"I found your living room condom stash."

The color drains from my face and then I kick him under the table hard. My brother grunts which helps satisfy my frustration. Unfortunately, all this makes Lex do is smile.

"Yes, we managed to get through introductions without you," June says, adjusting her silver sequined top. On anyone else her age, it might look like they were trying too hard, but with that gentle crinkle around her eyes and that confident smile, it just looks like the d.a.m.n thing was made for her. I'm pretty sure it's a Rodarte top which means it cost big bucks. "Your ex-employer was just starting to tell us why, exactly, it was that he decided to fire you despite your obvious competence and dedication to your work." Lex goes completely still, and it's my turn to smile, reaching out and grabbing one of the three small silver knives that are arranged around the cheese one for each type. I'd sort of like to stab him in the arm with it. And then straddle his lap and feel his erection grinding against me. Maybe both. Serves you right, you d.i.c.k. Now you have to deal with this for the rest of the evening.

"Business is business, I'm afraid," he says, which just drives me freaking nuts. "It had nothing to do with how I feel about your daughter as a person." I snort as I grab a slice of French bread from the edge of the plate and smear cheese across the surface. Lex leans back and shrugs his suit jacket off, letting it hang on the back of the chair. After a moment of hesitation, he takes his tie completely off and unb.u.t.tons the top two b.u.t.tons of his shirt. Oh my G.o.d. Beauty like that shouldn't be wrapped around such a humorless jacka.s.s of a man; it isn't fair. I stick a slice of pear on the top and push it across the table at him. He stares down at the food for a moment before looking up at me. We spend several seconds staring at each other again.

"And how exactly is that?" Carol pushes, drawing both of our attentions back to her. I watch as she takes in a deep breath and does that weird thing where she stares at the ceiling before dropping her gaze to ours.

"Excuse me?" Lex asks. I guess he's forgotten what we were talking about, too. At least he picks up the piece of bread I gave him. I didn't know devils actually ate food. Who woulda thunk?

"You said your business decision had nothing to do with how you felt about our daughter as a person. How exactly is it that you feel?" I give Carol my meanest look and pluck a pomegranate seed from the plate. The sharp tangy sweetness explodes in my mouth, giving me clarity. Jesus, I love me some fruit.

"Mom, we just met on Friday. One week ago. Lex and I are ... " I glace back over at him before I finish the sentence. "Strangers." I grab myself a piece of bread and start to cheese it up. I don't think about the almost s.e.x in the elevator, or how I left my purse behind in my haste to get the h.e.l.l out of there. At least I had my keys and my phone in the pocket of my suit jacket. That and a couple of twenties I dug out of a pair of jeans in my dirty laundry basket. I was planning on grabbing it when I started work on Monday, but I guess this works out just as well.

"You've worked for him for what, two years now?" June interjects, and I cringe inwardly. The only thing that could make this moment any harder to stomach would be if Maxi showed up. I count to three and wait for a knock on the door. Fortunately, that at least, doesn't happen. I know if she came over here and saw Lex, she'd freak out. I don't know why I'm not freaking out. Why I am letting this a.s.shole sit at my table and eat cheese? It just doesn't make any sense. "And you just met last Friday?" She gives Lex a rude look which he returns with a stoic blankness that I find hard to read.

"I should go," he says, setting his half-eaten bread down on the table and pushing his chair back. I curl my fingers in my jeans and watch as he reaches for his discarded tie. There's so much heat between us, twisting in the air like smoke. I wish I was brave enough to breathe it in. Or rather, I wish Lex wasn't such an a.s.shole, so I could. If he'd been nice to me, we might've been able to have some fun together. As things stand, even a purely s.e.xual relationship with the man is out of the question.

"Don't be ridiculous," Carol says, grabbing the deck of cards and shuffling them. "You know how to play Texas Hold 'Em, don't you?" Lex narrows his eyes at her, but not in his usual, piggish, mean-spirited sort of way, more like he's trying to discern her angle. Hey, when it comes to the moms, I don't entirely blame him, but he's thinking too business minded right now. This isn't business at this table, it's family and it's a h.e.l.l of a lot scarier. "There's something about him that I like." That's what Carol said, exactly one week ago, about Lex. What exactly that trait is, I'm not sure. I haven't found anything to like about him other than his body or his ma.s.sive horse sized d.i.c.k. Ahh. I bite down hard to clear the thought. I look between my boss and my mother, wondering if she feels the same way now as she did then. And how she might feel if she knew the whole story.

"I do. I'm quite good at it actually," he says, resuming his position at my side. His fingers crawl across the table and grab the piece of bread. "If you normally play for bets, I'd suggest against it."

"Please," I snort, raking my fingers through my damp hair. Lex looks over at me and this strange hint of a smile actually teases the edges of his lips. It's not a smirk or a grimace or glower, just a smile. At first, I think he's smiling at me and then I realize that more than likely, he's just spotted the oil painting of rotten fruit above my head. "Bring it on, b.i.t.c.h." I nod my chin at my mom. "Ante up and I'll show Lex Lyndon here how it's done."

"Holy c.r.a.p, you really do know how to play poker," I say as Lex leans back in his chair and smiles at me. I drop my cards on the table with a sigh and push the ma.s.sive wad of singles towards him. Other than the twenty I contributed (it was all I had on me), the only bill in that pile bigger than a dollar is Lex's hundred. He looks down at his winnings for a moment and then sits forward, raising his arms above his head for a stretch.

"Keep it, please," he says, on the tail end of a yawn. This is the closest I've ever seen the man to relaxed, and it's kind of weirding me out. I grab the last ball of kiwifruit from the plate and pop it in my mouth. Crag and my moms have long since flown the coop, leaving me and Lex to battle it out with the last bottle of wine sitting empty between us.

"I don't need your money, Lex," I say, feeling prideful as I grab my winegla.s.s and drain the last few drops. I may or may not be a little buzzed, the whispers of grapes playfully teasing the edges of my brain.

"No, but unlike you I don't carry around a purse large enough to swallow up all these bills. Keep them for next week." I pull my winegla.s.s away from my lips and glare at him, prepared to go at it if needed, but all I see on Lex's face is amus.e.m.e.nt. He's certainly had his fair share of wine tonight. Maybe he's buzzed, too? If so, then he should seriously consider becoming a wino because his personality seems to be much improved.

"Who says you're invited?" I ask him, setting down my gla.s.s and giving him a challenging stare from across the table. I almost wish he was still sitting next to me, so I could poke him in that perfect chest of his, feel up his pecs under guise of a tease. Hmm. Okay, so maybe I'm more than a little buzzed, but I'm not at the point I was last week, tearing off my shirt and answering the door without even bothering to see who was on the other side.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to live with that decision," he says, rising to his feet with a groan. The sound drives straight through me, making me clench my teeth and my thighs tight together as I fight a physical reaction to his voice. Lex has a nice voice, especially when he's not using it to scream or belittle the people around him. "Since I've already fired you, there's not much leverage for me to use to garner another invitation, now is there?"

"Guess not," I say, watching his face, his gray eyes, his lips as they twist up into another smile. "It seems that I'm the one with all the leverage in this relationship." As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret them on so many levels. Lex's face shifts, not considerably but enough that I can tell he's thinking of that stupid contract again. I was kind of enjoying not talking about it, just sitting around the table with him and Craig and my parents. I hate that I have to give him brownie points for being able to deal with the craziness that is my family. That, and he never even blinked at the fact that I have two moms, didn't even ask about it. But why the h.e.l.l did I use that word? Relationship. Ugh. Lex and I are most certainly not in a relationship business or otherwise and I don't think that we ever could be. As much as I've enjoyed putting our feud aside and pretending to be friends, that will never happen, not long term.

"Olivia," he begins, and for a split second there, I feel like he's going to apologize. Something in my chest twinges, and I find myself licking my lower lip and holding my breath. But no. Nope. Not Alexander Lyndon, CEO of Lyndon Realty Trust. Apologizing to me would be far too much like admitting he was wrong. Either that or he just really, really wants me to kick his a.s.s. For money. "Are you sure you won't reconsider the contract? Take a look at the terms. I've been fair."

"Are you even hearing yourself?" I ask as I stand up suddenly, knocking my chair against the wall behind me. "Lex, you want to pay me to be your personal wh.o.r.e/dominatrix for six months." I pause as he reaches out and grabs his tie, wrapping it around his neck loosely before s.n.a.t.c.hing up his suit jacket. He's getting angry with me again, but I don't care. I keep thinking that I'm never going to see the man again when I suddenly do. What if this time really is the last time? I might as well say what I want to say. "You do understand how I might feel insulted by that offer?"

"You should be honored," he snaps at me, sending my temper into a raging fury. I storm after him as he stalks down the hallway towards the front door and then pauses, turning and trying to go back for his pea coat. I stand in his way, effectively blocking his path and stare up at him while he glares down at me.

"Honored?" I echo, hoping that if I repeat his words back at him enough times, he'll finally get my side of the story. A flash of silver behind Lex catches my attention, and I shift to the side slightly to get a better look. "s.h.i.t!" Lex startles a little, like I've manage to somehow surprise him and turns to glance over his shoulder. There's a pile of condoms on the small table next to the front door where I usually keep my keys. If I had to bet money on it, I'd blame my brother for that little stunt. That f.u.c.king a.s.shole!

Lex's gaze swings back to me, and I lift mine up to meet his, feeling the wild heat between us, this strange feral attraction that demands to be sated. I won't think about his mouth in the elevator. I won't. I won't. I won't. I swallow hard and take a deep breath, putting my hands on my hips.

"Yes, honored," he says, and I actually breathe a sigh of relief that he's neglected to mention the condoms. "I've been searching for a woman like you for a long time. You're the first and," Lex growls something inaudible under his breath, "most likely the last woman I'll ever reveal this secret to. If your reaction is anything to judge by, it really is something to be ashamed of."

"Ahh!" I grab the sides of my head and try to bite back a scream. This man is so stubborn and thickheaded, I don't know why I continue to talk to him much less allow him into my house for poker night with the fam. But I can't help myself. Maybe it's my own stubborn streak swimming up to the surface, I'm not sure, but I can't keep my words to myself. "Lex, Alexander, listen to me. It's not the nature of what you want that's shameful, it's the fact that you think you have to pay someone for it."

"Then tell me, Olivia, how a man of my standing is supposed to tell one of those empty-headed kitty cats what I want? Do you think they'd have the strength of character to make me believe for even one second that they were in charge of the situation? I want a woman with backbone, with strength, somebody that can stand up to me and mean it. Someone like you." I swallow hard and hate how horribly romantic that sounded. I'm sure it wasn't Lex's intention, but there it is, hanging in the air between us like smoke. The tendrils of his words curl around my wine addled brain and make me feel dizzy.

"Then you should've asked me on a date, Lex." I hold up my hand before he can protest. "A proper date, not just a dinner meeting to discuss some contract." He raises one of his dark brows at me.

"You're telling me that if I took you out, wooed you " I interrupt him.

"Stopped screaming in my face, stopped threatening to fire me, treated me like a G.o.dd.a.m.n gentleman " Lex takes a step closer to me and lifts his hand to run his fingers through my hair. I feel my heart flutter, but I don't move from that spot, hands on my hips, frown pulling down the corners of my mouth. I bite my bottom lip and try not to make a sound as his hand drops to my throat, traces across my fluttering pulse with his fingertips.

"You're telling me," he continues, sighing heavily, like his entire body is tired. "That if I'd done those things, you would've signed the contract?" I smack his hand away and pinch my eyes closed to keep from screaming. I can smell him from here this heady mixture of cinnamon bodywash and cologne. I want to f.u.c.king bathe in it.

"No, Lex, I'm telling you I would've done it for free."

There's a horrible moment of silence that hangs heavy with contemplation and vino induced clarity. I keep my eyes closed until I hear the whisper of clothing. I open my eyes, expecting Lex to be turned around and headed towards the front door. Instead, he reaches out and brushes the back of his hand along my jaw.

My body says yes, please but my brain refuses to give in to my libido. No matter how attractive Lex is, he is still an a.s.shole, and he still fired me, and I still threw a shoe at his head.

"Don't," I say, blowing out a rush of air and taking a step back. Lex lets his hand drop to his side. "If you start now, we'll both know where you're coming from." I put a smile on my face and cross my arms over my chest. "What I meant was, if you'd liked me, really liked me, then it could've worked. Go find a woman with a backbone that makes you smile, Lex, not one that makes you as crazy as I do. If you really want your a.s.s beat with a cat o' nine tails, go find her out there." I raise my right hand up and gesture at the front door. Inside my chest, my heart beats so quick that I feel like I'm going to pa.s.s out.

"What happened on the elevator, Olivia?" he asks, voice strangely distant, like he's so wrapped up in his own thoughts, he has no idea what he's even saying.

"Oh, G.o.d, Lex!" I let my head fall back and take in another breath. "I was just h.o.r.n.y, okay? That's not a crime, you know."

"Then f.u.c.k me again," he says, his voice doing strange things to me in places low.

"We didn't f.u.c.k, Lex. You just sort of ... sampled me." His laughter draws my gaze back up, so I can glare at him properly. "Don't waste anymore time here. Go find the woman of your dreams. Just a hint, she might not be wearing a leather suit and carrying a whip when you see her. Sometimes, the person you think looks the weakest is really the strongest. Strength, real true inner strength like you're looking for, that's something you can't see. Now get the f.u.c.k out of my house." I turn away without waiting for a response and head for the stairs. When I hear the front door open, I pause with my hand on the railing. "Don't forget to lock it behind you."

And then I head up to my room and drop straight into bed.

"You son of a b.i.t.c.h!"

I hear the voice long before I see the person attached to it. That raucous caterwauling can belong to none other than the ill.u.s.trious Miss Olivia Ashcraft. And after we parted on such sweet and simple terms, too?

I rise from my chair and wait behind my desk. I wish I could say I was surprised to see her here so bright and early on a Monday morning, but I'm not. There are certain things that can't be undone and our little tryst in the elevator was one of them. If Lara Caliper hasn't already sold the film to the highest bidder, I'd be surprised. Thank G.o.d there was no audio on those tapes. Unfortunately for Olivia, audio wasn't what made the CEO of Oceanstar Capital Group purse her lips at me as soon as I walked in her office doors. It's not what caused her to throw a legal pad at my face and it certainly isn't what brought tears of frustration to her eyes.

I'm almost positive they were fake, but who knows? Maybe the thought of a possible merger between our companies was enough to start the waterworks? All I know is that the security guard immediately alerted her to the situation and my subsequent masturbation in the elevator car after Miss Ashcraft left and now there's no dinner date for me and no job for Olivia.

"What did you do?" she snarls, walking straight into my office, through the doors I left propped open for her. Claudia looked at me like I was insane when I told her to keep them that way. She even inquired if I might be interested in visiting a doctor. I am this close to firing that woman. "Tell me, Lex. Why wasn't it enough? You weren't satisfied with humiliating me, offending me, p.i.s.sing me off? You had to take it one step further. Just ... " Olivia growls low in her throat and spins in a circle, putting the heel of her hand to her forehead. "Just ... wow. I can't believe after I ... " She glances at me over her shoulder, breath leaving her glossy pink lips in a rush. I notice her makeup is much thicker today a slash of darkness around the eyes, rosy cheeks, foundation. She never bothered to wear much beyond a dot of lip color when she was here, so why amp up her style for Oceanstar? I feel my mouth tighten in irritation. "After I opened up to you, tried to help you." She drops her arm by her side and turns to face my desk fully. In her left hand is a piece of paper. I'm not sure what it says exactly, but I can take a guess.

Your services will no longer be required.

That's about as much as Lara Caliper ground out before booting me from her office with a tearful goodbye and an upturned nose. I still firmly believe it was all an act, but who knows what my father or grandfather told her? Whatever they insinuated, I can't even begin to imagine, and I won't apologize for it.

"I appreciated the candor, Miss Ashcraft, but by the time I arrived at your house on Friday, this series of events had already been set into action." I want to say something else like, if I could've changed Lara's decision, I would have. But it's not true. After careful consideration, I've decided I want Olivia Ashcraft back under my roof. It's as simple as that.

"What are you even talking about?" she asks, moving up to my desk and tossing the page down in front of me. I don't bother to look at it, keeping my eyes locked on hers. Eye contact. It's now become my favorite form of communication with Olivia with Oli. She doesn't say much with her mouth, but her eyes tell an entire story.

I sigh.

"The elevator, Olivia." It's all I have to say, and she gets it, narrowing her eyes on me, hands quivering by her sides in rage. I notice that she's wearing another skirt suit. Either she liked the easy access she discovered with me last week, or she simply wanted to dress up for her new job. I'm betting on the latter, but it's always nice to pretend that the former's even an option.

"You have got to be f.u.c.king kidding me?" she whispers, still staring at me, red hair twisted up on the back of her head in a perfect bun, slick and professional but with a few small hairs escaping the concoction, waving like flags in the gentle breeze from the ceiling vent.

"I'm sorry, Olivia," I say, and I'm sure she can tell the words aren't exactly my most truthful. She grits her teeth and then just stands there, like she isn't sure what exactly it is she wants to do. Scream at me? Storm out of my office? Kiss me?

I smile.

I spent all weekend thinking about the things Olivia said on Friday. Her words seemed to enlighten at the same time they infuriated me. She wanted me to ... ask her on a date? I can't believe the thought never even occurred to me. I just a.s.sumed I could find a woman, throw money in her face and find out what it'd be like to surrender control to someone that actually deserved that sort of reckless abandonment. I suppose I didn't think any sort of personal relationship would be able to sustain that kind of trust. A business arrangement was the only situation that seemed to make any sense.

Now that Olivia has suggested otherwise, however, I can't seem to get the thoughts to leave my head. It all seems so simple now. I want to be dominated, Olivia wants to dominate me, and I get what I want. There shouldn't be a problem here.

"I want to give you your job back," I tell her as she continues to stare at me, fury flooding through her veins. I love the way her jaw clenches tight and her throat works while she tries to think up something to say. In all honesty, I never did get around to relaying her job status to HR. As far as the paperwork is concerned, Olivia still works here. But I don't have to tell her that, do I? "I'd also like," I say, taking a step forward and moving around the front of the desk, "to take you out tonight." My hands come down and touch her hips, taking in the svelte lines of her suit jacket, the gentle trickle of cream colored lace that frames her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. My eyes catch on Olivia's lips while my own mouth curves up in a smile. I'm leaning down for what I presume will be some sort of make up kiss between us when Olivia hits me with an open palm, right in the stomach.

I grunt, but refuse to back up or release her, not until Claudia chimes in anyway.

"Mr. Lyndon, there's a Laura Caterpillar here to see you?" Both my and Olivia's heads snap up and turn to look at my secretary. A quick step back and a brush of my hands down my shirt is all I have time for before the CEO of Oceanstar appears in the hallway in front of my office a one Lara Caliper. Maybe it really is time to fire that woman?

"Lex," she says, moving into my office on swift feet, a gold purse clutched by her side, a red skirt suit on. She spares Olivia only a pa.s.sing glance before turning her attention back to me. Either she doesn't notice the tension between me and my employee or she doesn't care.

I look over at her, brunette hair upswept into a stiff bun, brown eyes highlighted with all the right makeup, lips curved in a gentle smile. She adjusts her red suit jacket and levels a look my way that scares the s.h.i.t out of me, to be quite blunt. Like a lioness that's just spotted her prey. I narrow my eyes in response but by the time I do, her expression has already cleared and she's smiling at me again, face as sweet as a cherubic gumdrop. I don't buy it for a second.

"If you'll excuse me," Olivia says, backing away and turning towards the doors. I move to go after her when Lara's soft voice catches me by surprise.

"Off for a second round in the elevator are we?" I pause and turn to look at her, staring back at me with that angelic face of hers. The woman is several years older than me, but you'd never know by looking at her. She has a timeless look that gives her the illusion of immovability, like no matter what, Lara Caliper will always be around, will always be the same. Believe it or not, it's a powerful tool for a CEO to possess.

"We hardly had a round one," I say, feeling the strain in my body from so many close encounters, so many almost but not quite moments. I want Olivia so badly now that it truly is bordering on the obsessive. I wonder what she'd think if she knew that? "If you'll excuse me, Lara, I have pressing business matters to attend to."

"I am your pressing business matter for the day, Lex." Again with the soft smile, completely at odds with her words. "I know things didn't go so well last week, but that's okay. It doesn't matter. I know you're not interested in me." I raise my eyebrow as Lara moves behind my desk and looks out the window, at the view that's just slightly better than hers, but only because my family snagged this building generations ago for a rock bottom price, improving the Lyndon family name the same way I'm expected to. "Yet," she coos with a small laugh. I try not to sigh and turn to face her back, waiting for the punchline to today's visit. "A little birdie told me that you like it rough."

It takes me a moment to process that information.

"Excuse me?" I ask, clasping my hands together in front of me, hoping that I've misheard Lara's words. When she spins around to smile at me, her lips twisting into a rictus grin, I realize that I've only just heard the beginning of what she wants to say. "Claudia!" I snap, listening for the sound of heels on the carpet. "The doors, please."

"The doors?" she asks, her voice an infuriating question mark. I grit my teeth and keep my focus on Lara. She takes a step forward and settles herself in my chair, letting her skirt ride up high enough that I catch the tops of her thigh highs. Lara notices the path of my gaze and laughs, crossing her arms over her ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"This morning, I received a phone call about," she looks up at me through her long lashes, "a certain Lyndon man who takes his coffee with a whole lot of cream, if you catch my drift."

I grit my teeth and glare down at Lara, at the curved 'V' shape of her brows, her thick wide lips, the heart shaped curve of her face. She's not an unattractive woman, but she's not my type. Too pretty, too perfect, her gaze too calculating, constantly trying to figure out what she can get out of me and how she can get it. This is exactly the reason I went after Olivia instead.

"I know about the contract," Lara continues, rising to her feet and coming around the desk to stand next to me. Her fingernails brush against the sleeve of my suit jacket as she waits for a response. I stay still, the picture of calm. I refuse to react to her statement, refuse to lend it any validity. Olivia. How could she have done this? Why? To get back at me for firing her?

I feel the vein in my forehead start to throb.

"If that's what you were looking for all along, you should've told me." Lara wraps her fingers around my bicep and leans up to whisper in my ear. "Because I can deliver, Lex." I jerk my arm from her grip and take a step back, hearing Olivia's words replay in my head. Strength, real true inner strength like you're looking for, that's something you can't see. This is certainly a side of Lara I haven't seen, from p.u.s.s.y cat to wild cat. But that doesn't necessarily mean she's strong. "And I can also appreciate what a strong man you are on the outside just as I'm sure," Lara runs her hand down her skirt and pauses with her fingers curling around the hem, "you can appreciate what a strong woman I am on the inside." She looks down at my slacks, at the bulge in my crotch and mistakes it as being for her. In all reality, this was brewing far before Lara ever set foot in my office.

I take a step back.

Lara doesn't seem surprised, shrugging her shoulders and switching her expression back to a slightlt less sultry, slightly more neutral half-smile.

"Don't get upset, Lex. If you need to, go ahead and run to that little redhead of yours. I don't mind." Lara lets her lips peel back, so I can stare at her perfectly white teeth. "Don't take this personally. You were willing to make a business decision to get what you wanted, and I'm willing to do the same. This time though, you won't have to worry about paying out millions of dollars to get it. This time, you'll be making billions when we merge our companies and combine our a.s.sets. I'll get the husband my family's so desperate to see me with, and you'll get the wife. We'll make beautiful babies, and I'll rock your world so hard in the bedroom that that girl, Olivia was it, fades from your mind like a bad, bad dream."

Lara sweeps past me, pausing at the door with her gold purse dangling from her shoulder.

"I'm thirty-seven years old, Lex. I'm done playing around, and I'm ready to take my life to the next level." She glances over her shoulder at me, smiling softly. "Think about it. Not with your heart but with your mind, with your wallet, with your," she gives my crotch another scalding look, "with your c.o.c.k."

Lara winks at me, turns away, and pushes through my office doors, leaving me alone in my office with a migraine, and a rapidly dwindling hard-on.

G.o.d-f.u.c.king-d.a.m.n it.

I storm past Claudia, waving my hand dismissively when she tries to intercept me on my warpath towards Olivia's office. I feel betrayed somehow and not just because of that f.u.c.king agreement she signed, but because for whatever reason, I felt like I could trust her after that conversation we had, the one where she readily admitted that all she really wanted out of me was a proper date.

I'm both surprised and pleased to find that she's actually in her office, sitting in her chair, typing away on her computer. I sweep into the room and immediately draw the blinds.

"Like that's not going to stir up any suspicions," she says, rising to her feet as I turn the dead bolt and then just stand there, staring at my hand resting on the silver lock. "Excuse me? Mr. Lyndon?" I whip around to face her, nostrils flaring, that withering hard-on flaring back to life with a vengeance. I can't stop my mind from thinking about that pile of condoms near Olivia's front door, how I should've grabbed one and put it on, slammed her into the wall of her townhouse and f.u.c.ked her while I had the chance.

"Oh? So we're back to a.s.suming a pretense of formality then? Seems a little ridiculous considering the stunt you just pulled." Olivia gives me a look like she's now thoroughly convinced I'm insane. One of her red brows lifts up in confusion and I hate how G.o.dd.a.m.n attractive I find the motion.

"Stunt?" She's blinking rapidly, trying to put the pieces together. She moves around to the front of the desk, ready to face me in a showdown if need be. "What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? You fire me from my old job, inadvertently get me fired from my new job, hire me back. Jesus, Lex, you're the most hot-cold person I've ever met. I don't even know what to expect from you anymore. One minute you're an a.s.shole, the next you're ... " She neglects to finish that sentence, shaking her head and moistening her lower lip with her tongue. "The next, you're just an a.s.shole again." She stares straight at and through me, like my anger is a veil that only her eyes are capable of piercing. "What is it now?"

"You sold me out, Olivia." I take a few steps towards her, but she doesn't back down. Olivia Olsen Ashcraft never backs down, and it's one of the reasons I'm starting to like her. "You sold me out to that b.i.t.c.h, Lara. You told her about the contract." I move forward again, but even when I invade Olivia's s.p.a.ce, she doesn't crouch back, doesn't press her thighs against the edge of the desk. She lets me b.u.mp my shoes with hers. When she says nothing, I feel my jaw clench with anger, reaching out and grabbing her around her upper arms.

"I didn't tell Lara about the contract, Lex," she says, shoving my hands off her and glaring into my face. Her voice is rough and husky with a righteous anger of her own. I love it. And I hate it. It's hard to explain.

"Well, somebody did. If it wasn't you then who?" I snap back at her. "You had to have told somebody." I watch Olivia's face shift, almost indiscernibly so, but enough that I have my answer. She did tell someone. Maybe not Lara, but someone who told Lara. "If that b.i.t.c.h decides to spill my secret, do you understand what that could mean for me?"

Olivia rolls her eyes at me, actually rolls her eyes. The audacity of the move infuriates me. I said I was looking for a rose with thorns, but maybe I wasn't ready to get p.r.i.c.ked?

"So you'd prefer to have a woman on top. You want to experiment with some dirty talk in the bedroom. Who f.u.c.king cares, Lex? Look, I get not wanting your personal business spread to the wind, but it's actually not that big of a deal."

"I could lose my job as CEO!" I find my voice rising to dangerous levels. The last thing I need is some busybody putting their ear to the door and listening in on this conversation. I take a breath that burns my lungs and helps bring my pulse down a notch.

"First off," she snaps, keeping her gaze raised to mine, "that makes no sense at all. What does wanting a woman on top have to do with running a company? Second and this may come as a shock to you, Lex this job isn't everything. Losing your job doesn't even mean losing your money, does it? You've got to have a trust fund or something, don't you?" I wrinkle my nose at her but say nothing. "If working here means you can't be yourself, then f.u.c.k it."

"That doesn't excuse your loose tongue," I growl at her, trying to ignore the stark sense in her words. The world isn't as uncomplicated as she'd like it to be. Things aren't always what they seem. Right? I find myself questioning principles I've never dared touch, not even on the fringes of my mind. Olivia doesn't know what it's like to be a Lyndon. Her family is a far cry from mine they don't seem to care what anyone thinks about them. Mine, on the other hand, that's all they care about.

Olivia sighs and tries to turn away, like she's already over this conversation, but I won't let her go, grabbing onto her arm and snarling in her ear. My words stem from a strange sense of betrayal, and I don't exactly mean them, but there they are regardless. I've never bothered to tone myself down to speak to anyone. Why should Olivia be any different? She might be strong, but if I push, she'll fall back in line like everyone else, won't she? I'm sure Lara Caliper as blatant as she was in her offer will fall back in line, too. People always do.

"Maybe I should have never asked you to indulge me? If your p.u.s.s.y's as loose as your tongue, then you're hardly the right woman for me."

Olivia spins and cracks me hard across the face, bringing the slight sting of blood to my mouth.

"You're f.u.c.king unbelievable, Lex Lyndon. Just when I think there could very well be a slice of humanity in there somewhere, you prove me wrong." She shoves me back with her palms against my chest. I stay stone still, touching two fingers to the slight dribble of blood down my chin. "Get out of my way. I'm done here. I knew it was a mistake to think this could work. I should've walked out of your office and left forever. I don't even know what I was thinking."

Olivia tries to move around me, but I back up, putting myself in front of the door.

"You can't leave," I say, and her mouth drops open, letting loose a burst of harsh laughter that makes my teeth hurt it's so dry and caustic. "Not yet."