Her mother was a light sleeper, so anyone banging on her daughter’s bedroom door would wake her up. None of the men would risk her mother’s wrath to get to fatty Lana.
Shaking her head, Lana put more effort into vacuuming. She hated thinking about the past. The past left a bad taste in her mouth. Her mother wasn’t a bad woman, but she wasn’t a great one either. She preferred to drink and sleep with plenty of men rather than help her daughter graduate with a decent education.
Lana didn’t know who her father was or what he looked like. She figured he was one of the numerous men to go inside her mother’s trailer. Shaking off the negative thoughts, she wheeled out a chair and vacuumed underneath the desks. She occasionally glanced at the family photos on people’s desks, and envy struck her big time.
After the Frank betrayal, she wasn’t going to chance it again. She’d always wanted a family, but family came at a cost she refused to pay.
Glancing up at Kent in his office, lust hit her square in the gut. He was another man who’d never look at her twice.
Stop it, Lana. Get your work done, and go home.
****
Kent Anderson watched the cleaner working outside his office. He’d noticed her from the moment she started working in his building. Phoning the firm, he’d gotten her moved up to his floor. He liked watching her work, and he’d taken it upon himself to care for her. They’d never spoken a word to each other. She’d smiled at him, and he’d smiled back but nothing beyond that. He’d seen her nerves and understood the reason she held herself back. Every employee underwent a background check. When he’d employed the cleaning firm he’d gotten detailed background checks done on the men and women the company sent over to him. Lana Hawkins was a thorough worker and sexy as hell.
She wore the pale blue cleaning uniform that hid her curves from his view. Watching her bend over to clean or pick something up was the highlight of his day. She’d never ventured inside his office because he’d given the cleaning company strict orders to leave his office alone.
Being a successful businessman had created many enemies. He’d encountered a lot of people who were willing to do whatever it took to make money, even if earning money meant stealing files from him. Kent didn’t trust anyone. They were all bad news. The only person he trusted was himself.
Lana Hawkins, however, was a problem to him. Her file gave him everything he needed to know about her. She didn’t have anything but the standard high-school education, and she worked two jobs to make ends meet. Her apartment was small in a good part of the city.
There was nothing fascinating about her. When he’d dug a little deeper, he’d discovered her mother was a drunk with loose morals and Lana had used to live in a trailer. The woman before him looked like she’d had a hard life, and for some reason that bothered Kent.
What was it about her that hit him in the gut?
He loved women. He loved fucking them and making them scream his name, but he also liked leaving them. Kent didn’t do permanent relationships. The women he bedded knew the score. They could stay, have a great fuck, and leave at the end of the night. He didn’t allow his women to stay over, and there was no way he’d butter them up. When he wanted sex, he’d call and take what he wanted.
Jewels, wining, and dining were for couples who wanted forever. He’d taken a few of his women out to dinner in order to keep the press happy. The women knew it wasn’t anything but a show to keep the media happy.
Being a businessman wasn’t about being a nice guy. Kent saw what he wanted, took it, and enjoyed it. He was ruthless and made no jokes about what he wanted.
She’s different.
Lana was different from all of his other women. He expected her to try to make him notice her. Moving her to his floor he’d expected some sort of flirtation. He’d gotten nothing. Her uniform remained the big, bulky pale blue uniform, and her dark brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. She didn’t wear makeup or spend hours trying to gain his attention.
If anything, Kent felt like he didn’t exist in her company. She came to the office floor, worked, packed everything away, and walked home.
He’d followed her home. Lana made him feel like a stalker. She’d become an obsession to him.
Clicking off his computer, he watched as she started packing her cleaning stuff away.
“It’s a cold night out,” he said, gaining her attention.
She jerked, turning to face him. “Excuse me?” she asked.
He noticed she pushed a strand of hair off her face as she stared at him.
“It’s a cold night out. How are you getting home?”
Her hand moved to her side. She fisted her hand as her gaze moved toward the windows. “I’m walking.”