Tempting the Crown(224)

“There is no way I’m going anywhere with this asshole.” Abby dug her heels against the hardwoods, but it only made it easier for the man to slide her toward the door.

“Come on, the bosses are waiting.” In a single lunge, the man swung her on to his shoulder and dangled her as if she weighed the same as a bag of sugar.

She kicked harder, her feet ramming into his chest. She beat her fists into his back. Nothing fazed him.

“Cal! Don’t do this!” She jerked her head forward to grab his attention. “Cal! Don’t let this happen.”

The last thing she saw as she descended into the Mantelli family basement was the smirk on her cousin’s face.





2

Cole



“Deacon, this is even shitty for you.” Cole glared at his business partner.

“Why? Did you have a better idea?” Deacon poured a glass of bourbon and dropped two ice cubes in the middle.

Cole exhaled. “Not really.”

“Then stop second-guessing me. We have the launch in Vegas in two weeks. The timing couldn’t have been better.”

“Cal Mantelli is a dick. The fact that you got into business with him in the first place makes me wonder what in the hell you’re doing these days.”

Deacon waved him off. “It wasn’t business. It was a bet. He’s the one who lost. Not me.” He threw back his drink.

“Give me one of those.” Cole walked toward the bar, waiting for a stiff drink. “I need a double after this fuckup of yours.”

Deacon laughed. “Cal texted. The payment is on the way.”

Cole shook his head. “Payment? That’s what you’re calling it?”

The city loomed behind them. It was a bright windy day in Chicago. The co-CEOs were so high above the city neither could make out the people walking below on the sidewalk.

Deacon’s suites extended one length of the skyscraper, while Cole’s spanned the opposite side.

“Cal lost,” Deacon explained. “I don’t know why you’re so pissed at me.”

Cole’s blue eyes fired. “Because the payment is a girl. You bet an actual woman for us?”

Deacon grinned like a wolf. “I sure did. And she’s fucking gorgeous.”

“Like that makes this any better.”

“Want to see her picture again? Might help you commit to how real this is.”

Cole groaned, “I don’t need her picture. This is unorthodox. Even for you.”

“Relax.” Deacon patted the leather sofa. “She’s our guest.”

“An unwilling guest,” he reminded his friend. “I doubt she had a say in this entire thing.”

“A month with us and I think that has the possibility to change.”

“We don’t even know her. What if she’s like Cal? Have you thought about that? She could be the scum of the Earth like him.”

“Stop being so damn pessimistic.”

“It’s called being realistic. You don’t know what the fallout from this is going to be.”

Deacon shrugged. “Details.”

“While I’m trying to keep our empire going, you’re thinking with your cock as usual.” Cole swirled the bourbon in his glass and inhaled half of it. It burned going down. But he needed it to cope with what his best friend had done.

“Our empire needs an empress. Don’t you think?”

Cole pressed his elbows into his knees. It was hard to deny what Deacon said. The company didn’t run as smoothly when they were spinning in bachelor purgatory. They needed a woman. They thrived when they had one.

It had been too long since they had shared a bed.

“We’ve never done it this way.” Cole looked up.

“Doesn’t mean, it’s not the right way.” Deacon was confident there was nothing wrong with his bet. Nothing to regret. Collecting his debt from Cal Mantelli was the only right thing to do as far as he was concerned.

“There was nothing else of Cal’s you wanted? Nothing at all?” Cole pressed him. The fact that a woman was getting ready to be delivered to the HiTech Global offices wasn’t something he could picture.

Deacon scoffed. “Would you suggest I take one of his burned out warehouses or one of his taxi fleets?” He shook his head. “He doesn’t have anything I want. Except this.” He waggled his eyebrows.

“Then who let him in the game if he doesn’t have anything to gamble with? You should have known better than to let a loser like Cal Mantelli into a game with those kind of stakes. He didn’t have anything valuable from the start, Deac.”

Deacon drank the rest of the bourbon in his glass. “He does. He has her. As far as I’m concerned she’s all the payment I need for thirty days.”