Manwhore +1 (33 page)

I answer this because I want him to tell me what’s going on:
Depends on where we’re going or who’s asking. What’s going on?
I’ve been anxious, waiting to hear something ever since he took off.

But he ignores my question and instead answers:
So it’s a no for everyone except me.

Someone’s cocky!
I write back with a laugh.

Wear something comfortable.

With a delighted sigh, I resign myself to the fact that my mystery man will remain a mystery on this night. Whatever he’s up to, I trust he knows what he’s doing, though.

The next day he picks me up in
BUG 2
, and once he tells me we’re going to a polo match, I keep asking him to tell me what he is up to. But he just chucks my chin and says, calmly and unhurriedly, “Next week.”

His calm makes me relax about it as he leads me into the grounds. He’s wearing skintight white riding pants that hug an ass as perfect as a baseball player’s and a navy blue polo that hugs his torso, riding boots up to an inch below his knees.

Callan and Saint are playing, so Callan meets us and greets us before Saint leads me to a small, round white table with a perfect view of the field, kisses the corner of my mouth, and heads toward the stables.

For hours I sip my mineral water and watch the match, the thundering hooves hitting the ground, shuddering the stands. My hair flying in the wind. All I need is a hat and I’m absolutely in
Pretty Woman
.

I’m hooked on the game. Saint straddling a black thoroughbred horse, charging across the field, swinging a mallet in his hand, his muscles rippling, sweat glistening on his forehead. His horse has red ankle wraps on all four legs, and between the way it thunders down the field and the way Saint rides powerfully on it, I can’t see anything else.

But I can hear the whispers of the ladies at the tables behind mine, about the guy on the black horse.
Who is he?

That’s Malcolm Saint, you dodo.

Shh, his girlfriend’s right there!

Carmichael’s on the white horse . . . do you see him?

I smile privately to myself.

Callan and Sin come over when the match is done. The tables behind me fall utterly quiet. They won 10 to 5, and I kiss Saint on the jaw and congratulate him and then I congratulate Callan.

“Gotta golden swing, this man of yours,” he says as he pats Saint’s back and they drop into their seats. Then it’s “Hey, ladies,” as he greets the girls behind us.

They titter.

We stay talking for a while, my curiosity peaked about the polo game more than ever.

“’Fess up, Saint. Does your horse have four names, like you?” I ask.

“He only came with one.” His green eyes twinkle and his lips curl as he sips his water with a hand on the back of my chair. “He already had a track record when I purchased him at auction.” Then he adds, “Matrix.”

“And Callan’s horse?”

“Swear to god, Saint, if you poke fun at my girl again . . .”

“His horse came with a name too.” Malcolm leans his head to me and laughs when Callan shoots him a deadly look. “Tinkerbell.”

On Sunday, he surprises me by sending Claude to get some Garrett Popcorn—my favorite caramel that I love—and I chomp it down while we both sit and read in his comfy library. After I’ve licked my fingers good and clean and forced a few kernels past his lips, loving how he playfully tries to draw my finger into his mouth along with the popped corn, I curl up to his bare chest as he reads Michael Connelly while I read what stuck to me from his office bookshelf: an Agatha Christie,
Destination Unknown.

I keep getting up to change my book for a few other Agatha Christie offerings even as Saint flips his pages.

Settling back down with a collection of Miss Marple stories, I peer into his book and make him share the page with me so I can skim through what he’s reading.

“Why does he suspect his brother’s death wasn’t a suicide?”

“Read it.” He tweaks my nose and tells me, “Get back to yours.”

“I like yours better.”

“No. You like distracting me better.”

“That too.”

We laugh, and I then determine to ignore him, so I pull up my book and shift on the long couch to set my feet on his lap. He takes one foot in his hand and holds his book with the other, reading for another half hour.

Before long, he’s leaning over to peer at
my
book. “Where are you?” he asks, his voice gruff from not speaking for a while as he skims the page. “Ahhhhh.”

I slap his shoulder with the book. “Don’t spoil it for me. What do you mean, ahhhh? Is he the bad guy? Tell me.”

He chuckles low, then pries my book away, sets it aside, and we kiss, slow and easy. And I end up lying back as my body grows soft as cotton, him hard and strong above me, and we take a reading break to make love.

Later, he orders home delivery for us and we read some more while we wait. I study the look on his face as he turns the pages of his book. So
intellectual
today.

Once again, as I have over the entire weekend, I try to wheedle out what he talked to his lawyers about only for him to simply say, “Next week,” without even lifting his eyes from his book.

I sigh and reluctantly let it go, cuddling against him, Saint automatically raising his arm around me as I do.

Holy crap. It’s scary, how much I like it here.

With these arms, who needs red slippers to come home?

I arrive, exhausted and satisfied plus a million, at work at nine on the dot on Monday. Before I enter the elevator, a man with the most intimidating vibe, the harshest look on his face, and the biggest group of minions around him steps out.

I start when he looks at me.

Noel Saint. Like he crawled out from the internet and the endless harsh photos of him there ended up right here.

Right in this building.

Shock paralyzes me for a moment. Tall and dark-haired . . . he’s almost as beautiful as Malcolm. But there is nothing even remotely playful about this man.

Where Malcolm’s presence buzzes with energy, Noel Saint feels like a bomb about to explode right now when he sets his eyes— completely unlike Malcolm’s— on me.

“You,” he says. In the most contemptuous tone I’ve ever heard.

He steps over to me and, out of self-preservation, I step around as one of the young production interns boards the elevator.

“Are you coming?” she asks, holding the door open, like she’s offering me a lifeline.

I hurry inside and Noel Saint turns to stare at me, and I stare back at him unflinchingly. Inside me, a ball of pure loathing starts burning in my belly, and I shoot him a look more hateful than the one he is sending my way. More hateful than I’ve ever given anyone in my life.

And he says, with a sneer, “He won’t win,” before the doors roll shut.

A morgue-like silence settles in the elevator.

“Whoa. Who was
that
?” the intern asks, blue eyes wide in concern.

I look at her, wishing I could remember her name so this would be less awkward. “My . . . boyfriend’s father.”

“Oh wow.” She pats my shoulder regretfully, and I exhale shakily.

Was he here visiting the Clarks?

He didn’t look too pleased.

Did he find out I’m not on board with his asshole blackmail plan?

He seemed so beyond mad, I can’t believe anyone would get this riled up about anything, much less a measly employee leaving her job.

I’m still feeling a ton of dread sitting like a brick in my stomach as I step out cautiously on my floor and look for any signs of gloom and doom.

And I’m surprised that there’s not. In fact, everything is normal, on Red Bull. Almost too much noise. Too many laughs.

I head to my desk.

“Rachel, Helen wants to see you immediately! And then report back to me,” Valentine instructs with a very wide smile when he spots me.

I walk to Helen’s office, glad to see Valentine looking happy, wondering if maybe he found a new job. Helen waves me in and I immediately start, “I am very firm on my decision, Helen—”

“Are you really? Because the entire office is thrilled!”

When I only stand there in growing confusion, she adds, “As you know, Noel Saint has offered for
Edge
.” She claps her hands together, clearly delighted. “But . . . your boyfriend didn’t seem to like that.”

I inhale painfully. “I know.”

“In any case, there’s a bidding war going on.” She nods. “Noel Saint versus M4.” She eyes me. “Malcolm’s taking on his father for
Edge
.”

I’m pretty sure the world just stopped turning.

“Did you hear?”

HEART. FUCKING. ATTACK.

“He’s upping the ante.”

Half in anticipation, half in dread, I ask, “Who’s winning?”

“I don’t know but . . . I’m rooting for your boy.” She finishes that with a mile-wide smile. “You know that love letter you wrote to him?” she asks as I head to the door in a complete state of shock and confusion. She winks. “This might just be Saint’s reply.”

Me: a woman of words.

Him: a man of action.

Shit. I cannot, cannot, let him buy
Edge
. Not because he’d be my boss, that’s not even an issue anymore. But because I won’t let him throw his money away into something he’s never believed in. I won’t let him be reckless because of me.

“
Edge
isn’t worth what they’re offering for it,” I tell Helen. “You know that.”

“They’re not paying for
Edge
now. They’ve got a long-standing rivalry and they’re going to do this to the end. Your boyfriend’s father wants
Edge
with you in it, your boyfriend is not letting him take you on.”

“But I quit, Helen.”

“If Saint wins, you’ll come back,” she says assuredly.

When I step out of the office, nobody is working. At all. They’re all leaning in groups around their cubicles and when I come out, they hoot.

“Hey, we’re Team Malcolm!” Valentine calls.

“Team Malcolm!” Sandy says.

“TEAM MALCOLM!” the chants begin around the office.

“Guys . . .” I start, groaning.

Fuck. I laugh nervously, and go back to my seat and text him.
SAINT!
Edge
is in an uproar?!

We’ll talk later.

What?
Malcolm Kyle Preston Logan Saint!!!
I reply.

Later.

Please tell me you know what you’re doing.

You shouldn’t even have to ask.

God I LOVE you!
I want to text.
You’re unpredictable and you drive me crazy and I love you.
But the next time I say it, it will be looking into his green eyes, and that’s that.

I sigh at that and then sit at my computer, look up Noel Saint’s image, and give him the finger.

“Take that from us at
Edge
. Asshole.”