The days of people using me were over.
Simmering anger in my veins burned hot, my patience slipping from my control no matter how hard I tried to keep hold of it.
‘That promise was one I made to my father,’ I said icily. ‘Are you seriously thinking you can use that to get me to do what you want?’
The smooth golden skin of her cheeks reddened. ‘That’s...not what I meant.’
I took a step towards her, unable to stop myself. ‘Or perhaps you expect me to give you something for nothing. Is that how you think life works?’
She blinked and stepped back. ‘No, I don’t think—’
‘Perhaps you expect me to hand it to you on a plate?’ I took yet another step, forcing her back again. ‘That after years of treating me like your worst enemy, suddenly I have something you want and you think I’m just going to give it to you?’ My voice had got colder, deadlier as I kept walking forward, something inside me taking immense pleasure in her hurried retreat. ‘No, Poppy. That’s not how this is going to work.’
I didn’t stop, answering only to the fury that burned hot inside me, continuing to pace forward, forcing her backward until her spine hit the door, leaving her with nowhere to go.
She made a soft sound, her eyes wide as they looked up into mine, her full red lips parting. Something was glowing in her gaze, a golden spark, and the pulse at the base of her throat was beating fast and getting faster.
Was she scared? Had I frightened her? Or was it something else?
Mesmerised despite myself, I stepped even closer, looking down into her beautiful eyes.
Jesus. Was that—?
I never got a chance to complete the thought because Poppy raised her hands, her palms connecting with my chest, and I found myself being shoved back hard.
A tense silence fell.
She’d never touched me before and I’d certainly never touched her. And that had clearly been a good thing, because the heat of her palms and the pressure of them on my chest was echoing throughout my entire body, stealing my breath. Stealing my control. Making my cock get even harder.
Her expression was tight with anger, her shoulders rigid, eyes glittering, delicate fingers curled into fists.
I’d crossed the line by getting close to her and I knew it, and suddenly I was even more furious than I’d been a second ago.
This was her fault. How dare she touch me? How dare she get me hard? In my own goddamned boardroom. How dare she drive me to the edge of my control so that I made stupid decisions? Such as forcing her up against that fucking door.
‘What?’ I snapped before I could stop myself. ‘You don’t like being cornered? Well, neither do I. You want that reference then working for me is the only way you’ll get it, understood?’
The fury in her expression burned hotter.
‘You bastard.’ Her cheeks were a deep red, her eyes molten. ‘Next time you pull a move like that one, I won’t just shove you, I’ll call the damn police and have you arrested for harassment.’
‘And next time you use the promise I made to my father purely to push me, I’ll make sure to tell Liz that under no circumstances should she employ you in any capacity whatsoever.’
The look in her eyes blazed and she took a couple of steps towards me. And for a second I thought she was going to come at me, and I honestly didn’t know what I would have done if she had. Whether I would have taken her down onto the floor and had her right then and there or called Security to have her thrown out. It was a toss-up.
Luckily I was saved from finding out because right at that moment the door of the boardroom opened and Ajax, my oldest brother, walked in.
He stopped dead as soon as he noticed Poppy, looking from me to her and then back again. ‘Am I interrupting?’
‘No,’ I snarled.
‘Yes,’ Poppy snapped. ‘Your brother was in the process of harassing me.’
Ajax’s light blue eyes—disturbing in contrast to his black hair and eyebrows—narrowed. At me.
Furious, I simply stared back, not even bothering to speak. Ajax knew Poppy and I hated each other, just like he also knew I would never hurt or harass a woman ever. So why the hell he was looking at me like that I couldn’t imagine.
‘You two should really stay clear of each other,’ he said at last. ‘Either that or you should just fuck and get it out of your system.’
Poppy blinked in outrage and opened her mouth, probably to say something she’d regret.
Luckily for her, I got in first. ‘So?’ I said, ignoring my brother. ‘Are you going to take the job or not?’
Her gaze burned into mine. ‘I’d rather die.’
‘Fine. Suit yourself.’ I lifted my chin in the direction of the exit. ‘There’s the door.’
Her jaw was tight, every inch of her vibrating with fury.
She’d never looked more intensely fuckable and I was very conscious of Ajax’s gaze and the amusement in it.
Of course he knew exactly what my problem was.
‘Enjoy finding someone who’ll put up with your bullshit,’ Poppy spat, tossing her head and turning on her heel.
‘Enjoy not getting that internship,’ I snapped back, gritting my teeth against the urge to go after her and haul her into my arms, show her a few things that would make her change her mind.
‘I don’t need that internship.’ She pulled open the door. ‘And I don’t need anything from you.’ Then she walked through it and slammed it shut behind her.
‘Still a hit with the ladies, I see,’ Ajax murmured.
Rage and thwarted lust boiled in my veins, no small part of that rage directed at myself for being stupid enough to lose my temper with her.
Because I had lost my temper. Something that almost never happened. What was it about Poppy bloody Valentine that got under my skin so easily?
Turning, I stalked over to the windows that looked out over Sydney’s blue harbour, trying to get a grip on myself.
If I’d been in my own office, I’d have sat down at my computer and played around with my stock portfolio, because numbers always had the ability to calm me.
There was nothing irritating about numbers. They were clean. They were honest. There was no subtext to them. And, best of all, they were absolutely devoid of any emotion.
‘What do you want?’ I kept my gaze on the view, not bothering to moderate my tone. ‘I’m not in the mood for a meeting.’
‘No kidding. What the hell happened?’
‘Nothing I want to talk about.’
‘You know I’m right.’ Ajax’s voice sounded closer. ‘You should just fuck her already.’
‘I wouldn’t fuck her if she was the last woman on earth.’
He laughed. ‘For a man who’s all about the truth, you sure do a lot of lying to yourself.’
Another thing to hate about her. The way she made me lie.
Keep blaming it on her if it makes you feel better. But you know it’s your own weakness you’re pissed off about.
I thrust my hands in my pockets. ‘Tell me what you want, Ajax.’
He ignored me. ‘What’s all this about a job? You hiring Poppy now?’
‘Lisa left last week and I need a temporary replacement until I have time to find someone more permanent.’
‘That’s what temp agencies are for.’
‘They won’t work with a King.’
‘Sure. They won’t work with you.’
I could see myself glowering in the reflective glass of the window. With an effort, I tried to smooth my expression. ‘Like you don’t have any problems retaining staff.’
Ajax grunted. He knew I was right. Neither of us were exactly people pleasers. Which was why our middle brother Leon did all the PR work for our company.
‘You can’t go without a PA for a week or so?’ he asked instead.
‘Project?’ Ajax’s voice was sharp. ‘What project?’
I turned and met my brother’s stare head-on. ‘None of your damn business.’
His blue gaze didn’t even flicker. ‘I’m CEO of this company. Everything is my damn business.’
‘This has got nothing to do with the company. Ergo, like I said, it’s none of your business.’
Ajax tried to stare me down like he stared down everyone who crossed him.
Unfortunately for him that didn’t work with me.
He gave another of his non-committal grunts instead. ‘Fine. Your funeral. But you want a piece of advice?’
‘No.’
‘Okay, I lied. It’s not advice. It’s an order. Sort out whatever the fuck your project is and fast. I’m going to need you on deck and focused in the next couple of weeks.’
Momentarily diverted, I frowned at him. ‘Why? What’s going on?’
He gave me one of his trademark smiles, just on the edge of vicious. ‘None of your fucking business.’
Irritating bastard.
He left soon after that and the second he was out of the door, my brain started back to thinking about just what the hell I was going to do about Poppy bloody Valentine.
Ajax had now given me an extra time pressure, which was the last thing I needed, especially if I wanted to complete this pet project of mine. I could have put it on hold if I’d really wanted to, but I’d spent the last five years putting it on hold and now I wanted it done—and done quickly.
It was the last thing I needed to do to make good on my promise to Dad.
The last atonement to make up for a life I’d been responsible for taking.
But if I was going to get it done before Ajax needed me ‘on deck’ then I had to have help. I had to have an assistant.
I scowled at the view of Sydney through the glass.
Shit.
I was going to have to be nice to Poppy bloody Valentine, wasn’t I?
CHAPTER FOUR
Poppy
‘YOU COULD JUST sleep with him,’ my mother said as she picked up her favourite red lipstick and began to apply it. ‘Men are simple like that. It’s easy, quick, and if you’re good they’ll give you anything you want.’
I was sitting on her bed, watching her get ready for dinner with one of the partners from a multi-billion-dollar tax firm. Listening to her hand out advice on what I should do to handle Xander and the internship problem.
It wasn’t something I wanted to discuss with her, but she’d asked how the meeting had gone and so I’d given her the unadulterated truth. Which naturally she put her own spin on.
That was my mother’s answer to everything. Sleep with the dude and he’ll shower you with gifts. It had worked so well for her, after all.
At least up until the day her sure thing had gone to prison.
‘I’d rather sleep with Satan than Xander King,’ I said, my fingers picking at the flocked fabric of the cheap quilt.
Mum gave me an irritated look in the mirror. ‘Well, I can’t sleep with him. That would be a step too far, even for me.’
I gave an inward shudder at the thought. ‘God, Mum, I’m not asking you to.’
‘But you said you wanted that internship.’
‘Yes, I do. But sex isn’t the only way to get it.’
She frowned at her reflection as she put the finishing touches to her lipstick. ‘I don’t know why you persist in doing everything the hard way, Poppy. You’ve got the looks. Why not use that to—?’
‘No,’ I interrupted, not wanting to have this argument again. ‘I’m not doing that and that’s final.’
Conversations with my mother always ended up with her telling me I was beautiful and that she didn’t know why I didn’t use it to my advantage more often.
She didn’t mean it as a compliment. Her own looks had got her everything she’d ever wanted in life and she didn’t understand why I insisted on doing things like study and actual work. Even when I’d waved my architecture degree in her face she’d simply given me a puzzled look and asked why I was bothering with university. Money could be got easily enough if you put on a short skirt and batted your eyelashes at the right guy. Why was I working so hard at something I didn’t need?
I knew I shouldn’t blame Mum for the way she was. After my father died, leaving us with nothing, she’d had to do something to keep us afloat and she had no schooling to speak of. So she’d got back into the stripping she’d used to do after she’d left school and before Dad had come along, and there she’d met Augustus King—crime boss extraordinaire.
He’d promised her security and she’d grabbed it with both hands, not caring that he was the dodgiest of dodgy criminals, throwing herself into the lavish lifestyle that came with him. Then it had all ended when he’d gone to prison, leaving her with nothing but debts.
In her mind she had no choice about how she was going to pay them off—she needed to find another man to help her. Even though she was already married. But then vows didn’t matter to my mother, only survival did.
‘If it’s pride getting in your way then you might want to rethink that.’ She straightened and dropped the lipstick back in her handbag. ‘You can’t afford it. Because even if you were to get this internship, how are you going to get to London? I certainly don’t have the money for you to get there, let alone live there.’
There was that. Details I thought I’d handle if and when I ever got the internship. But I was going to have to think about them, wasn’t I? Because I had no money and since getting fired with no references from my last job I had no expectations of getting another any time soon.
Xander did say he’d pay you well...
I gritted my teeth, trying not to remember what had happened in his boardroom. How he’d slowly paced towards me, long and lean and fluid as a panther, dark eyes full of fury. And how I’d been unable to stop myself from retreating, something inside me wanting to give way before him.
Then I’d found the door against my back and him right in front of me, his tall, broad figure blocking everything out, the blackness of his gaze mesmerising. He’d been all darkness and heat, the force of his fury like a storm front, and I’d become breathless with a strange combination of fear and excitement, tinged with an odd satisfaction.
That somehow I’d got a rise out of him. That I’d made him lose his precious temper. That underneath his cold, uptight front was something else. A black fire that burned very, very hot.
Seeing that and feeling my own response to it was bad enough.
Him nearly recognising my excitement had been worse.
I shouldn’t have pushed him. Shouldn’t have touched him at all, but it was either that or have him discover what a turn-on I found his fury, and there was no way on earth I was going to let him know that.
I’d got angry at him, using my rage to cover the fact that my heart was racing and I felt hot—that there was an ache between my thighs that wouldn’t go away.
‘You should just fuck and get it out of your system,’ Ajax had said and I hadn’t been able to get that thought out of my head.
What would have happened if Ajax hadn’t come in?
I’d been so mad at Xander I’d seriously considered punching his stupid beautiful face, and what would have happened if I had? He wouldn’t have let me hit him, no way. He might have grabbed me, put my hands behind my back. And then maybe he would have forced me to kneel before him and—
‘If you think I’m going to ask Richard
to pay for a trip to Europe for you, you’ve got another think coming,’ Mum said. ‘I’ve got too many other debts that need to be paid first.’
My face felt hot. Shit, I needed to stop thinking about...that. About him. Now.
‘I wasn’t expecting you to,’ I muttered, trying to force my attention back to what she was saying.
‘Well, you need to do something to help out, Poppy. I can’t do this all on my own, not again. What about that waitressing job?’
My gut clenched. I didn’t have the energy to tell her I’d been fired because I wouldn’t let the boss cop a feel. I knew what she’d say already. She’d get that angry, disappointed look and then tell me that I should have sucked it up and taken the money. Because we needed it and how could I put personal feelings of discomfort ahead of our survival?
The problem was, she wasn’t wrong.
My stepdad had given Mum an allowance before he’d gone to prison and it had been a generous one. Xander had continued the allowance after Augustus went to jail and it was enough to live comfortably on. But it wasn’t enough for Mum. She always spent the entire thing on stuff she didn’t need and then complained when we didn’t have enough money for rent, hence her having to find a new sugar daddy and me having to keep working to cover our costs.
I should have told her to stop spending or just let her get herself out of the hole she’d dug. But I couldn’t. She’d never wanted children and when I came along—her little accident—she hadn’t been glad. She’d been pissed off. Then she’d sucked it up and cared for me, and now it was my turn to care for her.
It wasn’t her fault Dad had died. It was mine.
‘It’s fine,’ I lied about the job.
‘Good. Because we’ve got another bank payment due and I don’t have the cash myself. I might see if I can get anything out of Richard, but don’t count on it.’
Crap. So she’d burned through her allowance for this month. Again.
You know what the answer is.
Double crap.
There were too many reasons why working for stupid Xander King would be a good idea. Not only would I get that internship, but I could earn some money to get me to London and ensure Mum’s debts were paid off as well.
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