Forbidden Nights (Seductive Nights #5)(67)
Author: Lauren Blakely

“Oh!” she shouted, seething, her anger coming through loud and clear. “He pitched me on an idea. I didn’t look at it right away, and when I finally did I was already doing the deal with you. And, for the record, it was my idea to work with you. I didn’t steal it from him. Besides, his pitch was for another product, and his tagline was terrible. But I was going to put him in touch with Good Vibes. That’s what I meant by exploring possibilities. On top of that, I’m not even in talks with the Pierson.”

“He said something about how it must feel to use the LolaRing. The whole being licked and fucked. It just made me wonder where he’d heard that.”

Casey laughed. “It’s a freaking cock ring with an oral sex simulator vibe attached to it. It damn well better feel like being licked and fucked at the same time. I don’t think it takes insider knowledge to conclude that. Besides, I would never ever try to screw you or anyone else on a deal. You know that, right?”

He inhaled deeply, and a smile dared to appear on his face. He believed her. It was that simple. Kat was right. You simply made a choice to trust, a choice to believe, a choice to move forward. He was doing all three and would keep on that path.

“I do know that,” he said, and all that anger and fear faded away. In its place was something better. Something that came from a true and deep faith in another person. Ethan had tried to shake that but he’d been unsuccessful. He would, however, get a piece of Nate’s mind after his board meeting.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

New York, a few minutes later . . .

Casey infiltrated his office easily, making it past the receptionist by claiming a meeting. Hell, if he was going to make up shit about her, she could very well do the same. She marched to Ethan’s office, knocked on the open door, and stepped inside. He raised his face from his screen, and the look in his eyes was one of pure guilt.

“Knock, knock,” she said in a cool, even tone.

“Who’s there?” he choked out.

“The ballbreaker,” she said as she walked over to his desk, parked her hands on the wood, and stared him in the eyes. “You thought I was a ballbreaker. You thought I was cutthroat. You thought I screwed you over. Does that about sum it up, Holmes?” she asked, completely in control, even as she broiled inside.

He nodded, like he’d been caught stealing. “Because I sent you the idea,” he said, as if he were on the witness stand under cross-examination.

“You did. You did send me an idea. And it was a good idea. It also was not an original idea, but that’s okay. I don’t require original ideas. But do not act as if your idea was patented. You would not have been the first hotel chain to offer sexy perks in the rooms,” she said, rattling off the names of a litany of hotels that featured late-night menus. “Yet, you are acting like you brought me the prototype for the next iPhone and I stole it from you because I didn’t respond to your email right away. The reality is this—I am a busy woman. I didn’t read your email for a week. And during that time, I struck a deal with Nate Harper, a deal I am sticking to. And you had the nerve to try to turn a line—one line—in an email to you into some sort of character assassination of me,” she said, pointing at her chest as she continued to deliver her speech, “but here’s what you left out. The parts where I said we should find ways to work together in the future. The parts where I said I had an idea for you. You want to know what that idea was?”

He nodded meekly, the color draining from his face. “Yes,” he squeaked.

“I know people in business. I know lots of people in the business world. I have good relationships with those people because I don’t screw anyone over. I was going to introduce you to my friends at Good Vibes because I liked your idea,” she said, savoring the wince on his face when she said Good Vibes. It was the wince of a man who’d been bested, who’d lost out from his own hubris. “But do you think I will now?”

“Umm,” he began.

She stabbed a finger against his desk. “That’s right. The answer is no. And it’s not because I’m cutthroat. It’s not because I’d do anything for a deal. It’s because I care about the people I work with and the products I sell. And you, Ethan, do not. But maybe I will reach out to the Pierson. Maybe the Pierson would like to carry The Wild One. Because from what I know about management at the Pierson, they don’t play these kind of bullshit games.” Then she paused, took a deep breath, and hit him hard with her final words. “By the way, do you know what they say about this woman in business?”

He shook his head meekly.

“I’ll tell you what they say. That I’m fair and honest. And I’ll tell you what I say to people who aren’t. And it’s this. You lost out. Because no one fucks with me, my company, or my family.”

She turned on her heels and marched out.

* * *

Five hours later, the board meeting ended and his Skype call was finished, and Nate couldn’t wait to track down that slimy fucker and give him a piece of his mind. Admittedly, there’d been a moment in his meeting when he’d doubted his ability to judge people, but then he reminded himself that he hadn’t let Ethan far enough into his life for the man to do true harm. Ethan wasn’t a best buddy who’d turned on him. Ethan was no Bryan or Jack in his life. He was merely a colleague that Nate had tried to give a small bit of help too, and the guy had turned out to have one hell of a chip on his shoulder. Nate was not going to beat himself up over having had a few drinks with him in the past.

He was, however, going to let the bastard know not to pull that shit with him or Casey ever again. The elevator shot him down to the lobby, and he tapped his foot, anxious for the doors to spread open. When he reached the lobby, his eyes were treated to his favorite sight.

“Want to know what I’ve been up to?” Casey asked invitingly, as if she had a naughty secret.

“I do.”

“I paid a visit to Mr. Holmes,” she said then proceeded to narrate in fantastic detail, acting out the priceless moments of her encounter with Ethan. “And then I marched out, and it was awesome,” she said, and the expression on her face was one of pure victory.

“That’s because no one messes with my badass woman,” he said, then pulled her in for a quick kiss. “And to think, I was just going to take care of that myself.”

Her eyes widened for a moment, and she turned starkly serious. “You don’t mind that I did already?”