I roll my eyes and huff. “My clients are not going to dothat because, as you said, my goal is to protect them and their legacy. And theoriginal deal has two seats on the boar, where yourrevision, hasnone.”
Cayden grabs his suit jacket he had draped over his legs,rises, and tosses it over his shoulder. “Well, tell them the deal is off andwe’ll be buying the property once it’s in foreclosure—withoutanyseats on the board.”
I shrug. “I will. Good luck to your client for not taking theirincredibly generous counter and good luck finding another piece of land. Wehave other options, Cayden.”
The both of us are losing here, but there’s not a chance inhell I will let him know that. I don’t actually have another solution.
My clients need to sell. They’re in an incredible amount ofdebt and this was a great chance to sell the back part of their property andmerge two companies into being a more symbiotic resort. At least that was whatwas promised. Then, in the last two weeks, the talks of that changed. They werediscussing building ordinances and codes for something much larger than just asmall resort.
He takes two steps toward me, leaning in so I can smell hiscologne and feel his heat.
God, he smells so freaking good. It’s musky with an edge ofsomething warm at the end that tickles my nose.
And then there’s his body. Oh how I wish I didn’t rememberit in perfect detail. How his muscles flexed beneath my touch or the way hisvoice sounded as he sighed my name.
However, right now, we’re not having sex. We’re having alegal war.
“I’ve missed this,” the rasp in his voice is like a caress.“It’s not fun when we don’t get to battle each other.”
Yeah, it’s like freaking foreplay only I end up orgasm-less.
“Do you know what I miss?” I ask, playing his game.
“What, beautiful?”
I press my hand against his chest, standing and pushing himtoward my office door. He grins and it’s the cat ate the canary kind, where hethinks he’s winning whatever game we’re playing.
When his back hits the wall, I run my hand down his chest,looking up at him through my lashes. “I miss…” I wait, letting the tensionbuild. And it’s definitely rising. “The way…”I open my office door, and step back. “You look when you’re leaving.Goodbye, Cayden. Have a swell day and I’ll be going over the preliminary offerto see where I can counter for damages if it falls apart.”
He releases a laugh and shakes his head. “I’ll see you soon.Count on it.”
When he walks out, I close the door behind him, and rest myhead on the solid oak panel. “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”
Chapter Two
CAYDEN
“I think you should reevaluate,” I tell my client over thephone. When I got back to my office, I read every word of the contract mypredecessor wrote. I knew it had issues. It was sloppy and absolutely not how Iwould’ve done it, but it was what it was and I figured this would go smoothlywhen I agreed to take over.
As soon as I saw it was Hadley Arrowood as opposing counselon the acquisition, I immediately realized we were screwed.
There are not many lawyers I’ve faced who are as smart andcunning when it comes to these types of cases. Her eye for detail tells me shealready found the issues and it’s why she’s playing hardball.
“And what would you have us do? Put the two failing businessowners on the board who can shut down what we want?”
I lean back in my chair, pinching the bridge of my nose.“Legally, I’m advising you to do that or you’re going to have to pay what youoffered, their legal fees, as well as damages.”
“No,” my client, Mike, says. “We offered them a fair deal.”
“Yes, and you also have issues with the contract yousigned.”
“What other options do we have?”
I look out the window of my Manhattan office, watching thetraffic below. “Let me think on it and I’ll call you back.” There’s a solutionout there, I just need some time to think it through.
“Thanks, Cayden.”
“No problem, Mike. Give me a day or two and let me see whatI come up with.”
