ProvokeMe (26 page)

“I’m always good.” She blinked innocently.
“Especially when
I’m bad.”

“No arguments there.” He rose and looked at his watch.
“Now,
Ms.
Crossman, I do believe you’re extremely late.
Your great boss can only
overlook that for so long.
Especially since his sister is your immediate
supervisor and she’ll scream his ear off if she’s down a manager much longer.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up.
“Plus I’m pretty sure you’ll need to stop by
your place to change for work, as much as I liked that red dress on you.”

Kelly grinned and got to her feet.
“Indeed.
Speaking of my
red dress, where’d you put it?”

* * * * *

The evening came more quickly than he wished.
If he’d ever
anticipated a business meeting less, he didn’t remember it.
He didn’t even know
why.
The Sinclairs visited every few months and usually liked to spend a few
hours with him, going over the numbers, discussing their vision.
Tonight was
actually an excellent time for a meeting, what with all he and Kelly had
discussed that afternoon.
He was determined they hear what he had to say.

He liked them well enough and always enjoyed talking about
the store—he was damn proud of how well they were doing with the expansion and
otherwise—but tonight’s get-together filled him with dread.
He’d mentioned the meeting
to Mr.
Sinclair that afternoon, trying to feel him out, but he’d gotten the
distinct impression the man had no desire to discuss it.
Something felt very
off.

And when a gorgeous brunette clad in a sapphire-blue slip
dress strolled up to the corner table he’d arranged for them at Retreat, the
very same table where he’d sat with Kelly and her friends the night before, he
understood why.

“Hello, Spencer.” Diana’s smile reminded him of the sun’s
rays glittering on the Atlantic—blinding, beautiful and impossible to stare at
for more than a moment without getting a headache.
“Long time, no see.”

Chapter Fifteen

Spencer’s gut knotted and for the briefest instant, his cock
stirred.
He couldn’t help his instinctive reaction to her now any more than
he’d been able to five years ago.
Her voice was all smoky suggestion, offering
nights of pleasure and mornings without recrimination.
But her eyes were the
same cold, flat blue.

“Diana.”
His
voice was cool, remote and devoid of any
expression.
“I was expecting your parents.”

“They decided to go to Jamaica for the week rather than
spend it here, looking at dreary books.” Her mouth flattened when he didn’t
rise to pull out her chair as he always had.
After a long moment, she took the
seat opposite him.

Kelly never let him get to a door or a chair first.
She was
used to doing things for herself.
One way of many she and his ex-lover were as
different as summer and winter.

“I’m surprised to hear you call the books dreary.
Our
profits exceeded our projections by one percent this quarter.
In this economy,
that’s huge.
Not to mention our margins, which improved by—”

She laughed.
At
him.
“It’s always business with you,
isn’t it, Spence?
Even with everything that’s between us, you can’t bother to
take a minute to catch up with an old friend.”

He tapped his thumb on his thigh as he worked at keeping his
face neutral.
“If you were a friend, maybe I’d take a minute.
At best, you’re
an ex.
At worst, you’re inconsequential.”

Her teeth flashed.
“You wish.”

He waved away the waiter who attempted to take their drink
order.
No way was he staying.

“What are you doing here?” he asked as soon as they were
alone again.
“If your parents are unavailable, I’ll contact them to
reschedule.”

“Impatient, aren’t we, darling?” She leaned forward and clasped
her hands between her breasts, the tips of her blood-red nails skimming
generous flesh.
“Have a hot date?”

He thought of making love to Kelly earlier, of inhaling her
laughter in between kisses and sharing sandwiches in the car during the ride
back to work.
Then they’d gone at each other in earnest in the parking lot,
where anyone could have seen.

She made him feel too much.
But he couldn’t resist her.
He
didn’t want to try.

More than anything, he wanted to be spending this last night
before he left in her arms.
Hearing her voice, swallowing her moans.
Kelly was
the living, breathing, unbearably exciting present.
Diana was his very dead
past.

“Yes, actually, I do.
So if this isn’t about business, I’m
leaving.”

“I recognize that hungry look.
You used to look at me like
that almost as often as you got a hard-on over something to do with the store.”
Her meandering fingers moved dangerously close to her nipples.
“You always were
insatiable.”

“Only when I didn’t get what I need.
I’m remarkably
satisfied now.” Even though it wasn’t close to being true, watching her stiffen
was worth the lie.
He made a show of glancing at his watch.
“I’m running out of
time.
Is there a point to this visit?”

“I’d hoped we could share a meal, reminisce a bit, but
you’ve never been one to enjoy idly passing the time.
Glad to see some things
have remained the same.”

You’re so wrong.
But he said nothing.

“My parents are getting older and they’re starting to think
more about retirement.
Since my circumstances have changed,” he shot his gaze
to her ring finger and saw that it was bare, “reclaiming my position in the
business has re-entered the conversation.”

Keeping his cool meant not thinking too hard or too much
about what all this might mean.
“Why?
You never gave a damn about the store.”

“You still call it ‘the store’ as if we’re this quaint
little operation.
As if we don’t have five locations, with four more opening by
the end of the year.
Some might see us as biting off more than we can chew,
especially now.
But that proves how committed we are.
It also shows we’ve moved
way beyond your narrow conceptions.”

“When I came on board, there was only the one, the second
being built,” he said in as even a voice as he could manage.
“If you forget the
first, the rest don’t matter.
So you’re toying with working at
the store
again,” he said deliberately.

“Not toying.
The decision’s been made.
I’m going to be
Virginia’s new regional manager.”

He stiffened his spine against the fury he wouldn’t let
loose.
She couldn’t be serious.
She’d lost her goddamn mind.

“I must be hearing you incorrectly.
I’m going to be the new
regional manager in Virginia.
That’s been in the works since shortly after
ground broke on the new stores.”

“Not any longer.
I was originally offered the position as
regional manager in South Carolina, but those stores are barely off the ground.
Virginia’s almost ready to roll.”

“Of course it’s almost ready to roll.
Who the fuck do you
think got it that way?
Those two stores in Virginia have been mine since day
one.
The plan has always been to—”

“Plans change, Spence.
That’s business.” She glanced at her
naked left hand.
“That’s life.
My parents love me.
They want me happy, and
Virginia’s where I’ll be happiest.
You can take the RM position in South
Carolina or you can stay here.
Or,” she licked her lips with one slow roll of
her tongue, “you can come to Virginia with me.
I’ve been told Roanoke’s your
special focus.
I could create a district manager position for you.”

“How generous.”

Rage didn’t begin to cover the tumult of emotions crashing
through him.
Anger, betrayal, disappointment—hell, he was running the whole
damn gamut.

“What I want is the position I was given.
I was supposed to
manage those stores until they were turning a profit, the first year at least.
How are you going to step into a situation you’ve been completely out of for
half a decade?
You don’t know what we’ve done or our plans.
You don’t know the
staff.
You don’t know a goddamn thing about what it will take to make those
stores succeed.”

“Ah, but if you come with me, I will, now won’t I?
You’ll be
rewarded handsomely, I assure you.”

The predatory gleam in her eyes let him know without a doubt
his compensation would go far beyond money.
His stomach soured.
God, had he
really been in love with this woman?
Or had he deluded himself into thinking
the crazy infatuation he’d felt for her had been love?
Did he even know the
difference?

Maybe this was a good object lesson for him all the way
around.

“Your parents and I reached an agreement that I would take
over those stores.
If you’re telling me that agreement is being revoked without
cause, that’s a violation of the law.”

“Did you sign anything?” His silence caused her to smile,
slowly.
“Oh darling, didn’t I teach you anything about getting everything on
the dotted line?
Verbal promises don’t hold up in court.”

“You think not?
The law says otherwise.”

“Good luck proving your case.
If you want to drain your
resources on a no-win situation, that’s your choice.
But I wouldn’t recommend
it.” She shook her head as if he were so pathetically ignorant she couldn’t
even be bothered with annoyance.
“My parents have come to appreciate you,
Spencer, but you’re not blood and I am.”

He reached for the cell phone tucked in his jacket pocket.
“Let’s just see if your parents really agree with all of this, shall we?”

“Go ahead.
Call them.” Her expression never changed.
“But
keep in mind they nearly fired you after they discovered our affair.
I’m the
one who saved your ass and begged for you to be allowed to stay.
And I walked
away from my own job to give it to you.
Because of me, you got exactly the
position you wanted.”

His laughter was bitter.
“Right.
The fact that you were
pregnant and wanted to run home to your husband had nothing to do with it.”

“I saved your ass,” she repeated quietly.
“You call them and
stir all that up again and you’ll only hurt yourself.
You’re lucky they even
gave you another chance.”

“
I’m
lucky?
What about what I’ve given them?”

Diana waved her fingers.
“You did your job well, but no more
impressively than any number of others could or would have.
Others who weren’t
known as potential troublemakers.” When he said nothing, she leaned forward.
“You knew that you’d always be trying to redeem yourself in their eyes.
But you
always had that damn chip on your shoulder.
You’ve always been out to prove
something.”

“I was out to do my job,” he said in even tone.
“That’s
all.”

“Oh I know.
Believe me, your focus is well-known.
It was
probably pretty easy for people to see what you wanted from me, Spence.
Even I
figured it out, after a while.
We used each other for what we needed.
You, a
management position.
Me, to get back at my husband for sleeping with his latest
secretary.” She shrugged.
“It was what it was.
But things happened that none of
us expected.”

“Yeah, I fell for you.
Like a moron.
And—”

She tsk-tsked, cutting him off.
“A lot was said and done on
both sides.
Years have passed now.
Long enough that maybe I’m starting to
wonder if I missed the boat entirely with you.”

Spencer leaned back and drummed his fingers on the table.
One
way or another, he’d regain control of this situation.
“That ship sailed five
years ago.
The only thing I’m concerned about now is getting what’s due me.”

“What’s due you?” She let out a tinkling laugh.
“Spence,
honey, they’re my parents.
If I want to be involved again, they’re happy to
oblige me.”

“Oh and I’m sure they know all about your extra added bonus
if I stick around to do your bidding, right?”

Again she shrugged.
“No, but if it made me happy, they
probably wouldn’t object.
You may hate hearing that, but it’s true.”

He didn’t doubt it.
As the Sinclairs’ precious only child,
Diana had had them wrapped around her diamond-encrusted pinkie since birth.
But
he had no intention of being another stud on her ring.

“For years, everything between us has been based on a
handshake,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
“That’s been the store’s whole fucking
policy.
Family straight down the line.
Now you’re telling me I’m out in the
cold because I didn’t demand papers for what we both know was agreed upon?”

“Family is family, business is business and if the two
cross, blood wins.” Her voice gentled.
“You’re only in the cold if you let
semantics keep you from coming to Virginia with me.
You’ll still be running the
prototype store.
You’ll still have your vaunted control.
And you’ll be
compensated handsomely.”

After a pause, she reached across the table to run a nail up
the sleeve of his jacket.
“You’ll also be able to enjoy whatever other…perks
you’d like as well.
Things were amazing between us, Spence.
You remember.”

“Oh yeah, I remember.” Steel lined his tone.
“Believe me,
you’re clear as a bell in my mind.”

“You too, honey.” Her gaze dropped, as if she was focused on
a spot below the table.
It didn’t take too much imagination to guess where her
attention was located.
“I’ve missed you terribly.”

“What happened to your husband?”

For the first time, her expression darkened.
“We divorced a
few years ago.
You don’t understand what I risked and lost because of you,
Spencer.
You thought you were the only one hurt by what happened.” She lifted
teary eyes.
“I lost a baby.”