#1 Rival
Page 6
“Thanks for asking me out.” I smiled, a warmth spreading through my body as I looked down at my food. “It was good to get out of the office.”
“Just don’t tell anyone at work.” He leaned across the table and whispered, “We don’t want to ruin my reputation of being an asshole.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” I whispered back.
We enjoyed dinner while making small talk.
Correction.
I made small talk.
He contributed a little here and there but for the most part he just listened. It was really nice actually, when he wasn’t channeling the demon know-it-all he seemed to be in the office. He was still cagey about his brothers—no sisters, I got that out of him—and other than telling me they all lived in L.A., he didn’t say much at all. His youngest brother Alex was still in college, and the oldest, Eric was in some kind of “business.”
Both Roman and his brother, Eric, had helped the owner of Heart and Vine when it was close to going under. So I assumed Eric was possibly an investment banker or a strategist of some kind. But I didn’t press, enjoying the flow of easy conversation between us.
My pulse raced with an unexpected thrill. I was wandering around in an area that had previously been deemed off-limits and I wasn’t about to leave just yet.
BY THE TIME DINNER HAD finished, hours had passed and our one scotch had turned into two, with the constant tension in my shoulders whenever I was around him all but vanishing.
“You sure you’re okay to drive?” He helped me out of my seat after he’d paid the check. I had offered to pay half, but he turned me down saying it had been his treat.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” My fingers wrapped around his arm; it was the first time I’d ever touched him other than his hand. My skin prickled with excitement and I liked the way it felt. It was slightly confusing but I couldn’t make myself stop, wanting to keep the contact and the new—albeit uncertain—connection. “The drinks were a couple of hours apart. I’m well under the limit.”
“Fine, then let me walk you out to your car.”
He wasn’t being overly touchy-feely, but he was definitely being sweet. His hand pressed against my back as he guided me out into the parking lot, his strides matching mine.
“Thank you for tonight.” I leaned against the side of my car, looking up at him in the moonlight and having the unbelievable urge to kiss him. Insanity buzzed through my body as the night air crackled and maybe he was feeling a little something too.
I’d always thought he was attractive but never in a million years considered acting on it. Well, not acting on it in real life—dreams didn’t count. And I had always assumed that he had never seen me as anything other than a colleague—more likely a rival—but maybe he was bored playing with beautiful, tall women with mediocre intelligence.
“Roman.” My hands moved up the front of his jacket, the firm muscles underneath rippling against my fingertips. It felt illicit and dangerous, but I couldn’t making my hands stop, loving the element of uncertainty that came with it.
Sexy didn’t even come close. I’d had a glimpse of that fine body last September during the company fun run and that had given me fantasy material for months. Being able to touch him was something I didn’t think was ever going to be possible.
“Harper.” He didn’t move, letting my hands glide up and down the delicious expanse of his chest as his jaw tightened. “I should go.”
“Yes, you should.” I lifted my chin, not really sure what the hell I was doing as I gripped his jacket tighter.
While I didn’t hate him anymore, making out with him wasn’t a good idea either. We still had to work together and office romances usually ended badly. Maybe that scotch was stronger than I thought, or maybe shiny-lip-pop-and-lock had sprinkled some kind of aphrodisiac in our food, hoping to get lucky. Sadly it hadn’t worked out that way for her, but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“What are you doing, Harper?” His gazed move from my eyes to my lips as he brought his mouth closer, hovering just out of reach.
In a moment of recklessness I did the unthinkable.
“The evidence is right in front of you, counselor.” I swallowed, a knot tightening in my lower gut as feelings of desire spread across my skin. “And I’d always thought you were a closer.”
Turns out, I was right.
His mouth came crushing down on mine, and the space between us became nonexistent as his large frame pressed against me. He decided against words, letting his tongue and lips get familiar with mine as his hands dropped to my ass and pulled me closer to him.
It was insane.
Insane, frenzied and probably stupid, but as I lost myself in that kiss, I didn’t care. Heat unfurled in my body as a rush of excitement tingled through every cell. It had been so long since I’d been kissed like that. Kissed by a man without apology, who took my mouth like he wanted to conquer it.
“Roman,” I moaned, feeling the bulge in his pants as I rubbed myself against him. It was as if something inside of me had snapped, unleashing a craziness I didn’t think existed.
And while I knew we were in a parking lot, in full view of the public, I wanted more than what he was giving me.
“Fuck,” he groaned against my mouth, one of his hands moving from my ass and palming my breast. “This wasn’t what—” The rest of his sentence getting lost in the kiss. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
He was right. We shouldn’t have been doing any of it, but neither of us was able to stop our hands and mouths as they continued their journey, with or without our consent.
His hand threaded through my hair as his lips owned mine, my body rubbing against his as we barely came up for air. I was too afraid to speak, wanting more than just his kiss, the feeling of his weight against me making me slowly lose my mind.
“Do you live close by?” I heard the words come out of my mouth without being conscious of saying them.
What the hell was I suggesting? I couldn’t just sleep with him. Hell, I’d barely even kissed him and we weren’t dating, so jumping into bed with him was so bad an idea I had to wonder whether my earlier suggestion of being drugged wasn’t accurate.
His mouth stopped, his eyes darkening as he looked at me. “You want to come back to my place?”
“Yes.” Again my mouth functioned on autopilot as I tried to work out who the hell I was right now.
His chest expanded as he took a long, deep breath, a guttural “fuck” passing through his lips.
I had no idea what was going through his mind, but his body was more than on board. That sizeable erection wasn’t something I’d imagined, and he wasn’t squeezing my ass in a way that could be misunderstood as just being friendly.
We shouldn’t, I knew that. And for so many more reasons than we worked together. But as my lips pressed against his neck, those reasons didn’t seem to make sense.
“I need you to get in the car, Harper.” He moved his hands to where mine were and stopped them from moving on his body. “And then I need you to drive yourself home. Can you do that for me?”
Shit.
It was a light blub moment as the magnitude of the mistake I was about to make became evident. And even as disappointment flooded me—I was positive he would have been amazing in bed—I was glad at least one of us was thinking straight. Clearly, it hadn’t been me.
He was right. I needed to go home.
“Yes, of course.” I tried to smile, trying to pretend I hadn’t just propositioned him in the parking lot. “Like I said, I’m not even close to being drunk.”
“Good.” He nodded, his hands moving either side of my arms. “And you’re going to go right home, correct?” he asked again, like he needed reassurance I wasn’t going to head to the next bar and possibly try my luck with someone else.
“I promise, I’m going right home.”
Positive I’d reached my limit for irresponsibility for one night, home was exactly where I was heading. Besides, we s
till had work in the morning, and the Cane case—whichever way she went—was going to be huge. We both needed to bring our A game.
“Text me when you’re back at your apartment.” It wasn’t a request. He pulled away from me and watched me straighten.
“Okay.” I unlocked my door, my cheeks pinking as I got into my car.
He waited by the driver’s side, standing there as I hit the ignition and rolled down my window. “I mean it, the minute you get home I need you to pick up your phone.”
“O-kay,” I said again, wondering where the sudden concern had come from. But it seemed to be the night for strange happenings so I didn’t ask why it was so important that I message.
Maybe one of the planets was in retrograde, leaving a trail of havoc in its wake. It would explain my temporary loss of sanity and Roman’s personality flip.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Harper.” His hands sunk into his pockets, waiting for me to leave. His usual smile was missing, his body tightly coiled as he stood beside the car.
I gave him a wave, my lips still tingling from the kiss as I turned one last time. “Bye, Roman.”
My heart was still pounding as I drove away.
Shit.
Oh. My. God.
I am an idiot.
Roman Pierce was the enemy. He was nothing like a man I’d ever date even if he was gorgeous. Having a nice face and a sexy body didn’t cancel out how cocky, arrogant and—even by his own admission—how much of an asshole he was. In fact, most times he was abrasive and rude.
So, what happened? The first time he showed me a kinder more human side—just enough to prove there was a heart underneath that impressive chest—I threw myself at him, mouth first.
Gah! I was so angry at myself. I hated that I had always thought I was smarter than that. No wonder he walked around like he was God’s gift to vaginas, hard not to when you could basically charm your way into anyone’s pants. And I’d thought I was immune. Turned out, I was just as dumb as the rest of them.
Thank God—or whoever else was in control—he had the common sense to stop it. I didn’t even care why, I was just glad the man used the gray matter between his ears and not the very hard cock between his legs, because we both know I would have gone there.
My body was still vibrating and all we’d done was kiss, my fingers touched my mouth remembering the sensation. I liked it. I liked it a lot which was a problem because even though I knew how bad an idea it was I still wasn’t disgusted. Which I should have been. Embarrassed too. And yet, I wasn’t.
Instead, I was still feeling giddy which just made me even more confused.
By the time I’d arrived home, Morgan was already asleep. There was the second bullet I’d dodged for the night. While I would have loved to tell her how dumb I’d been—kissing a man I’d repeatedly told her I couldn’t stand—I was saved from the twenty-four hour psych hold she would have definitely placed me under. Sometimes having a sister in the medical profession was not a good thing.
So quietly, after texting him like I’d promised to do and let him know I was home safe, I scrubbed the remnants of Roman’s sexiness from my mind and my body. I’ll be honest, I was probably in the shower longer than I had to be but hey, you got to do what you got to do when you are exorcising a demon. And when I crawled into bed, I had a plan.
It hadn’t been all bad. And before common sense and intelligence started bleeding out my ears, it had actually been really nice. He’d been decent, kind and someone I would enjoy working with. That was what we needed to focus on. We could do away with all the previous nonsense and find some kind of middle ground and be friends. Support each other, and drive each other to succeed from a place of mutual respect and appreciation.
All of it would be fine.
There was no need to panic or think the worst, and in the morning we’d talk about it like adults. Then move on like the professionals we were.
Perfect.
I had no idea why I had been so worried, and we would both probably laugh about it months from now. If anything, we should be thankful it happened, giving us the opportunity to have the conversation and move past the silly competitiveness.
Yes, it had been a good thing.
A brilliant thing.
That kiss had been pretty brilliant too.
No, I couldn’t focus on that. The kiss wasn’t the positive in this scenario, it was the outcome that I needed to concentrate on. There would be no more kissing.
No. More. Kissing.
I could live with that.
So, as I closed my eyes—still thinking about the kiss even though I was pretending I wasn’t—I felt a sense of calmness wash over me.
Tomorrow was a new day, a great day, and the start of something exciting and wonderful between us. And I couldn’t wait.
BY THE TIME I REACHED the firm, I was feeling even more positive than I had last night. I’d slept like a log, forgoing the regular tossing and turning I usually suffered.
It could have been courtesy of the orgasm I’d given myself in the shower—save the judgment; I was exorcising demons—or it was possible that things were destined to be better.
“Someone looks bright and cheery this morning.” Stephanie, Daniel’s secretary greeted me as I strolled past her desk.
“I got the first good night’s sleep in forever.” I took a sip from my morning coffee, unable to hide my smile. “Amazing what a difference a night can make to perspective.”
Of course, I wasn’t just talking about the sleep, but Stephanie didn’t need to know that. The less people who knew about mine and Roman’s tiny indiscretion, the better. Besides, nothing really happened anyway.
“Well, I’m glad.” She handed me a file. “You’re going to need that good perspective today. Daniel and Roman are waiting in boardroom one, Jana Cane has made her decision on her case.”
Panic flooded me. “Daniel and Roman are waiting? Was there a memo I missed?” I checked the clock on the wall behind her and it wasn’t even eight thirty yet; we hadn’t scheduled to meet until nine.
“They’re preparing the papers for filing.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “I thought you knew.”
“Yes, of course I know,” I lied, barely able to contain the 1997 Britney Spears crazy that was bubbling at the surface. “I should get back there.” My smile tightened as I powerwalked to the boardroom, dumping my coffee in the trash on the way.
“Lauren.” Daniel stood up, gesturing to an empty seat. “I’m glad you’re early, although it looks like you might have missed your window to convince Ms. Cane. What a shame too, I had high hopes.”
He didn’t look disappointed, more bored while Roman sat beside him silent. The smile, the warmth from his eyes that I had seen yesterday was gone and now he was the same as he’d always been. Cold. Distant. Aloof.
“What are you talking about, weren’t we scheduled to meet with her this morning?” I was confused, wondering if during my epic sleep I hadn’t missed a day. And what could have possibly transpired in the few hours that turned it all around.
“That was the original plan.” Daniel sat, giving up on waiting for me to do the same as I kept standing. “But it seemed that Roman delivered some additional information. You were both emailed last night to see if you had anything else to add, and when you didn’t respond she decided to go with Roman.”
There had been no email. Well, none before I’d left the office. Granted, I didn’t check after I went home, but I assumed that anything important would have waited until the morning. Besides, I’d had other things on my mind after dinner.
Shit.
He wouldn’t have . . .
No.
He wasn’t that evil, was he?
“What additional information?” I tried to remain calm even though the evidence didn’t look good.
Roman didn’t flinch, his voice cool and unemotional as he opened a file and pushed it toward me. “Price Waters knows about the patent and the product. They’re looking at launching their
own version. So, if she doesn’t file soon it’s going to be an all-out corporate war.”
“And you found this out when?” I locked eyes with Roman, wondering when the hell he had time to prepare a brief when he had been with me the entire time.
“I had my investigator dig around.” There was no hesitation in his voice, no apology either as he continued, business as usual. “And when he couriered over his findings to Ms. Cane, he did so with my advice that we needed to move now. Whatever she’s going to lose in the divorce, she is going to lose thirty times that if Price Waters beat her to market.”
“Are you insane?” Anger, hurt, disbelief, all jostled for position as I tried not to raise my voice. “There’s no way Price Waters could have had access to that technology, it would have taken months if not years to develop. They’re bluffing.”
“They aren’t bluffing, Lauren,” Daniel interrupted, nodding to the file in front of me I had yet to read. “I saw the raw data myself.”
“Then they stole the intellectual property.” I couldn’t believe Daniel was taking Roman’s side, fury currently winning out over hurt. “Either way we can fight this in court.”
“That wasn’t what the client wanted.” Roman’s voice was tight but controlled. “You had your chance to convince her—she went with me. We’re preparing the terms of her divorce.”
“Lauren, I have to agree with Roman on this,” Daniel weighed in. “You had the opportunity last night to give one last rebuttal, you didn’t take it. And from the looks of things, this will be quicker and cleaner anyway. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He stood, buttoning his jacket. “I’m going to work on her patent application while the two of you wrap this up.”
For the first time ever in my professional career, I was speechless. I wanted to scream, to hurl myself at Roman and claw his eyes out with my bare hands. But I didn’t. Instead, I stood there seething as Daniel walked past me and to the door. “He was just better this time, Lauren. Don’t take it too hard.”