“E-commerce,” Jeremy said at last. “I sell products online.”
Lainey seemed entirely unimpressed, which was actually kind of awesome. Maybe Vanessa could learn a thing or two from her stare. “How do you know when something is a good idea?” Lainey asked.
“Well, there are a lot of ways. You can do research on the market. See if there are any companies out there doing the same thing you want to do. You can also start small and do a test on your product or company. But whatever your company does, a good test is to ask yourself if it solves a problem.” Jeremy held up his cupcake, by this time mostly a wrapper. “So, for example, this cupcake solves a few problems. Can anyone give me ideas?”
“It tastes good,” Kate said.
“It makes me not hungry anymore,” Mallory added.
“All those things are true.” Jeremy caught Vanessa’s eye, heating her down to her core. “And it solves the problem of making Miss Vanessa less mad at me for missing last week’s practice. Even though it was an accident.”
Oh dammit. He had to go there. But it was true—she was less mad. Marginally.
She pasted on a smile and climbed to her feet. “It also solves a fourth problem,” she told her girls. “It will make you run faster. Now up and at ’em. We’ve got some work to do.”
“Bye, Kate.” Vanessa waved as the last girl’s car pulled away, then dropped her arms to her sides.
Jeremy had insisted on waiting with her until every girl at the GROW meeting had been picked up, and he cocked his head at her now. He stood close enough that their shoulders nearly brushed and she wanted to lean into him. Warmth radiated from his skin, and he smelled like sunlight and sweat and pine trees, and underneath that like spicy, rich cologne. “Are they always that exhausting?” he asked.
She laughed. “You brought the sugar, not me.” The cupcakes may have had something to do with it, but she suspected the girls had also been showing off for Jeremy. No need to tell him that, though. His ego was already big enough.
“Rookie move.”
She smiled. “You’ll learn. Anyway, you did well today.” He’d kept up with the girls and they, unsurprisingly, still loved him. “Go rest up, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She turned in the direction of the bus stop, and Jeremy caught her arm.
“Wait. Where’s your car?”
She looked at his hand on her skin, and everything from her shoulder to her wrist tingled. She swallowed hard.
Jeremy noticed the way she froze, and he sucked in a deep breath. He lifted his hand, and she jammed her arm into her duffle bag to search for her bus pass. She straightened when her fingers brushed the plastic edge of her card.
“I didn’t bring my car today.”
The cost of parking at Two Union Square was the one downside of working at the X Enterprises headquarters. Despite having a steady paycheck right now, Vanessa couldn’t afford to spend twenty dollars a day just for the convenience of bringing her car.
Jeremy stuck his hands in the pockets of his running shorts, and she trained her gaze on his face, knowing if she looked down, she’d notice the way the fabric pulled tight over his muscles. Dear god.
“Can I give you a ride, Heart?” Jeremy asked. Heart. For Bleeding Heart. This nickname suited her way better than the first one he’d given her, but she told herself it didn’t mean anything. Anyway, she had a ride.
She held up her bus pass, and Jeremy groaned. “Tell me you at least resolved your pepper spray problem,” he said.
“I don’t have a pepper spray problem.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Do you have any?”
“No.”
“Then you have a problem.”
She bit her lip. He was probably right, but she’d deal with it later.
“I’ll walk you to the bus.”
It didn’t seem worth it to argue with him, not with the determined, protective look on his face. Plus, the area by the bus stop could be kind of shady.
They arrived at the bus stop with five minutes to spare, and Vanessa turned to Jeremy. “Now are you sure you’ll be okay getting back to your car?” she teased.
“I’ll be fine. I heard I have big muscles.” He winked.
She shook her head and laughed. Yeah, this was definitely better than arguing with him, better than the way he’d practically ignored her for the last week. She’d thought after he handed her the vibrator that he’d say something more. Instead, he’d uncharacteristically retreated, asking only what was necessary about the Yessir account. And it had made her feel…what? A strange disappointment she couldn’t explain away.
“You definitely have a big something.” The second the words left her mouth she realized her mistake. “Ego! A big ego!” she insisted, clapping a hand over her mouth. But it was too late.
Jeremy shot her a cocky grin. “Speaking of big things.” His voice lowered to a husky growl. “Did you do anything for yourself the way we discussed?”
Of course she had, with very satisfying results. And she’d thought of him while she came. Jeremy was in her mind, irrevocably. Not that she’d ever admit it to him.
Vanessa said nothing, just glanced at the bus as it rumbled to a stop by the curb. Saved by public transit.
Jeremy groaned as she stepped onto the bus without answering, and she smiled to herself. Maybe she should throw the man a bone. She turned to the window and caught Jeremy’s eye, then gave him a saucy wink. It wasn’t a yes or a no, and she hoped it drove him crazy.
Let him think what he wanted. For now, she was keeping this close to the vest.
Chapter 20
It was getting late, and the office was clearing out for the day when Vanessa knocked on the wall outside Jeremy’s open door and stepped into his room. It was Friday, and ever since his last GROW meeting he’d spent the week silently willing her to look his way, to smile at him like she had when she stepped on the bus. That bland, professional expression needed to fall off her face—he wanted her eyes light up for him. And now she was here, trembling in a tight skirt.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Vanessa gave an embarrassed smile, her cheeks flushing the prettiest pink. “Do you mind helping me in the break room for a minute?”
He pushed back from his desk. “Of course.”
He followed her down the hall, watching her skirt hug her ass. She smelled like she did in the back of the Jag—like vanilla and coconut—and he hurried to catch up with her.
In the break room, Vanessa grabbed the coffee pot and filled two mugs. She bent to reach some silverware under the counter, and her ass brushed against his crotch. She stilled for a fraction of a second, feeling his growing hard-on, and he could swear she let out the tiniest moan. Then she pressed against him again for the barest second, harder.
Jeremy inhaled sharply—a quick burst of air that tasted like caffeine and adrenaline and lust. He resisted the urge to grab her hips and lean into her to make her really feel him, but just barely. Vanessa straightened and smiled at him, her blue eyes darkening. She dipped the spoon she had retrieved into a container of sugar, then swirled it into one of the cups.
“I was hoping you could help me with a coffee question, Mr. Glass.”
“Oh?” His lips lifted at the edges. “That’s really what you wanted to ask me?”
She bit the edge of the plastic spoon, drawing it over her lips. He bet she tasted so sweet, and he wanted to slip his tongue inside her mouth and feel her melt against him. “Yes.” Her voice went low and throaty. “Remind me how you take your coffee?” She tilted her head to the side, tracing that spoon down the side of her neck, and his cock twitched against the fabric of his pants. “I like mine thick and hot and creamy.” She smiled suggestively. “Actually, maybe you could help with that part…”
The sharp ring of his alarm snapped Jeremy out of his dream.
Fuck. He rolled over, staring out his window at the Seattle skyline. The gray morning blurred around the outline of metal and glass, giving everything
the same slow-motion feeling as his dream. Vanessa had felt so real he could almost taste her, and his hard-on didn’t know the difference. Between cutting out the “product testers” in his life and this whatever it was with Vanessa, he hadn’t gotten laid in too long. He was hornier than a high schooler, and he wanted to close his eyes and dream her again, picture her wet mouth sucking him into oblivion. He wanted to fist his hands around his cock and stroke until he reached the furthest edges of his pleasure. But he’d set the alarm for a reason. He shouldn’t be late.
Jeremy arrived with five minutes to spare, parking the Jag in his parents’ driveway. Some people bought expensive cars and let them waste away in garage showrooms rather than actually drive them. He was not one of those men. His success came with benefits, and he wasn’t afraid to enjoy them.
At the slam of the car door, his mother looked up from her spot in the yard. “Perfect timing, honey.” Jeremy made his way toward her, accepting the kiss she stamped on his cheek.
“Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.” He handed her a bouquet of her favorite roses and smiled. “What can I help with?”
“Nothing, Jer. I’m just grabbing some rosemary, and I’ll be inside in a second.” His mother held up a pair of garden clippers and shooed him toward the house.
He took a deep breath as he crossed the threshold, the mouthwatering scent of bacon and eggs swirling around him along with the barrage of memories that always came when he visited. Most people would think that the house where all his formative experiences took place would have been the one he grew up in, but instead, it was the rambling Victorian in Queen Anne that his parents bought and restored during the years he was saving cash to invest in X Enterprises. The house had given his mother something to do after his dad made the career jump from policeman to corporate lawyer, a place to sink her energy on all those late nights his dad was studying for the BAR or working late on legal briefs.
Jeremy had been the one to see, firsthand, just how much energy that actually was, helping his mom hang doors and install cabinets, rip out rotten floorboards and lay carpet. Tearing a house to the bones and building it up again was backbreaking work, but he’d secretly loved it. There was something soothing and methodical in the work. It had tired out his body but not his mind, and each time he’d scraped grout between tiles he’d dreamed a little further about what X Enterprises could be.
He didn’t want X Enterprises to be good enough—he wanted it to be massive. If he was going to do this, X Enterprises was going to dominate the industry. He was going to be a mogul. Aim high, and all of that.
Jeremy headed toward the back of the house and knocked on the door of his dad’s office. While his mom had lightened and brightened most of the old house, his dad’s office remained untouched by her handiwork. Instead, it was a dark, formal room filled with wood paneling and built-in bookshelves. Built for intimidation rather than reading, really.
His father bent over a stack of papers on his thick walnut desk. He greeted Jeremy with a grunt but didn’t look up until Jeremy installed himself in the armchair across the table.
“Breakfast almost ready?”
He nodded, studying his dad. He’d come here specifically for this conversation. After all, he’d already started to meet his end of the bargain with Vanessa—why not do the rest?
His dad surveyed him with cold blue eyes, distant behind the barrier of his glasses. “I’ll meet you in the dining room.”
Because it was painful, that’s why. Because the man couldn’t sit in a room with his son without wanting to push him away.
Still, Jeremy wouldn’t let the bastard’s indifference crack him. “I need you to put me in touch with the Chief of Police.” Saying it like that made it seem so nefarious. “Can you get me his number?”
All he needed was an introduction, and he could talk his way into the Campus Victim Advocate position he’d promised Vanessa. Certainly, she had the chops for it. And his dad’s reputation would seal the deal.
His father peered at him over the edge of his glasses. “I trust you’re not in trouble?”
Did he really think so little of his son? “Nothing like that, no. I need to put a friend in touch with him.”
At last, his dad nodded. “I’ll put something together for you.” That could mean today, or it could mean a week from now. Jeremy needed to offer him some incentive to move things along. And his dad loved nothing more than information.
“By the way, I’m in talks with Yessir Unlimited about a possible sale of X Enterprises.”
He wasn’t even sure why he said it. Already it felt like showing too many of his cards. But a small part of him wanted to prove that someone else thought his business had value. Lord knows, his dad had never been the one to congratulate him on anything. When Jeremy dropped out of college, his dad took it as a personal affront, campaigning to get him back to school so he could get a “legitimate” job. Because no matter how many millions Jeremy made, he wasn’t a cop or lawyer serving the greater good of the people.
His dad should hear how many times Jeremy got thanked for the world’s orgasms, personally delivered or otherwise.
“Do you have a contract?”
“Not yet.” Jeremy ran his hands along the edge of the desk before standing to go. “But I’ll bring you one when it’s ready.”
He couldn’t keep sitting in that office as his dad bore judgment, but at the same time, his dad did have a knack for contracts. The truth was when Jeremy developed his first automated fucking machine he went to his dad for patent protection. Jeremy had thought—coming from a guy whose life was protecting other people’s intellectual property—that he’d help out his one and only son. But no. He told Jeremy he’d have no part in it, that he couldn’t risk his colleagues finding out that he was helping put smut on the market.
Jeremy doubted he’d be much more useful when it came to selling X Enterprises, but you never knew.
He strode toward the dining room, where his mother sat staring at the eggs and bacon and waffles arranged in towering stacks on her wedding china. “Come on, Mom. Let’s eat.”
“I don’t want to start without your dad.”
“He's coming.” And if he wasn’t, why did his mom have to pay the price? “Anyway, today is about you.”
The eggs were cold by the time his dad emerged from the office, but he heaped food onto his plate without noticing. He shoved a forkful of bacon in his mouth and glanced at his son. “If you do get an offer, I think you should strongly consider it.”
Jeremy’s mother looked between them. “What’s that?”
“Yessir Unlimited is going to offer to buy Jeremy out of the company.”
“How wonderful.”
“This is just an initial discussion,” Jeremy hedged. “I don’t have an offer just yet.”
“But you will.” His mother passed Jeremy the plate of eggs—he was already on seconds. “And then it’ll be on to the next thing.”
Wasn’t that what every college professor had tried to drill into Jeremy? The goal of entrepreneurs was supposed to be to build businesses, sell them, and build new ones. But it was still hard to imagine what life would be like when he didn’t have X Enterprises.
With this business, he had always been in control. You couldn’t control the outcomes in life, but you could control the efforts you put in. As the boss, he got to make the call when it came to X Enterprises—to decide when they hired people, when they invested in new products, how they marketed. He thrived under the pressure, loved making the choices. He loved knowing the risks and playing the game. Selling his company would mean giving up that control. And despite Piers’s comments, he wasn’t about to retire at thirty. That would be too much of a mindfuck.
“Maybe you could find a nice girl,” his mom suggested hopefully.
Jeremy glanced at her in surprise. She’d never voiced her opinion, one way or another, on the fact that he’d never brought anyone home to meet her other than his ex. Before he could help himself, his mind fla
shed to Vanessa and last night’s erotic dream.
She wasn’t his, but she was starting to play his game. He couldn’t help feeling possessive of her—like she was something precious he’d discovered and wanted to keep for himself. Her tease about the vibrator hadn’t been fair, though he suspected she’d used it after all. One of these days he was going to make her use that sweet voice to tell him about it in explicit detail. For work purposes, of course.
“Maybe,” he conceded, pasting on a smile to please his parents. Maybe he’d find a nice girl. Maybe not. Anything was possible, no matter how unlikely. But first, he needed to get that damn phone number from his dad. He knew of one particular nice girl who’d be oh so angry if he didn’t come through in the end.
Chapter 21
The Sales team trailed out of the morning meeting, growing excitement in the air. Just today Jeremy had announced their wearable vibrators had begun rolling off the production line. It was one thing to have gotten preorders, but now they could sell the actual things.
“Ooh, someone got a package.” Julie nodded at the box that had appeared on Vanessa’s desk while she’d sat in the meeting.
Sean approached the table. “A package or…a package?”
Vanessa groaned. They worked at a sex toy company—innuendo was the norm. By now she’d learned to tease Sean back. “Guess it depends what’s inside.”
She reached to open the box before swiftly realizing there could be anything inside. What if this was another sex toy for her to try? Was this going to blow her cover? She blushed, shifting her shoulders to block their view. Because of course her coworkers were watching.
A small metal canister rolled into Vanessa’s palm, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Not a sex toy, then, unless they were disguising them as pepper spray these days.
Julie raised her eyebrows. “Looks like you have a fairy godmother.”
“Or something,” she murmured, knowing exactly who had left the gift. There was no note to accompany the pepper spray, but it didn’t need one.
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