Mister Impossible: Bachelor International, Book 3 Read online

  Her cheeks flushed. I wasn’t sure if it was because of embarrassment or ire, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a woman blush, much less been the instigator of such a reaction. Funny how such a little thing like pinkish cheeks could spark my arousal even more.

  “That’s not what I meant with that question,” she said, though her voice was low and rough as if she’d had a hard time getting the words out.

  I fixed my eyes on hers. “I know; I was giving you a hard time.”

  Her gaze dropped to my crotch for the briefest of seconds, but not before I noticed her licking her lips.

  “And,” I said, unable to stop myself from doing so once I realized what I’d inadvertently spoken. “That’s not what I meant with that answer.”

  The color on her cheeks darkened. “I wasn’t… I didn’t…,” she stuttered.

  It was the first time I’d seen her be anything other than one hundred ten percent confident. Even more, it was the first time I knew for a fact that I affected her. Though I’d thought she’d wanted to kiss me when we had dinner, and even though she’d invited me inside when I dropped her off later that night, I wasn’t sure of her reason.

  Had it been a way to apologize for running off so many years ago? Or was her invitation something she always ended a date with? I hadn’t been sure, so I’d made it a point to keep my distance.

  But today, in the closet turned conference room, there was no doubt in my mind that it was me she wanted. I was the one responsible for the color in her cheeks.

  “But,” I said, holding a hand up and putting an end to her stutter. “I could mean it that way if that’s what you want.”

  “What?” she asked.

  I took a step closer to her. It really was a tiny space to be considered a conference room, but though my steps brought me closer to her, the space wasn’t so small that she couldn’t back away if she wanted. There was plenty of room for her to move if she felt crowded in any way.

  She didn’t budge.

  I took another step closer. “I meant I can give you the type of hard time you were thinking about if that’s what you want.”

  Her lips were pressed together tightly. No way she’d be licking them anytime soon, and she lifted her chin. “This after you brushed me off without so much as a by-your-leave when I asked if you wanted to come inside my apartment after dinner?”

  “A momentary lapse of judgment.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “The way you haven’t called or sent a text or anything since then?”

  “Incorrect assumption on my part that you needed time and space in order to decide if you wanted anything to do with me.” It wasn’t a lie, and I hoped she could see just how truthful my words were when she looked in my eyes.

  No one had ever called Bri a pushover when we were young, and the woman who now stood before me wasn’t one either. She wouldn’t believe something simply because. No, she was a bloodhound and would search out the truth.

  When her expression softened, I knew she believed me. My shoulders relaxed.

  “Why would you think I needed time and space?” she asked.

  “Because I was afraid I’d misinterpreted your invitation, and I didn’t want to move too fast and put you in a position to where you did something you weren’t ready for or something you’d regret later.”

  Silence filled the conference room as she thought over my words. Her expression was pensive, and then, all at once, her face lit up. “Does that mean if we were in the same position again, and I invited you inside, that you’d agree?”

  “Oh yes.” I reached out and stroked her cheek, loving the way she closed her eyes, and her breath hitched at my touch. “I wouldn’t have to think twice about it.”

  Her lips parted, and I swallowed a groan.

  “What would we do once you were inside my apartment?”

  “Whatever you wanted,” I answered, wondering when my voice got to be so raspy. It hadn’t sounded like that moments before. But I couldn’t forget we were in an office building. I didn’t want to start something in a public location where it couldn’t be finished. Not to mention it would not be a good thing for us to be caught doing anything inappropriate.

  I took a step back. “But for now, why don’t we dig into these files?”

  Chapter 11

  Bri

  Piers and I spent the better part of three hours trying to determine what the files contained, what we needed from them, and the most efficacious way to organize everything. To say I was on edge for ninety-nine percent of those three hours was an understatement. I thought after those first few minutes in the conference room when he confessed how he’d misread our earlier time together that the sexual tension would continue to build. But Piers seemed to have the ability to shut off that part of himself when he wanted to.

  We’d been working for almost three hours when Piers looked at his watch. “I need to leave in about five minutes.”

  By that time, I was not only sexually frustrated but also on the irritated side. It didn’t seem fair he could be so calm and cool while I was the exact opposite. I didn’t look up from the file at his statement. “Okay.”

  He didn’t move, but I felt his eyes on me. “I wanted to know if you’d be able to have dinner with me sometime this week?”

  “Would you have asked me if Mia hadn’t put the two of us working together?” I asked, still not looking at him.

  I heard a hard exhale of breath before he answered. “Probably not today, but for certain I’d have called and asked one day soon.”

  I’d expected him to say whatever he thought he needed to in order to keep me happy, so I wasn’t ready for his completely honest answer. I turned my head to him and dropped the file in my hand. Fortunately, I’d spent years learning to keep my emotions hidden. It only took a fraction of a second to compose and settle my expression.

  “In that case,” I said. “Yes, dinner would be enjoyable. How does tomorrow sound?”

  If I’d thought my flippant reply would rattle him, I was wrong. A slight lift of the corner of his mouth was the only sign he’d picked up on what I was doing. “Tomorrow sounds delightful.”

  “You make it sound like it’s a date for ice cream or something.”

  “Or something,” he said with a chuckle. “Definitely or something. And if it’s merely enjoyable, I’ll never show my face in this office again.”

  I snorted. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  Why our interchange felt more like foreplay than anything else, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was I didn’t want it to end anytime soon. His five minutes were up though, I assumed as he put away the files he’d been working on.

  “I won’t be able to help tomorrow,” he said. “In fact, I hadn’t planned to come to this office at all.”

  “I don’t need help. I can work by myself.”

  His voice held a note of sadness when he answered. “I know you can.”

  Mia was waiting in my office when I arrived the next morning. Not that I was surprised. She’d already left with Tenor when I emerged from the conference room the day before. I had a pretty good idea about what she wanted to talk about.

  “I picked up some coffee for you on my way in,” she said with a nod toward the paper cup from a local café. “Black. Extra strong.”

  “You’re a godsend. Thank you.” I sat down at my desk and took a second to lift the coffee cup up for a small sip. The steam tickling my nose meant Mia had only recently arrived herself. After a long night of tossing and turning, trying to decide what to about Piers and the Organization, I’d drifted off to sleep around dawn. Of course this meant I slept through my alarm and woke up with barely enough time to make myself look halfway decent. To top it off, I hadn’t had time to stop for coffee.

  She gave a small laugh. “I don’t know about a godsend, but you’re welcome.”

  I took a few sips of the glorious brew, allowing the warmth to seep into my body and revitalize my cells. Damn. There was nothing great
coffee couldn’t fix.

  “I’m sure you know I’m here to talk about Piers.”

  Well, almost anything.

  I didn’t move from my seat but waited for her to continue. While she worked herself up enough to ask me whatever questions she had, I did my best to act calm, inhaling the scent of the coffee and taking the occasional sip.

  She finally started. “You and Piers knew each other in London, he said.”

  “Yes. We were little more than children, to be honest.”

  “Piers has mentioned his childhood to me once, and the message I took away from that conversation was it left a lot to be desired.”

  “That’s one way to put it,” I agreed.

  “I take it you were in a similar position?”

  The last thing I wanted to do was talk about how awful my childhood was. Especially first thing in the morning and with my boss. “Yes.”

  Mia must have understood my clipped reply. “The only reason I’m asking is that if you were there with Piers, it stands to reason you saw and went through most of what he did.”

  I placed my coffee on the desk in front of me. “What is it you want to ask me?” I asked. There was more to this early-morning meeting, complete with coffee, than was obvious from first glance.

  My straightforward approach coaxed a weary smile from Mia. “I want to know if there’s anyone from your joint past who may be able to help Bachelor International with our current issue?”

  Because I’d expected her to ask me if I thought someone from our past had anything to do with the situation they found themselves in, it took a heartbeat and a half for me to understand her actual question.

  I wanted to make sure I understood correctly. “You’re asking if I know of anyone who might be something of a hired gun?”

  “Damn.” Mia leaned back in her chair. “I should have listened to Tenor when he told me this was a bad idea.”

  “No,” I hastened to add. “No judgment from me. I just want to get a handle on what it is you’re asking for.” She nodded, and I continued. “I assumed you didn’t need someone to look into who’s potentially behind everything since you already had Piers doing that. Am I correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Typically, a person will only cross over into the dark side for a handful of reasons. One, to get information or two, to get even. Piers is handling number one, which leaves me with number two. Hired gun.”

  Mia leaned forward. “I don’t know how these things work. Not to mention, this is way out of my comfort zone. But damn it, if I can pay someone to make whatever or whoever go away and stay away, I’ll do it in a heartbeat.”

  I vowed at that moment, no matter what happened between me and Piers, no matter what the Organization did, I wouldn’t let Mia, Tenor, or Bachelor International be a victim. I didn’t know how to go about pulling it off, but I told myself I’d do it somehow.

  Chapter 12

  Piers

  I couldn’t wait until Bri saw how we were starting our date.

  In fact, I was so excited I showed up in the lobby of the high-rise that housed Bachelor International twenty minutes early. Trying to play it off, I shot her a quick text.

  Traffic was lighter than expected. I’m downstairs. Come when you’re ready.

  Her response was lightning fast.

  Funny, I didn’t peg you as a “come when you’re ready” man. I’d have thought you were more dominant.

  I read it a second time.

  Fucking bloody hell. Just reading her typed words made my dick ache. But if that was how she wanted to play…

  Let me know when you’re ready to find out. I smirked when I hit Send.

  Keep dreaming.

  “Trust me, Bri,” I said, putting my phone back in my pocket. “I am.”

  After that exchange, I expected her to make me wait the full twenty minutes, even if she was ready to leave before then, simply to make a point. But as she’d been doing almost every time our paths crossed, she surprised me.

  No longer than five minutes after she sent her last text, I watched as she stepped out of the elevator and headed my way.

  “You’re early,” she said. “One of my favorite characteristics in a man.”

  “I’ll have to remember that.” I held out my arm. “Ready?”

  She took it and tilted her face up toward me. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going, or is it a secret?”

  I didn’t answer, but led her out the door, and watched as scanned the road outside, knowing what she was looking for.

  “Where’s your car?” she asked.

  “Don’t need it.”

  “Is this a walking date? Because I don’t know if I have the right shoes for a walking date.”

  I glanced down to said shoes. They were lovely, delicate sandals with straps that tied around her ankle. “I’d hate for you to do anything to scuff or otherwise mess up those beautiful shoes. If they can make it two blocks, they’ll be absolutely perfect for what I have planned.”

  “They’ll make it two blocks.”

  As she spoke, I could see her mind trying to calculate where we were going. I knew she hadn’t been in Boston for long, and I could only cross my fingers and hope that she hadn’t already done anything similar to what I had planned. Either way, she’d been in town long enough to know there was a rail station two blocks away from her building.

  With that knowledge, her assumption more than likely had that as our destination. I knew I was right when as we approached the entrance way, and I veered off to the left away from it.

  “Aren’t we…?” She pointed toward the station.

  Instead of answering her, I pulled to a stop beside a car and driver parked on the side of the street. I waved at the transportation I’d hired for the evening. “Here we are.”

  The driver jumped out of the front seat and opened the door for us to get into the back.

  “Really?” Bri asked. “I thought we were getting on the train.”

  “I know,” I answered. “Which is one of the reason I had the driver meet us here as opposed to in front of your building. Another reason being I thought you might not want your work colleagues to know you were going out with me.”

  “I don’t care what the Bachelor International employees think of me,” she replied. “Nor do I give a flying fuck about their opinion on who I have dinner with.” She looked around the interior of the car. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you set up this part of the date as a mindfuck.”

  She was partially correct. I had thought about the mindfuckery of having the driver meet us near the station, since from that point there were many places we could go.

  The driver pulled into the street, and I couldn’t help but notice Bri’s excitement as we drove out of the downtown area. It was almost as if she’d never seen it before.

  “How long have you been in Boston?” I asked.

  “Just a few weeks,” she replied, not peeling her eyes from the window. “I haven’t been out and about much. Silly, isn’t it? I’ve been so busy with work and all.”

  I wasn’t sure silly was the word I’d use. Perhaps odd or strange. Who moved to a new town and didn’t seek out some sights? Though I had to admit it meant tonight would be an entirely new experience for her. One I’d be able to share with her. And that made me happy.

  The sun had almost set completely by the time we made it to the marina that was our destination. After the driver opened the door and let us out, I couldn’t keep my eyes off Bri or the way she looked around the Bay. It was intense, almost as if she’d seen nothing like it and needed to memorize every little detail so she could recite it later to someone who had likewise never seen it.

  “Are we going to have dinner along the Bay?” she asked, unable to mask the excitement in her voice.

  “Not really along the Bay,” I said, and her face fell. “More like in the Bay.”

  Her brow furrowed right as the yacht I’d reserved for the night pulled up to the empty dock where we stood
.

  “Mr. Worthington?” a uniformed gentleman asked, stepping out to greet us.

  “Yes,” I said, and though I carried on a brief conversation with the captain, the entire time we spoke, I divided my attention between him and Bri. He confirmed all my requests had been taken care of and that everything was in place. And even while I nodded, I wondered how I became so lucky to have met up again with Bri.

  The captain gave me the go-ahead, and I turned my focus totally on Bri. “Are you ready to step on board?”

  “Do we have to wait for more people?” She looked around the dock. The marina wasn’t close to being deserted, but there was no one near us.

  “There are no other people.” I held out my hand. “Just us. Me and you, on the yacht for as long as you like.”

  Mischief danced behind her eyes. “What if I were to tell you I get violently seasick just thinking about it?”

  Shit. The thought had never crossed my mind once. Why didn’t I think about that before setting the entire evening up?

  “I’m kidding,” she finally said, and my body relaxed. “Wow, I really had you going there for a minute, didn’t I?”

  “You don’t get violently seasick?” I had to make sure I’d understood correctly.

  “Never had a drop of it, and I’ve been on too many boats, ships, you name it, to count.”

  When we were kids and she would tease me in a similar way, I threatened to thrash her. It hadn’t been an effective deterrent then, and I doubted it would work any better now. Though I had to admit, the image of her bending over, offering her ass for a spanking, worked perfectly fine for me.

  Not now, I chastised myself and motioned her forward. “After you.”

  Even though I’d lived in Boston for years, I’d done nothing close to vacationing in my city or attempting to see it from an outsider’s viewpoint. To allow myself the freedom to do so, even for just one night, was more fun than I expected. Not to mention, I gained an entirely new perspective on the city I considered my home while looking at it from the water.