Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set (55 page)

She dug deep to muster a professional smile for Rufus. After all, there was always the chance she could salvage some business with the man. “Ruf, it’s a lovely party. Thank you for the invitation. Could we postpone our chat to some other time this week? Perhaps breakfast tomorrow before the convention opens?”

He offered a quick, absent agreement. But considering his eyes, like Drew’s, hadn’t left the hootchie-chic next to him, Natasha figured she’d be eating alone.

A brief vision of the future—her aunt’s broken heart and broken spirit—flashed through her mind. Soon, Natasha would have to return to work with the engineering firm. How long could her aunt keep her business—her livelihood—alive while battling MS? Sharon was the only person in the world who loved and accepted her. And now Natasha had failed her on Day One.

And why? She glared at Drew, who was frowning fiercely at his partner’s acceptance of Ruf’s fawning flirtation. Damn the man, he didn’t even have the grace to look frustrated.

She clenched her jaw when she caught sight of the look the woman was giving them, speculation and amusement in her cat-eyes.

“Good night,” Natasha said. Chin high, she retrieved her purse from the bed.

“Tasha, just a sec,” Drew called. “I just need to say a few things to Audra here, then we can finish our, um, discussion.”

“I think we’re quite finished, thank you. You’ve done plenty already.”

Natasha was rather proud of her poise and control. Refined, ladylike and cool as a cucumber. Her mother couldn’t have done any better.

Then she heard that distinct husky lisp. “Now that’s the perfect way to show off the merchandise. Classy little black dress and a silver metallic G-string.”

Angry tears welled in Natasha’s eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Chalk another disaster up to the curse. At least she’d managed to get a decent orgasm out of the fiasco.

Without missing a step, even though the back of her dress was wide open, Natasha waltzed out of the party.

And vowed to make Drew Walker pay dearly for costing her the account, her dignity, and the best sex she’d had in a long time.

Chapter Four

Natasha did what any smart woman would do after a lousy night. She complained to her best friend over wine and chocolate. Lanie had been wonderfully sympathetic, viciously derogatory about Drew and his sleazy girlfriend. And completely exhausted.

So, despite still feeling like crap, and just a little ill from the wine and hot fudge combination, Natasha made her way down the gold and black carpeted hallway to her own hotel room.

Could this day have sucked any worse?

She rounded the corner. And stopped short. Well, well, looked like it could.

Because leaning against her door like nothing had happened was the instigator of all her misery. The wine and chocolate churned in her stomach as she debated turning around and crashing on the spare bed in Lanie’s room. Except she wasn’t a chicken, and that bed was a mess.

So she squared her shoulders and, chin high, marched forward.

“Perhaps I wasn’t clear when I said we were finished?” she snapped.

Drew looked up from his cellphone and grinned, clearly not put off by her tone. Idiot. Natasha ground her teeth and resisted the urge to swat him with her purse.

“Hey, babe. I was hoping you wouldn’t be too long.” He held up his phone so she could see the tiny video game on the screen. “You just saved me from losing big time.”

“I wish I’d taken longer.”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay. I know that scenario might have been a little embarrassing for you.”

“A little?” Sure. If the Grand Canyon was a little hole in the ground.

“C’mon, Tash, don’t be pissy. Nobody saw anything.”

Natasha hissed through her teeth. He had to be kidding? As if her underwear weren’t anything?

“Look, I had to take care of things back there or I’d have left with you. It’s not like I wanted to hang out and deal with that joker. But I couldn’t just leave while he was drooling all over Audra.”

“How chivalrous of you. And now you’re... what? Here to finish our little tête-à-tête? I hardly think so. Go find your hootch if you want to, but we’re quite through.”

Drew’s brow wrinkled and he gave her a blank look before shaking his head in confusion. “What’s the deal? Don’t be upset because we were almost caught. Rufus doesn’t care what we were doing.”

“I’m not upset,” Natasha lied politely. Then realizing manners were a waste in this situation, she tossed them aside to clarify. “Upset would be mild compared to how I feel, Drew. Angry would be closer. Livid, irate, totally pissed off, even. But upset? No, I’m not upset.”

With each word, Natasha had leaned in closer until she was right in his face to hiss that last word.

“Okay,” he said, drawing out the word, his gaze drifting from her tight lips to her narrowed eyes. “I guess you’re a bit more than upset. When the hell did you get this temper, by the way? The Natasha I remember was a lot mellower.”

And, from his tone of voice, a lot more preferable.

Too damned bad.

“The Natasha you knew was a doormat, too worried about making other people happy to let her anger show. But it was there, buddy, believe me.”

“What’s the deal here? Are you pissed that we got hot and heavy? Or are you bent out of shape over the Randall account? Because I don’t want that guy’s business.”

“Sure you don’t. That’s why you stooped to such a cheap, underhanded method to get it.”

“Care to elaborate?” Drew’s voice was nearly as cold as hers now, which was saying a lot. But rather than making Natasha hesitate, it just spurred her on.

“Let’s see, what’s the first thing you did when we got to the party? Oh yeah, I remember. You ditched me and made a beeline for Ruf so you could lay the groundwork to nab that account. Then when I found you guys, to keep me from having my shot, you whisked me off to screw around in the bedroom so your girlfriend could slink in and seduce him. How many accounts have you nailed that way? Or should I say, has she nailed?”

“Excuse us,” a passing guest said quietly over Natasha’s ringing voice.

Her partner, who’d obviously had too much to drink, wasn’t so polite. “Dude, are you going to take that crap from her?”

Natasha turned to give him a mouthful too, but his girlfriend punched his arm and mouthed ‘sorry’. The interruption was enough of a wake-up call for Natasha to realize she was pitching a fit in a public hallway. And there was still enough of her starchy upbringing in her that she cringed.

“Maybe we should take this inside?” Drew murmured.

“Maybe we should just end the entire discussion. I can’t see that we have much more to say to each other.”

“Believe it or not, I’m actually here for more than your scintillating conversation.”

She paused in the act of opening the door and glared at him.

“You don’t actually believe I want to finish what we’d started at that party? Not even you are that arrogant.”

“Babe, believe me, I remember how hot you are, and how good you are. Even though there’s nothing I’d like better than to relieve some of the frustration that’s been dogging me since I got you off a few hours ago, I’m here to cut a deal.” He shoved his hand through his hair. “At least I was, until you started throwing around crazy accusations.”

Natasha gasped, and with a stiff gait, she stomped into the room and set her purse and keycard on the desk. Chin high, she spun around to face Drew. Anger gave a steely edge to her tone.

“Crazy, you say? Are you denying it?”

“Hell, yes, I’m denying it.”

“Which part?”

“All of it. Get real, Natasha. In the first place, I’m not about to concoct some elaborate scheme to try to eliminate the competition for some piddling little panty account. That’s just too much work.” Drew let the door close with a bang, then strode over with a ferocious look in his face. Natasha bit her lip, but she held her ground.

“In the second place, I don’t use sex. Not for accounts, not for crazy schemes. Not for anything but the pure pleasure it brings.” His gaze dropped to her mouth. Even though she knew she was asking for trouble, she ran her tongue over lips suddenly as dry as the desert outside. Drew’s eyes met hers again, smoldering desire clear in their rich brown depths.

“You do remember that pleasure, don’t you, Tasha? What good sex feels like? Like a flash fire. Hot, fast, intense?” He raised his hand and traced his finger over her jaw. She jerked back to try to hide her shiver of excitement. The man already had enough or an edge. “That can’t be faked.”

No. She hadn’t been faking. She’d never faked anything with Drew, except her current indifference. Her libido would love nothing better than to dive onto the waiting mattress, but she knew better. Knew he was trouble. For her. For the future she was trying so hard to secure for the aunt she owed so much. But her body didn’t care. Nope, it craved his like an insidious drug.

“And in the third place,” Drew said, reclaiming her attention. “The hootch you keep referring to is my little sister.”

Natasha’s jaw dropped as her head buzzed with shock. No way. She tried to remember if she’d known he had a sister, but Drew had never talked about his family. Heck, for all she knew, he’d crawled out, full-grown, from under a rock.

“Oh,” she said faintly. To accuse a man of sending his sister to whore for him was in really bad taste, to say the least.

“Oh?”

“Yes, oh.”

Drew crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

“The two of you don’t look anything alike. Are you sure she’s your sister?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. She costs a fortune in upkeep, and I’m the one stuck paying the bills.”

Natasha pursed her lips, for some reason pleased to know at least one woman had gotten the better of the infamous Drew Walker. Too bad it hadn’t been her. Then again—she recalled the spiked hair, mini-skirt and chains—there probably wasn’t any man his sister couldn’t handle.

“So what’s the deal then? It’s her company? Your company? What?” Giving in to exhaustion, Natasha sat in the desk chair and slid off her red stilettos, leaning over to rub her aching arch. Drew’s gaze followed her movements, his smoldering gaze indicating that he wouldn’t mind taking over rubbing her feet... and a whole lot more.

But he didn’t make a move in her direction. Instead he dropped to the bed and leaned back on his arms. Natasha pretended she wasn’t disappointed. She’d have slapped him down anyway. She eyed the width of his shoulders and silently laughed at herself. Sure she would have.

“
Twisted Knickers
is Audra’s company. I mean, I might have pushed a little to get her started but she came up with the business plan, designs, all that. She put a lot of time into researching the field, her target market. To be honest, I was blown away by the amount of prep work she did. I really think this could be her thing, you know?”

From his sigh, Natasha figured there was more to the story, so she stayed silent.

“See, when our dad died, things got a bit messed up. Audra’s always been a handful. But when she went to live with her mom, she totally cut loose. Got in with a wild crowd, went a little crazy.”

“Her mom?”

“We have different mothers. Mine took off way back when I was in grade school.” His matter-of-fact tone told Natasha that he didn’t feel the same horror that she did at the idea of a mother abandoning her child.

“Lorna, Audra’s mother, wasn’t much better. She gave up custody to Dad and hit the road when my sister was around two. But when Dad got sick and it looked like there might be some money to be had, she came back and laid claim to Audra.”

The indifferent look on Drew’s face did nothing to whitewash the bitterness clear in his words.

“So...” he continued in an offhand tone, “...once Audra was old enough to shake Lorna loose, she found me. I owed her, but no way was I handing her over a pile of money. That’d be too easy for Lorna to get her hands on. Besides, I didn’t want Audra blowing it. So I told her I’d set her up in any kind of business she wanted.
Twisted Knickers
was her choice.”

That was sweet. Natasha didn’t say so, though. She didn’t figure Drew’s ego needed any stroking, nor was she willing to let him know her anger was abating.

But she couldn’t resist asking, “So why are you at the lingerie show?”

“Like so many things Audra starts, once she got as far as getting her ideas made into those frilly panties and such, she began flaking out. She’d make appointments with potential accounts, then take off with some loser for a long weekend and miss her meeting.”

Natasha couldn’t tell if he was bothered more by his sister blowing off meetings, or by the fact that she was doing so because of a guy. From the look on his face, a combination of protective bulldog and irritated impatience, it was likely both.

“That’s what she did with this convention?”

“I’m here because she woke up this morning and claimed she was too sick to come. Some female thing. Believe me, I didn’t ask questions.” Drew shuddered, clearly horrified. Natasha smirked.