Chapter 18
eighteen
There’s no help for it.
I have to have her.
Not here. Not now , but soon. Any noble notions I entertained about leaving Juliet alone were shot to hell the moment she laughed at my shoes.
Such a sweet, lusty sound. She laughs with abandon . It reminds me of the way she melted in my arms when we kissed.
I will away the erection pressing at my zipper, gritting my teeth. “Right off, we should strike out the names as written and revise. The contract will no longer be between Stryker and Everett Alexander. It will be Stryker and myself.” I withdraw the documents folded inside my jacket pocket. “Or, rather, my new company.”
Juliet’s brows lower over her eyes, blending with the coal fringe of her lashes to shroud her skeptical golden gaze. Her voice drops. “ Your company?”
I do my best to stay stone-faced while I slide the articles of incorporation over to her. “Yes.”
Ever a true professional, she reviews them thoroughly before regarding me with a dispassionate air. “G&C Capital?”
“Yes.”
Juliet’s lush ponytail cascades over her shoulder as she tilts her head. “Who is ‘C’?”
Of course she caught that. The name is one of a thousand ultra-important business decisions I remain utterly unsure of. I only had a day to come up with it. I knew I wanted something with my name and Christian’s, but “Everett” is too well known around town, and inextricably tied to our father. So, I settled on our initials.
But I can’t tell people that.
Investments are all about trust and respect. If everyone in the city knows I’m saving a place at my company for a drug user, I’ll never build a client base.
Grayson is the only exception—but he’s known Chris forever, and he knows me . He’ll trust me to weigh how much responsibility to give to my brother and when to give it to him. Society acquaintances and strangers won’t.
Which is a bunch of hypocritical bullshit, since half of the wealthy people I know are drug addicts in their own right. Fancy, expensive drugs, procured through “proper” channels. But still.
I don’t even know if Christian will ever be fit to work with other people’s money. I just know he’s brilliant. And my little brother. If he wants a real shot at a better life, I’ll do anything to encourage that.
I pick a speck of thread off my sleeve. “No one.”
Her lips quirk to the side. “You’re lying.”
Christ .
Does she have to be so goddamned smart ?
All. The. Time.
It makes me want to fuck her and argue with her in equal measure.
Which is really something. Because before meeting Juliet, I’d never wanted anything as much as I now want to fuck her.
Refusing to concede, I stare her down. “G-and-C. Just good alliteration.”
“Mm-hmm,” she hums flatly. “And this company of yours is a new development?”
“New,” I confirm. “Yes.”
I don’t like the assessing way her topaz eyes flick over me. “Well, I know you didn’t get fired because then you wouldn’t be so nervous.”
I narrow my gaze at her. “How do you figure?”
Her beautiful breasts bounce when she lifts and drops her shoulders. “If you got fired, started a revenge company the next day, and planned to sign Mr. Stryker the same week, your bid for retaliation would be a resounding and immediate success. No need for anxiety. You’d have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
She folds her hands, searching my features and seeing way too much. “But you are anxious. So that means you stand to lose a lot with this move. And what could a guy like you lose? Your inheritance, of course: Everett Alexander. Which means, I’m guessing, you’re starting G&C Capital for another reason. Without telling your family. And I bet it all hangs on our deal.”
Fuck. Me .
“Got me all figured out, huh?” My voice comes softer than I intend, but Juliet’s cheeks color under my glare.
“You’re not as mysterious as you like to think you are,” she sniffs.
Well, what can I say to that ? It’s true.
“Neither are you,” I shoot back, pissed at her and myself and everything all at once. “In fact, after what I saw yesterday, I thought you’d be a little less judgmental. It’s not like you have yourself figured out. And I’m not the one with a deadbeat alcoholic father who stalks me at work.”
Ah, shit .
I want to take it back the second I say it. Her dad’s fuck-ups have nothing to do with her. In fact, I suspect that she’s succeeded in spite of them.
Across the table, Juliet has gone from my usual hot-tempered, warm-blooded opponent to a statue. Still and ashen, her jaw grinds while she meets my gaze, taking the undue criticism without so much as dropping her defiant little chin.
Shoving both hands through my hair, I start backpedaling. “I mean, obviously, your family issues aren’t your fault. I only mean to say that all families have their shit, and maybe there’s a reason that I’m leaving Everett that isn’t anyone else’s goddamn business—even exceedingly sexy lawyeresses.”
Juliet’s expression doesn’t move, but fire flashes in her eyes again. I swear it warms the whole room. “Lawyeress isn’t a word,” she scolds evenly. “And certainly not ‘lawyeresses.’”
I shrug, hoping she’ll melt for me. “We could always agree to disagree, Miss Rivera.”
“Us?” she snorts, smirking. “Dream on, pinchao .”