Authors: Karyn Lawrence
Shawn let his eyes drift down to Kara’s perfect ass as she walked ahead of him. He hadn’t gotten a good look at it last time and he studied it until she turned into her office. A few months ago they’d met at a family dinner, and the decision was made that he was going to sleep with her. As soon as the meal was over, he’d set Kara in a cab and told her this. He could still remember the shock on her face. Her refusal only made his desire greater.
Shawn had started subtle. The flowers and text messages that she typically ignored. Obviously subtle wasn’t working. Despite the ordeal she’d been through, he was thrilled at this opportunity.
Kara cast her cold, blue eyes on him. “Why are you smiling?”
“It’s nothing. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” She shoved a mouse into a laptop bag. “Laurel shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“She was worried.”
Her hands hurried to get her things together. “There’s no need. I’m okay.”
He had to remind himself to stop thinking about what he wanted and focus on why he was here. “You knew this man? He worked here?”
“Yes,” she said, “he worked here for a long time. Letting him go was unpleasant, and that was before the gun.”
“I’m sure.” He took off his coat and dropped down into the chair opposite the desk.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you to finish packing so we can take a late lunch.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’m not going to lunch with you.”
“You’re not hungry?” He couldn’t help himself and smiled with innuendo. “I’m hungry.”
For a split second there was a crack in her facade and a sliver of anxiety seeped through to her face. A gentleman wouldn’t badger her after the ordeal she’d just been through. But Shawn Dunn was not a gentleman. He may have been accused of that a few times in his past, but those people were mistaken.
“No,” she said, “I’ve lost my appetite.”
“Come on, I came across Midtown.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.” She had all of her items gathered, ready to leave and clearly stalled. “Do you want me to reimburse you for the cab money?”
She probably wanted it to sound caustic, but he found it amusing.
“You think I can’t afford it?” he said. “Sorry. You probably couldn’t understand that with the silver spoon in my mouth.”
Her eyes narrowed. She was easy to get worked up. “Thanks for stopping by to check on me, but I need to get going.”
“Let me give you a ride.” He hadn’t intended that to sound sexual, but it came out that way.
“No,” she replied, far too quickly. “No, thank you.”
A woman who said no to him was rare, and he loved a challenge. Kara Hayward would be his biggest yet. She seemed to view him as an opponent and he enjoyed that.
“Have I done something to upset you?” he said, relaxed. “You don’t seem to like me very much.”
“I don’t know you.”
“And you don’t want to get to know me?”
“Not particularly.”
He grinned. She was direct. “Why?”
“Because of the flowers,” she said. “Because you make me uncomfortable.”
“I do? Why do you think that is?” He came to his feet, close to her, the air instantly thick between them.
“What you want from me . . . I already told you I’m not interested.”
Shawn made sure his voice sounded skeptical. “You did say that.”
“I meant it.”
“If that were true, then you have no reason to be uncomfortable,” he said, lowering his voice, “But if it’s not true . . .”
“I meant it.” It was convincing enough to give him pause. “Really. I’m going back to my hotel to sleep until my flight early tomorrow. I’m sorry you had to come all the way over for no reason.”
She moved away from him and pulled on her long, red coat, her face determined.
He was going to have to try a different approach yet again since this one wasn’t getting him anywhere. “It’s no problem. I’m sure your sister will be glad to hear everything’s well.”
She held his gaze, looking like she just wanted this over and him gone. Fine, he could do that; he could wait another day to seduce her. He was great at being patient when the reward was worth it.
“Can I at least walk you out?” he asked, sliding his coat back on.
Her face softened, relieved he was backing off. “Sure.”
The relief was short-lived. Kara’s eyes went wide with momentary alarm when a man appeared in her office doorway.
“I came as soon as I could,” the man said, “Are you okay?”
And just like that, Kara’s perfect, confident front snapped back into place. “I’m fine.”
The man’s eyes drifted over to assess Shawn. “Have we met?”
“No.” Shawn didn’t elaborate and got satisfaction at the hint of frustration this caused the short man hovering just outside the room. Whoever he was, he made Kara nervous, and Shawn didn’t like that. He wanted to be the only one to ruffle Kara’s feathers.
The man extended a hand out. “I’m Paul Werner, CFO.”
Paul seemed much too proud of his title. This was going to be good. Shawn shook the hand, hoping to appear casual.
“Shawn Dunn, CEO. Osterhägen Beverage.”
Paul froze mid-handshake. “What?”
Shawn followed Paul’s gaze to Kara. She didn’t offer any explanation even though it was so very obvious Paul wanted one. For her to explain how the head of the second-largest beer company in the world came to be in her office. Instead, she pulled the laptop bag on her shoulder and walked towards Shawn, stopping when she was only a breath away.
“Where are we going for lunch?” She set a hand on Shawn’s arm. Comfortable. Intimate.
So . . . this must be the ex-husband. She’d mentioned they worked together. Shawn scrutinized the man now. He was confident enough in himself to acknowledge that Paul was attractive. Obviously successful. But Paul was a soft eight, whereas Shawn was a hard ten. Actually, an eleven. If she wanted to use him to screw with her ex-husband’s head, he was more than willing to play along.
He threaded a hand around her back. “Same place as last time?”
Paul probably would have made a similar face if Shawn had sucker-punched him, but this was a hell of a lot more fun.
“It was nice meeting you, Peter.” And he wasn’t going to give Paul a chance to correct him. He took her hand and led her out of the office, down the corridor. As soon as they were alone in the elevator, she attempted to release his hand, but he just gripped it tighter.
“Let go of me.”
“Or?”
She glared at him. “Are you five?”
“Wait a minute, which one of us was making someone jealous a minute ago?”
She pressed her lips together, displeased. “Both of us were.” She stood there, watching the numbers go by as if counting down to the moment she’d be free from him.
“Thank you,” she said quietly when he relented. “And for your help.” Like it was painful.
“Anytime.”
The doors to the elevator peeled back, and she hurried to the revolving door, only to stop short. It wasn’t raining outside; it was a torrential downpour, and she had no umbrella. He could hear the thought going through her head: She’d never get a cab in this weather. She glanced at his umbrella, but before he could offer, she pushed her way through the door and out into the slashing rain.
Shawn grinned to himself as he followed her to the cab stand. As soon as he was next to Kara, her now also beneath his umbrella, she gave him a sideways look. Annoyed. Relieved. Begrudgingly grateful.
Kara’s gaze moved to the street to survey the sporadic yellow cars that passed by. Every one with the light on top unlit.
“Come on, I have a car waiting,” he said over the loud rain beating down on them. He gestured to the black limousine and then added, “But full disclosure, it comes with strings attached.”
Her blue eyes locked on his and he saw her suck in a breath. Maybe she’d think he meant lunch. Or that she’d have to agree to have dinner with him next time she was in Munich.
She would be wrong. If she got into his car, she would unknowingly give him permission to continue his pursuit of her. His brother had loved chasing fugitives, but for Shawn it had always been women.
Somehow, she must have sensed it because she shook her head adamantly. “No, thank you.”
“Suit yourself,” he said. The disappointment that ran through him was surprising. “
Auf Wiedersehen
.”
He and his umbrella left her at the cab stand, the rain pouring down on her. When he opened the limo door, he glanced back over to see her, glaring at him like the bastard he knew he was.
-2-
Crap,
Kara thought as the cold rain drenched her. This was ruining her shoes. He’d left her with no umbrella and absolutely no choice.
When she slid into the dry backseat beside him, he didn’t bother to look up from his phone. She set her laptop bag between them as a buffer, but doubted it would stop a man like Shawn. It wouldn’t even slow him down.
“You’re kind of a jerk,” she said.
“Didn’t your sister warn you?”
Yes, she had. He put his phone away, leaned forward, and told the driver they were ready.
God, ready for what?
“Where are we going?” she asked, her voice even and detached when the car was in motion.
“Lunch.”
Oh, that was all she agreed to. She relaxed into the soft leather of the seat and wiped the rain from her forehead. Yet an evil half-smile crept across his face that filled her with unease and unwanted excitement.
“That isn’t the strings attached, is it?”
“No,” he said. “It isn’t.”
Whatever it was, she suspected she wasn’t going to like it, and she’d spent too much time already putting up with things she didn’t like. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want me.”
She didn’t regret putting it out there until his evil smile widened into a full ear-to-ear grin. “I do want you.”
She couldn’t breathe. All of the air in the car vanished. Why was he like this? He had his pick of women and, from what Laurel had told her, he tried them all. The last thing Kara wanted to be was Shawn Dunn’s plaything . . . even though the idea filled her with unexpected warmth.
He was a cocky, arrogant piece of work, a god’s-gift-to-women type. He was sure to be selfish and controlling too — at least, that was her experience with a man like him, a man in power. And beneath it all, that was what she most disliked about Shawn: His personality was like Paul’s.
Only on steroids.
She recalled the awkwardness when Paul appeared in her office doorway. He was only an elevator ride away, but Shawn on the other side of town had beaten Paul to check on her.
Only because Shawn wants something from you
. Paul didn’t come running because she wasn’t capable of giving him what he wanted. Maybe it had been petty to make Paul jealous, but she didn’t care.
“Lunch,” she said, “There’s a drive-thru a few blocks over.”
He laughed. “How totally American.”
“Didn’t you grow up here? Aren’t you American?”
“I have dual citizenship because my father was American,” he said. “
Ich bin Deutsch
.” Then he said something else in German, a long sentence that sounded threatening.
“Did you just order my death?”
“What? No.”
“German always sounds angry to me.”
More German rolled from his lips and the warm look of desire in his eyes left little doubt that what was said was sexual in meaning. She treated him to a blank stare. And for the first time, she saw it. A momentary weakness in his armor. Words were weapons of seduction to him, and she’d just disarmed what she assumed was his biggest gun. So he reloaded in English.
“I said that I happen to prefer American women, like the gorgeous one sitting beside me.”
She ripped her gaze away from him, annoyed. It was just a line. So why, deep down, was she somewhat flattered? There was no way around it — he was undeniably attractive. There was also no way she’d give him the satisfaction or power of admitting that. The sound of her laptop bag thudding to the floorboard broke her train of thought.
“I’ll buy you a new one,” he said, when noticing her concern. He was right beside her, his leg resting against hers. She wanted to scoot away, but there was nowhere to go, no escape.
“It’s not mine.”
“Fine, I’ll buy your company a new one.” The weight of his body on the seat forced her to lean into him, and the unease inside her rose again, this time to a dangerous level. He was far too close. His warm, dark-brown eyes promised her nothing but sinful things, and she couldn’t look away. No matter how much she wanted to. Did she want to?
His large hand cupped her face, his fingertips brushing over her rain dampened cheek. The touch sent a jolt of electricity down through her body, and she shivered.