Gideon growled again. “I would like to get this to the fourth floor and then beat the living hell out of you, Jake.”
“I’ll sue you,” Jake offered with a flippant gesture that only Jake could pull off with such flare and style.
The muscles in Gideon’s neck worked overtime. I knew if he could get his hands on Jake, he really would strangle him for a good few seconds before they were laughing and carrying on again. “And I’ll fuck up the meds I prescribe you next time you’re sick. How’s a little birth control sound? Having issues with feminine itch? Oh, what? You have flames shooting out of your dick?”
Rolling my eyes, I put my hand out to the sexy man staring at me on the step and offered him a smile. “I’m sorry. This is what happens when you take a doctor and a lawyer too far from home. If you give us a minute to get the sofa upstairs, I’ll get you what you need to replace the outfit and I’ll still have this one cleaned for you.”
He shook his head, taking my hand and standing slowly. Warmth spread up my arm from his touch and my nipples hardened almost instantly. “No. It’s fine.”
Yes, you are.
“Wonderful, can we please get this up the stairs?” Gideon smiled at me and glanced at the sofa. “You would buy this before you moved. Couldn’t you buy it once you got here?”
My jaw dropped. “Excuse me but you bought that for me. You and your shadow,” I pointed at Jake, “insisted on it.”
“In our defense, Devan, we did break your other ones,” Jake said, running his hands through his shaggy hair.
“The idea of three grown men going at it like school boys had to be a sight to see. And for the record, you three trashed my entire lower level.”
Jake glanced at Gideon nervously. “Yeah, school boys.”
“Gideon, tell me you didn’t go all Bruce Lee on him. You’re thirty-four. You could hurt yourself.” I let out a soft laugh. “You already had Jake helping you out. What more did you need?”
Jake cleared his throat. “Umm, Devan, I was actually trying get Gideon under control. I wasn’t helping beat the crap out of anyone. I didn’t think you wanted to have to visit your brother in prison or see his career get flushed down the shitter. I can get him off of just about any charge. Murder isn’t one of them.”
I glanced at the sexy man. “One second.” I ran down the stairs, kicked my slip-on white tennis shoes off, hopped onto the sofa and walked across it to get to Gideon. Tossing my arms around his thick neck, I hugged him tight as I kissed his cheek. “I love you even though you made my ass hurt for a week.”
As I pulled back, I found his eye glistening. He nodded and kissed my forehead. “Promise you’ll call every day, Devan. Twice a day even. Maybe I should get you a cell phone that you can leave on all the time. Yeah, that might work. Like an intercom or something.”
Drawing back, I knew he was fighting tears and Gideon was a big guy who didn’t cry. I wagged my brows as I looked him up and down. “Hey, Jake.”
“Yeah.”
“Picture Gideon in a prison uniform. He’d no longer need me to buy all of his clothes so he matches. Plus, he’d land a boyfriend in about two seconds.” I instantly launched into Jailhouse Rock doing my best Elvis. I rotated my hips and curled my lip not caring who saw me do it.
Gideon put his hand over my mouth. I continued to sing into it, sounding muffled and still not caring. He shook his head and laughed. “Jake, get the tape. She’s back with a vengeance. If she starts laughing so hard she can’t breathe I’m going down to the corner bar and grabbing a beer. I might need two. No fear. She’ll still be laughing when I get back.”
My cell phone rang. I put my hand out to Jake who had my phone on his hip. “Devan, that ring means work, so don’t panic. It’s not an emergency.”
“You don’t say. Gee, it’s only my cell phone. The one I programmed the rings into.” I kept shaking my hips as I took the phone from him. I opened it. “Devan Charter.”
Gideon growled. “It’s Devan Seward now.”
“Everyone there knows her as Charter. It’s easier for her to let it stay that way,” Jake said, in a hushed tone.
“Fuck easier. She is divorced,” my brother snapped. “I’ll put it on a billboard for her.”
I pointed at him. He shut up.
“Ah, Devan, I’m glad I caught you.”
The sound of Chas Martins’ voice made my eyes roll. “Mr. Martins, I didn’t realize we were on a first name basis now.”
Jake poked my arm lightly and smiled. “Is that dickhead? Dev, if it is you have to put the guy on speakerphone. Gideon never believes me when I tell him about the lounge lizard who keeps trying to get you to work for him.” He clasped his hands together and dropped to his knees. “Please, it’s funny as hell. Plus, Gideon never gets to hear you be a bitch for real. The man thinks you have no spine. Show him.”
My eyes bulged as I stared down at Jake. I nodded. “Mr. Martins, I’m currently knee deep in Open to Buy reports so I need to put you on speaker phone.”
“Certainly, I understand how that is.”
I hit the button and held the phone out. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“You can start by calling me Chas. We’ve known one another for over five years. It’s safe to say we can be on a first name basis, Devan. I consider you a friend and friends tend to share many things, including casual conversation.”
Jake grinned.
I bit back a laugh. “I’m well aware of what friends share. What I’m not sure of is the reasoning behind your call. If you are implying this is casual then I should remind you I’m on company time here.” I crossed my fingers and shoved them in Jake’s face. He laughed, planted a tiny kiss on them and stood quickly.
Chas sighed. “You do like to make it difficult for me. That is exactly the attitude I want my consultants to have, Devan.”
“Hmm, calling competitor’s top executives while they are working, to attempt to persuade them to join the team, is the absolute last sort of practice I want the company I’m with participating in. It sort of screams unprofessional. And we are all professionals here, right, Mr. Martins?”
I’d built an empire, being a Jill-of-all-trades in matters of marketing consultations. If someone had a business problem, I generally had a solution. Martins operated the same way. He provided marketing and business consultations, often placing someone in-house with the company in question.
“Call me Chas. And, Devan, you’re not thinking clearly right now. This is a trying time for you coming off a messy divorce and I’d like to help ease the burden. I know we started off on the wrong foot and I’d like to correct that. I’ve been told you’re relocating to New York. This would give us the perfect opportunity to get to know one another better. I’d hate for you to be alone. This is a big city. I can more than keep you company. I think you know what I’m talking about.”
I grabbed Jake’s arm and laughed hard without making any noise. It took a second but I got myself together and stood tall. “As kind as that offer is, I’d prefer to go it alone. And when I say go it alone, that covers all areas. I do not currently have a red light above my office door nor do I want one. I would strongly suggest you focus on your client’s needs and not your own. As lovely as our conversations always are, I really must be going. I’m meeting with my lawyer soon. He has some rather weighty issues he’d like to get moved forward.” I winked at Jake.
Chas made a noise that sounded animalistic, like one would make during intercourse. I jerked back and held the phone towards Jake who covered his mouth to keep from laughing.
“Devan, you are the only woman I know who dares to talk to me the way you do. You know that I’m more than willing to offer you the world. I’m in a position to do it. You just won’t accept it. I am huge.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you think so.” I snickered. “Oh, wait. You were talking size in relevance to your position. Sorry, I got a little confused on where this conversation was headed. It seemed as though it was headed south so na
turally I assumed something else. I really need to be going now.”
“Name your price, Devan,” Chas said fast. “Everyone can be bought. Everyone.”
“I’m sorry.”
He sighed. “Well, at least we’ve moved to the point you’re sorry for turning me down.”
I let out a soft laugh. “No, I’m not sorry for that in the least. I’m sorry that somewhere along the line you actually came to believe that to be true. Not everyone has a price. Money isn’t the answer to everything. In fact, in the end, it means nothing. Have a good weekend, Mr. Martins.” I shut my phone and handed it to Jake. “Why do you enjoy hearing that scum bag’s spiel? Does anyone else feel like they need a shower to get his voice off you? I think my phone has been violated. It needs a bath, too.”
Jake looked proud. Gideon looked like he was about to blow. “Devan Jazz Seward, men try to buy you while you’re working? Hell, anytime?”
“I’d hardly call Chas Martins a man,” I said, hopping off the sofa and laughing. “He’s more like a good looking, walking lounge lizard. He makes my skin crawl. But, I will say, he’s a looker. He knows it, too.”
Gideon tried to come for me but the sofa was in the way. “Did this just start?”
“What? Men trying to own me or lounge lizards,” I smiled at Jake letting him know that I loved his name for Chas, “trying to bribe me to ‘work’ for them? Come on, women want to date you all the time. When they find out you’re a doctor they flip out and start talking marriage. Dork,” I pointed at Jake, “has the same problem.”
Jake grinned. “Yeah, Dink. Leave her alone. She’s not given an inch when it comes to this. Trust me, he’s been nipping at her heels from the word go. Hell, she was very married when he started it all.”
“What the hell is a dink?” Gideon asked again.
I smiled as I slipped my shoes back on. “It’s a good thing. Trust me.” Turning, I ran up the stairs and ran directly into the sexy man again. He grabbed me fast to keep me from falling. I held tight to him and stared into his emerald green eyes. “Thanks. You’re really coming in handy.”
“My pleasure.”
I couldn’t pull my gaze away from his green eyes. They were gorgeous and the same exact color as Brody’s. “I know I’m going to sound like a broken record but you look so familiar. This is going to bug me. I’m positive I know you from somewhere.”
Jake went to take his spot at the end of the sofa. “You know, I normally do my best to encourage only half of your insanity but you’re right the guy does look familiar.”
Mr. Sexy smiled. “Would you like some help moving in?”
“No, we’ll be—”
“Yes,” Gideon and Jake said, cutting me off.
The sexy man winked at me and I damn near fell over. “I’ll run up, change and come back to help.” He turned to head up the stairs. “Oh, I almost forgot. I’m Kurt Holland.”
“Hi, Kurt. Nice to dump a plant on you. I’m Devan Seward.”
The grin that spread over his face warmed me. “Well, Devan, it was my pleasure.”
I watched as Kurt jogged up the stairs. A small sigh escaped me. “I could get used to looking at that every day.”
Gideon began to chuckle. I glanced back at him as he stood in the doorway holding one end of the sofa up while the other lay on the floor. “Didn’t Uncle Robert tell you that when one door closes another opens?”
Before we’d left Ohio, I’d finalized my divorce and said goodbye to my family. They all knew how painful the divorce was for me and my uncle did his best to cheer me up. “Yep, he sure did.”
“Ha, I bet he didn’t think you’d waylay Mr. Right before he even got to the door.”
He and Jake laughed so hard that I knew they’d be at it a while. I gave up and headed up the stairs to my new home.
Mandy on Amazon
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The Barbarian Prince (Dragon Lords 1) by Michelle M. Pillow
Futuristic Romance
Breaking up was never so hard...
Going undercover at Galaxy Brides as one of the prospective mates to these Viking-like barbarians, Morrigan has no intention of getting chosen to stay. But when Ualan of the Draig picks her to be his wife with the aid of his mystically glowing crystal, it is all she can do to say no.
Waking up from a drug-induced night of torturous and unfulfilling pleasures, Morrigan discovers her spaceship has left without her and Ualan is claiming she is his wife. It’s not exactly the story this reporter had in mind. And to make matters worse, Ualan refuses to take no for an answer.
Being cursed by the Gods was never so frustrating...
Prince Ualan is like all others of his race on the male dominated planet of Qurilixen. He is raised to trust the mystic powers around him and when it comes time to marry, he is ready to follow those powers to choose his life mate. When the stubborn, yet achingly beautiful, Morrigan refuses to accept their shared fate and his supreme authority over her, it is all he can do not to break her lovely neck.
Michelle on Amazon
For a complete, up-to-date booklist, visit www.MichellePillow.com
Executive Decision: A Romance Novel Page 24