Chapter Two
Haley watched the federal agent walk away, regret seeping through her that their paths hadn’t crossed. She’d listened to his talk from the shadows of the auditorium, enjoying the content but also the deliveryman. Quentin Savage’s dark eyes held a hypnotic quality, as did his sharp features and raven hair—hair worn slightly too long for a respectable federal agent. There was something compelling enough about him to keep pulling her gaze in his direction, but also strong enough to keep her feet firmly planted where she was.
She liked to be in charge of relationships and had a feeling a man like that wouldn’t let her dictate terms.
Of course, they didn’t need to have a relationship. But if she simply wanted a fuckbuddy there were a hundred guys here who could perform the act, men who didn’t intrigue her with their soulful good looks and tragic eyes. Men she could control. Men she would never care about on a deep, personal level. Men like Chris Baylor whom she’d dated for an entire month last year before she realized he was a liar and a cheat. Luckily, she hadn’t been hurt by that betrayal, but she’d been wrong to trust him and upset she’d been played.
And here was Cecil Wenck, billionaire mining conglomerate owner, playing games with her probably because she was the only female owner of any of the private security firms represented at this symposium.
She kept her smile in place even as Wenck’s hand brushed the side of her breast. She twisted to pick up her wine off the bar, breaking the unwanted contact. She raised her glass, and someone handed the man a beer so they could chink glasses.
“A toast.” The Australian smiled jovially, but his eyes were as cold as the red snapper’s she’d eaten for lunch. “To the most beautiful security consultant in Indonesia, if not the whole bloody world.”
She smiled, even though his words irritated her. Cramer, Parker & Gray might be a relatively small outfit, but they had an excellent reputation. The fact they were trying to expand into providing security for infrastructure, private firms, and government facilities was something she’d been pushing for years. Dermot and Alex had finally given in to her pressuring them, even though they were satisfied with their current niche.
“You look like a million dollars tonight, love.”
Haley’s smile barely concealed her annoyance. Men like Wenck were the reason Dermot and Alex hadn’t wanted to pursue this line of business. Between the billionaires, sheiks, and crooked politicians, the super-rich thought they owned the world and everything in it, including women.
Especially women.
The fact she liked to wear pretty clothes and high heels and makeup had nothing to do with her business acumen and everything to do with the fact she liked pretty clothes, high heels and makeup.
The private military industry was an old boy’s network full of people who’d served together. She didn’t fit into this world, so she didn’t even try. Many of their connections were forged either on active duty or in seedy bars in war-torn locations around the world. Alex Parker was the only one of the partners who’d been in the military. Dermot didn’t know one end of a firearm from another. He was the world’s biggest dork, and a brilliant software engineer. She wanted them both to be wrong about expanding the company into this arena.
Time to figure out what Wenck’s play was. “And here’s me thinking you didn’t like me,” she said sweetly, taking a sip of champagne. It was cold and tart on her tongue.
“Nonsense. Of course, I like you,” Wenck assured her gruffly.
“Then why is my firm the only company not to get a one-on-one meeting with you today?” It hadn’t taken long to figure it out. She wasn’t dumb.
“I was saving the best ’til last, love.” Wenck winked and sidled a little closer. The bodyguards weren’t far behind, and the result was several men pressing too close to her side.
She shifted away along the bar, hating that she was forced to retreat but not surprised. She was used to men trying to take more than she offered, which was why she generally went on the offensive.
“I can meet you first thing in the morning to go over the quote we gave you,” she said.
Wenck frowned, even as she smiled brightly at him. He was head of ARK Mining Corp., based in Darwin. Every private military company in existence wanted the contract that was coming up for renewal to provide security for his mines, industrial plants, and headquarters across Australia and Asia.
Keeping Cramer, Parker & Gray thriving was important to her. Important enough to ignore the misogynistic comments and slights she received whenever she attended meetings in this male-dominated world. She didn’t care what they thought of her or what they said behind her back. She’d been fighting the patriarchy since she was a teen—fighting and winning. But she did care what they said about her firm.
“I’m leaving at six AM.” Wenck pulled a “sorry” face.
“We can meet for breakfast at five.”
He laughed, his voice raucous and grating. “I’m not a morning person, love.” He checked his watch. “If you want to go over the contract now, I can accommodate you, but only because you’re a beautiful woman.”
Her smile hid what she was really feeling. Even though her company was one of the premier firms, she only got to play on a distinctly unleveled field because of her face and figure?
Somedays she thought she hated all men, and then she remembered Alex and Dermot and some of the operators who worked for them. She didn’t hate them all, just an awful lot of them.
“Let’s go somewhere quieter to discuss this matter,” Haley suggested. The bar area was too noisy and crowded to talk the nitty gritty of a multi-million-dollar contract. Plus, she didn’t want the opposition to overhear and lowball her offer.
Wenck nodded. “Sounds about right.”
She followed Cecil out of the room, clutch bag under one arm, Wenck reaching back and grasping her other arm as if he were laying claim. Her high heels clicked, and she was aware of many narrowed eyes watching their progress. From the expressions on their faces, they seemed to have forgotten they’d all had meetings with Wenck today, the same way she was about to. Of course, they all thought she’d sleep with the guy to get him to sign a contract. The fact her company was every bit as good as theirs seemed lost on them. It was insulting, but she was used to that too.
Hatred gleamed in Grant Gunn’s eyes as she passed him. Chris Baylor turned away with a sneer. What had she ever seen in the guy?
Wenck led her toward the elevator, but she put on the brakes.
“There’s a quiet room over there.” She pointed to a cozy space she’d discovered on her first day. Even though it was Indonesia, it had an open fireplace, though thankfully unlit. White walls and large leafy ferns created a calm, opulent space. Haley took out her phone to text Alex and Dermot that she was meeting with Wenck.
“I don’t discuss business where someone might overhear, love. It’s not worth the risk. We’ll go up to my suite.”
The man was probably paranoid. Considering his financial worth was the same as some third world countries, it wasn’t surprising. He was also notoriously difficult to get face time with. This might be the only opportunity she ever had for a face-to-face meeting.
Haley debated for a moment about the sense of going alone to this man’s hotel room, but she never let being a woman hold her back from doing what men would. Her heels clicked loudly on the black and white tiles. Yes, she’d rather do this in a public space, but she also knew that he’d been meeting everyone in his suite all day. Still, there was a vibe in the air that made her uneasy. She tapped on her phone’s recording app and slid the device back in her clutch.
Dermot and Alex constantly warned her to be careful, and she wasn’t stupid. Haley could handle herself and she doubted Wenck would physically attack her. Proposition her, sure. She could deal with being propositioned as long as he could deal with her saying “no.”
And if he couldn’t?
She balked but found herself shuffled into the elevator as the doors
opened. She stood at the back, trying not to let her sudden unease show.
They got out on the fourth floor. Her floor, not that she’d tell Wenck that.
They entered his suite and one bodyguard swept the room for electronic listening devices, while the other one made sure nobody was hiding in the closet or under the bed.
She watched them work. Professional and well-trained. Would they help her if the situation presented itself? Presumably not, although Wenck was considered stingy, so she might be able to buy their cooperation if push literally came to shove.
It wouldn’t come to that.
The room was all brocade-upholstered furniture against soft white walls. White net curtains billowed as the bodyguard opened the window onto the balcony.
Haley took a seat on the sofa.
“Drink?” Wenck walked to the old-fashioned drinks cabinet and picked up a bottle of single malt.
“Sure. Scotch on the rocks.” She wasn’t planning on drinking it, but it made the man relax a little when she accepted the offer.
He brought their drinks over and sat close enough that their knees brushed. The two bodyguards exited the room, which bothered her on several levels. They didn’t know if she was some would-be assassin ready to stick her stiletto heel through Cecil’s fat gullet. Also, why leave? They’d surely been present at all the afternoon meetings and knew private details of Cecil’s business.
Her eyes narrowed.
Wenck was staring at her expectantly.
“Do you have a copy of my proposal on your laptop?” she asked, reminding him of the reason she was here. “Or should I email you one now, and we can go over it?” She put her drink down and went to pull out her cell phone.
He stopped her when he ran a stubby finger down her bare arm. “You don’t really want to discuss business, do you?”
“That’s why I’m here, Mr. Wenck.” She meant his suite, but it applied to Indonesia in general. Sure, it was a good symposium, but Wenck’s rumored attendance was the reason the event had sold out in record time.
His beady brown eyes took her in, his gaze catching on the low “V” of her dress. Her breasts were completely covered. It was the skin between her breasts that was on show. It held his attention, nevertheless.
She wasn’t ashamed of her body, but his gaze was tactile and made her skin crawl.
“I don’t know if you had the opportunity to read the bid our company submitted…” She again tried to draw his attention back to business. “We can provide the same standard physical security measures all the other firms offer with the added bonus of customized alarm systems and cyber intrusion prevention and detection measures at a competitive rate. You won’t get our level of sophistication from any of the other firms.”
“Huh?” His gaze sharpened and, for a brief moment, he looked more interested in her words than her bare skin.
“Our competitive edge is our cyber capabilities, which compared to any of the…” She snapped her fingers to get his gaze off her chest and said with exasperation, “Mr. Wenck, I’m here to talk business.”
He groaned. “I think I’ve had about as much business as I can stand for one day. I was hoping for something else from you. Something none of the other firms can offer.” He licked his lips and went to run a finger down her arm again, but she shifted away.
“Surely a man like you must have hundreds of women who want to have sex with them?”
His cheeks grew flushed. “Who said I wanted to have sex with you? Anyway, if you weren’t up for it, why wear the revealing dress and heels that show off your tits and arse?”
His argument was all over the place.
“Trust me,” she snorted. “I can tell when a person wants to have sex with me.” She tried not to sound irate. “How I dress bears no relation to how good my firm is.” She went to rise, but he grabbed her wrist.
“What would it take?” He suddenly sounded a lot less friendly.
“To what?” she asked.
“You know what.” He shot a glance at her body.
Her mouth opened a little in shock. And, yet, she wasn’t completely surprised. People had been trying to fuck her against her will since she was fourteen years old. She was now a smart, successful, independently wealthy woman and yet men struggled to deal with her as an equal.
“Mr. Wenck.” She strove for patience, feeling like the only adult in the room. “I’m here to conduct a business meeting.” She carefully removed his fingers from the vise-like grip around her arm and stood. He grabbed a handful of her dress and jerked her back down again, the smile on his face a clear indication she wasn’t getting out of this that easily.
Shit.
“Everyone saw you flirting in the bar, love. Not one of them would believe I had to force you, and you know it.”
The first hint of fear rippled over her nerves. Force her? The guy was seriously thinking about raping her?
She weighed her options. Scream? It was unlikely anyone would come to her aid. There were only a few suites in this wing of the hotel, and she and Cecil occupied two of them. His bodyguards and PA might be in the neighboring ones. Plus, if she screamed, his bodyguards might intervene on her behalf, or they might hold her down while Wenck raped her. She wasn’t willing to take that chance.
Violence? She could hit Wenck, but then she’d still have to get past the bodyguards. And if Wenck called the authorities and said she assaulted him, she might end up in an Indonesian jail while he flew safely back to Australia.
No one would prosecute him.
Men like Wenck were untouchable.
No, she needed to use her guile to get out of this situation. Then she’d think about how to deal with the man later. She’d certainly never work for this disgusting piece of human garbage now that she’d met him.
She let him kiss her for a moment as if his wet lips would somehow convince her to change her mind. She mentally rolled her eyes at the sloppy attempt, although it wasn’t his technique that was lacking. It was the fact he was attempting to stick his tongue down her throat when she’d told him she wasn’t interested.
“Wait. Wait. Cecil.” She laughed as if excited and short of breath, then slid from beneath him. She fanned herself and got up to pace behind the couch. “Give me a moment to think about this.”
He followed her to his feet. “What’s to think about? You’re a beautiful woman, and I’ve got a hunger that needs to be appeased. Then, if you’re any good, I’ll give you one of the biggest security contracts the world has ever seen.”
Any good? She raised her brows. Like he wouldn’t blow like a rocket as soon as she touched his pathetic dick.
“It’s not like you’re ever gonna win their respect down there anyway.” He pointed toward the bar.
That was true, but she’d like to retain her self-respect and compete in the business based on merit. Old fashioned, but what the hell. “What about the relative caliber of the different firms and their bids?”
“Oh, I know your firm’s got a good rep, but there are three firms who can do what I need them to do, for less money.” He leered. “Only one representative is wearing a dress I want to rip off her body before screwing her blind.”
She gave a little laugh. Ha, fucking, ha. “Well, when you put it so romantically…”
He hitched his belt as if to draw attention to the bulge at the front of his trousers. “I don’t do romance, love. I’m a former miner who got very lucky and was smart enough and ruthless enough to get what he wanted—which is more money than you can even imagine.” He looked at her like he was in charge of her decisions and this was a done deal. “That means I can buy anything I damn well please, including you.”
Haley liked to imagine she could see the evil in Wenck’s smile, but he looked like any other man. That’s what made predators so dangerous and difficult to spot.
“Right now…” Wenck began. “I want you to suck me off, and I’m willing to pay you millions of dollars to do it.”
Haley already had millio
ns of dollars and didn’t need a penny more. Even if she’d been homeless, she wouldn’t have touched this cockroach. Not for the first time, Haley wished she’d been born a man. Her life would have been so much simpler.
She stepped up to him, staring down at his mouth like he didn’t turn her stomach. She ran her finger down his chest and stopped on his belt buckle, pressing hard enough to push him back a step. “Well, if you put it like that how can I resist? But I want that contract signed upfront as I’m not about to take your word for it.”
His face transformed into arrogant conceit. “We’ll see.”
She ignored the comment. “While you’re printing and signing the document, let’s at least pretend this is more than a monetary transaction.” She grabbed her clutch and headed to the bedroom, praying the suite had the same setup as hers. She looked inside. It did. She paused in the doorway and turned back to him. “Give me five minutes to make myself ready for you while you deal with that paperwork.” She gave a pointed look at his tented pants. “Then we’ll talk, big boy.”
Chapter Three
Big boy.
She gagged.
Nothing like being treated as a whore to drag your ego into the gutter. She closed the door to the bedroom and waited a second to calm her racing heart.
What a slime ball.
She strode to the balcony and slipped through the French doors, closing them quietly behind her and hoping Cecil didn’t come out here via the living room. A warm breeze blew over her clammy skin, cooling the perspiration that had formed on her nape and her brow.
She stared out at the darkness. The sounds of the jungle were all around. How had it come to this?
Years ago, while teaching her self-defense, Alex had tried to instill in her that avoiding confrontation was far more important than winning a fight. It had taken her a long time to internalize the message, but she understood it now.
Colder Than Sin (Cold Justice - Crossfire: FBI Romantic Suspense Book 2) Page 2