Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Carrie
Reid walks beside me toward the meeting room, radiating confidence, power, and sex. He’s an animal, a wolf on the hunt, willing to kill, no hesitation in him. These things and this man affect me. I can’t pretend it’s not true and survive. I am aware of Reid Maxwell in every fiber of my being, this man I hate and also crave.
This man who could walk in front of my staff and destroy me and yet, I never even considered that option until right before we were entering the meeting. He’s the man that orchestrated a hostile takeover of my family business. I should have considered that. I’m crazy to want him. I’m crazy to trust him. I don’t trust him. I can’t, and the closer we get to the meeting room doors, the more I doubt his promise that he isn’t working against me. Actually, he didn’t promise at all.
Lifting my hand, I indicate our destination to Reid without looking at him, not about to risk him reading me. I want this over with one way or the other, and when I would just enter the room, Reid catches my arm, heat radiating over my body with the contact. He leans close, his mouth near my ear. “I am not your enemy,” he says softly as if he’s read my thoughts, as if he knows I expect the worst of him.
I glance up at him, my eyes daring to meet his piercing blue stare. “We’ll see inside, won’t we?”
“Yes,” he says. “We will.” His hold on my arm loosens but I have this feeling that he doesn’t want to let me go, and it’s a feeling that I don’t understand. That stirs a funny feeling in my chest, that I don’t want to feel with this man.
I shake off the sensation and enter the room, where fifty-seven people in rows of chairs wait. A room where Reid and I either stand together or apart. We reach the front of the room and I begin to talk. I introduce Reid and he nods. He takes the microphone from me after that introduction. “I just want to be clear,” he says, which I’m coming to know as one of his signature statements. “I’m behind the scenes helping Carrie navigate a ship with a hole. She’s captain. Everything goes through her.”
One of the tech guys says, “But you’re CEO?”
Reid gives him a deadpan stare and then says, “That is what we said,” and hands me back the microphone.
It’s not long after that when I send everyone home and Reid huddles up with me. “I’m not your enemy. I’ll be in my office with Gabe when you get done here.”
“Not tonight,” I say.
His lips twitch but he says nothing more. He just turns and leaves.
Sallie steps to my side. “He’s such an arrogant piece of perfection.” She glances over at me. “How’s that working for you?”
Too well and very badly, I think. I’m about as naked as a girl can get with a man.
It’s a good forty-five minutes before I clear the building and make my way back to the executive offices. My father’s office door—no, Reid’s office door, is open. I walk that direction and I’ve just reached the edge of the door when I hear Gabe say, “Let’s talk about Carrie.”
I freeze in my footsteps and suck in a breath. “Let’s not talk about Carrie,” Reid replies.
“Then we won’t talk about her, but in the interest of full disclosure, I’m going to show her some extra moral support.”
“Stay away from her,” Reid says brusquely. “And I mean, stay the fuck away from her.”
I’m stunned by how intense his reaction is while Gabe simply laughs. “Easy, brother. I’m not going to distract her. I know how much money is on the line.”
Right, I think. I’m money to Reid. Just money. And of course, he wants to sleep with me, but that’s a conquest thing. An unfinished thing.
“Hear me and hear me well, Gabe,” Reid states tightly. “You will not offer her anything but your professional services, which will come through me. Now, either move on to the next case we need to review or leave.”
Leave?
Crap. If he leaves, I’m busted listening in and about me of all things, though one could argue I have a right. I inhale and decide I can’t even consider rushing away. I could get busted. I have to charge forward. I straighten my spine and march toward the office, appearing in the doorway, and I am instantly blasted by the force of Reid’s stare. As if he expected me. As if he knew I was there all along.
“Carrie,” he greets, and I’m aware of Gabe turning his attention on me but I only see Reid.
“Everyone’s gone,” I say. “The coast is clear when you decide to leave. You won’t be accosted.”