Dangerous (The Complete Erotic Romance Novel) (5 page)

At this moment, he was staring at Mr. Stirling, as if he’d never seen a well-dressed man before. Kendra suppressed the urge to straighten Jimmy’s tie and comb back his hair. “Mr. Stirling, this is Jim Rodriguez, our technical support staff.” Jimmy nodded and didn’t offer his hand. Kendra couldn’t believe it. He really didn’t do well in social situations. “Say good morning to Mr. Stirling, Jimmy,” she said before she could stop herself.

Jimmy blushed.

Mr. Stirling smiled, then crossed the floor to offer his hand. “Good morning, Mr. Rodriguez.”

“You can call me Jimmy, sir.” Jimmy then glanced at the desk and gaped at the thin silver laptop there. “Is that. . .”

“Yes, Jimmy, it is the newest model. I like to keep up to date.”

“Whoa.” Jimmy approached the laptop as if it were the marvel of the universe, and maybe it was.

“I would appreciate if you could configure my laptop onto the office LAN. I’d like to be able to email everyone on the staff, no matter where I am.”

Jimmy glanced up at him, momentarily distracted from the new computer. “But you’re right here, sir. Leon always just walked around.”

“And I am not Leon.” Mr. Stirling’s smile had thinned. “The fact is that I’m here now, Jimmy, but next week I’ll be in Hong Kong. You’ll want to set up the email addresses in a separate batch for me so they don’t get mingled with those from my other companies.”

“Of course, sir.” Jimmy booted up the computer, his eyes rounding at the display.

Kendra couldn’t have cared less about the computer. “You won’t be here next week, then, sir?”

“No. That’s why we have so much to resolve today, Miss Jones.” He gave her an intent look, then touched his watch with a fingertip.

It was ten to eight and she still had staff meetings to arrange. Kendra returned to her desk briskly.

“He’s going to shut us down,” Ginger pronounced darkly and Kendra looked up. “Really. What else would he do? There’s no revenue.”

“Why would he buy the company to do that?”

“Why would he buy it at all?” Ginger said with a shake of her head. “He looks smart enough to know better.” She sighed and turned on her computer. “Better update your resume, Kendra, while you can.”

Was that really his plan? Kendra wanted to ask him. But first she had to contact everyone to set up the meetings he’d requested.

Maybe he wanted to address everyone at once to tell them they were out of a job. Kendra didn’t want to think about that. He was the turnaround king.

He must have a plan.

* * *

Reid wasn’t used to having his dreams come true.

Well, not his sexual fantasies, anyway.

Yet Miss Jones was wearing the highest pair of red patent leather heels he’d seen in a while. He wasn’t surprised that she had great legs, or that her modest little navy suit had such a becoming fit. Her fair hair was wound up into a bun, a style that showed her graceful neck to advantage, and she wore a white blouse with a modest collar. Hers were good quality clothes, what women called investment dressing, and she would have looked like a Fortune 500 executive.

Except for those shoes. He couldn’t forget the shoes, not the way they clicked on the floor when she walked. He could hear every step she made, which made it all too easy to envision her.

All the time.

The shoes distracted him. They gave him ideas. Or more accurately, they fed the ideas he’d already had about the enticing Miss Jones. They reminded him of her wearing those very same shoes in one of the photographs he’d kept, the one in which she was bound with equally shiny red rope.

But in another way, they made his plan easier.

She had to have checked the folder, and discovered that pictures were missing.

She had to know which ones were missing.

Which meant that the shoes were an invitation. Or a provocation.

Reid didn’t much care which. That she’d chosen to wear them on their first day of working together encouraged him to think she might accept his offer.

He could hardly wait for that conversation. It was the enticement he needed to get through what promised to be a long day.

After all, she’d changed his plans already. It seemed only fair to change hers, too.

* * *

Kendra knocked on the door of Mr. Stirling’s office right after Jimmy’s departure. She could have sent him a message that the meetings were arranged, but she wanted to know the truth. He was standing with his back to her, looking out the windows to the street. He looked imposing, even from behind, the quality of his suit revealing that he was from another world.

He glanced over his shoulder at her, his eyes such an electric shade of blue that she was surprised into stopping on the threshold. “Is there a problem, Miss Jones?”

“That depends on whether you’re going to close down the company.”

He turned then to face her, not troubling to hide his surprise. “Is it your place to challenge me?”

“I think it is.” Kendra moved into his office, shutting the door behind herself, and stood straighter to make her case. “I think shutting it down would be a bad idea.”

Mr. Stirling moved to sit on the edge of his desk. His pose was casual, but Kendra knew she had his full attention. “Companies that can’t generate sufficient revenue to cover their costs are doomed to close,” he said more gently than she expected.

“Maybe it just needs some new ideas, or fresh blood. A new direction.” She flung out a hand. “That’s what you do! Why wouldn’t you give Esperanza a chance?”

His brows lifted but he hadn’t just dismissed her words. “Tell me what you like so much about this place,” he invited. “Tell me why you care.”

“Because it’s where I work.”

He shook his head. “You could get another job. Have Ms. Maclean help you with your resume.”

Kendra smiled, realizing he’d overheard their conversation.

He held her gaze. “What’s so special about the place, Miss Jones? Why are you still here, after four years in almost the same job?” He considered her. “Why this job?”

“What do you mean?”

“Executive assistant in a company that has been on the verge of bankruptcy for at least a decade. I would expect a different choice from a woman accepted into one of the most prestigious MBA programs in the country.”

So, he’d read her file.

“Can’t you believe I chose Esperanza Enterprises on purpose?”

“I could, if its financial situation had changed since your arrival here.”

“Leon wasn’t big on changes, and he really wasn’t interested in a big one.” When Mr. Stirling didn’t interrupt her, Kendra went to the big filing cabinet. She retrieved a thick folder from the bottom drawer, and turned to face him again. “I wrote a business plan to convince him.”

“I’ll guess it didn’t.”

“He only read the first page.” Kendra couldn’t fully hide her disappointment. “It’s where he got the idea.”

Mr. Stirling met her gaze steadily. “You were negotiating.”

Kendra nodded. “He said if I helped him, he’d consider my plan.” She shook her head. “It was harmless. He never touched me.”

“But he never considered the plan,” Mr. Stirling guessed.

“I don’t think so. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea. We have all this talent here. Leon was really good at hiring people and building teams. He understood people so well. I used to say that he could read their minds when he interviewed them, then he chose new hires like he was fitting pieces into a puzzle.”

Mr. Stirling extended his hand for the business plan. “Tell me your idea in a nutshell.”

“We’ve made garments for designers for decades. The ladies have awesome dressmaking skills, but most of that work has been moved to Asian sweatshops. We can’t compete with the wages paid there. So, we need to move into a higher end market, something that isn’t just a luxury purchase but often a gift, a niche in which a Made in America label can make a difference.” Kendra paused. Mr. Stirling lifted a brow. “Lingerie.”

He tossed the business plan on his desk and Kendra’s heart sank. “There are a thousand companies doing the same thing, Miss Jones, and foreign labor prices still remain a factor.”

“Not just any lingerie,” Kendra said, hurrying to pick up her report. She fanned through it to the catalogue pages she’d included. “With the success of books like
Fifty Shades of Gray
, costumes and equipment for erotic play are in demand. A lot of what’s available is cheap and flimsy.”

“Or there are custom commissions.”

“Which are too expensive for most people, plus that doesn’t allow for anonymous purchasing.” She cracked open the report with the mockups for a website and moved to stand beside him, catching the scent of his cologne. He would have to wear one that made her toes curl in her shoes. “We have shipping capability and could retool easily to sell directly to consumers through a website. There’d be some software updates, credit card agreements, but it could easily be done.”

“I can see how Leon got his idea,” Mr. Stirling mused, his gaze drifting over the sketches of women in lingerie. One had her hands bound behind her back with a pair of fur-lined handcuffs, and was smiling over her shoulder in invitation.

Kendra found herself blushing. “I think it’s a niche that hasn’t been sufficiently explored.”

He took the business plan from her, his fingers brushing against hers. His skin was warm and even the smallest touch reminded Kendra of how strong his hands were.

She looked at his mouth without meaning to do so, consumed with the memory of that kiss.

No, she was consumed with the thought of having another.

He got up quickly and strode around the desk, tossing down the report. “Why did you drop out of that MBA program, Miss Jones?”

“I’d rather not say.”

He looked at her, hard, inviting an explanation.

She decided to tell him part of the truth. “Okay. I don’t like rules, not when they’re arbitrary or just for someone else’s convenience.”

“Everyone’s convenience?”

“No such thing. Rules always suit one party best. I was excited about learning to turn companies around, but there were too many rules. They had a specific approach to every case study and there were only specific areas in which you could innovate and get a good grade.” She dared to look at him again, and was surprised to find him watching her avidly. “Sometimes you have to risk more. Sometimes you have to nearly chuck it all in order to save anything.”

Mr. Stirling smiled. He moved her business plan to the prime position in front of himself. “It appears we have at least one view in common, Miss Jones. I’ll read your business plan.”

“Then you won’t shut us down?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Yet.”

He laughed then, as if surprised. Kendra smiled and he sobered as he looked at her mouth. Kendra licked her lips, an unconscious gesture that seemed to make his eyes more vividly blue. Their gazes locked and something flickered between them, a current so electric and hot that Kendra nearly came on the spot. The kiss had been just the tip of the iceberg, she realized.

And she wanted a lot more from Reid Stirling than another kiss.

“How much are you prepared to risk to change my mind, Miss Jones?” His words were softly uttered, so quiet that only she would be able to hear them, even if the door had been open. He didn’t seem to breathe as he waited for her reply, and once again, Kendra had that dizzying sense of a power between them.

She took a step closer to him, holding his gaze. “Everything,” she murmured and meant it.

“I see,” he said softly. “Is that a challenge?”

“If it needs to be.”

He smiled then, his eyes glinting and Kendra loved that he was considering it. “Are you always impulsive, Miss Jones?”

“When it matters.”

He nodded and picked up her business plan. At his gesture, she pivoted and left his office, wondering how she’d survive the wait to learn his decision.

* * *

The only thing Reid really hated was firing people.

He’d come into Esperanza Enterprises that morning, pretty much convinced he’d need to shut the place down ASAP. Initially, it had been his plan to shut it down by close of business on his first and only day. Meeting Miss Jones the night before had tempted him to do otherwise, but a deeper look into the books had revealed more liability and less opportunity. He’d arrived that morning, prepared to fund severance checks, have the locks changed and turn the keys over to professional liquidators.

But Kendra Jones made him reconsider.

It wasn’t just her passion for the place, or even her initiative in creating a business plan. It certainly wasn’t the plan itself—he hadn’t had time to do more than glance at the pages she’d shown him—although he already had the feeling that its contents would pleasantly surprise him. Maybe even impress him.

It was Kendra Jones herself who made him put his plan on hold. Reid was intrigued by her and her passion for the company. He realized that if he shut down Esperanza on this day, she’d never speak to him again.