Chapter Sixty-One

Reid

I’ve just hung up with one of the investors I’m working with who’s demanding a meeting, and promising fast cash when Connie buzzes my office. “Your father is charging toward your office while Sallie runs after him.”

“Holy fuck,” I murmur. “Get Sallie out of this.”

“Done.”

No sooner does she say that word then my father walks into my office in one of his expensive suits, and he doesn’t bother to shut the door. He saunters toward me like he owns the place and sets a folder on my desk. “I saved you the work. My retirement terms and contract.”

“You aren’t here to give me your retirement contract. You’re here to drive home the fact that you and I are in Carrie’s father’s old office. You want to cut her because she’s his daughter. Or you’re afraid she’ll marry me and get the family fortune.”

“Marry? You’re going to marry that woman?”

I said those words with no hesitation and I don’t back down now. In the back of my mind, I’ve known Carrie was it for me, the final woman, from the beginning. “I could be so lucky as to have Carrie agree to be my wife,” I say, “which should tell you how deeply I will cut you for her.”

He presses his hands on my desk. “How did you become what you are right now?”

“My mother wrote a letter that told me who you really are, and do you know her worst fear? That I would become you.”

He stands up and for the first time in my life, outside of the day we buried my mother, he looks stricken. “She didn’t say that.”

“She did. You hurt her. You cut her. She wasn’t a business conquest. She was your wife and my mother.”

His lashes lower and he cuts his gaze. “Read the contract,” he says and then he turns and leaves.

I don’t believe what I just said to him will change him, but it affected him. There is still something human in that man and I can only hope that means he’s capable of a real truce. I round the desk and I exit my office, crossing the offices and entering Carrie’s office. She’s standing at her window and she turns as I shut the door.

“What are you thinking right now?”

“I’m not. I’m waiting for you to tell me what that was.”

I cross to stand in front of her. “He brought me his version of his retirement contract and he did it to taunt you with the idea of him in your father’s office. And me in your father’s office. He’s afraid of you, Carrie.”

“Why would he be afraid of me?”

I shackle her waist and pull her to me. “Because you have a bigger hold on me than he does.”

Her hands settle on my chest, tiny, delicate, and yet her touch undoes me. “And my father,” she says, giving me what I want, what I was looking for, “fears that you have a bigger hold on me than he does.”

“Yes, Carrie. They’re afraid of us. We’re the generation that ends a war they’ve lived for years. It became a chess match, and they didn’t care who they hurt to win.” I drag her dress up and cup her naked backside.

“You had to find out if I was wearing panties, didn’t you?” she challenges, her hands settling on my arms.

“You know it, and damn, baby. I wish I had the time to lick you properly right now, but I have to meet one of the investors and then take this contract my father dropped off to Gabe. I don’t want to wait and get sideswiped in some way. I’m going to meet you at the apartment at three-thirty.”

“Do you have a tux?”

“I own one and it’s pressed and ready to go.”

I release her and reach into my pocket, grabbing my keys to remove my extra apartment key. “For you.”

She tugs her skirt into place and the minute she looks up, and spies the key, her eyes go wide. “You’re giving me a key to your apartment?”

“Yes.” I press it into her hand. “I am. Is that a problem?”

“No,” she says softly. “No problem.”

“Good.” I cup her head and kiss her. “I’ll see you soon.” I turn and exit the office, and a few minutes later, with my father’s agreement that I haven’t even looked at in my briefcase, I leave the building, but I have no doubt there’s something in it that I won’t like.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m in my office at the firm, looking over the agreement and I pinpoint exactly what my father wants me to see. The clause that says he retires with the understanding that no West marries into the family, works for the company, or benefits in any way from a Maxwell or Maxwell enterprise. It seems Carrie’s father and my own, are of the same mind, to keep us apart. I stand up, walk to Gabe’s office to find him behind his desk on the phone. He hangs up. “What’s wrong?”

I shut the door, cross to his desk, and toss the contract in front of him, with the clause circled. He laughs. “He’s such a bastard you can only laugh. I have a gut instinct for our move. What’s yours first?”

“We’ll sell our stock and get out and it’s all his or whoever outbids him.”

“My thought exactly.”

I dial my father. “That was fast.”

“Here’s my counter. I’m standing with Gabe. You sign my version of the contract, which will come over today, or we put our stock on the market to the highest bidder on Monday morning.” I hang up.

Gabe’s lips curve. “Five, four, three, two, one.”

My cellphone rings and I answer, “Yes, father?”

“You will not sell Maxwell stock to someone else.”

“We’ll give you first right of refusal to a fair offer.”

“You’d never walk away.”

“We’ll survive and thrive without this firm, because despite all the attorneys that work here, we are this firm. You have until Monday.” I disconnect and eye Gabe. “I’ll draft it and send it to you to review.”

***

Carrie

It’s three-thirty when I arrive at Reid’s place and I’ve just stepped off the elevator when he calls. “I’m running late. I’ll be there by four-fifteen.”

“You’re cutting it close.”

“I know. Believe me, I know. I’m leaving my meeting now and all is well. I’m taking the subway to get there faster. I’m going underground. See you soon.” He disconnects and I walk to his door and pull out the key he gave me. A key. To his apartment. It feels like a message, an invitation to know him more intimately and be a part of his life. I smile and open the door. I want to be a part of his life.

I hurry inside, not lingering. I haven’t unpacked and once I’m in the bedroom, I dare to do as Reid suggested. I hang up some of my clothes in his closet and stare at the space with our things hanging together, butterflies in my belly. I think I’m falling in love. I probably am in love, but it feels too soon to say such a thing. How can I already feel this? I have never used that four-letter word with a man. And we went from broken to sharing a closet. I might be crazy, but I can’t seem to care.

I pull out my emerald dress and then hop in the shower because I want to feel fresh for tonight. I’m still in my robe and have just finished flat ironing my hair to a long, sleek, brown finish, which will be destroyed in the Manhattan humidity when Reid finally walks in. I glance at the time. Four-twenty. “You’re pushing it.”

“I know, but us men are fast.” He kisses me and then enters the closet. I stand up and turn to watch the door, thinking about my clothes hanging with his. Seconds tick by and Reid appears in the doorway, his eyes warm, his voice husky. “You claimed your spot.”

“Yes. I did. It was still okay, right?”

He closes the space between us and pulls me to him. “It was what I wanted, Carrie. And,” he cups my naked backside through the thin silk of my robe, “you’re wearing the emerald dress. You have it pulled out.”

“Yes. I am.”

His eyes burn hot. “If you wear panties under it, I’ll spank you when we get home. If you don’t, I’ll lick you. You don’t get both. You decide.”

Oh my. I’m suddenly wet and hot and tingling all over, and before I can even recover from that onslaught of sensations, he smacks my ass hard enough that I yelp, and then turns me to face the counter. “Let me give you something to think about.” He yanks my robe up. “I’m going to spank you now.”

“What? Reid—”

“Count. One. Two. Now.” He spanks me, one, two, three times. He then turns me around, sits my tingling ass on the counter and kneels between my legs, and licks my naked clit. And that’s all. He teases me. He stands up and says, “That was a taste for later. For me and you. You decide how we end the night.” And with that, he turns, walks to the shower, strips naked, and gets inside, leaving my backside burning and my sex clenched. Because Reid Maxwell knows how to make me want more.