Dangerous (The Complete Erotic Romance Novel) (18 page)

Kendra spared a glance to the Spartan conference room and winced. “Depending how many there are, we maybe should book the room at the hotel, then have lunch there. There’s a nice one at the other end of the business park with attractive facilities and a good chef.”

“You’ve used them before?”

“Usually when buyers come in, sir.” She wasn’t really surprised he didn’t know about the hotel himself. He’d almost certainly have booked a room downtown in one of the five star facilities. This hotel was good for business travelers, but their chef was exceptional.

“Then do it, Miss Jones. I trust I can leave all of these arrangements with you?”

“Of course, sir.” He might have hung up the phone, but Kendra couldn’t let it go without being sure. “So, you’re giving Esperanza a chance?”

“I’ve been reading a business plan which shows excellent reasoning, Miss Jones,” he said, a thread of humor in his tone. Kendra sat up straighter. “Your plan is sound, although it needs some amendments.”

“Like what?”

“Redundancy, Miss Jones. Never let a single option be the only path to success.”

She wondered if he was only talking about her business plan.

“You’ve done a good job,” he added gently. “Let’s see if we can make it work.”

“Thank you, sir!”

“Have you ever heard the saying that a person should be careful what she wishes for?”

Kendra laughed. She couldn’t help it, she was so excited. “Thank you, sir. I know this will work.”

“I am not quite so confident of that, Miss Jones, but it’s a sound beginning.”

He was gone a heartbeat later, but there was no chance of Kendra going home anytime soon. She flung off her coat and dialed their most reliable supplier even before her computer booted up again. She punched the code for the sales office by memory, then crossed her fingers that Darcy was working late.

“Hello, hello, Esperanza Enterprises,” the man in question drawled. “Got a rush order for me?”

“Absolutely,” Kendra said, scrolling through the options presented on their website. Her toes were tapping, her excitement bubbling.

Her idea was being given a chance.

She probably should have been worried that she didn’t care what Reid wanted from her in exchange.

* * *

By Wednesday night, Kendra was exhausted.

She sat in the empty office, almost two hours after Ginger and Marianne had left. The machines in the back were quiet, and Vinnie was already snoring in the lunchroom. It was dark outside the office windows, the first flurry of snow blowing against the windows. Kendra was about to call it a day, but changed her mind.

If she had no potential to be a real slave with a collar, if she was just a toy to be used for his disciplining fantasies, then she had nothing to lose. She had no idea whether she and Reid would play more games or whether he was done. It wasn’t up to her.

Which meant it didn’t really matter what she did.

With that realization, Kendra Googled her new boss.

She wasn’t surprised by the first round of articles that came up, and clicked through on a couple of unofficial bios. She’d read all of these when she’d done the report on him for her class and just skimmed them again, in case she’d missed something then. He was in his late thirties, born in the UK, and had never finished his university degree. He’d started his first business on the side, customizing computer solutions for inventory management, starting with his father’s leather goods business. He’d become so rapidly successful that he’d left school to begin building his empire. It had grown by leaps and bounds. From his original client base, which emanated from his father’s contacts, he’d created custom solutions for different industries, then expanded his solutions to include human resources and other functions.

None of this was what had made him either so rich or so famous in business circles. The change had come when he had the opportunity to buy a struggling former Fortune 500 company. He’d turned it around, discarding what wasn’t working and reinventing the company in record time. When he’d done that the third time, he’d be said to have the Midas touch . . . of turning dross to gold.

He’d become more picky about acquisitions, still working at a furious rate, but choosing those companies with the most to gain. Kendra reviewed an article that analyzed his apparent criteria: the company had to be well-established, caught in patterns of the past, but still possess a reputation for quality and a reliable client base. Most of these companies were seen to be past their moment, but Reid had a gift for finding them new purpose, new product lines and new clientele.

He had the profits to show for it. Kendra surveyed the list of acquisitions, the change in their revenues and profile, and it seemed he couldn’t fail. He was reputed to be smart, savvy and focused. He was said to be always in control, to have a photographic memory, and a talent for driving a hard bargain.

Kendra could attest to all of that, and then some.

She reached under her skirt and pinched a welt, savoring her body’s reaction.

Kendra had deliberately avoiding learning anything about his personal life when doing her report. She had told her prof she thought it irrelevant to Reid’s success, but the truth was she hadn’t wanted to discover something disappointing about him. Her estimation of him would have invariably dropped if he’d had half a dozen wives, or had left his first wife for a much younger bimbo.

Now, though, she was curious. She searched for images, suspecting he might date movie stars or famous models.

He did.

There were hundreds if not thousands of pictures of Reid with a woman. Kendra’s heart rose to her throat that the women invariably were in their twenties, like her, and had long blonde hair, just like her. They were stunningly beautiful, dressed in fabulous designer clothing. When she could see their feet, they were wearing very high heels.

Kendra swallowed. This wasn’t something she had needed to know, but she couldn’t stop looking. Most of the women appeared with him only once, on a red carpet, entering a new restaurant, attending a movie opening, arriving at an awards dinner. There were faces she recognized, actresses and models, but each only the one time.

Toys?

Kendra wondered.

About two thirds of the way down the gallery of photographs, one woman began to appear exclusively with Reid. He looked younger in these pictures, less at ease with the camera than he would become later. In some images, he appeared impatient, even cross, but his body language was always protective of the woman. She realized that the search engine had displayed the images in reverse chronological order. These pictures were older.

Who was this woman?

The love of his life?

The one who had gotten away?

Kendra knew she shouldn’t have been surprised when she found the wedding photo. Reid in a tux, the blonde in acres of billowing white, red roses in her bouquet and a big diamond ring sparkling on her left hand. Alana. The captions said her name was Alana. Now the favored phrases were “whirlwind romance” and “fairy tale wedding.” Kendra looked back at the earlier shots, and found that ring in every one of them.

Reid had a wife.

But maybe not anymore. Maybe the other women had been his company after a divorce or separation. Kendra searched on Alana’s name.

The results made her sit back in her chair in surprise.

Alana had disappeared, without a trace, after some big party at their house.

Nobody disappeared without a trace. Had Reid’s wife left him? Kendra burrowed through the reports, searching for details. No matter how much she searched, though, she never found any statement that Alana had been found.

And Reid had never answered any questions about her in the press.

It was as if Alana had never existed.

Kendra didn’t believe it. She smelled a deal. They’d split up, although it was anyone’s guess which of them had wanted to part. Maybe it had been a mutual agreement. Alana must have taken a new identity—anyone with money could arrange something like that. And maybe she had a sweet severance payment from her husband and marriage. The terms were clear that neither party would ever speak publicly about it.

Kendra went back to the wedding pictures. There was one with Reid looking at his bride, apparently unaware of the camera. He looked completely smitten.

Kendra’s own heart wrenched.

His former wife had broken his heart. Obviously. And as a result, Reid refused to have any emotional involvement with anyone. He’d had everything—a beautiful wife, a loving marriage, wealth and property—and lost it all. She could imagine that without his beloved by his side, there had only been work and money left, and neither was truly satisfying. There was still the pesky detail of sex, but he’d found a way to take care of that.

She couldn’t believe it was a coincidence that she looked a lot like Alana.

That decided it all for her. Being a toy was one thing: being a substitute was quite another. She could play sexual games with Reid, taking chances and finding their respective boundaries, but she wouldn’t help him pretend she was his lost wife.

She’d tell him Friday she was done. It wasn’t something she could admit over the phone. It had to be done in person. Maybe she’d tear up the contract in front of him to make her point. He couldn’t refuse to terminate, not given her resolve.

Somehow she’d convince him.

Kendra packed up her desk, grabbed her coat and purse, and pulled on the coat as she walked through the quiet factory. To her surprise, Ethan was still sitting at the dispatch desk, reading a newspaper with his jacket on. He managed the shipping for Esperanza and was about the same age as Kendra. She hadn’t lied to Reid about him: she’d always liked Ethan and might have found him attractive, if she hadn’t sensed that he could lose control.

Maybe she’d been too hard on him. He was easygoing but effective, a guy whose word was his bond and whose work ethic was solid. She’d counted on him to solve a crisis more than once—she’d also tried to fix him up with her girlfriends more than once, but it never worked out. Ethan was blond and tall, always looking relaxed. In the summer, he tanned to a bronze that make his eyes look greener. He could have been a model, he was that handsome. It was a standing joke in the front office that no man could wear a pair of jeans like Ethan.

Although Kendra thought Mr. Stirling could give him a run for his money on that.

There had just been this hard twist to his lips once, a look that had given Kendra pause.

She checked out the view and wondered if she’d been too hard on him.

“Hey, Kendra,” Ethan said, putting down his paper. “New boss keeping you busy?”

“I don’t think he sleeps,” Kendra said with a smile. “But I can’t do any more tonight. I
do
sleep.” He laughed at that. Kendra headed for the door, but Ethan got there before her. When he didn’t open the door but just held the knob, she looked up at him. “Why are you here so late?”

He grinned and color rose on the back of his neck. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay. It gets kind of quiet around here at night.” His confession and his discomfort in admitting it melted Kendra’s reservations away.

She was touched by his concern. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to.” He held her gaze and swallowed. “And I wanted to talk to you, too.”

“Ethan, if there’s an issue, I’ll have to sort it out tomorrow.” Kendra yawned, unable to help herself.

It was when she saw how Ethan watched her mouth that she guessed.

Her heart skittered to a halt.

Careful what you wish for.

“I wondered if you’d go out with me Friday.” He blurted out the words, as if he’d been working up his nerve to say them.

Kendra shook her head immediately. She’d just made that mistake and she wouldn’t make it again so quickly. She liked Ethan. She owed him better than a quick fuck. She owed him her full attention, instead of her fantasizing about Reid.

Maybe in time.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ethan. But thank you.”

He didn’t release the door knob. “Why not?”

“Because we work at the same place. It would be awkward.” Kendra couldn’t believe she’d said that, given what she’d done with the boss, but lightning didn’t strike her dead on the spot.

“If we didn’t, would you?”

“Not right now.”

“There’s someone else?”

She seized on that, as good an excuse as any. “There might be.” She smiled, realizing that didn’t really answer his question. “There is for me, anyway.”

Ethan’s answering smile was rueful. “I know how that goes.” He opened the door. “If you change your mind, or if it doesn’t work out, you know where to find me.”

“I do. Thanks.”

There was something to be said for nice guys. She must have misjudged him.

The snow was falling in earnest when Kendra stepped out the back door, and she took a deep breath of the cold air before unlocking her car door. She was well aware Ethan was watching her from the open back door of the plant, but she didn’t look back. Vinnie’s car came into the parking lot and she waved at him, before getting into her own car.