‘But you’re the one who is in charge of the redevelopment.’
‘The building isn’t even fit for purpose.’
‘Then why not redevelop it for our use?’
Was she completely naive? ‘Because things aren’t that simple.’
Chapter 11
Jess
Ichafed at the tone of his voice as if he were talking to a child. I knew things weren’t that simple.
They were a hot mess in this room. I couldn’t believe it. I could not believe that I had just had the most mind-blowing sex of my life with the kind of man I avoided like the plague. I’d had a run-in with his type back in university – good-looking, privileged, confident, sexy. And then it had turned out that he’d only been using me to make another girl – a far more suitable girl – jealous. I’d raised the emotional walls after that. Now I only dated guys who wouldn’t affect me emotionally.
Brodie Montgomery was a giant red flag to me – rich and successful, and too good-looking for his own good, even with the tantalising scar that automatically made me want to know how he’d got it. No doubt he would claim some kind of heroic deed when it had probably originated from some very mundane childhood accident.
I knew that was a little unfair, but I was reeling from how far off my moral compass I’d strayed. First by having crazy down-and-dirty sex with a stranger. A stranger who was exactly the kind of guy I avoided. And worst of all, he was our nemesis. We literally had a picture of the guy on our wall at the office andmy boss had drawn devil’s horns on his head. Very childish, yes. But we were upset and he was the face of the company that was evicting us to make way for a much more profitable venture.
As for his personal life – because of course I’d googled him to find out what we were dealing with – Brodie Montgomery was never seen with the same woman twice, apart from one brief relationship a few years ago with some minor-celebrity actress-slash-model. There’d been a salacious kiss-and-tell story and he’d come out of it looking like the A-hole.
His reputation as one of London’s perennial bachelors was seemingly unshakeable. And more to the point, his reputation as one of London’s most ruthless property developers. He was the wunderkind of the company he worked for, one of the most prestigious in London, and responsible for some of the biggest and most controversial property redevelopments across the city in recent years.
But now our little charity was in the crosshairs of his attention, and we had a month to vacate the premises and find new lodgings of a similar size and in a central location. A lot of our work was dealing directly with people on the streets. To say it was going to be impossible to find such a thing was an understatement.
But before I could say anything else likethis was a huge mistake, there was a knock on the door. I startled a little. I’d forgotten there was a whole party happening outside this room.
Brodie was at the door and I tried desperately not to notice how the muscles in his back bunched and flexed as he moved. He took something and closed the door again, he came back in. He was holding a white shirt on a hanger. He proceeded to throw the hanger aside and pull the shirt on, his movements jerky. He wasn’t looking at me and that really shouldn’t bother me, but it stung.
I stuck my feet back into the sandals that I’d also borrowed from Tash. I picked up my bag, I moved sideways towards the door. Brodie was stuffing his bow-tie into his pocket and pulling on his jacket. His hair was mussed. Then he looked at me and those blue eyes were icy cold.
Before he could speak I said, ‘Look, let’s just forget this ever happened, OK?’
He looked at me so intensely that for a moment I almost found myself gravitating towards him again. I locked my knees.
Eventually he said, ‘Fine by me. Goodbye, Jessica.’
Dammit, but the way he was so eager to agree with me only made old wounds and insecurities rise. Was he happy to agree with me because now he was realising that I was not someone he would ever want to be seen with?
‘Goodbye, Brodie. I hope I don’t see you around.’
I turned and went to the door. That last comment was a bit of a cheap shot, but my nerves were jangling all over the place and I just needed to get out of there with some shred of dignity intact.
Chapter 12
Brodie
Brodie couldn’t even bring himself to look at her properly before she’d left. Because with his shirt tied in a knot around her slim waist and her wavy dark blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders and herjust fuckedglow, he’d been battling a resurgence of desire so strong that it was still pulsing through his body.
And he was still reeling from her recognition. And the way she’d looked at him, as if she really really disliked him. She didn’t even know him. Well, not personally.
That suited him just fine. Following the impulse to kiss her and then the even stronger pull to fuck her had been a serious error of judgement. She’d got to him in a way no other woman had in a long time.
The last time he’d lowered his defences, he’d ended up splashed all over the tabloids, earning him the moniker of London’s Most Wanted Playboy or some such nonsense.
That experience had only proved his belief that it was better to keep relationships on the purely physical and transitory sphere. Emotional entanglements led to exposure and drama and chaos.
What had happened here had been purely physical and transitory. The perfect encounter. So why did he have a heavy feeling in his gut? And a sour taste in his mouth?
