He gave me a smile that was more like a smirk. Like he knew just how good he looked to me, or to women in general, and he enjoyed that immensely. I told myself I found it irritating. That was the word I’d use to describe the man staring at me as if he owned the world and every person on it.
Irritating.
Or maybe German.
2
SHAWN
Kara seemed all right.In fact, she looked nearly the same as she had the last time we’d met—she looked pissed. Her blonde hair was pinned back as if trying to appear older and serious, and she was clad in a business suit with a skirt and high heels. So professional, even when her sexy mouth turned down in a frown.
“What are you doing here?” She stopped a full two meters away, keeping her distance.
“It’s good to see you, too. I’m in for a budget meeting with my US distributors.”
“No, what are you doing”—she jabbed a finger at my feet—“here?”
“You have your sister to thank for that. Is there someplace private we can speak?”
She answered with a sigh, turned, and went down the corridor she’d just come from, wordlessly demanding I follow. Her heels tapped out a quick rhythm on the hard floor like she hoped to lose me.
Sorry, not a chance.
I’d been less than thrilled when L had called and interrupted my meeting with the heads of US marketing, but my sister-in-law’s frantic voice had cured that instantly. Someone had threatened her older sister with a gun, and I was closest, already in New York.
By the time she’d put my brother on the phone, I was already out the conference room door and heading for the elevators. I promised to make sure this had nothing to do with L or the dangerous man she’d escaped from last year.
One quick conversation with the delightful woman at the front desk and I felt confident Kara’s ordeal was unrelated.
I let my gaze drift down to her perfect ass as she walked ahead of me. I hadn’t gotten a good look last time, and I studied it now until she turned into her office. I’d swear she’d grown hotter over the last six months.
The night we’d met, I decided I was going to sleep with her, and as soon as the meal was over, I’d set her in a cab and told her this.Scheiße, I could still remember the shock on her face. Was I an asshole? Yes. And her refusal only made my desire greater.
I had started subtle. The text messages which she sometimes ignored. The invitations to dinner that she always politely declined. The flower arrangements that she said were too much but never asked me to stop sending.
Subtle . . . wasn’t working. So, despite the ordeal she’d been through, I was pleased at this opportunity to try some new strategies.
Kara cast her cold, blue-eyed gaze on me. “Why are you smiling?”
Was I? “It’s nothing,” I said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” She shoved a mouse into a laptop bag. “Laurel shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“She was worried.”
Her hands hurried to get her things together. “There’s no need. I’m okay.”
I had to remind myself to stop thinking about what I wanted and focus on why I was here. “You knew this man? He worked here?”
“Yes,” she said. “He worked here for a long time. Letting him go was unpleasant, and that was before the gun.”
“I’m sure.” I took off my coat and dropped into the chair opposite the desk.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you to finish packing so we can take a late lunch.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’m not going to lunch with you.”
