He must not have hidden his amusement well because her eyes had narrowed in the most adorable, piqued expression. “Laugh away but I just lost all sympathy for you. You’re going down.”
Her comment had found its target. His breath had quickened in response as he’d met her audaciously bold, amber glare. “I never lose.”
She’d leaned closer as if testing something.
He’d sucked his breath in surprise.
Placing a hand on one of his shoulders, she’d stretched up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “Neither do I.” Her hand trailed halfway down his buttoned shirt as she turned away.
He’d stood immobile, watching the seductive sway of her hips as she sauntered over to retrieve her ball. Just before she’d released it, she’d looked over her shoulder at him, catching the guilty shift of his attention from her amazing ass to the sass in those brown eyes. Her wink had almost been his undoing.
His body had surged and craved.
Strike.
Triumphantly, she’d brushed by him, touching him only with her fresh scent. Normally he would have said that he had little preference regarding female perfumes, but that evening he’d discovered the lack of one to be strikingly attractive, sending his thoughts in wild directions-some that had included how the waxed lane would feel beneath their bare skin.
With what could only have been described as a saucy smile, she’d said, “Your turn.”
He’d chosen his next ball at random.
Thrown it without thought.
Barely registered that it had left most of the pins standing.
Just as his second had.
Her chuckle had removed his last shred of restraint.
Closing the distance between them, he’d placed a hand on either side of her face and tasted her smiling lips. Just a brief touch, a flick of a tongue, nothing that should have overshadowed his usual distaste for public displays of affection. Such banal behavior was never necessary, but to his surprise he’d found it, oh, so pleasurable.
Her humor had melted beneath the heat of their connection and her tongue had begun a teasing dance of its own. He’d stopped hearing the blaring background music, stopped listening to the inner voice that warned him that he was losing control. He’d kissed her until her arms had curled around his neck, until her back had arched to press her closer to him, and until her breathing had become as hot and ragged as his.
Eventually the hoots of encouragement and echoing catcalls from players in other lanes had registered and Jake had ended the kiss. Heart pounding in his chest, he’d mentally scrambled to regain his decorum, but his body had continued to betray him by not releasing her.
Achieving his level of power and success so quickly meant that he spent most of his time in boardrooms with people almost twice his age. Around Lil, he’d felt impulsive and younger. Leaning in for one final taste of her lips, he’d whispered against them, “Your turn,” and had chuckled at how quickly her bemusement had been replaced by ire.
She’d spun away, picked up her ball, and presented him with her tempting ass and an over-the-shoulder smirk before strutting to the lane.
Game on.
Back in his New York townhouse, Jake adjusted his already straight tie, and donned a charcoal, Brioni pin-striped jacket. Not many would get his subtle clothing humor, but recently he’d purchased a few of the suits that were famous for their James Bond affiliation. As he smoothed the perfectly tailored shoulders, he dismissed Lil as the reason he’d decided to walk on the wilder side of business attire.
After all, nothing had actually happened that night.
A call from the security detail he’d sent to China with Dominic had swiftly ended whatever had been building between Lil and him. Someone had been meeting with the Chinese Minister of Commerce while Dominic had returned to the states for the reading of his father’s will, news that threatened a contract they’d considered a done deal. Jake had flown to Beijing immediately after unceremoniously depositing Lil on her doorstep.
Ideally, that would have been the last he’d seen of Lil.
Then her call had come, begging him to help her find her sister. He’d flown her to Isola Santos. The sexual tension had been fast and furious between them, especially when they’d met up in the kitchen that first night, but he had wisely turned down her flirtatious offer to explore what was between them. With his business partner and his finances potentially out of control, his personal life needed to remain in order.
Sex could wait until after the present crisis had been resolved.
Not that his love-sick business partner would agree.
Dominic’s obsession with Abby Dartley could not have come at a worse time; he was going to lose everything if he didn’t wake up soon. Jake had invested too much time into their company to idly sit back and watch Dominic piss it away.
Jake’s cell phone rang. Speak of the devil.
“Jake, I need you up in Boston,” Dominic said with an abruptness that was somewhat comforting.
“Dominic, I was just thinking about you.” And Boston.
“Did you see the video I sent you?” Dominic asked with complete disregard to niceties and continued on without waiting for Jake’s response. “Abby called her sister, but she’s not picking up her phone. Fly up there and see what’s going on.”
“No,” Jake said and surprised himself with his conviction on the matter. “This is an easy fix. I’ll have Duhamel make a few calls.”
Slowly, with comical emphasis, Dominic said, “You just said no. You never say no.”
“That’s because you don’t normally ask me to do something that is a complete waste of my time. I’ve got a couple leads on programmers. I intend to meet with one this afternoon.” Programmers who could hopefully do what none of the ones he’d spoken to thus far had proven successful at – remove the virus Stephan Andrade’s hacker had uploaded to their server.
“I need you up in Boston more.”
Jake took a deep breath. “Dominic, do you understand that you could lose everything if we don’t do something fast?”
Dominic countered, “I am working on it.”
Balancing his phone on one shoulder, he tied one of his dress shoes impatiently and scoffed, “I’d like nothing more than to believe that.”
“When have I ever lost a deal?”
“Burundi, Guinea, Andorra, Chile…” The list was endless.
“We closed on every one of those.”
“By the skin of our teeth.” And because I have become adept at justifying your outrageous antics.
“Suddenly you’re afraid of a challenge?”
“This is different, Dom. You’ve got too much riding on this one deal. Don’t tie me up with nonsense when the clock is ticking against us.”
For just a moment, Jake thought Dominic was about to concede that Jake was right.
Dominic said, “I’ve opened a dialogue with two people who have the skills we need and they will be at my house this weekend. If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you finalize the details.”
Jake stopped, suddenly alert. “Who? Who did you find?”
Dominic hedged. “We shouldn’t talk about this on the phone.”
Finally, something that made sense. “Right. Where do you want to meet?”
“I need you in Boston for this Lil thing first.”
An uncomfortable vision of Lil’s taunting smile surfaced, distracting Jake for a moment before he forced himself to refocus on the issue at hand. His irritation with himself was evident in his tone when he said, “Why don’t you go?”
“Abby made me promise not to get involved. She wants Lil to work this out on her own.”
“And sending me doesn’t count?”