“Good. I got a meeting set up with a big prospect.”
“You can tell me all about it tonight, naked, in my bed or anywhere in my apartment that suits you. Location is optional. Being naked is not. Did you look around?”
“No. I wanted to wait for you. I want you to show me what you want me to see.”
“Did you now?”
“Yes. I did. I do.” I hesitate. “Reid.”
“Don’t swing this conversation back to Elijah.”
“What if I can pull him out of revenge mode?”
“No.”
“Reid—”
“No, Carrie. I need to go.”
“I’m not done with this topic.”
“But I am, at least, until you’re naked.”
“You’re obsessed with me being naked.”
“I’m just obsessed with you, Carrie.”
My stomach flutters again. “You are?”
“Yes. I am. Everything about you. One partial obsession you’ve stirred in me comes to mind.”
“What obsession?”
“My desire to cuff you to my bed, with the very cuffs you cuffed me with the night we met. You’re going to let me.”
Heat rushes over me. “No.”
“Why? You don’t trust me, Carrie?”
The words tease, but my brow furrows with the certainty that there’s more beneath their surface. “Actually, Reid, I do trust you.”
“Those words will be tested, Carrie. I have to go. Call me if you need me.” He hangs up.
Those words will be tested. He’s not talking about the cuffs. He’s talking about his certainty I will soon hate him again and I want to know what that means. Actually, I want to know a lot of things. Like what’s the story with Elijah and what does everyone but me know about my father. Maybe I’m the one who needs to cuff Reid Maxwell again, but this time, he’ll be naked first, and I won’t be leaving.
Chapter Thirty-One
Carrie
It’s nearly four in the afternoon and I’m sitting behind my desk with Sallie in front of me again, when my intercom buzzes and I hear, “My office. Now.” It’s Reid, of course, announcing that he, and the asshole persona he slips into at work, are now present and in the building.
“Why are you smiling?” Sallie demands. “The man bosses you around like you’re his slave.”
I didn’t actually know that I was smiling, but I don’t miss a beat. “I’m smiling because he’s doing it to piss me off and that’s the entire point,” I say, standing up. “He wants me to lead among all the assholes like him. I get it. I get him. And he doesn’t get to upset me.” I head for the door.
“Kick his ass!” she calls after me, and I laugh. I love this woman who would be horrified and then asking for details that I wouldn’t give her if she knew about me and Reid.
I cross the office where Connie is presently behind her desk. “Beware. He’s in some kind of mood.”
“Really?”
“Really, and I don’t say that often. I get him. I know him. Something is wrong.”
I immediately think of Elijah, but then my mind goes to the DA and his settlement. “Thanks for the heads up,” I say.
“I don’t give a heads up about Reid,” she says, obviously prompting me with the question I ask.
“Then why did you just warn me?”
“I have a gut feeling about you.”
Her gut feeling could mean many things, and for all I know, she thinks I’m too weak to handle his mood. She doesn’t give me time to ask. “Do you want me to buzz him or are you going to retreat?” she asks.
“I’ll just go on in,” I reply, heading for the door and when I open it, she laughs, a kind of gloating laugh that has me thinking I just did exactly what she hoped I’d do.
I enter the office and shut myself inside. Reid is behind his desk, looking his normal ten shades of hotness, and he arches an expectant brow at me. With those blue eyes of his fixed on me, I cross to his desk opposite him and lean on the wooden surface. “Are you really going to be a bossy asshole to me at work?”
“Yes,” he says. “Because I’ve seen you naked and my plan to keep you naked all weekend changes nothing here.”
His reply is what I expect from Reid, but Connie’s warning still rings in my mind. “Did you deal with the stockholder?”
“Was there ever a question that I would?”
“Did you settle your case?” I ask.
“Yes. For twenty million.”
This seems like good news, but he’s so matter-of-fact, that I don’t assume. I dig deeper. “Did you ask for more?”
“I asked for fifteen.”
“Then,” I say, still being cautious, “you won and helped a lot of people today.”
“As best as you can help someone who’s lost someone they love.”
I push off the desk and round it to join him on the other side. He’s on his feet to meet me by the time I’m in front of him, but neither of us touches the other. “You did a good thing and you did it bravely.”
He pulls me to him. “The last thing you should do is to decide that I’m a nice guy with the moral compass you want me to have.”
“Is this where you’re an asshole again because I see too much?”
His fingers tangle in my hair and he stares down at me. “Because you want to see something that isn’t there. Don’t do that to me or us.”
“So I should spend the weekend with an asshole I hate?”
“I want you to see me for who I am.”
“You don’t have to be an asshole to keep me from asking for a ring and a commitment, Reid. I’m not that girl, but I don’t want to hate you. I don’t hate you. Not anymore, so just stop—”
The next thing I know he’s kissing me, that earthy wonderful scent of him drugging me right up until the moment he groans. “That sound wasn’t pleasure,” I say, pulling back to look at him. “What’s wrong? What was that?”
He rests his forehead against mine. “Nothing.” He inhales and sits down, pressing his hands to his head. “Damn it to hell. I do not have time for this.”
I go down on my knees in front of him. He looks up at me. “Don’t go down on your knees in front of me right now when I can’t take full advantage of it.”
“Being crass isn’t going to piss me off and distract me. In other words, you aren’t getting you out of this. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“You’re on your knees and I can’t take advantage of it, is what’s fucking wrong,” he grumbles testily.
“Reid,” I command softly.
“You don’t give up, do you?”
“No, and you wouldn’t want me here if I did. Talk to me.”
“I do not want this going past this room or I swear—”
“It’s just you and me,” I say.
He studies me a long moment that feels like an hour. “I played football in college. I had a few concussions. I used to get migraines.”
“Used to or do?”
“Nothing for five years.”
“Until now,” I supply.
“Yes,” he confirms. “Until now.”
“Do you have medication?”
“Not anymore.”
“Okay, well, you’re rich,” I say. “We’ll get a doctor over here.”
“Did you just stay I’m rich and we’ll get a doctor over here?”
“Yes. I did.” I stand up and reach for the phone. He rolls toward me, his hands coming down on my hips.
“Don’t.”
I turn to face him. “You need—”
“Elijah and who knows who else are having me watched. These takeover roles are high-profile and high-pressure. I cannot have this problem now.”
“It’s a headache, Reid.”
“It’s more than that. I cannot have someone dig up my concussion history and decide I’m going to go off the deep end.”
“It’s one migraine in five years. You’re human, Reid.”
“Outside of my brother Gabe, you’re ab
out the only person who really believes that. I need to keep it that way.”
I don’t miss the fact that he left his sister and his other brother out of that statement. I focus on a solution. “Then you need to get rid of the headache.”
“I use a combination of Advil, Excedrin Migraine, and Sudafed. If I get that rotation in me and take a twenty-minute nap, I’ll be fine.”
“Oh,” I say. “Okay. We can do that.” I try again to turn and he stops me, his fingers flexing at my hips.
“What are you doing?” he demands.
“I was going to get Connie to pick it up.”
“No. Connie doesn’t know about this. No one knows.”
“Not even Connie?”
“Not even Connie.”
“She’s worked for you for ten years?”
“Yes. She has.”
“Okay. I won’t comment on that while you have a migraine. On to Plan B.” I try to turn again and he holds me still. “Reid. Let go.”
“What are you going to do now?”
I reach out and cup his cheek. “I know you don’t trust easily. I see that now more than ever and I even understand it, but on this small thing, I’m asking you to trust me. You said you don’t want anyone to know this, and they won’t.”
He shuts his eyes and draws a breath before looking at me and giving me a tiny nod that actually makes him grimace. “Okay,” he murmurs.
“I have Excedrin,” I say. “Let me start by getting that down you. I’ll be right back.” I step into him and kiss his temple before I can stop myself.
He catches my hand and looks up at me with hard, unreadable eyes and then to my surprise, he flips my hand over. His lips press to my palm and those unreadable eyes are suddenly etched with pain that he allows me to see when moments before he had not. He lets me see. He chooses to be human, to trust me, and it steals my breath. “Hurry back,” he orders softly, releasing my hand.
“I will,” I say, rounding the desk and heading out the door, my knees wobbling slightly with the impact of whatever just happened between me and this man. What did just happen? He happened. That’s the answer to every question in my life right now. Reid Maxwell happened.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Carrie
I hurry out of the office, avoiding Connie’s gaze. I can’t invite her questions when I’m trying to answer my own about me and Reid. About Reid. About what he’s making me feel that I can’t even name. He’s not stone. He’s a man hiding beneath stone and I just saw a little piece of that man. It was enough to convince me that I want to see more, not that I needed much convincing.
I stop at Sallie’s desk, certain that she will help me without any unwelcome questions. “It’s going to be a long night, and I have this sudden sinus pain in my face that I was hoping would go away. It’s not.”
She perks up, eager to help. “What do you need?”
“Advil and some Sudafed would be great.”
“What about some sort of cold medicine?” she offers.
“I called my doctor earlier and he said Advil and Sudafed should work.”
She grabs her purse. “I’ll go next door and get it.”
“Thank you. Just set it on my desk. I’ll sneak out and get it soon. We’re about to be on a conference call.” I hurry into my office, reach in my desk and grab the Excedrin and pour a few in my hand for fear the bottle is too obvious. Snatching up the bottle of water on my desk, , I hurry out of the office and back toward Reid’s.
“Everything okay?” Connie asks.
“Seems his normal asshole self to me,” I say, “but I haven’t known him ten years like you. However, the asshole part of him wants me to review some paperwork now.”
She laughs. “Now is one of his favorite words. Maybe he is normal today after all.”
“Wish me luck,” I say, entering the office without giving her time to ask another question, and shut myself inside.
Reid’s still behind his desk, on the phone. “Monday,” he says. “Ten AM. Be ready for all hell to break loose.” He pauses a beat. “Saturday night? Doubtful. In fact, no. Call me Sunday night.” He disconnects as I round the desk and hand him two Excedrin. He pops them in his mouth and I offer him the water.
He downs them and I pull open his top drawer and stick about ten more inside. “I didn’t bring the bottle. I thought that would be obvious.”
His hands come down on my hips and pull me to him. “Thank you.”
“Did you, Reid Maxwell, just say thank you?”
“Yes,” he says looking up at me. “Apparently, for you, I’m capable of manners and apologies.”
“And crassness.”
“That you like,” he counters.
I don’t deny or confirm this statement but rather reach for one of his hands. “Come and lie down.” I tug on his hand.
“Believe it or not, I’m not going to argue.”
He stands up and his hands come down on my shoulders, his head resting against mine for a moment that I’m pretty sure is about pain, not me. “Come on,” I urge again, walking backward and holding onto him, taking him with me.
I manage to get him moving and he sits down on the couch, but he doesn’t lie down. “There will be a press conference for the settlement on Monday. It’s going to bring a media craze. They’ll hunt me down here. We’ll need extra security. I would say I’ll stay away for a few days, but until they explore every piece of my life, the press won’t go away.” He lies down. “They suck.” He says those words bitterly and shuts his eyes.
I sit down on the stone table right next to him. “We’ll handle it. I’ll alert the appropriate people.”
He looks over at me. “I’ll be accused of being a press whore, trying to sweeten my sins. My father and my ‘uncle’ who isn’t really a fucking uncle dragged the company into an insider trading mess a few years back. It haunts me.”
“I read about that, but clearly you’re well-respected.”
“It still comes up. Often. I get past it, but it infuriates me to have to explain myself. That’s why I was even at that bachelors’ auction. It keeps coming up and my sister felt she could work magic and rework our reputation.”
“Why did you take this case?”
“Not for the press.”
“Why?” I push.
“Because I could win.”
He’s not giving me what I want. I rephrase. “Why’d you forgive your fees?”
“The same reason my client, Cole Brooks, isn’t taking the money. Because we don’t need the money and the victims do. And before you ask me if I did it for our reputation, no. I did not. It’s just going to drag out the press again and that always drags up the past.”
Now he’s given me what I was looking for. “Then you did a good thing, for the right reasons. That’s all that matters.”
He pulls me down next to him. “You’re the good thing.” And with a quick shift, I’m underneath him and he’s pinning me in a blue-eyed stare. “Too good for me.”
“Does that tie into my destiny to hate you?”
“Yes. It does.”
“Why am I going to hate you, Reid?”
“You ask too many questions.” Before I can stop him, he’s kissing me, a drugging, almost brutal kiss, his hands sliding up my sides to cup my breasts. “Reid,” I hiss, covering his hand with mine. “Not here.”
“We fucked on the desk, baby. Lighten up. What’s different?”
There is something about how he says this that hits ten nerves. He makes it sound so dirty and this time it bothers me. It feels like he’s trying to make me feel like I’m some sort of call girl. “I need up.” I shove at his chest. “Take your nap.”
He raises up just enough to search my face. “What just happened?”
“Let me up, Reid.”
“No,” he says, as his phone starts to ring. “I’m not letting you up.”
“Answer your phone.”
“What just happened?” he repeats, ignoring the call.
�
��I don’t want to do this. I need up and I need to go to my office. And I don’t like you trapping me like this.”
He rolls us to our sides, but his leg cages mine. “Talk to me.”
“Now you want to talk?”
“Yes. I do. I’m not letting you up until you tell me what just happened.”
“It’s like I challenged you to make me hate you so you have to prove yourself right. I can’t do this. I can’t feel—this.”
“Don’t say that. Whatever I just made you feel, whatever ‘this’ is, I didn’t mean to make you feel it.”
“Says the man who wants me to hate him.”
“I don’t. I don’t want you to hate me. I don’t want you to push me away.”
“You’re the one pushing.”
“I’m going to say this again because I want you to know I mean it. Whatever I just made you feel, I don’t want to make you feel that ever again.”
“I don’t think you can help yourself.”
“I can. For you, I can.”
“I’m a strong person.”
“I know you are.” He strokes a strand of hair behind my ear. “And it’s sexy as hell.”
“I’m strong because I know what makes me tick. I don’t even date, in order to stay focused on my career. I can’t mix this and that. I can’t be what you want me to be, what I need to be for me, in the boardroom, with you fucking with my head.”
“Carrie,” he says, his hand settling on my face. “I don’t want you to push me away. We’ll do this together.” His thumb strokes my cheek. “We’ll work out rules this weekend.”
“You’re going to follow rules?”
“I want you, baby. I want to know you, not just fuck you, and the migraine is not an excuse, but it makes it easy for me to slip into old ways.”
The phone on his desk buzzes. “Reid, you have Grayson Bennett on the phone.”
“Tell him I’ll be right there,” he calls out and looks at me. “Don’t move. Please.”
“Go get the call.”
“Tell me you won’t run for the door.”
“Reid, damn it, get the call. We need his business. I won’t leave.”
He kisses me and rotates, walking to the desk and grabbing the phone. “Grayson,” he answers. “Good to hear back from you.” He listens for a moment. “We’ll be at the chopper pad in two hours.”