JACKSON (The Billionaire Croft Brothers, Book One)

by Paige North

  And then the phone clicked and he was gone.

  She slammed the receiver down so hard that the ringer sounded briefly, as if the phone itself was protesting her violent aggression.

  “Asshole,” she muttered.

  But as angry as she was, didn’t part of her feel relieved, even pleased that he’d taken an interest? That he still cared enough to notice where she was or wasn’t?

  As she got up and grabbed her purse off her desk, slung it over her shoulder, Ivy considered the situation.

  No, she decided. It wasn’t a relief to know that the CEO cared, because the fact was he cared about all sorts of dumb little details.

  Just look at the kind of trouble he makes about his damn coffee. I’m just another detail he’s keeping track of, like his coffee or his cufflinks.

  He cares about you in a different way.

  But Ivy wasn’t buying it. Whatever Cullen Sharpe was doing, she was finished giving him the time of day. She would go to the damn restaurant because he was the boss and she didn’t want to get fired.

  That was it. There was nothing else between them, no matter what Cullen himself might assume.

  She got in a cab to travel the short distance, because she didn’t want to walk in late and make a fool of herself.

  The cab pulled up in front of The Observatory, and she got out, rushing as she checked the time on her phone and realized that the luncheon was due to officially start in the next few minutes.

  As she was crossing the street, she wasn’t paying attention and a horn honked right nearby, making her jump out of the way as another taxi flew past, horn blaring again.

  “You have to be careful,” a man said from the sidewalk. “That was almost another New York horror story.”

  Ivy glanced at him as she reached the sidewalk safe and sound. “I figured I’d end up a statistic one way or another, with my luck.”

  “It’s that bad, eh?” the man said, laughing. He was smoking a cigar and wearing a flashy pin striped blue suit with a gold tie.

  “That bad,” she agreed.

  “A girl as beautiful as you shouldn’t ever feel like just a statistic,” he said. He was actually quite handsome, although he didn’t have that instant sex appeal that Cullen Sharpe naturally possessed. The stranger had an open, rounded face, and he had short blond hair and green eyes. He was fit, but clearly not in the same league as Cullen in that department either.

  So what, you have to compare every man to Cullen now? She reprimanded herself, feeling annoyed at the way her obsession with the CEO knew no bounds.

  “Thanks, that’s sweet of you to say,” she told the stranger.

  He flicked the end of his cigar into the gutter and blew a plume of smoke out of his mouth, but away from her as he offered his hand. “Xavier Montrose,” he said.

  “Ivy Spellman,” she replied, feeling like she should curtsey or something. Instead, she just gave him her hand.

  He smiled and inclined his head slightly. His green eyes were very humorous, as if he saw the world as one big joke. “Ivy,” he said, nodding. “Are you meeting your boyfriend for lunch?”

  She felt her cheeks flush. “No, I’m here for an…event…” she finished. “I’m actually running late, so although I’d love to chat—“

  “Such a shame,” Xavier said, as he watched her hand slip out of his grasp. “I feel like I was only just getting started with you.”

  Ivy looked down, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. The man certainly had confidence and a way with words.

  “Just getting started with what exactly?” came the voice of Cullen Sharpe, from just a few feet away.

  She froze in place, feeling absurdly guilty, even though she’d done nothing wrong.

  Xavier made eye contact with Cullen and grinned. “I had no idea you two knew one another,” he said, his grin spreading.

  Cullen continued approaching. As he got to Ivy, his hand went to her lower back, possessively claiming her in some way. “She works with me. And she’s late,” he said, his cool tone belying his disappointment.

  “She’s probably like ten seconds late, knowing you, Cullen.” Xavier flashed his humorous eyes at Ivy and she wanted to smile in return.

  “Have another cigar,” Cullen told Xavier. “Blowing smoke is what you’re best at.”

  “Some people blow smoke and some are just full of hot air,” the blond man retorted easily. He seemed ready to break into laughter.

  Meanwhile, Cullen’s hand stayed firmly on Ivy’s back.

  Ivy bit her lip to keep from laughing with him, as Cullen glanced over to read her expression before looking back at Xavier. “I’d really love to stand here all day and listen to your amazingly profound views about human nature, but I have a luncheon to attend,” Cullen said.

  “And I have a lunch to eat,” Xavier said. “But unlike yourself, my guest is a friend, not someone I pay to spend time with me.”

  “I have a hard time believing anyone dines with you because they actually enjoy it,” Cullen said.

  “You’d be surprised,” Xavier quipped, but his eyes were focused entirely on Ivy.

  “I would indeed,” Cullen said, guiding Ivy away from Xavier Montrose and towards The Observatory.

  They crossed the sidewalk as a doorman nodded and opened the door for them. Once they were inside the restaurant, Ivy pulled away from him, and his hand drifted off her lower back.

  He turned towards her. “I need to speak with you,” he said, his jaw hardly moving. His eyes were piercing.

  “We’re late,” she replied.

  “The luncheon won’t start without me,” he said. He crossed his arms. “I don’t like what I just saw out there.”

  “And I don’t have time for the third degree.” She started walking down the long, ornate hallway towards what she assumed must be the luncheon. In the distance, she could hear the noise of people talking and restaurant sounds of plates and glasses, silverware clinking.

  “Ivy,” he said, and his voice was so commanding that she stopped in her tracks.

  “What?” she asked, refusing to look at him. He was like a vampire—if she met his gaze, she wasn’t sure she could resist his charm.

  “I need you to promise me you’ll stay away from Xavier Montrose.”

  “I don’t even know the guy.”

  “But he’s taken an interest to you. He’s interested in anything that I’m interested in.”

  “Cullen, I hate to say this—but not everything’s about you.” She finally turned and locked eyes with him. “He started talking to me before you ever showed up.”

  The CEO’s expression hardened. “You don’t know the man, Ivy, but I do. And I’m trying to warn you—“

  “I can take care of myself. I’m a big girl—despite what you seem to think.” She turned her head again quickly, flipping her hair as she walked away from him once more.

  “Don’t walk away from me,” he growled.

  “Don’t think of it as me walking away from you,” Ivy said over her shoulder. “I’m walking toward the luncheon, which was so important to you just a few minutes ago.” She couldn’t help but smirk at her own line as she continued down the hall.

  Cullen, she imagined, was left standing in place, shocked.

  The luncheon itself was relatively painless. Lucas had kindly saved a seat next to him in case she showed up, and the food was actually quite good.

  A bit frou-frou for her tastes, perhaps, but on the whole enjoyable.

  There must’ve been approximately one hundred of them in a large private room with tables and white linen tablecloths, a DJ booth playing hip music, and black tie waiters and waitresses moving from table to table taking orders and bringing food and drink.

  Cullen spoke in the beginning, standing in the center of the room with a microphone, making a few jokes before telling everyone how thrilled he was to bring them to The Observatory to celebrate all of their hard work, and to show his appreciation for the team, meaning everyone who worked with him on a dai
ly basis.

  Ivy noticed that Cullen often would gaze in her direction when he was talking on the mic, to the point where she grew distinctly uncomfortable.

  Other people around the room appeared to be glancing over at her, as if they were also catching on to Cullen’s focus.

  But then again, maybe it was just her overactive imagination.

  Before dessert was brought to the tables, Ivy excused herself and left the private room to go to the bathroom.

  As she was walking down the hallway, she passed by the main dining room and saw Xavier Montrose eating lunch with a gorgeous raven-haired woman wearing a low-cut dress.

  He looked up and happened to catch Ivy walking past the doorway, and she saw his eyebrows rise in surprise, and then he was saying something to the woman, and getting to his feet, putting his napkin on the table.

  Ivy kept walking, not sure what was going to happen next—or what she even wanted to happen.

  But then Xavier was coming out of the main dining area, calling her name.

  She slowed down and turned to face him. “I think it’s very rude that you left your lunch with that beautiful girl to come and talk to me. I wouldn’t like it very much if I were in her position.”

  “It you were at the table with me, I would never leave your side,” he replied, his green eyes glimmering with a mixture of mischief and allure.

  “You’re very quick,” Ivy told him. “Too quick.”

  “That’s never been my problem,” he purred.

  She felt her cheeks flush yet again. “I’m—I’m afraid I need to get back to the luncheon soon.”

  “Because that silly bastard Sharpe’s going to whine about you leaving him alone for too long?” Xavier chuckled.

  “He’s not silly,” she whispered, somehow feeling defensive on Cullen’s behalf.

  “I see I’ve hit a nerve. So you like him, then?” He watched her closely.

  Ivy flinched at the notion that she still had feelings for Cullen Sharpe after the way he’d treated her.

  “No, I don’t like him, but he’s my CEO and he’s a brilliant man.”

  “Brilliant is one way of putting it,” Xavier joked, a wicked grin crossing his features. “But you don’t have romantic feelings for him?”

  She hesitated.

  “Forget I asked.” Xavier put out a hand. “I don’t care about that. Just say you’ll come to dinner with me tonight.”

  “You’re date’s right in the next room!”

  “She’s not a date, I told you. She’s just a friend.”

  “Somehow I doubt very much that you have female friends who look like her.”

  Xavier laughed easily. “I have lots of friends. But I don’t have you—and you’re the one I’m interested in seeing tonight. If you’ll give me a chance.” He waited for her answer, a patient but bemused expression on his handsome face.

  She sighed. If it wasn’t for Cullen Sharpe, she certainly wouldn’t have turned down a date with a man like Xavier. He was good looking, funny, confident and seemingly normal.

  It irked her tremendously that she was feeling guilty because of Cullen, when he’d already rejected her.

  None of her mixed emotions made sense, and that made her even more perturbed.

  “You know what? I’m going to say yes,” she said, determined not to let Cullen play any part in her decision.

  “Here’s my card,” he replied, producing a gorgeous business card with his name on it. “Call me later.” And then he turned and walked back into the main dining area, leaving her alone in the hallway.

  She found herself examining his business card closely.

  XAVIER MONTROSE, PRESIDENT

  VELLUM PHARMACEUTICALS

  Her eyes narrowed as she realized that the man who’d just asked her out on a date was clearly a direct competitor with Cullen Sharpe and Biomatrix Pharma.

  No wonder the two men hated each other.

  When she looked up again, she saw movement near the far end of the hallway. It was Cullen Sharpe, watching her from the entrance to the private room.

  “Unbelievable,” she muttered, shaking her head. She spun and continued walking towards the restrooms, her heart racing as she went.

  He saw us together. He knows Xavier Montrose gave me his card.

  Who cares if he knows? You don’t owe Cullen Sharpe anything.

  And yet, as much as she tried to tell herself that she owed Cullen no loyalty, something inside her continued to struggle with the idea that he’d seen her take Xavier’s card.

  She knew that Cullen would be right behind her now, catching up to her. Any moment his hand would fall on her shoulder and that deep voice of his would speak, telling her how disappointed he was in her behavior.

  But when she reached the door to the restroom and turned around, there was nobody behind her.

  Nobody at all.

  About an hour later, Ivy was back at the office and at her desk, working and trying hard to pretend that everything was normal.

  I’m just a girl working a temp job, doing data entry and making a little money. That’s it. There doesn’t have to be anything else going on.

  But she knew that things had progressed far past that point. She wasn’t just some worker bee doing her job and going home, living a normal life. The CEO had taken an interest in her—a very particular interest.

  She could still remember what it felt like to strip naked in front of him, to know that his hungry, cool eyes were watching, examining her nude body as she let him control her every move.

  And then he’d ultimately turned her down, found her lacking.

  But he was still sending very mixed signals, wasn’t he?

  Ivy pulled Xavier Montrose’s business card out of her blazer pocket and stared at it yet again. She fingered the intricate logo that was swirling in the corner of the card, thinking about whether she was simply considering the man’s offer because she wanted to somehow get back at Cullen.

  Or was she genuinely intrigued by Cullen Sharpe’s rival?

  She wished she knew.

  Sighing, Ivy put the card away and got back to her data entry. She’d begun to find the work easy but tedious. Some temps had been let go for falling behind pace or making too many errors, but Ivy was fairly certain she was in no danger.

  She found the work to be, if anything, not challenging enough.

  Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she replayed, again and again, what had happened between her and Cullen Sharpe early that morning at his home.

  The feel of his hand on her naked body, his finger sliding deliciously between her legs, soaking her…

  Even now, she was getting excited all over again, despite trying to distract herself and think of anything but him.

  Damn him. I hate him. What he did to me was wrong.

  She took a deep breath and refocused.

  Do your work and stop thinking about Cullen. When you leave work, you’ll call Xavier Montrose. He was friendly, funny, didn’t take himself so seriously. He’s a much better romantic possibility—he put himself out there without demanding capitulation from you.

  That settled that.

  And then an intranet chat bubble popped up on her computer screen. The internal chat system of Biomatrix Pharma was something she knew existed only because Lucas had sent her one or two chats.

  None of the other temps had ever chatted with her, though Ivy had a feeling they were all communicating amongst themselves. They just didn’t like or trust her enough to include her in such activities.

  But now the little box popped up on her monitor, indicating that someone was sending her a message. When she saw the name inside the chat bubble, Ivy felt dizzy and breathless.

  CULLEN SHARPE: I told you to stay away from him.

  That was all it said. She waited for him to follow up, but after a minute, she realized he wasn’t going to expand on the sentiment.

  Her anxiety transformed into annoyance. Her fingers flew over the keys as she wrote back to him.
>
  IVY SPELLMAN: He’s nice. And it’s none of your business.

  There was a long pause, and Ivy smiled, imagining Cullen reading it and his head nearly exploding from her defiance.

  CULLEN SHARPE: I’ve made you my business. And he’s not nice.

  She frowned, her belly tightening, a chill running up her spine. Her fingers flew over the keys yet again.

  IVY SPELLMAN: You’re not nice, either. Who do you think you are telling me what to do or whom I can speak with?

  Now the responses from Cullen were coming faster, as were her return volleys. They went back and forth, back and forth, so fast she could hardly keep up.

  CULLEN SHARPE: I’m the one in charge.

  IVY SPELLMAN: At work. Nowhere else.

  CULLEN SHARPE: Everywhere. And someone needs to protect you.

  IVY SPELLMAN: You call what you do “protection?” Don’t make me laugh…

  CULLEN SHARPE: Xavier Montrose is the lowest of the low. You don’t have a clue what you’re getting yourself into. Also, your disobedience is getting tiresome.

  IVY SPELLMAN: Then stop trying to control me and you won’t have to deal with my “tiresome behavior” anymore. Simple.

  CULLEN SHARPE: You are being childish. But I understand, you’re confused.

  IVY SPELLMAN: I’m not confused. I’m annoyed. You’re completely controlling and crazy, and you want to drive me crazy too. I won’t let you do it.

  CULLEN SHARPE: I’m a very difficult man. And I won’t inflict that on you…but I also can’t allow you to be hurt by outside forces.

  IVY SPELLMAN: I forgot to add paranoid to your list of charming qualities.

  CULLEN SHARPE: If only I was paranoid. My concerns for you are all too real. You’re very special, very unique. There are people in this world who would twist you to their own ends.

  IVY SPELLMAN: Sounds familiar…

  CULLEN SHARPE: I know that I hurt you. Believe me, that’s the very last thing I want to do.

  IVY SPELLMAN: Could’ve fooled me. Now please let me get back to work so I don’t miss my targets and get fired for it.

  She waited for his inevitable response, but it never came. And though she wanted to feel a sense of pride, knowing she’d stuck up for herself and told the entitled CEO to go to hell—Ivy couldn’t escape the sense that she’d gone too far.