Chapter Twenty-One

Carrie

When I wake in my bed alone, I feel regret. Why didn’t I just go home with Reid? We’re having sex. That’s all. I let myself conjure up some fantasy that there was more happening between us. I can’t be emotional. Reid is not emotional. The board does not want emotional. Reid will be in my life and out of it in a few short months. And the closer I am to him, the more I understand the man who controls my destiny. He most certainly is using all he knows about me, which is much more than I know about him, a man influencing my future. I need to be as smart as he is and enjoy the ride. I can do this. I am just as capable as he is, and he and the board need to know that.

Therefore, I need to make a fearless statement and when I arrive to work I’m wearing a black skirt and an emerald green blouse. A blouse that matches the emerald green panties I’m wearing, which came in the box Reid delivered to my apartment last night. Obviously, he’ll know I’m either wearing those panties or taunting him with the fact that I saw them and chose not to wear them. I’m in control. I feel it right up until the moment that I realize that Reid isn’t even around to notice. He’s gone. I have no idea where and I don’t ask Connie for details or call him. Instead, I review all the proposals for growth that I was given by the staff, with disappointing results.

Desperate to find a big deal I can slam dunk, I start making a list of every major investor I’ve ever dreamt of working with and then isolate the top two. It’s nearly three in the afternoon, and I’m sitting behind my desk, talking with Sallie about the research I’ve had her working on today when Reid barks over my intercom, “My office. Now.”

I glance at Sallie. “I’ll be back.” I stand up and walk around my desk, charging toward Reid’s office, which is being guarded by Connie, who’s sitting behind her desk.

“Hi, Carrie. Do you need Reid?”

“I got this,” I say, walking right to his door and opening it, but not before I hear her laugh. I’m glad one of us is amused.

I enter Reid’s office and shut the door. He’s behind his desk, looking like Mr. Arrogant Hotness in a gray suit with a blue pinstripe that matches his eyes and his tie. “Is it really necessary for you to continue to be an asshole to me? I thought we came to some sort of agreement last night.”

“We did. I can’t fuck you unless you hate me. Did you really think that was motivation for me to start being the nice guy I’m not?”

I walk toward him, placing his desk between us as I lean on the surface. “Stop being an asshole. We’re a team, remember?”

“Are you wearing the green panties to match that blouse?”

“Reid,” I say, “Sallie just heard you bark that command at me.”

“Are you going to let her bring me cookies to put me in a good mood?” He stands up, presses his hands on the desk and leans toward me. “Because you sent me to bed with a hard-on, made me wake up with a hard-on, and then wore that fucking shirt to taunt me with what’s under your skirt. So until you come over here, lift your skirt and let me see your panties, I will remain a justified asshole.”

I glare at him and then I don’t know what happens. I laugh. “Yes. I’m wearing the green panties.”

His eyes warm and I swear the hard glint he’d fixed me in moments before fades into a mix of heat and mischief. “Come show me.”

“Not here.”

“Come over here and show me.”

“No.”

“Come over here and let me lick you under those panties.”

“You’ll rip them. I like them.”

“I promise not to rip them and I always keep my promises.” He softens his voice. “Come here, Carrie.” The low, raspy command turns my knees weak while my breasts are suddenly heavy, my nipples tight, aching nubs.

“The door isn’t locked, and you need to work harder on the whole hate thing.”

“Hate is overrated. Especially since I’m meeting with Grayson Bennett tonight.”

I straighten. “The billionaire?”

“That’s right,” he says, pushing off the desk. “He has money to burn and he hates Jean Claude Laurette, who you know I’ve working with. So I have to do some convincing. Which means that it’s going to take both of us to do this deal. He’s a relationship person. He wants to know the person he’ll work with long-term and that’s you.”

“Can I go to the meeting tonight?”

“Not yet. He has a problem with one of the board members that I have to get him past first.”

“How do you get him past the problem board member if he’s a relationship guy?”

“Do you really want that answer?”

My stomach knots. “You’ll get rid of the board member one way or the other.”

“Yes. I will.” His cellphone rings and he pulls it from his pocket, grimacing at the number. “Yes, Nicholas?”

I know the name as one of the board members and I wonder if this is the one he plans to get rid of.

“No,” Reid says. “We are not. We will not. Yes.” His jaw firms. “I’ll be there.” He rises and stands in profile to me and the desk, more stone than man for a few beats before he rounds the desk.

I turn to face him as he steps in front of me. “I won’t hide the dirtiness of this job from you,” he says, returning to our prior conversation. “I’ll put you right in the pit of hell with me and with good reason. You have to get a stomach for this stuff or you won’t make it, Carrie.”

“My father—”

“Sheltered you in ways that I won’t. In ways that you can’t be sheltered and do this job.”

“You’re saying my father would push out the board members?”

“Yes, Carrie. He would. He’s taken these kinds of actions. He’s clearly got a side you don’t know.”

“He’s my father, Reid. I worked with him for ten years of my life.”

“And?”

“And I know him. He’s not you.”

His eyes flash. “You mean he’s not a heartless asshole? You’re wrong. He is.”

My jaw clenches. “You’re working on that hate again, Reid.”

“I’m telling you the truth. If you hate me for it, then hate me.”

“He’s taken these actions, but you beat him. In other words, you’re the devil he is not.”

His lips thin. “I never claimed to be a saint, Carrie, but I’m not a liar. Your father was going down. I didn’t make that happen. That’s the truth. I need to go.” He starts for the door and I rotate to watch him leave, wanting to finish about ten things that we’ve started. I want to grab him and pull him back, but I refuse to stop him. He’s the one who stops.

He rotates in my direction and before I know his intent, he’s back in front of me, pulling me to him, and his hand is on the back of my head. “If you hate me, then I can do this, right?” His mouth comes down on mine in a brutal, rough kiss that tastes of hunger and anger, even as his other hand cups my backside, and he pulls me hard against his erection. “You’re coming home with me tonight, even if I have to carry you there.” And with that, he kisses me again, and before I can even process what just happened, he heads for the door, opens it and leaves.

I inhale, my entire body humming with a mix of anger, need, and confusion but I don’t linger. I’m on fire in more than one way, which for me, translates to a need for control, a need for action. I follow in Reid’s steps, and once I’m in the lobby area, I keep walking. I don’t look at Connie or Sallie. I have a purpose I don’t want interrupted. I enter my office and sit down behind my desk where I dial Royce Walker. “Problem?” he answers.

“Yes,” I say this time. “Since I can’t hire you to investigate my father, can you refer me to someone who won’t screw me over?”

He does that silent thing he does. “I’m not letting you go elsewhere when we can help. Let me—”

“Talk to Reid. Never mind. I’ll handle it.”

“We’ll help and I won’t charge you extra, but I have some confidentiality issues with Reid I need to work out. Give me twenty-four hours.”

“Okay, but if you can’t work it out by then, I need a name, please. I don’t know where to start.”

“Fair enough. I’ll be in touch.”

We disconnect and my cellphone rings, and the number sets my heart racing. It’s Elijah. “Carrie West,” I answer.

“Carrie,” he says jovially. “I’m in your area. Why don’t we have drinks and talk about money.”

“I’m not ready to present yet.”

“We’ll speak broadly about my investments and your role in the company versus that of Reid Maxwell.”

Unease slides through me. “Okay. When and where?”

He names a time and place and once I hang up, I dial Reid. He doesn’t answer, but he could be in the subway. We all take the subway when we’re in a hurry and he was in a hurry. “Call me, please. It’s urgent. Elijah wants to meet and if I don’t leave now, I won’t make the meeting. I feel like I need to go. Then I’ll know if he’s attacking and where he’s attacking from. Call me.” I hang up and head for the door.