Hunk for the Holidays (20 page)

“I’m going to kill him,” she hissed between her teeth.

“Get a grip, Cassie. Like I told Dad, we don’t even know for sure that Sutton Construction is who Steve Mitchell is going with. There were a lot of companies in on the bid. I guess we’ll have to wait until after the holidays to find out.”

“Like hell we will.” Cassie popped the truck into drive, completely ignoring the annoyed look of James’s neighbor when she pulled away with cell phone to ear.

“Oh, no, Cass,” Rory said. “Don’t even think about going over to Steve Mitchell. Not on the friggin’ day before Christmas.”

“I don’t know why not,” she fumed. She took the corner a little too fast and hit a slick spot that had the truck’s back end fishtailing. “He has interrupted more than one of our holidays complaining about one thing or another. Now, after we’ve put up with his anal nitpicking, he wants to drop us like a dirty shirt. I don’t think so.”

There was a long pause before Rory’s voice came back on. “Fine, but for God’s sake, call him before you show up at his door. And if he’s busy, let it go until after the holidays. Dad’s going to be pissed enough as it is that you’re taking care of it without talking to him first.”

“He won’t be pissed if he doesn’t find out,” she said.

“So you want me to lie?”

“No, I just want you to keep the truth to yourself until I’ve talked with Steve. I certainly don’t need Big Al busting in on the meeting.”

“And what do you want me to tell Mom when you’re late for Christmas Eve dinner?” he asked.

The last thing Cassie felt like doing was attending her
huge family’s Christmas Eve dinner. But there was no hope for it. She could be late, but if she didn’t show up, the entire clan would come looking for her.

“Just tell her I’m working. No one will question that. And tell her to set two more places for dinner. I invited Amy and Gabby over.”

“What in the hell for?”

No matter how much Rory didn’t get along with Amy, Cassie was surprised by the outburst. “What’s the matter with you? Ever since you got back, you’ve been a real asshole to Amy. I understand you’re upset about Tess leaving, Rory. But you need to pull your head out. Amy’s not only a trusted employee, she’s a friend. A friend who needs our support now that she’s broken things off with Derek.”

“So she’s not marrying him?” Rory sounded more shocked than Cassie had been. “But why?”

“I don’t know for sure. She said something about wanting the dream.”

There was a long pause before Rory spoke in a dazed-sounding voice. “Yeah. The dream.”

“Welcome, Ms. McPherson.” Steve Mitchell’s smile had always reminded Cassie of a used car salesman, insincere and kind of oily. “So nice to see you.” He held open a door that would’ve been better suited for a storybook giant’s house. Not that a giant wouldn’t have fit very comfortably in the Mitchells’ mansion.

“I’m sorry to bother you today of all days,” Cassie said as she stepped into the foyer with its impressive high-domed ceilings and Italian marble floor.

“Like I told you on the phone, it’s no bother at all,” Steve said. His smile got wider as he closed the door with an echoing click. “In fact, I appreciate the company. The help has flown the coop for the holidays, leaving me all by my little lonesome until I leave for Vegas.”

If it had been someone else, Cassie might’ve felt sorry for him, but Steve Mitchell was about as pitiful as a tarantula. A tarantula that owned Slumber Suites.

“Well, I certainly appreciate the time,” Cassie said as she looked around. “And you have a lovely home.”

“It’s more my father’s taste than mine.” Steve held out his hand for her to precede him down a long hallway. “Which is why I plan on putting it on the market after the holidays. New year, new house.”

And new construction company, Cassie thought as she stepped into the room he indicated. The decor of the room was much more contemporary than the rest of the house. Weird chrome and wood end tables bookended a funky black leather sectional that looked uncomfortable as hell.

Taking her silence as approval, Steve glanced around. “This is the only room I’ve really had the chance to redecorate after my father passed away.” He moved over to the bar. “Could I get you something to drink? Some wine, perhaps?”

“No, thank you,” Cassie said. After her run-in with champagne, just the thought of drinking wine gagged her. Or maybe what gagged her was the person she drank the champagne with. She pushed down the thought and moved over to the couch. “Your father was a good man. We were all saddened by his death.” She sat down, and Steve joined her. The couch was huge, but he sat only
inches away. Cassie had socialized with Steve on a few occasions, and every time, he seemed to have a problem with personal space.

“Let’s be honest.” He handed her a glass of wine as if she hadn’t just refused it. “My father was a tyrant who wanted things done his way or no way. Very similar to your father.”

Al McPherson
was
loud and controlling, but Cassie didn’t talk about family with acquaintances. Or business associates.

“So is that why you decided not to renew your contract with M & M? You don’t care for my father?” she asked.

He laughed. “That’s what I like about the McPhersons. They always cut to the chase.” He leaned back and swirled the wine around in his glass. “My father and I were never on the best of terms. And Big Al
does
remind me of him.” He took a sip. “But like my dear old dad used to say, never let emotions get involved with business. The main reason I’m leaving M & M is that I’ve found a company that will fit Slumber Suites’ needs better. The owner is young and hungry, which usually makes for meticulous work and excellent prices.”

Cassie’s hand tightened on the stem of the glass. “James Sutton.”

Steve’s eyes didn’t register an ounce of surprise. “Now, what makes you think that?”

“So you’re not going with James?” The name slipped out almost too easily, and Cassie wished she could take it back when Steve’s smile got even oilier.

“No, you’re right,” he said. “I
have
decided to go with
Sutton Construction. I just wonder how you found that out when I haven’t even mentioned it to James yet.”

It took a real effort to keep herself from snapping the stem in two. She’d wanted answers, and now she had them. But Cassie would be damned if she’d go down without a fight.

“So the rumor is true? Sutton has been wining and dining you,” she said as she set the glass of wine down on the end table.

Steve laughed. “I wouldn’t say wining and dining, but James and I have struck up a friendship.”

A few days ago, the news might’ve surprised her. Now Cassie realized that the two men were peas in a pod. Two arrogant, sly peas in a pod who, if the smirk on Steve’s face was any indication, had already shared the sordid details of Cassie and James’s relationship.

Just the thought of James confiding to his “new buddy” had her face heating and her temper rising. But she held it together. Steve’s father was right. There was no place for emotion in business.

“Sutton might be young and hungry,” she said, “but M & M is experienced and dedicated. For the last ten years, we’ve given you meticulous work and fair prices, and we don’t intend to stop now.” She paused. “If we need to lower our bid, we can do that. In fact, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep your business.”

Steve studied her for only a second before he downed the rest of his wine and turned to set the glass down. “I wondered why you wanted to stop by this close to Christmas Eve. Now I have my answer.” When he glanced back, his eyes glistened with a look that Cassie recognized
instantly. Unfortunately, before she could clear up Steve’s obvious confusion, he pulled her into his arms and onto his lap. A lap with a prominent hard-on that had Cassie’s muscles tightening in anger.

“And I must say that I’m thrilled by the prospect,” Steve said. “There’s just something about you that’s always turned me on. I think it’s that tough exterior coupled with those sultry green eyes.” He dipped his head and pressed a wet kiss to her neck. “I should’ve realized sooner that all it would take to get your attention was a little healthy competition.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Cassie warned.

“No mistake.” He kissed her chin, or more like licked it. “I might not mix emotions with business, but I have no problem mixing pleasure with it.”

When he kissed her mouth, his lips were as slick and oily as his smile. But it wasn’t his lips that had chills of disgust racing down Cassie’s spine. It was the thick tongue Steve slipped into her mouth. The only thing that kept her from clocking him like she’d done to Foster was the fact that he had once been a client. However, that didn’t stop her from biting down on his tongue.

“Oww.” He pulled back and held a hand to his mouth. But it didn’t take long for the hand to drop and the smile to reappear. “So you like to play rough, do you?”

“I guess you could say that.” Before he could dip his head for another kiss, she threw the glass of wine in his face and slid off his lap.

The smile completely dropped and a look entered his eyes that was, no doubt, much closer to his actual personality.

“Why, you bitch!” He wiped off his chin with the back of his hand. “I thought the McPherson ice princess had thawed out. I see now that I was mistaken.” He cocked his head, and his eyes narrowed. “Or is it just working-class men like James Sutton who make you melt?”

Cassie tossed the glass at him, enjoying his flinch when it hit the fly of his corduroys. “I melt for no man.”

Chapter Seventeen

James pressed the buzzer next to Cassandra’s garage door again before he stepped back and looked up at the window. There was nothing to get worried about. So she hadn’t answered his first ten buzzes? He
was
a good twenty minutes early. No doubt she had gotten caught up in business and forgotten all about meeting him back at her condo.

He didn’t know why the thought pissed him off. Maybe because he hadn’t gotten all caught up in business. Maybe because he stood there staring up at her window like some goddamned rejected Romeo. With a grunt of disgust, he turned and headed back to his Land Rover. He would give her twenty more minutes. Just twenty more minutes before he brought an end to the craziness.

He gave her forty.

When she still hadn’t shown up, he drove all the way
back to her office building. But the building was locked up tight for the holidays. Which didn’t stop him from driving through both levels of the underground parking garage looking for her truck. He found the McPhersons’ parking spaces right next to the elevators. But not one of them had a vehicle in it. Including “C. McPherson’s.” Which meant he had either passed her on the way or she’d ditched him altogether.

The whole ditching thing seemed more likely an hour later as he stood outside her home freezing to death like a damned idiot. It had started to snow, and huge flakes clung to his hair and the shoulders of his sheepskin jacket.

Still he waited.

He was a tenacious businessman, but he never realized that he could be that way about a woman. He loved women, but he never spent much energy on them. Money, yes. Energy, no. They were always just there. If one wasn’t interested in hanging around, another one would come along sooner or later. Usually sooner.

Now all it had taken was one controlling wildcat to turn him into a pathetic stalker.

James’s cell phone rang, and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket and answered, hoping that Cassandra was calling to explain why she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

“James. It’s Steve Mitchell.”

James tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “Hey, Steve. What’s going on?”

“Nothing much, which is exactly why I’m calling you. I’m fuckin’ bored stiff. You want to get a drink with
me? There’s something I wanted to give you. An early Christmas present, so to speak.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what the early Christmas present was. But no matter how hard James had worked to get the contract, he was no longer excited about the news. In fact, just the opposite was true. He was depressed as hell. Which was crazy. What person in their right mind would want another company to get a multimillion-dollar contract? Sierra was right. Stupidity was a disease. And he had it bad. But not bad enough to screw up a deal he’d worked his ass off for.

“Sure, I’ll meet you,” he said. He looked back up at Cassandra’s dark window. “Just give me about an hour.”

After he hung up, James pressed the buzzer one more time before he jogged next door to Matthew’s condo. He could’ve gone to Patrick’s, but Matthew was the lesser of two evils and the one who would probably volunteer information more readily. He pressed on the buzzer and then shoved his hands in his coat pockets to wait.

When Matthew didn’t answer, James looked back at her condo.

Give it up, Sutton, and accept it. She’s just not that into you
.

But he couldn’t give it up because it didn’t make any sense. Cassandra wasn’t the type of woman who led a man on. If she hadn’t liked him, she would’ve told him straight to his face instead of stringing him along with sultry kisses and mind-blowing sex. So there had to be another reason she wasn’t there. A reason that had nothing to do with him.