Chapter 2
SHAWN
Kara seemed all right. In fact, she looked nearly the same as she had the last time we’d met—she looked pissed.
Her blonde hair was pinned back as if trying to appear older and serious, and she was clad in a business suit with a skirt and high heels.
So professional, even when her sexy mouth turned down in a frown.
“What are you doing here?” She stopped a full two meters away, keeping her distance.
“It’s good to see you, too. I’m in for a budget meeting with my US distributors.”
“No, what are you doing”—she jabbed a finger at my feet—“here?”
“You have your sister to thank for that. Is there someplace private we can speak?”
She answered with a sigh, turned, and went down the corridor she’d just come from, wordlessly demanding I follow. Her heels tapped out a quick rhythm on the hard floor like she hoped to lose me.
Sorry, not a chance.
I’d been less than thrilled when L had called and interrupted my meeting with the heads of US marketing, but my sister-in-law’s frantic voice had cured that instantly. Someone had threatened her older sister with a gun, and I was closest, already in New York.
By the time she’d put my brother on the phone, I was already out the conference room door and heading for the elevators. I promised to make sure this had nothing to do with L or the dangerous man she’d escaped from last year.
One quick conversation with the delightful woman at the front desk and I felt confident Kara’s ordeal was unrelated.
I let my gaze drift down to her perfect ass as she walked ahead of me. I hadn’t gotten a good look last time, and I studied it now until she turned into her office. I’d swear she’d grown hotter over the last six months.
The night we’d met, I decided I was going to sleep with her, and as soon as the meal was over, I’d set her in a cab and told her this. Schei?e, I could still remember the shock on her face. Was I an asshole? Yes. And her refusal only made my desire greater.
I had started subtle. The text messages which she sometimes ignored. The invitations to dinner that she always politely declined. The flower arrangements that she said were too much but never asked me to stop sending.
Subtle . . . wasn’t working. So, despite the ordeal she’d been through, I was pleased at this opportunity to try some new strategies.
Kara cast her cold, blue-eyed gaze on me. “Why are you smiling?”
Was I? “It’s nothing,” I said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” She shoved a mouse into a laptop bag. “Laurel shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“She was worried.”
Her hands hurried to get her things together. “There’s no need. I’m okay.”
I had to remind myself to stop thinking about what I wanted and focus on why I was here. “You knew this man? He worked here?”
“Yes,” she said. “He worked here for a long time. Letting him go was unpleasant, and that was before the gun.”
“I’m sure.” I took off my coat and dropped into the chair opposite the desk.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you to finish packing so we can take a late lunch.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’m not going to lunch with you.”
“You’re not hungry?” I couldn’t help myself and loaded it with innuendo. “I’m hungry.”
For a split second, there was a crack in her facade and a sliver of anxiety seeped through to her face. A gentleman wouldn’t badger her after what she’d just been through, but I was not a gentleman. I might have been accused of it a few times in my past, but those people were mistaken.
Plus, if she was anything like her sister, she could handle me. In fact, I suspected Kara was the tougher of the two Hayward sisters, and that was saying something.
“No,” she said. “I’ve lost my appetite.”
My tone was light, teasing. “Come on. I came across Midtown.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.” She had all her items gathered, ready to leave, and clearly stalled. “Do you want me to reimburse you for the Uber?”
I laughed, full throated. People like me didn’t use Uber, and she knew it, but I’d play along with her joke.
“You think I can’t afford it?” I said. “Sorry. You probably couldn’t understand that with the silver spoon in my mouth.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Thanks for stopping by to check on me, but I need to get going.”
“Let me give you a ride.” I hadn’t intended it to sound sexual, but of course it came out that way.
“No,” she replied, far too quickly. “No, thank you.”
She seemed to view me as an opponent. Why did I enjoy it so much?
“Have I done something to upset you?” I said, relaxed. “You don’t seem to like me very much.”
“I don’t know you.”
“That’s not true. We talk almost every day.” She gave me a flat look, and I shrugged. “You don’t want to get to know me?”
“Not particularly.”
I grinned. She wasn’t a good liar. “Why not?”
“Because of the flowers,” she said. “Because you make me,” she searched for the right word, “uncomfortable.” Only she said it like I filled her with heat and longing she didn’t want to have.
“I do? Why do you think that is?” I rose from my seat and stepped closer, the air instantly thick between us.
“What you want from me . . .” Her voice went low and breathless. “I already told you I’m not interested.”
I made sure my voice sounded skeptical. “You did say that.”
“I meant it.”
“If that were true, then you have no reason to be uncomfortable,” I said. “But if it’s not true . . .”
“I meant it, Shawn.”
It was convincing enough this time to give me pause.
Her gaze drifted down to her desktop. “I’m going back to my hotel to get some rest because I’ve got an early flight home tomorrow.” She moved past me and pulled on her long, red raincoat. “I’m sorry you had to come all the way over for no reason.”
I’d have to try a different approach yet again since this one wasn’t getting me anywhere. “It’s no problem. I’m sure your sister will be glad to hear everything’s well.”
She looked like she just wanted this over and me to be gone. Fine. I could do that. I could wait another day to seduce her, and I was great at being patient.
“Can I at least walk you out?” I asked, sliding my coat back on.
Her face softened, relieved I was backing off. “Sure.”
The relief was short-lived. Kara’s eyes went wide with momentary alarm when a man appeared in her office doorway.
“I came as soon as I could,” the man said. “Are you okay?”
And just like that, her perfect, confident front snapped back into place. “I’m fine.”
The man’s curious gaze slid over to assess me. “Have we met?”
“No.” I didn’t elaborate and got satisfaction at the hint of frustration this caused the short man hovering just outside the room. Whoever he was, he made her nervous, and I didn’t like that. I wanted to be the only one to ruffle her feathers.
The man extended a hand. “I’m Paul Werner, CFO.”
Paul seemed much too proud of his title. This is going to be good. I shook his hand, hoping to appear casual. “Shawn Dunn, CEO. Osterh?gen Beverage.”
He froze mid-handshake. “What?”
I followed Paul’s surprised gaze as it flew to Kara. She didn’t offer any explanation even though it was so very obvious he wanted one. For her to explain how the head of the second-largest beer company in the world came to be in her office.
Instead, she pulled the laptop bag onto her shoulder and strolled toward me, stopping when she was only a breath away.
“Where are we going for lunch?” She set a hand on my arm. Comfortable. Intimate.
Ah. This must be the ex-husband. She’d mentioned they worked together.
I scrutinized the man now and was confident enough in myself to acknowledge he was attractive.
Obviously successful. But Paul was a soft eight, whereas I was a hard ten.
Actually, an eleven. If she wanted to use me to screw with her ex-husband’s head, I was more than willing to play along.
I curled an arm around her waist. “Same place as last time?”
He probably would have made a similar face if I had sucker-punched him, but this was a hell of a lot more fun.
“It was nice meeting you, Peter.” And I didn’t give Paul a chance to correct me. I took her hand and led her out of the office and down the corridor.
As soon as we were alone in the elevator, she tried to release my hand, but I just gripped her tighter.
“Let go of me.”
“Or?”
She gave a humorless laugh. “Are you five?”
“Wait a minute. Which one of us was making someone jealous a minute ago?”
She pressed her lips together, displeased. “We both were.” She stood there, watching the numbers go by as if counting down to the moment she’d be free from me.
“Thank you,” she said quietly when I relented. “And for your help.” Like it was painful.
“Anytime.” Since I had both hands free, I texted my driver I was leaving. She also got on her phone, pulling up a rideshare app, and whatever was on screen . . . it frustrated her. “Is everything all right?”
She didn’t answer because the elevator doors peeled back and she hurried to the revolving door—
Only to stop short.
It wasn’t raining outside. It was a torrential downpour, and she had no umbrella. She glanced at her phone with dismay. “The first Uber I can get is twenty minutes.”
“I have a car.”
She immediately shook her head.
“Okay. I’ll wait with you then.”
“No, it’s fine,” she said quickly. “I’ll take a cab.”
As her gaze went to the rain splattered windows, I could hear the thoughts going through her head. She’d never get a cab in this weather. She glanced at my umbrella, but before I could offer, she pushed her way through the door and out into the slashing rain.
I grinned, followed her, and popped open my umbrella as I strolled onto the sidewalk.
As soon as I was next to Kara, her under my umbrella’s protection, she gave me a sideways look. Annoyed. Relieved. Begrudgingly grateful. Her gaze then moved to the street to survey the sporadic yellow cars that passed by. Every one with the light on top unlit.
“This is mine,” I said over the loud rain beating down on us. I gestured to the black limousine as it pulled up. “I’m happy to give you a ride, but full disclosure, it comes with strings attached.”
Her blue eyes locked on mine, and her shoulders lifted as she sucked in a breath. Maybe she’d think I meant lunch. Or that she’d have to agree to have dinner with me the next time she was in Munich.
She would be wrong.
If she got into my car, she’d give me permission to continue my pursuit of her. My brother had loved chasing fugitives, but for me it had always been women. It was so obviously clear she wanted me, so I didn’t understand why she resisted it, but it was more exciting this way.
She shook her head adamantly. “No, thank you.”
“Suit yourself.” The disappointment that ran through me was surprising. “Auf Wiedersehen.”
I took my umbrella and left her at the edge of the street, the rain pouring down on her. When I opened the limo door, I glanced back over to see her, glaring at me like the bastard I knew I was.