Cowboys & Bosses

by Piper Sullivan

  “What was that?”

  I smiled and walked in to her office. “Well played, but we both know you heard me.” Instead of taking the white chair across from her, I stood beside her chair and leaned against her desk. “So why have you been ignoring me?”

  “You mean why haven’t I called and begged for another night of sex? Probably because I have a job, and a life, and plenty of things to do other than worry about another night between the sheets with you.”

  “You had fun.”

  She smiled then. “I had a good time. The best time, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to act like some clingy girlfriend.”

  “Why does that disappoint me?”

  Her lips twitched. “Because you are a man who wants exactly what he can’t have.”

  That was somewhat true, and I fully admitted it. To myself, but never to another soul, and definitely not the temptress before me.

  “I’m sure I could have you right now, with nothing more than the crook of my finger.”

  “I admit a weakness for your talented fingers, but as you can see, I’m busy.”

  “Damn, seriously?”

  “Totally.”

  She was playing hard to get, and normally I hated that shit, but I could admit that one night with Lacey hadn’t been enough. Not yet. I’d gone out with Lukas, and I could have had my pick of women that night, but my cock had other ideas. He didn’t want just any blond with brown eyes or blush pink nipples. He wanted Lacey which meant I wanted Lacey.

  Which meant I had to have her.

  “You could invite me over and cook me dinner.”

  She barked out a laugh and covered her mouth. “You were serious?” More laughter came and I sat there like I wasn’t bothered a bit. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I might like a meal cooked for me?”

  It really was so easy. “Fine. I’ll cook dinner for you. Tonight. My place.”

  “I have plans tomorrow. How about Saturday?”

  She was playing games. But I’d only had her once, which meant I had a few more nights before I had to let her go. I didn’t like to give women ideas, which meant I kept things uncomplicated. No more than a week’s worth of dates and no sleepovers. Except for the once with Lacey. But that was the exception, not the rule.

  “Fine. Saturday. I’ll pick you up. Be prepared to spend the night.”

  “I don’t think so.” She pushed back from the desk, legs crossed not at the ankles, but even better, at the knee. I could see her bare creamy thighs. “I can’t just stay holed up in your apartment for the weekend. I have things to do.”

  I shrugged and leaned in close enough to see the gold and yellow flecks swimming in her eyes. “Don’t pack. I prefer to have you walking around naked all weekend. Makes things easier.”

  “I’ll be sure to pack lots of flannel, then.” She flashed a sweet smile that had my dick banging against my zipper to break free. I closed the gap between us and took her mouth in a fiery kiss that threatened to burn out of control if one of us didn’t pull back. Didn’t break the spell or douse the fire.

  Neither of us did.

  I don’t know how long we sat there in her office, mouths fused like it was meant to be that way. My cock was hard and aching and as much as I wanted to lay her across her big desk and fuck her until my cock was exhausted, I couldn’t.

  I had three days to plan all the ways I would ruin Lacey this weekend.

  * * *

  “Hello, you have reached the voicemail for Katelyn Shepherd.”

  I slammed the phone down, angry the Shepherds seemed to be doing the one thing I hated in business. Playing games. There was no point leaving another message because they would dodge the call and then refuse to return it. I had a greater appreciation for Lacey’s frustration, and I now worried about the effect crashing that lunch meeting would have for me.

  If they thought this vanishing act would kickstart a bidding war, they’d both better have their heads examined because that was not how I did business. Which meant I needed to keep moving forward.

  “Jada, I need you to start looking into other regional stations for sale that can fall within the same parameters as KBBM.”

  Jada had been my assistant for nearly five years and had pretty much run my office in my absence, so I trusted her implicitly. And her decade long triad relationship with her partners Lamar and Kylie meant I never had to worry about her trying to blur the lines.

  I may be a manwhore, or playboy, or whatever term people are using to describe bachelors who eagerly take what women are offering, but I never shat where I ate. Ever.

  “On it, sir. One more thing, Eve has called twice.” Her voice was wary and shaky and my stomach sank.

  “What the fuck did she want?”

  Eve was fucking trouble. My cheating witch of an ex constantly trying to trick me into something or the other, and I didn’t have time for that shit.

  “That’s the thing, she didn’t say. Didn’t leave her name or a message, but I know her voice. Anyway it was just a heads up.” Just like that the call was disconnected, but my phone rang again immediately.

  “You forget something?”

  “Nope, but it looks like you forgot your balls. Again.”

  “Luke, you’re obsessing about my balls again? How many times do I have to tell you that you’re not my type?”

  “Oh please, I’m everybody’s type. Have you seen these big brown eyes and this sexy body? That’s why I’m calling, actually. This week was shit and I’m exhausted, cranky and I need to get laid.”

  Any other time I would be halfway out the door, ready to slap on some cologne and fuck my way through the city’s beautiful, elite and gold digging. But this wasn’t any other time. “Can’t. Got plans.”

  Lukas groaned and I could almost see him burying his face in his hands. “With Lacey?”

  “Do you really want me to answer that?” I wouldn’t keep secrets from Lukas, he’s my best friend. But I also wouldn’t let him dictate where I put my dick.

  “No, I don’t, damn you. But I want you to be careful. Lacey is my sister, and my best friend other than you. She’s almost like a part of me. I know you do your whole ‘don’t fall for me spiel’ but this is Lacey.”

  I knew exactly what Lukas was saying, and I even appreciated his warning, but I had to have Lacey. I wouldn’t stop until I did, and then we could go back to normal.

  “No one is getting hurt, man. I promise.”

  “Good, because I love you like a brother Walker.” His words were tight and firm and I braced myself for the threat to our friendship that would come. Lukas wouldn’t be the first brother to warn me off and threaten me, but I never thought I’d hear those words from him. A lifelong friendship could be ruined over something as fleeting as sex and romance, and people wondered why I stayed clear of these emotional entanglements. “If you hurt Lacey, I’ll have to beat you like a brother would.”

  I frowned at the phone. “I don’t even know what the hell that means.” I was an only child with a half dozen step siblings whom I haven’t seen or talked to in years, and had no plans to change that anytime soon.

  “It means family fights messy and dirty. And it also means I’ll take it easy on you compared to Blake.”

  That made me laugh, because Blake was tough, but he had a rigid code of conduct. “Noted, but I’m not worried. Though I hear you should be,” I laughed. “Lacey says you’re panting after that redhead from lunch, Talia.”

  He groaned. “First off, I don’t want to hear about your pillow talk with my sister, and second, don’t talk about me when you’re naked with Lacey.”

  “And Talia?” Lukas was as unflappable as they came, and the fact this Talia woman had him all twisted up was entertaining as hell.

  “I’m not talking about Talia because there isn’t anything to talk about!”

  “Exactly,” I told him, laughing as the call ended with his grumbled swearing. I hated to blow him off this weekend, but I had plans for Lacey and nothing would
get in the way.

  Lacey

  All day Saturday afternoon I vacillated between packing a bag for my weekend with Walker and not. Packing for the weekend was somehow complicit agreement that his caveman tactics worked. But not packing seemed ridiculous, since I had no doubt he’d refuse to give me a shirt and have me naked for the next two days.

  In the end, I packed a small bag with casual and comfortable clothes and maybe a few pairs of ultra sexy lingerie.

  Walker wasn’t the only one who could play dirty.

  When a knock sounded on my front door at four o’clock I frowned. It was too early for dinner and I wasn’t expecting anyone else. When I pulled the door open, I was greeted by Walker and a smile hot enough to scorch my panties.

  “You’re early.”

  “Actually, I’m late. I planned to get here two hours ago but I got held up dealing with a crisis at a station in Prague. Apparently, the anchor admitted, on air, his preference for underage girls.”

  “Shit. Is he fired?”

  Walker frowned. “He’s more than fired. The crisis erupted because his seventy year old neighbor claimed he had a fifteen year old who never left the house. Which turned out to be true, so there were some fires to put out.” He raked a hand through his hair, looking disheveled and delicious. “You need more time?”

  I didn’t, but I didn’t want to appear too eager.

  “I do. Have a seat.”

  “No. Come here,” he commanded, pulling me by the waist before I could refuse the closeness he demanded. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a taste of you.” His lips were on mine, soft to the touch, but firm and insistent. Demanding. Conquering. I clung to him like the wanton hussy he’d made me, grasping his shirt in a feverish attempt to get closer. The kiss went on and on until I knew if we didn’t stop now, we’d never stop.

  But I wasn’t quite ready to take that step with Walker in my home so I pulled back, breaking the spell. “Damn.”

  He chuckled and let his hands roam down to my ass, smacking it enough to tingle. “Let’s get going.”

  I glared at him. “Did you just pat me on the ass?”

  “No,” he said, smile growing more salacious by the second. “This is a pat,” he said giving my ass a small tap. “This,” he smacked me harder, pulling a half-gasp, half-moan from me, “is a smack.”

  “Got it,” I told him, I knew my voice was thick with desire. “I’ll be quick,” I told him and dashed into my bedroom, quickly changing out of yoga pants and a tank, into a white summer dress and my vintage denim jacket, paired with the sexiest red cowgirl boots I’d ever seen. I tossed a box of condoms and toiletries into my tiny tote and took a deep breath before I rejoined Walker. He was relaxing comfortably on my sofa, flipping through channels. “Ready.”

  “You have a lot of crap in your queue.”

  I shrugged. “It’s called research. I am the Marketing Director, in case you didn’t know.” Plucking the remote from his hands, I hit the power button and stood by the door. Impatiently.

  Walker, always the easygoing guy, just smiled as he stood and followed me onto the porch, grabbing my bag from my hand while I locked the door.

  I groaned at the sight of the limo parked in front of my house. I didn’t pretend that I wasn’t rich, but I also didn’t do public displays of wealth either.

  “Seriously, the limo?”

  He laughed. “Not only do we now have some seriously hot memories back here, but also my driver is a real dick about taking pay on days he doesn’t work.”

  The words were spoken so casually, but they said a lot about the kind of man Walker really was, that he would pay his employee for a day he didn’t work.

  I refused to even think about that for too long, instead I focused on the journey to his penthouse, and all the orgasms I would come away with this weekend. But we passed the top floor and I frowned.

  “Where are we going?” The answer was the roof, specifically the helipad. “You have a helipad on top of your building because, why not?”

  He chuckled and herded me inside, strapping me in and setting headsets over my ears.

  “I am a very busy man, babe.” He winked and jogged around the helicopter, taking the seat beside me in back.

  “I’m surprised you’re not manning the wheel or whatever.” It seemed like a skill all wealthy playboys would have, flying planes and helicopters.

  “I do have my license, and I usually fly myself but I wanted to sit back here with you.” His hand landed on my thigh and his gaze was dark and intense. “I never thought cowboy boots would do it for me, but you’ve proven me wrong.”

  That shouldn’t have thrilled me the way it did, but hard nipples, tingling skin and a throbbing between my thighs said otherwise. “Where are we going?”

  He smiled at my clumsy attempt at changing the subject. “To my place in the country.”

  “You have a place in the country?” Why that did so much to shift my opinion of him, I couldn’t say, but Walker had always seemed like a sophisticated urbanite who turned his nose up at anything not completely citified. “I guess all that world traveling has expanded your horizons.”

  “I wasn’t world traveling,” he said tightly. “I was dealing with some personal shit for a few months, and then I got back to work.”

  “Buying up media companies all over the world?” He grinned proudly and I laughed. “World domination?”

  “Maybe,” he grinned with a shy shrug. “Or maybe my plans for domination are a lot less global than that.” Deep green eyes flashed with mischief and heat, and I knew he was talking about me. My body responded accordingly. “I guess we’ll see.”

  “I don’t know what to make of you sometimes, Walker.” I’d heard plenty of stories from Lukas, which were told from the perspective of his best friend, not the protective brother of his latest lover. “Most of the time you seem like you don’t give a damn, but I’m starting to think that’s on purpose.”

  He shook his head, his mouth tightened into a thin white line. “There’s nothing more there, Lacey. Don’t make me out to be something I’m not.”

  His words were sharp, and his warning was clear. This was sex and nothing more. Not friendship, and definitely nothing that could be construed as more than friendship, or more than sexual partners.

  “Got it.” The rest of the trip went pretty quickly, if silently and tense, thanks to Walker’s outburst. Guys like him thought they were god’s gift, and that all women had designs on their freedom. “For the record,” I told him when we stepped inside his cavernous country estate, “all I’m after here is sex. Even if I were looking to settle down, it wouldn’t be with you.”

  He laughed. “You aren’t the first to say that, but I’m warning you now Lacey, don’t fall for me. I don’t do trust and commitment and forever. I do quick and hard and dirty, and that’s it.”

  “Great. I’m going to unpack and freshen up, let me know when it’s time for quick, hard and dirty.”

  I appreciated his warning, but something about it just rubbed me the wrong way. Like, he was so irresistible that I wouldn’t be able to help but fall for his charms, which I could admit were plentiful. He was hot and charming, but his money didn’t mean anything to me, I had my own. And his arrogance left a lot to be desired.

  Feeling unduly wound up, I found a room that was definitely not the master bedroom based on the queen-sized bed and feminine eggplant and gold furnishings, and decided to lose myself in a long, soothing bubble bath. Screw Walker Titus.

  What woman would ever be foolish enough, hopeful enough, delusional enough to fall for a guy like Walker who went through women like they were tissues to be discarded after one use? I wanted the orgasms he would give, the pleasure I would inevitably find in his arms, but after this weekend we would go back to being professional opponents. He was my twin brother’s best friend, and a guy who wanted to buy the same company I was trying to buy. Nothing more.

  When we got back to Portland, we would say goodbye.
<
br />   * * *

  “What’s all this?”

  I had decided to give Walker an hour to cool down, but after my long bath it had turned into two. He was right, and I needed to get my head on straight as much as he needed to cool down. But I was fine now. Hungry and ready for two days of fun.

  “This is dinner, well it will be dinner very soon. Right now, it’s a work in progress.” He flashed a playful smile that lit my body up like Times Square and nodded to the table. “Wine?”

  “Sure. I’ll even pour it.” The table had already been set, properly and with candles, and the wine chilled in a bucket. “This looks great. What are you making?”

  “A surprise. Bring me some of that wine.”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his commanding tone. Sure, it was hot but it was also kind of annoying. I filled the glasses with something red and dry and delicious, probably expensive too, and brought it to him.

  “Here.”

  “A little help?” His lips curled into a smile as I brought the glass to his lips and tipped it back, watching the way his Adam’s apple bobbed with every swallow. A little drop of red clung to his bottom lip and he stuck it out.

  “What the hell,” I grunted and grabbed his head with my free hand, kissing him long and hot and hard. He’d already had something to drink, I could taste it on his tongue as ours danced together and his delved into my mouth, taking control as he feasted on every corner of me. Damn but he could kiss like it was his job! “Shit.”

  “That’s right. My kisses are the shit.”

  I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous arrogance, but that didn’t stop a smile from spreading at his infectious grin. “I guess I had nothing to do with it?”

  A gasp escaped when he grabbed my wrist and brought my hand to his cock so I could see how hard he was, and he was hard. My mouth watered and I gave it a little squeeze. “You had plenty to do with it.” His words came out on a breathy growl that fractured my resolve to be good until after dinner.