Mr. Corporate (Mister #3) (3 page)

The view of Biscayne Bay from the thirty-third floor of this Miami office building is almost enough to make me move from LA.

Almost.

The dark mahogany hardwood floors are in perfect contrast with everything else in the office, which is stark white. The offices are all glass-enclosed, and the conference room, where I’m standing, has an elaborate white table with chairs that look like glass.

My office in LA is nice. I have a view of the ocean as well, but I don’t go all out on the décor. I don’t do much business in the office. That’s what sets me apart from my competitors. I come to the client. Every contract is signed in person, not online. I like to scope out each and every one of them.

SeaGlobal doesn’t need my critical eye. They are at the pinnacle of their industry. They buy oceanfront land all over the world and develop some of the most innovative communities imaginable. This office is their showroom.

The tapping of dress shoes on the floor pulls me away from the view and then Liam Henry is there, all smiles, his old gray eyes as bright as his casual Miami suit, his hand reaching for mine.

“Weston,” he says, clapping me on the back as we shake.

“Hey, Liam. How’s everything?”

“Good,” he says, in that subtle Southern drawl you only hear in Florida. “Cannot complain, my boy. How’s your father these days? I haven’t talked to him in a long time.”

“Oh, great,” I say. “My mother says to tell you hi and that you and Jennie better be up at the Cape for Labor Day.”

“Can’t wait.” Liam chuckles. “We look forward to it every year.”

“OK, well, I got your message and did some research. Wallace Arlington won’t be easy to get, that’s for sure. He’s filthy rich and he’s retired.”

“That is so ridiculous,” Liam says. “He’s thirty-four years old. He’ll be bored by next weekend. I know he’s the right man for this job, Weston. We want him. The board has already voted and they are adamant that we get him on the team.”

“Which is why I’m here.” I smile as I wait for Liam to offer me a seat at the conference table. But he doesn’t. And he hesitates. “Is something wrong?” I ask.

“No,” he says, still chuckling. “Not wrong, exactly. It’s just… the board is adamant that we
get him
, Weston.”

“Understood. I’ve got my feelers out and I have it on good authority he’ll be somewhere specific tomorrow morning. I plan on meeting there and wrapping this up over the weekend.”

Liam sighs. And shakes his head.

“What?” I ask, getting a bad feeling.

Then people are talking in the lobby. The conference room door is open, so this bit of bustle knocks us out of the conversation and refocuses our attention to the new arrival.

“What the fuck?” I say, as Victoria Arias starts walking towards the conference room, her smile so big she might have a canary in there. “What’s she doing here?”

Liam shrugs. And when Tori comes in, greeting him loudly as she reaches for his hand, I think that old bastard actually blushes.

Not that I blame him. Victoria Arias is strikingly beautiful. Tall, and curvy, and… and… the definition of sexual with her low-cut imperial purple power blouse that accents her incredible violet eyes and contrasts them with her raven-dark hair.

“Liam,” she reaches out for him with both hands, then waits for him to come to her so she can lean in and give him fake European kisses on the cheek. And that fucking accent comes through. One word. She’s uttered one word and everything about it is exotic and dangerous. My eyes drop to her legs. Which are fucking long. And bare, since she’s wearing this tiny black skirt that says,
Lift me up and see what’s waiting for you.

Jesus Christ.
Get it together, Weston.

“Oh, Weston,” Tori says, her attention on me. “I had no idea you would be here.”

She’s using that accent on purpose. That bitch comes from Brooklyn. I know. I know everything about her. Including just exactly how long those legs are and how she can bend like a pretzel during sex.

I know because I dated her on and off for six years after all that shit went down with the cops.

But I’ve made a point to stay far, far away from her for a long time now. Long time.

She’s fucking wild. And not in a cute way, either. She’s wild in a dangerous way. She took me down using one of her fancy jujitsu moves when I didn’t remember our third anniversary.

Bitch. That’s what she is.

But I smile and say, “Tori. How nice to see you again.”

“Victoria,” she corrects me. “No one calls me Tori, West.”

“Weston,” I say. “People do call me West, but you’re not one of them.”

“Ah,” Liam says, smiling and waving for us to take a seat at the conference table. We both do, Victoria angling herself in her chair as she crosses those damn legs, rubbing her calves together, like she’s getting herself off. “You two go back a long way, right?”

“Yes,” Victoria says.

“Yup,” I reply. “But what’s this about, Liam? We have a deal. It’s a retainer. It’s
always
a retainer.”

“Look, Weston,” Liam says. “We’re in a pickle here, OK? The board has spoken. And they’re not sure you can pull this off. It’s not easy to get Wallace Arlington’s attention.”

We both look over at Tori, who has no trouble getting anyone’s attention. “Won’t be a problem for me,” she says, unbuttoning the top button of her silk blouse and tossing her hair.

Liam blushes like a teenager.

What the fuck is happening? “Are you giving this contract to
her
?”

“No, no, no,” Liam says. “It’s a contingency. You remember those, right, Weston? Headhunters go after the same position and the best one wins.”

“I remember them,
barely
,” I add. “Since it’s been eight years since I took one on. And you know damn well,” I say, squinting my eyes at him, “that we’ve
never
had that kind of arrangement.”

“I don’t normally do them either,” Tori says, distracting Liam from the hidden meaning of my words. That fucking Argentinian accent. She’s doing it on purpose. She knows it drives me crazy. “But…” She stops to give Liam a long seductive gaze. “I was asked to come and compete. Isn’t that right, Liam?”

What the fuck is happening. My mind spins. Like actually spins as I run every possible reason why this could be happening. “Liam.” I sigh, trying to sound unaffected and bored. “Look. I know Wallace is a difficult target. But we go way back. We were in boarding school together. We even went to Brown together. He’s gonna listen to me.”

“We also went to Brown together, Liam. And you might not know this, but—” Tori cups her hand to her mouth, like she’s about to whisper a secret in Liam’s ear, and says, “He has a thing for me. Has had one for years. In fact, Wallace and West used to fight over me all the time.”

I roll my eyes. “That’s not true. You had no interest in him.”

“But I have interest in him now, Mr. Conrad.”

“Mr.
Conrad
? Really?”

“Anyway,” Tori says, shaking her hair again, “I can have him in my little pocket and wrap this up by Monday. I assure you, Liam. I promise, I can deliver the goods on this job.”

Liam claps his hands together and gives them a rub for good measure. “OK, I’m sold. The first one back with a signed offer gets the deal. Have fun, kids.”

Victoria gets to her feet and kisses him on the cheek again.

I get up as well, a little flustered at how this retainer was just stolen from me by my traitorous ex-girlfriend, and shake his hand. “I’ll be back with the contract on
Sunday
.”

“Good! Good!” Liam says. “Pick up your packets at the front desk and we’ll see you next week.”

Victoria smiles as he walks away. She’s smiling the whole time… until he disappears into another part of the office. And then she turns her venom to me.

“Stay out of my way, Mr. Corporate. I will take you down, boy.
Down
.”

I grab her by the arm before she can finish her dramatic escape and lean down into her ear. “Miss Arias. It’s spectacular to see you again. I’ve missed you. So much.”

She slaps me in the face before the last word is out of my mouth. “No funny business, Weston. I’m not that innocent girl you knew in college.”

“Innocent,” I bark, then laugh. “Innocent? Shit, Tori. You came out of the womb armed and dangerous. You’ve never been innocent.”

“I won’t fall for you again. Ever. Do you understand me?” She’s pointing her periwinkle-blue nail up into my face as she says this, and I have an urge to slap her hand away.

Control, Weston. Control. She’s pushing all your buttons
.

“I was just being friendly,” I say. “I can handle a little competition. Especially from you.”

“What’s that mean? Don’t think I won’t do everything in my power to get this retainer, West. I will. I’m hungry.” She licks her lips seductively and blows me a kiss. “Very, very hungry for this job. And hunger will win over complacence every time. You’re complacent, Weston. You think you own the world. You’ve always thought you’ve owned the world. Well, now it’s my turn. Stay out of my way.”

And then she spins on the most ridiculously high stiletto heel I’ve ever seen and walks off.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I’m pissed off and turned on at the same time. That fucking slap, man. She knows it drives me crazy when she’s wild. Crazy.

And the whole time she’s chatting with the receptionist as she gathers her packet up, I stare at her perfectly round ass and those long, long legs.

Stay focused, Weston
.

I pretend to take a call while Tori finishes up, then make my way to the reception desk to pick up my packet.

I know she won’t win this little contest. I have inside information. I have a friend in the spying business and by the end of the day I’ll know exactly where to find Wallace Arlington tomorrow—the perfect opportunity to get him alone and get this shit finished before the weekend even starts.

I picture the phone call to Tori once that’s done. I rehearse my lines in my mind as I take the elevator back down to the valet and get in my car.

I’m not going down. She is.

Victoria Arias will regret fucking up this job for me.

I’m going to make sure of it.

Chapter Three - Victoria

Weston Conrad. Such an amateur.

I have to smile as I track his car through downtown Miami. What does he take me for? And how stupid can he be? That tip yesterday might be the reason I’m here right now, but my intuition and tenacity are what will get me across the finish line first.

He weaves his way through traffic and crosses the Port Miami Causeway. What is he doing? Where is he going? I have a hunch he knows exactly where to find Wallace Arlington. He had that cocky scowl on his face up in the office. I am very familiar with that look. He used it on me often back when we were dating and we were fighting for control.

“Tori,” he’d say. Or if he was really pissed he’d call me Victoria. “Victoria,” he’d say. “Don’t play me, honey. I know all your tricks and more.”

But he never counted on me taking notes of all his tricks.

I did. I know them all. Hell, I helped come up with most of them. And I know that look he gave me was confidence.

He pulls into a parking garage next to a cruise ship terminal and I follow. If he’s checking the rearview mirror, I didn’t notice. So he hasn’t made me yet. Probably too wrapped up in his own ego to even consider me a threat.

I’m a threat, baby. Just watch out.

We wind our way up the garage levels until there are plenty of open parking spots, and then he goes left and I continue up one more level and park in the first space I find.

I jump out and take off at a jog, even though my heels are high enough to break an ankle. He’s just disappearing into the connecting building when I catch sight of him again.

It’s an entrance to a Cuban cafe.

I stop at the door, catch my breath, and shake my hair.

Can you feel me, West? Because here I come.