Stop wanting to fuck her.
Just stop.
The word virgin keeps playing in my head. How is she still a virgin? No matter how small her hometown is, there had to be men lined up to be with her. She’s obviously a handful, but her allure outweighs her nuttiness. Not to me, but surely for someone else by now.
When I think of all the ways I could bring her to ecstasy, it makes me hard. I adjust in my chair and try to push the thought away.
I nearly shout, stop licking your sexy lips as you read. Stop twisting that curl of hair around your finger.
Savannah is the embodiment of everything I’m trying to avoid. Distraction. Indulgence. Thinking about parting her legs and devouring her means I’m not thinking about work. I imagine how tight she is. What she might think if I tugged that hair she was curling around her finger.
Tough. Witty. Happy when all signs point to the fact that she shouldn’t be. That kind of woman takes up too much bandwidth in a man’s life. A sexy, vapid, selfish woman is much less time consuming.
When I made the decision to come to Boston and invest my inheritance to help my brother, I knew I couldn’t let anything stop me. Not my family. Not any outside factors. It’s why I chose to live in Bachelor Tower. A place of business. Casual pleasure. Focus. No women. No relationships. It will take a disciplined and multifaceted strategy of investment to give Mathias the opportunity he deserves to have a real life. There is no room for error.
I don’t worry about sneaky businessmen with bad intentions. A challenging negotiation doesn’t bother me in the least. But this woman, curled up in my chair, yawning and getting emotional about fictional characters in a book, is a threat I can’t allow.
She laughs and then covers her mouth for a second. “Sorry,” she mouths silently. Luckily, since I was sure she’d be incapable of being quiet, I have the call on mute. Plus, I’ve hardly been listening. I don’t know if the company has set quarterly records or is on the verge of bankruptcy.
“It’s just a call I’m dialed in to. On mute. Investor update. A quarterly thing. I’m not really listening.” I don’t know why I’m telling her but before my sentence is finished she’s sitting up straighter and leaning in. My words an invitation in her mind.
“Oh good. How tall are you?”
“Six foot three.”
“And your eyes are dark brown? Would you say chocolate brown or coffee?”
“I’d say brown because I don’t refer to myself with food-based adjectives.”
“Where are you from?” She has the book pressed to her chest as she leans toward me.
“Why?” There’s an edge to my voice, and I can tell by her expression she hears it. There is great power in my anonymity here. I am a wealthy man who plans to invest, but people don’t need to know anything besides that.
“Oh no reason. It doesn’t matter.” She waves her book at me and clears her throat, the first time since she yelled she was a virgin that she looks even mildly uncomfortable. Is she blushing? As I get another glance at the cover I wonder if she’s creating some kind of fantasy of us. Am I the man she’s picturing in that story? I’m half hard again as I think about clearing my desk with the swipe of my arm and licking my way up her body. Romance book style. Quivering bosoms and forceful kisses.
“What are you reading?” I narrow my eyes as she holds up the cover for me to see.
“It’s so good.” Savannah melts back against the chair as though the book has a physical effect on her.
I want to have a physical effect on her.
“There is this king, and he has two lovers. One is an older woman he visits often in the middle of the night. Since he was just a teen she’s been his lover and showed him all the various ways of pleasuring someone. She’s a real cougar.” Savannah flips to a passage in the book and begins to read it to me.
“He clutched her waist tightly and dragged her to him. Her body crushed against his. A gasp burst from her lips as he tipped her chin back, demanding everything of her supple lips. Within the span of a breath she clung to him as tightly as he did her. Their passion bursting like sparks between them.”
“Descriptive.” I take note of how her face doesn’t blush pink now. Her voice doesn’t falter. She reads the words as if she’s written them herself. As though she’s lived them. But I get the feeling she has not.
“Then his second lover is his half-sister. You know how royals are.” She waggles her brows at me, and I strain to keep my face level. The world looks at a royal family through a bizarre lens. It’s not easy being on the other end of it. “There were always these rules about having royal blood stay in the family, and it made for some really messed up situations. But in this story it works perfectly. This girl is young and inexperienced. Ripe for all the skills he’s learned. For most of the book they don’t know about his time spent with the other. And in the end it becomes clear neither woman is right for him. It’s tragic.”
“He doesn’t end up with either of them?”
Her face lights at my question. She’s as surprised as I am that I asked, “He has nothing in common with either woman. They have nothing to talk about. Nothing to experience together. It’s all lust and sneaking around. He’s starting to realize the woman who works in the kitchen can match wits with him and make him laugh. And there is something much more appealing to him about that. But their love can never be.”
“Seriously? You really fall for all this stuff?”
“She’s a commoner. He’s royalty. Star-crossed lovers.”
I can’t ignore the irony of our conversation. Savannah leans back and sighs at the drama. The deliciousness of it. When her back arches her breasts perk up, and I rake my eyes across their perfection. She could be the kitchen worker. The cougar. I wouldn’t care. I’d make her purr with pleasure.
“And that’s a good book to you?”
“You probably read nonfiction business junk all day, right?”
“As opposed to fictional fantasies about sex? I don’t get the appeal. Why not just have great sex?”
“When I want to escape, these are my getaway cars. Absolutely. It’s a fantasy. A place to go when circumstances keep me from being anywhere else. But now my life is different. I can go anywhere. And I intend to. But I’m taking my books with me.”
My mind flashes to what Savannah may be running from. I feel an impulse to crush anyone or anything that might be out to hurt her.
“What do you do when you want a break?” She tilts her head and looks at me with intensity.
I fuck a woman until she quivers in my arms. I always find that a nice escape.
“Maybe you should give one of these books a try. I’m happy to lend it to you. You could learn something maybe.”
I chuckle and flatten my tie against my chest. “I could teach that author a thing or two, and she’d have a hell of a lot more to write about when I was done with her. One night and she’d have enough lessons for ten more books.”
“I doubt that.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Her assertion makes me lean in across my desk.
I take the challenge seriously. “Trust me, there is nothing someone behind a keyboard could come up with that compares to what I could do. The next book wouldn’t be suitable for sale. They’d ban it. They’d have to burn it to save the women of the world who clutch their pearls at such scandalous things. The author would never be the same.”
Savannah snorts out a laugh. She is a mystery to me.
“I’m telling you the author wouldn’t be interested.”
I puff up my chest and smile wide enough for the dimple in my cheek to show. Something I’m certain I haven’t done since meeting her. “And I’m telling you—”
“The author is Thomas Watterson. I think his wife would prefer he thwart your advances.”
I snap my lips shut and mentally score a point for her. She got me.
“So you want to borrow it? Next time you’re feeling stressed?” Her smile is one of victory.<
br />
“I never need a break. I’m doing exactly what I want to do. Stress is all part of the fun.”
“You’re telling me that’s your happy face?” She feigns concern. “I’d hate to see you angry.”
“If you keep talking you just might.”
She smirks. Unafraid. Silly. Completely at peace with sleeping in a chair in a stranger’s office and reading a book that sounds outlandish all while eating some weird sugary pastry that looks like it’s made for a ten-year-old. And yet I’m the one who can’t stop watching her.
The longer she’s here, the deeper the mystery of Savannah grows. A rabbit hole I am determined not to fall down.
“I’ll go back to my book.” Settling into the chair, she pulls the book over her face, but I can see her eyes still peeking over. Fixed on me.
“Reading?” I shake my head and our eyes stay locked.
She nods. Still clearly not reading. “Just getting to the best part.” Her brows rise, and I know she’s smiling again. At my expense. “It’s getting spicy now. The hunk is really something in this one. Sullen but sexy. The scowl really works for him.” She’s still peeking at me, and I’ve got a raging hard-on now. It would take almost nothing to come. A brush of her body on mine, the clutching of my hands on her small hips.
Two people on the phone call I’ve forgotten about begin barking loudly at each other and it pulls me back to what I’m supposed to be doing. Thank goodness for a mute button.
I hear her giggle again, but I don’t look up. I don’t even glance at her. Because I’ll run the risk of never looking away.
CHAPTER FIVE
Brice
I lock down everything in my office. Papers all put away. I don’t know if Savannah is a snoop or if she could even make sense of these boring documents, but I don’t want to find out the hard way I should have hidden them.
She’s been asleep for three hours. Out cold. Still curled up in the oversized chair. She fell asleep reading and dropped the book unceremoniously onto the floor next to her. I stand and look her over. She’s petite but strong. Her skin looks like the expensive silk the designers in one of our oceanfront homes selected for the window treatments. I’m compelled to run a finger over her exposed neck. But of course, I don’t.
The office is cool so I reach for her coat to cover her. I suddenly remember the smell and wonder if it’s worth the risk of getting more of that stink on me. Instead I slip out of my suit jacket and lay it over her. Savannah stirs with a tiny sigh and I hold my breath. She coos herself back to sleep and I slip out.
I make a phone call I had hoped I wouldn’t have to.
“Hello. Sir?”
“Bring the car around.” I’m curt but I have my reasons.
“Uh, sir what do you mean?”
“Well Charles, you’ve been following me around Boston for the last month. You can drop the charade. Just have a car out front. You’ll need to give someone a ride.”
“I don’t know what you’re talk—”
“Charles. Seriously. I’ve spotted you at least ten times. I know my father would not be able to sleep a wink if he thought I was parading around Boston without at least one bodyguard. Have the car out front. You’ll be driving a young woman to the bank when she’s ready.”
“A woman?”
“Yes Charles, pretty hair, boobs, long eyelashes. A woman. You are familiar with them?”
“Very.” Charles laughs. “I just didn’t realize you had company.”
“Trust me, it’s not at all like that. You’ll understand when you see her. Or smell her. She just crashed into my life a few hours ago, and I’ll feel better knowing she’s safely out of it.”
“Is she some kind of threat?” His voice is sharp and I consider the question. She couldn’t kill me but she could derail my plans.
“No. She’s harmless. Just a handful. Never stops talking. Has an answer for everything. The answers just don’t make any damn sense. We were stuck in the elevator together when the power went out.”
“I see. Well, I’ll make sure she gets to her destination.”
“Actually, I’ll need a bit more than that.” I look back into my office before I step onto the elevator and lower my voice. “I need you to keep her busy for a while. I want time to look into something. Who she’s here to meet. Something isn’t right, and I know the second she finishes at the bank she’ll be back in this building getting into who knows what.”
“Because you’re trying to get rid of her?” His sarcasm does not go unnoticed.
“I’d like to make sure she’s not going to turn up at my office when whatever scheme she’s into falls apart. Something isn’t right.”
“It sounds like she’s lucky you were in the elevator. I’ll keep her busy. For how long?”
“I can’t imagine it’ll take me long to track down the information I’m looking for. I’ll send you a text when the time is right.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Be discrete. She doesn’t need to know anything about me. She knows me as Brice and nothing more. I’m just a businessman. I can only imagine the questions she’s going to hit you with tomorrow.”
“I’m trained in seven of the most effective kinds of interrogation. I have endured some of the world’s most intense torture techniques. She won’t get a thing out of me.” Charles, always dutiful.
“I don’t doubt your skill. I’m not sure there’s any training in the world to prepare you for Savannah.”
“She’s up there with you now? Maybe I need to come assess the situation.” I can hear him chuckling.
“Laugh all you want. You’re the one who’s going to be trying to get the smell of fish and gasoline out of your car for a week.”
“I’ve had worse, driving royals around after parties. But no parties for you? You’re heading back across the street. That’s an odd place you’re staying. It took me a while to sort out what exactly was going on there. It’s sort of a . . .”
“A sausage factory. Dudes everywhere. I know. It was intentional.”
“Something else you want to tell me then? Know that I’ll love you no matter what. I’m very open-minded.”
“Did my father pay you extra to start your stand-up comedy career too? No. I’m here for a reason. I’m limiting my distractions. Or I was. Until Savannah.”
“Stuck in an elevator. Sounds serendipitous.”
“Much closer to involuntary imprisonment. I was close to prying the doors open with my bare hands and climbing up the elevator shaft. It didn’t make for a good night of work. I just need to know Savannah gets where she’s supposed to this morning.”
“Because she’s a pain. Never stops talking? Stubborn?”
“Exactly.”
“Yeah.” He laughs again. “Exactly what I remember thinking about my wife when we met.”
CHAPTER SIX
Savannah
I wake with a start. Did I just snore myself awake? Did anyone hear me?
Every morning I can remember I’ve woken up in one house. I never did sleepovers or vacation homes. So before my eyes open, my heart knows something is very different. There’s a warm, amazing smelling suit coat covering me like a blanket. I’m turned awkwardly in the chair, but I’ve nodded off in plenty of chairs in my day. You get used to it when you’re someone’s primary caretaker.
I look around the unfamiliar space of Brice’s office as I blink away the sleep. Everything about last night floods back to me. My stolen purse. The meeting I missed. The elevator getting stuck. Brice. His pecs. The size of his very capable looking hands. The dimple he flashed the one time he smiled.
Brice isn’t behind his desk and the ache I feel is impossible to ignore. Last night was a disaster. He was intolerable. Yet I had hoped he’d still be here. I did quite enough to disrupt his night. He probably crept out of here on tiptoes just to get away.
Checking my watch, I’m disappointed it’s only seven thirty. Jana didn’t return my call as far as I know, and I don’t remember what her
office hours are. The bank opens in half an hour.
I pull on my beat-up sneakers and try to make myself look moderately decent. If that woman hadn’t given me five dollars yesterday, she sure as hell would if she caught sight of me today. When I stand to leave a small note falls off me. It’s a slip of paper folded in half that must have been on top of my coat.
There is a black town car downstairs that will take you to the bank. He will not let you leave otherwise so just take the ride. Eat something that doesn’t come wrapped in tin foil. Brice.
There is something about the way he orders me around that is equal parts infuriating and sexy. If he’d bent me over his desk last night I’ve have folded quicker than a stack of sweaters at the mall.
My nipples perk up at the thought of it. He’s not even in the room and my body is responding to him.
I consider my options. A nice warm town car would make the morning easier. The bank is important, but not nearly as important as letting Jana know I’m still interested in her services.
I take out her phone number that I scratched down last night and dial from Brice’s desk phone. He’s not here to ask permission this time. But I still feel sheepish.
“Hello?”
“Jana,” I say with far too much enthusiasm. “It’s Savannah Barre.”
“My no-show?” Her voice is cool and formal but not in a snooty way. She’s sure of herself and I love that.
“I’m so sorry. I will fill you in on all the crazy details when we meet. My purse was stolen and I was stranded. I’m in the building though if you can meet with me now.”
“I won’t be in until ten, but I can make a little time for you then.” She sounds concerned, as though I’m stringing her along. Cautious, like a woman made wise by years in the city.
“I will be there. Again I am so sorry about last night. Once you hear the story you’ll totally understand. It was crazy. I’m going to the bank now so I can get everything squared away. But I’ll be to you by ten.”
Undeniable Bachelor (Bachelor Tower Series Book 3) Page 5