Every word out of his mouth is a taunt, a tease…an invitation. I can’t ignore the way his voice sends tendrils of pure desire curling down my spine.

I also can’t ignore the fact that he’s being an unbelievable asshole about this.

Then there’s the other problem party in this discussion: yours truly. My mother’s voice echoes in my head, some old bullshit truism about catching more flies with honey. I should have centered myself on that before I charged up here.

The comment about my mother buying one of his luxury condos, though—that was the last straw.

I throw down the gauntlet, my words landing squarely in the air between us, and put on my very best apologetic-yet-sensual face. I watch the words register. I watch the look in eyes go from a ruthless determination to curiosity to something that looks suspiciously like need. Everything flashes through his expression in a matter of seconds, and then he shakes his head. “I don’t know about that, Ms.—”

I hold up both hands. “Let’s back up. Partners in such an—” I bite my lip, “—intimate discussion should be on a first-name basis.” I extend one hand toward him, feeling another inch of air on my cleavage as I lean forward. “I’m Isabella Gabriel.”

He flicks his gaze to my hand, then reaches out for it. At the touch of his palm against mine my entire body thrills, my nipples going hard against the lacy fabric of my bra. Damn Jasper Pace for being so hot.

“Jasper Pace,” he says, his firm grip lasting a second too long on mine. “But you already knew that.”

I sit back in my seat, raising a hand to my hair. “On some level, I guess.” I give him a rueful smile. “I thought you were going to be…you know, older.”

He laughs out loud, an easy laugh that untwists some of the anger knotted in my gut. “You probably meant to speak to my father, Declan Pace.” I roll my eyes a little—of course I did. “Better me than him. I don’t think he would appreciate being called a greedy bastard in his own office.”

I bite back the urge to tell him that his father would deserve the title. I take another breath in and tilt my head down, looking at Jasper from underneath my eyelashes. “I didn’t come here intending to say those things.”

“What did you intend to do?” Jasper’s blue eyes, the silver ring around his pupils catching the light streaming in through the ostentatiously huge windows lining two corners, burn into mine, suspicion and delight battling there. He probably feels superior, now that I’m backed into a corner.

And I’ll never admit it. I’ll never admit to anyone the way my heart is pounding, the way my stomach is knotting up again, because all this—all the angry words I’ve spit at him, all the fire in my chest, still won’t be enough if I can’t convince him to let my mother stay in her apartment. I took three more panicked phone calls on the way over, each worse than the last.

I never should have signed those contracts. If I’d been more sensible about it, I would have enough capital to negotiate with him on the level of the building. But I don’t. It’s all tied up in my own ambition.

I swallow hard, and it’s not for show. The rage that fueled my trip to Jasper’s Midtown offices can’t keep up with the heart-thudding attraction I’m fighting off right this very minute or the sickening guilt that rears its head every time the sound of my mother’s sobs creeps back into my head.

The grand ideas I had about negotiating with him on a financial level collapse under the weight of his gaze. What was I thinking, coming here like this, unprepared and upset? He’s so smug. I shouldn’t want to look at his face, much less the rest of him. 

Why do I want to keep my eyes on his for the rest of the day? Maybe the rest of the week?

Get. A. Grip, Isa.

Jasper Pace is like every other man in Manhattan—arrogant, self-absorbed, and entirely unworthy of my emotions. He and Jason would have a lot to talk about. Jason’s confession is still ringing in my ears. She’s someone I couldn’t let go of, he’d said, trying his level best to look contrite. I know it was wrong. I never meant to hurt you.

Who the hell knows? Maybe Jason was too stupid to realize he’d ever get caught out with a second girlfriend. But Jasper? Jasper delights in making me squirm. I can see it on his face.

What he doesn’t know—what men like Jasper Pace never know—is that he’s not the only one who can play this game.

It comes to me in a flash. I don’t have any money to bargain with. All I have is the strange, heavy heat that hangs in the air between us. He knows how hot he is. He knows what effect he must have on most women.

He’s no match for me.

He’s no match for me—but I’m going to make him think that he is.

I bite my lip and look into his eyes like I’m seeing them for the first time. “I came here hoping to make a deal.”

“A deal? What kind of deal? The building is mine, Isabella.”

“I know.” I let my voice drop, sultry and smooth. “You have all the cards.” I press my lips together. “I want one of them. My mother—” I press my fingertips to my lips, shaking my head a little. “She worked all her life to move into that apartment. She’s prided herself on never missing a rent payment since she moved in. It’s everything to her.”

Jasper takes in a breath, leaning in. He thinks I didn’t notice the bulge in the front of his pants before he sat down. And I’ve got him now. I’ve almost got him.

Time to land this.

I put both hands on the very edge of his desk, my grip light, like I might need to grab on for dear life at any moment. “I’ll do anything, Jasper. Please, let her stay. Anything.”