Choking on his coffee as her metaphor bounced off the walls of his office, Devil quickly dropped the mug back on his desk. “Glad to see you’re as colorful as always, Mols. I hardly think the lobby qualifies as a war zone, however.”
“Says you,” Molly yelped indignantly. “I’m not kidding, Devil.” She tapped her toe against the thick carpet under her feet. “This time it was only tears that the opposing ground forces unleashed. But that Cleopatra wannabe from last month came real close to clawing my eyes out.”
“No woman I’ve ever been involved with would dare touch you,” Devil dismissed her with a shrug, his wide shoulders easily shifting beneath his designer suit jacket. “They all know there’d be hell to pay.” Every woman he dated was aware of how special Molly was to him. Not only was she a valued assistant that worked long hours to ensure that his business ran smoothly, but she and her family were also longtime friends. He’d watched her grow up, for God’s sake. And for the moment, he was studiously trying to ignore exactly how grown up she was. The point was...Molly was off limits and everyone knew it.
“Yeah,” Molly snorted, ignoring his darkened gaze. “And they resent me for it! Not that I blame them. Calling me from Cleo’s bed at one in the morning last month wasn’t exactly conducive to building a trusting relationship.”
Barely sparing her a look, Devil shrugged. “We work closely together. Besides, I promised your brother that I’d keep an eye on you while he and Karen were on vacation in Hawaii. You had a date that night; I was merely making sure that you’d made it home safely.” He didn’t bother adding that he hadn’t been in bed with Cleo, but rather dumping the sleek brunette’s drunk ass on the mattress. That was one woman that had been a valuable waste of his energy. She’d been more interested in his power and position than in actually getting to know him. It wasn’t really all that unusual since all the woman he dated were interested in what he could give them, but that one had been entirely too obvious about it. There was such a thing as tact, after all.
Bending her neck, Molly shook her head. There was really no reasoning with him. Maybe it was time to shock him into sensibility. Pulling herself up to her full height, all five feet and three inches of it, she said, “Well, at least Carolyn didn’t cast dispersions on my character when you gave her the boot. Cleopatra assumed that you cut her loose because I sucked your swinging dick like a Hoover, you know.”
Jerking his gaze up to Molly, Devil’s mouth fell open. Had his Molly just used the word dick and swinging? Together?
“There it is!” Molly chortled, pointing at him with no small amount of satisfaction. “That’s the reaction I was looking for!” Take that, Mr. Misogynistic!
Clamping his jaw closed as he attempted to overcome his suddenly rampant thoughts, Devil inhaled deeply through his sudden, fierce anger. “I’m so glad I could accommodate you, Molly, but you’d better be kidding,” he said in a lethally quiet voice.
Leaning forward, Molly dropped her hands again to his gleaming desk. “I. Am. Not. Cleo thought I was more paid whore than paid assistant.”
“Well,” he said tightly, redirecting his gaze back to his computer, “Won’t it be unfortunate when her company gets bought out in a very sudden takeover, and she loses her coveted position?” Destroying that vicious woman would be his pleasure.
Sighing, Molly rolled her eyes as she straightened. She had no doubt Devil would do exactly as he said. He had a mean streak a mile wide when those that he cared about were threatened. However, she felt duty bound to object. “You can’t put a hundred innocent employees out of a job because she insulted me, Dev.”
“I could, but I won’t. I’ll only be eliminating one position. Hers,” he returned, unconcerned as his fingers tapped against his keyboard. “Are we done yet?” he asked a few minutes later when he realized she hadn’t moved an inch.
“No, Devil. We aren’t. This has to stop. I liked Carolyn.”
“I liked her, too,” he agreed, shooting a confused look at Molly, noting the determined look on her gamine face. “So?”
She wanted to scream. Loudly! Groaning, she shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m going to ask this, but what the hell was wrong with her? She was beautiful. Friendly and well connected. Judging by the grin you wore the first few days you dated her, I’m assuming she looked as good on her back as she did standing upright. So, with all those glowing attributes, I’ve just gotta know. What the hell was her problem?”
“Clingy.”
“Pardon me?” Molly sputtered, narrowing her eyes at him.
Looking up at the redheaded spitfire with steam rising from her ears, Devil stifled a laugh. “She was clingy,” he informed her evenly.
She wanted to scratch his eyes out. Of all the infuriating things he could have said, that topped the list. “Then let me make a suggestion, you satanic slut! If you don’t want clingy, then stop trolling the zoo for boa constrictors! And in the likely event that you can’t resist the lure of the reptiles, stop using me as the Pity Party Police for these unfortunate women!” Pausing for a moment to gather her thoughts Molly announced heavily, “Carolyn broke my heart! She looked shattered when she left here, and I feel like I’m the one that broke the pretty picture. That’s your fault, Devil.” Maybe, if all else failed, she could shame him into being something that could pass for a compassionate human being. Maybe.
“Carolyn will be fine. She got flowers and a nice parting gift. I didn’t make her any promises, Molly.”
“You never make any of them any promises, Devil,” Molly returned with a frown. “It doesn’t stop them from hoping that they’ll be the one to reform you.” Like that could ever happen, she thought irritably. Pigs would probably fly before Devil Delancy considered a woman as something other than arm candy.
“I can’t control someone else’s delusion, honey,” Devil chuckled. “I’m upfront about what I want from my lady friends from the get go.”
“It’s hopeless,” she muttered, lifting her eyes to the ceiling. “Absolutely hopeless.”
“Glad you’re finally recognizing the obvious. Now, if we’re done here, I’ve got work to do. Shut the door behind you, please.”
Recognizing a dismissal when she heard one, Molly growled low in her throat before spinning on her heel and stomping toward the door. “You mark my words, Devil. One day, you’re gonna meet your match. I just hope I’m around to enjoy the fireworks when you do!” she huffed before throwing open the door and disappearing back into her domain.
Fortunately for him, she never saw the wide grin etched across Devil’s face as he watched her go.
Chapter Three
Still seething an hour later, Molly gave up any pretense of working on the Excel spreadsheet she’d been preparing on the newest company Devil had acquired a few days ago. She’d stumbled over entering the last several figures anyway, and the busy work was doing nothing to distract her from the original source of her aggravation.
Rising, she paced to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Atlanta skyline. It wasn’t like she was being unreasonable, was it? She didn’t consider it too much to ask to be left out of Devil’s dating dilemmas. Not that he’d agree that there was actually a dilemma to speak of.
She was certain he thought the subject was closed.
Of course, it actually was closed for poor, pitiful Carolyn.
For her, too, she supposed.
Until the next time one of his women came along to disrupt her world. Unfortunately, chances were that the next of Devil’s passing fancies would be a lot less like Carolyn and a lot more like Cleopatra’s evil twin.
Oh, there would be another woman. Molly knew there would be another lady for him as surely as she knew the sun would rise in the East tomorrow. She’d accepted long ago that where the highly-sexed William Delancy was involved, she’d probably have about seven to ten days of relative peace in the valley between conquests.
She should savor the serenity while it lasted, right? It was, after all, her favorite time
of year. Late November had finally obliterated the hot humidity that Georgia was known for, and Christmas was just around the corner. Soon, she’d be putting up Christmas decorations in her small apartment in Druid Hills and shopping with her girlfriends for gifts at Perimeter Mall.
‘Twas definitely the season to stop obsessing over her employer’s love life and start concentrating on her own.
Molly Ramsey needed a good man. An honest man. A man brave enough to not shudder in the face of evils like Devil Delancy and his tap-dancing hot harem of harlots. Finding that guy was becoming what she quickly was finding an insurmountable challenge. Between Dev, his floozies, and her overprotective big brother, the odds of finding that magic male were dwindling at a lightning pace.
She was never going to get laid again.
She figured part of the reason that Devil’s exploits irked her so much was her own sexual frustration. She hadn’t been to bed with a man in two years.
Two incredibly long, supremely unsatisfying years.
At first, the dry spell had been intentional. After a bad breakup with her college boyfriend, the whole intimacy deal had left a sour taste in her mouth. In the intervening months, the taste had faded and her heart had healed.
Her long walk through the sexual desert had continued, however, with nary an orgasm in sight.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t had opportunities. Her gal pals had thrown unsuspecting men in her path – and some of them had actually been quite gorgeous. Sadly, she hadn’t felt one iota of lust for any of them…not a single speck of desire had flared. She tried to ignore the fact, however, that butterflies fluttered whenever Devil happened to turn those incredible blue eyes of his on her.
She didn’t understand it. She was a healthy, not unattractive chick. So, why was it that she couldn’t get worked up over any of the hot, young men her friends introduced her to? Why did it have to be the irascible, irritating, and very, very forbidden William Delancy that got her juices flowing freely?
There were two plausible explanations as far as she was concerned.
Either God hated her, which she doubted since she regularly attended church and worshiped devoutly, or – and this was much more likely to her way of thinking – she was mentally unstable.
Yep, that had to be it. Devil had finally driven her around the bend during the year she’d worked with him and somehow seduced her psyche into dreaming about him every time she closed her eyes.
There had to be a twelve-step program for that. Perhaps she should contact some of his throng of tramps and find out if they’d formed some kind of self-help club that might help her recover her sanity.
She was sure about one thing, though. She absolutely could not continue down this rabbit hole. Alice needed to get the dickens out of this wicked Wonderland before she threw herself at the Mad Hatter’s mattress.
Getting horizontal with her brother’s best buddy was not in anybody’s best interest. Blowing the tumbleweeds off her woo woo with Devil just wasn’t a viable solution - even if the man was a walking, talking sinful temptation.
Nope, she’d just continue her tour through the sexual Sahara badlands all alone.
Growling at the window, Molly ran a hand through her loose red hair, gathering it at the base of her neck. “Get a freaking grip here, Mols. This isn’t the end of the world,” she muttered to herself. If the worst thing she had to complain about was her lack of a good lay, then life could definitely be worse.
Turning as the phone on her desk began to jingle, she returned to her desk.
“Delancy and Associates,” she answered automatically. “William Delancy’s office. May I help you?”
“Yes, this is Jasmine. I’m a nurse in the Emory Emergency Room. We’ve admitted a Kathleen Delancy for treatment, and she’s indicated that a Mr. William Delancy is her next of kin. May I please be connected with him?”
“Nana?” Molly replied weakly as she caught herself against her desk and a wave of panic rolled through her. In the blink of an eye, all her earlier worries seemed insubstantial in the face of a real emergency.
“Yes, I believe she indicated that Mr. Delancy was her grandson. Is he there?” the nurse questioned.
Blinking quickly, Molly swallowed. “Yes, absolutely, ma’am. Please hold. I’ll connect you immediately,” she ordered, jabbing the hold button on her phone before spinning toward Devil’s office and running toward his closed door.
Not bothering to knock, she barged into his inner sanctum for the second time of the afternoon. Unfazed by the hard look he shot her as his finger rose in the air to silence her while he spoke to someone on his phone, Molly shook her head. “Devil! Get off the phone now! It’s an emergency!”
She nearly shrieked when he rolled his eyes and continued speaking, she ran across the room and snatched the cell out of his hand. “Devil has to go. He’ll call you back,” she informed the caller breathlessly before jabbing the end call button and throwing the cell on his desk.
“Molly, that was the President of Harper Industries, damn it! You know, the company I’m trying to acquire. It took four fucking hours to get that call in place! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Devil, shut UP! I don’t care about Harper or his industry and neither do you! Screw the goddamned deal!” Molly yelled, her heart in her throat. “Emory Hospital is on line one. It’s about Nana!” Snatching the receiver off his desk, she shoved it against his chest and pressed the flashing button on his phone.
Chapter Four
As Devil spoke sharply to the nurse on the phone, Molly quickly collected her purse and keys from her desk in the outer office before returning to his desk and meeting his startled eyes. “Devil?” she prodded, grabbing his suit jacket from the coat tree by the door when he’d ended the phone call. “What did the hospital say?”
Staring at her as she approached him, Devil shook his head, trying to process all the information he’d just been told.
“Devil!” Molly repeated, shaking his suit coat in front of his nose. “The hospital. What did they tell you?”
Taking his coat automatically, he shrugged it on before grabbing his own keys. “They’re taking Nana to the catheter lab now. The nurse said that the doctor thinks it was a heart attack. They need me there to authorize everything,” he informed her numbly.
Molly was already striding toward the door, her hand latched around the sleeve of his jacket as she pulled him along with her. “Well, let’s go! We need to move. Do you want me to call Grant on the way?” she asked, privately thinking he could probably use her brother’s support right now as she led the way toward their elevator. “He might be able to cut through some of the red tape at the hospital,” she suggested. Grant had medical privileges at Emory. As one of the state’s leading high-risk obstetricians, he had privileges all over Atlanta.
Following her inside the elevator, Devil blinked. “You’re coming with me?”
“Of course I’m going with you. It’s Nana!” Molly retorted impatiently as she tried to understand the surprised look on his face. “Besides, I don’t trust you to drive yourself,” she added with a pointed look at his trembling hands as she slapped her own palm against the down button. “If you wrap your car around a tree, I’m out of a job. My student loans won’t pay themselves. And did I mention this is Nana that we’re talking about? She’s been as much my grandmother for my whole life as she’s been yours. Grant’s, too, for that matter!” she rambled nervously, tapping her foot as she waited for the elevator to land in the basement parking garage of their office complex.
“You’re right,” Devil replied, leaning against the wall as he ran a hand over his face. “Text him and tell him to meet us there.”
Molly’s fingers flew over her phone as she messaged her brother. “What about Momma and Daddy?” she asked, glancing at him with a frown. Devil looked pale. And scared. Two things she’d never seen from him before today.
“They’re still in Bermuda, aren’t they? They aren’t supposed to be
back until Saturday, right?”
“Yes, but you know they’ll come home in a second if Nana needs them,” she replied truthfully, knowing her parents would be on the next plane immediately if necessary. The Ramsey clan and the Delancy crew were more family than friends.
“I know, but let’s not alarm them until we know what’s going on for sure,” Devil replied, eyeing the descending numbers above the metal doors anxiously. The elevator always moved at a snail’s pace when you had somewhere you needed to be.
Nodding, Molly glanced at her phone as it vibrated in her hand. “Grant says he’ll be there in an hour. He’s in the middle of a delivery.”
“Okay,” Devil mumbled, relieved when the door opened and they stepped into the cement garage. “This way,” he said, gesturing toward the right. “We’ll take my car. It’s faster.”
“The Mercedes?” Molly grimaced. It was a pretty car, but was worth more than her condo, for which, by the way, she still owed a small fortune. “Give me your keys?” she ordered, holding out her hand.
Devil did a double take, glancing from her to his car keys and back again. “You wanna drive my car?” he asked, slightly horrified by the thought.
“Lord, Devil, I’m not asking to have your child. Just hand me your keys,” she insisted, wriggling her fingers as they reached the sleek black sedan. “You aren’t in any state to drive, are you?” she remarked pointedly.
Swallowing, Devil thought it might be easier to ask her to have his kid. Molly was hell on wheels, no pun intended. “No, but I’d like to arrive alive,” he retorted, tightening his fingers around the metal keys. “I was there when your dad and brother attempted – and I use that word loosely – to teach you how to drive. I wouldn’t call what you did back then driving. It was more like riding on a wing and a prayer.”
Sizzle Page 2