Page 39 of Negotiation Tactics
I flip him off. “No thanks, I’m not feeding your ego. It’s big enough as it is.”
A laugh, then he crosses his arms, which is when I notice he’s already fully dressed. “I’d imagine you’d agree there is a reason for that.”
Yep, definitely. His cock is pure magic. “You are delusional.”And apparently, I’m going commando. Great.
He waits until I’m dressed before he grabs me by the hair in that scalp-tingling way and brings my face close to his. “We’ll see about that.”
Then we kiss.
I try to fight it at first, but the moment his tongue pushes past my lips, I’m a lost cause. I don’t know what this man does to me, why he turns me on so much, but it’s a feeling I can’t win against. It’s freeing in a way I didn’t expect, tangling up my insides until I no longer know right from wrong.
Just when things start to get heated as I palm his semi through his pants, there is a knock at the door.
“Hey, Alistair, you there?” We push off of each other moments before Brady pops his head in. “It’s cake… time…Oh.”
The gym celebrity flicks the lights on, but luckily I am a fair distance away from the bed already while Alistair is leaning against the wall with folded arms. Still, I feel the flush settle on my face as my terrified soul registers the grin on Brady’s face.
Oh god, we are so busted.
“Everyone is waiting for you, so get your ass downstairs in five minutes, yeah?” Brady chirps over a snort.
Alistair moves over to the desk and perches his ass on the edge. Then he sighs like his friend just crashed his party. “You don’t need me to cut the cake, Brady.”
There is a note of irritation in his voice, which is a little hoarser than usual. When I glance at his crotch, the semi is still there, too. My galloping heart skips a beat it totally didn’t need to skip.
“Duh. Of course I don’t. But I can’t cut it before you’ve given your congratulatory speech. You know that,” Brady insists, positively smug.
A congratulatory speech? For a pet snake? I have to see this! At the same time though, I remember I haven’t even written the one I have to give at my mom’s anniversary…
My good mood tanks abruptly. We are just so different, Alistair and I. I don’t know what to make of him, whether he’s a good guy or a bad one, but being close to him is too risky. Yet, it’s the only way to get the upper hand, to find a way so that the people who rely on me will have their voices heard.
Yes, that’s why I am doing this. Maybe sometimes I have to remind myself that because it’s just so easy to get swept up in Alistair’s pace. He’s kind of sweet and dorky when you get to know him, and in bed he’s a wizard. He’s fun to talk to, he’s interesting too, full of contrasts and so many things I still don’t know about him despite my diligent recon efforts.
“My congratulatory speech?” Alistair asks, one eyebrow shooting up to his hairline. “Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?”
Brady shrugs. “Did I forget to mention it?” He walks over to the little table across from the bed, picking up the book lying there. I can’t make out the title from here, but I don’t need to, recognizing the cover with the hologram girl and dog on the desert planet immediately. A buzz of excitement pulls a smile out of me because Alistair and I seem to have one more thing in common. “I guess I did. But I told you now.” Brady puts it back down with care and glances at his gilded watch. “Best I can do is ten minutes. Should be enough to come up with something and get your ass downstairs.”
With that, he leaves us alone. Awkward silence settles between us, charged with tension as we both stare at each other. I moved over to the massive floor-to-ceiling window while they were chatting, which looks straight into the mansion’s back garden.
It’s massive and it’s unfinished. My hands itch to sketch it out and try out various layouts, but I force down that urge.
“We should head down,” Alistair whispers from close next to me, the heat of his body tickling my skin. “You heard the man—I have a speech to give, apparently.”
Hisself-deprecating tone drags a laugh out of me. “Serves you right.”
“Back to being a brat already, are we?” He grabs the folder I was rummaging through and tosses it to me. “Here’s your reward. For being so agreeable earlier. I’m afraid you won’t find anything to use against me, though.”
I knew that already. It contains no compromising documentation, just notes on my proposal, which means my infiltration was a total fluke. I have nothing on him. Or well, almost nothing, because if anything came out of screwing my enemy for the second time—other that the mind-blowing orgasm—it’s that maybe I can approach this a different way. A less underhanded way, if I am willing to give him a chance to prove he’s not the rich asshole I believed that he was.
“I’ll wipe the smug smile off your face. You’ll see.”
He slats my underwear-less ass. “Oh, I can’t wait for you to try.”
One-upping each other, we make our way to the lounge where the party is in full-swing. He heads for the makeshift stage, and I locate Lily by one of the buffet tables.
“Hey babe, where were you?” She scans me from head to toe quickly to make sure I’m okay. My ass clenches a little as I remember I’m wearing nothing under my pants. Ugh, I’ll make Alistair pay for this.
“Just around, looking for anything we can use.” At her hopeful smile, I shake my head.
