by K. A. Linde
I might have dated a Wright in high school, but I hadn’t had this. At that time, their father had been wealthy. But I hadn’t understood money then. I hadn’t realized what it meant the same way that I did now when I didn’t have any. With Jensen, it was clear, the power and prestige that came with that kind of wealth. He made things happen. And he didn’t even bat an eyelash.
The town car dropped us off in front of campus, and I was ready to show him around, but I could already feel myself crashing. Early mornings were not my thing.
“Coffee first?” I suggested.
“Definitely.”
We traipsed across the street to my favorite local coffee shop. I’d been there about a million times since it was such a short walk from Garrison Hall where the history department was held. The next closest shop was a Starbucks, but in Austin, local was king. Especially when it came to coffee…and tacos.
My heart felt giddy as we approached the building with sleek black tables on the outside, already half-abandoned since school was out. Only a few people were still hanging out. We breezed in through the front door, and I breathed in the scent of the coffee brewing. I could already taste my favorite latte on my tongue.
Then, it all turned to ash.
My feet stopped moving.
Jensen took two steps ahead of me before realizing I had stopped entirely.
But I couldn’t look away from what was in front of my face.
It hadn’t occurred to me at all that Mitch might be here.
“What’s wrong?” Jensen asked. He took one giant stride to appear before me. “Hey, tell me what’s going on.”
“Emery,” Mitch said over Jensen’s shoulder.
Jensen whipped around and took stock of the man standing before him. Mitch was about average height with slicked back long blond hair. He wore a black suit jacket with jeans. I had always thought he looked so sharp, and knowing the intelligence under the persona was even more appealing. But, seeing him now next to Jensen, I realized that Mitch looked cheap and grungy.
Cool professor, he might be.
Sexy CEO of a Fortune 500, he was not.
Jensen seemed to put the pieces together almost instantly. He bristled with barely concealed anger and tried to shield me from Mitch. “Let’s just go somewhere else.”
“It’s okay,” I said, finding my voice. I put my hand on his sleeve. “This is my favorite coffee shop.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
I nodded, and Jensen instantly backed off. But he was still tense and looked ready to pounce if Mitch came any closer.
“I’m so glad you’re back. I knew you would be,” Mitch said with a confident smile.
He took a couple of more steps and then tried to pull me in for a hug. I stumbled backward in shock and revulsion.
How could he think I would want to touch him after what he had done?
Before I even had a chance to speak, Jensen crushed his hand on Mitch’s shoulder to keep him from getting near me again. He was boiling over.
“Don’t lay a hand on her,” Jensen growled. He gave a little shove and then released Mitch.
Mitch looked him over, as if he hadn’t noticed him. Jensen stretched even taller and broader than normal. He was all testosterone and aggression. Mitch had his classic sly grin in place. He was assessing the situation but not to size Jensen up…just to belittle him with his eyes.
“Always nice to meet a friend of Emery’s,” Mitch said, sliding a hand back through his hair. “I’m her dissertation adviser, Dr. Mitch Campbell.” As if Jensen hadn’t just pushed him away from me, he held out his hand.
Jensen coldly stared down at it. “I know who you are.”
“And you’re not my dissertation adviser,” I cut in. “I quit the program.”
Mitch laughed and waved his hand like he was brandishing a magic wand that could make it all better. “You were just upset that day. I told the department to dismiss the withdrawal paperwork, and I had you reinstated. I knew you’d want to finish up. You only have another year.”
My jaw nearly hit the floor when the words tumbled out of his mouth. “You did what?”
“The department seemed confused that you would up and leave out of nowhere. As was I, Emery,” Mitch said. “I don’t know what you think happened or what you think you were doing by leaving, but it’s over now. You don’t have to be so irrational about it all. I’ve fixed it for you.”
“What I think happened?” I sneered.
“Gaslighting,” Jensen said under his breath. “Priceless.”
“I don’t even have time to listen to this,” I said with fury in my voice. “I know what happened. I know what you did to me. And I am leaving the program. I cannot believe you went behind my back to toss out the paperwork I’d filed.”
“Emery,” he said, stepping toward me again.
“Stop.”
“You heard her,” Jensen said. He moved in between us. “The last thing you want to do right now is make a scene. The last thing you want is for me to take this up with the president or the provost. I happen to be on a first-name basis with both.”
“Are you threatening me?” Mitch asked.
“Depends on whether or not you walk out of here right now.”
“Who is this guy, Emery?”
“He’s my…” I began and then trailed off.
What was Jensen?
“Boyfriend,” Jensen filled in.
My eyebrows rose dramatically. Boyfriend? Whoa! Whoa! Where had that come from? My mouth was open slightly, and I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what to say. Not that I didn’t like the phrase rolling off his tongue, but I hadn’t even known what we were doing. I hadn’t known where this was going.
Now, he was claiming me.
Jensen Wright was claiming me.
“Boyfriend,” Mitch said. He seemed to weigh his options. He faced me, but I narrowed my eyes in warning. “Well, that was fast.”
“Not fast enough,” I muttered.
“Why am I not surprised?” Mitch said, reaching for his trendy leather messenger bag. “You always did like to be a kept woman.”
I winced at his assessment as he brushed past Jensen and out the door. Shots had been fired. And I’d let him have the last word. Ass.
“Emery…”
“Let’s just get some coffee,” I whispered. My head was spinning. Between the confrontation with Mitch and Jensen claiming he was my boyfriend, I needed a second to think.
“I didn’t mean to spring that on you,” he said. He sounded sheepish.
I glanced up at him and saw that he actually did look sheepish.
“I meant for the whole thing to be romantic. To take you out to dinner and ask you over candlelight if you’d be my girlfriend. Then, it just kind of slipped out.”
“Oh,” I said softly. “Wow.”
“I know it’s fast and that I have a lot to tell you, but I want you to be mine.” He reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair out of my face. “I can’t get you out of my head, and I don’t want you out. So, do you want to be my girlfriend?”
I laughed abruptly, and then it suddenly poured out of me. This was so formal. So controlled. So purposeful.
“What?” Jensen asked. His body became guarded, as if preparing for the fallout.
“You really aren’t like any other guy, are you?”
He arched an eyebrow in question.
“Most guys are too busy trying to keep girls dangling on the line, but you just come right out and say you want a relationship.”
“I’m a businessman. I say what I want, I negotiate for it, and then I take it. I don’t want to lead you on.”
“I like that.”
He beamed.
“And I like that you said you were my boyfriend.”
“Good,” he said, drawing me in for a kiss. “Does that make you my girlfriend?”
“I guess it does.”
Twenty
Jensen
I left Emery at the university to han
dle the remainder of her school issues. I hadn’t wanted to abandon her when that prick was nearby, but she’d promised she would be fine. She’d claimed that Mitch was more bark than he was bite. After getting a good look at him, I had to agree. Though it didn’t make me feel any better.
Time and time again, I had claimed that I wasn’t a violent man. I’d been tested on that twice before.
One time, I’d failed.
One time, I’d succeeded.
This time, I had come so close to losing it and beating the ever-loving shit out of the skeezy, conniving bastard. My hands had fisted, aching to blacken his eyes and rearrange his face.
But I knew that wasn’t what Emery wanted. Also, I had a company to think about, and assault charges never looked good in the media. In the end though, threatening him with administration interference had been enough to send him packing. Couldn’t even stand up to me like a man. Even without knowing who I was, he had known, if I put some weight behind it, I could get him fired for what he had done to Emery and the handful of other girls he’d seduced in his time as a professor. With my blood boiling as it was, I had half a mind to make the call.
Luckily for him, I had a business meeting that I had to get to. I would have to deal with him later.
I stormed into the Tarman Corporation headquarters like a thundercloud.
A bunch of hurried receptionists teetered out of my way with a squeaked, “Hello, Mr. Wright.”
All I had to do was shake hands, sign some paperwork, and then dismantle the Austin-based corporation I’d been trying to get my hands on for years. They were Wright Construction’s biggest competitor, and now was the time for it to all get finalized. As our motto said, What’s Wright Is Right.
“Gentlemen, lady,” I said with a brief acknowledgment to Abigail Tarman, the only woman in the room, “let’s begin.”
I settled in for the long haul. I knew they wouldn’t let this go easily. The owner was the son of my father’s biggest adversary. We were about the same age and had attended Texas Tech at the same time. Then, we had each thought we would outgrow our respective father’s ambitions. We’d both be architects and reshape the industry. It hadn’t worked out that way. It had been way more fucked up than that.
“Marc,” I said, holding my hand out to the current Mr. Tarman himself.
“Jensen,” he said blandly.
He shook my hand, and we each squeezed tighter than we had to.
“Shall we?” Marc asked, gesturing to the long rectangular table in the center of the room.
“I believe we shall.”
I stalked to the front of the room and took my seat across from Marc. The negotiations had been over weeks ago, but I knew that he wouldn’t let me off this easily. I had been slowly eroding his company over the course of the last five years. I’d have loved to see it burn to the ground already, but it was better this way. Sweeter.
It was hours before I officially signed. I had known Marc would take me through the wringer, and I hadn’t been disappointed. But I signed the last piece of paper with a flourish. Watching Marc hand over the company to me was perfection. I passed the paperwork to my lawyer to review one last time and then to file.
“Good doing business with you,” I said with a smirk.
“I wish I could say the same to you,” Marc said with barely concealed animosity.
“Now, now, Marcus,” his younger sister, Abigail, said. “Would you care to join us for dinner, Jensen?”
“I have to decline. But thank you, Abby.”
“Jensen, come on. I insist. We’ve known each other too long for it to all end this way.”
My eyes cut to Marc’s. “I have my…girlfriend with me.”
Marc seemed to perk up with both shock and confusion at that statement. “Girlfriend? That’s a new one.”
“Marcus,” Abigail snapped. “Your girlfriend is welcome to come, Jensen. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“All right. Let me let her know. She’s at the hotel.”
“Why don’t we pick her up on the way?” Abigail suggested.
Marc looked like it was quite literally the last thing he wanted to do. I couldn’t agree more. But, if it made Marc uncomfortable, then I was in for it.
I took out my phone and clicked over to Messages, only to realize I’d missed two in the midst of the negotiations. I gritted my teeth.
Vanessa. Goddamn woman had the worst fucking timing.
Don’t do this.
You don’t have to sign that paperwork today. Your father wouldn’t have wanted this.
I clenched my jaw, willing myself not to show any emotions in front of the Tarmans. They fed on it. Vanessa bringing up my father was a low blow, and she knew it.
I responded shortly.
Signed, sealed, delivered.
Then, I erased her messages and pulled up Emery’s number, letting her know that I would be picking her up at the hotel for dinner with the Tarmans.
We’re going to dinner with the people who owned the company you just purchased? What should I wear?
Something sexy as hell. See you in fifteen.
I retreated to the lobby with Marc and Abigail. Marc was on his phone in deep conversation with someone who he probably cared very little about. Any excuse not to have to talk to me any longer. And I was grateful.
Abigail could field the tension like a professional.
“Who is the new girl, Jensen?” she asked.
“She’s recently moved to town. Was a PhD student here at UT before coming back to Lubbock.”
Abigail’s eyebrows rose. She knew my policy as well as anyone. “An in-town girl? Why, you never fail to surprise me.”
I shrugged. “She’s worth it.”
“And does she know?”
My eyes shot to her hazel ones. They were searching and curious. Abigail knew too much about me and my family. I suddenly had a bad feeling about bringing Emery to this dinner.
“She doesn’t,” Abigail said as a matter of fact. “God help you with Marc here.”
I ignored Abigail’s comment and slid into the limousine that the Tarmans had waiting. It was a bit ostentatious for the circumstances, but I had just paid them a small fortune for the company. They could afford it for now.
We pulled up in front of the hotel a short while later, and Emery was standing there, dressed to kill. I didn’t know how she had managed it in the short time I’d given her, but she was in a stunning red cocktail dress and pumps. Her hair was swept off her face, and she had on cherry-red lipstick. A color that had me thinking a million dirty thoughts at once. Like what that color would taste like. And how nice it would look around my dick.
I stepped out of the back to open the door for her, and she practically glowed when she saw me.
“A limo?” she asked.
“A bit much?”
“Or just enough,” she countered.
“You seem like you’re in a better mood than when I left you.”
“Well, I got all that nasty business resolved, and now, I’m with you again.”
I slid my arm around her waist and placed a deep kiss on her lips. She leaned into me, both of us forgetting all about her red lipstick. She laughed when she leaned back and smudged a spot off my mouth.
“Come on, Jensen,” Abigail called from the door.
“We have to talk,” I whispered into Emery’s ear as she moved to pass me into the limo. Her eyes shot to mine in confusion. “I just have to…tell you some things. Ignore Marc.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll explain.”
Emery slid into the limo, and I cursed, wishing I’d had more time to clarify everything. I hoped Marc could keep a lid on his anger for a whole dinner without ruining it for everyone.
Emery was already introducing herself to Abigail and Marc as I hopped back into the limo, and it zoomed away.
“Ah,” Marc said, looking Emery up and down, “you don’t seem the type.”
Emery’s
lips pursed. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing,” Abigail interjected. “Ignore my brother. He’s in a foul mood.”
I knew that Emery was frustrated when her eyes slid to me. I hated that look. She was wary and had her guard up again. I didn’t want to blindside her, but I had to say something about Marc.
“I just mean that you’re the girl of the weekend, right?” Marc asked. His eyes were mirthless. He seemed happy to taunt her, even before we made it to the restaurant.
“Marc!” Abigail cried.
“Just let it be, Marc,” I growled.
“What exactly does that mean?” Emery asked.
He chose to respond only to her, “You know…the fling he has when he’s out of town. You must realize that you’re it.”
“I’ll have you know,” she spat, “I know all about his reputation, and I don’t appreciate your insinuation that I’m that kind of girl. Jensen and I are together. This isn’t a one-time thing. And who the hell are you to even say something like that to me?”
I nearly choked on my own laughter at Marc’s bewildered face.
“Just an old family friend,” Marc said. “Tell me everything about yourself. How did you manage to catch Jensen’s eye and keep it? I thought only one person was capable of that.”
Emery frowned as she mulled over what Marc had said, and I realized it was an absolutely horrid idea to have brought her along. Marc was a snake, and I had released her into the viper’s den.
“Blow jobs,” she said quite calmly.
Marc sputtered and then started laughing. “You surprise me.”
I couldn’t help myself; I laughed with him. Man, this girl. She is…perfect.
“Also, I’m completely irresistible,” Emery continued.
“I have no doubt,” Marc agreed. His eyes swept up her bare legs and then back to her face. “No doubt at all.”
I possessively wrapped an arm around her tense shoulders and leaned her back into me. As far away from Marc as possible. He shot me a look full of questions that I was all too aware of. I just wanted to enjoy this night, and somehow, I’d been left with this.
We all piled out of the limousine when it pulled up to the restaurant entrance. Abigail dragged Marc inside for their table, but Emery drew me aside before we entered the room.