DEFY (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 8) (3 page)

Cullen leaned in closer, and Emma’s eyes
were lit up from his attention.
 
She
was so beautiful, tall, leggy and blond.
 
Everything that Ivy wasn’t.

Emma’s lips quivered, as though she
expected Cullen to turn her around and fuck her right in the office doorway.

It made Ivy sick to see them so close, so
intimately talking.

Cullen reached out and touched the blond
woman briefly on her shoulder, said something, and Emma laughed as if it was
the funniest thing anyone had ever said.

Ivy was about to turn around and leave
when the other woman’s glance happened to stray from Cullen and fix on her.

She’d been spotted.
 
Her stomach curdled like she’d just
drank a quart of spoiled milk.
 

Emma flashed an evil, victorious grin,
which was the last thing Ivy saw before she turned and walked quickly back the
way she’d come.

There was no point in talking with Cullen
now.
 

She felt sick, and used and
depressed.
 
Of all the women for
Cullen to take up with, Emma Marks had to be the absolute worst possibility.

“Ivy!” a female voice called from behind
her.
 
Instantly, Ivy knew that Emma
had come after her.

She didn’t turn around at first, but
tried to keep walking.

But then Emma called her name again,
louder this time, and she finally accepted defeat, turning and facing her
pursuer.

“What do you want?” Ivy asked, her throat
tightening.

Emma walked towards her in the nearly
empty hallway.
 
“I couldn’t help but
notice you there, watching us.
 
Are
you stalking him?”

Ivy frowned.
 
“That’s a ridiculous question.”

“So you’re not denying it, then.”

“Yes, I’m denying it,” Ivy said.
 
“Can I please go back to my desk now?”

Emma reached out and touched Ivy’s
arm.
 
She looked suddenly
sympathetic.
 
“It’s obvious that
something’s changed between you and Cullen,” she said softly.
 
“I know how that can be.”

Ivy shrugged.
 
“I really don’t have a clue what you
mean.”

“I’ve seen this movie before,” Emma
replied.

“Oh really?
 
How does it end?” Ivy said.

“Not well,” Emma told her.
 
“I told you he’s very finicky.
 
He’s particular, he moves on to the next
new and exciting thing.”
 
She smiled
widely.
 
“It’s the nature of the
entrepreneur to want to explore new vistas.
 
And you can never hope to change him
into the kind of man who would stay with you for the rest of his life.”

Ivy wanted to slap her, but managed to
restrain herself.
 
“You’ve seen this
movie before,” she said.
 
“So I
guess you must enjoy watching reruns.”

Emma’s grin faltered.
 
“I don’t think that’s a correct
comparison.”

Ivy arched an eyebrow.
 
“It’s okay,” she said.
 
“Some movies get shown in big cinemas
and win Oscars, and others get played for a discount at the second run
theatres.
 
Now we know which movie you
are, don’t we?”

Emma’s lips pulled back in a hateful
grimace.
 
“You’re not special to him
and you never will be.
 
And when he
completely forgets you ever existed, I’ll fire you like that.”
 
Emma snapped her fingers centimeters in
front of Ivy’s face.

Ivy reached out and grabbed the woman by
her wrist and squeezed.
 
“Don’t put
your hand in my face ever again, or I’ll snap your little toothpick wrist in
half.
 
Got it?”

Emma squealed and tried to get free, but
Ivy easily held her wrist.
 
Finally
she let go, and the other woman withdrew and stumbled backwards, holding her wrist
with her other hand. Emma’s eyes were wide with hatred and a little fear.
 
“You’re crazy, you know that?”

“And don’t you forget it,” Ivy told her.

Emma turned and quickly walked off.

***

Ivy went back to her desk and sat
down.
 
Her adrenaline was still
pumping and she felt like she was going to explode, just sitting there.

Somehow, she’d lost it.

You
just physically grabbed and threatened your supervisor.
 
They’re definitely going to fire you
now.

As she sat at her desk and thought about
it, though, Ivy realized she wouldn’t have done it any differently even if she
could go back in time and change her behavior.

Seeing Cullen flirting with Emma Marks
had been a blow, and it had hurt tremendously.
 
And then for Emma to come and chase after
her,
trying to rub salt in the wounds…she had to
defend herself.

The
woman’s lucky I didn’t slap her mouth with the way she talked to me.

Ivy went back to work, trying to keep her
mind off of Cullen’s treatment of her.
 
The way he’d ignored her, pretended she was invisible—it hurt.

And it hurt even more to think that he
was now pursuing Emma Marks.
 
What
kind of man spent time with a woman like her?
 
What did that say about Cullen Sharpe’s
integrity, his character?

Nothing good.

Suddenly, the phone at her desk was
ringing, breaking her abruptly out of her reverie.
 
Ivy looked at the blinking light on the
phone and her mouth went dry.

Cullen was finally calling her.
 
Just anticipating his voice on the other
end of the phone set her heart racing.
 
She was getting butterflies in her stomach, and it was clear to Ivy that
she wasn’t even remotely over the sexy CEO just yet.

Hesitantly, Ivy picked up the receiver
and answered.
 
“Hello,” she
said.
 
“This is Ivy Spellman.”

“Ivy Spellman,” replied the male voice on
the other end of the line.
 
“This is
Xavier Montrose.”
 

She rocked back in her chair, her eyes
widening.
 
“Oh,” she said.
 
“This is a surprise.”

“I know,” he said.
 
“And perhaps it’s not a welcome
surprise.
 
I realize that the email
I sent you the other day probably came as quite a shock.”

“It did,” she said, not sure what else to
say.

He sighed.
 
“You understand that I sent you that
email because I wanted to make sure you know what you’re getting into with
Cullen Sharpe.”

“I know,” Ivy said quietly.

“And every word of it is true,” he
continued.
 
“At least, it’s true
that people are concerned about…his ethics, among other things.”

She closed her eyes, bowing her head
slightly.
 
“I believe you.”

Xavier was quiet for a moment.
 
“I wanted to call and make sure you’re
okay, Ivy.
 
You’re a very sweet girl
and…well…you’ve made quite an impression on me, somehow.”

“I appreciate you checking in,” she told
him.

The conversation was winding down.
 
“Take care of yourself, okay?” he said
earnestly.

“Okay,” she told him.
 
“I’ll try my best.”

And then, suddenly,
she
was overwhelmed by a feeling of frustration
with Cullen Sharpe.
 
Why hadn’t he been the one to call her?

Why had Cullen allowed it to be Xavier
Montrose on the other line, trying to care for her?
 
Why hadn’t Cullen checked in to see if
she was all right instead of ignoring her?

“Xavier,” she said, just before he hung
up.

“Yes?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me
sometime?” she asked.

He chuckled.
 
“That sounds like a fine idea.
 
How about tonight?”

She laughed.
 
“Sure.”

“You still have my card and my cell?”

She hesitated, not sure if she did.

He continued.
 
“Here, take down my number and text me
your address.
 
I’ll pick you up at
seven.”

Xavier gave her his number and she
entered it into her cell phone and then they got off the phone, having
reaffirmed their plans for dinner that evening.

In the silence after hanging up with him,
Ivy felt profoundly sad.

Xavier was nice enough, but he wasn’t
Cullen and he never would be.
 
She
wasn’t sure that having dinner with the man was a good idea, because perhaps
she was leading him on.

And maybe this was just her way of
somehow staying connected to Cullen through spending time with his rival.

Ivy didn’t know.
 
She wasn’t sure why she was doing
anything, lately.

All she knew was that she felt too sad
for words.

***

True to his word, Xavier picked Ivy up at
her apartment at seven o’clock.
 
He
was driving a silver Mercedes and wearing a suit that matched the car.

There was no doubt that Xavier was nearly
as handsome as Cullen, although he was completely different in his esthetic and
manner.
 
Where Cullen Sharpe was
dark, brooding, mysterious and mercurial, Xavier Montrose was funny and
amiable.

He put Ivy immediately at ease when she
got in the car with him.

“Just don’t put your feet on the dash and
we’ll be fine,” he said, winking at her.

She laughed.
 
“I promise not to spit my gum on the upholstery,
either.”

“Oh, spitting gum out is fine,” he
said.
  
“Spit your gum as much
as you like, Ivy.”

She rustled through her purse and found a
pack of gum and pulled
a piece
out, showing it to
him.
 
Then she unwrapped it.
 
“Would you like a piece?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” he said,
leaning forward and opening his mouth wide.

She giggled, and then placed the gum
close to his mouth, and he snapped it up before she could pull away.

As he continued to drive to their
destination, Ivy tried to ascertain just how she felt about Xavier.

They were flirting a little bit, and Ivy
wasn’t sure if she was interested in him or not.

Yes,
he’s handsome.
 
But he’s not sexy
like Cullen.
 
He’s just nice and
funny.

What’s
wrong with nice?
 
Is being nice
suddenly a drawback?
 
What is wrong
with you?

Ivy wasn’t sure.
 
She only knew that something was missing
with Xavier.
 
She simply wasn’t all
that attracted to him.
 
Despite his
good looks, and his great sense of fashion, not to mention sense of
humor—he didn’t give her those butterflies.

Only Cullen Sharpe had ever done that to
her.

It’s
over with Cullen.
 
You have to stop
comparing everything and everyone to him.

They arrived at the restaurant and went
inside.

It was a very upscale modern restaurant
that served very fresh seafood and steak.
 
Ivy played it safe and got a nice strip steak with a salad.
 

Xavier ordered a bottle of wine for the
table, and Ivy was only too happy to drink it.
 
When she was done her first glass,
Xavier grinned and raised an eyebrow, as he poured her a second glass.

“I didn’t realize we were having a
drinking contest,” he said.
 

“Oh, you didn’t?” she said, taking a big
gulp and the raising her glass.
 
“Well, I never go to dinner with a man who can’t outdrink me.
 
So this is your first big test.”

Xavier chuckled and drank more of his
wine.
 
“Go too fast and you won’t
even taste it,” he said.
 
“This is
good stuff.”

She nodded her head and threw back more
of it.

The truth was, she didn’t know if she
could really be out on a date with another man in her present state of mind
without being at least tipsy.
 
It
was just too difficult.