She smiled a little at me. “Tired of the extra-frappe-mocha-chocolate-chip with whipped cream and cherries on the top?”
I actually laughed as I handed over the menu. “Exactly. Glad to meet a woman who gets it.”
Her smile widened. “Oh, I understand. My husband likes those coffee shop drinks with all the sugar, but I think they just wear you down. Coffee’s what gets you going.”
“Woman after my own heart. It’s a damn shame you’re taken,” I told her, mostly for the sake of flattery, but also a little serious. “Your husband’s a lucky man.”
She waved off the compliment, but I could tell it made her happy. “Don’t worry, hon. You’re young still. You’ll find yourself someone.”
She took my menu then and went off to put my order in. I watched her go, not quite sure what to think of her comment. I didn’t really think of myself as young most of the time, and I definitely didn’t think of myself as the type of man who was looking for someone. I didn’t need a partner—at least, not a romantic one. I was married to my work.
Right?
Before I could follow my mind’s troubling idle thoughts, the door opened and Trent held it as Marnie McKenna walked in after him.
Ah, it’s showtime, I thought with a small grin.
Slipping out of the booth I’d chosen for this little meeting, I made my way toward the two of them, falling in behind Trent, who hadn’t yet noticed me. Marnie picked a spot by the windows off to the side toward the back where they had a little more privacy. It might almost be romantic if she wasn’t such a hardass and Trent had any romantic intentions toward her at all.
I followed them up until Marnie sat down. She had to turn to slide into her chair, and as soon as she did, she saw me.
She groaned and I grinned.
“Jesus fucking Christ, are you serious?” she demanded. “You cannot be here again.”
“Actually, this is the first time I’ve been here. Seems like a nice place, though.”
I pulled up another chair to their table as Trent took his seat across from Marnie. My chair put me between the two of them, and I could tell already that she was not pleased. It gave me a little thrill to know I was already under her skin.
I’d rather be under her clothes, I thought, letting my eyes do a quick once-over of her.
She was wearing one of those power suits again. The top was a white blouse with loose sleeves, but it was tight across her chest and the top couple of buttons were undone, giving me a nice view of her cleavage. Her tiny waist was emphasized by the pencil skirt she was wearing. The material was tight as it followed the flair over her curves, then hugged her legs as it traveled down her thighs. Although it stopped just above her knees, a perfectly modest length, there wasn’t a damn thing modest about her.
Her hair was up in a deliberate twist of some kind that girls liked to do to be professional or fancy or whatever. I had the intense urge to reach out and yank her hair free until it spilled across her tits and down her back.
Fucking sexy.
“How are you, Callum?” Trent asked conversationally as he picked up a menu.
“Great. How about you, old buddy?” I emphasized the word buddy just to be a dick. Marnie obviously caught it because her eyes narrowed at me in anger or annoyance or both.
“Once again, I must ask you to leave,” she told me in what she probably thought was a calm, cool voice. But I heard the heat beneath it. She could pretend it was anger all she wanted, but the heat in her eyes was smoldering and deep. Desire. There was no faking that.
I settled into my chair, smiling broadly at her. “And once again, I must remind you that this is a public venue. I have every right to be here.”
“Here, maybe, but not at our table.”
She probably had a point there. I didn’t know the legalities of inviting yourself to someone else’s table, but I had a feeling there was the potential for trouble there. All the same, I knew there wouldn’t be any for me. For one, Trent would never let things get that far. Two, I had enough money to buy off most of the Seattle Police Department and probably the DA, too. And that was going the cheap way. I also had some very expensive, very good lawyers on call.
So, no, I wasn’t worried, and I sure as hell wasn’t leaving. Marnie seemed to pick up on that pretty quickly.
“And how are you today, Marnie? You look a little flushed.” I raised a single eyebrow at her, letting my eyes deliberately trail down her face, pausing at her lips only to continue down the long column of her neck to eventually dip down toward her tits.
By the time my eyes found their way back to hers, she was flushed and definitely pissed.
“You little bastard,” she muttered.
I laughed. “C’mon now, you know that’s not fair. I may be a lot of things, but no woman has ever claimed me to be little.”
Her eyes flashed. “Leave. Now. We have a contract to discuss.”
The mention of the contract reminded me that I was sitting here between Trent, the client I wanted to steal from S&W, and Marnie McKenna, the S&W editor who was trying very hard to stop me from doing that.
I frowned.
How the hell had I gotten so distracted by her that I all but forgot why I was here? Clearing my throat, I said, “Please, by all means. Don’t let me stop you. I’d love to discuss contracts. After all, I want to make sure Trent has all the details.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Oh, shut up. You’re so full of shit. The only reason you’re here is to disrupt this meeting.”
“Which you’re doing admirably, I must say,” Trent told me genially as an aside.
Marnie shot him a glare but said nothing to him. She was still too focused on me. “Which just tells me one thing: you’re scared that you might lose.”
Being called scared was just about my least favorite thing on the planet. My eyes narrowed at her, and I leaned forward slightly, closing the distance between us. She smelled faintly of mint, lavender, and something else. Something a little sweeter. “I’m not afraid, Ms. McKenna. This game is in the bag; we both know that. I’m here to ruffle your feathers because I can.”
She opened her mouth to fire something back but snapped it shut quickly when the waitress stopped by. She was the same one from earlier, and her eyebrows lifted when she saw me there. “Find some friends of yours?”
Beside me, Trent openly laughed. Marnie scowled at him, but I smiled calmly at our waitress. “Sure did. Would you mind bringing my brunch this way instead?”
“You got it. And for you two?”
Marnie only ordered some green smoothie thing that she didn’t look too thrilled about, and Trent ordered a breakfast-brunch sandwich that had avocado and some kind of chili on it. Talk about disgusting. When the waitress disappeared again, I returned my focus on Marnie.
“Want to tell me what you’re offering Trent?” I asked her.
For a split second that constant expression of anger left her features in lieu of confusion. Like maybe she didn’t know why I was so hung up on this thing that she was offering Trent, the thing that was clearly making him consider her as a viable alternative to me, his best friend.
But the confusion slipped away quickly, replaced by the cool professionalism she probably tried to wear most of the time. “That’s really none of your business, Mr. Reid.”
I made a frustrated sound in my throat. “Damn it. Just tell me. You’re not going to win—you can’t. In the end, Trent’s going to choose me, because he’s a loyal guy. At this point, it’s mere curiosity.”
She seemed unimpressed. “Haven’t you heard? Curiosity killed the cat.”
“Good thing I’m not a fucking cat, then, isn’t it?” I snapped.
She grinned, pleased to have irritated me. She opened her mouth to say more but didn’t get the chance. A phone began to ring, and the three of us each checked ours to see where it was coming from. It wasn’t me. Glancing up at Trent, I saw him shake his head a little. It wasn’t him either. When I glanced at Marnie, I saw
that she already had the phone pressed to her ear.
“Damn it, Courtney, now is really not a good time.”
Her face was flushed and she looked… tasty. Like a dessert that I wanted to lick the toppings off first before devouring whole.
“Goddamnit. Manny is such a pain in my ass.” She glanced down at her wristwatch, a delicate rose gold that went well with her complexion and looked good even though it directly clashed with her hair. “Tell him I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, traffic willing. And please put another pot of coffee on.”
She ended the call, looking almost as annoyed as she did when I popped in unexpectedly during her little meetings. But I took some pleasure in knowing that she didn’t look the slightest bit aroused. I was glad to know it wasn’t just annoyance that triggered that particular bodily response.
Guess it must just be me.
Turning to Trent, she held out her hand. “Apologies, Mr. Parker. I’m afraid that I have some business to attend to. I hope you’ll give my offer some thought, and please don’t hesitate to give me a call if you have any questions.”
She spared me little more than a glance, but the fire in her eyes when she did was enough to tell me that she was well aware of my presence. Maybe it was my own ego, but I couldn’t help but think she wanted me. Maybe just as much as I wanted her.
“Of course. It’s been fun,” Trent told her, grinning broadly, the bastard.
She left then and I could admit that I watched her full hips swaying the entire time until that perky, round ass of hers finally disappeared out the door.
“She is sexy.”
I jerked my eyes away from the door to find Trent watching me, that stupid grin still in place. I narrowed my eyes at him. “I can’t believe you’re still meeting with her. You can’t be considering this. Not seriously.”
He leaned back in his chair, folding his large arms behind his head like an impromptu pillow. His grin never faded. “What can I say? She’s got a lot to offer. Don’t you think?”
I ignored the suggestion, because I knew he was trying to bait me. He wasn’t interested in Marnie that way, I was sure of it. He was just jerking my chain, because he could. I wasn’t sure what pissed me off more. The fact that he was doing it or the fact that it was fucking working.
I need that fucking woman out of my head already.
Easier said than done.
“What’s she offering you? You know I’ll match it and do you better,” I told him, ignoring thoughts of Marnie and that perky little ass of hers.
Parker sighed dramatically. “Oh, Callum. If only you knew. I have to admit, this is a hard decision for me, but she’s very compelling—and she has something I want.”
My brow pinched; my lips pursed together. What the hell was he talking about? What could Marnie have that he would want bad enough to consider signing with S&W? Sure, they were supposedly a reputable company—not if you asked me, but unfortunately not everyone listened to my opinion on the matter. And yes, they had resources, but they didn’t have anything better than Tarvish did. Hell, Marnie was the only thing I could think of worth having from S&W that I didn’t have, and I was 99.9 percent sure that wasn’t what Trent was after. They didn’t really seem compatible, and he was pretty big on not mixing business with pleasure.
“Whatever she has, I’ll get it for you,” I told him after a moment, completely serious.
He laughed at me, a big old belly laugh, and shook his head. “Man, I don’t think you can offer me this.”
His grin hid a secret, and it pissed me off worse than anything else. I didn’t like him keeping secrets from me, damn it, and I didn’t like feeling like Marnie somehow had the upper hand.
“You’re fucking killing me, Trent,” I grumbled. “Just tell me what you want.”
He threw a few extra bills down on the table, a tip for the waitress. “Sorry, my friend, but this one’s not about you.” He stood then, tipping an invisible hat to me. “Gotta go.”
“You’re fucking serious right now.”
He said nothing, just kept smiling as he headed toward the door. I knew I was being overdramatic as I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation, but I didn’t care. This day had not gone according to plan in the least. What was really dumb about the whole thing? I was pretty sure that I wasn’t coming to these meetings just to disrupt Marnie’s chance of winning over Trent anymore.
No, I was pretty sure it was because I really did want to see Marnie and that wonderful body that begged me for a repeat performance.
“Jesus, how’d I fuck this up so badly?”
Chapter Fifteen
Marnie
I had it planned out this time. For sure, things would finally go smoothly. I’d ironed out a few of the kinks in the contract, talked things over with Dorian to make sure we could swing things, and was finally feeling like I had a real shot at this. Reid didn’t have a monopoly over Parker, though he sure seemed to think so.
“Bastard,” I muttered to myself as I shuffled the freshly printed pages of the new and revised contract on the desk in front of me.
I was in my office at S&W Publishing. Since the first meeting with Trent Parker, I’d picked public places—restaurants, cafés, even parks at his request—in an effort to make the business environment I was proposing more amenable, more friendly. But each time that son of a bitch Callum had shown up, right on time, fully aware we’d be there. He ruined it to the point where I couldn’t get a word in edgewise with Parker, and it was really starting to piss me off.
First that stupid hipster café.
Then the little brunch place.
It was the park after that.
Then the library.
Finally, I’d had enough. I wasn’t going to let him bully me around or intimidate me. I’d meant what I said when I told him that the reason he was interrupting was because he was nervous. I had him on the ropes. There was a chance—a good chance, I thought—that Parker might sign with S&W. Meaning Callum Reid was going to lose this fight.
In an effort to finalize the contract and seal the deal, I set up a meeting with Parker here at my office. I told Courtney to talk to Parker’s agent and set it up discreetly in an effort to keep the meeting a secret from Reid. With any luck, this would be private enough and secret enough that that asshole Reid wouldn’t show up.
Today’s the day, I told myself. I’m going to seal this deal and say hello to that wonderful partnership.
There was a knock on my door, and I straightened up, putting a calm smile on my face in an effort to hide my nerves. I needed everything to go smoothly, damn it. Needed it to.
“Please come in.”
Trent Parker pushed the door open and smiled at me in greeting. “Ms. McKenna. Good to see you again.”
“Likewise,” I told him, then gestured to the seat in front of my desk. “Please, won’t you sit down?”
He hesitated, his smile almost… apologetic. He scratched behind his ear, then said, “You know, I would, but I’m thinking this meeting isn’t going to be as long as you think.”
My brow pinched as worry washed through me. What in the hell had changed between now and the time I’d set up this meeting? I thought I was making headway with him. But I got my answer almost instantly. Behind Parker, the door opened again, and lo and behold who it was.
“Goddamnit, Callum Reid.”
His smile was wicked and taunting. It was sexy as hell, but it infuriated me to no end. He had some fucking nerve coming to my office and pretending like he had any right to be here.
I stood up from behind my desk, doing my best not to shake from rage. “This is not a public meeting, and this is not a public area, so I suggest you get the hell out of my office.”
Parker was busy admiring the walls of my office, but Reid only had eyes for me. They were sharp and heated, the way they always seemed to be when they looked at me. He was wearing part of a suit—button-down shirt, black slacks, a loosened tie that had subtle star-like explosions across it, b
ut no jacket or vest. His hands were shoved down into the pockets of his slacks, making him look like some hardworking news journalist who chain-smoked and stayed up all night to get his next big article to the press the following morning.
It was sexy. Charming. And that just pissed me off worse.
“I didn’t see any No Trespassing signs—you should really get that replaced,” he told me, pointing to the phone that looked like it was still a rotary.
My rage blossomed like roses across my cheeks. That bastard. “I can see how class might intimidate you, but I assure you, my phone does not need to be replaced.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “I am the height of class, Ms. McKenna. Just ask anyone.”
“I’m not sure I want to talk to anyone who would tell me that you’re a class act.”
“That’s all right. I doubt they’d want to speak to you, either. No one likes dealing with a woman who just makes everything more difficult.”
My hands tightened into fists at my side. The nerve of this guy! “Women don’t make things difficult, Mr. Reid. They just have to wade through all the shit that men fuck up, and then they have to fix it. It’s hardly our fault.”
“Are you saying you’re in the garbage business?”
“Only if you’re saying you’re the garbage.”
Parker’s gaze had returned to us. He was glancing between us, his expression a little worried. “Um, you know what, guys? I think I’ll wait outside. You guys look like you need some alone time.”
I barely registered his words as he slipped toward the door to disappear, and Reid didn’t even glance in his direction. He was still staring at me like I’d stolen the last damn cookie out of the jar, then left the blame for him.
“If I’m the garbage, then you’re the one who’s been rolling around in it. I didn’t know you were so kinky.”
“Everyone slums it once in their life,” I quipped back.
He stepped closer. “Just once? I think you’re lying to yourself.”
Touch Me Page 22