Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set (69 page)

“Who the hell gets a patent on a lingerie design at this level?”

“An engineer,” she informed him with a smirk she’d borrowed from Audra. “We like to dot our i’s and cross those t’s.”

He puffed out his cheeks, his glare still in place.

“You realize I’m a bad enemy to have, don’t you girl? You should just let this go.” He glanced over at Drew, then back at her. “Loverboy here won’t always be around to make threats. Do you really want to take me on yourself?”

“As opposed to letting you steal my design?”

“I didn’t say I stole anything, Sweet Thing. If your design fell into my hands—and I’m not saying it did—then it was dropped there by your own competition. You might want to rethink who you fraternize with.”

Natasha wanted to smack the man at his obvious inference that Audra had stolen the design, but Drew’s growl distracted her. He’d changed his mind? He didn’t believe his sister was a thief. She lifted her chin in triumph. If they’d already won that battle without even fighting, Rufus Randall and his sneaky games didn’t stand a chance.

“So, let me get this straight,” Natasha said before Drew could punch the guy in the face, as he so obviously wanted to do. “You’re saying that if my design was handed over to you, it came via someone else? And that person was Audra?”

“Now I didn’t accuse her of anything, but she’s quite the naughty girl.”

Drew’s gaze focused somewhere past Natasha’s shoulder. His brow furrowed, and he opened his mouth to say something. Then he closed his mouth and his face cleared—went miraculously blank. He leaned back in the couch and laid his arm over the back, looking as casual as if they were discussing what show to see on the strip instead of his sister’s nefarious propensities.

“Ruf’s right, Tash. Audra is wild. You know how she is, she’s liable to do anything.”

Natasha’s gaze shot to his face, searching. Had she been wrong about him? Did he still believe the worst about his sister? Then she realized Drew would never look this calm if he believed what Ruf was saying about his sister. He must have realized what they were up to.

“Well, yeah,” Natasha agreed with a show of reluctance. “But to steal? I mean, I can forgive Ruf for copying a design. After all, what good businessperson doesn’t make use of the tools that get dropped into their lap?”

“Exactly,” Ruf agreed. He lowered himself into the chair opposite Drew and smiled, obviously believing they were both coming around to his side of things. “And I’m just that... A good businessman.”

“I know how badly Audra wanted that account,” Drew commented. “What I can’t quite figure out though is if you’d put her up to stealing the design, or if she did it on her own.”

“Oh, Drew. You know Ruf’s not the kind to do something like that. It must have been Audra’s idea to take it.”

Ruf looked up from pouring a glass of orange juice from the carafe on the low coffee table and nodded. “Yup, all her idea.”

Natasha and Drew exchanged glances. She heard a hiss behind her. Audra might not have found the bra yet, but it was obvious she wasn’t going to take much more of this.

“Thank you,” she said accepting the glass of juice and sitting down. Natasha leaned forward with a friendly smile and asked, “It is my design then, hmm? And Audra stole it for you?”

Flustered, Ruf frowned. They watched him mentally reviewing the conversation. She saw him blanche as he realized where he’d screwed up.

“Okay, sure, it could be your design. But you’re going to have to show me the patent papers before I pull it from my lineup. In the meantime, I’ll hold off on the presentation.”

“And the theft?” Drew asked affably.

“Talk to your sister, Loverboy. Talk to your sister.” Ruf leaned back in his chair and smirked before he took a drink of his juice.

“Why don’t you talk to me, you old bastard?” Audra said from the doorway.

Orange juice splattered as Ruf spit and sputtered in shock.

“I didn’t steal a damned thing and you know it,” Audra snapped, getting right in his face. “The worse I did was let you shove your slimy tongue down my throat and put up with a few sloppy gropes.”

Ruf mopped at his face.

“If I were you, Randall, I’d drop any plans of using that design altogether,” Drew advised.

“If you don’t, my lawyer will be contacting you,” Natasha advised. She made a mental note to find a lawyer.

“I think Natasha’s being too easy on you,” Audra claimed. She poked him in the chest. “Me, I’m thinking you need to make this up to us. You screwed her over. You used me and tried to set me up as a thief. You promised me that account and then blew me off because you thought Natasha was easier to manipulate.”

“It’s your word against mine,” Ruf claimed coldly. “Who’s going to believe someone like you?”

“As long as you pay for what you did, I don’t give a damn who believes what.”

“Pay? You think you’re going to exhort money out of me over this?”

“No, but you will be making it up to us,” Natasha claimed. She pulled a tiny recording device out of her purse and smiled sourly when Ruf turned chalk white. “You might have danced all around it, but I’m sure there is enough here to interest the police. And I’d think quite a few designers would think twice about working with you once this becomes an official investigation.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Believe me, Ruf, I’m wild enough to dare anything. Any damned thing.”

He looked like he wanted to toss the three of them out the plate glass window. Fury colored his face an ugly maroon and sweat beaded his brow.

“What the hell do you want?”

Natasha and Audra exchanged excited looks. They’d done it.

“I want my bra back.”

His jaw clenched for a second, then he gave a jerky nod. “It’s in the safe.”

He rose to get it, but before he could take a step, Natasha shifted.

“And I want your client list.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Absolutely yes. I want that list, both domestic and foreign. Complete with contact names. It’ll give me a solid referral base and, more importantly, it’ll allow me to check in with them from time to time. Just to make sure you don’t try to pass my designs off down the road.”

His throat worked. He spread his glare between the three of them. “Fine. It’s on my laptop.”

“We want hardcopy and disk.”

“I’ll get it to you this afternoon.”

“Nope.” Natasha leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs patiently. “We’ll wait.”

“Let’s go get it, bub,” Audra prodded. She poked at him with a sharp-nailed finger and steered him toward the door of the second bedroom that must serve as his office. Once at the door, she glanced back at Natasha and Drew and gave a gleeful thumbs up.

They could hear her ribbing him as he got to work. Natasha let the sound fade into the background as her gaze met Drew’s.

“Oh my God,” she breathed. “We did it. I can’t believe it worked.”

“Babe, I have total faith you can make anything work.”

She smiled. “I don’t know about
anything
.”

“Believe me, even though I recognized my little sister’s fingers all over this plan, you nailed it. God, what a piece of brilliance to go after his client list.”

“Well, I’m really not positive we’d have a solid case, but I needed to make sure he paid for what he did. Not just stealing and copying my work. But in lying to Audra and setting her up for this. And especially for coming between you two.”

Drew gave an uncomfortable shrug. “I don’t know that he gets credit for that. I’m a hardheaded ass sometimes. I get so caught up in the past, in trying to keep from losing things, that I blind myself to the present. And the future.”

Natasha tried to swallow past the sudden lump in her throat.

“Future, huh? You and Audra?”

“No. I mean she and I are fine. But my future includes a woman who is definitely not my sister.”

Natasha wanted to press him to say more. Wanted to scream at him to declare his feelings. But that old reserve held her tongue. That and fear.

“So what will you do next?” Drew asked.

She wanted to throw the juice carafe at him for stringing her along, but shrugged instead.

“Buy
Sensual Supports
. Expand the boutique, and use this list to start my own distribution. I’ve made a couple of contacts that might help me with the manufacturing. And, as much as it blows my mind, I have the interest of some major players. I really think once I bring in my new designer, I’ll be set.”

“New designer?”

“Yes. I’ve asked Audra to join me.”

His face went blank with shock, then Drew grinned. Natasha wasn’t sure if it was pleasure that she’d be giving his little sister a job, or that she’d be taking on the trouble his little sister was sure to bring.

“I thought she wanted out of the lingerie game,” he said.

“She just needs someone who is willing to work with her, to help her channel all that energy. I think her forte will really be in fabric design, but we’ll see. I figure if she lasts the first few months, I’ll find a way to help her get into the textile design school she told me about.

“She’ll do good by you.” Then he pursed those sexy lips and gave her a long look. “So, you’re hooking up with a Walker?”

“So it seems.”

“Have you ever considered expanding on that? Maybe take on two?”

“That depends.” She wasn’t giving in that easy. She wanted a declaration of some sort. Although the fact that he’d risen before eight a.m. to try and save her company did say quite a bit in itself.

“What if I told you I had made plans to chase a few dreams myself?”

She hid her smile and gave him a cool look.

“Dreams?”

“Yeah. I’m going to start playing pool again. Join a league, see if I can stay on the right side of the hustle this time. I have to work and the bar is my life now. I don’t regret that, actually. I kinda like the tradition of it. And the freedom.”

Natasha wasn’t able to hold back her grin any longer. Heck, it was all she could do to keep from launching herself from the chair and into his arms.

“I’m happy for you. Thrilled that you’re willing to go after what you want.”

Drew glanced toward the bedroom, where they could hear Audra still chewing Ruf out. He pulled a face.

“Well, this goes against advice I respect since it’s about as unromantic as you can get. But...”

He stood and came over to Natasha. Reaching down, he took her hands and pulled her to her feet. Excitement, as always, spiraled through her at the feel of his chest pressed against her breast.

“Tasha, I let you go once before. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t really believe I deserved you. But,” He brushed his hand through her hair. “I do now. I don’t want to give up this time.”

He grinned and curved his warm fingers over her hips. “I’ve grabbed on, Natasha. You’re my dream. Having you in my life. Having you to love.”

Her breath caught. “Oh, Drew, I love you.”

“Damn, you make it so easy.” He pressed his forehead to hers and sighed. “I guess real dreams don’t always come with a huge struggle, huh?”

“No,” Natasha agreed. “Just a huge amount of love.”

And that, they had plenty of.

THE END

About the Author

Tawny Weber

USA TODAY Bestselling author of over twenty-five hot books, Tawny Weber has been writing sassy, sexy romances since her first one hit the shelves in 2007. A fan of Johnny Depp, cupcakes and color coordination, she spends a lot of her time shopping for cute shoes, scrapbooking and hanging out on Facebook.

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www.tawnyweber.com
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Additional Books by Tawny Weber

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by Nina Bruhns

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Katarina Herelius was suddenly surrounded by Indian warriors. Big ones. With fierce expressions on their painted faces and feathered headdresses flying in the wind. It was as if she had somehow been transported back in time.