“I don’t suspect the decision was random, but it wasn’t mine.” Wyatt turned a pointed gaze on Parker. “Why are you here?”
“You expected me to come alone?” Fiona asked.
“Too easy.” The innuendo slipped out before Wyatt could stop it, and it summoned images of just how enticing she looked when she was coming.
She clenched her jaw. “Don’t.” At least she’d lowered her voice enough the diners weren’t watching them anymore.
“Fine.” He needed to yield somewhere or this conversation wouldn’t get them anywhere. “I didn’t expect you to come alone, but I hoped you’d leave the guard dog home. The two of you together are impossible.” He hid a wince as the confession slipped out. Impossible in the most tantalizing way, but only if they weren’t pissed off at him.
Parker’s smile was thin. “Tough shit.”
Wyatt kept his focus on Fiona. “Can we get a table and talk?”
“No.” She clipped off the response. “In fact, we as in you and us, aren’t doing anything. We as in Parker and I, are leaving.” She spun on her toe and pushed outside, Parker next to her, arm around her waist.
Wyatt followed, a few feet back. “The offer is sincere. There really is a business proposal on the table.” If she wasn’t interested in talking about what happened between them, that was fine. He wasn’t going to let her throw away a real opportunity because of him. Especially since he tried to destroy the last one.
“So... she sucks you off, and she can have the contract?” Parker asked.
“Fuck you.” God, this was getting old.
Parker smirked. “Not with a stolen dick.”
“Is this a business meeting, or a playground fight?” Wyatt struggled to hide his frustration.
Fiona met his gaze again. “You tell me.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do.”
“I’m listening.” She crossed her arms, pressing her breasts together and giving him a perfect view of the way her shirt hugged her torso. His attention drifted down before he could stop it. She let out a tiny growl, that did nothing to curb his sneaking arousal, and jammed her hands in her pockets instead.
He forced himself to look her in the eye. “The company is evaluating apps like yours. They found you without any input from me. The department making the purchasing decision doesn’t have anything to do with me except that we keep offices in the same building. If you go through this proposal process, I won’t be involved.”
“Then why are you here?” Parker asked.
“I saw Fiona’s name on a budget request, and called in a favor with the evaluating director. That’s the one-hundred percent, honest-to-God truth.”
Fiona studied him, eyes narrowed and lips pursed. The deep furrow in Parker’s brow and the way he clenched and unclenched his fist implied he was considering making good on the standing threat to deck Wyatt next time they met.
Fiona crossed the distance between them in a few quick strides, grabbed the lapels of Wyatt’s jacket, and crushed her mouth to his.
His shock at the gesture didn’t stop his dick from hardening in an instant. Fuck he missed this. Her smooth lips. Her faint scent. The tiny gasps she made when she was lost in the moment.
He reached out to pull her closer, and she stepped out of his grip. She slapped his hand away, the sound echoing through the parking lot, and the sting ringing through his wrist. He was glad she didn’t do that to his face. Wyatt pasted on a mask. “Feel better?” He removed all emotion from his voice.
“Getting there.”
“Can we talk now?”
“Business, yes. Everything else is off the table.” Fiona matched his tone.
Wyatt was happy to make that concession for now. She could have walked away the moment she saw him. Asked to reschedule with the Draxon. Told Wyatt forget it, she wasn’t doing business with any company associated with him.
Instead, despite the grief, she was still here. And the way her kiss lingered on his lips, she wasn’t completely Parker’s.
Wyatt strode back to the restaurant entrance with them, and held open the door. He wasn’t sure what he hoped to accomplish, and it bothered him going into this without a full-blown plan. He saw the bond between Parker and Fiona, and it was strong. One of those lust-, time-, and reason-defying connections.
And if anyone could sever it, he could.
PARKER HAD TO PRESS his legs into his chair to keep his knee from bouncing. The adrenaline racing through him was ebbing slowly, leaving it gnawing in his stomach and prickling sensation under his skin.
He had half an ear on the conversation between Fiona and Wyatt. Enough to know it was actually business. The rest of his attention slid around the chaos living in his head. The elation of making it to the next round of the competition. The smug assurance every time Fiona squeezed his hand, which was muted by the scrape behind his ribs at the memory of watching her kiss Wyatt.
And the jealousy. He expected that when it came to Fiona. Just because they were together didn’t mean they’d worked past all their issues. There was a twinge at knowing Wyatt was only here for her, and disappointed to see Parker, that was fucking with his head.
“We need to know you can handle that kind of stress and load,” Wyatt said.
“As long as I’ve got the appropriate warning, we’re prepared for any size data package.” Fiona’s reply was smooth and professional.
Parker wanted to think it was an overactive imagination hearing innuendo in a large part of what they said, but he had a feeling they knew what they were saying. Underneath the entire exchange though, was the reality that this could be big for Fiona and Nick. Game changer kind of stuff for their app. Parker wasn’t going to ruin that for her.
They finished lunch and the meeting, and the three strolled outside. Wyatt shook Fiona’s hand. “One of my colleagues will be in touch.”
“Will you?” she asked. Her voice was devoid of emotion.
Parker didn’t hate hearing the question the way he expected to.
Wyatt smirked. “I planned on it.”
Parker wasn’t opposed to that either, which he didn’t understand at all.
“You need to call. I won’t be so kind next time about being ambushed.” There was no teasing in Fiona’s voice. No room for negotiation.
As Parker and Fiona walked away, ambivalence raced through him. “You can’t do this with him if you’re going to do business with this company.” As they strolled, they wove through small groups of people, wandering the outdoor mall.
“I’m not doing anything.” The edge from warning off Wyatt was still in her voice. “And I know how to conduct myself with a client.”
The last thing he wanted to do was turn this into an argument. “That’s not what I meant.” Sun warmed his face, but it didn’t sear away the questions with no answers.
“It is, but I get it. The question about him being in touch was a warning, not an offer.”
So Parker was reading too much into things. “I’m still trying to figure out how this works.” He kept the apology in his tone. It was easy enough in theory to accept that she was with him because she chose to be, even if she still had feelings for Wyatt. Seeing it actually play out would take some adjusting. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too. To both.” She slipped her hand into his and pressed closer, leaning her shoulder on his head as they strolled down the street. “Let me make it up to you?”
The sugar and seduction in her voice turned his irritation to desire. “This is on him, not you. But if you had something in mind...”
“I’m sure we could come up with something you’d enjoy.” She rested enough weight against him to steer him toward a shadowed alcove between shops. When they were out of the flow of traffic, she leaned back against the brick, watching him with her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
The playful smirk erased the negatives of the afternoon. He dipped his head to brush his lips over hers. “I enjoy a lot of things.”
“Pick a couple.
Or more.” She hooked a finger in his waistband and tugged him closer.
Every inch of his body lit up like a live wire, as he pressed his body against hers. The chatter of foot traffic drifted from just a few feet away. A tiny whisper echoed in the back of his head, asking why sex with Fiona was more tame, unless Wyatt was around.
She slid her hand lower, tracing the outline of his erection through his jeans, drawing him from semi-hard to painfully so.
He gripped her wrist, pulling her away from his cock, grabbed her other hand, and pinned her arms above her head. The giggle-squeal that tore from her throat was gasoline on the flames licking through his veins. He crushed his mouth to hers, devouring her groans and loving the way she ground her hip against his dick.
She was incredible regardless, and he wasn’t going to over-analyze things because she was playful and aggressive.
He nipped a line of bites up the side of her neck, to her ear. “You make me think you want to be pinned to the wall right now and fucked.”
“It’s tempting, isn’t it?” Her soft question fell across his cheek.
Christ it was. She was going to be the death of him. Or at least, a couple of days in jail for indecent exposure. And it would be worth it.
He glided his free hand under her shirt, using his body to block them from the view of casual passers-by. He cupped one breast, and squeezed as he dragged a thumb over her bra and the nipple underneath.
Her gasp rocketed through him. “More.” Her plea was breathy.
He caught her earlobe between his teeth. “More what?”
“Finger fuck me. Here. Please?”
The teasing. Her recklessness. Was it because they’d just walked away from Wyatt?
That was jealousy trying to rear its head again. Parker and Fiona hadn’t been a couple long enough for him to have a feeling for the ebb and flow of either of their moods when it came to sex.
And God damn it if her words didn’t unravel his control.
The story continues in Chapter Two. Click here to pre-order today.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my two writing partners in mischief, who also happen to be my critique partner, and my editor, Sofia and Sotia. (And double thank you to Sotia for not cringing too badly at the construct of that sentence).
A huge thanks to Vanessa, for being an amazing beta reader. For loving my books, but still helping me find their flaws.
And thank you to Shannon, Elizabeth, Angie, and Addie, for lending me the vivid descriptions of their hometowns and favorite places to visit, so I could send Parker, Fiona, and Wyatt on a fantastic our around the United States.
Also by Allyson Lindt
3d20
3d20 Box Set (Books 1-3)
Game for Cookies
Seduction Games
Control Games
Hacking Wonderland
Reagan Through the Looking Glass
The Hatter and The Hare
Love Equation Box Sets
The Love Equation Box Set #1 (Books 1-3)
The Love Equation Box Set #2 (Books 4-6)
Love Hack
Breaching His Defenses
Sheltering His Desire
Securing Her Surrender
Love Hack Box Set
Love Hashtagged
The #5Star Affair
Too Goode to be True
Graphically Novel
Ridden Hard
Hard Flip
Hard Pack
Riding the Wave
Romance Shots
Unconventional Fling
He Said, She Said
Subscribe, Live, Love
Red Hunted: An MFM Ménage Romance
The Love Equation
The Rival and The Billionaire
The Geeks and The Socialite
The Second Chance and The Auctioneer
The Virgin and The Kingpin
The Nerds and the CEO
The Boyfriends and the Matchmaker
Ubiquity
Uriel's Descent
Uriel's Betrayal
Version 2.0
Denial of Interest
Standalone
Paranormal and Loving it!
Toeing the Line
Room for Love: A Roommates Contemporary Romance Box Set
Over Exposed
Drive Me Wild
Watch for more at Allyson Lindt’s site.
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Allyson Lindt is a full-time geek and a fuller-time contemporary romance author. She likes her stories with sweet geekiness and heavy spice, because cubicle dwellers need love too. She loves a sexy happily-ever-after and helping deserving cubicle dwellers find their futures together.
Read more at Allyson Lindt’s site.
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