Piper took another careful look at that wallpaper. If she could get back to her hotel room quickly enough, maybe she could still salvage the threads of that gladiator scene she’d envisioned, and the morning wouldn’t be a total loss.
There. No reason for disappointment. Red might not want Piper to stick around too long in his bed, but she’d bet good money he’d enjoy selling the words she’d cooked up here. Win-win, if you asked her.
Now all she had to do was figure out where her pants were.
FOURTEEN
WHEN RED WOKE up, he was thoroughly prepared to feel disgruntled—at least, he was until he discovered that he had his arms full of Piper. His usual irritation at morning in general turned pretty quickly into pervasive joy at being the luckiest bastard in the city.
That joy rapidly notched upward into elation once he remembered that she’d let him spank that sweet, tantalizing ass of hers the night before, and then begged him for more.
God, she’d been perfection. They’d fucked each other into oblivion, drifted off for a couple of hours, and then come together again in the dead of night—making the sort of quiet, slow love Red didn’t think he’d ever enjoyed before.
It seemed too good to be true. He had half-expected Piper to make a break for it—to slip out sometime during the night so she wouldn’t have to face him come morning. The fact that she’d stayed instead warmed him from the inside out.
Red couldn’t wait to see what came next. He hoped it would be her. And then him.
He remembered spotting the tattoo on her side last night when she’d been draped across his lap. It meandered provocatively over her hip and up toward her ribcage, and Red couldn’t imagine how he hadn’t investigated it before.
Perhaps it was too dark every other time they’d been together. Or too rushed? Either way, he remembered their conversation about it and looked forward to taking a closer peek in the light of day.
Just then, his phone went off, vibrating across the nightstand with agonizingly awful timing. Red was torn between the warm promise of the woman in his arms, and the easily recognizable ringtone signaling the head of his transition team at Trident.
He wanted to roar with frustration but figured that would only spook Piper. He could tell she wasn’t asleep anymore, but she hadn’t said a word yet. Red kissed her hair, disentangled himself as gently as he could, and reluctantly answered the goddamn call.
Maybe it was about something simple. Maybe he could talk Rob through whatever this was and get back to the sexy angel beside him.
HOWEVER, WHEN ROB called at the ass-crack of dawn on a Saturday morning and asked for an emergency meeting, the man wasn’t just dicking around. Before he’d even had a decent amount of caffeine, Red was dressed and saying goodbye to Piper and then heading downtown.
She was too quiet, and Red didn’t like the way Piper’s eyes kept sliding away from his. There wasn’t time to decide if it was embarrassment, or shame, or simple morning grouchiness, though. It gnawed at him, but it would have to wait.
Rob was already waiting outside Red’s office when he got off the elevator at PKM. The man wasted no time—he just dropped into a chair, gripped his stack of folders like a schoolgirl holding her textbooks, and fidgeted while Red got settled behind his desk.
Red sighed. Nothing was ever easy.
“We have a situation,” Rob announced. The words were blunt enough, but the man’s knee was bobbing up and down in agitation.
“Wayne!” Red barked, as loud as he dared. His assistant wasn’t exactly friendly in the mornings anymore—not since he’d started taking law school classes at night. That went double for weekends.
But no way could Red tackle whatever this was going to be without some more coffee. Thankfully, Wayne was on the case already, stomping over with a towering latte and Monday’s schedule in his hands. He set them beside Red and turned to their guest.
“Can I get you anything?”
“I’m good. Thanks.”
Red took in Rob’s greenish complexion and told Wayne, “Close the door on your way out.”
He was going to have a hell of a time trying to replace his assistant when he graduated someday. The thought was nearly as depressing as putting Piper in a cab this morning had been.
He asked Rob, “All right, what have we got?”
“You know that guy we had to let go last week? Brian?”
Red nodded. Brian had been a lazy, whining son-of-a-bitch. Red had been thrilled to cut him loose.
“The auditors found some stuff on his computer.”
“Porn?” He’d seemed like the type.
“Worse,” Rob said. “Anomalies.” And then he sat there, looking wan.
“You’re killing me, Robert,” Red told him. “Just spit it out.”
“We’re still trying to unravel it all, but it looks like the Dentons were diverting money from the normal lines of business.”
“Fuck.” Red scrubbed his hands over his face. “Where did it go?”
“It seems like it was mostly to themselves and Brian, but maybe to some others, too. It’s possible they were propping up a couple of the low-performing authors. I’m still tracking down all the players, but I didn’t think this should wait.”
“You’re right. How much are we talking?”
Rob glared down at his folders but didn’t open any of them. “Best guess? Too much to make this easy.”
“Shit.” Red sucked down some more coffee and tapped his desk, willing his brain to start functioning at its normal capacity. All he could seem to see was Piper, though, head thrown back and telling him, don’t stop.
“Can we bring in some money from the tech division to cover this?” Rob wondered. “Please say yes.”
“No,” Red fired back, shutting down the hope on his team leader’s face without mercy. “Not right now, at least. Their project has to move forward on schedule if we want to keep the board happy.”
“That’s…not good news.”
“This was supposed to be a fairly straightforward turnaround, Robert. Get in, clean house, rake in the returns. How did no one catch this shit earlier?”
Rob shook his head. “I have no flipping idea.”
Red dropped his own head back to stare at the ceiling. He really did not need this crap today, but when did he ever? It came with the terrain, though, and he’d simply have to figure it out so they could all get back to business.
Or rather, so Rob could get back to business and Red could get back to Piper Mae.
“You got anything else for me right now?” he asked.
Rob blew out a long, dejected breath. “No. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out more.”
“All right. No stone unturned, got it?” Red stood up, forcing the other man to do the same. “I don’t want any more surprises later,” he said, in case that wasn’t patently obvious.
“You and me both.”
Rob turned on his heel and left. Red watched him go, then frowned at his dark computer screen for a while, trying to decide how to finesse this newest wrinkle in the plan.
IT WAS AN emotional move, setting his cap for Trident. As a family, the MacLellans had always loved books, but this wasn’t like writing a few checks to a library or two. Owning an actual publisher was a completely different animal, and when Red came across the opportunity, he just had to take the shot.
Even so, negotiating to buy the company was tricky. The Dentons resisted logic and were cagey about so much, but Red had been focused on the end game—determined to win, no matter what. He’d seen some concerning signs, but he hadn’t cared. Red knew what he could do. He knew what he was going to do.
When they finally took over the struggling publishing house and got their first deep look at Trident’s books, Red knew right away that things were a bit worse than they’d anticipated. Nothing too insurmountable, but certainly a bigger headache than he’d hoped for.
Only one powerhouse author’s rock star sales had kept the whole operation from sinking like
a stone. One cute little romance author, who he’d never even heard of until a couple of months ago. Red doubted the Dentons had appreciated the kind of superstar they’d had under their roof, or what she was capable of.
Piper should have been nurtured in her career by the best in the business. It boggled Red’s mind what she might have been able to accomplish, given the proper team behind her—the kind of team PKM intended to give her now. He wondered if she was as impatient for the impending level-up as he was.
Regardless, Red needed to keep his ace-in-the-hole happy and on board. If he couldn’t, Trident’s woes would drag PKM’s earnings down for many quarters to come. Then the board might vote to unload it again, and they definitely would not look kindly on the next unusual venture Red decided to dabble in.
That outcome would not work for him at all. Red hated to be gainsaid and he liked his executive freedom. When he identified a project that he knew he could work his magic on, he only wanted to see green lights and open road ahead. So, this had to succeed.
The first step forward was giving Piper a fresh, lucrative contract that she couldn’t possibly turn down. Now, Red could only hope that it would keep her occupied long enough for them to unravel this mess before it had a chance to affect her.
His team was good. They would figure out where Trident’s errant income went, and how PKM could nurse the publisher along until its ship was righted. With a little luck, they could also keep this shitstorm out of the hands of the media, so Red’s investors didn’t defect too soon.
If PKM was going to be successful in repositioning Trident within the sagging publishing industry, they couldn’t have one word of bad publicity hit the papers. If investors didn’t believe Red could work wonders with companies like this, he’d likely never get the chance again.
Red sighed, refusing to go down that road. Borrowing trouble never helped anybody.
It was just that the whole project had taken on a different cast, now that he’d hooked up with Piper. He still wanted it to succeed because he was damned if he was going to fail, but—Red also wanted it to go perfectly because he wanted what it could do for Piper’s career. For Piper.
He couldn’t imagine someone who deserved it more. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted to be the guy who made her happy. That, of course, was the biggest complication.
Piper Mae Fulham was too damn delectable to resist on any level, and Red didn’t exactly have the best track record in sedately foregoing the things he wanted. And the better he got to know her, the more he wanted to keep her.
Red wanted Piper’s body and he wanted her trust. Hell, at this rate, she might as well throw in her heart, too—and that was definitely something he’d never thought he’d say so easily. Unfortunately, having Piper as his own meant mixing business with pleasure to a degree he’d never contemplated before.
Somehow, Red was going to have to figure out a way to serve both masters. If he kept a level head about Trident and could ensure that both the publisher and PKM’s main lines of business stayed sound, then fortune might smile on him and this diverted cash nonsense wouldn’t come back and bite him in the ass.
In turn, that would buy Red the time he needed on the female front. Piper was going to need some serious convincing before she’d grant him a real, fighting chance to win her. She clearly didn’t believe that he was the real deal, and while Red didn’t know why that was yet, he intended to find out. For once, he didn’t mind the effort and patience it would take to pull down a woman’s walls.
Red might not want Piper to doubt her sparkling new contract or the fact that PKM was behind her one hundred percent, but he especially didn’t want Piper doubting him. Red had the ability to look out for her and the desire to care for her. He could already see how perfect they would be together if she’d only drop her guard.
In the meantime, Red simply needed to compartmentalize. To the extent that it was possible, any disruptions at Trident had to stay separate from Piper. If he could keep them apart for long enough, Red could arrange everything exactly the way it should be, and no harm would come to either side. Easy.
With that sorted out, he picked up his desk phone and called Piper’s cell. She answered on the second ring but seemed surprised to hear from him.
“Hey, Beautiful,” Red said. “I should be able to get out of here soon. You want to grab some lunch in a bit?”
Piper groaned. “Oh man, I wish I could. But I’ve got to hang out here and make some calls for a while.” He couldn’t decide if she was conning him or not.
“You don’t sound very happy. Everything okay?”
“Yes,” she sighed. And then, “No. I don’t know. My cat sitter called and said she found a ton of water on the bathroom floor upstairs last night. She cleaned it up, but I’m trying to decide if I need to get a plumber in there right now, or if it can wait until I get back. I tried to call my folks to see if they could run by, but they’re not picking up.”
Red frowned. Leaking water was never a good thing. “I noticed the way those pipes groaned when I was there. Seemed a little out of the ordinary.”
“Yep,” she agreed. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“Ever had them looked at?”
“Yes. Turns out they’re very old,” Piper said prosaically. “Trust me, fixing them is on the list. Along with every other damn thing.”
Red sat back in his chair, carefully feeling his way. He wanted her to open up, to share this kind of thing with him, but he wasn’t sure she’d appreciate him prying. “So…your house needs some work, huh?”
“Are you kidding?” Piper laughed bitterly. “With a place as old as that, it never ends.”
“I can imagine.”
“My folks tried to warn me. Sort of. But you know how it is—I was so determined to keep the place in the family when they were threatening to sell, that I brushed off the details. I figured I’d take care of things one at a time, and it would all work out in the end.”
Red wasn’t sure he did know, but that sounded an awful lot like the way he’d approached the Trident deal. He had to admire Piper’s can-do spirit, at least.
“How’s that going?”
Red could almost hear Piper’s shrug through the phone. “Fine,” she muttered. “It’ll all get done. Eventually.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Thanks, but no. I just need a couple hours to work this out. I’m sure my dad will go over later and turn off the water. Or whatever. At least the cats were okay.”
Red sat up straight as what she said registered: cat sitter. Cats. He’d been there for an entire weekend and was sure he had never laid eyes on a single animal, much less more than one.
“Wait. You have cats? As is, plural cats? How did I not know this?”
“Yes, two. Sonny and Fredo. You saw them.” A long pause. “Didn’t you?”
“No, I most certainly did not. Because if I had, I assure you we would have talked about why you named your pets after mobsters.”
She giggled. “First of all, you have no idea how often I get to say, I know it was you, Fredo, and I really can’t overstate how fun that is. Secondly, wait until you get to know them. If those two galoots aren’t mafioso, then I don’t know who is.”
“That sounds absurd and possibly shady. And it gives me the perfect excuse to visit the great state of Maryland again,” Red smiled. “What about later, though? You want to hang out once you wrap up Pipegate?”
“That’s Pipergate, to you,” she sassed. “And, sure—by then, I’ll probably be begging you to take my mind off wayward water and pesky pipes.”
Red chuckled. “I can probably do that.” He let his mind wander for a minute about how he might accomplish it, then added, “How about this? Text me when you’re ready, and I’ll send the car for you. We can decide what to do once you get here. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect,” Piper agreed. “Are you sure you don’t mind waiting around for me?”
Red was pretty confident he wo
uld wait for an eternity if it meant he got to be with Piper at the end of it. Come to think of it, he kind of already had—thirty-six interminable fucking years of bachelorhood in the city. It was enough to bury anyone.
“I’m sure,” Red assured her. He hung up satisfied that he’d managed to joke her out of her funk. At least she sounded better now, and later he’d work on her mood some more.
Piper was like that candy with the bright, shiny shell and the soft and sweet center. Red hungered for her, inside and out.
It was a shock to realize that the impossible had finally happened to him. He wanted all of it—all of life—with her.
FIFTEEN
THEY WERE HAVING trouble deciding on dinner. That was probably because Piper found herself perched on his kitchen counter roughly two minutes after she walked through Red’s front door, kissing him clear into the next county.
There wasn’t a whole lot of talking going on. But really, with a tongue like Red’s in the mix, did a person need food to survive? Piper thought not.
At least, that was the direction her mind was headed before they heard the front door bang open.
A woman called, “Padraig! Where are you?”
Red buried his face in Piper’s neck and emitted a long and tormented groan.
Piper pried him away. “Who is that?” she whispered. She could hear a set of high heels clicking across the floor of the living room, but they apparently hadn’t been spotted yet. Maybe they were hidden by one of the support beams or a convenient patch of shadow.
“God damn it. It’s my mother,” he explained frantically. “She’s completely insane and I apologize in advance for whatever awful thing she’s about to say to you.” Hastily, he tried to straighten out her shirt.
“What!”
Red was dead serious. He clamped an urgent hand over her mouth and begged, “Shh!”
The sound of those heels stopped abruptly, paused, then changed direction and headed right for them. Red seemed inclined to cling to Piper like grim death—she barely had time to pull away and get both feet on the floor before his mom appeared.
The Titan Was Tall (Triple Threat Book 1) Page 16