“Yeah, well maybe she’ll be able to do something you and me couldn’t do to close the deal,” Jake mutters.
I turn to him, my cheeks blazing. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Don’t listen to him,” Forrest says. “He’s drunk and pissed off because Marissa broke up with him.”
I sigh, trying to decide between feeling angry at the way Jake’s behaving or showing sympathy over his personal loss. I end up somewhere in the middle. “You guys will get back together,” I tell him.
Jake just shakes his head and holds up his cell. “Marissa’s done. For good this time.”
I’ll believe that when I see it. The two have been dating for the better part of the last three years. I’m not surprised Marissa’s called it quits, since they’ve always been extremely volatile. I am a bit shocked, however, that Jake appears to accept that this time it might be for real.
Jake’s never done very well when the two have split for short periods of time in the past. He has some kind of obsession with Marissa…and I suppose she must like it, because she keeps getting back with him again and again.
“She’ll be back,” Forrest says, echoing my own sentiments.
My thoughts turn back to Duke—his cold, calculating mind and that rock-hard body. Sin practically oozes from his pores. And those eyes. Wicked. The intensity of his stare almost gave me a damn orgasm.
I cross my legs tighter together in an attempt to curb the tingle between my thighs, but it’s useless. I’ve been in constant discomfort since we left Kingston Industries. And that scares the shit out of me.
Especially knowing I’m going to be alone with him in a matter of hours.
“Can you believe that, Hailey?” Jake’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry, believe what?”
A flash of annoyance crosses his face. “Can you believe that she said she won’t even give me one last face-to-face conversation for some closure?”
I reach across the table to put my hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, hon. She’ll come around.”
He flinches away from me and his expression darkens. “She’d better,” he mutters.
Our table falls temporarily silent.
Forrest clears his throat. “Can we move on to issues of real importance?”
Jake downs the last of his beer, and pours another. I’ve barely made a dent in mine.
“We have a second chance with Kingston Industries,” Forrest says. He doesn’t meet my eyes, which tells me he’s put off that I’m the only one who was asked to go to dinner.
“We need a strategy,” I say, nodding, looking to my partners for help.
Jake snorts. “Not really.”
I glare at him, my patience fraying now. “Just say what you want to say, Jake. You think I should sleep with him so he gives us the money?”
Jake shrugs but won’t look at me as he guzzles his beer.
Forrest tries to be the voice of reason. “I’m not saying you sleep with him, but maybe just…I don’t know. Flirt a little if he seems to want that.”
I stare at Forrest, my eyes wide. “Are you fucking serious?”
“It’s the way the world works,” Forrest says, itching his nose.
Jake laughs and shakes his head, clearly bitter.
“This is total bullshit,” I tell them both. “Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean that I have to be a sex object for some rich investor. Maybe he thought I was the smartest of the three of us—did that ever occur to either of you?”
“Not really,” Jake says. He pours the last of the pitcher into his cup.
I want to tell them both to go to hell, but then I remind myself that this has been an incredibly stressful day and none of us have handled it well.
But now I’m deep in my head, waves of anxiety washing over me.
I’m already worked up over the thought of going to dinner—what the hell am I going to wear?—and the last thing I need is Jake’s smart-ass sarcasm and bitterness infection my thinking as well.
My thoughts return to the boardroom. I press my back into the chair, imagining what it would have been like to have Duke’s groin pressed against my ass, his cock hard through his pants. I close my eyes and allow myself to fantasize that his hands are on my bare hips as he bends me forward. His palms skim along the soft curve of my hip, skip along my abdomen and wrap around to cup my breasts. My nipples go tight.
“Hailey?” Forrest asks.
I snap out of my fantasy and pretend that I wasn’t just thinking about Duke fucking me in his conference room. “Yeah?”
Forrest pinches is bottom lip as he broods. “All kidding aside, I think we need to target a more narrowed segment of the population.” He sighs. “I liked what you said to Kingston about having a big upside. His risk, high reward. If we could somehow sell him on the idea that the MicroTracker could corner a niche market, maybe he’d be more interested.”