Chapter 19
“Mr. Mitchell.” The receptionist’s voice boomed through the outdated office intercom system. The receiver sat on Jared’s desk, but he didn’t touch the box. The Mitchell Fund’s New York City office used a phone-based system that made a helluva lot more sense than the one Coulter had installed in West Palm.
“Your eight o’clock appointment is here,” Coulter continued. “She’s on the elevator.”
“Thanks.” Jared reached down beside his desk and picked up the stuffed unicorn he’d purchased that morning. He’d driven to Boca to find the damn thing. But if the picture made Lucy smile—and brought her to his desk—it was worth it.
“You can go home now, Coulter,” he added.
“Sir, Finn hinted that Mr. DeVilla might stop by tonight,” Coulter said. “I’ve cleared my schedule. If you need me to stay—”
“Go home and study,” Jared said. “I doubt Mr. DeVilla will come by this late.”
Mr. DeVilla was probably out to dinner with the team from Peak. Jared had talked to the sugar company’s owner on his way to pick up the unicorn. He’d listened to fifteen minutes about how Finn had taken advantage of the owner’s little girl. Jared had issued a sane “let grown-ups be grown-ups” response. But he’d also made it clear that he wouldn’t change his offer based on a sex tape. If Mr. DeVilla wanted to talk more, he could make an appointment, and they would talk business—not Finn’s sex life. Then Jared had ended the call.
“Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. If you need—”
“Go home, Coulter.” Jared said as the door to his office opened.
Lucy walked in, and Jared forgot about his receptionist. She’d changed out of whatever costume she’d worn to work today. Her long hair fell over her shoulders, hiding the straps of her sleeveless sundress from view. But he could see the rest of the bright pink and neon green wrap dress. He’d spent enough time in south Florida to recognize a Lily Pulitzer creation.
“I wasn’t sure what to wear for a dinner date with a unicorn.”
“You have time to change. We—” He reached out and ran his hand over the stuffed animal’s rainbow-colored mane—“didn’t know what you would like to eat, so I haven’t placed an order yet.”
“Change?” She offered a wide-eyed look of innocent surprise, but the grin on her full lips promised trouble. Her right hand reached for the fuchsia bow at her waist. “But you haven’t seen the rest of my outfit yet,” she continued.
She gave the bow a sharp tug, and it unraveled, dragging his self-control with it.
“Lucy,” he growled unable to look away from her hands. She pulled the strip of fabric through a loop. “I asked you to dinner to . . . ”
The front of the dress fell open, revealing a sparkling, purple bra.
“To talk,” he added. Her breasts glittered under the harsh overhead office light as if covered in fairy dust. He followed the sparkling path over her taut abdomen to the slip of matching purple lace masquerading as panties.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of wearing boring underwear two nights in a row.” She shrugged off the dress. The designer creation pooled at her feet like the forgotten pieces of a neon rainbow.
He forced himself to look at her face. “Lucy, I didn’t ask you here to see your underwear. This is my office.”
“Your receptionist was running for the door when I came in. He had his cell pressed to his ear and was demanding the person on the other end meet him to study. I don’t think he’s coming back.” She spoke slowly as if she was afraid he wouldn’t understand her. Or hell, maybe she was worried he’d lose focus.
He followed her long, bare legs as she walked around his desk.
She’s right.
“It’s after eight,” she continued, reaching out to pat the stuffed quadruped with the silver horn. “And this isn’t New York City. Your staff went home, or to the beach.”
She reached his side of the desk and rested her lace-covered backside against the glass.
“Lucy,” he tried again. But her name sounded like a plea not a warning. He needed to explain that in another minute, he would reach for her. He had to tell her that he wanted to touch her, kiss her, make love to her . . . but dammit, he wanted to talk about this first.
“Jared.” She slipped in front of him. The front of her legs brushed his knees. “When Philip messaged me today—”
“I am Philip,” he protested, knowing the words would have sounded more convincing if he hadn’t delivered them to her breasts.
“When I read the message, I realized what I want out of a relationship.” She leaned forward and placed her hands on his thighs. “Right now, I’m going to go for it.” She ran her hands up his legs, gently guiding his thighs apart and creating space for her sparkling body to sink down to a kneeling position.
Her feet and calves disappeared beneath his desk. She leaned forward, shifting her hands higher and higher. But she abandoned his legs before her fingers brushed his balls through his clothes.
“I’m doing this for me.” Her fingers undid his belt and unbuttoned his pants. Then she lowered his zipper, and he silently wished he’d gone commando today. “Are we clear?” she added.
“Yes.” He leaned his head back as she reached inside his boxers. Her hand wrapped around his cock, and he closed his eyes. “For the record, I fucking love it when you’re selfish.”
She ran her hand up his cock. Her touch was light and teasing, but hell, if he didn’t feel close to the edge.
“You’ll indulge me?” she asked sweetly.
“For now.” He sucked in a breath as her lips slid down his length to meet her hand. “But after you’ve had your fun, I want dinner.”
“Hmm.”
The sound vibrated against his eager dick, and his hips rose up, begging her to take him deeper. She gave him exactly what he wanted. Her tongue worked with her mouth and her hand—if she kept this up, he’d come before he’d opened his eyes and fully appreciated this miracle.
He tilted his chin to his chest and looked down. Lucy Linden . . . sweet, young Lucy . . . the girl who should be off-limits but wasn’t—she knelt beneath his desk, driving him off a damn cliff. His fingers dug into the arms of the chair. He’d been serviced like this before. Years ago, when he was just out of school and making more money than he knew what to do with, before he’d learned to separate work and pleasure.
Before I fell for Lucy.
“Aw, hell, Lucy,” he cried out. His hips jerked. “Lucy.”
He shut his eyes and allowed the world to melt away. For one precious moment, his dick in Lucy’s mouth was the only damn thing that mattered. He wanted to live right there, in that orgasm—
“For fuck’s sake,” a male voice boomed.
Jared opened his eyes. Any hope he had his climax would last a little longer shriveled and died.
“Finn,” he gasped, sounding like a man who just experienced the best blow job of his life—and not a damn bit threatening. He tried again. “Get out.”
His best friend marched toward the desk looking pained but determined. “I don’t want to be here man. Trust me. But you left the intercom line open to reception.”
“Then leave the building.” Jared kept his gaze locked on Finn. He felt Lucy shifting at his feet, trying to make herself smaller. But he knew the desk’s glass top worked against her. Even with the unicorn perched on top, if Finn looked down . . .
Sparkling purple stood out against the cream office carpet.
“I would have driven to the other side of the state to avoid listening to that.” Finn turned his head to the wall as he reached out and hit a button on the intercom box. With his friend’s gaze averted, Jared put his dick back into his boxers and zipped his fly.
“You could have unplugged the front desk unit,” Jared snapped.
“Thought about that.” Finn turned to him but was careful to keep his gaze fixed on Jared. “But DeVilla called. He said he was out of line earlier, and he’s open to talking. He’s on his way over. He’ll be here any minute. If he walked into reception and heard . . . we’d lose the deal.”
And our reputation as one of the best private equity groups in the east, if not the whole country. One partner fucked on tape and the other enjoyed a BJ in the office—yeah that will go a long way to reassuring their investors.
“Then you talk to him,” Jared snapped.
“This is my fault.” Finn turned away from the desk, shaking his head. “DeVilla wants to meet with you. He doesn’t want to sit down and negotiate with a man he saw fu—with his daughter.”
“Fine.” Jared let out a resigned sigh. He needed time to reassure Lucy. “I’ll meet him by reception and take him to a conference room.”
“Good idea.” Finn glanced over his shoulder. “Might be better if he doesn’t see a stuffed horse on your desk.”
“Leave, Finn,” Jared said firmly. “And it’s a unicorn.”
“I’m sorry, Lucy,” her brother called over his shoulder as he headed out the door. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. But Jared needs to take this meeting. I’ll be in my office if you want to talk.”
Finn drew the door closed behind him. He pulled hard enough so that the click echoed through the office. Lucy recognized the all-clear signal and crawled out from under his desk.
“I can’t believe . . . ” Her voice trailed off as she reached her dress. She stood and began pulling it on. He could see her hands trembling and rose from his chair.
“My brother heard . . . he heard me. Us. That,” she continued.
He reached her as she slipped her second arm through the hole and drew the strap to her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Lucy.” The words felt inadequate, but he needed to say them. “I’m a fool for leaving the intercom on. I didn’t realize. We have a different system in our New York office.” And yeah, now he sounded like an ass making excuses. “If I’d known Finn was still in the office . . . ” He took the tie to her wrap dress from her hands and looped it through the fabric. “I would have stopped you.”
“I should have checked for him.” She looked up at him with a stricken expression. “I was so determined to march in here and give you a . . . a . . . a—”
“A fireworks show?” He tied a bow at her waist.
“Yes.” She nodded but didn’t look away. Her brow furrowed as if she was stuck in a maze and couldn’t find her way out. But she’d stopped trembling. “But now my brother knows. I’d planned to talk to him. Once I knew for sure what this was. Us. Together. That’s when I wanted to tell him.”
Jared exhaled. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and share the relief rushing through him. He’d been worried she would feel she couldn’t face her brother again. He’d thought she would blame him for accidentally leaving the monitor on.
He cupped her cheeks in his palms. “Lucy, your brother knew from the beginning. I assumed you understood that. I would never try to date my best friend’s sister behind his back.”
“Finn knows?” she murmured.
He massaged his fingers into her hairline, but the wide-eyed, shocked expression didn’t fade. “Philip Ryder?” he said. “The online dating profile? That was his idea.”
“What?” She stepped back, pulling free from his hold.
Jared nodded. “We have his blessing.”
“His blessing?” Her blue eyes narrowed. “His—”
“Go talk to him,” he said firmly. “Order take-out. I don’t know how long this DeVilla meeting will take. Finn royally screwed this deal, so I can’t promise I’ll be free for dinner anytime soon. But you guys go ahead and order something. The Chinese delivery place isn’t bad. Your brother will want to wait around and see how it turns out. Trust me. So go talk to him.”
“I will.” She walked over to the desk and picked up the unicorn. “But we’re going to need multiple orders of eggrolls because someone has a lot of explaining to do.”
Shit.
But he had another crisis demanding his attention right now thanks to Finn. His friend would have to deal with Lucy’s rage—there was no other word for what was brewing in her beautiful blue eyes—alone.
“Lucy,” he called after her. “Your brother was just looking out for you.”
“We’ll see about that,” she shot back.
He shook his head and turned to his desk. Tonight’s date was hovering close to disaster territory. But before he could go after Lucy and fix it, he needed to salvage the DeVilla deal.