Playboy Boss

by Roe Valentine

  The breath hitched in her throat. Oh God. That stare. Eyes shifting down, she busied herself with the folders. “What’s this meeting for?”

  “Ortho-Sync, the medical device manufacturing company, is interested in making a bid for the EaDo property.” He pulled out two chairs next to each other. “I want them to buy the property.”

  Scottie’s gaze danced over his fingers, which were curled over the backs of the slate-gray ergonomic chairs. Those fingers… “Okay.”

  Two hours later at five o’clock, when the other employees were calling it a day, Scottie continued to type on Konrad’s laptop as he spoke. She’d created the presentation live, feeding off his energy. But one thing came to mind. “This is the same property that Bayou Sling Brewery bid on.”

  He’d run his fingers through his hair multiple times by that point. “Correct. But they can’t compete with Ortho-Sync. They don’t have enough investors to pull in the two million. Close, but not close enough.”

  Scottie glanced back at the computer screen in quiet contemplation. “You won’t consider it?”

  Suddenly, Konrad moved across the room fast and opened a drawer in his desk to rummage through it. Then he emptied out all three drawers and reassembled them again. “God, I thought I remembered where I’d left my Richard Mille watch. But no … I guess not.”

  “You lost it?”

  His hand gripped the back of his neck. “I have no idea where I left it.” He walked back to the round table. “It’s such a sad shame because it’s my favorite watch.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out for it.”

  His lips slightly curled up in a smile. “Thank you.” As he sat next to her again, the skin on his arm touched hers, singeing her, but she didn’t pull away.

  What were they talking about? With Konrad so close to her, she couldn’t focus. All she wanted to do was lean in, kiss him as she had when they were last alone in his office. When he’d had her naked.

  Konrad cleared his throat, startling her from her reverie. “No, I can’t.”

  Scottie averted her gaze to the laptop keyboard, her mind on their conversation they’d had in the morning. Had he read her mind? Embarrassed, she said in haste, “Yeah, I know you can’t. You don’t have to say it again”

  The moment he touched her wrist, she stopped typing. “What do you mean, again? I know for a fact the property can get much more. So no, I can’t consider it.”

  Warming with even more embarrassment, she remembered her question about Bayou Sling Brewery. I’m such an idiot.

  “Oh. Sorry. I was thinking of something else. Sorry.” Changing the subject, she continued, “Will you let them try to outbid Ortho-Sync if they can get more investors?”

  “Of course. This is business after all. But I know they’ve tapped out and won’t get the capital.”

  Scottie looked him square in the eyes when she’d contained herself. “Maybe you shouldn’t underestimate them.” She might have been thinking about herself, and not just the Bayou Sling Brewery.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Konrad glanced outside the window. Dark sky and downtown lights streamed through his office. It was nearly nine in the evening. Long day indeed. Scottie typed away, the clicks grating on his nerves. How had he managed to keep his hands off her when she’d been not even a foot from him for hours on end?

  He gazed at her, her lips bare and her hair tucked behind her ears. He imagined for hours what her bra looked like under her red dress. Lace. Mesh. Satin. He liked it all, but he’d like it more if she didn’t have on a bra. Or panties either.

  Aroused again, he needed to stop thinking about her in such terms. She was not an object for him to lust over. Dear God, he wanted to objectify her, though. But in a good way, if that was possible.

  “I think this calls for a drink, yeah?” Konrad stood, walking to his desk. He’d bought a bottle of scotch from Hugo’s after he’d had lunch with Dallas. The one he’d told Scottie about.

  “Sure.” The keyboard clicks followed that single word.

  Excitement rushed through him. Taking two glasses from his bar on the way back to the table, he said, “I have a surprise for you.”

  Head tilted, eyes narrowed, she asked, “You do?”

  “I do.” Once he’d returned, he placed the glasses on the table, the satin bag still in the other hand. “Remember when I told you Hugo’s has the best scotch?”

  “Yes.” Her eyes focused on the satin bag he’d opened.

  “I present to you…” Konrad slipped out the smooth, thick square glass bottle. “…Mortlach twenty-five year. It is my absolute favorite.”

  Her eyes widened. “That’s the twenty-five year?”

  “It better be the twenty-five year!” He laughed, setting the bottle next to the glasses.

  “That must have been expensive.”

  He shrugged. “Some things are worth the price tag.” He’d paid a much heftier price for the bottle since it wasn’t from the auction where he normally bought all his scotch and wine.

  She took the glass Konrad handed her, her face slack in contemplation. “You like buying things for people, don’t you?”

  True, he did spend a good amount of money on friends and non-friends alike. It was how he expressed himself, good or bad. It was how his father expressed himself as well. Money and things always pleased people. Positive reinforcement was what his father had called it.

  “It’s always a crowd-pleaser.”

  He poured the amber liquid in Scottie’s glass until it was an inch high.

  “Is that what you want? To please the crowd?” She lifted the glass to her nose and sniffed.

  He poured more than an inch in his glass. “Don’t you like being pleased?”

  Their eyes met. Nothing could be heard except their breathing.

  “Is that a real question?” Scottie’s voice was a near whisper.

  Konrad had affected her. He could see it in her darkened eyes, her quivering lips. How he wanted to take that lip between his teeth and tug until she moaned.

  “Tell me. Does this scotch please you?” Dangerous ground. He should not have asked that question. It wouldn’t lead him anywhere safe, but he didn’t want to play it safe. He wanted to go on impulse, not reason. Hadn’t he learned his lesson? Clearly, not.

  Her eyelids fluttered down to the glass. She hesitated before sipping the liquid, her cheeks flushed pink. It was getting a bit hot in the office. Everyone had left by then, and the air-conditioning had been turned up to seventy-five degrees by default.

  He waited, watching her lips press together. A tiny curve formed on her lips, and he knew she was pleased. No words necessary.

  “Yes.” She placed the glass on the table. “This is the best I’ve ever had.”

  The best I’ve ever had. She might have been talking about his cock and not the scotch by the way she looked at him. His lust was off the charts, and he wanted to be the best she’d ever had in bed. He wanted to be the best kisser she’d ever had. He wanted to have the biggest cock she’d ever had. He wanted to go down on her and give her the best orgasm she’d ever had.

  He looked away, placing the glass on the table as well. Get it together, Korr. What had they just talked about that morning? But his desire for her was too strong at that point. It was a growing force that could take over at any second.

  “Konrad?” She appeared concerned and drew closer to him. Her high heels tapped lightly against the tiles. “Are you okay?”

  “No.” He was surprised by his answer.

  Her warm fingers wrapped around his bicep. “Why?”

  He met her wide eyes, taking in her beautiful face centimeter by centimeter. The makeup had worn off and she was more beautiful than ever. “You have no idea what you do to me, Scottine. No idea how much I’ve had to control myself being so close. I have no idea how my goddamn penis hasn’t torn through my trousers the whole time we’ve been in here.”

  She gasped, removing her fingers from him. “But you said—”

&
nbsp; He scrubbed his hair with one hand. “I know what I said. And I still say it.”

  “And I still agree,” she quickly added.

  But he didn’t still say it. And he knew she didn’t still agree.

  “It’s late,” he said. “We should call all this to a halt and start up early on Monday morning.”

  “O-okay.” Her footsteps sounded again as she gathered her things from the round table.

  Konrad walked over to his desk, a gargantuan sigh escaping him. His emotions roiled inside him. He’d need to drink the whole bottle of Mortlach once she left.

  “I’m leaving now.” Scottie approached him minutes later, her hands full and her face empty.

  “Good night, then. Have a nice weekend.” The ache inside him grew.

  She nodded and a slow-motion pivot followed as she went for the door.

  Konrad never disregarded his decisions concerning women, but the urge to have her moved him to defy himself. He reached for her wrist before she turned away from him. Her arms flailed, dropping folders to the floor.

  Without a word, he pulled her into him, their eyes fusing. Before he knew it, their lips slammed into a violent kiss that forced them both to their knees

  Chapter Eighteen

  Scottie let Konrad kiss her. She wanted it just as much as he did, despite what they’d said. It felt too good to deny him.

  His hands explored her back and her ass with the expertise she’d experienced before. Before they could go further down the lust hole, he pushed her away, startling her.

  Breathless, he said, “Well, I obviously can’t control myself.”

  “Obviously.” Scottie held her breath, her mind reeling.

  “I should fire myself.” There was an uncertainly in his voice that she’d never heard before. He seemed completely perplexed, unhinged.

  “I agree.” Could they just be normal again? Like they were when she first walked into Korr Properties?

  He trailed his fingertips up her arm until he reached her throat, his thumb settling in the dip at her throat. “I don’t know what to do from here.”

  Scottie’s heart raced. Oh God. She didn’t know either.

  He lifted his head, his gaze meeting hers, his hand dropping. “We are attracted to each other. That’s more than obvious.”

  She didn’t say a word. Everything was getting complicated. He was too tender in that moment, and she wanted him to be an asshole. Fire her, maybe. Something to make her not like him, not want him anymore.

  “You’re not my type.” Scottie pressed her lips together, though her heart soared at the way his eyes gleamed at her. “I’m not into players.”

  “And you shouldn’t be.”

  What the hell was this conversation? He should have left her alone. They needed to leave each other alone. End of story.

  “Can I buy you dinner?”

  Seriously? Had he just asked her on a date?

  “Okay,” she said, going against her inner voice. So much for leaving each other alone.

  Thirty minutes later, at almost ten at night, they snagged a table at Uchi, a trendy sushi place in lower Montrose. Yet another place she’d never been to. Did he always take his women to posh restaurants? Not that she was his woman. Or his anything.

  Scottie was glad she’d worn her best fitted dress to work that day. At least she was dressed for the restaurant.

  “Have you been here?” Konrad brushed a rogue wave from her forehead, her whole body tingling at his touch.

  She glanced to the side because his action felt too intimate for a public place. She didn’t expect him to touch her at all in front of people. “No, I haven’t.”

  “But you like sushi, yeah?”

  Nodding, Scottie looked at the approaching hostess who gazed at Konrad. No question the hostess liked what she saw. Every woman in the restaurant did. Konrad was one of those men who made heads turn, made married women question their fidelity.

  “This way, Mr. Korr.” His name sounded odd on the hostess’s lips. Insinuating as if she knew him, or knew of him.

  They followed her to the corner of the restaurant near the end of the bar. It was the most secluded part of the restaurant. Scottie sat with her back to everyone. Her focus was Konrad.

  “It’s quiet back here.” She set down her purse next to her on the wooden bench of the intimate booth for two.

  “Like it’s just the two of us in the whole world.” He winked at her.

  Her stomach fluttered. Why did he have to torture her? Would she survive this dinner? This whole damn thing?

  “We would probably tire of each other if that was true.” She took one of the two menus the hostess had left on the table.

  He laughed. “You would probably tire of me first.”

  She gazed at his beautiful face. Impossible. “Probably.”

  Another laugh fell from his lips, the lips she couldn’t stop looking at. The ones that kissed her in a way that no one else had. He looked up from the menu to meet her eyes. “You wouldn’t be the first.”

  Scottie hated that statement. No, she wasn’t his first anything. She understood what he was. “Do you pick women who would tire of you?”

  He leaned back. “What kind of question is that?”

  Scottie shrugged. “I’m curious.”

  “Didn’t curiosity kill that cat?” A smirk lifted the side of his mouth. Clearly, he didn’t want to have a serious conversation, not about his choice in women at least.

  Maybe that was for the best. She didn’t really want to know about him and other women. She’d had her fill of it already.

  She shook her head, not knowing where to go from there. Distracting herself from the issue of their attraction to each other, she scanned the menu, deciding on a sake cocktail. Alcohol might not be a good idea, but she needed some kind of liquid courage to continue in the casual way he insisted upon. She could not be casual, and she worried what that would mean for her gainful temporary employment. But even more, what would it mean for her heart?

  “Scottie,” he said, his deep voice thrumming through her ears. Her gaze zeroed in on his partially opened mouth. Though the act was quick, Scottie imagined he swiped his tongue along his bottom lip in slow motion. He continued to speak. “I like you.”

  “Oh…”

  “I’ve never done this with an employee.”

  “I’m not your employee.” She said it to remind herself, but what difference would that make?

  “Fine. With someone who works with me.”

  She averted her eyes to the menu again. Why did he have to look at her like that? Like he was being honest, and not running a line.

  “Scottie?”

  She met his gaze.

  “I want you to know that. You are the only one.” Blue eyes glittered from the candlelight flickering in the center of the table.

  The waitress interrupted them at the perfect time. Scottie was at a loss for words. Konrad had been too gentle. Her feelings mattered to him. She could see it plain as day.

  But then what? How would they stop the attraction between them? Because it was there more than before. She felt it in her bones, like a vibration inside her.

  “Have you decided on a cocktail? Maybe a glass of sake or wine?” The waitress kept a steady gaze on Konrad.

  Does she know him?

  Konrad looked at Scottie, moving his hand across the table to touch hers. “Would you like to get a bottle of sake?”

  Warmth of his touch spread through her fingers. “Uh … sure. Okay.”

  He smiled, his gaze moving back to the waitress, who frowned then. “We’ll take the premium Ginjo sake. Chilled.”

  “Of course.” The waitress turned away, her topknot swaying with her sharp departure.

  Konrad watched the waitress leave, his gaze on her back. Not gawking or obscene.

  “She likes you.” Scottie pulled his eyes to her.

  Chuckling, he said, “I’m sure she likes everyone in her table section.”

  “She must reall
y like this table.”

  Konrad looked her square in the eyes. “You’re jealous.”

  Heat crawled up her body. “Not at all. I’ve been on that ride.”

  His eyebrows raised. “And it was the best ride you’ve ever been on. I was there, remember? I heard the panting.”

  Her cheeks burned with embarrassment and remembrance. Konrad was crass enough to go there. She should’ve remembered it when she wanted to push his buttons. But he was right. It was the best ride she’d ever been on, and she wanted to get on again.

  Scottie averted her gaze. “You’ll never know for sure.”

  “Perhaps.” He said it as if they weren’t over, as if their tryst was to be continued despite what they’d agreed on.

  “Perhaps?” She couldn’t let it go.

  Their eyes met again. All the lust that was between them drew them in. She was paralyzed with his magnetic eyes. His pull. Her desire to have him again. Regret would come either way if she went along with her feelings.

  Plump lips curled up at her, beckoning her. “Perhaps.”

  They were not over. Nothing was more evident. They were, in fact, still very much on.

  “Should we even be here?” Scottie was breathless. “I don’t know what we’re doing here, Konrad.”

  “Having a meal. We have to eat, don’t we?” His lips rested together with such ease that she felt even more uneasy.

  “You know that’s not what I mean.” Maybe she should just shut up and enjoy it. She did have fun with him when they were like this, playing and teasing each other. But her heart might make it something it wasn’t. Obviously, it already had.

  Konrad reached over the small table, setting his hand over hers in one of the endless ways he insisted on touching her. “Can’t you just enjoy dinner with me?”

  “How?” She lifted her thumb, moving it over the smooth skin of his forefinger. She had to touch him back.

  The silence took her. Nothing penetrated the wall they’d built around them in that small corner booth.

  He chuckled low. “I don’t know. Just eat and drink and enjoy it.” He slid his hand up her wrist and over her forearm. His palm dwarfed her. She felt absolutely tiny against him.