Inked Playboy (Cocky Suits Chicago Book 5)

by Alex Wolf

  The waiter comes over and we order drinks. I tell Cole the non-sexual things I can do for him and his business, and, surprisingly, he’s all ears. It’s strictly professional, like we’re two different people than the ones who had hot sex in a hotel room after a romantic wedding, and it might be even worse than the back and forth shit-talking. It makes me respect him even more, because he’s obviously intelligent when he wants to be.

  But by the time I’m done, it’s almost like I miss him getting on my nerves, saying things to get under my skin. How is that even possible? There’s no way in hell I would ever let him know that, but I can’t help how I feel inside. It’s like I want him to be a dick to me so I have a reason to give it right back to him and have a reason to leave.

  “So, what do you think?”

  Cole steeples his fingers on the table. “It’s… a lot to take in all at once.”

  Why is he being apprehensive now? He just leaned in the whole time I was talking, fidgeting with his hands like he was excited as hell. This man is a goddamn enigma.

  “Okay.” I shuffle my papers up and shove them back in my bag. “Well, enjoy doing things the old way then. I did what I said I’d do.”

  He reaches for my hand again and damn it, I wish he’d both stop touching me and never let go. I glare down at his hand, but I just can’t tell him to move it. It’s like my brain wants to say it, but the electrical signals won’t fire to my mouth and move my damn lips for me, because fuck, it feels so—right.

  “Why do you do that?”

  My eyes roll up to his. “Do what?”

  He leans back and huffs out a sigh. “Why are you so combative? I say one thing and you fly off the handle like it’s the end of the world.”

  My eyes widen. “Are you saying I’m being emotional? Is that what you meant?”

  “See?” He points at me. “You’re doing it again.”

  Fuck this, I’m done playing on his terms. I lean over the table, so my cleavage is right in his line of sight. “You know there has been more than business between us. If this was a normal business exchange, where you had called and said, ‘Hey, I’m interested in your services, do you have time for a consultation?’ I would have said, ‘Yes, let’s make an appointment.’ But you broke into my phone and scheduled your own meeting the morning after we banged like rabbits.” I look up and crane my head around, because the words come out before I can stop them. Fortunately, I didn’t scar any young children’s ears and it’s relatively empty in the diner.

  Cole stares straight at my breasts, his eyes wide for a long moment, not even bothering to hide the fact he’s ogling me, then finally he looks up at me and grins. “I didn’t break into your phone.”

  I grab my bag. “That’s what you took from that?” I grind my teeth. “Asshole.” I start to get out of the booth, and he does the damn arm grab thing again. Fuck my life.

  “Sorry, that joke was in poor taste.”

  “Damn right it was. Do you want to work with me or not?”

  He flops back and rests his head against the booth, like he’s contemplating his whole life. He looks out the window and it’s like he can’t even look at me while he’s thinking it through. Finally, he nods and says, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

  My eyes widen. “Seriously?”

  Our stares lock, and he nods slowly. “Yeah, I think you can do good things for me with the expansion.”

  Fireworks should be going off inside me right now. This is a huge new client, bigger than The Hunter Group even. Instead, there’s nothing but dread in the pit of my stomach. Anxiety courses through me. I’m in a spot I can’t get out of now. I should’ve never come to this goddamn meeting.

  “Okay then.” I agree because I have no other choice. The loans are nearly due, I need to pay my employees. This could put my company in the black in my first year. It still feels dirty, though, like I’m only getting this opportunity because I slept with him, or because he wants to sleep with me again.

  I gather all my stuff together because if I stay any longer, I’ll want to shoot myself in the head because my body wants to make out with him in the booth to celebrate.

  “Great. The expansion happens in the next few months, but you can go ahead and start testing things on my existing gyms.” He slides a card across. “Here’s my assistant’s name, you can coordinate everything through her.”

  I feel like I should say something, be grateful, but it’s so hard to do. I finally just look across at him and say, “Thank you. I won’t let you down.”

  He shrugs and smirks. “No problem. If you let me down, I’ll just fire you.”

  I can’t tell if he’s joking or not, but this asshole knows how to push my buttons and part of me respects that. He knows I’ll go out and kill it for him, just so he can’t fire me.

  Ugh! Cole Miller is the worst! And the best.

  Chapter Nine

  Cole Miller

  I keep a punching bag in my office at all times in case I need to take out some frustration. Right now, I’m putting it to use. Sweat droplets start to break out along my forehead when my assistant’s voice blasts out of my phone speaker.

  “Mr. Miller, Dexter Collins and Paisley Williams are here to see you.”

  I inhale a couple deep breaths and wipe my forehead. “Okay, just bring them back here.”

  I’m not done hitting this bag. The fact Dexter’s here makes me want to hit it even harder. I have a feeling if I wasn’t so close to him, I wouldn’t even have this issue with Harlow. At the same time, I’m not going to blow up a friendship if she isn’t even willing to go on a date with me. I can’t help the way I feel about her, though. It’s that goddamn spark that’s coming from somewhere; something I never thought I’d feel, especially with her.

  I need to get her onboard, then I can drop the news to Dexter and his brothers and let the chips fall where they may. I don’t know what it is, but this thing with her, it’s real. I don’t think I can erase it from my memory or make it go away. I want her, and I will have her.

  Paisley and Dex walk through the door just as I throw a huge front kick into the bag and send it spiraling off toward the wall. Dex’s eyes go wide. Good. He needs that psychological message to know he doesn’t want any part of me. Not that I’d ever want to fight him, but one day, when he finds out about Harlow and me, he might just remember that kick. In fact, I know he will.

  “Hey, guys.”

  Paisley smiles like she didn’t expect to see me put a dent in the side of a punching bag when she walked in.

  Dex gulps. “What’s up, man?”

  “Not much, what do you got for me?” I gesture to a small table in the corner, big enough for all of us to sit at.

  I snag a towel from a cabinet and wipe my face and head over there.

  “Capital meetings are lined up with Anderson and Gallegos. One in the morning and one in the afternoon, a week from now.” Dex takes a seat and pulls a file from his briefcase.

  My eyes go wide. “That was fast. I thought you said a few months.”

  Dex shrugs. “They want to move fast. That’s a good sign. We’re working around the clock on the contracts and shit.”

  I take a seat and glance over at Paisley. “You want something to drink? A better chair?”

  “You guys need to stop babying me. I’m not due for like four months.”

  I hold up both hands. “Okay then. Is Donavan excited?”

  She sighs like she’s half irritated, half swooning over him. “He never shuts up about the baby. He knocked down half a wall to expand the nursery. Talks about getting a bigger house.”

  I start laughing while Dex rifles through the folder.

  Paisley smiles and finally nods. “Yeah, he’s excited. It’s cute.”

  “What about you? Taking some leave when the time comes?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be done for a while once we have your capital situation squared away and the contracts are drawn up. You’re the last thing left on my list.”

  “I’ll try
to make it as speedy as we can.”

  Her eyes go wide. “Oh no, I didn’t mean… Shit. Take your time and do it right, Jesus. It’s a nine-figure deal. I like working just as much as I like being at home. I’ll get bored until the baby is here anyway.”

  “Whatever you want.” Never argue with a pregnant woman. I’ve learned that lesson.

  “Shit, where’s the fucking…? Oh, there it is.” Dexter starts putting the papers in order and spreading them out.

  Paisley watches him out of the corner of her eye and continues to make small talk to distract. At least I think that’s what she’s doing.

  “So, Harlow said you hired her for some work.”

  Shit.

  Dexter’s hands freeze. I catch him glare at me for a split-second, then he goes back to what he’s doing.

  “Yeah, I’m going to have her handle all my online marketing. Maybe shoot some ads for the gyms to run on social media. Apparently, that’s where everything is at now and you can laser focus on potential clients, according to her. If she does a great job, she can grow along with us as we expand.”

  “She’s been killing it for our department and it’s a pretty niche demographic she aims at; businesses with over a million in revenue each year, and she works her magic and finds them somehow with all that stuff she does and gets our ads in front of their faces. We’ve had to decrease our ad budgets because we can’t keep up until we hire some more staff.”

  Damn, it sounds like Harlow really is a rockstar. I smile. She’s a total badass at her job. It makes me want her even more.

  “We done talking about Harlow?”

  I glance over at Dex and he’s holding a shit ton of papers with graphs and pie charts and numbers. Boring shit, but it’s the cost of doing business.

  I shrug because I don’t know how to not run head-on into conflict. “You don’t sound too happy about her working for me.”

  That catches Dex off guard. He shakes his head. “It’s not that, it’s just…”

  “You told me to set a meeting with her, remember?”

  “I know, I… We’re just running a little behind and need to get to this.” He nods to the stack of papers.

  I laugh and give him a little elbow nudge, even though I know he’s flustered as hell. “Well, get your papers in order next time, rook.” Why am I being such a dickhead to him? He’s my best fucking friend. Who am I right now?

  Dex grinds his jaw and Paisley pretends to look at an email on her phone.

  “Okay, well, we had our people write the pitches, Pais supervised. You just need to study this shit and know it front and back. You do this once and you’re set for a while, okay?”

  I nod. It’s the last thing on planet earth I want to do, but it’s for the best. This expansion could really take me to the next level. “I’ll knock it out the park.”

  “Great. If you have any questions, need anything, you have our numbers. You know we’re always available.”

  “Yep.”

  We all stand up and I walk them to the door. Something is off about Dex. It all happened when Paisley brought up Harlow. He was different until then.

  We say our goodbyes and my assistant shows them back out through the corporate offices.

  I breathe a sigh of relief. Fuck, that was awkward.

  Anytime I get sick of the corporate life, I always head over to one of my gyms. It gives me perspective, reminds me why I do what I do. Yeah, I’m a fitness nut, and I turned it into a business after I was done fighting.

  I stare up at the side of the building.

  Curve.

  It’s the perfect name. My gyms are geared for women’s fitness, and anyone is welcome here. That’s the philosophy. Get people comfortable using the machines, working out, learning how to best serve their body’s needs, regardless of shapes and sizes. The goal is for any woman to be able to walk in off the streets and feel welcome, like she’s been there a thousand times, comfortable in her own skin.

  This Curve was the first one I ever opened, four years ago. It seems like a decade, and I can’t believe we’re already pretty much nationwide. I had no idea how to even run a business, made a few mistakes along the way, but got a master’s degree in being a CEO very quickly. I had to or I’d have gone under.

  I’m glad the capital expansion is coming faster than anticipated. I expanded too rapidly and spread myself too thin, instead of targeting specific markets and taking them over. Gyms are no different from chain stores and other retail places. If you can dominate a market, there’s a point of critical mass where psychologically people start to associate your brand as the dominant place in the market. Starbucks is the king of this, one on every corner. You think coffee, you think Starbucks. When women think about working out, they need to think Curve.

  I don’t need a gym on every corner, but two in every major metro area doesn’t cut it. Some require five or six or more, like New York City, LA, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, etc.

  I flip my hood on and head through the door. It won’t take long for me to be noticed, but I like to try and be incognito as much as I can, so I can observe the employees. Make sure they’ve been trained correctly and are doing their jobs.

  As usual, I’m pleasantly surprised, because every trainer is actively engaged with a member, showing them how to use a machine, running a class.

  “You never fool anyone, dipshit.”

  I turn around and Maria is standing there with her arms folded over her chest, smirking at me. She was my first employee when this was our only gym and now, she runs the place.

  “Taking care of my baby?” I glance around.

  “Always, Miller. It’s my baby too.”

  I walk over, smile, and give her a hug. “Yeah, I know. Thanks for the hard work. Place looks great, running like a well-oiled machine.”

  “I learned from the best. How’s Pedro and Bill?”

  “Good.” I lean back. “Just waiting on a new fight.”

  “The last one was close. You boys better get to working harder. How about the expansion?” She waggles her eyebrows.

  I’ve been very hush hush but I can’t keep secrets from her. She’d be my damn COO if she wanted the job, but she doesn’t. I still pay her about triple the market rate for running this place.

  “Soon. Really soon.”

  “That’s great, Cole. I’m really proud of you.”

  I smile. Maria’s the best. “Thanks.” Just as I’m about to get a little emotional, I look beyond Maria.

  What. The. Fuck.

  Harlow Collins is doing bent over rows in front of one of the wall mirrors. My dick gets hard, instantly. Holy shit, she’s smoking hot.

  I try to suppress a groan when she starts to move.

  Fucking hell, she’s in all black, as usual, but this time it’s Lycra pants and a sports bra. I’d know those tattoos and that ass anywhere. I intimately remember what it was like sinking into her from behind, her hair wrapped around my fist.

  I’m pretty sure Maria just said something, but I have tunnel vision right now. I had no idea Harlow actually worked out in my gyms.

  I have to go fuck with her. I mean, the gods pretty much fated it by bringing me here. It’s a must.

  “Cole? Cole?”

  I snap out of my daydream. “Huh?”

  Maria glances back to Harlow then to me. “You know her or something?”

  I take a step past her and say, “Yeah,” as I head over that way. I realize I’m being rude as soon as I do it, so I turn back. “I’ll talk to you in a few, before I leave, okay?”

  She shakes her head like I’m an idiot, which she’s not wrong about, and she starts toward the office. “Okay.”

  I’m super quiet and come from an angle so Harlow can’t see me in the mirror. “Need a spot?”

  She jolts for a second, then whirls around like she’s about to throw the damn dumbbell through my face. She has no idea it’s me, and probably thinks it’s some random dude ogling her ass, even though it’s an all-female gym. “
No, I don’t need a…” She freezes up the second she sees me. For a nanosecond, it looks like she might smile, and then her eyebrows pinch together. “The hell are you doing here?”

  I grin and raise my eyebrows. “I kind of own the place.”

  “Yeah, well…” She looks like she wants to lash out at me verbally but stops herself. “It’s pretty nice.”

  “Thank you. That kind of sounded like a compliment.”

  She does her best to look away and hide her smile, but I get a glimpse of it. “Don’t press your luck, Miller.”

  “I know, I wasted all the luck the night of the—”

  She spins back around and points a finger in my face. “Don’t finish that fucking sentence.”

  I hold up both hands, incredibly amused. Goddamn, she’s perfect. “Could you blame me? You tossed it up like a softball at me.”

  Her hands go to her hips. Hips I want to dig my fingers into, just one more time.

  “Too bad you don’t have a bat worth swinging.”

  I take a step closer and lean down. “I think I already hit it.” I whisper in her ear, “And I could do it again if I wanted.”

  She scowls, but there’s a twinkle in those light blue eyes of hers too. She looks like she’s on the edge of giving in. Like I’m right on the precipice of breaking through that thick-ass steel wall of hers, if I push just a little harder.

  “I don’t remember much about the at bat, so…” She shrugs. “If there’s nothing else, I need to get back to my workout.”

  “Well, since I’ve got you here, let’s talk a little business.”

  She sighs. “No. I said I’m busy. Office hours are over.”

  I check an invisible watch on my wrist that’s not there. “It’s business hours. Fucking three p.m. on a business day. Maybe I should just go to the office and call you, and you pick up your phone and talk business, or I fire your firm. How about that?”