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But the questionable truce I’ve formed with the man, as well as the deal we’ve made, is worth it. If not for anything else, for the expression on Aspen’s face the moment she walks into the grandpa-themed office.
If a mood can be measured by temperature, she’s definitely at the boiling point.
I take a sip of my coffee, pretending her presence bores me to death when all I want to do is trap her against the nearest wall and make her spit out the naked truth.
Or, actually, get her naked.
Wait. Hold on. What—and I mean this—the fuckwas that thought all about?
I don’t want to get Aspen naked.
My type is mute, only screams when I’m pounding them, and doesn’t ever, and I mean,ever, talk back to me. In short, everything Aspen Leblanc—or Locatelli or whatever the last name the witch coven chose for her—fucking isn’t.
Soft and angelic wouldn’t touch this woman with a ten-foot pole. Even her younger self was a hellion through and through.
But then again, what do you expect from a kid from the ghetto who offered her father to the FBI on a platter?
No wonder she’s a hard nut to crack—or a nut that’s not to be cracked. She’s been in constant survival mode since she was a kid.
Not sure what that load of information adds to my agenda, but it’s nowhere near good.
“And what are you doing here?” she asks with the exasperation of a fed-up, stern teacher.
“He’s my chief legal counsel until further notice,” Nicolo answers, still sucking on a damn cigar like it’s a Popsicle.
“Guess that means we’ll be working together.” I tilt the coffee cup in her direction like a mock salute. “Again.”
“I came first,” she’s addressing both of us, but the glare is only for me.
“This isn’t a marathon. First or last doesn’t matter.” I cock my head at Nicolo. “Toys and connections do.”
“You gave me your word.” She jerks her attention to Nicolo now.
The asshole smiles at her, taking my advice about his grim expression seriously for the first time, and I want to reach out to the me from half an hour ago and kick him in the balls. “And I’m keeping my word, Ms. Leblanc. I never said you’d be appointed as my chief legal advisor. I just said you’d be on my legal team. The chief position never concerned you.”
“Because I’m a woman?”
“Because I don’t trust you…yet.”
“And you trusthim?” She enunciates the “him” with a jerky finger in my direction.
“I trust his money, his profit-oriented mind, and his character that I’ve known for decades. You, however, are still on trial.”
She taps her toe on the floor, which is both a sign of distress and haughty behavior. Having survived and thrived in a male-dominated world, Aspen, like many of us, doesn’t take defeat so well.
I’m ready to bet half my fortune that she’s concocting a plan to bounce back up. This time, she’ll aim for the top.
She’s not a sore loser, she’s just not a loser. Period.
The word has never been in her vocabulary. Probably long before I first met her in the form of a seductress femme fatale.
“Will working with Kingsley cause any issues?” Nicolo asks on a puff of putrid smoke.
“Not at all.” She smiles at him, then glares at me. “We worksowell together, he and I.”
“Is that so?” He stares between us like a dog with a bone. “From my extensive background check, I gathered you two are rivals who, by a stroke of fate, happen to share a daughter.”
More like a stroke of the devil while high on his lush desires.
