“Mr. Sterling.” My greeting held none of the graciousness my parents had instilled in me.
“Madeleine.”
I should have found his reply mocking, but his tone held too much heat. Then, I was too distracted by him shutting and locking the door behind me to worry about anything other than being utterly alone with him. When he ushered me toward one of the couches, I moved forward blindly. My neck tingled when I felt his breath on my skin, just below my ear. “My name is Caleb, Madeleine,” he purred in a deep voice. As soon as I was seated, he pressed a glass of amber liquid into my hand and urged me to lift it to my lips. I swallowed a mouthful and coughed at the burn as it went down.
“Scotch?” I wheezed. “You could have warned me. I don’t usually drink anything so strong.”
“You’re going to need it for the conversation we’re about to have.”
The hint of threat in his voice sent shivers along my spine. “Why would I need scotch to handle a simple business meeting with you?”
I couldn’t stop myself from watching his ass as he walked over to the desk and grabbed a stack of papers. He tossed them onto the coffee table before sitting next to me so close, I could feel the heat radiating from his thigh. “Your board held an emergency meeting today.”
“Without me?” I gasped. “But I’m the CEO.”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures, Madeleine. And we both know your company is well past the point of desperation. Something the board is also well aware of. It’s why they accepted my offer and agreed to let me be the one to get your signature on the dotted line.”
My hand trembled as I reached for the papers. I’d done my best to avoid meeting him. Now, it appeared the mess my dad left me to clean up had put me in a position where I couldn’t evade him any longer—not if we were going to work together to save my company. The contract seemed straightforward enough, until I hit the language pertaining to the amount of interaction I would have with Caleb.
“This basically puts me at your beck and call.”
“That’s a fair assessment, but I’m offering you an opportunity most up-and-coming executives would jump at. Not only am I sinking a lot of my own money into this project, but you’ll have the chance to learn how I run my company on a daily basis.” He paused and his blue eyes seemed to burn right through me. “There are many things you can learn from me.”
We were talking about business, but he’d managed to make that last sentence sound dirty. I struggled to keep my focus on the contract as I read the last page. When I reached the final clause, my pulse jumped as my heart beat faster. I reread it several times, expecting the words to change, thinking I must have read it wrong, but they remained the same each time.
“What the hell?” I managed to keep my voice level, though I was shrieking on the inside. “There’s no way this contract is enforceable in a court of law,” I argued. “Not if it requires me to sleep with you.”
“Do you really want to gamble everything to find out when you damn well know I’ve got the best lawyers in the country on retainer?” he asked.
I sucked in a quick breath, enraged at being cornered and knowing I was out of options.
“It looks like you’ve given me three impossible choices from which to choose.”
“Only if you want to see it that way. Personally, I think two of them are damn good options for you.”
I knew he wasn’t referring to the one that required me to walk away from the company I’d been fighting hard to save. His arrogance was astounding. “Spending a night in your bed, under your complete control, isn’t an option I’m willing to consider.”
“What if it was more nights and we took turns being in control?” He trailed his finger along my thigh and I jumped from the couch, storming toward the door.
“Unlock it now.” I’d meant for it to sound like a command, but my voice trailed off as Caleb came up behind me and pressed me against the cool surface, his dick hot and hard against my back. And so damn big. I’d heard the rumors about him, circulated amongst all the socialites, but I’d assumed they were all hype. “I’m not doing this with you.”
“Why won’t you admit the truth?” he asked, pressing his hand between me and the door to cup my pussy. “Even through your clothes, I can feel how hot and wet you are for me.”
Shocked by his behavior, I started to pull away, but he wouldn’t let me move. “Caleb, no,” I whimpered as he shoved his hand down my skirt and inside my panties. His finger grazed my clit before sliding lower, and I shuddered. There was no hiding how wet I was for him.