the silk pillows, her arms bound to the posts of his bed in cuffs which were not gentle on her wrists. It was her first time playing in bondage and her body shivered at the memory, heat spiking her veins instantly. Endless waves of orgasms. He was definitely talented, she’d give him that.

The more she had struggled against the binds, her climaxes driving her to the brink of ecstasy, the more the bonds dug into her tender skin. His fingers closed deeply around the flesh of her ass and she screamed, the combination of the pleasure and pain turning her into a trembling mass she no longer recognized.

“What’s the matter?” he whispered, crawling up along her naked back, crushing her down with his heavy body. “I haven’t even started with you yet.”

A shiver electrified Meredith’s frame and she was abruptly brought back to the present, shaking her head in dismay.

Fuck. Five hours with him has you like this. You’re in deep shit.

But she didn’t care. She would see this through the week, even if it was under the pretense of getting him to sign for Vaughan Industries.

She just hoped she’d survive it.

Connie Barker was a middle-aged woman with bleached hair desperately in need of a dye job and the tired face of a woman who had worked too much overtime in a truck stop diner.

“Sorry about having to reschedule with you, Connie,” Meredith told her as she entered the two-room trailer on the outskirts of Brigg.

“Sorry about the mess,” Connie countered, casting a half-smile toward Meredith. “The maid does a terrible job.”

Meredith grinned patiently at the rough-looking woman.

“I’m not sure why you insisted I come out here, Connie? I already explained that we have to wait for the courts to decide on our last submission. I have no doubt that we will win, we just have to be patient,” she promised.

“Honey, I ain’t trying to be a bitch or nothing but your fancy law firm ain’t done nothing but talk a big game about this settlement. It’s been two years and I ain’t seen a penny.”

Meredith stifled a sigh. It was a conversation they’d had many times and one that Meredith had had with every member of the two hundred and six members of the class action against Veron-Wynn Pharmaceuticals. For some reason, the residents of the trailer park were all sure that the courts would decide within a week to force Veron-Wynn to pay them all millions of dollars. She had explained multiple times that these kinds of complicated cases often took years.

“You know that these trials take time,” Meredith said. “You knew that when we started this.”

“Tell that to my liver, Merry,” Connie cackled and began to cough as if to strengthen her sympathy value. “You know what I think, Merry? I think maybe you’re working for them. Maybe they’re paying you big bucks to slow this whole thing down,” she accused acidly.

Meredith rolled her eyes internally. “You know that’s not true, Connie, you’re just frustrated. Veron-Wynn knows they are in the wrong here,” Meredith placated. “They’re just buying time, prolonging the case,” she explained patiently. “I told you before. Right now, the ball is in their court and we just have to wait to see what they are going to do next. I can’t make this process go any faster. I promise you – if there was something I could do, I would have done it already. All right?”

“I just wanna know when I can get some damned money!”

“I’m working on that, Connie.” Meredith checked her patience, knowing that it was frustration, not greed driving Connie Barker.

Her cell chimed but Meredith ignored it as she looked toward Connie.

“I promise I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from the courts, okay?”

Her phone chimed again and then once more.

“You gonna get that?” Connie demanded, her face clouding with annoyance.

“It can wait,” Meredith assured her. “Are we done here, then?”

As the words left her lips, another series of texts came through and Connie scowled.

“I assure you I’ll let you know the minute I hear from the other side,” Meredith said, grabbing her briefcase and packing up her papers while she surreptitiously glanced at her phone. Her heartbeat jumped as she read the texts.

• My place.
• Now
• You have one hour.
• Don’t disappoint me.

“E-excuse me for a second,” Meredith turned, her fingers flying across the screen as she responded to Luke’s unsolicited texts. Arousal burned through her at the mere sight of his name on the screen, but his timing sucked.

• I can’t. In a meeting. Text you after.

“Sorry, Connie. Like I said, I’ll contact you immediately when I know more,” She placed the phone on the sidetable and turned back to wrap up the meeting – not because she was being obedient, of course. Simply for expediency sake…

You’re a liar and a wanton, the voice inside her head purred, one hundred percent on board with the wanton part.

Her iPhone dinged again and Meredith glanced down as Connie snorted indelicately.

“Yeah, that’s fine, Merry. But I want to be the first one you call when you get them lousy papers back from the courts, ya hear?”

“Of course, Connie – you’ve been waiting the longest, after all.”

• We had a deal. Are you backing out?

She wanted to ignore him, knowing that he was just proving his claim over her, but she couldn’t deny that his insistence was turning her on, despite the situation it put her in.

As soon as she shut the trailer door behind her, Meredith responded, trying with a quarter of her heart to be strong. Whole heart! Definitely, whole heart.

• I can’t! I’m serious. I’ll come right after. I promise.

Instantly, she saw the message bubbles and a heated flash streaked through her body.

God, don’t do this to me, she begged him silently but even before the text came in, she knew what it was going to say.

• You also promised that I own your ass for a week.

Swallowing, Meredith’s thighs clenched together, trying to hold back the zing of pleasure that rode through her system with that one simple sentence.

• I’m on my way.

Aaand, just like that, the skanky ho part of her won the battle, the war, and the afterparty, just for good measure.

She ran to her Mercedes and fumbled for her keys, trying to clear her head enough to get herself in a place where she could drive without killing anyone.

Fuck. I am so screwed, Meredith thought, gulping back the lump in her throat. She wondered then, why it felt so damned good.