“Okay then, Brody, no lies. What do you really want to know about me?”
I reached out and wound a piece of her hair around my finger, moving in close, my nose just touching hers. “You really want the answer to this?”
“Yes.” It was a wisp of a word that filled my senses.
Intoxicating.
“What I really want to know is if you taste as good as you look.”
A soft gasp pulled into her lungs, and she edged back, watching me with those eyes. “Why do I get the feeling that, given the chance, you would swallow me whole?”
My mouth brushed the very corner of hers, the words a low promise where they grated from my tongue. “Believe me, baby, I might devour you, but you’ll enjoy every second of it.”
Her head rocked back a fraction, her lips parted, her breaths shallow. “I…” She blinked, as if she were searching for herself. “I...think I need to go.”
“I think you should stay.” She scooted back her stool and stood. She swayed as if she were struck with a wave of dizziness, her hands darting out to grip the table to keep her standing.
“Lily…why don’t you let me take you home. I’ll make sure you won’t regret it.”
She huffed a tiny laugh. “That’s funny…because you have regret written all over you.”
She leaned forward, and with a throaty murmur, her next words sank into me like a hook. “You stick around, Brody, come find me. Because I might be loose, but I’m not easy.”
My mouth watered, and I gulped around the hunger, watching slack-jawed as she grabbed her red coat and purse and wound toward her friend at the bar.
She barely cast me a glance when they both headed for the door.
My fingers twitched.
The hunt was on.
4
Lillith
Drinks? You are truly delusional, aren’t you, Mr. Wolfe?
I banged my fingers on the keyboard a little more aggressively than necessary before I directed the cursor to send and fired off the message with a nice, hard click.
Shots fired, asshole.
So maybe I shouldn’t be returning messages at one in the morning when I was drunk and still a swoony mess over the gorgeous guy back at the bar.
Believe me, baby, I might devour you, but you’ll enjoy every second of it.
Chills lifted as the memory of the man’s words back at the bar skated across my skin like temptation and sex. My stomach twisted in a needy knot of want, desire rushing free as I thought of the magic that man would surely bring with his hands and that mouth and the among other things.
That sweet spot between my thighs sizzled and tingled.
I covered a giggle with my hand, and a hiccup followed it.
Okay.
I most definitely did not need to be messaging the asshole at one o’clock in the morning.
But I just couldn’t help myself.
Not when I’d climbed into bed and pulled my laptop onto my lap after the relaxing night, so thankful that for a few moments I’d been able to shed the stress and the worry that had haunted me for the last five months.
Nikki was right.
I’d needed the break.
To unwind and let loose.
And God…oh God, had meeting Brody been exactly what the doctor prescribed. I’d known exactly where we were headed, and it had taken all I had to resist, to stand and force myself from the table.
A few flirty moments more, and the two of us would have been a tangle of limbs and needy hands.
Which in my book was nothing but a recipe for heartache and regret.
But that didn’t mean I hadn’t needed the attention. That I hadn’t needed the bolstering. Someone to remind me I was beautiful and strong and appealing. Everyone needed encouragement before they set out for war.
So, I couldn’t stop myself when I’d seen Wolfe had emailed me. With the audacity to ask me out for drinks, nonetheless.
I huffed and started to close down the lid when my inbox pinged.
“I bet you don’t even need to sleep, do you, Mr. Wolfe. You aren’t even human.” It was all a mumble under my breath as I opened his message, hating the way my heart sped an extra notch.
Delusional? I think not, Ms. Redd. I’m merely giving you one last chance to come to your senses before you become an embarrassment. I am a gentleman, after all.
An embarrassment?
How dare he?
And a gentleman?
Hardly.
My fingers flew across the keys.
An embarrassment? Who me? I think you’ve forgotten who you’re talking to. You are going to be the most embarrassed, embarrassed, embarrassed man to ever walk the earth. You just think you’re so big and bad, don’t you? Well guess what, I’m not afraid of you. Not at all. Because guess what? You’re STUPID and arrogant and, just because you’re supposed to be some gorgeous rich guy and everyone kisses your ass, it doesn’t mean you always are going to get your way. The buck stops here, buddy. So, you can just turn around and go back from where you came, because you won’t be blowing down any houses around here. Assholes like you are nothing but hot air.
I tacked on a nice, “Ha,” when I hit send.
With a victorious grin, I quickly reread my words.
Dread curled in my stomach.
Oh God.
Shit.
No.
What did I do? What did I do?
Panicked, I looked around my bedroom as if I might find the message still floating in cyberspace. The only thing I wanted right then was the chance to put a stake in it.
Kill it dead.
I sounded like a blubbering fool.
I groaned in misery when my inbox pinged. Why did he still have to be awake?
Oh, Ms. Redd, I’m afraid it’s you who is again confused. You seem to be lost in the wrong fairy tale. In the original story of Wolfe and Redd, I win. And did you just imply I’m gorgeous? Hmm…perhaps you do have a few things right, after all.
Grrr. I wanted to scream.
Like I said. Arrogant.
Apparently, I just couldn’t resist. I needed an intervention. But there I was, all by myself with no one to rein in the disaster I was galloping straight for.
Almost immediately, my inbox pinged.
I think you’re confusing arrogance with confidence. I’ll be packing plenty of it when I meet you tomorrow. And I promise you, at the end of it, I won’t be the one who is embarrassed. Get your rest, Ms. Redd. You’re going to need it.
I banged my head back on my pillow.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
What did I do?
“How do I look?”
I smoothed out my crisp, white blouse and straightened my pristine black pencil skirt that landed just below my knees. The uber professional outfit was set off with my hair up in an intricate but flowy twist so I could show off the emerald and diamond necklace I’d bought when I’d passed the bar.
It was my power piece.
It and the pair of super high black pumps that made me feel as if I held the keys to my own little kingdom.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t shaking in my boots.
“You look fabulous, as always,” my assistant, Tina, said as she plucked a stray hair from my shoulder. “Nervous, though. You do look nervous.”
I scowled at her. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Hey, I didn’t say you weren’t going to slay this meeting. All I’m saying is you look a little nervous. You aren’t even getting paid for this one. I don’t get what the big deal is.”
Maybe that was half the problem. No one really understood what the big deal was. Businesses came and went all the time.
“This is important to me,” I told her.
“Obviously.”
I glanced at my watch. “Two minutes.”
“If he’s as prompt as you.”
I sucked in a steeling breath. “Something tells me he’s every bit as prompt as I am.”
“I’d better get out there th
en. Wouldn’t want to keep the Big Bad Wolfe waiting, now would I?”
“Not helping,” I told her.
“Just getting your blood pumpin’.”
Exasperation widened my eyes, but Tina just grinned before she flounced from my office, leaving me with my nerves and the worry spinning through my mind.
Needing something to busy myself, I moved to where I had Addelaine’s file opened on my desk. Nervously, I shifted through the papers while I was still standing, reciting the presentation and offer I’d memorized under my breath.
“You’ve got this,” I whispered nearly silently right before my head jerked up when I heard the door click open.
My eyes went wide as my mouth dropped open, and I swore my damned heart came to a full stop, stuttered, and then tumbled before it took off at breakneck speed.
Anger bristled just under the surface of my skin as stunned disbelief shook my head.
In sauntered the most attractive man to ever take up my space. There wasn’t any hesitation in his step when his head cocked to the side, and he sent me the most presumptuous, cheeky smirk as his eyes dragged over me from head to toe.
Arrogant.
Cocky.
Confident.
My hands trembled.
“You.”
5
Broderick
You have to be shitting me.
A low rumble of disbelieving laughter filled my chest, and I bit it down, refusing to show Ms. Redd just how dumbfounded she had me. So maybe I stumbled a minor step at finding her standing in the office. Totally floored Ms. Redd and the fucking gorgeous woman who’d kept my dick hard all last night were one and the same.
Figured.
There had already been something about her that had me intrigued. Something that had me wired and excited at finally coming face to face with the woman who’d worked to cut me off at every turn, thwarting plans and throwing up roadblocks.
And somehow…I’d liked it.
It took my walking into her office for me to fully understand why.
“You…Brody...Broderick Wolfe,” she sputtered through her own shock as that unmistakable attraction from last night lit up like the Las Vegas Strip between us, powered by the circuit of contention that had already been well-established.
I straightened my tie. “Ah, Ms. Redd, it’s so very nice to see you again.”
She heaved out an incredulous breath, her tiny hands fisted in little balls of indignation. “Did you…did you seek me out last night? Did you already know who I was? Were you following me?”
It was all a fiery demand that burned in all the right places.
God.
I liked this woman about just as much as I hated her.
I shot her a mocking smirk. “Who me?”
Her jaw tightened.
Damn, she was easy to rile.
Her attention fell to her desk, as if she were gathering herself, before she returned that emerald gaze to me, her chin lifted. “I’ll have you arrested for stalking.”
I almost laughed as I moved farther across the room. “Don’t you think you’re getting a little carried away, Ms. Redd? I find it presumptuous of you to assume it was me who searched for you to gain the upper hand. You were the one who knew I’d asked you for drinks. Perhaps you were the one stalking me.”
Aghast, her pretty lips parted in a gust of fury, and her fists clenched tighter. “How dare you imply I would do anything outside of the law. I’ll have you know, Mr. Wolfe, I take my position and all it entails very seriously.”
“As do I.”
“I doubt that.” Her tone was a sarcastic blade.
My chuckle was low, laced with more amusement than it should have. “Then perhaps you should have done more homework, and you’d know full well how seriously I take my position and the ethical business policies and practices I demand.”
A disbelieving huff jetted from between that goddamned, lust-inciting mouth that I wanted nothing more than to devour.
“You’re going to stand there and pretend as if Wolfe Industries doesn’t have a reputation for shady deals? Broderick Wolfe Sr. is infamous for infringements and wrongdoings. It’s the platform on which your company was established.”
The second she said it, anger rushed in to erase the lust, and the rigid, powerful exterior I always wore dropped for the barest moment as I grated the words. “This is my deal…not my father’s, and I’d appreciate you not comparing me to him.”
“It’s all in the name, Mr. Wolfe.”
Rage bloomed in my blood, and I strode forward and pressed my hands to the top of the desk. I leaned over it in her direction just as she leaned mine. The two of us nose to nose. Breath to breath.
My heart hammered harder in the confines of my chest, and something more severe than the anger twisted through my nerves as I inhaled her sweet, rosy scent.
Her breaths became shallow, her eyes growing wide, and I swore I could smell her. Her need. Her want.
The need to consume her slicked across my skin like a slow, demanding burn.
“I. Am. Not. My. Father.” It was a growl. He was the last thing I wanted her to see me as.
“No?” she challenged.
“No.”
She lifted her chin, her face so close to mine my mouth was watering again. “Then prove it by not screwing over Mrs. Tindall.”
My tone lowered. “Believe me, Ms. Redd, I will finalize this deal. And when I do, there will be absolutely nothing shady about it. I’ve been more than generous…more than fair to your client. It’s you who is making unreasonable demands.”
I leaned forward, my mouth at the tender lobe of her ear. “Lily Pad.” The last slipped from my tongue like a slow, promised threat.
Edging back a fraction, I reached out and ran my fingertip along the sharp, defined curve of her jaw, my eyes keen on the movement as I did. Her mouth dropped open just as I began to murmur deeply, “Mark my words…I will have that building, and then I will have you.” I edged even closer. “Or maybe I’ll have you first.”
A shiver tumbled through her delicious body.
Blood still burning with an irresistible hunger, I forced myself away from her, adjusting the cuffs of my jacket as I tamped down the need that raged in my body, my dick hard and my determination at its height.
“What do you say we get started here, Ms. Redd? It seems we have work to do.”
I rocked back in the chair where I sat in the office area of my penthouse suite that overlooked the twinkling lights that glittered and gleamed on the blackened waters of the river that ran through the middle of the city, fed by the two lakes at the base of the mountain that sat as a darkened silhouette on the near horizon.
Of course I was staying in the nicest hotel in the city which afforded an awe-inspiring view of the area.
That was at least until mine stood tall and proud in what would be the reclaimed city square.
Bigger and better than ever before.
Resolve settled into my bones, and I leaned forward to where I had my laptop sitting open at the end of the long conference table. I let my fingertips move across the keys.
Confidently.
Precisely.
Without question or hesitation.
Ms. Redd,
My offer is the best Ms. Tindall will receive. She can sell to me for more than double the value of the building, or I will simply bide my time until I can buy it from the bank once the property has been repossessed.
I’m not entirely sure what your end intentions are here, but it seems you’re denying the inevitable, whether I’m involved in the equation or not.
But make no mistake. I am a part of this equation.
I never have been, nor will I ever be, a quitter, and I’m more than eager to enlighten you on that fact. I’ve been told I’m a great teacher.
I always get what I want. Always. You’d do best not to forget it. Actually, I think there’s little worry in you forgetting who I am. When I’m finished with you, the only thing you
’ll see when you close your eyes is me.
I pressed send while a thrill built up inside of me. God, I wanted that building if for no other reason than to prove to my father my approach was better than his. But I was beginning to wonder if I might want Ms. Redd more.
6
Lillith
“Not a chance, Nikki. There is no way I’m going back to that bar.”
Nikki spun around and started walking backward so she could face me as we strolled along the sidewalk. “And why on earth not?”
The newer buildings on Macaber Street towered on either side of us, and deep gray clouds grew with the threat of a storm where they glowed against the twilight.
That was exactly what I felt.
A storm coming.
Unsettled.
Unsure.
My brow lifted beneath my bangs. “Um…you do realize I basically told that bastard last night, if he wanted me, he would have to come hunt me down? If I show up there, he will actually think he has the chance of catching me. Ugh,” I groaned. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it was him. I mean…how many gorgeous strangers suddenly show up in Gingham Lakes? I must have sucker written all over my face.”
She frowned at me. “He looked harmless, Lily Pad. Don’t beat yourself up. There was no way you would have known. He was wearing jeans for crying out loud.”
If it were possible, my brow lifted even higher.
She giggled. “Okay, he so didn’t look harmless. He basically looked like he was ready to tear you to pieces in the best of ways. I think you’re due for a little shredding.”
I swatted at her, my voice lowered so the elderly couple walking by wouldn’t be subjected to our conversation. “Shredding? What is wrong with you? You’re so disgusting. How are we even friends?” I muttered.
“Because you love me.” She sang the words as she reached out and grabbed my forearm. “Come on, Lil-Lil. When’s the last time you got laid?” It was almost a whine. Apparently my lack of sex life caused her physical pain.
Hunt Me Down: A Fight for Me Series Stand-Alone Novella Page 3