Knights of the Boardroom (10 page)

Sighing, he decided he’d make an effort to sort through the stack of applications on his desk and call in a few people for interviews next week. He’d also fallen behind on the growing list of applicants for The Knight’s Club, he personally performed those background checks. As the most exclusive kink club in New York City, their personal guarantee of privacy was a huge selling point for membership fees that started in the upper range of six-figures.

Glancing to the side, Parker noticed a small pharmacy on the corner, he decided to pull over and stock up on “supplies” just in case he decided on a private party rather than playing downstairs in the club. Parking along York Avenue was ordinarily a nightmare, so Parker considered finding a spot right in front of the small drugstore a sign his evening might actually be looking up. Stepping out of his car, he watched as a familiar looking figure struggled to open the store’s heavy glass door until she was nearly knocked to the ground by a man exiting. The asshole had been wearing a suit that had probably set him back five grand and he hadn’t had enough class to check on the woman he’d sent reeling backward. Hell, it had been a wonder she’d managed to recover enough to slip inside the store before the heavy door slid back closed.

He’d gotten a good enough look at her to confirm who she was and that she didn’t look at all well. What the hell was Cressida Walker doing out alone in this condition? Pulling his phone from his pocket, he fired off a quick text to the men he’d bet had no idea where their wayward sub was or that she was in no condition to be out alone.

Parker:
Do you know where your sub is?

A woman that sick was far too distracted to keep herself safe—hell, she hadn’t even noticed him standing just a few feet from her.

Parker wasn’t surprised to receive an answer so quickly, even though he knew they were on their way back to the Templar building after successfully closing a contract they’d been working on for months. When he’d spoken with them earlier they’d mentioned shopping with Cressida tomorrow morning—didn’t look like that was going to happen now.

Lawton:
No. She’d already left the office when we called a few minutes ago. Something about an appointment according to reception. Why?

Naturally Lawton had been the one to respond to the message even though Parker had sent it to both men, no doubt Brodie was driving—the controlling bastard always had to be the one behind the wheel unless they were using a company car, then Sawyer accompanied them. Sawyer was the only member of T.E.G.’s security team Brodie trusted and Parker bet the former Navy SEAL wondered whether or not
that
was a compliment or a curse.

Parker:
What’s your ETA home?

Lawton:
Ten—WHY?

Parker had been thrilled when Tristan mentioned their friends had finally been painted into a corner where their lovely executive assistant was concerned. They’d been lusting after her since the moment they’d hired her and hopefully now he and Tristan wouldn’t have to listen to Law’s endless strategizing and Brodie’s complaints about his best friend stalling. The two had known since college they wanted a polyamorous relationship, and once Cressida Walker entered their lives, they’d known she was the one they wanted between them. His friends had barely noticed another woman after hiring the pretty petite brunette. Oh, they’d played at the club, but they had rarely seen a woman socially and, if Parker was betting, he’d wager they hadn’t fucked one outside the club in over a year. Yeah, they had it bad for the pretty little sub.

Parker:
Hang on a sec.

Parker walked in to the store and easily managed to get close enough to Cressida he could have reached out and touched her before she’d even noticed he was there. Damn, he’d been able to get far too close and she hadn’t even realized she was being observed. Cressida had been staring at the shelf in front of her with a strangely vacant look on her face, and weaving so badly, Parker had actually wondered for a minute if she’d been drinking until he realized they were standing in front of the cold medications. When she’d taken a step to the side giving him room to pass, and he’d heard her hoarsely murmured apology, he realized she hadn’t even recognized him.

When she reached forward grasping the shelf to keep from falling, he instinctively caught her elbow, “Cressi?” He’d deliberately softened his tone and used the nickname he knew she preferred hoping he wouldn’t frighten her. When she looked up at him her eyes were unfocused and confused, her nose was bright red and her cheeks flushed with fever. It was easy to see she was struggling just to breathe and he wondered for a minute if he shouldn’t just call an ambulance. As soon as she recognized him, she gave him a faint smile before turning to look back at the products she probably hoped would send her into a drug-fogged escape from whatever virus she’d succumbed to.

“Sweetness, why are you out and about alone when you are obviously not well?” Since he’d done the original background check on her prior to her interview and he’d recently taken on her sister as a client, he knew she shared a spacious apartment with Carli. Of course her globetrotting older sister was rarely home, but according to the tabloids on every fucking newsstand in the city, Carli Walker had been spotted arriving at JFK just two days earlier. “Cressi, why isn’t your sister picking up supplies for you?” Her Royal High and Mighty, Princess Carli probably couldn’t be bothered to help her younger sister. God forbid someone should snap the supermodel’s picture looking less than totally put together or doing something as mundane as buying a bottle of cough syrup.

Parker had met Carli recently when her agent contacted Templar Security about beefing up her security after a couple of recent breaches—they’d been minor in nature, but everyone but the victim herself feared the situation would escalate. Their face to face meeting had been limited to passing one another in the hallway as she’d been rushing to a photo shoot—she’d all but ignored him and if Parker was honest, his anger had been more about the feeling of rejection than it had been about her being rude. Her agent had apologized profusely, insisting the young woman had almost an obsessive-compulsive need to be on time, but that didn’t fit any other celebrity Parker had ever met, so he’d discounted his explanation. But Parker certainly hadn’t discounted his gut feeling the notes and calls Carli had been getting were just the tip of a looming iceberg, so they
would be
meeting again soon—the challenge was going to be keeping his head in the game, because if there was ever a woman in need of a good paddling, it was Carli Walker.

Bringing his thoughts back to the sweet woman who seemed to have finally turned her attention to him, but the vacant look in her eyes told Parker she wasn’t really
seeing
anything. When he raised a brow, letting her know he was waiting for her response, she finally blinked several times before he heard her hoarse whisper, “I’m sorry, Parker, would you repeat the question, please? I seem to have spaced out for a minute.”

Yeah—you and me both, sweetness.
“You live with your sister, right?” When she nodded slowly, he continued, “I asked you why she isn’t taking care of you. It isn’t safe for you to be out alone when you are obviously ill.”

“Rio.”

“Excuse me?”
Who the hell was Rio?

“Carli. She left for Rio early this afternoon.”

“Did she know you were ill before she left?” He was betting her sister had not only known Cressi was sick, but Miss Diva Extraordinaire had likely left early to avoid the inconvenience of caring for her lovely younger sibling.
How does that damned woman manage to annoy me when we aren’t even on the same continent?

“Well—about that…you see, she never was actually home. Those pictures in the tabloids were misleading—shocking, huh? Anyway, she passed through the airport on her way to catch a private flight. It’s sort of a long story, but she’d helping out an old friend with a last minute project and I told her to go ahead that I’d be fine. She knew I had a cold, that’s why she flew back to the U.S. But then this came up and I couldn’t very well ask her to stay home because I managed to catch the sniffles.”

Pulling back his frustration, he decided it was more important to win the war than this particular battle. When he reached up to brush the backs of his fingers down her cheeks, Parker swore under his breath—damn, she was burning up. He wasn’t a medical expert by any means, but there was no question she was running one hell of a fever. Catching the attention of a nearby clerk, he instructed the young woman to put together an assortment of cold and flu medications, including whatever would reduce a fever. When Cressi opened her mouth to protest, he silenced her with just a look.

Pulling a digital thermometer from the shelf, he yanked it from the box and after a quick scan of the instructions, he slid the end of what looked like a futuristic ray gun over her forehead. When it flashed one hundred three, he wanted to shake her for not taking better care of herself. She’d noted his thunderous expression and he saw her wince as if she thought he might publically berate her—and hell, considering her childhood she probably had thought it was a very real possibility. Adding the device he’d just used and the packaging to the basket Cressi held, he turned to the clerk, “Keep these items and add whatever else she’ll need.” When the young woman placed two more items in the small blue basket, Parker glared at her and barked, “More. Now.” He glanced over at Cressi and was grateful he had because he’d been just in time to see her eyes start rolling up, in the next heartbeat her knees gave way and she would have crashed into the steel shelving if he hadn’t caught her in his arms.

Turning to the surprised cashier, he nodded toward the shelves and shoved the basket into her hands. “Get the stuff my friend needs. I’m going to put her in my car, then I’ll be back to pay you. Be ready.” He didn’t bother to wait for her response, he simply turned on his heel and stalked to the door. Cressida never stirred when the chilly breeze ruffled her hair sending the strands that had worked free from the bun at the back of her neck swirling around in the air like slender angels hovering around her head. She looked so fragile laying in his arms, he shuddered just thinking about what could have happened if he hadn’t happened across her. After settling her in the back seat of his car and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, he secured the car and then dialed Brodie.

“What the fuck, Parker? Asking questions about Cressida and then telling us to fucking stand by? Christ, we’ve been going bat-shit crazy worrying about her.” Parker wanted to laugh, ordinarily Brodie Walsh was as unflappable as he was ruthless. The man’s reputation as Templar Enterprises Group’s legal shark was well earned—he was brilliant and had never met a deal he couldn’t broker to his advantage. Parker had seen Brodie waltz into conference rooms where the parties were all but screaming at one another and within minutes he’d infused his calm into everyone in the room. So the fact he’d resorted to using multiple swear words spoke clearly of how frustrated he was. The puzzle Parker hadn’t worked out yet was if his friend was really that pissed about Parker’s untimely response or something was up with the woman he and Law wanted to claim? Parker being “in the know” when Brodie and Lawton were obviously out of the loop was probably driving Mr. Always-In-Control right over the edge of reason. Under different circumstances Parker would have fucked with his friend just for the sheer fun of it, but a woman’s health was at stake this time so he’d keep it all business.

“I found her in a drugstore—she’s sick as hell. I have her in my car and I’m going back inside to get medications for her then I’ll take her home. I just wanted to know—”
wait for it…

“Fuck that. Bring her here. We spoke with her last night—why didn’t she tell us she was sick? Damn it she worked today, too.” Why indeed—that was a question Parker knew his friends would be taking up with their errant little submissive as soon as she was feeling better. Hell, he cringed just thinking about how
that
conversation was going to go down. Brodie was known among the club’s submissives as a strict but fair Dom. And even though he often saw things as either all black or all white, he was still far from the sadist he feared himself to be. Parker didn’t doubt for one minute Cressi was in for a rather intense lesson on the more delicate points of submission—he’d certainly turn her pretty ass cheeks bright red for pulling this stunt if she belonged to him.

Returning to the car after adding several more items to the colossal collection of boxes and bottles the clerk had already assembled, he set the bag containing enough cold and flu medications to sedate everybody in lower Manhattan on the seat beside him. Parker turned to look over his shoulder at the sleeping woman in the back seat. Her eyes had briefly fluttered open when he’d unlocked the door, her pretty green eyes met his for just a second and a small smile of recognition danced over her lips before she’d slid quietly back into the darkness. He felt a brief surge of something resembling brotherly protectiveness so strong it was almost like a premonition, but he’d shaken off the strange feeling. Looking down at her curled up like a small child made it easy to understand Lawton’s and Brodie’s obsession with her.

When his phone rang through his car speakers Parker was glad he’d thought to turn down the volume. He wasn’t surprised to see Law’s name on the screen. Not bothering with niceties, he answered, “I’ll be in front of the Templar building in five minutes. Bring a blanket with you, she’s out like a light, and her clothes are damp, and she’s shaking like a leaf from chills. And just FYI, her temp was one hundred three when I checked it in the store.” Before the call disconnected, he’d heard both men cursing, and he understood their concern, she really was a sweetheart and he might be frustrated with her for not taking better care of herself—but he was also worried about her.