At Any Price (Gaming The System) (3 page)

After we ended our call, I hopped out of bed and into the shower, then pulled on my scrubs and headed to the hospital. And I tried to keep my mind on what I was doing and not the issues that Heath had dug up—nor the end results of the auction. With any luck, things would be all taken care of before I had to retake the MCAT. I could only hope, anyway.

Chapter Two

I passed through the next week like an automaton, going through the motions at work, on my blog, getting various things done. I felt poised on the brink of something—something big. But I wouldn’t let myself entertain that idea. This had to be smaller than me. This had to be an insignificant moment in my overall timeline. Soon it would be over and I’d move on with the rest of my life.

But I couldn’t help wondering what person I would end up with. If I was lucky, I’d find him attractive, at least. Maybe he’d be good, gentle. He didn’t have to be amazing as I was hardly in a position to judge, given my lack of experience.

Ideas like these flickered through my mind and a couple times I caught myself fantasizing about this mystery guy and jumping every time the phone rang as I waited to hear back from Heath. Thus, when the phone finally did ring, it was no surprise that I was, again, in bed—this time for a quick nap after an overnight shift working in the ER.

“What?” I mumbled into the receiver, still mostly asleep.

“Were you sleeping?” Heath’s amused voice came over the line.

“Mm. Late shift last night, this morning.”

“Ah, okay. Well…get up and brew yourself a pot of coffee because I have your winner and he wants to meet you this afternoon.”

I groaned. “He can wait. I’m half dead, Heath. Can’t we do this tomorrow? It’s my day off and I need some warning—I haven’t done laundry for—”

“No can do, doll. He has to fly to the east coast on business first thing tomorrow. He won’t be back until the end of the week.”

“Heath…”

“Come on. I’ve reserved a private conference room at the Westin South Coast Plaza.”

I remembered my one serious skirt—a crisp business pencil skirt—was at the bottom of the clean laundry basket, wrinkled beyond recognition. And my iron was broken.

“I have to iron my skirt.”

“I’ll bring my iron when I pick you up.”

“I don’t have a board, either.”

“Then use the table, for chrissakes. Listen, I’m not here to solve your first-world, heterosexual female problems. Get up, get your makeup on and get with the program.”

I sighed and hung up, my heart racing. It occurred to me that he didn’t tell me whom he’d selected.

I followed his instructions, got up, showered, styled my hair and, surrendering to the inevitable, pulled it back into a ponytail because it wasn’t cooperating. My makeup went on satisfactorily and I was in my blouse—white, tailored button-down—and skivvies when Heath showed up. He didn’t have his iron.

“What the hell, Heath?”

“I couldn’t find it. I think that stupid little twerp swiped it when he packed his crap and left.” He referred to the recent demise of his two-year relationship. It had not been a good breakup and Heath was still nursing the broken heart from it.

I shot him a puzzled look. “Who steals an iron?”

“Spoiled little brats like Brian, that’s who.”

I sighed and glanced at my pathetic excuse for a skirt.

“Why don’t you hang it up in the shower and run the hot water?” he asked.

“Give my skirt a shower?”

“The steam will take some of the wrinkles out. A dryer works, too.”

“Well I don’t have a dryer, so I guess steam is going to have to do. Do you think it will work?”

“Hell no, but might as well try.”

I ran the shower until the hot water ran cold—which didn’t take long in my little studio. Since living here, I’d become the queen of the snappy shower. When I pulled the skirt off the hanger and tried to smooth out the damp cloth, it failed to cooperate.

Once dressed, I left the bathroom. Heath made a face and twirled his finger, signaling that I should turn around.

I complied. “That bad?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t take a fashion expert to see that that thing is a hot mess—literally.”

I blew out a breath. “How much time do we have? Maybe swing by the mall to pick up a loaner?”

He pulled out his cell phone, glanced at it and shook his head. “You’re going like that. Besides, he’s not paying the big bucks to sleep with your skirt, fortunately for you.”

I glared at him. “Sometimes you annoy the shit out of me.”

“I know.” He shrugged and jerked his shoulder toward the door and walked out. I followed him into a gorgeous spring afternoon.

Once in his blue Jeep Wrangler, Heath maneuvered his way to the nearest freeway entrance down sleepy residential streets cloaked in bright purple jacaranda and whispering pepper trees. Out on the wider boulevard, towering palms—ubiquitous in Southern California—shivered in the cool ocean breeze.

“So who is this guy?” I asked him as we zipped down the 55 freeway.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Name’s Drake.” He shot me a glance like I should know who that was. “Adam Drake.”

“And which rich dude is he?”

“The one from out here. Lives in Newport Beach, of course. Don’t they all?”

I snorted. “And you said he’s young?”

“A bit older than we are. Twenty-six.”

“So how’d he get so rich? Trust fund? Daddy’s company?”

“Nope, he’s completely self-made, actually.”

That bit of info blew me away. “How is that possible at his age?”

“He’s a software architect—video games.”

My mouth opened in surprise. Heath’s sense of irony was not lost on me. “I can see why you picked him. He develop anything that I know?”

Heath shrugged. “Maybe.”

I shot him a pointed glance. “Just how thorough was your background check?”

“Oh God. I think I know him like a brother by now. We spoke on Monday for three hours. Then had another long chat on Wednesday on the phone. I was already half in love with him before I even met Mr. New York.”

I snorted again.

“Yeah, don’t do that when you are in there. He might back out of the whole thing if he hears you laughing like a piglet.”

I slapped his shoulder with the back of my hand and he grinned.

Not half an hour later, we sat at a glass and chrome conference table in black leather chairs, sleek granite décor ensconcing us in all that was modern and exuding wealth. I’d driven by this hotel many times but never been inside—and never hoped to have the chance to stay in a place so nice.

My hands drummed on my lap, slapping against my bare knees. Heath stopped me once by placing his large hand across mine but I only resumed the minute he removed it.

“You’re driving me up a tree with that.”

I shot him a look. He’d just have to deal with my nerves. “Are we really that early?”

“No, he’s late.”

“If he was that anxious to meet me today, shouldn’t he be here on time?”

“He’s coming up the 405. After three, it’s an instant parking lot. He’s probably stuck in traffic.”

I huffed. “Can’t he take the filthy rich limo lane or something?”

Before I could even finish my sentence, two men approached the frosted glass door into the conference room. One of them leaned forward to snap open the door. He was the taller of the two and wore his dark hair in a close-cropped style. The other man—well, I hardly noticed him when I locked eyes with the first man’s obsidian stare.

Heath and I jerked to our feet. My pulse ratcheted up to a near-fatal rate, threatening acute hypertension. The first guy with the dark eyes was the software mogul—I would have bet my every measly belonging on it. He hesitated at the doorway once he’d caught a full glimpse of me and my breath caught when I looked into his stunningly handsome face.

He was about six feet tall and wearing an expensive suit—the kind with a vest under the jacket that looked like it had been tailored for him, hugging his tapered waist and slim hips. The suit looked so good on him that I knew it had to be designer, even though I was the first one to confess that I knew nothing about designer anything.

He was finely built but not imposing. His slacks clung to muscular thighs, his jacket stretched across solid but not broad shoulders. His suit was a crisp, steel gray with a slightly darker shirt and tie. The silver tie clip caught the light and my eyes flicked to it and then back to his face. He had the chiseled masculinity of a marble god. All angles and strong, clean lines.

My heart felt like it might fibrillate or—as a nonmedical student would say—flutter. I’d never been so strongly affected by a man. Especially one I’d only just laid eyes on. His dark eyes met mine and my chest felt like it was about to explode. He stopped, his eyes narrowing. While he gave me the once-over, I sucked in a lungful of air because I’d almost forgotten to breathe during this initial lightning strike.

Shit. It was at that precise moment that I realized I was in trouble.

Drake never took his eyes off of mine, not until he came to a stop just opposite the conference table. He moved like a cat—a sleek predator.

Heath leaned forward, offering his hand and Drake finally looked away to shake hands with him, an arrogant smile on his lips. “Good to see you again, Bowman,” he said with a clear, deep voice that only made my heart race faster.

His voice was a caress—a gentle but firm hand that skimmed down my bared spine to settle in a tight fist just at the base. Every sense came alive and my awareness of everything around me heightened. Elevated respiration. Increased perceived body heat. Speedy pulse. Classic signs of sexual arousal.

I almost fell off my heels in shock over the strength of it. Was this
me?
Me? Who’d wondered for at least a year if I might be a lesbian because I didn’t find any men I met attractive?

His gaze flicked back to me as Heath laid a hand on my shoulder. “This is our semi-famous blogger, Girl Geek.”

Drake’s chin tilted in a fetching way as he seemed to be studying me. I bit my lip, every nerve pulling taut. It was amazing how the body’s response to arousal and fear were so very similar. And at that point, I’d have been hard put to discern the difference.

Drake waved a hand to my seat while he took his. I sank slowly into mine, the leather sticking to the backs of my sweaty knees. I looked at the man flanking him for the very first time, suddenly realizing I hadn’t even spared a thought or a glance for him before this. He was older, balding, with a middle paunch and appeared in his midfifties. He carried a briefcase and appeared to be a lawyer. When I looked back at Drake, I almost jumped at the intensity of his gaze. His eyes shot points right through me, like icy darts. My eyes held his but I swallowed what felt like a watermelon in my throat and tried to ignore the pulse bumping at my temple.

Heath began riffling through a stack of papers on the table before him and Drake looked away from me to follow what Heath was doing. By coincidence, I’m sure, I finally remembered to take a breath at that exact same moment.

Heath pulled out the paper he was looking for and Drake turned back to me. “So do I call you Girl Geek or do I get to know your name?”

I cleared my throat and refolded my hands in my lap. “My name is Mia.”

His eyebrows rose. “Mia?”

I fought the urge to fidget, tightening my hands on top of my bare knees. He looked down, as if watching my hands through the glass table. “Emilia. But everyone calls me Mia.”

A small smile danced on his lips when he looked up again and met my gaze. “I’m not everyone.” His eyes traveled down to my conservative neckline—but no lower, to his credit—and back.
“Emilia.”

My fists clenched. Was he deliberately trying to provoke me with this arrogant attitude? Because if it was unintentional, then this was a
really
bad sign.

Drake cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Heath’s stack of papers. “So let’s go over the particulars of the contract. Is this just about the penetration of one organ by another or are there specifics laid out? What about touching, kissing? How many times? What about kink?”

My jaw dropped. I couldn’t help it. I scrutinized him and he seemed to detect my study even though he was looking at Heath. His sensual mouth tugged up at the corners. That’s when I realized that this
was
deliberate. Was it an act?

I turned to Heath, who appeared to be barely able to contain his laughter. He looked at Drake with a strange expression. “That’s a lot to cover. And this is a strange venue to do it.”

Drake shrugged and his eyes flicked back to me. “How about we just start with deal breakers, then?”

I exchanged a glance with Heath, who nodded and turned back to Drake. “I know of one that we can discuss right now. There will be no fellatio.”

Drake leaned forward. “Excuse me?”

I folded my arms tightly against my chest, already burning with resentment. “You heard him correctly. No cocksucking.” Yeah, I said it. If
he
could be deliberately provocative, then why couldn’t I?

His black eyes darted to mine, mildly amused, still insufferably brash. “Are you on birth control?” he asked abruptly. I blinked. He was definitely one-upping me in the obnoxious department.

Drake’s lawyer jerked a surprised look at him, frowning, clearly surprised by the abrupt behavior. Well, at least that was a sign that this sort of thing was unusual from Drake. Still didn’t excuse him, though. “All of that is delineated in the paperwork for the terms of the auction, Mr. Drake. Yes, I’ll be using birth control but there will also be condoms—”

I stopped as his handsome face split into a patronizing grin. “If I’m going to lay down a fortune for the privilege of experiencing your quivering virgin flesh, I think it goes without saying that I expect to do it without a barrier.”

I sat back, clenching my teeth so hard that my head started to ache. My gaze was held fast by the challenge in his ebony eyes. He might have been the most gorgeous creature I’d ever laid my eyes on, but he was also an asshat.

He tilted his head at me, puzzled. “Why is that a problem? If we are both cleared by a physician—”