Forbidden Attraction: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by K. C. Crowne

  The waitress brought the food, and we turned our attention to the New York cuisine. It was different from the joints we used to hang out in when we were younger, but there were still some things that couldn’t be changed.

  I felt the sexual tension in the air between Liz and me and was electric. There was a part of me that even wondered if David might be able to sense it, or if he was so wrapped up in the novelty of working for his best friend’s multi-billion dollar company that he didn’t notice.

  He’d never known about Liz, and my past and I wanted to keep it that way if possible. I wasn’t sure how David would react if he ever knew that I had fucked his little sister. And that she’d begged for it. Often.

  She’d always been hot, even when we’d been younger, but now as a grown woman with a career, she was practically scorching. It took everything in me to keep my dick from breaking my zipper right there at the table.

  The three of us had grown together, watched each other change. Now, to think we were there with our own professional careers sitting around a table in New York City was enough to make me shake my head in wonder. What would my father say if he was able to see me now? Or my mother, for that matter?

  Then again, if it was true and Mr. and Mrs. Olsen would visit their kids one of these days, there was a part of me that felt like they were also coming to see me.

  As our lunch came to an end, I turned the conversation back to our work. It might be my company, but I wanted David and Liz to both know how much it meant to me that they were working there.

  “You know, I hired you because I felt you were the best for the positions I had open. I didn’t just lean on the fact that we have been friends for so long. I just wanted you to be reassured of that,” I said.

  “I believe you there,” Liz held up her glass of wine before sipping on it, and David also raised his bottle. I was building a strong team, and the stronger I could make it, the better.

  I gave my two friends a ride back to the office and tried to focus on the paperwork I had to tend to before heading home. But that didn’t change the fact that I couldn’t help but linger in the hall for just long enough to watch Liz’s ass as she walked away.

  I forced myself to get to work and push those thoughts out of my mind once more. No one saw me checking her out, and she didn’t even realize that I’d done so.

  But I knew, and I knew that would be playing with fire.

  Chapter 3

  Liz

  “First lunch, now you’re taking us out for drinks?” I asked in surprise. “Is this a job or is it some fantasy vacation I’ve managed to get myself invited to?”

  Nick laughed. “I always offer the different departments a drink on Thursdays if they are in the mood,” he told me with a grin. “It’s the least I can do for all that you guys do for me.”

  “But doesn’t that get expensive?” I asked with another shake of my head. I was trying my best to wrap my mind around the fact that Nick was a millionaire several times over, and money was no object for him.

  “It’s Thirsty Thursday over at the Moscow Mule,” he said with a shrug. “So that means drinks are cheap as far as bar drinks go. So, are you in?”

  “I’ve just got to get done with this scan, then I’ll be ready,” I told him. “Does Jean go?”

  “I’m pretty sure the only other person from this department that likes to hang out with us after work is Philip,” he said. “But you can ask her if she wants to come.”

  “Hang on,” I said with a smile. I found Jean gathering her things, and I pointed behind me as I spoke. “So, we’re going down to the Moscow Mule; you want to come grab a drink with us?”

  She shook her head. “I’d love to, but I’ve got to pick up Mercedes from daycare,” she said.

  “You have a kid?” I asked in surprise, wondering how it didn’t come up in conversation.

  “Yes,” she said with a laugh. “Single mom. You know how it goes. I try to get my work done and pick her up as soon as I can. Cuts down on the bill with her being there less than the other kids.”

  “Wow,” I said with a shake of my head. “Good for you. You sound like a great mom.”

  “Thanks. Have fun tonight,” she smiled. “But not too much.”

  I laughed. “Thanks, but I’m sure my brother will jump in and play fun police if needed.”

  “Yeah, brothers are good for that,” Jean laughed. “Anyway, night!”

  I wished her goodnight, then went to find my brother. He and Nick were already getting their things together, too, so I gave up on the scan I was going to finish and grabbed my jacket. I could take care of it in the morning. I didn’t want to be late. I loved spending as much time as I could with Nick when we weren’t at work. We could be a lot friendlier when we weren’t under the gaze of the office, and I liked that. Even if I had to keep my flirting in check, I did make the most of the fun we had together.

  A group of seven of us headed down to the bar. Nick was right, Philip did tag along, though I got the impression that Nick didn’t want the man there. Of course, it wasn’t any of my business, and I wasn’t going to butt in, but I did make a note of asking Jean about it the next morning.

  We all spread out across the bar top, everyone just grabbing open seats as we could find them. I would have chosen to sit closer to Nick if I had had the option, but I didn’t want to be obvious about it. There were a couple of times I already wondered if I was too friendly toward him at the office.

  But then, people who worked in the office had to understand that he and I did have a friendship before I worked for him at the company. It was hard not to think of the three of us as the trio we once were.

  I had also known from David that Nick was currently single, and I would be lying if I said the thought hadn’t made me happy.

  I wanted to believe that I had a shot with him myself, but even if that wasn’t true because of our working relationship, it was nice not to have to watch another woman with him.

  And I dreaded the day when that would happen.

  “So, what do you think of the office?” Philip asked me, leaning in. I hadn’t had the chance to get to know him well, other than the two separate occasions where he undermined me in front of the whole department. It had taken everything I had not to call him an overbearing asshole right then and there.

  But I would be civil toward him. It was my job as the manager of the department, after all. I smiled at his question.

  “I think things are running smoothly,” I told him. “I knew it wasn’t going to take me long to settle into the place.”

  “You’ve certainly settled in,” he said with a grin. “The office is a lot better with you in it, I can tell you that much. Jean’s such a bore, and I don’t think Angela could be a bigger prude if she tried.”

  “Wow, that’s really not a very nice thing to say Philip,” I said, my smile disappearing. “Jean and Angela are good workers. They’re not there to entertain us or to look for a husband; they are there to do a job. And they do theirs’ well,” I said.

  But Philip was undeterred by my admonishment. He looked me over from head to toe in a way that made me feel dirty and uncomfortable. No wonder Nick hadn’t wanted him coming out the with us. The guy was a real creep.

  “Oh, come on. You can’t deny there’s some healthy chemistry going on at the office now that you’ve started. And I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I’m not looking,” he said with another laugh. Philip drained the rest of his beer and ordered another, but I shook my head.

  “Do you really think you need another one right now? It seems to me that you’re a bit drunk,” I said.

  “Oh, now you think you can tell me what to do after work?” he drawled. “I thought you were bossy enough at the office; now you want to boss me around when we’re just grabbing a drink?”

  “No, I’m just trying to help you not make a total fool of yourself in front of your boss and your coworkers,” I told him.

  He took a step closer to me, and I took
a step back. “Come on; you don’t have to play so hard to get. Live a little. You know you want to.”

  “I need you to back the fuck up,” I said sternly, finally reaching the limits of my comfort zone.

  David and Nick had been talking with their coworkers, their backs to me. But, with my raised voice, they suddenly realized something was going on, and at once they were by my side.

  “Back off, Philip,” Nick said, his voice low and gruff. “This is why I told you the last time you aren’t to come with us anymore.”

  “You say that, but then you invite the entire department to drinks, what makes you think I’m not going to come along?” Philip challenged. He took a step forward, and for a brief moment, I thought there was going to be a fist fight between the two of them.

  It looked like Nick wanted to hit the guy, but he was holding back as the owner of the company should. “You know what Philp? You’re right,” he said. “Today is your last day, and that was your last drink. Get out of here.”

  “You can’t fire me like that!” Philip shouted.

  “I can, and I just did. I’m not going to allow you to harass your coworkers even outside of the office. It’s not the first time you and I have had issues, either. I think it’s best you get out of here before things really take a turn for the worse,” Nick replied calmly.

  “You really want to make something out of it?” Philip barked.

  Now, I was sure he was going to swing first. I was glad David was there by Nick’s side, and that there were more reinforcements behind them. Philip was outnumbered, no matter how he tried to spin the situation.

  Nick had come to my rescue, and I didn’t want him to end up hurt for it. Though, there was no denying I was thrilled over the fact he had stepped up to the plate for me. Nick and my brother were forming something of a wall, protecting me from Philip even being able to toss another comment at me. Nick was pissed. I’d not seen him with that wild look on his face before, and it sent shivers down my spine.

  “Okay, okay, break it up, come on, let’s go,” another voice said suddenly. I turned to see the bouncer heading in our direction. His eyes were on Philip, and something told me the shithead had a pretty bad reputation in the establishment.

  The bouncer had taken Nick’s side, and Philip decided it was better to leave without causing a bigger scene.

  There were already several other patrons in the bar looking in our direction, and I felt a hint of a blush playing at the edges of my cheeks. I was both embarrassed over what had just happened with Philip as well as flattered by Nick’s reaction. He’d protected me on instinct to the point of firing one of his employees. I knew I should be so hot and bothered by it, but I was. It was a turn-on. I couldn’t deny how he made me feel, or what I wanted to do to him now. Almost immediately, my mind drifted back to the dream I’d had about him earlier that week – the things we were about to do – the things that I wanted to do to him all over again.

  “Thanks,” I told him.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  “Yeah, are you?” David chimed in.

  “I’m fine, he just got a little too drunk, that’s all,” I said.

  “Well, you’re not going to have to worry about him anymore. I’m done with his bullshit. He’s had it coming for a long time,” Nick assured me. “Why don’t you come hang out with us?”

  I grinned, taking the barstool in between the two of them and I sat there trying not to preen. I felt protected, like nothing in the whole world could touch me.

  But those were dangerous thoughts, and I knew they weren’t going to lead anywhere good. I had to be careful now. Nick was my boss. I was the employee, and like Philip, I could be fired for inappropriate behavior just like anyone else.

  I needed to keep my libido in check.

  Chapter 4

  Nick

  “You have to understand how this looks for us. Not just us sitting here in the room with you, Brantley, but for the board as a whole. I’m telling you; this has to come to an end.”

  I bit my tongue, taking the lecture from Mr. Mason in stride. I wanted to tell him to fuck off and mind his own business, tabloids aren’t worth shit anyway, but he, and many of the other investors, were worried.

  Now, I sat in my office at the head of a long table. There were six of my top investors gathered around, five of them with tabloids on the table in front of them, and one looking eagerly from one garbage paper to the next, trying to figure out what my most recent offense happened to be.

  There were several around the table I liked, but a couple I didn’t get along with. Mr. Mason and Mr. Maxwell were the most difficult, but Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Parson held their own. Mr. Welsh and Mr. Protestant were the quieter ones in the group, but they were more than happy to stand their ground with the others if it came down to it.

  Sure, I was often in the public’s eye. I was a young self-made multimillionaire, and I was attractive and single. As far as the tabloids were concerned, I was front page gold. And since the tabloids were all over the fact that I’d nearly gotten into another bar fight the night before, my investors had called an emergency meeting.

  They wanted to check into what really happened. Philip had told anyone who would listen that I had fired him unfairly over a woman that I was probably sleeping with. He also lied and told them that I didn’t pay overtime and was unduly unreasonable about deadlines. He’d made me out to be an unethical sweatshop manager, though nothing was farther from the truth. But his ego had been bruised, and he didn’t care.

  Of course, the local magazines were all over the allegations, even more so than the national tabloids. No one knew if the rumors were true, nor did they care. As long as it sold papers, they could bury a retraction on page six a week later and be legally absolved of libel. I typically didn’t care what they wrote about me, or what anyone thought about me, but now they’d involved Liz, and I was pissed. That limp-dicked fuckup had no business dragging her into any of it, just because she refused his advances. He was a sleaze, and my blood boiled to recall how he’d had her trapped against the bar, looming over her while he smiled his feral smile down at her. I clenched and unclenched my fists a few times before taking a deep breath and addressing my investors.

  “You all need to understand that I didn’t beat the shit out of that guy, though he deserved it. He was attempting to intimidate a female coworker physically and wouldn’t leave her alone when she asked him to back up. This is a guy who has been an issue in the company for quite some time, and I’m not going to put up with his bullshit any longer!” I snapped.

  “Regardless of whether he deserved it or not, the CEO of a multibillion-dollar company does not square up to a man in public,” Mr. Parson replied with a dry tone. “You of all people know that there are always eyes on you and you need to be more careful of your public image. If Wallstreet thinks you’re a volatile commodity, your stock drops and so does ours. We will be forced to pull our funding if you don’t get your shit together.”

  I bit my tongue. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t lose him or really anyone else as an investor in my company. Though we turned a very good profit, I needed the investors to keep capital coming into the business to be able to expand and explore new avenues in which to make money and eventually take the company global. If I lost any of my current investors, I would have to start the search for new ones, and with a difficult reputation, that would prove to be hard. I already knew I was trapped. I had to make sure these men were happy before the end of the meeting, or I could be in some deep shit.

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked. “How can I make you all happy and ensure that you don’t pull my funding?” I hated groveling, but I had few other choices.

  “You’re going to clean up your act,” Mr. Maxwell now spoke up.

  I clenched my fists in my lap and gritted my teeth. Of all of the men seated before me, I hated Maxwell the most. He was pompous, arrogant, and thought he knew more about busines
s than any of the rest of us, despite being born into his money. He’d never had to work a day in his life for it, and now here he was telling me I needed to ‘clean up my act.’

  “What exactly does that mean?” I asked once I had mentally counted to ten to assure I wouldn’t tell him exactly what I thought of him.

  “It means you’re going to stop showing up on the covers of these tabloids like a reality TV star,” Mr. Mason replied. “You need to look like a capable and stable CEO and whooping it up at the bar with your employees and fighting in public is not the way to go about that. You need to act like a damn grownup,” he chided.

  “And how exactly do you suggest I do that?” I asked through clenched teeth. I could see that Maxwell and Mason were enjoying my discomfort and it made me want to break something.

  “I’m sure we can come up with something that will satisfy us,” Mason said, looking around the table.

  From the look that he and Maxwell shared, I had a feeling they already had an idea and just needed to run it past the rest of the board for final approval. It really burned my ass to know that I had built my company from the ground up with my own two hands, but I was still hog-tied by a bunch of impotent old men with nothing better to do than yell at the youngsters to get off their lawn.

  I stifled a laugh at the imagery.

  “I’m sorry Mr. Brantley, was something funny?” Parsons asked, his thick grey eyebrow arched in question.

  Clearing my throat and sitting up to my full height, I shook my head. “No sir, nothing at all.”

  “Good, then we will look to reconvene this meeting early next week and discuss our expectations,” Maxwell concluded.

  “Meeting adjourned then,” I remarked as I slapped my hand on the table. “Have a good day, Gentlemen.”