Outwait Page 3

  Maybe I’ll hire some women, too. There are plenty on our staff, but it seems like most of the execs are men. This room could do with a woman’s perspective—not to mention some T and A for me to look at.

  And just as that random thought enters my mind, the door to the boardroom flies open. All our heads swing in that direction as a beauty with dark hair flying everywhere and dark, fuming eyes bursts into the room.

  Lauren rushes in behind her. “I’m so sorry, sir. I tried to stop her.” Lauren looks terrified, like she might get fired for whatever’s about to happen. The only time she ever calls me sir is when she’s fucked something up.

  I sit up a little straighter in my chair.

  The beauty who whirled in from out of nowhere eyes each of us. Her anger is palpable, and her face burns red. She’s clearly pissed about something, and her eyes focus in on me.

  She’s gorgeous, though she’s the opposite of what I look for in a woman—she’s not blonde, she doesn’t have blue eyes, and she’s much shorter than I usually go for, but there’s something about her that’s fiercely and savagely beautiful.

  My eyes are drawn immediately to her lips. The bottom one is slightly fuller than the top, like a pillow for the top one to rest upon. They aren’t marred by lipstick, yet they’re cherry red. The top lip has a perfect point right in the center, as if her lips are attempting to create a heart with their shape.

  My heart unexpectedly races in my chest.

  She shoves a shaky finger in my direction. “Are you Carson King?”

  Oh shit.

  She doesn’t look familiar, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know her. Have I fucked her? I don’t think I have. She may not be my type with her dark hair, but she’s pretty fucking hot barring the anger she’s aiming at me. She wears a tight black skirt that hugs a narrow waist. A white button-down shirt is tucked into her skirt, and the buttons strain over her large tits. A black blazer over her shirt completes her look, along with black heels. She looks professional and put together—almost too put together. The strong urge to take her apart filters through my veins. The urge to pop those buttons right off that shirt hits me hard—and speaking of hard, my dick strains against my pants. Something about this woman turns me on in strange and unexpected ways.

  I don’t typically go for businesswomen. They tend to be a little straight-laced for me, and I always get more of a sisterly sense from them—maybe because I was raised in an office around women like that.

  But nothing about this woman makes me think of a sister. This woman screams sensuality, exudes sex. I want her immediately and without reservation—maybe on the very table I’m sitting at.

  “Yes,” I finally answer. The men at the table all turn their attention to me.

  “You’re not going to get away with this,” she hisses.

  I break my gaze from the brunette beauty to glance over at my dad. He rolls his eyes. “Gentlemen, let’s reconvene in the conference room next door.”

  Lauren eyes me as the company’s most important executives file out.

  “You can go,” I say to Lauren. She looks relieved.

  The woman smooths her hair down with her shaking hand. She doesn’t seem to care that she interrupted a meeting with whatever grudge she has against me.

  “I’m sorry but…who are you?” I ask her once the room is clear and we’re alone.

  She huffs out a sound that’s sort of like a laugh, but it’s clear she’s not laughing. “You don’t even know.” She throws up her hands. “That’s just great.”

  Shit. I did fuck her, didn’t I?

  “Uh…should I?”

  “No,” she spits out. “No, you shouldn’t know me, but you should know my father. Does the name Rob Baker ring any bells?”

  I feel a sense of relief that she’s not here because of a personal entanglement I may have forgotten. “From Baker Media?”

  What the fuck is Rob Baker’s daughter doing barging into my meeting?

  She crosses her arms over her chest, and the motion seemingly calms her. “Yeah. You’re not going to get away with what you’re trying to pull.” Her voice is no longer shaking, and she’s a lot more intimidating this way—not that I’m intimidated by her, exactly, but I could see how others might be.

  I rise from my chair and face off against her. “What am I trying to pull, exactly?”

  “You think you can roll in with your big money and take over my family’s company, but that. Won’t. Happen.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, it’s gonna happen.” I shoot her my lazy grin—the same one I use when I’m about to fuck. In a sense, I’m going to fuck this woman, too, just not in the way she would want me to.

  “You can’t just buy off the board. Half of them are family.”

  “And the other half aren’t. Money talks.”

  “You’re a real asshole.”

  “What a nasty mouth for such a pretty lady.”

  She looks momentarily thrown by my words, and I know she’s attracted to me. I can see it in the angry eyes, in the fire she’s throwing at me. She has to hate me because of what my company is going to do to hers, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a nice hate fuck along the way.

  “Why do you even want Baker Media?” she asks with a challenging tone.

  I shrug. “Why don’t we discuss it over dinner?”

  Her arms come uncrossed and she straightens up a bit. “No. Now. Answer me. Why?”

  “To be honest, I don’t. My father does. I’m fighting for his company the same way you’re fighting for your father’s.”

  “Leave us alone.”

  “Did you fly all the way across the country to tell me to leave you alone?”

  I see a flash of sheepishness before she hides it. I speak again before she can.

  “You could’ve just sent an email. It would’ve yielded the same result.”

  “And what result is that?”

  “People in the business call it a hostile takeover. You can call it whatever you want.” I sit back down in my chair and lean back, crossing one leg over the other so my ankle rests near my other knee. It’s a casual pose, like I can’t be bothered with anything.

  “I call it a real dick move.”

  “There’s that nasty mouth again. I have to admit, I kind of like it.”

  Red creeps into her cheeks. I can tell I’m riling her up even more than she already is, and there’s something incredibly fun about pushing her buttons.

  “Tell me, Ms. Baker—I assume it’s Ms. Baker?”

  She narrows her eyes at me.

  “Tell me, Ms. Baker,” I begin again. “How long are you in town?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “I want nothing more than to take you to dinner.”

  “That’s never going to happen.”

  “You’re not even giving me a chance, cupcake.”

  “Cupcake?”

  I shrug. “Thought I’d give it a try. You seem sweet.”

  “Fuc—”

  I hold up my hands and interrupt her. “Whoa there, Ms. Baker. Just calm yourself.”

  She raises her shaking hand in my direction and points her finger at me. “Don’t you tell me how to feel.”

  “Why are you denying my dinner offer? You flew all this way just to see me, after all.”

  “You’re impossible. I want a meeting with your father.”

  “He’s a busy man, cupcake, as am I. Are we done here?”

  “No, we’re not done here.” She’s hissing her words again, and it’s a little scary. Any other day, I’d have been prepared to face her, but today, with this God-awful headache and all the gin still filtering its way through my kidneys, I’m not feeling like myself. Instead, I’m finding myself attracted to her, and while I’ve fucked plenty of business associates, I suddenly get the sense that it would be wrong to fuck this one. She’s mad enough at me for what I’m doing to her company; I don’t need to add physically fucking her over to that list.

  “It se
ems as though neither of us is willing to give in.” I glance at my watch. “I’ve got a meeting I need to get to in ten minutes, so unless you have a really good sales pitch and fewer glares to shoot in my direction, I’ve given you my offer.”

  “Dinner? That’s your offer?”

  “I said I’d discuss it over dinner.” I pull out my phone and glance at my appointments. “I’m free for dinner tonight after eight.” It’s a lie. I have a dinner meeting, but it’s nothing Lauren can’t reschedule.

  She sighs, and my eyes are drawn to her chest as she heaves in a breath. I force my gaze back to her face, which is an equal mistake when they land on those lips. “A business dinner, nothing else.”

  I feign shock. “Of course, a business dinner—what else would it be?”

  “Nothing. It won’t be anything else.” She says it with firm conviction as she nods her head. I briefly wonder if she’s being so firm because she’s trying to convince herself.

  “Fine. Text me where you want to go.”

  “I don’t have your number and I’m not from New York.”

  “Then I’ll text you where I want to go.”

  “You don’t have my number.”

  “You’ll give it to my assistant—you know, the blonde woman you barged past to interrupt my meeting?”

  She has the grace to look a little sheepish again, and my dick aches in my slacks. I fight the feeling.

  I stand and walk toward the door. “I have to get to my next meeting. I’ll see you tonight.” I turn to walk out of the room.

  Her voice is small when she responds, but I still hear it. “Please just think about what you’re doing to my family.”

  I pretend I don’t hear her, but her words send the smallest pang right through my ribs and up into my heart.

  CHAPTER 5

  SYLVIE

  I pace back and forth in the small space between the bed and the dresser in my hotel room. My hands are still shaking, and I need a cigarette.

  Okay, that last part isn’t really true. I’ve never smoked, not really. I had a few here and there in high school when I was trying to fit in, but it’s not me.

  Somehow, though, inhaling some nicotine after that encounter seems like it would have a calming effect.

  Maybe a shot of something. I pace my way over to the minibar and review my options: tequila, vodka, rum, gin—all the standards. Nothing sounds good; nothing sounds like it’s going to actually hit the spot or make me feel better.

  What would make me feel better is currently almost three thousand miles across the country.

  I text William.

  Me: Could use a hug.

  His reply comes almost immediately, as it always does. It isn’t in the form of a text, though. My phone starts ringing.

  “Hi you,” I answer, still pacing.

  “Hi honey. How’d it go?”

  “Awful. He wants to meet to talk over dinner.”

  “I knew I should’ve come with you.”

  “I’m fine, William. I can handle him.”

  “He’s a known womanizer, darling. I know you can handle him, but I just don’t like the idea.”

  “I know you don’t, but I’ll be fine.”

  He sighs and concedes. “What did he say?”

  “Well, I may have interrupted some sort of meeting as I rushed in and tossed threats at him.”

  “Oh, Sylvie. You didn’t.”

  “Yeah,” I say. “I did.” I know William won’t like what I did, but he’ll still support me. That’s what we do. We don’t have to like everything the other one does, but because we love each other, we still show our support. “There were maybe six or seven men in there and they all got up and left so I could talk to Carson.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “He was a cocky bastard, that’s what happened.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Just how I didn’t have to come all this way and could’ve just sent an email.”

  “Didn’t I tell you the same thing?”

  I blow out a frustrated breath. “In person is much more effective. He probably gets thousands of emails every day. You think he’s going to care about one from me?”

  “What else did he say?”

  “He’s going to go ahead with his plans for a hostile takeover.” I leave out the part about his flirtations, mostly because William was against the idea of me coming here from the start.

  “Darling, I don’t want you going to dinner with him alone.”

  “It’s a big city filled with people. It’s not like we’re going to his place for an intimate dinner for two. Besides, this is business. I intend to fight for our company.”

  “I’m going to see if there’s a flight tonight.”

  “It’ll take more than five hours to get here, William. By the time you find a flight and get to the airport, we’ll be at dinner, and by the time you arrive, it’ll be long over. Besides, you have the Canterbury event tonight, remember?”

  “I know. I can skip it for you, though.”

  “No, you can’t. You need to be there.”

  “I know.” He sighs. “I just want to be there for you.”

  “You are there for me, always. I’ll do this dinner tonight, and then I’m coming home first thing tomorrow.”

  “I could at least spend the night with you there, be there for you after dinner so we can talk about how it went. I should be there as your attorney anyway.”

  “I’ll be okay.” I love that William always wants to take care of me, but sometimes I just want to prove that I’m a grown woman and I don’t need to be taken care of. I want to prove to both William and my father that I can handle my position as vice president of operations at Baker Media. My dad put me in that position, after all, and it’s time he let go and trusted me to do my job.

  William is our corporate attorney. My father hired him six years ago, and we’ve been together a little over two years. We hid our relationship at first because we work in the same building, but now everyone knows. We’re on different floors, anyway.

  He’s going to propose soon. He doesn’t like surprises, and we’ve talked at length about what we want for our future together. I already have a date in mind and a wedding planner, venue, and caterer just a phone call away. William just hasn’t actually gotten down on his knee to ask me yet. We’ve both been swamped at work, and he’s waiting for a break in the action so we can take a breath and find the time to plan a wedding.

  I ignore the fact that I managed to find the time for a quick trip to New York. I could’ve done it in one day, but I didn’t want to sit on a plane for five hours one way and then get right back on it to turn back the other way all in the same day. Besides, I didn’t know how long it would take me to find Carson.

  Turns out it wasn’t really all that long.

  I sort of wish William had already proposed to me as I’m thinking about tonight’s dinner, though. A ring on my finger might make me feel a little safer from this arrogant Carson character, especially with the way he spoke to me earlier.

  Though I’m not entirely convinced he’s the type of person who would care if there were, in fact, an engagement ring on my finger proclaiming that I belong to another man.

  “I love you, Sylvie.”

  My heart warms just as it does every time William tells me he loves me. “I love you, too.”

  “Be careful tonight, okay?”

  “I’m always careful. Have fun at the Canterbury event.”

  “It would be more fun with you by my side.”

  “As would this trip to New York.”

  We’re both quiet for a few seconds, and then he says, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  We hang up, and I feel a little empty. I want his warm arms around me, comforting me. He’s so good to me, so kind and sweet, and he treats me right. He protects me and cherishes me, and I know he’ll make a perfect husband. He’s a good, solid man. I can’t wait to start my future with him.

  So why does Carson King�
�s arrogant grin flash through my mind at this very moment, and why does just the thought of his annoying smile send a little tingle through my stomach?

  CHAPTER 6

  CARSON

  I’m in my fourth meeting of the day, and once again, my mind is wandering. I can’t concentrate, and while it’s after lunch now and I’m sober, my thoughts are not on maximizing profits on cloud storage. Not today.

  Today, my mind keeps drifting to the beautiful brunette who somehow actually agreed to be my dinner date this evening.

  While she made clear her intentions for the meal, that doesn’t mean a guy can’t give it a go anyway. There was no ring on her finger proclaiming she’s tied to someone else, so she’s fair game…not that that’s stopped me in the past.

  She seems like a challenge, and everything’s just been so easy lately—too easy. It’s becoming tedious, this meeting a new woman, going to her place to fuck, and leaving before she falls asleep. They all want a piece of me, even if it’s just for the night, so they do whatever I want, hoping to tame the elusive bachelor. It’s great, and it’s fun, and it’s certainly pleasurable…but it’s also getting a little old. I need something new and different, something interesting, and when Rob Baker’s daughter whirled into the boardroom this morning with that hair flying everywhere and anger in her eyes, it was like she was the match that could ignite the fire that has long been burned out.

  She may be different from the others, but that doesn’t mean I want more than one night with her. I don’t, for the record.

  I remember thinking to myself that if Rob Baker had a daughter, I’d fuck her just to piss him off.

  That’s not what this is about, though; it doesn’t matter who she’s related to.

  She’s playing a game, and I want to win.

  That’s what this is about. I play to win, and I always win.

  Just ask my brother, Carter. Board games, cards, or a game of basketball in the driveway—I’d win them all. I give every game my all until I hurt, and then I push myself some more through the pain.

  Women are no different, and Baker’s daughter is certainly playing a game she’s not going to win—not in the boardroom, and not in the bedroom. I’ll take both, I’ll win both, and I’ll fuck her in both.