Lara fought back a small smile. Erin would tease her relentlessly if Lara admitted the truth. She’d had to initiate the intimacy. And when it had happened, the kiss hadn’t curled her toes or made her swoon. In fact, she’d been strangely unaroused. When they’d slept together, it had been perfunctory, leaving her unsatisfied. When she’d hinted that she’d wanted more, he’d scowled, obviously half offended, half puzzled.
She’d told herself that great sex—hell, even good sex—was overrated. Randy had been a good man, always understanding, never protesting when she’d worked late or canceled dates to deal with one of her father’s dramatic pronouncements. In the end though, lack of sexual chemistry had made them drift apart.
One night at dinner, when they hadn’t seen each other in more than a week, she’d suggested an amicable parting. He’d smiled, in relief, she imagined.
And since she was swamped with work, she’d opted not to pursue dating for a while. Her vivid imagination and her vibrator collection were enough. She might not have a man as a partner in her life, but she told herself that was okay, for now.
“Consider it,” Erin encouraged.
Instead of responding, Lara reached for her wine.
“You should at least schedule a meeting with him,” Erin persisted.
“Do you ever stop?”
“I could give you his cell phone number.”
The image of him made her shiver. All that power and intensity? “No. Absolutely not. Thanks.”
“In that case, I’ll give you the secret code to get past his personal assistant in case you decide to call the office. You can find the number online.”
“A secret code?”
“Don’t laugh,” Erin said. “A lot of enterprising reporters and salespeople will use all sorts of tactics to get past the gatekeeper.”
“She must be tough.”
“He,” Erin corrected.
“Your brother’s personal assistant is a man?” The information shouldn’t have shocked Lara, but it did.
“Oh, yes.”
“Oh?”
With her index finger, Erin skimmed the rim of her glass. “He’s…interesting.”
“In what way?”
“Uh-uh. You’re not getting any information out of me. Go see for yourself.”
“Stop it!” Lara protested. “Tell me.”
“Not a chance.” Erin made a show of fanning her face with her hand. “Okay. I’ll tell you this much…Thompson is a gem. Gorgeous. Ex-military. I don’t know, he’s…forbidding.”
“Forbidding? That’s an interesting word.”
“Like he has all these secrets. He doesn’t talk about himself much. The man scares the hell out of me in the most exciting way possible.”
“Now I’m intrigued.”
“That was my point, exactly.”
Forbidding.
If you added handsome, enigmatic and powerful, the same description could apply to Connor.
The waiter brought them coffee and the slice of the renowned key lime pie they’d ordered to share.
“This’ll cost me an hour on the treadmill,” Erin said as she stuck her spoon in one side.
“It’s worth every single minute,” Lara pointed out.
After they’d paid the bill, they went outside. Humidity and heat from the unseasonably warm spring evening swamped Lara, settling over her, making her suddenly restless.
“Seven, seven, three, four,” Erin said.
Lara scowled.
“That’s the code so that you can contact Connor.”
“I won’t need it.”
“I want you to be my sister-in-law.” Erin waved a cheery goodbye and headed for her car while Lara walked back toward the skyscraper that housed her family’s business, Bertrand Holdings, Inc. Since it was technically after hours, she shrugged off her black blazer then tucked it through the handle of her oversized bag.
Earlier she’d debated whether or not to cancel her dinner plans with Erin, but since she’d been working so many hours, Lara had decided to keep the appointment but go back to work to wrap up the day’s final details, straighten her desk then stop by the workout center before heading home. Lately, it seemed as if she spent more time behind her desk than anywhere else.
Problem was, she couldn’t see an end anytime soon. They needed more help than they had, but cutbacks had left all departments woefully understaffed. Doing more with less had become a mantra. Unfortunately for her, that resulted in a lot of twelve-hour days, and Saturday had become a regular workday.
She entered the high-rise through the revolving glass door and exhaled in relief as the air-conditioning cooled her damp skin. At least the brisk walk should have worked off part of the key lime pie.
As she strode across the marble floor toward a bank of elevators, she waved to the security guard.
“No rest for the wicked?”
“I’ll have to make a note to be a saint in my next life,” Lara said.
“You and me both, sister,” the woman replied.
Since most workers had gone home hours before, the building was quiet. It amazed her how different downtown became after hours. The lack of energy was palpable, weighty. An elevator was even waiting to whisk Lara directly to the eighteenth floor.
She was deep in thought when she exited the car and almost walked directly into someone.
He reached for her, grabbing her upper arms to steady her.
“I beg your pardon,” she said.
“Are you all right?”
Lara looked up. Electricity hummed through her when she realized Connor Donovan was holding her. For a breathless moment, time seemed to stop.
“Well, well,” he said. “Ms. Bertrand.” He continued to hold her.
Self-preservation instincts told her to pull away, but she didn’t…couldn’t.
Their gazes held. He drew his dark eyebrows together, making him look even more intimidating. Rather than scaring her, his frown, his presence, compelled her attention.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she found a thread of equilibrium. “I’m…surprised to see you here.” And why was he?
In his dove-gray suit, starched shirt, red tie and polished wingtip shoes, the man was impossibly handsome, made even more so by the slight shadow of stubble on his strong jaw. And his voice… It wasn’t just his words, but his deep, well-modulated tone that made her think of summer nights and hot, hot sex.
His eyes, though, accentuated by the color of his clothing, were as chilly as she recalled.
Slowly, slowly, he released her. She took two small steps back. Where he’d touched her, she throbbed.
“I was sorry you didn’t let me give you a lift home a few weeks ago.”
“I’m sure you’re a busy man.”
“I always take time for the important things and people.”
Was she ridiculous for thinking that he, too, felt the attraction between them? She shook her head. He was a powerful man, of course he had a strong sex drive. It didn’t mean anything.
Under his scrutiny, she was hyperaware of her bare skin, the damp tendrils of hair curling against her nape, the way her silk shirt showed her silhouette. She wished she’d kept her blazer on.
Lara mentally took hold of herself before his power consumed her. “I was having dinner with your sister. If I’d known you had business with BHI, I would have rescheduled.”
Something dark ghosted across his eyes. “I had understood I’d be meeting with the board of directors. Or at least with you
and
Pernell.”
She adjusted her grip on her bag to cover the shock that her father hadn’t said a word to her.
“At any rate, my proposal is no longer on the table.”
“What proposal?”
“Regarding your communications division.”
One that had been losing money, one she wanted to sell. Lara took in his pricey leather briefcase, no doubt containing a file folder with papers, or, more likely, a flash drive. “And you’ve changed your mind?”
“Pernell made it clear he wasn’t open to discussion.”
“I see.” Her knees went weak. Was this another instance of her father’s stubbornness? “I wish I had been there.”
“I do, as well. Things might have worked out differently. Better.”
She scrambled for time. Perhaps her father had been out of line. On the other hand, maybe Connor’s offer had been a bad one. And she needed time to sort it out, learn what was going on, and mostly, think it through. “Are you open to continuing the negotiation?”
“Under my original terms? No.”
Connor took another step closer to her, and she remained in place, waiting, wondering.
He was close enough that she could once again inhale his scent…that of relentless determination spiced with masculine power.
Her heart seemed to pause then raced when he reached for the elevator call button.
“If you’re interested in hearing more, contact me.” He paused long enough to pull out a business card. “My personal cell number is on there.”
She accepted the card.
“Good evening,” he said when the doors slid open.
Her voice suddenly constricted by the thundering of her pulse, she nodded and watched him enter the car.
Within seconds, he disappeared from view.
She exhaled, feeling simultaneously relieved and disappointed. What had she expected?
Lara straightened her shoulders and headed down the hallway to her father’s office.
Lara knocked sharply then pushed the door open without waiting for an invitation.
Pernell raised his eyebrows as he glanced up. “Lara, darling.” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t expect you back today.”
“Obviously.” She took a seat across from him and dropped her bag onto the thick carpeting. The unyielding green leather, high-back chair squeaked as she sat. The rest of his office was just as uncomfortable. Dark mahogany bookshelves overflowed with civic awards, mementos and antique clocks. His gigantic desk had a huge phone, a blotter, a few fine pens and a cup of pencils. Begrudgingly, he’d allowed the IT team to install a computer, but it was behind him on a credenza. If he’d ever turned it on, she’d be astounded. His entire space reeked of old-world tradition or, in her opinion, an outdated way of doing business.
In contrast, her work area was minimalistic, equipped with modern electronics. It was designed for focus as well as flexibility. Its small, sparse confines were accented only by a shocking arrangement of red flowers displayed in an artistically shaped alloy metal vase, all designed to encourage creativity.
Their offices were only the beginning of the differences between Lara and her father.
“I just ran into Connor Donovan.”
“Oh?” He glanced away, as if to avoid her gaze.
She gripped the chair arms. “He thought he had a meeting with both of us.”
“Did he, now?”
“Dad, please. Don’t patronize me.” She held on to the tendril of frustration that threatened to unravel inside her. “Why didn’t you mention we had an appointment with him?”
“I thought I’d see if he had anything interesting to say first.”
How long had it been this way, the thrust and parry as she tried to dig necessary information from him? When she’d been young, he’d doted on her. Lara would hurry to him every chance she had. He’d encouraged it. Every time he’d had to work on a weekend, he’d brought her along. He’d allowed her to work summers while she was in high school, and he’d been her greatest mentor. Even while she’d been in college, she’d looked forward to the opportunity to spend time with him.
It wasn’t until after grad school that she’d realized he was attached to outdated ways of doing business, and she’d started to challenge his decisions.
More and more, he’d begun to leave her out of conversations, and the wedge seemed as unbridgeable as it was wide. Now she understood the frustrations that had led her mother to divorce him five years ago. The man was stubborn.
Opting for the direct route, Lara stated, “Connor said the offer is off the table.”
“It was never on it,” her father replied, relaxing back in his seat, obviously once again feeling in control.
“Meaning?”
“He has some ideas on how we can work together on some projects. But essentially he’s arrogant enough to think we should sell the communications division to him.”
“Did you look at his proposition?”
“It was missing a comma and some zeroes. I never even looked at it.” He clapped his hands together and left them steepled. “I tossed him out on his ass. Told him to take his insulting offer with him.”
“You did
what?”
Energy ripped through her, bringing her to her feet.
“Sit down,” Pernell instructed. “I don’t like tipping my head back to see you.” For the first time in weeks, he smiled. It erased years from his face, banished the shadows from beneath his eyes. His eyes, dark like her own, all but twinkled.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Lara, you should have seen his face.”
Since BHI was a private firm, they didn’t answer to shareholders, just a seven-member board of directors. She and her father both held seats, along with her mother, Helene who had retained her position as part of her impressive divorce settlement. But because of her annoyances with Pernell, her mother hadn’t been to a meeting in at least a year. Occasionally she threatened to show up, mostly to irritate him, Lara assumed.
The other four members had been appointed by Pernell over the years. They were colleagues and of a similar age and mindset.
Lara believed the company’s financial problems could be solved with a steady, firm hand, a compelling five-year plan, some management shake-ups and, above all, getting rid of certain divisions.
At the last board meeting, she’d presented the dismal financial report, for the third quarter in a row. They could not afford for this spiral to continue.
Despite her passionate entreaty urging them to make changes, they’d voted to continue on the course they’d set.
One of the board members had stated that they had weathered decades of market fluctuations. Things would come back. They always had. Pernell’s ever-steady philosophy had served the company in good stead.
Now, her father’s stubbornness was damaging BHI’s valuation, and he refused to see the truth.
For the past eighteen months, she’d been steadfast in her conviction that they needed to make changes immediately. The resulting tension coiled between them, gnawing away at their relationship. “Dad—”