“Thank you,” I said. Should I return the favor and tell him I thought he might just be the most handsome man I’d ever met? I suppose he already knew, given my rant about his tight ass and hot AF face.
He looked away from me and drained what remained of his fresh drink.
He placed some cash on the bar and stood up. The heat that had seemed to enclose us in some weird energy bubble drained away. Was he really leaving?
“See you again,” he said and swept out.
The man I’d hated so vehemently for the last two weeks had gone. And I’d wanted him to stay.
Thirteen
Andrew
I flung open my office door. Sofia was sitting at her desk, typing away. For the ninetieth time, I mentally chastised myself for going to the bar again last night. Why hadn’t I just stayed away? Not that I knew for sure she’d be there, but there was a risk. The worst of it was, I’d been fucking delighted when I’d spotted her on her stool, exactly where she had been on the Friday before.
It was like I could feel the iron walls I’d built crumble under my fingers and I was powerless to stop it. Of course Sofia was attractive—beautiful actually. But I’d seen beautiful women before, and it hadn’t had me breaking my rules, wanting to do inappropriate things. Over the last decade, I’d developed the self-control of a bloody Jedi master.
So what was it about Sofia?
The one and only time the circles of my personal and professional life had overlapped had ended in disaster. I’d been sacked by the woman I was dating because she didn’t like that I’d ended our relationship. Being a junior lawyer fired for sexual harassment, even back then, meant I was toxic. My legal career had been ruined before it had had a chance to get going. For months I lost all self-control. I drank too much. Had a lot of casual sex. Made some shockingly bad decisions. I’d fallen down and was sure I’d never get up again. I’d thought my life was over.
It was only when Gabriel shoved a copy of Verity, Inc. under the door that I came to my senses. I knew I had to make something out of my life so I could rescue that magazine from the gutter.
“Can I help you with anything?” Sofia said, jolting me out of my memories.
“Still no word?” I barked, irritated that she had the ability to dilute my focus, even with her back to me. I knew the answer. I’d been tapping my fingers on my desk for the last six hours, waiting for Goode to return my call. I’d have heard Sofia’s phone ring, but it had been deadly silent for the last six hours.
“Sorry,” she said, glancing up at me and back down as if I might bite.
If only she knew how much I wanted to sink my teeth into her.
Yesterday, I’d asked Sofia to put a call in to Bob’s assistant, to try to arrange a lunch—but to no avail. We were told he was working on some “pressing matters” and that nothing was to be added to his diary until further notice. Of course, she was bullshitting, so today I’d decided to take matters into my own hands and call him myself. Twice. And twice I’d been told he was in meetings and would return my call.
Bullshit on bullshit—the worse kind.
“It’s after seven,” Sofia said. “I think if he was going to call today, he would have done so already.”
She was right. If he was going to call at all, he’d use my cell.
“You should leave.” I turned back into my office and slammed the door.
Fucking Goode. How was I going to buy his company if he wouldn’t even take my call?
A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts and, as usual, Sofia walked in without waiting for me to respond. Was it her defiance that hooked me in and hypnotized me?
“Is there something you need from Goode?” she asked. “Is it something I could pick up from his assistant?”
“No,” I snapped.
Instead of sighing and going back to her desk, which was what she normally did when I snapped at her, she came farther into my office. The tendons in my neck tensed and I gripped the desk.
“Andrew,” she said. “Tell me what you’re trying to achieve. I might be able to help.”
It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. She wasn’t going to be able to help me buy a company.
Buying Verity was my only option. Gabriel and Beck and even Tristan had made me see the truth: there was no way I was going to be able to convince an investor to stump up money for a magazine I wanted to destroy and then build back up again. Buying a company wasn’t my normal modus operandi, and I didn’t want to fuck it up. But if Goode refused to take my calls, what could I do?
Despite being some kind of Aphrodite, I was more than certain Sofia didn’t have the answer as far as Bob was concerned.
“I want a meeting with Goode.”
“Yes, that much I figured out for myself. But why? Is he a friend? Connection? Potential investor? And why is he refusing to meet with you? I never have a problem getting time in people’s diaries for you—it doesn’t matter who it is or how important they seem to be. I swear, I could get a meeting with the Queen if you wanted me to.”
“I don’t want a meeting with Her Majesty. Just Bob Goode.”
“So what’s the issue? Did you bang his wife or something?”
Why would her mind turn to sex as the source of the problem? Had she thought about me naked like I’d fantasized about her?
“He’s an idiot. Thinks he doesn’t need my advice.”
“Surely not.” She mocked shock and horror and I had to admit, I was slightly amused.
“Can you believe it?”
She smiled, warm like a crackling fire in winter and just as inviting.
I shook my head. “Anyway, I don’t want to give him advice. I can admit defeat on that front. I want to buy one of his magazines.”
“Wow,” Sofia said. “That’s exciting. So you wouldn’t just be turning it around and giving it back. You want it for keeps?”
“Sort of.” I didn’t know why I was discussing this with her. She couldn’t help. Talking to her was a waste of time when I should be thinking up creative ways of getting Goode to take a meeting.
“Maybe buy it through an offshore company so he doesn’t know it’s you?” she said.
I glanced up and she met my gaze with wary interest. It was a good idea in theory, but in practice, I was trying to persuade him to let me buy one of his assets that wasn’t for sale. Duping him might raise his hackles and set me back rather than make things better.
“It wouldn’t work,” I said. “I need him to come willingly. Stupid as it sounds, people don’t do business with people they don’t like. And if I ambush him . . . it’s game over.”
“Okay. Well, let me think about it. I’m sure we can come up with a plan.”
Sofia didn’t need to come up with a plan. I did. “Don’t worry about it. You should leave.” Hopefully she’d go straight home and not stop off at the bar. I wasn’t sure I’d muster up my self-restraint by the time I left the office. Though I knew it would be bad for me—and her—I still couldn’t guarantee I’d pass up the chance to be the guy who sat next to her tonight, enjoying her smart mouth, flushed cheeks, and the curve of her arse.