Billion dollar baby bargain.txt

by Неизвестный

  told her he was bad news, but she had wanted to believe there was some good in him. Boy, had she been

  wrong.

  “Just the usual,” Summer finally said, relaxing in her seat, looking forward to her grilled chicken salad.

  She took a moment to study Tina, who looked so different than the young woman who’d come to the

  shelter with a swollen eye, cuts around her mouth and bruises on various parts of her body. “And how

  have you been doing, Tina?” she asked.

  Tina’s smile widened. “I’ve been doing fine. The Timmons are letting me use the apartment above their

  garage. I’ve enrolled to take classes at the local community college next month and thought I’d brush up

  on my math. That’s always been my weakest subject. I ordered one of those do-it-yourself math books

  online.”

  “And how are those self-defense classes going?” The shelter offered the classes weekly and attendance

  was always at capacity.

  “They’ve been great. The instructor is just awesome. I’ve learned a number of techniques to protect

  myself.”

  She could hear the excitement in Tina’s voice and felt good about it. The man who had roughed Tina up

  had left town but there was a warrant out for his arrest. Summer’s thoughts shifted to Tyrone, who’d

  gotten a twenty-year sentence. It would have been less if he hadn’t told the judge just where he could

  shove it. She shook her head, wondering how she could have ever thought that she loved the man. She

  could now admit that at eighteen she had been young and rather foolish.

  “I’ll be back with your order in a second,” Tina said.

  When Tina walked off, Summer settled back in her seat, allowing herself to think about the man she’d

  left at the shelter. The one man she had tried so hard to forget. She’d thought moving to Somerset would

  be a fresh start. A new town. New people. A new job. She hadn’t figured on being confronted with a

  blast from her past.

  One thing she told the women she counseled at the shelter was that they could confront and conquer any

  challenge they were presented with, and she knew she needed to take that same advice. Fate was playing

  a cruel trick by putting her and Darius in the same town. But she would handle it. And she would handle

  him.

  An irritated and frustrated Darius walked into the TCC Café and glanced around at his surroundings.

  What used to be a twenty-six-room mansion had been converted into a place where the TCC members

  could unwind and relax, which was just what he needed.

  In addition to the café, the TCC also included a golf course, a state-of-the-art spa, riding stables and an

  air-conditioned pool house with a retractable roof as well as numerous meeting rooms, game rooms, a

  well-stocked library and a formal dining room.

  Darius, Lance and Kevin, along with Mitch and another friend of the Brodys named Justin Dupree, spent

  a lot of time shooting pool in the game room. Last fall they were practically glued to the club’s

  projection television screen during football season.

  He saw Lance sitting at a table in the back. The café served both lunch and dinner and it wasn’t

  uncommon for Lance to meet him here for lunch. However, nowadays Lance was quick to rush back to

  the office since his new wife Kate had decided to remain at Brody Oil and Gas as Lance’s administrative

  assistant.

  Darius shook his head. Knowing Lance the way he did, he doubted his best friend let Kate get much

  work done. Hell, he wouldn’t either if he had the woman he loved pretty much underfoot all day.

  The woman he loved.

  Something twisted in his gut at the thought. Thanks to Summer, he doubted he would ever be able to

  love another woman again.

  “I need a beer,” he said, frowning, sliding into the booth across from Lance.

  “I’ve already ordered you one. I was looking out the window when you drove up,” Lance said, studying

  Darius carefully.

  “Thanks. I had hoped to at least get the security analysis completed on most of the computers today so I

  can decide what software will work best,” Darius said, smiling a thanks to the waitress who placed a

  mug of beer in front of him.

  “So, you’re going to do it instead of one of your men?”

  Darius nodded. “Heath left yesterday for Los Angeles to guard some actress who’s been getting death

  threats, and Milt is still in Dallas,” he said of two of the six men who worked for him. “The others have

  been assigned to various other projects around town. That means I’ll have to go back over to the shelter

  when I leave here.”

  Lance nodded as he took a plug from his own beer. “It also means you’ll be seeing Summer again.”

  Darius didn’t say anything. Yes, that meant he would probably see Summer again today. No telling how

  many more times he’d see her before he finished up what needed to be done at the shelter.

  Because of the nature of what went on at women’s shelters, Helping Hands needed top security twentyfour

  hours a day, seven days a week. The TCC had decided to upgrade all the computers to eliminate the

  risk of getting hacked. The majority of the women seeking refuge at the shelter were the victims of

  domestic violence, women whose lives could be placed in danger if their batterers discovered their

  whereabouts.

  “Tell me about her, Darius.”

  Darius met Lance’s gaze. “I’ve practically told you everything about how we met and how things ended.

  She went to college and got a degree, and now works for the shelter.”

  “Did you mention anything to her about being a member of TCC?”

  “No. She thinks my company was hired to handle security at the shelter.”

  Lance smiled. “In a way, that’s true.”

  “Yes, which is why she doesn’t need to know any different.” Darius felt his face harden when he said,

  “There can never be anything between me and Summer again.”

  Yet he knew making sure of that wouldn’t be easy. Summer was the type of woman who easily got

  under a man’s skin. Just the memory of walking into that office and finding her sitting behind the desk

  had the power to make him feel weak and vulnerable.

  And that was the one thing he could not let happen. He did not have a special woman in his life and

  preferred keeping it that way. Desire for anything more had died seven years ago with Summer’s

  betrayal.

  Two

  “M r. Franklin wanted me to let you know he left for lunch but will be coming back, Ms. Martindale.”

  “Oh. Thanks, Marcy,” Summer said, trying to keep her voice as normal as she could. After taking a file

  off Marcy’s top tray, she went into her office and closed the door behind her.

  Today she had taken an extra-long lunch, hoping by the time she returned Darius would have finished

  what he’d come to do. But it seemed that would not be the case. Summer bit her lip, deciding she would

  be professional as well as mature about the matter. He had a job to do and so did she, and as long as they

  each knew where the other stood, there was no reason they couldn’t at least be decent to each other. But

  then what right did he have to be upset with her since she was the injured party? He was the one who’d

  left town after discussing their night together with his partner. He probably didn’t know Walt had told

  her the truth, and he was upset because she had left town when he’d returned. It was crazy how men


  thought sometimes, but it didn’t matter now. He had made it quite clear what he thought of her and she

  hoped she’d left no doubt in his mind just what she thought of him. So there. That was that.

  She dropped down in her chair thinking, no, that wasn’t that at all. Not as long as the sight of him could

  send sensations oozing up her spine. Whenever he looked at her, even with anger flaring in the dark

  depths of his eyes, she felt stirrings in places she didn’t want to think about. He’d always had that effect

  on her. In the past she’d welcomed it, but now she despised it.

  She drew in a deep breath and for the first time in years, she felt like the world was closing in on her. It

  had taken her a while after leaving Houston to pull herself together and decide that no man—Tyrone or

  Darius—was worth that much pain. But she had moved on with her life. She was proud of her

  accomplishment and intended to obtain her doctorate after working in her field a few years.

  “Don’t you have anything to do?”

  Summer blinked and saw Darius standing in her doorway. She glared at him—so much for thinking they

  could be decent to each other. “You should have knocked before entering my office.”

  He shrugged. “The door was open.”

  “And that gives you the right to just walk in? I could have been with a client.”

  “In that case, I would hope you’d be professional enough to shut the door for privacy. But you aren’t

  with a client and you knew I was coming back, so stop making a big deal out of it,” he said, stepping

  into her office and closing the door behind him.

  Summer just stared at him for a moment, wondering how on earth the two of them were supposed to get

  along. Of course, whoever hired him had no idea they knew each other, and there was no way she could

  go to anyone at the TCC and request that they swap security companies without a valid reason.

  “Look, Darius. You have a job to do and so do I. Evidently, I’m the last person you expected to see

  today. However, we’re professionals and are mature enough to make the best of it. It shouldn’t take you

  more than a day at the most to finish up here and—”

  “Wrong.”

  She lifted her brow. “Excuse me?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “I said you’re wrong. Finishing up things here will take me every bit

  of a week. Possibly two.”

  His words hit her like a ton of bricks. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “I don’t kid.”

  She pressed her lips together to keep from saying, No, but you do kiss and tell. Instead, she asked, “Why

  will it take that long to install a security system?”

  There was a pause. A long pause. And for a moment, she wasn’t sure he was going to answer her.

  “The reason it will take so long is because in addition to installing a new security system on all the

  computers in this building, I’ll be setting up a billing system for the Texas Cattleman’s Club. I’m getting

  paid well to do a good job and I don’t intend to do otherwise by rushing through things just to make your

  life less miserable.”

  “My life isn’t miserable,” she all but snapped.

  “Sorry. It was foolish of me to assume that it was. And I see you’re not wearing a ring so I guess you

  didn’t get a rich husband after all.”

  Summer wondered what he was talking about and decided she really didn’t want to know. “Look, Darius

  —”

  He moved to her desk so quickly she jerked back in her chair. He placed his palms down on her desk

  and leaned over, his face within inches of hers. “No, you look, Summer. You’re right, we are two

  professionals. Two adults who just happened to have had an affair that led to nowhere. I’m over it and so

  are you. So let’s move on.”

  “Fine,” she snapped.

  “Great.” He straightened his tall form, moved away from her desk and looked at a closet door across the

  room. “Unfortunately, the mainframe is in this office so I’ll be spending more time in here than any

  other place. You might be inconvenienced a few times.”

  “If I’m scheduled to meet with clients, I’ll use one of the vacant conference rooms,” she said, trying to

  keep her voice civil.

  He nodded. “And if you’re not scheduled to meet with a client?”

  “I have the ability to work through distractions.”

  He lifted a brow and held her gaze for a moment. “Do you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then we don’t have anything to worry about,” he said, looking at his watch. “Are you meeting with a

  client sometime today?”

  “No, I just have paperwork to do. Will you be shutting down my computer?” She could tell they were

  both trying to be courteous and hold a decent conversation in less-than-biting tones. But in spite of

  everything, she couldn’t stop the sensations that stirred inside of her every time she looked into his eyes.

  “No, but if that changes I’ll give you advanced warning.”

  “Thank you.”

  He moved to the other side of the room. “Right now I need to get into this closet.”

  She swallowed as she stared at him under her lashes. His hands were on his hips, unconsciously drawing

  emphasis to his jean-clad hips and thighs. Tapered. Perfectly honed.

  Deciding she had seen enough—probably too much—she picked up a file off her desk, leaned back in

  her chair and began reading. She tried like heck to concentrate on the document in front of her, but every

  so often she would look up and glance over at Darius. He was standing in front of a huge unit that had a

  bunch of wires running from it. He was concentrating on the computer’s mainframe but her eyes were

  concentrated on him, drinking him in with feminine appreciation. He might be an arrogant ass but he

  was a good-looking one.

  And as if he could feel her eyes on him, he looked up and met her gaze. Their eyes held for a moment

  longer than necessary before she dropped hers back to the document in front of her, thinking, so much

  for working through distractions.

  Darius stared at Summer. Although he wished he were anyplace else other than here, he couldn’t stop

  looking at her and remembering. She had gone back to reading, so he let his gaze travel over her,

  noticing the way her shoulder-length hair had fallen in her face. She absently brushed it back, giving him

  a view of her face once again. It was a face that had been his downfall the first time he’d seen it.

  He could vividly recall just when that had been. After crawling through her bathroom window, she had

  seen him before Whitman had known he was in the house. With eye contact, Darius had encouraged her

  to stay calm and not give him away. Using the training he’d acquired, it had taken only a couple of quick

  kicks to bring Whitman down. He hit the ground before he’d realized what had happened to him.

  It was then that a nearly traumatized Summer had rushed into his arms, holding on to him as if her life

  depended on it. Even after the police officers had rushed in and handcuffed Whitman, she had still held

  on to him, like she was too shaken to let him out of her sight. Since it had been almost quitting time, he

  had followed the squad car that had taken her to the hospital to get checked out. He’d also dropped by

  her place the next day to repair her broken window.

  During the weeks that followed, he would find some excuse or other to see her, and when he’d learned

  that
her ex had been let out on bail, he had made it a point to drive by her house a couple of times a night

  just to make sure she was okay. Most of the time they would sit in her living room and talk.

  During that time Summer had shared a lot about her life. He knew she had been raised by an aunt and

  that she had left her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, for California with dreams of becoming an

  actress or, better yet, to find a rich older man to marry. At the time he’d thought she was teasing, but

  he’d discovered a few months later she’d been dead serious.

  He’d found out the hard way that while he had been falling in love with her, she had been looking for a

  man with a lot more money than he’d had.

  He fought back the anger that tried consuming him all over again, anger that seven years hadn’t erased.

  He must have muttered something under his breath because she looked up and again their eyes met.

  He tried looking away but couldn’t. And when he moved to close the closet he told himself to head

  straight for the door and walk out. However, he couldn’t do that, either.

  Instead, he found himself crossing the room to where she was sitting. Although he had tried to forget it,

  he was still bothered by the fact that she had left him for another man. A man who had been old enough

  to be her father from what he’d heard.

  By the time he reached her, she was standing. “What is wrong with you?” she asked, backing away from

  him until her back hit a solid wall and she couldn’t go any farther.

  His lips curved into a forced smile. “There’s nothing wrong with me, Summer.”

  “Then what do you think you’re doing?” she asked in a whisper.

  “You still ask too many questions,” he murmured, just seconds before leaning in and capturing her

  mouth with his.

  The instant their mouths touched it registered in Summer’s brain that she didn’t have to accept his kiss.

  She could outright refuse it. However, any thoughts of doing so tumbled from her mind as he expertly

  took control of her mouth in a way she remembered so well.

  His tongue surged between her parted lips and the moment it tangled with hers, she was a goner. Instead

  of being swamped with memories of the past, she was overtaken by sensations from the present, where