AllFreeNovel
Share Us
So far, she hadn’t really noticed him. He was just another client dressed in a business suit waiting his turn for a meeting with oneof the executives. She was one of six executive assistants manning desks outside the executive offices, like sentries guarding the doors of the castle. Only she guarded the door to the CEO, her grandfather.
The PI had supplied some decent intel.
Summer ran things for her grandfather—going over proposals, discussing business with the people who came to meet with her grandfather, and summing up the situation, letting visitors know whether they had a chance in hell of getting the CEO’s approval.
Cody had heard that old saying that behind every great man was a woman helping him to succeed. Charles Sutherland had Summer Weston standing in front of him making sure things were done right.
The detective hadn’t come up with anything really personal on her. He’d said she was a hard worker, efficient and competent. She had a bachelor’s degree in business management. Cody thought that was a concession to pressures from her grandfather, whose expectations were high, his standards even higher. He was considered a ruthless businessman, though he had a real sense of fair play.
His daughter, Summer’s mother, Jessica, was considered a temptress. She’d seduced, married, and divorced four wealthy men. That didn’t include the numerous lovers she’d taken over the last twenty-plus years.
She’d taken every one of her ex-husbands for as much as she could get. So why hadn’t she demanded her due from Nate?
Time to get some answers.
Cody approached Summer’s desk, ready for those gorgeous blue eyes to lock on him and the electric attraction running through him to sizzle even as he fought it.
“Can I help you?” Her voice was like a gentle rain, soft and soothing.
For a second, he didn’t know what to say.
She tilted her head and studied him. “I don’t have anything on the schedule for another twenty-seven minutes.” She eyed him. “Did my mother send you?”
“You could say that,” he said vaguely.
***
Summer liked the smooth, deep, slow rumble of his voice. It perked up her nerve endings and drew her complete attention. It was the kind of voice a woman would never tire of hearing.
She looked at him from the top of his golden head to the tips of his expensive polished shoes. His dark blue suit was perfectly tailored to fit his broad shoulders and lean waist. She had to admit, this time her mother had tried to set her up with a very good-looking man.
Most of the time, the men she sent after Summer were businessman-soft with a wealth of entitlement issues that matched their hefty bank accounts.
There was nothing soft about this man, from the strong set of his jaw to his long, elegant fingers that could curl into sledgehammer-sized fists and crush anything he slammed them into, namely a table when he objected to his opponents’ arguments.
“Lawyer, right?” When his eyes narrowed, she knew she’d hit the mark. “Lawyers love to answer a question without actually answering it. So, what is it this time? My mother knows your mother, they had lunch, hatched a plan to get the two of us together and meld family names and bank accounts, and produce beautiful heirs?”
One eyebrow quirked. “This has happened before?”
She shrugged with indifference. This scene had played out countless times, though she had to admit never at her office. Usually the men approached her at whatever social event her mother guilted her into attending. It had gotten to the point that she suspected any man who asked her out as a setup. So she simply turned them down without ever considering one of them could be the man of her dreams. Any man her mother wanted for her couldn’t be trusted.
She’d learned that the hard way.
She wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.
“Too many times to count,” she answered him. “You probably come from a wealthy family, born and bred with the best of everything, attended the best schools, graduated summa cum laude from college and law school, became a partner in your family’s lucrative practice, and now your parents can’t wait to see you happily settled with a wife from an equally acceptable family, and then you’ll have two kids.”
She saw the cool look in his eyes, the way he seemed to flex and tense, and the set of his mouth thinned like the thought of those wealthy, entitled boys was beneath him.
She changed her mind about the handsome stranger. It wasn’t often she second-guessed her initial impression of someone. Most of the time, she was dead-on. This man was worth a second look. That he intrigued her and set off a little flutter in her belly interested her even more. “On second thought, you’re different from the others. I’ll give you that. You actually worked your way through school with determination and grit to become the successful man you present today.”
The intensity in him eased. “What made you change your mind?”
“The look in your eyes. You look like a man who doesn’t take anything for granted.”
“I try not to.”
She believed him and relaxed. He definitely was not one of the snotty brats her mother usually sent after her.
