Three

Ellie texted her lawyer again. Riley Lang seemed to be avoiding her. She’d called his office to try to reschedule their dinner meeting to a more appropriate time, but his secretary was excellent at deflecting. She’d been told Mr. Lang was in a very important meeting and looked forward to seeing her this evening.

She stared down at her phone. Nothing. The man had said he would be here in about fifteen minutes.

She’d gotten dressed, put on nighttime makeup and stupid heels because it looked like she wasn’t getting out of this.

Logic. That was her friend. It wasn’t like this was some kind of date. She was meeting with her lawyer. That happened all the time. People met with their lawyers. People had to eat to live. So it was normal to meet with one’s lawyer over a meal.

It didn’t mean the evening would end with her wrapped in sheets with her superhot lawyer driving into her body and making her scream out his very lawyerlike name.

Nope. Not going to end like that. No matter how much she saw it when she closed her eyes.

It had been a shitty, shitty day.

She’d spent a good hour crying her eyes out because of that clause Riley Lang had found in the contract. Steve Castalano had been more of a father to her than her own pretty-much-evil, did-really-bad-shit dad.

Every time she was forced to think about her father, she went right back to the night he died. To the secret he’d told her.

Now she shared a lawyer with Drew Lawless. It couldn’t be coincidence. It was the universe’s way of telling her she had some work to do. That she was on the right path. That one day she could explain, and maybe the burden of her father’s secret would ease.

She needed to think about this. She wasn’t sure she could think around her new lawyer.

Riley Lang was hot as hell, and yes, her nipples seemed to perk up when he walked in a room, but she needed some alone time.

There was a knock at her door. It looked like he was early. She’d hedged her bets on getting him to stay away and gotten dressed. She kind of wished now that she hadn’t been so damn thorough when she’d cleaned out her closet the previous week.

She’d tossed out every dowdy suit she’d owned, every heavy blouse and shapeless skirt. Almost every piece of clothing that was black or beige or navy blue.

She’d hidden behind those stupid clothes for years, hoping she wouldn’t cause comment from her father about her professionalism. Or worse. Her dad never failed to point out that she’d gotten her mother’s penchant to carry a few extra pounds. Her sister, Shari, looked like Dad’s side of the family. Blond hair, blue eyes, slender like a supermodel. Ellie had been told time and again that no one would take her seriously in business if she didn’t hide her overblown body behind bland suits and a pair of glasses.

Her own husband had told her she should drop a few if she wanted anyone to want her for something other than cash.

The bad news? All of her cash was either gone in the divorce or tied up in the company. She had what she needed to buy out her business partner and not much else.

The good news? She no longer had to listen to her father or her husband.

Tossing out those clothes and buying an entirely new wardrobe had drained the last of her savings, but she’d needed the change. She needed to be the new Ellie.

New Ellie didn’t hesitate to open the door to the superhot guy who was her lawyer. New Ellie didn’t wish she had a high-necked sweater to hide behind. New Ellie was all about the V-neck.

Her bell chimed again and she wished she was still in a building with a doorman. Or a building in Manhattan at all. Her gorgeous condo had been sold and the money halved, her portion placed in savings to buy her partner out. Her Brooklyn neighborhood was nice and quiet, but she missed the bustle and energy of the Upper West Side.

She glanced at herself in the mirror. She was determined to convince Riley Lang that she didn’t need him to take her to dinner to go over the contract. They could do that in the office. She wasn’t getting close to someone like him.

She hadn’t been able to handle Colin. Riley Lang was a dozen steps ahead of Colin on the sexy-male ladder. She wasn’t losing her head over a gorgeous guy who seemed to want to manipulate her somehow.

The girls looked good. They were a nice C cup. They balanced well with her hips. She was always going to be an hourglass. Now she simply dressed to suit her figure. Her makeup was pretty good. She’d left her hair down.

She was ready to face him.

After all, she was kind of manipulating him, too. She needed him for more than a contract. She needed him for his access to Drew Lawless.

Unfortunately, when she opened the door, it was her sister and Colin standing there.

Shari frowned, but then she’d told Ellie once that she never smiled because it caused wrinkles. “Thank God you’re here and not at the office. I hate that place. Not that this place is much better. I need to talk to you.”

Ellie could feel her blood pressure tick up. Colin walked in behind Shari, his head down.

She thought about railing at her younger sister for selling her stock, but it wouldn’t do a bit of good. There were seven years between them and an ocean of issues. Shari had been the indulged second child. After Ellie’s mother had died in a car accident, her father had taken up with a sweet but not-so-bright model. Krissy Stratton had overindulged her daughter to the point of rottenness, never seeing what holding her girl to no rules at all was doing to her. After Krissy herself had died of breast cancer, Ellie had tried to take her sister in hand, but the damage had been done.

“What do you want?” There was nothing to do but get to the heart of the matter, and that would always be about what Shari wanted.

Shari rolled her eyes. “Rude much? You could try being nicer to me. After all, I came all the way out here to Brooklyn to see you.”

Shari rarely left Manhattan. When she did, it was for some exotic locale like Paris or Milan. She’d worked as a model since she was fifteen, but she spent every dime she had.

And likely a good portion of Ellie’s since now she had Colin’s half of the money from Ellie’s shit-tastic marriage.

“You didn’t come to see me. You want something. I have someone coming to pick me up, so make it fast.” She would use any excuse to get her sister and ex out of her apartment as quickly as possible.

The last thing she wanted was her lawyer viewing this cozy scene. She needed the man to see her as a professional, in control. She never felt more out of control than when she had to deal with her sister.

“You have a date?” Colin asked, his eyes widening.

When they’d met, he’d been serious about a career in business. He’d been in her accounting class and she’d helped him pass. They’d become friends and then lovers. It had seemed natural to marry him.

She didn’t even recognize him now. He’d always been attractive, but now he was dressed like a refugee from a boy band. She wasn’t sure how he saw with all that hair flopping in his face.

“I have a date.” She wasn’t going to tell them that Hottie McHotterson was actually her lawyer. They didn’t need to know that.

Shari sighed and resettled her ridiculously expensive Chanel bag over her shoulder. “I don’t want to be here to see whatever the Internet spits out as a date these days. Look, I’ll get to the point. I need some cash.”

“Go to an ATM.” Her sister always needed cash.

“I have to have new headshots,” Shari explained. “I’m sorry to have to come to you, but I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Ellie turned to look at Colin. “She’s your girlfriend. Don’t you want her to have headshots?”

Colin wouldn’t look her in the eyes. “I don’t have anything to give her.”

She felt her jaw drop. “You had ten million dollars last year.”

It was what he’d taken from the divorce. What she’d had to pay him in order to keep her stock.

Shari’s portion was sadly locked in a trust fund she couldn’t touch until she was twenty-five or finished an undergraduate degree. Ellie wished her father had thought to lock the stock up the same way.

“I . . . well, I made some bad investments. So we need some money. Not a lot. Twenty thousand should do. I can pay you back,” Colin insisted.

Colin was an addict, and his drug of choice was the stock market and investing in crazy business schemes. It had been the fight of their marriage. He would have some half-baked idea and expect her to fund him. She’d been forced to keep a tight rein on his spending because he thought nothing of dropping thousands of dollars based on some hot stock tip a guy on the subway had given him. He was gambling, always trying to game the system.

He’d blown through everything she’d worked so hard to build.

She wanted to cry, but she wasn’t going to do it in front of them.

“No. I don’t have anything liquid right now,” she said. “Take out a loan or talk your agent into paying for it. I can’t.”

It looked like she would spend every dime she had trying to keep her company.

Shari’s lips pressed together, her eyes narrowing. “You promised my mother you would take care of me.”

Yes, her sister wasn’t above using guilt. Ellie had promised her stepmother that she would attempt to look out for Shari. She’d tried. “That was when you were a teenager. It was before you decided to sleep with my husband. So I’m not going to help you anymore.”

She was done being everyone’s doormat.

“We couldn’t help it.” Shari’s eyes brimmed with tears. She was really good at crying when she needed to. “We were in love. You wouldn’t understand because you never loved him. You never loved anyone.”

“Ellie, you can’t hold this against her forever,” Colin said. “She’s your sister. She’s all the family you have left. You know our marriage was in trouble long before Shari and I fell in love. You spent too much time working and not a second on our marriage or me. Hell, you weren’t ever interested in sex. Were you really so surprised I found someone who believed in me? Who truly wanted me?”

“I’m not going through this again.” She’d been told time and time again that she was the nag who kept him from really taking off. She wouldn’t fund his investments, so his failure was her fault. Shari had made him feel like a man. “You two should leave. I’m not giving either of you a dime.”

“I guess I’ll have to sell my stock, then,” Shari said, her mouth a mulish line.

Colin shrugged. “We can do that, you know. We can sell it whenever we like. That company’s all you care about anyway. You won’t let us sell it.”

Yep, her blood pressure was skyrocketing. Did they think they could con her? They might have been able to if Riley Lang hadn’t proven himself to be such a smart man. She’d hated him for being the bearer of bad tidings, but he’d prepared her for this confrontation. “Sure you can. Sell it to me. Let’s go. I’ll pay you twice what it’s worth.”

Her sister paled and for a moment didn’t speak. “That’s all I have left of Daddy. You wouldn’t take it from me.”

She was about to call her out when there was another knock on the door.

Riley had horrible timing. Damn it. The last thing she wanted was for the entirely too-hot lawyer to find her standing here with her traitorous sister and her ex-husband.

She opened the door, her whole body tense. There he was, dressed more casually than before in slacks and a white dress shirt. He’d ditched the tie, and she could see the hint of golden skin and what looked like a spectacular chest.

“Hi, Ellie. Are you ready? I found a nice Italian place about a block from here.” His deep voice went straight to her girl parts, another sure sign that she shouldn’t go anywhere alone with this man.

She crowded the door, trying to keep him from seeing inside. “Hello. I have some unexpected company. You’re talking about Mario’s, right? Why don’t I meet you there in ten minutes?”

“Or I could wait for you like a gentleman.” He moved into her space, his hand going over hers. He leaned in, and she could smell his aftershave. “Let me in, Ellie. If you’ve got a problem, I can help. It’s what I’m here for. I’m here to make your life easier.”

He was speaking softly, as though he’d figured out she didn’t want her “guests” to overhear them.

She matched her voice to his. “It’s my sister and her boyfriend.”

It was too horrible to explain that Shari’s boyfriend used to be her husband. She was ashamed enough as it was. She could feel her skin heating with embarrassment at the thought that they would realize very quickly this was a business dinner.

There was no way this guy was dating her. It was ridiculous.

His lips curled into the sexiest grin. “I can handle that. Let’s see if we can get rid of them fast. I’m quite hungry.”

The way he said hungry, almost on a low growl, made her skin heat.

Why couldn’t he look like all the other lawyers she’d met? Boring, a bit bland. Way more interested in billable hours than in toning their abs.

No way her sister would buy him as her new boyfriend.

She stepped back and let him in.

He did something completely unexpected. His hands came up, framing her face. One slid behind her neck, cupping her nape and pulling her in close as his mouth hovered above hers.

“It’s been the longest couple of hours. The afternoon dragged on after I left your office, and all I’ve been able to think about is you.”

Before she could protest—if she’d thought about protesting—his lips were moving over hers. He didn’t ravage her. She wasn’t a big fan of kissing because it always felt so messy, but not with Riley. Nope. His kiss was like the rest of him. Smooth as silk and hot as hell. She immediately felt herself soften and she stood there, allowing him to do something she hadn’t done since long before her divorce.

He held her, his chest brushing against hers, and there were those pesky, traitorous nipples again.

He broke off the kiss with a chuckle. “Maybe we should order in.”

“Who the hell are you?” Colin asked.

She started. For a brief second, she’d forgotten they weren’t alone. She turned, but Riley slid an arm around her waist.

His big palm cupped her hip with just enough strength to let her know he wasn’t about to let go. “I’m Riley Lang. I’m Ellie’s . . . lawyer.”

He’d put enough of a twist to the word lawyer to make her blush.

“He’s helping me with the buyout,” she admitted.

“It looks like he’s helping you with a lot of things.” Shari looked him up and down, obviously liking what she saw. “I might need a lawyer, too.”

Riley’s arm tightened around her, pulling her close. “Sorry, I think Ellie’s going to take all of my time. She’s hard to keep up with, if you know what I mean. I’ll have to watch her closely. Make sure no one takes advantage of her. Did you come by for a friendly visit, Shari? Can I call you Shari? Or did you perchance decide to borrow more money from your sister because you spent every dime from the stock sale on nightclubs, new shoes, and limo rides?”

Shari gasped. “How did you know that?”

“Because I watch out for your sister’s interests. Because my job is to take care of her so she can do hers.” He turned his attention to Colin. “You must be the ex. Huh. I thought you’d be taller. She tends to like her men way more athletic than you.”

Colin flushed. “You’re sleeping with your lawyer? What the hell, Ellie?”

“It’s really none of your business.” How dare he judge her for something she wasn’t even actually doing? It made her stand taller, lean a little more on her superhot fake lover. “Our relationship came about very organically.”

Riley turned her way, winking. “That’s right, baby. I saw her at work and couldn’t keep my hands off her.”

Colin shook his head. “You know, I thought you were smart. I thought you were all about being a tough businesswoman. He’s making money off you. He’s using you. Can’t you see that?”

Shari grabbed his hand, her face a nice shade of red. “Let’s go. My sister obviously has other plans for the evening. Ellie, this isn’t over. Just because I sold that stock doesn’t mean I don’t have a claim on StratCast. I’ll get what I deserve. What our parents would have wanted me to have. Don’t think I won’t.”

They stormed out and Ellie felt her shoulders slump.

Riley let her go, slapping his hands together as though he were proud of himself. “Excellent. Now that we’ve taken out the trash, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

Oddly, she’d completely lost her appetite.

—

Half an hour later, Riley poured Ellie another glass of wine. She still looked slightly shaken. After her waste-of-flesh sister and idiot ex-husband had run out the door, she’d been a very obedient girl. When he’d told her to get her purse, she’d settled it over her shoulder and carefully locked the door behind them. She’d walked with him and answered every question he’d asked in a monotone.

She’d been like a doll, sitting where he wanted her to sit, drinking what he gave her, letting him order for her.

She’d had a hell of a day, and he felt bad using that against her. Not that he would stop, but he was surprised at the gnawing of his conscience.

“Why did you do that?”

It was the first time she’d spoken without being prompted. “Do what?”

Her face flushed the sweetest pink. The color went all the way down that sexy V-neck. Her breasts flushed as well as her face, and it made his damn dick tighten. “Kiss me. Why did you kiss me like that?”

Oh, so many reasons, but he gave her the most compelling one. “I wanted to.”

The minute she’d opened the door and he’d seen her standing there looking anxious, he’d known how to calm her down. All he’d had to do was put his hands on her and some odd connection flared between the two of them. She hadn’t fought him. He could have gone on kissing her. He’d been the one to pull away.

It was like the minute he walked in, he was the only thing that existed for her. It made him feel ten feet tall, but it also made him want to please her.

It was an unsettling sensation.

Her hands came up, fingers on the sides of the table. “You know what I’m asking. You knew I wasn’t alone. Why did you pretend to be my boyfriend?”

It was easy to see she’d wanted him to wait for her at the restaurant so as to avoid his meeting her sister and ex. When she’d opened the door, he’d immediately known something was wrong. He’d gotten a glimpse of her sister and known Ellie had likely needed a hand. It had to be tough on a woman’s ego to lose even a pathetic excuse of a husband to a younger sister.

“You were alone with your sister who slept with your husband. Excuse me. Ex-husband.”

She shook her head. “At the time, we were definitely married. How did you know he was my ex-husband?”

“He took half your net wealth. I’m your lawyer. At this level, a good lawyer is less legal counsel and more war consultant. I can’t properly perform my duties if I don’t know everything about you, including the fact that you tend to have terrible taste in men.”

She frowned. “I haven’t had a ton of boyfriends. I’m not sure what my taste is.”

He really wanted to understand why she’d married that obvious prick. “What attracted you to him? Because from where I was standing, he looked like a dickwad desperate to be twenty-one again.”

She bit into her bottom lip, her eyes glancing away from him. “He wasn’t always like that. I actually met him when he was twenty-one. He was far more mature then.”

He liked her candor. “You were in college?”

“Last year of undergrad. We dated for two years and then it seemed like it was time to get married. We’d moved back here to Manhattan so I could take my place at StratCast. I thought he was going to go to grad school, but he decided on a different path.”

“What path was that?”

A single brow rose over her right eye. “You don’t know?”

Of course he knew. He knew everything. “Are you referring to your ex-husband’s penchant for swinging for the fences? When it comes to investments, that is.”

It was what he liked to call “idiots who funded ridiculous ideas.” They never wanted a simple profit out of their money. They wanted millions and really fucking fast. They swung for the grand slam when all they needed to do was get on base.

It took a true genius to take a single idea and make millions off it. Drew had.

Her shoulders straightened. “He wanted the easy solution. A get-rich-quick scheme. He wasn’t that way at first. At one point he was very intellectual. It’s what attracted me to him. He was curious about the world and liked to discuss everything from politics to social justice to movies we saw. He changed. I didn’t. In some ways, I blame getting involved with me for what happened to him. He got around my father and real wealth and wanted some of his own. When I met him, he wanted to be a professor. He wanted to teach.”

At least he’d gotten her this far. She was talking. Now he needed to get those shoulders down from around her earlobes. For one moment, for that moment when he’d drawn her into his arms and pressed his mouth to hers, she’d relaxed against him, given over to him. Her body had softened and she’d leaned into him, and if he’d pressed her, he didn’t know what would have happened. She might have continued kissing him, forgetting all about the other people in the room. He could have cupped her breast, her ass. Put his hands anywhere he liked.

She hadn’t given a damn that they hadn’t been alone. All she’d cared about was him.

“He never went to grad school. Never taught a single class. I think you’re right. He wanted an easy solution. You provided him with one.” He’d studied her a little. She was known for certain aspects of her career. “You’re quite good at building up an employee’s ego. I would suspect you would do the same with a husband.”

She was known for being able to take the surliest inventor and make him into a team member. She was the cheerleader, the grand motivator.

It was her gift. He wasn’t sure she was the right person to run the business side of StratCast, but there was no question she should be in charge of research and development. From talking to her employees—under the auspices of business—he’d learned they mostly adored her. She coaxed her employees, whereas her father had ruled with an iron fist.

She’d been the one to bring in one of the world’s brilliant software engineers to revamp the way StratCast functioned.

She didn’t know it, but she’d stolen him right out from under Drew and 4L. He had to admire her for that. It wasn’t every day Drew Lawless lost. He was used to winning.

“I tried in the beginning,” she admitted. “He’s right about one thing. I gave up somewhere along the way. He would get a good job and I would be excited and cheer him on, and then he would quit because he’d come up with something better or he’d argued with the boss. It became easier and easier to stay at the office. I did put a lot of myself into the company. I knew my father was going to retire and then he got sick. I had a lot on my plate.”

“He should have understood. A good husband would have worked on the marriage with you.” From the way the reports read, the dick had left her in the middle of her father’s illness.

He wondered if Colin had known about Shari’s trust fund. He would bet not. It would be interesting to see if that couple made it another two years.

He didn’t like the thought of Colin getting paid. It might be a fun side project to break them up.

She shrugged and took another sip of the pinot noir he’d ordered. “There are always two sides to every story. In some ways, I think we were too young to get married.”

“Why did you? A lot of people these days simply live together.”

“I wanted it to start,” she explained. “My life, I mean. I was raised in a very isolated fashion. I went to all-girls schools. I was in a very strict boarding school for high school. When I got to college, I wanted my life to start. I wanted something of my own. I’ve always been impatient. My mother used to tell me to slow down. I wasn’t able to do it when I was younger. I would see what I wanted and go for it.”

That was surprising. He wondered if the marriage had been the thing to take the confidence out of her. Or perhaps working for her rigid father. “That’s not a bad trait. I like to think I do that.”

Though sometimes he wondered what he really wanted. He’d spent more than half his life working toward bringing down the people who had ruined his childhood. What would he want when it was all done? What would the world look like to him when he’d finished this path?

“Like you said, I have bad taste in men. It’s gotten me into trouble over the years. At that point, I wanted to be an adult. I wanted to work at StratCast and have a family, and I thought I loved Colin. So we got married.” She set the glass down and shook her head. “This has got to be boring as hell for you. I’m sure you didn’t want a therapy session this evening. Why exactly did you call this meeting?”

“Meeting?” He thought he’d been plain.

The waiter set the salads on the table, his eyes going straight to Ellie’s chest. “Is there anything else I can get you right now, miss?”

She smiled up at him, but there was nothing sultry about it. Did she not get that the man was flirting with her? “No, but thank you so much.”

The asshole actually winked her way.

“I’m fine, too,” Riley said pointedly.

“Of course, sir.” The waiter strode off.

She didn’t realize how many men were sliding glances her way. She was completely oblivious to her own beauty. She was pretty, though perhaps not in a conventional fashion. She wasn’t going to be on the cover of a magazine like her far-too-skinny sister. Shari might have gotten the high cheekbones that photographed gorgeously, but Ellie had an air of innocent sensuality that should draw men to her like flies to honey.

Not virginity. He had zero interest in the state of a woman’s hymen. The state of her sexuality was something altogether different. He got the feeling if he could get this woman into bed, she wouldn’t be shy. She wouldn’t play games—not the mental kind meant to manipulate a man.

She sighed and took another sip of the wine. “This is really good wine. I’m usually a white drinker, but this is lovely.”

Yes, she would indulge in sex the same way she did in food. No inhibitions, just purely for the pleasure.

He was hard in the middle of a restaurant. That was a first. He was controlled. Always. He’d learned that in his first years in a group home. Don’t lose your temper. Don’t relax. Always be in control of yourself and your surroundings.

It had only taken one brutal beating to teach him those lessons.

“I’m glad you like it, and this isn’t a meeting. It’s a date.”

Her eyes flared and there was that pretty flush again. This was why she wouldn’t make it in the business world. The woman couldn’t lie to save her life. He would always be able to tell he was getting to her from the pink stain that illuminated her skin.

“A date?” That cynical brow rose over her right eye. He was starting to get her “tells.” “Why on earth would you ask me on a date?”

He got the feeling she would see through any reason with the exception of honesty. “Because I would really like to sleep with you. It’s traditional to date first. You see, men take women out usually more than once, though you should feel free to completely ignore societal norms when it comes to that. We go out on a few dates, see if we like each other. Maybe have a really nice make-out session that ends with me taking a cold shower. Then you decide if I’m the man who can bring you multiple, screaming orgasms.”

Her eyes had widened, but there was a smile on her face. “Wow, Mr. Lawyer. That is quite a sales pitch.”

“I was serious about you picking the timeline. You’re a very modern lady. You should go with whatever schedule suits you.” It had been a long time since he’d been this flirty with a woman. “Might I also point out that the answer to that last question, the one about the screaming orgasms, is yes. I’m the man.”

“Hey, at least you’re confident.” She eyed him, relaxing into the moment. “Are you always this forward?”

“Yes. I do what you say you’re trying not to. I see something I want and go after it. I saw you today and realized you aren’t the woman from the press pictures. What was up with the frumpy business suits? And the bun? You’re gorgeous this way.” He let his eyes slide to the V of her shirt. He didn’t want there to be any misconceptions about the fact that he was attracted to her.

It was easy to be attracted to her.

“My father was very strict about what he believed a businesswoman should be. He also thought my weight was a sign of weakness and therefore I should cover up as much of my body as possible.” She sat back. “My father was kind of a dick.”

He chuckled but his stomach twisted. Her father had been a murdering bastard. “So Daddy died and you came out of your shell?”

“I needed a change. I needed to not be the me who married Colin. I needed to not be the woman who let her father run her life for so long. So I threw out the stuff that I hid behind and bought clothes that made me feel pretty.” She frowned, but it was a cute expression, her nose wrinkling sweetly. “I still wish I had those suits sometimes. They were like armor. On good days, I’m confident. Most of the time, I don’t really care what other people think about what I’m wearing. But I’ll admit there are times I want to hide again. Like now.”

“Why now?” He’d done his absolute best to be charming.

“I don’t think it’s a particularly good idea to mix business and personal lives.”

“Do you have a personal life outside your business?”

“No, not really. I tried some online dating. It didn’t work out. Maybe I’m supposed to work on the business for now. A woman doesn’t always need a man in her life. She does, however, need a lawyer.” She sat back, assessing him. “You’re not what I expected.”

Because she was used to her father’s lawyers. Old men who would likely dismiss her out of hand because they’d seen her in school uniforms and because dismissing smart women was what they’d been taught to do.

“That’s good, because you’re not what I expected, either. Tell me what bothers you about me.”

She paused as though thinking about what to say. She was obviously trying not to act on her impulses, but he needed to strip that layer of caution away. “It worries me that you seem to know so much about me. I don’t think my old lawyers remembered my name half the time.”

“I have exactly two clients. I have StratCast and 4L Software. I was hired by 4L straight out of law school.” No lies there. He’d gone to law school because his brother didn’t trust anyone but family. They’d used an old friend of Hatch’s in the beginning, but the minute he could, Drew had handed everything over to Riley.

Would he even be able to practice after this?

“Wouldn’t he want a more experienced lawyer?” Ellie asked. “After all, the man is one of the richest men in the country. I’m surprised he wanted someone straight out of school.”

He had this story in place. “We became friends in college. Drew appreciates loyalty.”

“All right. I suppose I can understand that.” She put her hands on the table and sat up straighter. “Why do you need StratCast? I’m not anywhere close to 4L’s earnings. I’m not even in the same league. I would think 4L would keep you busy. Do you work in billable hours there or for a piece of the company?”

He owned a large piece of the company, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. “I don’t bill by the hour even for Drew. We have a similar agreement to the one I’ve offered you. For my services, you give me stock as you’ve agreed to do. In return for that you have my brain and my experience.”

“I haven’t signed the paperwork yet. The amount of stock you want isn’t insubstantial.”

He wasn’t a fool. She’d already made her decision. She wouldn’t be here with him if she hadn’t. The paperwork meant nothing. “But you’ll find my services are worth far more than what you’re giving up. I meant what I said. My job is to ensure that you can do yours. I have 4L’s legal department working like a well-oiled machine now. The boss is finally comfortable with the team I hired, so I can open up a bit. I want a different challenge. The cooling system you’re developing has ramifications that go far beyond the computers we use today. Have you thought about what it could mean to quantum computing?”

The faster-than-anything-on-the-market machines had one small issue. They were in experimental stages, but the models calculated and worked so quickly that the machines themselves would only work at near-absolute-zero temperatures.

The person who solved that would make a lot of money.

A grin hit her lips. It was a sexy smirk that told him she knew exactly what she was doing. “I try not to let it out. I’ve turned away good press because I don’t want the word out before we’re ready for manufacture, which is likely a year or two off. Yes, I understand the possibilities. We’ve tried to be quiet about it, but we’ve obviously used the possibilities to attract investors. We have some tests coming up in the next few weeks that should garner real attention.”

“I’ve done a study of your business,” he assured her. “The kind of money that’s riding on this type of engineering leap guarantees that you’ll have issues. Issues you need someone like me to handle for you. You won’t have to get your hands dirty because I’ll do it for you.”

“And that means you need to know everything about my personal life?”

He was his brother’s right hand. He needed to make Ellie see how good that relationship could be for her. She was the kind of executive this type of relationship could really work for—if he were on the up-and-up. “Absolutely. You’re about to become the CEO of a major player in communications technology. Everything about you can be used against the company, to manipulate stock, to take you down. I wasn’t joking. At this level, business is war, and I don’t know that you’re ready to play general.”

“You don’t think I’m tough enough?” The question didn’t seem to come with any challenge, as though she already knew the answer.

“I don’t think you should have to be. I think you’re smart enough to know that a good leader delegates.”

Her brow rose again, but this time she took a long sip of wine. “A good leader also knows when something is too good to be true.”

“Ah, I’m definitely not that. I’m a ruthless bastard. Don’t ever mistake me for less. I’m here as your lawyer because I believe your company is exactly what I need to make it to the next level. I think I’ll make a lot of money off StratCast. I’m here as a man because I would really like to get to know you better.”

“I thought you knew everything,” she said, her eyes steady on him.

“About your business, yes. Like I said, you’re not what I expected. And I don’t have a personal life outside of business. I work all the time. If I’m going to see someone, she’s probably going to be from work. The good news is you can always fire me if it doesn’t work out.”

“Not according to that contract I can’t,” Ellie shot back. “If I sign it, I can’t let you go unless I want to pay you a god-awful amount of money. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t do this the old-fashioned way. Why shouldn’t I simply hire a lawyer and pay him by the hour and not pay him when I don’t need him? You’re going to cost me a fortune.”

Money was the least of her problems. There were issues at StratCast he didn’t have to manipulate in order to use. Her employees might adore her, but at the executive level, there were people who thought she had no business running the company. “I’ve already saved you a fortune. That contract had already been through your legal department and your father’s lawyers. Not one of them mentioned the clause. Why?”

Her mouth firmed. “They were very likely paid not to.”

He had her. He just had to reel her in. “Now you’re thinking like a CEO. Yes. You pay those men by the hour and someone else can buy their loyalty. My pay is directly tied to the best interests of you and the company. I will be your champion. I cannot be bought. You’ve already purchased me.”

“Wow. When you put it like that, I’m reminded of how crappy business can be.”

He needed to remind her of that often so she would turn to him when things got rough. So she would trust him over the man she’d known all of her life. “That’s why you’ve got me. You like to do what you do. You like to deal with your people. Let me handle the rest. The buyout is going to be hard. I know you thought it would be a breeze, but that clause in the contract was a clear indication that your partner is going to war.”

“I didn’t expect him to do that to me.” She took a deep breath and stared down at her uneaten salad for a moment. “I thought he cared about me.”

“Maybe he does, but Castalano knows that there’s no place for emotion in negotiations like these.” He reached out and covered her hand with his, his skin warming at the connection. “Let me do my job, Ellie. Let me take care of you.”

She looked up, and those fucking eyes were so vulnerable he felt like a hunter about to slaughter a doe. She nodded. “All right, I’ll sign the contract, but I have to think about the other part. I still don’t know if it’s a good idea.”

But she picked up her fork. He still had a shot.

He fully intended to take it.