The CEO Buys in (Wager of Hearts #1) (23 page)

Nathan pushed up out of the chair and roamed over to the wall of windows, staring out at the city that never slept. When had he become such a lousy friend? He’d let himself pretend that the time he spent with Ben for medical and charitable reasons was enough.

Ben walked back into the room, and Nathan turned. “I’m sorry.”

Ben came to an abrupt halt. “Definitely an alien.”

Nathan raised his glass to his friend. “I’ll do better in the future.”

The two men returned to their seats and demolished the hors d’oeuvres before Ed announced dinner. Later, as they sat at the dinner table with coffee and brandy in front of them, Ben said, “I like this new Nathan. He’s like the old Nathan, except he doesn’t constantly badger me to play Space Invaders.”

“Asteroids.”

“A game where one stared at a computer screen and exercised only one’s hands for hours on end,” Ben said, leaning back in his chair. “Although your obsession led to Trainor Electronics, so it wasn’t a total waste of time.”

“My father is getting married Saturday.”

“I’m invited.”

Nathan felt his jaw go tense. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You don’t respond well when I bring up your father.”

“Because you defend him.”

“I try to explain him, so maybe you’ll get your head out of your ass and talk to him.” Ben’s voice was sharp. “He may have pushed you in a direction you didn’t want to go, but at least he didn’t hit you.”

When Ben’s father got drunk, he’d become violent toward his wife and his son. Nathan’s father had intervened on more than one occasion.

“That’s not why I have a problem with him.”

“Your mother suffered from clinical depression. It was a chemical imbalance in her brain. Your father didn’t cause that. You didn’t either.”

Nathan had heard that from Ben before, but the guilt still ate at him. “She was under more pressure than she could handle.”

Ben held his gaze for a long moment. “No one could have stopped her from taking her own life. Not your father. Not you.”

Nathan knocked back the rest of his brandy as he tried to believe that. He placed the snifter carefully on the table before he met Ben’s eyes again. “Are you going to the wedding?”

Ben nodded. “Are you?”

“Against my better judgment, yes.”

Ben sat up in the chair, surprise written on his face. “Why?”

Nathan relaxed enough to let a faint smile curl his lips. “Someone talked me into it.”

“Since it wasn’t me, I sense the hand of Ed,” Ben said, reaching for his coffee.

“You’d be wrong. Chloe persuaded me. In fact, she’s my date for the wedding.”

His friend choked on the hot beverage.

Nathan enjoyed Ben’s reaction. “By the way, she doesn’t work for me anymore.”
For now.

Ben grabbed a napkin to dab at the spewed coffee on his shirt. “Hell, Nathan, you can’t throw that poor woman into the viper pit that’s your relationship with the general. For one thing, she’ll run screaming as far away as she can get.”

“You underestimate Chloe. She has an interesting theory that my father wants to share this new phase of his life with me.”

Ben tossed the crumpled napkin on the table. “How could she have a theory? She’s never met the man.”

Nathan refilled his glass and took a sip of brandy, letting the heat of it join the alcohol already warming his stomach. He hadn’t drunk this much since the night at the Bellwether Club. “She wasn’t afraid of me. She won’t be cowed by my father.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to get in the middle of your power struggle.”

“He’s an officer. He’ll behave at his own wedding.”

“It’s you I’m worried about,” Ben said. “Why Chloe?”

Nathan was about to tell him it was none of his business until he remembered what a crap friend he’d been recently. “She’s not Teresa.”

“Is that supposed to be an answer?”

“I thought Teresa wasn’t interested in the trappings. She lied about that.” Nathan stared into the golden liquor in his glass. “Chloe really isn’t interested. She considers them a barrier, not a bonus.”

For once Ben had no smart comeback, and Nathan found himself wanting to talk about her. “I met her grandmother today. Grandmillie didn’t approve of me.”

Ben snorted. “What grandmother wouldn’t want you as a grandson-in-law?”

“Getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?”

“You’re the one meeting her family already.”

“It seems only fair, since she’ll be meeting mine.”

Ben gave a bark of laughter. “I’d like to know the lady who feels you aren’t good enough for her granddaughter. It would be refreshing. What did you do to put her off?”

“Exerted every ounce of my charm.”

“Well, that explains it then.” Ben turned his coffee cup on its saucer a few rotations before he looked up at Nathan. “Are you sure Chloe isn’t just smarter than Teresa?”

Again, Nathan quashed the urge to tell Ben to go to hell. He scanned through all of his encounters with Chloe from the moment Roberta had introduced them to Chloe’s rebuff of him in the kitchen that evening. She’d known exactly who he was from the get-go, and she’d actually tried to extricate herself from his sickroom on several occasions. He considered her openness about asking to be paid for her time, and then refusing compensation once they’d become involved.

But what really convinced him was her lovemaking. There was no artifice, no choreographed performance to impress him. Chloe was all fire and fun. A wave of longing roared through him and he shook his head. “She’s smart, all right. But not in that way.”

“If you say so.” Ben went back to spinning his cup. “It will be interesting to watch you, Chloe, and the general square off.”

Nathan debated for a few seconds. He’d planned to make love to Chloe on the jet, but he’d also resolved to be a better friend to Ben. “I’m taking the jet. Want to hitch a ride?”

“Is Ed coming?”

Nathan felt like a jerk. Of course, Ed would be going. He’d served under his father. But Nathan hadn’t asked. He’d been so caught up in Chloe, he couldn’t think of anything else. “I don’t know.”

“Well, if Ed’s going, I’m in. If not, I don’t want to be the third wheel.”

“Give me a minute.” Nathan shoved himself away from the dinner table to walk across the dining room and into the kitchen.

Ed and the chef were sitting at a round table in a corner of the kitchen, drinking coffee from thick white mugs, while a young man washed pots and pans in the gleaming stainless-steel sink. All three looked startled when Nathan appeared. Ed put his mug down. “Do you need more coffee?” he asked, starting to stand.

Nathan shook his head and waved him back into his chair. “No, I’ve been an ass.”

The corners of Ed’s lips twitched, but he didn’t comment.

Nathan caught the movement. “You show great restraint,” he said in acknowledgment. “In fact, I owe you an apology.”

Now his butler looked worried.

“I never asked you if you’re going to the general’s wedding. I should have. And I should have offered you a ride on the jet,” Nathan said.

“I accepted after Ms. Russell told me you were going,” Ed said, “but I’ve booked myself a commercial ticket.”

As the implications hit Nathan, he felt even worse. Because of his loyalty to Nathan, Ed had been willing to forgo the wedding of the former commanding officer he respected and admired, a wedding many of his oldest friends would be attending.

“You’re a better man than I am,” Nathan finally said. “I hope you’ll accept my apology and join me on the jet.” He made a mental note to reimburse Ed for the plane ticket.

Ed let his butler mask slip with a grin. “Hell, yes. It beats being crammed into some prop plane like a sardine.”

Relief flooded through Nathan. He hadn’t totally screwed up. “Thanks for not giving me a page 11.”

Ed’s grin faded. “You didn’t deserve most of the ones you got.”

Nathan didn’t want anyone’s pity, not even Ed’s. “Yeah, I did, and I worked hard to get them.”

The older man caught Nathan’s tone and nodded. “I have to give you credit for your work ethic. You were a genius at getting under the general’s skin.”

“That particular genius was mutual.” Nathan shoved his hands into his trousers pockets. “I should get back to Ben.”

He pivoted on his heel and returned to the dining room to find Ben staring out the window as he sipped his coffee.

Nathan joined him. “Ed is coming, so you have no excuse for avoiding my company.”

Ben turned away from the blaze of lights. “You’re just recruiting reinforcements.”

“Damn right I am.”

“A job at Trainor Electronics?” Chloe practically dropped her cell phone onto her turkey sandwich. She had just started her thirty-minute lunch break when Judith’s call came through. Suspicion sank its claws into her. “What kind of job?”

“It’s in marketing, an area you love.” Judith read off the description. “You’d start off in a junior capacity, but there’s a lot of upside. And listen to the salary.” When Judith mentioned the number, Chloe was too stunned to speak, so Judith continued. “I don’t want to put any undue pressure on you, but this would solve a lot of your financial problems and put a great signing bonus in my pocket. Not to mention it’s a tech company, which is a field you like to work in.”

“Who would I be reporting to?”

“The vice president of marketing . . . um . . . Phillippe Riviere. Roberta says he asked for you specifically, so you must know him.”

“I met him the day Nath—Mr. Trainor got sick. For about three minutes.”

“Well, you impressed the hell out of him in those three minutes.”

Chloe pleated a corner of the paper from her sandwich as she debated how much to share with Judith.

“Why are you not jumping for joy?” her friend asked. “It seems like a no-brainer to me. Especially since we don’t know yet if you got the position you interviewed for yesterday.”

Chloe sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you this because I didn’t think it mattered anymore, but I’m dating Nathan Trainor.”

Judith’s silence was deafening. Finally, she spoke. “Sweetie, I don’t know what to say. I think you’d be crazy to turn down this job. You’ll have to make the decision about whether it’s kosher to date your boss’s boss.”

“I’m afraid Nathan might have arranged the offer.”

“I’m not going to speculate on what his reasons might be. I don’t know the situation well enough.”

“I think he feels sorry for me and Grandmillie.”

“That’s a better spin than I would have put on it.” Chloe could hear Judith beating a tattoo on the desk with her fingernails. “I’m going to risk pissing you off, but you claim to value my cynicism. Once you accept the position, it’s going to be difficult for Trainor to fire you without cause. There’s no probation period; I checked because it changes my contract with them. You’re a full-fledged employee right off the bat.”

“Okay,” Chloe said when Judith stopped.

“So if you break up, you’ll still have a great job with a fantastic salary and benefits.”

Chloe felt the tension clutching at her shoulders ease. “So you think it’s all right for me to work there and date Nathan?”

Judith took a deep breath. “I think you won’t be dating Nathan as long as you’ll be working at his company.”

“Oh.” Considering Chloe kept telling herself her relationship with Nathan was short-term, she felt a surprising stab of pain at Judith’s prediction. “I see.”

“I’m being realistic, sweetie.”

Chloe tried for flippancy to prove she was a realist too. “That’s what I love about you.” However, she wanted to hear what Nathan had to say about the job offer. “Let me just sleep on it. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Chloe disconnected and slumped back into her chair before swiveling around to stare out the window of the conference room.

Was it absurdly conceited to think that Nathan had created a position just for her? He couldn’t possibly care about her enough to foist his girlfriend on one of his vice presidents, could he? An annoying little voice in her brain piped up that Trainor Electronics was big enough so one extra employee wasn’t going to affect the bottom line, which meant it might be a job custom-tailored for her.

No, it was more plausible that Nathan had heard about the opening and mentioned her name to Phil Riviere. That was a grand enough gesture when she thought about it with more humility. A recommendation from the CEO would be hard to ignore.

Either way, she faced a serious dilemma: Should she break her own personal code of ethics and work for a man she was dating? No,
dating
was too mild a word. Should she work for a man she was having wild, passionate sex with?

Chloe groaned when she realized that wasn’t even the worst of it.

How would she feel when she and Nathan broke up, the inevitable outcome Judith had predicted? She might still see him in the corridor or on the elevator or in the lobby. How long would it take before she stopped looking at his hands and remembering how it felt to have his fingers deep inside her? Or staring at his mouth and thinking of his lips on her breasts or between her thighs? His gray eyes would no longer blaze with desire or gleam with mischief when he looked at her. She wouldn’t get that delicious glow of satisfaction out of knowing that she could make him have fun.

She choked on a sob as a searing sense of loss hollowed out her chest. If this was how she felt just imagining it . . .

Slamming her palms down on the arms of the big chair, she shoved herself out of it to pace around the table as she faced the truth.

Grandmillie was right. She was in too deep with Nathan. It would be better to stop right now. She could accept the job at Trainor Electronics with a clear conscience and start the process of getting over him sooner rather than later.

She halted abruptly. “The wedding.”

She couldn’t leave him to face his father alone. The joy that exploded through her when she decided she would have another five days with Nathan convinced her that she’d made the right decision.

Not to go to the wedding, but to end the relationship before she fell any harder.

Nathan leaned back against the Rolls, the cold of the metal biting through his cotton shirt. He should have stayed in the car to read another report, but he wanted to see the way Chloe’s face lit up when she spotted him. Yesterday, her obvious delight had hit him in the chest like CPR to a dying man: hard but life-giving. Something he couldn’t name had shifted inside him.

The front doors of the office building swung open with a flash of sun on glass as another elevatorload of workers poured out into the damp, gloomy New York afternoon. He scanned the crowd for Chloe’s face, his pulse rate settling back to normal when he didn’t see it.

He went back to his reverie until a single figure came out the far door. The moment her toe hit the sidewalk, he knew it was Chloe. Every nerve in his body went on full alert, shouting,
That’s the woman you want!

He straightened away from the car and lifted his hand as he started toward her. “Chloe.”

She turned and the anticipated delight flashed across her face. He lengthened his stride to reach her faster but slowed when her expression changed, dimmed by a shadow that looked almost like regret. Was she going to tell him she wouldn’t let him buy her clothes? Or something worse?

“Chloe,” he said again as he seized her shoulders and bent to kiss her, spectators be damned. Her lips were soft and warm and yielding. Her breasts under her jacket brushed tantalizingly against his chest. She gave a little mew of pleasure as he pulled her closer. He wanted to slide his hands down her back to dig his fingers into her behind and jam her hard against his erection. He contented himself with a quick pat on one perfectly curved buttock before he released her.

She tucked her hand in the crook of his arm. “It’s a good thing I’m only a temp here. I’m pretty sure at least four people I work with are gawking at us.”

“Once you’re on the sidewalk, you’re on your own time,” he said, hauling her along with him toward the privacy of the big car. He bent his head to whisper in her ear the question that had been distracting him off and on all day. “Are you wearing panties?”

“Of course I am. It would shock the saleslady at Saks if I didn’t.”

“I told Oskar to take at least thirty minutes to get us to Saks.” He pulled open the car door for her and helped her into the private warmth of the interior.

“Oh, great,” she huffed as he slid onto the seat beside her. “Now Oskar knows exactly what we’re doing back here.”

“I pay Oskar a great deal not to speculate on what I’m doing.” He sank his fingers into the tightly coiled satin of her hair and shook loose the neat bun, sifting his fingers through the glossy strands so they fell over her shoulders.

She shivered as the back of his hand brushed the side of her soft, ripe breast. “You can pay Oskar not to talk about it, but his thoughts are beyond your control.”

“Oskar’s may be, but I’ll bet I can focus yours for the next thirty minutes.” He wanted to push her down onto the black leather, tear off her panties, and plunge himself inside her, to feel her moving underneath him and around him. But she had a valid point about the saleslady. He reached for the top button on her blouse.

Chloe put her palm flat on his chest and pushed him away. “We need to talk business first.”

Surprise made him yield to the pressure of her small hand. He leaned back as she shifted onto the facing seat and looked him in the eye. Her stern expression was undercut by the wild fall of her hair, and he couldn’t stop a smile from curling the corners of his lips.

“Stop smirking.”

Her annoyance made his smile go wider.

She looked out the window. “Judith called me about the position at Trainor Electronics.”

That killed the smile. His e-mail to Roberta had gotten action faster than he’d expected. He waited.

She turned back to him, her back ramrod straight. “Did you pull strings for me?”

He shrugged. “I mentioned you were looking for a permanent position.”

“When the CEO says something like that, it’s pulling strings.” She didn’t look happy.

“Look, Phil Riviere knows how Rich Sinclair writes. He read the report you edited and was impressed. He wanted you in his department.”

Her gaze on his face felt like a laser beam. She was weighing his words for their honesty. And they were true, as far as they went. She frowned. “Do you spend a lot of time in the marketing department?”

He tried to reroute the conversation by letting his voice drop to a rasp. “Are you afraid I’ll distract you?”

“I’m very focused when I’m working,” she said without reacting to his tone. “And that’s not what worries me.”

“What is it then?”

She shook her head and stared down at her hands. They were twisted into a knot on her lap. She straightened them out and flexed her fingers wide. “It’s a very generous offer and a great position.” She gave him an unreadable look. “I have a rule about not dating my boss.”

“No one will know we’re involved,” he promised. Her job should bring her nowhere near the executive office, so they’d never have any reason to interact at work. Unless he needed to see her. He had a momentary fantasy of calling her up to his office and bending her over his desk. His erection throbbed again.

“You obviously know nothing about office gossip,” she said before she looked away.

“Chloe, there are three levels of management between your job and mine. Why would anyone care?”

“I care,” she said in a low voice.

“Phil wouldn’t have hired you if he didn’t believe you could do a great job. You’ll be an asset to his department.”

She huffed out a breath that sounded more unhappy than relieved. “All right.” She scooted back to the seat beside him.

He tried to read her expression, but she was in profile to him. “So you’ll take the job.”

She turned her head, an imp of mischief dancing in her brown eyes. “I told Judith I’d let her know tomorrow.”

“You are what’s known as a tease,” he said, sliding his hand around her neck to twine his fingers into her hair and tilt her head back. He nipped at the soft skin on the side of her neck before dragging his mouth down to lick the shadow of cleavage that just showed in the neckline of her blouse.

The intake of her breath made him harder, but he had a new plan. He slipped his hand up under her skirt, finding satisfaction in the fact that she let her thighs open. When he found the lace of her panties, it was warm and damp. He hooked it aside with his thumb and slid first one and then two fingers into the moist heat of her, stroking and flexing so she bucked up off the seat. He could feel her movements become more frantic, and he slowed his.

“Who’s teasing now?” she gasped, her hands scrabbling at the leather seat as she rode his hand.

“I’m getting you ready.” He leaned over and took her open mouth, using his tongue to echo the deliberate rhythm of his fingers. She whimpered and tried to push herself against his hand, but he shifted to ease the pressure.

She pulled her mouth away from him. “Ready for what?”

“The fitting room.” He rubbed his thumb against her, loving the satiny slide of her private skin, trying to ignore the way her moan shot straight to his cock. “I want you desperate.”

“I’m trying to be angry with you, but it’s really difficult.”

He pressed his thumb a little harder, gauging how far he could wind her up before she went over the edge.

“Especially when you do that.”

He pulled his hand out from under her skirt, bringing his fingers up to inhale the fragrance of Chloe’s arousal. Then he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and regretfully wiped the delicious moisture off his fingers.

She’d slumped back on the seat and was watching him through slitted eyes.