by Suzanne Hart
“But that doesn’t mean you are better than me,” I replied, still keeping my chin up.
Julian smiled and I noticed that his shoulders seemed to relax now.
“I am not better than you, Lisa,” he said. “I’m just richer.”
12
Julian
Lisa was looking smoldering hot in that black dress she was wearing. Not to mention the red lipstick she’d chosen for the night which made my cock wake up in my pants.
There was no denying that I wanted her.
I had made up my mind about this meeting—I was almost certain that Lisa was a part of the game that Alan was playing to get me to invest in his company without burning it to the ground. He wanted me to go easy on him.
As much as I tried to resist Lisa’s charms, the truth was that she was irresistible. She had an innocent yet sharp quality to her. She had an angelic perfect face, matched by a smoking hot body. It was obvious that she was a beauty, but she was also smart. She looked like an innocent little lamb, but I would have been a fool to assume that she couldn’t take me down if she wanted to.
“What can you tell me about yourself, Julian? Other than that you’re very rich and very stubborn,” she continued.
The tone of our relationship had changed noticeably. When I met her the first time in the elevator, she was snappy. We had an argument that morning and it seemed like she detested me as much as I was trying to detest her. However, now, she was being seductive. She was doing the job of turning me on; very well.
As I watched her speak, I was also undressing her with my eyes.
“What else is there to know?” I asked her and Lisa bit down on her lower lip. It was the sexiest thing she could do, and I had to shift in my chair. I had a raging boner in my pants and I was glad she couldn’t see it.
“What makes you tick, Julian Hunt?” She asked then and I leaned in closer to her over the table.
“A good business deal,” I replied and Lisa laughed.
Tonight, she had her dark long hair tumbling down around her shoulders. She’d done something to it to make it curl a little at the ends, and I imagined her hair in my hands. I wanted to touch her, but that would be inappropriate, and would also spoil my plans.
“Can you talk about anything other than business?” She asked, and her warm brown eyes settled on my face.
I looked down at her body, at the way her cleavage spilled over the tight confines of her black dress. She knew what I was thinking and I didn’t care. She wasn’t naive. She knew exactly what was going on. We were playing our own little game of seduction. The one I had every plan of winning.
“We can talk about what I would rather be doing right now instead of sitting here and pretending to have a meeting,” I said and she arched her brows up.
“What is that? She asked. “I’m intrigued.”
We were staring at each other, and her voice was a low whisper now. Both of our drinks remained untouched on the table.
“I would rather be in my penthouse, undressing you, but I’m sure you know that already,” I replied and sat back in my chair.
Lisa looked stumped. She was playing along in this game, but she hadn’t expected me to be this blunt with her. There was a sudden nervous expression on her face and she licked her lips.
“Is that what you’re suggesting?” She asked and I half-smiled.
“If you think I’m going to fall for all this, take you back to my place and fuck you—you’re a fool,” I said.
Lisa gritted her teeth and I watched as her nostrils flared angrily.
“You are being very rude right now, Julian,” she snapped and my smile became wider. I was just realizing that there was nothing more entertaining than to watch Lisa getting angrier by the second. Her cheeks got red and her eyes became wider and wilder.
“I think I know what’s going on, and I’m calling you out on your bluff,” I said.
“What do you think is going on, Julian?” She asked and her lips quivered with rage.
“Your father has sent you here to seduce me. He thinks that if I fuck you, I’ll fall for you and then I won’t be able to kick him out of his own company once I’ve bought it,” I said. I was watching her coolly while she writhed in anger where she sat.
“Is that what you plan to do? You want to kick my father out of his company?” She asked, and her voice was quivering.
“It doesn’t matter what I plan to do with the company once I’ve bought all the shares. Right now, you need me to rescue you,” I said and Lisa scoffed. I watched her standing up from the chair, and throwing angry fiery looks at me.
“Just exactly who do you think you are? What makes you think you can talk to me like this?” She sputtered.
“I am someone you shouldn’t be lying to, Lisa. I think it’s time you told me what is going on with your father. You’re not a good liar, I hope you know that,” I said.
Lisa’s breasts were heaving as she kept standing. She watched me as I stood up too. Now she had to crane her neck back to keep looking at my face.
“How dare you call me a liar?” She hissed.
We were so close to each other. Close enough to kiss. Close enough for me to take her mouth into mine, to run my hands over her breasts and feel the smoothness of her skin.
“So, you’re not lying? Everything is okay with your father? He’s not hiding from me?” I asked.
Lisa’s lips quivered as she tried to keep a straight face.
“My father is not hiding from you,” she said, as firmly as she could.
I clenched my jaws as I glared at her. Why did she have to be so damn sexy?
13
Lisa
Why would daddy have to hide from Julian? What was going on? I knew there was definitely something both of them hadn’t told me about. But right now, all I could focus on was trying to get away from Julian, because it felt like my body was on fire.
He was standing over me, big and strong and I felt like I would melt into a puddle. He was glaring at me with those demanding blue narrow eyes and I had trouble breathing.
He was right. I was a bad liar, and I was very close to just admitting the truth to him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t go against the wishes of my board of directors. They were right. If anyone found out that daddy might not make it… the company would be in ruins. Worse than it was already.
“I came here tonight to have a productive conversation with you, but it’s obvious to me that you don’t think I’m good enough to talk to,” I said to him, trying to keep my head held high.
The worst thing I could do right now was to show him any signs of weakness. Julian was watching me closely, and I took one step back from him.
“I guess you will just have to wait to talk to my father. When he is… he is available again,” I said, fumbling with my words.
I was going to take another step away from him, but he had caught my hand. I gasped as he pulled me to himself. I fell on his wide chest with a thud, while he kept a tight grip on my hand, keeping me closely pinned to himself.
“If you think I’m going to let you go this easily, you’re mistaken, Lisa,” he growled, in a deep guttural voice that scared me.
I writhed in his grip, trying to break free. But a part of me wanted to stay right there. His strength thrilled me, and I couldn’t stop staring into his eyes.
“This is highly inappropriate. I demand that you let me go!” I hissed. If there were people watching us, Julian didn’t care. He was the kind of man who would do just as he pleased.
As much as I struggled, I still hadn’t budged an inch. I was still pinned to him.
“And I demand that you tell me what’s going on with your father,” he growled.
I gritted my teeth as I glared at him.
“You are rude and you’re a brute. I am going to make sure my father finds out about this, about your behavior,” I snapped. A smile was spreading on Julian’s face now. I could feel his chest heaving against my breasts. I knew my nipples were pebbled in my
dress. I was pretending to be offended by his behavior, when in truth, I was turned on by it. His body against mine had a dizzying effect on me.
“Yes, please do. Make sure your father finds out every titillating detail about our encounter. Especially about how erect your nipples are right now,” he said and suddenly let go of my hand. I looked down at my breasts and saw that he was right. He could see my nipples standing up right through my dress.
Ashamed and embarrassed and angry, I stumbled away from him.
“I hope I never have to see you again!” I hissed and Julian laughed.
“You can’t fool me, Lisa. You should know that I can see right through you. You’re a scared girl trying to do your father’s job. He should be the one ashamed of himself for sending you to me. When he knew I would chew you up and spit you out,” he growled. There was a viscous anger in his voice, and once again I had the thought that there were underlying currents of animosity between Daddy and him.
I whipped away from Julian, half-running through the bar to make my way outside.
In the cold busy night air, I felt like I could finally breathe again. I gulped in lungfuls of air as I walked unsteadily towards the parking lot at the back. I looked over my shoulder repeatedly to make sure that he hadn’t followed me outside.
When I found my car, I leaned against it, trying to catch my breath.
I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Every minute that I spent with that man was sexy and dangerous and he knew exactly what to say to piss me off.
What was I supposed to do now?
I’d told him that I never wanted to see him again, but what if Daddy didn’t recover fast enough?
Julian was the only interested party in our shares. No other investor was interested in buying the shares of our sinking ship. Had I just ruined our company’s chances of being rescued? Had I pushed away the only man who could save my father’s company?
If he found out… if the board of directors found out that I was responsible for pushing Julian Hunt away… I didn’t even want to think of the consequences of that.
Before I got in the car, I considered going back in the bar and apologizing to Julian. Begging him to let me start over again. But I couldn’t go back there now. Not when I could feel my panties dripping wet. Not while my nipples were still pebbled and sticking out in my dress.
I could feel a hot flush all over my body. No other man had ever had this effect on me. I had never wanted a man inside me as desperately as I wanted Julian. But that couldn’t happen.
If I slept with him, he would have the upper hand. And what would Daddy say? What would the board say?
I was supposed to be a capable intelligent person making good business decisions. Not a silly girl falling for the sexual magnetism of a man like Julian Hunt.
14
Julian
The following night, I was in a bar again, but not Muse. My friend, Micky, was not the kind of guy who wanted to hang out at a fancy place like that. We usually met once a week at our old bar, McLeary’s, in Queens. It was where we used to go when we were still kids and I hadn’t become a success.
Micky was the oldest friend I had, and I was glad that nothing had changed between us, despite all the money I had made.
Like me, Micky was single too and happy about it. It meant that we were free to do what we wanted and could choose to sleep with whoever we liked. No strings attached.
We were sitting at the counter talking, cradling our bottles of beer.
“So, it’s your chance now,” Micky said.
I had told him about the situation with Crowley Holdings.
“Now or never,” I replied and took a swig of my beer.
“Or you could just let it go,” he suggested and I gave him a look, which he knew too well. Micky was aware that I held on to grudges.
“You let those grudges fester too long, man,” he said now and I shook my head.
“He had this coming. He should have been prepared,” I replied and Micky thumped my back.
“Granted, that poor bastard made a huge mistake by turning down your loan. I’m sure he regrets it. His company is going to the dogs already. Don’t you think that’s good enough?” He asked.
“You’re too soft, Micky,” I told him and he laughed.
“It’s why you’re the billionaire and I’m still a mechanic,” he said and I smiled at him.
“You know what I mean,” I added and he nodded.
“Yeah, yeah. What goes around comes around and all that. He didn’t believe in you and now you’re going to destroy him,” Micky said and I shrugged.
“If I could close down each of those banks that refused me, I would do that too. But I can’t,” I said.
“So, you’re picking on the poor guy who you can destroy.”
“For now,” I replied and he laughed again.
“What? You think you can take down those banks too?” He asked.
“Maybe. Someday. I’m not going to rule it out,” I replied.
“You know, man, sometimes I think you work this hard, you make all this money… just to stick it to those unlucky bastards who didn’t invest in you,” Micky said.
He wasn’t wrong. Maybe a part of me was doing it for that reason. Then there was another part of me that was motivated by the fact that my grandmother had struggled so hard to give me a good life. All this was in her memory too. So that her struggle wouldn’t have gone in vain.
“Whatever your motivation is, man. I wouldn’t want to be the sorry ass that crossed you,” Micky said and thumped my back again.
“He doesn’t even want to show me his fucking face,” I said.
“Who?”
“Alan Crowley. Who else? He’s hiding from me. He keeps sending his daughter to talk to me,” I told him. Micky looked confused.
“His daughter?”
“Yeah, he’s cowering in a corner somewhere but I’m going to find him,” I said.
“Why wouldn’t he want to see you? You think he’s afraid of you?” Micky asked and we laughed together.
“He thinks I might go easy on him, because his daughter’s a sexy little thing,” I said. Micky raised his brows.
“A sexy little thing, huh? You tapped that?”
I burst out laughing. If he’d met Lisa, he would know that ‘tapping that’ wasn’t exactly an easy task as far as she was concerned.
“I’m going to stay the fuck away from her. I’m not giving Alan Crowley any leverage here,” I told him. Micky nodded his head.
“That’s a good idea. Keep it in your pants as far as Crowley Holdings is concerned. Especially since there is so many other fish to fry,” he said and I caught him looking over my shoulder.
I followed his gaze to where a group of four young women were sitting at the other end of the bar counter. Micky smiled at them and they smiled at us in unison.
I shook my head, amused. Micky had already picked up his bottle and was getting off his chair.
“You seeing this? Four young fawns all for our taking. Follow me soldier,” Micky said, still staring at them and smiling.
I considered it for a moment, and then I remembered my last date with Lyra, and how much I hadn’t enjoyed it.
“I’m going to fall back this time. You go ahead, Micky man,” I said.
He raised his brows in surprise at me.
“You sure? There’s a leggy redhead there who’s been eyeing you for the past hour,” he said.
I looked over at the girl in question. She was sexy, and had the plumpest looking lips that would fit perfectly around my cock. For some reason though, she was doing nothing to me. When I looked at her, I thought of Lisa, which was a shame because I couldn’t have her.
“I’m sure,” I said and watched Micky make his way to the group of girls.
I drank my beer in silence, thinking about Lisa again.
I knew I’d offended her last night. I knew I’d been rude and conducted myself badly. She told me she never wanted to see me again… which wa
s probably for the best. Last night I hadn’t been able to resist touching her, and when I had her pinned up against me, I was close enough to kissing her. The next time I saw her, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to resist doing more.
I didn’t want to see her again either.
15
Lisa
I was sitting in the dim lights of the hospital room again. Daddy was on the bed, with the tubes and monitors still attached to him.
He had been out of surgery for over a day now, and he was yet to wake up. Rose and some others from the office had flitted in and out of the hospital to show their support, but I couldn’t drag myself away.
All I could do was just sit there and think about the way we’d parted ways. He’d asked me not to go… no… he’d commanded me not to go. I should have listened to him. I couldn’t help but blame myself for this. Would things have been different right now if I’d stayed? Maybe he wouldn’t have been in his car in that moment when the guy drove into him.
Doctor Sharma knocked on the door, interrupting my thoughts. I just about managed to hurriedly wipe my tears away when he entered.
“How are you doing, Ms. Crowley?” He asked in a sombre voice. I couldn’t help but chuckle nervously at that.
“I’m fine. How is my father doing?” I asked.
He picked up the charts hanging at the end of Daddy’s bed and flipped through them.
“His vitals look good. He still seems weak, but just a little. That’s normal after a surgery of this proportion,” he said.
“But he still hasn’t woken up yet,” I interjected and the doctor nodded.
“I cannot give you an exact timeframe for when he’ll wake up,” he replied.
I gulped, staring at him. There was something I wanted to ask him. That I needed to ask, but I was too afraid to say.