Howl at the Moon (9 page)

“You never take time on anything. What if I wanted to order something else?”

“Did you?”

“No.”

“Then shut up.”

“Someone’s in a bad mood.”

“Tell me something to make me feel better.”

“Well, I may have another merger in the works.”

“Five-year plan?”

“Yeah, losses only seen in the first three if we hire all new employees. If we keep them, then losses will be taken down to the first two years. Profit looks to move back to forty percent by year five. From there it can go either way, depending on the moves we make.”

“Safe deal then.”

“Always.”

“You don’t need my input on a deal like that.”

“No.” Brad started as the waiter came up and poured their wine. Clyde would have loved a cold beer but that wouldn’t be right here. “But I will ask because of who is sitting as founder.”

“Who?”

“Armhi Masuim.” Clyde froze in midswallow and nearly choked. He swallowed painfully. At one time Armhi would have been called a friend as well. That is, if he hadn’t hurt one of Tatiana’s dearest friends, Reese. The small, shy bundle of nerves had believed more than she should have of the playboy’s advances. When things had gone too far one night, Reese hadn’t spoken for a week and Armhi had suddenly disappeared to his native Jordan. Clyde never quite knew what happened and Tatiana had never wanted to talk about it. Armhi may have had a harder upbringing than even Clyde. He’d pulled himself up from the street, literally. Clyde still greatly respected the man’s story, if not some of his actions.

“Why would he sale? Invistar has been making it, even in the recession.”

“He doesn’t want to sale, per se. It’s more of a merger, as I said. He stays at the helm and comes back to Texas to run his headquarters.”

“Tatiana would have my neck if I did that. She can’t stand the man after what he did to her friend.”

“Your assistant? What does she have to do with business? Oh.” Brad wagged his eyebrows and rubbed his hands together. “There is something going between you and her. I knew it! I’ve been seen how you look at her. Not very brotherly, if you ask me.”

“I told you there is nothing there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Then I can get to her?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Brad didn’t answer. He simply stared across the room to the entrance. Clyde turned around and nearly felt his head explode.

Tatiana, in a way he had never seen her, was walking into La Colombe on the arm of a man Clyde had never seen before. Of course, Texas was a big state, but Clyde walked in the circles of money, and that was a smaller group. This man looked like he had money. A lot of it. Even that didn’t hold his complete attention though. The vision in white did. She was as bright as the sun. Her lips were darkened slightly compared to her cocoa complexion but her eyes were vibrant with a bronzed tone. The catlike liner made her eyes mysterious. The man caressed her cheek and she shuddered, eyes closing for a minute, and gooseflesh rising over her arms. Bare arms that sloped into luscious breasts.

Her breasts were damn near popping out of her top!

A growl ripped through his chest. He tried to hold it in, to stop his wolf from ripping out and tearing apart the man who dared touch her. His fingers curled into his palms, his claws biting into the fleshy parts there. She was exquisite. Her body brushed and touched the man’s in odd spots as she moved with him to her seat. She never even looked at him. Not a once. She took her seat at the table and never blinked at him.

She was his goddamned assistant! She’d know he was there.

“Clyde,” Brad called, adding a shove to his shoulder. When Clyde finally was able to drag his eyes off Tatiana he could tell that Brad had been trying to get his attention for some time.

“Yes?”

“And you say there is nothing going on. Perhaps on her side that’s true. On yours, not so much?”

“She damn well knows better.”

“Oh, come off it, Clyde. I’ve been surprised that she hasn’t dated much in the three years she’s worked for you. Outside of Reese, no one seems to date in that group. Well, Lana, but she didn’t have a very happy ending.”

“She is off-limits, Brad.”

“Why? Because she’s with that lot over there?” Brad asked, pointing at the couple. “How much you want to bet that I can take her from him?”

A growl ripped from Clyde before he could stop it. He watched, with death in his eyes, as the man kissed Tatiana’s neck softly and she smiled, just as soft, her face a portrait of desire. Desire that she should have only had for him. Never mind that he didn’t want her forever. Until he was good and done with her, no other man should have been able to have her. He wanted to break her pretty little neck after he marked right where that man dared touch her. He wanted to lick every inch of her flesh, make it known that she belonged to him.

And only to him.

“Would you excuse me for a moment?” Clyde said in passing, already rising to his feet, eyes dead on Tatiana. Brad jumped to his feet.

“Clyde, this is not smooth. Don’t get all bent because you’ve had repressed desires about this woman and you are suddenly realizing it. She can have whoever she wants. I was just kidding about what I said,” Brad rushed, stepping in front of Clyde.

“I’m just going to say hello.”

“Not with that look in your eye, and not in this restaurant. Money be damned, they won’t let you act like this in their main dining room.”

Clyde heaved a sigh, trying to quiet his frantically beating heart. Tatiana still never looked up, even as the drinks were poured. She only had eyes for the swarthy pirate in front of her.

“A drink, to us,
liebe
.” Clyde heard the man say on the edge of his hearing, another blessing of his new other part. The asshole had called her “dear,” and in German no less. His mother tongue.

Clyde sat down with a thump. He ate mechanically. The food, as always, was impeccable, but he couldn’t hear anything else that Brad said, or even taste what he put in his mouth. He could only smell, taste, hear, and see one woman. A woman who could give a shit less about him. Suddenly her friend’s words popped into his head. If he didn’t go for her, someone else would. He didn’t want more than his body wanted, but he wasn’t going to let someone else in his territory. She would feel him inside of her for years to come. He’d make sure that when
he
walked away she wouldn’t be able to be with another man without comparing him. Clyde ignored his terrorizing wolf at the thought of her with another man. This was about principle, not need. Not love.

Never love.

Chapter Ten

Aaron watched Tatiana leave with an amazing smile on her face. Lea, his annoying, angelic employer, had gone in drag as Stephen, which was delicious in itself. According to Stephen, it had been liberating, for his charge Tatiana had enjoyed herself immensely, especially when Clyde had gotten up from his table to come toward her and Brad had been the only thing that stopped him. Tatiana had wanted very much to look at Clyde to see what he did. Aaron could just imagine the tension there. He would have loved to have been the fly on the wall just to see that.

And to see Lea in the act. She must have been a very convincing man. As the rules of his new lease on life, he had no contact with the outside world. He was constantly working on Tatiana’s case. He couldn’t call any of his “real” friends for his help. Not that he had many of those. He was too mean, too bitter. He didn’t trust well. Outside of the House of Kox, run by his drag mother Fonda Cox, he didn’t have much love for anyone. She had helped him realize his dream. When everyone around him cast him out, she took him in.

Nearly a year ago Fonda had gone on a trip with her best friend, fashion designer Ayana Morris, to Ethane Hemming’s private island for a fashion show for his designer sister Missy Clove. The outcome of that trip has shocked the HoK like nothing else. Sean, Fonda as a man, had found love. A great love on all accounts, with Ethane’s right hand Collin. Even Aaron had been in tears. To see them together was to see everyone happy. Ayana had even found her prince charming in Ethane. Quite a step up in the world, for sure. Aaron sorely missed his drag mother.

She chose to spend nearly the entire year with her lover so that they could assist in Ayana’s pregnancy. Aaron thought the woman had twins but he couldn’t remember. He would just be happy when Sean commenced with his six-month stays in the States again. Then again, he wouldn’t be able to talk to him. So maybe it was for the best.

“She did well. You would have been proud of her. She really must have been imagining Clyde the whole time. She shook every time I touched her.” Lea leaned back on the sofa, her baby-blue summer dress billowing around her legs as it had its own fan built in.

“Can angels be lesbians?” Aaron asked, laughing inside.

“Shut it, Aaron. It was fun. It was more about female power. It was for Tatiana.”

“I was just kidding, Lea. I know you helped her out big time last night and I’m happy for that.”

“Aaron? Happy for someone? Should I check your temperature?”

“That’s what you wanted right?”

“Yes. Me and the Big Guy.”

“Who? Oh,” Aaron finished when Lean pointed up at the ceiling. “Lea?”

“Yes?”

“If I get through this, will my friends still be there?” Aaron asked, thinking of Sean.

“The ones that truly were your friends will be. Aaron, it is as if your life is on pause. Yes, the world is spinning but, if you succeed, which I am sure you will, you will step back in as if nothing ever happened. You’ll remember all that you have done, and so will those you helped. Who knows what they may bring into your life as well.”

“They will remember me?”

“Yes. But I can’t say much more on that. God’s plan is His plan. Everything has its place and time. Just know that when He gives chances like this He has it planned so very well that you couldn’t even imagine. He knows the beginning, middle, and the end. Trust in that.”

“I thought that He had forsaken me long ago.”

“No, dear. You forsook Him. Mankind does that sometimes, but He believes in you. So much more than you could ever imagine. He does not give you anything more than you can bear. What you went through you were meant too. Trust in that.”

“I am trying. I truly am.”

“I know and He knows as well. What are you off to do now?” she asked, smoothly changing the subject. He was happy she did. He didn’t know how comfortable he was on that line of thinking. Tatiana and Clyde were much easier to deal with.

“I have a plan, one that formed last night. Tatiana did more than I thought she would with turning herself on. I think she is ready for the next step. If I can get Clyde involved, even better.”

“I await your summons for any more help. You are doing well. Very well.”

Aaron didn’t bother to reply. She was gone before he could even take his next breath. Still, the compliment warmed his heart. Maybe, just maybe, the angel had been right all along. He shrugged the thoughts off and left the house. Heading to Tatiana’s job was a calculated move this time. He just hoped the boneheaded man worked with him. He went inside and was much colder with Sharice. He probably needed to be nicer but he just didn’t like the harlot. Actually, he couldn’t stand her. She’d tried to hurt Tatiana, even if it went with his plans. The fact that she did still irritated Aaron. Tatiana was fast becoming his friend and he didn’t have many of those.

“She’s in her office. I’m sure you don’t need a buzz in,” Sharice said to him, her smile faked. Aaron passed her quickly. It wasn’t Tatiana he wanted, but the little twit didn’t need to know that. He knocked on Clyde’s door, taking in a fortifying breath.

“Enter.” Aaron stepped in and closed the door behind him. He leaned against the door, waiting for Clyde to look at him. When he did, he arched a brow.

“You again.”

“I figured I’d come bang my head against a brick wall again. Why not? It is for a friend.”

“Your friend looked rather cozy last night.”

“Oh, she was. I’m just rooting for you. This guy she doesn’t know. This guy she just sexually attracted to.”

“Are you saying she’s more than that with me?”

“Are you always this obtuse? Because if you are I don’t know how you got so far in business.”

“Is there a point to this meeting?”

“You can’t even smile. Whatever. I’m here to give you one last chance to take up the reins. You want her right?”

“Look, I will do this my own way. I don’t need lessons from you. I was doing fine before you got here.”

“Yeah. Sure. That’s exactly why she was with another man last night. Well…this morning.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘this morning?’”

“Nothing. Are you in or are you out?”

“What exactly are you proposing if I take you up on this cockamamy offer?” Clyde sat back. Here was the businessman. This was the head of the board who could stare down a man who was worth millions and win every time. Aaron appreciated the stance. It meant he was listening. Good.

“How about watching your girl play all good with herself and then suddenly appearing in her room?”

“Come again?” Aaron wondered if Clyde felt the same way when Lea had told him he was going to die? The blank stare on his face said he probably did.

“Look, we like to have…well girls’ night with my alter ego Coco. Tonight is about loving yourself. Really well, too, I might add. By time you enter that room the both of you should be revved up enough to have great make-up sex. It could also allow you to get your stamp in where that other man’s is now.” Aaron refrained from cringing from his white lie. There was no way that Tatiana would let any other man touch her. Her love for Clyde was very true. But Clyde wasn’t letting himself see that he was already falling for the woman he was so desperate to get away from. He just needed a little push.

“You want me to watch her?” Clyde asked hesitantly.

“Well, more than that but yes. That’s a good enough start.”

“And she has agreed to that?”

“You think I’d come here if she hadn’t?” Aaron crossed his fingers behind his back. Okay, Lea was rubbing off on his way too much that he couldn’t even lie without feeling marginally bad.