To: [email protected]TBG.com

From: [email protected]AustensBookStores.com

Subject: Re- The Bennet Group Acquisition Proposal

Miss Bennet,

With a proposal such as yours, I believe it is expected that I offer the obligatory sentiments of gratitude, but in this case, I find I cannot.

Let me say this, and this alone. You could not have made me an offer for Austen’s that I would ever have been tempted to accept.

Yours

Darcy Austen

P.S. Bing kindly requests Jane’s number.

P.P.S. I asked that favour under duress.

Eliza’s initial reaction to Darcy’s reply was to laugh, which she did for almost a full five minutes, but then she reread the main section of his email and decided that she could decipher his tone from those four lines of type. He was a pompous arse. Nothing unusual for Darcy but she thought after their last evening in Vegas where they shared a moment, and the generosity of the offer she made him would have, at the very least, earned her some politeness.

Unwilling to dwell on his email, and because her fingers were itching to type out a shitty reply, Eliza grabbed her phone and dialled Jane instead. As much as she was trying to refrain from responding, if Jane wanted Bing to have her number, Eliza would send it.

“Hey, would you like the good news or the great news?” Eliza asked her sister without greeting.

“Uh, shall we go with the great news first?” Jane replied perplexed.

“Bing has requested your phone number,” Eliza stated bluntly, her smile genuine at the sound of Jane’s sharp intake of breath.

“And the good news?” Jane asked attempting to ignore the way her stomach flipped at her sister’s words.

“I made Darcy an offer for his family business, and he turned me down.”

“Why is that good news?”

“Because,” Eliza began, her feet pushing her chair around so she could take in the view out of her windows. “Austen’s is dead in the water. I only made my offer as an olive branch of sorts, but he turned me down, in quite a shitty way actually.”

Jane didn’t offer a reply, and after a moment of silence Eliza turned back to face her desk and saw a smiling Jane standing in her doorway with her phone pressed to her ear.

“What are you thinking?”

Jane’s mouth hitched up at the corners, and her eyes widened a fraction. “You like him, don’t you?”

“What? Why would you think that?” Eliza asked a little too outraged.

“Oh, my goodness. You do. You’ve got a crush on Darcy Austen.” Jane disconnected their call and all but bounced into her sister’s office.

Eliza rolled her eyes. “This isn’t boarding school, Jane. I do not have a crush on anyone.”

Jane smirked and mocked Eliza by making a W with her fingers and mouthing ‘Whatever’ in an over exaggerated teen way.

Eliza couldn’t help but laugh. It was good to see Jane coming back out of her shell, and likely all because of Bing’s request. Which made Eliza squint her eyes devilishly and say, “Huh, I guess you don’t want me to pass on your details after all.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No? And yet here you are trying to get me to admit to a schoolgirl crush just to push my buttons. That’s not the behaviour of someone who really wants her favourite sister to play matchmaker. Maybe I’ll delete the—”

“Don’t you dare,” Jane interrupted, rushing forward at the same time as Eliza to grab at her laptop.

Eliza got there first and snapped the lid closed, a smug grin stretching across her face.

Jane huffed, wisps of her hair fluttering on the puff of air, and then she surprised Eliza by stepping back with a shrug and saying, “I already have a town car booked to take me to Austen’s head offices. So, you can keep your email information and your secret crush. I’ll give him my number in person.”

Eliza was rendered speechless. Jane never pursued a man. She was too timid, too unsure, too guarded to ever take things into her own hands and go after someone she wanted in this way.

“You’re really going to do this?” Eliza asked, but Jane didn’t have the chance to answer because George buzzed through on the intercom to tell her that her twelve o’clock appointment had arrived, and her sister chose that moment to sneak out while Eliza’s focus was elsewhere. The move told Eliza that Jane was nervous about her decision to pursue Bing and that she was still willing to push through her apprehension anyway.

“Go and get him,” Eliza said to the space where Jane previously stood. “If anyone deserves her happily ever after, it’s you.”

* * *

“He’ll take the deal, stop fretting.”

Wick watched as Lydia stormed around her loft-style apartment and wondered if the fact she was his wife made it their loft-style apartment. They hadn’t discussed living arrangements since arriving home from Vegas, yet every night —and often in the day too—Wick found himself in her bed. Lydia had a voracious sexual appetite, and if they had one thing going for them, it was between the sheets. Together they were hotter than anything he’d ever experienced before, and it was the one place Lydia allowed him all the power.

“You need to ensure he does,” Lydia snarled, her movements stopping and her annoyance focused solely on Wick.

“Nobody makes Darcy do anything, but he’ll take the deal. He’s wanted out of Austen’s for years. He’s only taking charge now because I’m not there, so let me go back to work and I’ll get our deal from the inside, not the outside.”

“And what would you have me do with myself while you men make the deal? Stay at home like the good little wifey and have your dinner on the table by the time you get home?”

“I wouldn’t say no to a home-cooked meal,” Wick replied, entirely missing the sarcasm in Lydia’s voice.

“Really?” Lydia took a sultry step towards her new husband. “How about a foot rub too?”

“You’d do that?” he asked in excitement. “Because I get terrible pains in my arches if I’ve been on them for too long.”

“And maybe I could run you a bath, wash your back, shave you?” Lydia’s next step brought her toe to toe with Wick. She lifted her head to look up at him beneath her long lashes, licked her lips—a movement he followed avidly—and then reached out to cup his balls and caress his package.

“God, I’d love that,” he groaned, thrusting himself into her hold.

“I bet you would,” she purred giving his length one last leisurely stroke before reaching lower to squeeze his balls, tight.

Wick yelped and attempted to step back, but Lydia’s hold tightened further and a pain shot from his nuts to his belly. Lydia literally had him by the balls.

“The thing is, husband dearest. I’m not that kind of girl. I don’t wait for anyone, let alone a man, and I certainly won’t become your trophy wife.”

She stepped closer to Wick, not releasing her hold on his crown jewels, but close enough to press her ample breasts into his chest, and close enough for her to bring her mouth just millimetres away from his.

Against his lips, she breathed, “Get me Austen’s. Get rid of your brothers, and keep up your end of the bargain. Just because your cock is talented—” she let go of his balls and pressed her hand firmly against his surprisingly stiff member “—doesn’t mean I can’t acquire another to fulfil those needs, and if you found yourself out of that job, I’m not sure your position would remain viable.”

“I’ll get you Austen’s,” Wick panted.

“I know you will,” she exhaled, before dropping to her knees and unbuckling his belt. “Let’s call this an incentive.”